Blue Like You

Archive for October, 2007

Stephane Dion declares that a Liberal government would consider rescinding Tory GST cut - Ottawa Sun. (H/T National Newswatch).

Definitely one to sway the average voter, Stephane. Well done.

Keep going with your instincts while you sit there on your hands.

And in case anyone missed that, it’s the LIBERALS wanting to raise your taxes federally, just as they likely will provincially here in Ontario.

Any regular readers will know that occasionally I digress into little snippets of real life. This one is rated ‘PG’ which means that my mother should probably skip it.

The scene - Fitness class on Hallowe’en. We were told last week that we could wear costumes, but most of us came as ‘work-out’ people. I did wear an orange tank and black shorts to somewhat salute the day.

Two women actually got dressed up; which is a challenge when you’re also having to work out. One came as a mime, with a black bowler cap secured around the chin with an elastic, white T with bow tie, and black capris with black suspenders and white gloves, the latter of which she eventually had to remove for the weights portion of the class.

The other costumed woman wore a great cat outfit with well-secured cat ears, makeup whiskers and black nose, and a long, black, stuffed, somewhat curly tail attached to the black belt which she wore around her waist.

Cat lady was in front of me, so that tail was somewhat distracting as we bounced up and down during the aerobic portion, but I managed to follow the instructor.

Finally it was time to lay down on our backs, with legs bent waiting for the crunches to start.

Suddenly a howl of laughter erupted from the whole class as we all stared at Cat Lady. It seems that she had shifted her belt around to position her tail in the front, in order to lay more comfortably on her back. There she was, long black, somewhat-bent tail at a 45 degree angle between her legs.

Needless to say, belt and tail were quickly removed.

Some political pundits have been speculating this morning on the seeming rush and strange timing of yesterday’s ‘economic update’, which actually turned into a mini-budget.

Of course, this year’s announcement the day before Hallowe’en seems to be an obvious attempt to give out treats to squash the memories of last year’s Income Trust trick. On the surface at least, one would surmise that this is the strategy.

However, other pundits are wondering why Flaherty would spend all his political capital now, rather than wait for the spring budget.

Don Martin’s take on this is likely as accurate as any - Minority all but begging for an election.

Still, the hurry-up tax offensive makes a suspicious columnist wonder if the Conservatives are plotting legislation the three opposition parties will have to vote against, thus forcing a fall election after all. There could be nothing worse for a Conservative finance minister than entering a campaign saddled with missed spending and tax-cut opportunities.

He’d much rather rush his fiscal blueprint into the Commons under the Conservative flag now than risk waiting for a spring budget.

And as a bonus:

Besides, Mr. Flaherty effectively neutered criticism by rolling the GST cut into a colossal combo of other tax relief that spanned the income spectrum.

Bottom line: A two-income household of four earning $100,000 saves $427 in taxes from just this statement, with hints of more to come in the spring.

That finally paints the Conservatives in true blue colours after they posted several budgets of liberally increased program spending.

True blue. Heh. I like that.

Perhaps only a cynical columnist could see such Machiavellian strategy in a simple economic update, but there may be a grain of truth in it. Or at the very least Flaherty is hedging his bets.

Ironically, with the aid of the Bloc and the NDP continuing to oppose anything Harper lays out, the government is now holding all the cards in a minority situation that no one expected to be able to continue this long.

And so this year, the Hallowe’en trick was played on Stephane Dion.

Dion’s response to the fiscal update - Bad, but not bad enough to force an election.

Full 2007 Economic Statement available here. (H/T Bourque)

Update: National Post gives Flaherty the thumbs-up - Flaherty respects the taxpayer.

Dalton, please take note.

And in more news completely unrelated to Greg Sorbara’s resignation from cabinet (Post - Sorbara dismisses ’silly’ lawsuit):

None of the allegations contained with the Access Health Vaughan’s lawsuit have been proven in court and York Central Hospital is currently listed as the lawsuit’s sole defendant. However, Tony De Cicco, the company’s director, confirmed plans yesterday to amend the statement of claim to include Mr. Sorbara. Mr. De Cicco declined further comment, as did Emilio Bisceglia, his lawyer.

“I’ve been instructed by my client not to comment beyond what’s in the claim,” the lawyer said when reached by phone.

Interesting that this is only in the Post.

Dalton McGuinty’s decision to have the Aboriginal Affairs ministry stand separate from Natural Resources, sounds like a good one at first glance. Natives and non-natives alike think it’s about time.

Yet, I can’t help agreeing with Aaron Detlor’s take on things:

Detlor also described the post-election move as a “reluctant admission” on the part of the government that land claims are in fact a provincial concern.

That was exactly what I was thinking.

Time to start actually taking responsibility, Dalton.

Meanwhile, there’s a throne speech coming.

Smitherman and Wynne are staying put.

*Sigh*

And I didn’t see that one coming.

How many more sleeps til the next election?

B.C. Liberal MP resigns from caucus. (CTV)

Good decision.

Steve Janke has more.

And Stephen Taylor has a few questions about Garth Turner’s donation practices.

From the Province:

His father-in-law, West Vancouver real estate mogul Bill Lougheed, former Wilson campaign workers and business associates are claiming the MP committed breaches of the Canada Elections Act in failing to report campaign expenses.

Liberal insiders who worked for the candidate in the 2005-2006 election allege Wilson ran a campaign using cash payments and did not report all his spending.

They claim many campaign expenses were never reported to Elections Canada after Wilson, 44, switched his staff in favour of another team.

Last week a citizen in the riding filed an Elections Canada challenge to Commissioner William Corbett to have Wilson’s campaign expenditures investigated.

Here is a nice tidy summary of some of Dion’s current headaches - Alberta Ardvark. H/T CC.

“It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees”

Update: Province article - Part 2: The real story behind Blair Wilson’s business ventures.

And this is a hoot - The Province blogging about bloggers’ reactions to the Province’s Blair Wilson story.

Well, I guess it’s safe to say that the Liberals will be abandoning any line of questioning in Q.P. that relates to the Election Act - You are not fit for public office. (H/T National Newswatch)

Heh.

Steve Janke has more. And more.

Jarrett cautions us about the source. - Kerplonka!

“I should start off by cautioning skepticism at the reportings of a BC tabloid, but the internal evidence and the fact that they’re running with it two days in a row really suggests they’ve got all their ducks in a row.”

Brandon does a great analysis - From bad to worse.

John Snobelen lays it all out for John Tory in this morning’s Sun - Conservatives need a leadership contest.

One of his main points is that the so-called ‘unanimous’ caucus endorsement of Tory as leader is hardly a cause for celebration:

Provincial politics is a team effort so it is neither surprising nor meaningful that caucus would endorse the current leader.

All we have to do is look at Stephane Dion and the Federal Liberals’ attempt to give the appearance of solidarity to see how flimsy the reality is. In both cases, the knives can barely be contained.

Snobelen’s also points out that Tory was supposed to be assuming responsibility for all his decisions in this disastrous campaign, but his response was to fire his polling firm; not himself.

Sun columnist and defeated Liberal candidate Marianne Meed Ward also expresses some candid thoughts about John Tory’s leadership abilities this morning (Tory has an uphill climb in the 905 area). Ward suggests that one of his biggest problems is his corporate background which does not translate well to politics:

In politics, you use polling data to craft your policies, not defend them. In corporate circles, it’s the other way around. The joke about corporate consultants (of which pollsters are but one variety) is this: You hire consultants, give them a watch, and ask them to tell you the time. The more sophisticated consultants will first ask what time you want it to be.

Tory wanted faith-based schools to fly, and somebody told him it would.

Snobelen is asking John Tory to show some real leadership:

Leadership is about taking responsibility for your team and taking the blame when things go wrong. Tory’s current strategy has his team taking responsibility for his loss.

So here is my advice to John, again: Resign and ask the party to hold a leadership contest as soon as possible. Let’s get the leadership issue resolved once and for all and get on with the business of being a great opposition party and a creditable alternative in the next election.

I agree. Let’s put it to the party in a free and democratic process. If John Tory emerges the undisputed leader, fine. He then deserves unanimous support.

A fractured party won’t be able to hold the McGuinty regime to account. The PC party needs strong leadership, with its leader actually able to sit in the Legislature - not observe from the gallery. It also needs to develop clear, practical policies.

Otherwise, we’ll be picking up the pieces of this province four years from now.

Yesterday we heard the shocking news that Ontario Fiberal Finance Minister Greg Sorbara no longer wishes to be part of the Ontario cabinet, because he apparently needs more ‘family time’. Hard to understand that one immediately after an election!

First, a bit of history from the above Star article:

…The Oct. 10 re-election was a fitting pinnacle to a career that was briefly derailed when the RCMP put Sorbara’s name in a search warrant in connection with its investigation of Royal Group Technologies, where he had been on the board of directors.

It was a move many suspected was politically motivated because the Mounties’ warrant was made public on Oct. 11, 2005, the day before the throne speech. It forced him to resign as treasurer.

But Sorbara fought back, spending “six figures” to fight the RCMP. Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer later ordered Sorbara’s name removed from the search warrant. McGuinty immediately returned him to cabinet…

Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news, the Post tells us today about a little law suit involving two Ontario companies that are suing a York region hospital :

…The claim also alleges that “influence was being exerted on the hospital by the Honourable Minister Greg Sorbara to move the proposed dialysis unit of the urgent care centre to another location and property.”

The plaintiffs further allege that Mr. Sorbara interfered so that the hospital would be moved to a property owned by a company to which he allegedly has ties.

The claim alleges that Mr. Sorbara inappropriately met with hospital representatives and indicated that unless the dialysis unit was moved, the hospital “would be unsuccessful in its request for Phase 2 funding in the amount of approximately $300,000,000. The Honourable Minister Sorbara also indicated that he did not want this matter to be in the media.“

Oops!

Now I understand this comment - “Worse, perhaps, for Mr. McGuinty would be news that something has surfaced that prevents Mr. Sorbara from sitting in cabinet.”

Oh well. At least we don’t have to worry about public funding going to the education of all those horrible religious people. Whew!