Blue Like You

Archive for the ‘Dion’ Category

I am still absorbing the full impact of yesterday’s horror at Virginia Tech, so I won’t even attempt a comment at this point, other than to say that I can’t imagine what family and friends of the victims must be feeling.

So for now, I decided to check out the Nova Scotia dailies and see what local folks are saying about the new Red Green show. It would appear that the editors at the Halifax Daily News are scratching their heads just like the ROC.

However, Halifax’s Chronicle Herald provided an interesting sampling of letters.

My favourite was the one by Marcel Falkenham of Halifax, who refers to the Green-Liberal discussion as the Watermelon Talks. Brilliant! It really was a seedy situation when you think about it.

I read the last letter (by Robert MacDonald) about 10 times and still can’t figure out what he was trying to say. Translations are welcome.

In any case, if all those letters are indicative of the general population in Central Nova, it would seem that Peter MacKay can breathe easy. NDP candidate Louise Lorefice may have a good shot at second place.

Meanwhile, the Star reports that the outcome of the Watermelon Talks has disenchanted some of the green rind as well as the seedy red pulp. Perhaps it’s time for Central Nova to send the whole stinking mess to the compost heap.

With Stephane Dion apparently auditioning for a lead role in a remake of “Dumb and Dumber”, the Liberal party appears to be on the brink of some kind of schism.

Pierre Bourque was on the Jeff Allan show this morning, discussing the Liberal feud that has erupted like an oozing pimple. Among some higher-up party strategists, it’s not a matter of if, but rather when to dump Dion.

(Humorous side note: Jeff mentioned something to the effect that when Stephane Dion announced he was going to ensure that a third of his candidates were female, we didn’t anticipate that some of those women would be from other parties!)

With election chatter continually increasing, one wonders if disenchanted Grit MP’s and strategists will somehow conspire to engineer their own defeat - i.e. initiate some kind of situation that plummets the country into an election and thereby hasten the inevitable leadership confrontation and resolution.

Never a boring moment on the Hill.

Apparently Stephane Dion has little tolerance for dissension.

Liberal MP Joe Comuzzi got the boot (H/T to reader Brian in Calgary).

So Garth, what was that about a big tent where discussion and differing opinions are welcome?

Update: I tried asking Garth that question at his blog, but it seems that I have been banned! So much for discussion and free speech. I was responding to this statement:

If you want to be a leader whose orders are followed without question by those who know their place, are able to follow commands effortlessly, don’t talk to the media, can work as a team and never question you in public or cast doubt upon your leadership, get a dog.

I was wanting to ask Garth what Joe Comuzzi might say to that. Well, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and expect that my comment is awaiting his approval. Yes, that must be it.

Update: My comment is finally on Garth’s site. (1:49 pm)

So I guess I haven’t been banned yet. I’ll just have to try a bit harder. Interesting discussion there, but I hate feeding his ego with the traffic.

More at Political Staples. (Good point made here that Joe C. may have been used as an example for what could happen to dissenting Quebec MP’s who are afraid to face their constituents if they vote against the goodies for their province. It could be political suicide for them (either way, I guess.)

John Ivison’s column in today’s National Post mirrors my thoughts on Stephane Dion’s “Green Investment Account” proposal (Dion’s naivete on display).

His scheme is intended to make the polluters pay, but guess what? The buck stops at the person staring back at you in the mirror.

The new plan would mean polluting industries could see their top-line expenses grow by $2.5-billion a year if they miss their emission targets.

Canadians who scoff at pleas of poverty from the oil and gas industry may be less smug when they learn the electricity industry is already contemplating passing on the estimated $1-billion in annual extra costs to consumers.

“Sure we would,” said Hans Konow, president of the Canadian Electricity Association. “This is added cost that would be passed through.”

This will just end up being another behemoth Liberal boondoggle, designed to line the pockets of everyone except you and me. The irony is that it doesn’t even necessarily guarantee results in terms of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Jason Kenney calls this plan a ‘lemon’.

The Liberal party sure picked one.

Susan Delacourt of the Star explains that while Harper’s French is perceived to be better than Dion’s English, Stephane is making progress:

Over the past few weeks, Dion has been actively using English more and has already shed some of his difficulties with pronunciation. When talking about his “three-pillar” political platform, for instance, it no longer comes out as “peelers,” much to the disappointment of comedians and pundits who had fun with the nickname for strippers.

Dion is spending a lot of time with his English tutor:

“She’s helping me to catch the music of the language, where to put the intonation. It’s a complete mystery for me,” Dion said. “What I understand is that you (English-speakers) have that by instinct more than by rules.

I can only speculate that the Dion household didn’t worry too much about ensuring that little Stephane was encouraged to learn and speak English. The mother-tongue and the motherland were likely all that mattered.

However, if he is actually successful in his remedial homework, it may end up being a liability. His fractured English was the only thing preventing me from falling asleep during a speech.

This may be enough for me to actually consider voting Liberal in the next Ontario election - “Dion Losing Law-and-Order Votes, Leading Liberal Says” (Globe).

Ontario Attorney-General Michael Bryant:

…Worse, Mr. Bryant states, the Liberals have “very little substance to offer by way of alternative, and certainly nothing new or effective. The typical federal Liberal approach to crime, in a word, is a boomer approach that is stuck in the summer of love.”

As a result, Mr. Bryant argues, “Crime is for Liberals what the environment is for Conservatives.”

If nothing else, I think Michael Bryant could have a great career as a political columnist if the Attorney-General thing doesn’t work out.

The National Post’s editorial board obviously believes that Stephane Dion’s self-promoting cross-country tour is doomed to failure - “Stephane Dion’s Sincerity Shtick“:

The senior Liberals planning the trip say they want voters to get to know Mr. Dion one-on-one and in small groups, which is supposedly where Mr. Dion is most persuasive. That’s the way he unexpectedly captured the top Liberal job, they explain. It is also the best way to demonstrate his “sincerity,” which Liberals say is his greatest political asset.

Stephane Dion may indeed be sincere or “authentic” as my Liberal MP Karen Redman often describes him. He may actually believe that his pie-in-the-sky academic dreams can transform Canada into his vision of Progressive Utopia, and that we intellectually-inferior Canadians will eventually embrace this plan with unqualified support once we finally come to our senses.

But is ’sincerity’ the sole qualification necessary for a great leader?

If an international crisis of some kind were suddenly to occur, who would you rather have defending our national interests, making split-second decisions and communicating with world leaders on complex issues that require both diplomacy and tenacity?

I’ll take the ‘bully’ over Flipper anyday, thanks.

Kim Bolan has an exclusive interview with RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass in today’s National Post. Bass states that last week’s Opposition decision to vote down the extension of the two controversial parts of the Anti-Terrorism Act represented a “serious and damaging blow to the interests of the (Air India) families“. Specifically, the RCMP had been preparing for the last three years to use the investigative hearings aspect of the provisions.

Bass said in an exclusive interview that he was disappointed with “the apparent lack of understanding of the importance of this legislation with respect to the Air India Investigation,” especially given that investigative hearings were upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Bass said the hearings would have allowed those reluctant to come forward the protection they needed to tell the truth about the biggest mass murder in Canadian history.

“The investigative hearing process offered the potential for individuals inclined to cooperate, but afraid of retribution, a vehicle to explain their cooperation within their community, by being able to explain that they had no choice but to testify truthfully,” Bass said.

The Liberal party appears to be fairly successful so far in pulling off their little charade of outraged indignation and sanctimonious demands for apologies in order to divert attention.

The big question is - from what?

Spring election or not? That speculation is the latest buzz everywhere in blogs and MSM.

National Newswatch has their “Election Fever Meter” at set 91% today! They apparently base the chances of a spring election on related buzz and spin. Personally, I don’t see the connection. Spin means speculation; not statistical probabilities in my opinion. But what do I know?

In any case, we have two eminent MSM pundits putting forth their case today that an election is less likely than ever - or at least it should be.

Don Martin playfully christens Stephane Dion “Flipper” based on his inability to demonstrate clear focus and position on policy and issues (”Liberals go from Dithers to Flipper“):

It was a lousy week for Mr. Dion, a pattern in danger of becoming a trend. Not once or twice, but three times in four days we saw Mr. Dion flip-flop on positions he’d taken during the leadership race or his party had supported last fall.

Martin goes on to list a whole host of flip-flops including his changing support on Afghanistan, his reversal on the anti-terror provisions extension and his inability to define exactly where he stands on carbon-tax policy.

I love this gem:

To be fair, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been known to change his mind. Just ask income trust investors.

Still, it takes considerable effort for one party leader to irritate Afghanistan peaceniks, infuriate law-and-order types and alienate energy producers in the space of a week.

That last line was a thing of beauty.

In any case, Martin doesn’t feel that Harper necessarily should, nor will take advantage of this pathetic display of ineptitude:

But for Mr. Harper to unilaterally seek a spring vote would flip-flop on a scale dwarfing even Mr. Dion’s regular mind changes.

The Sun’s Licia Corbella appears to concur (PM should relax, enjoy view from the top):

The Angus Reid poll, released yesterday shows the Conservatives at 40% with the Liberals 14 points behind at 26%, even lower than they were in the last election.

In other words, Dion’s post-leadership convention honeymoon was short-lived, likely because when he makes a decision he tends to waffle on it and when he is decisive, he makes the wrong one.

But the primary reason Harper is in no hurry to hit the hustings is that he knows the more Canadians see and hear Dion flip and flop the better Harper looks.

I agree. As tempting as it is to yank poor Flipper out of the water, it is far wiser to muster up some patience and play him for a while. Let him shake his head furiously and tangle himself in the line.

Then when he’s totally exhausted himself, Harper can calmly reel him in.

Licia Corbella nails it in this morning’s Calgary Sun (A Storm Warning)- The current gas shortage in Ontario is a dress rehearsal for a terrorist attack on oil refineries and national transportation systems.

Corbella brilliantly weaves various themes of Liberal hypocrisy, wilful blindness, environmentalism and terror threat, to create a chilling picture emphasizing just how vulnerable we really are.

I also wonder if the fallout from the gas shortage had anything to do with Stephane Dion’s recent epiphany regarding the anti-scab bill.