Blue Like You

Yesterday on MDL, Joël-Denis Bellavance of La Presse tantalized viewers with a preview of today’s big story - L’ex-ministre Jacques Brassard varlope le Bloc.

Bellavance disclosed something to the effect that a former PQ Minister says the Bloc has become the clone of the NDP and is no longer relevant.

I used Google translator, but it leaves something to be desired. I gather that Brassard feels he has nothing in common with Duceppe and his party?

Since my French is a bit rusty, I would love to hear from anyone who could give us a rough translation and thoughts about the article. Thanks.

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Update: CBC says this is having a big effect on the Bloc this morning.

Julie Van D. mentioned that Michael Fortier is scheduled for a presser later on today, which may be related to this subject.

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More recommended articles for your reading pleaure:

Liberal leader proves he’s no rock star - Greg Weston in the Sun.  (BTW, what ever happened to Lorrie Goldstein???)

Dion Stumbles - L. Ian Macdonald

Surrey MP wrote letter in support of drug trafficker - Kim Bolan

So much going on. So little time.

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Evening Update: Layton welcomes sovereigntist’s NDP-Bloc comparison - CTV.

Plummeting Que. sovereignty support good for Tories - National Post.

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Thursday Update: Sovereignty silence bites Bloc - Star.

As Kinsella notes, this controversy isn’t exactly the infamous Face ad, but it was still a stupid move.

Now PMSH is issuing an apology at a presser when he would obviously rather be discussing an important announcement.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

How about running your ideas past some Blogging Tories first, guys? Use us as your focus groups.

We try so hard and then you pull these childish pranks.

More at SDA.

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Afternoon update: I’ve been reflecting on this a bit, and also on the comments from my readers. Reactions range from outrage to a kind of "Ah, get over it" attitude.

Let’s face it - mistakes happen. It’s how you handle them that counts.

Stephen Harper apologized and called the action "Tasteless and inappropriate ".

Exactly. Right as Rain puts things into perspective for us all.

Now it’s time to move on. (But not before you try making your own ad at notaleader.ca !)

And please don’t forget to vote at the poll page! Thanks.

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Sneak peak at Ivison’s editorial for tomorrow.

And this is an example of something that’s really tasteless. (H/T The Strong Conservative)

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Wednesday Update: Warren’s Winners & Losers page is interesting. My thoughts on this are that the notaleader site has received a lot more traffic than it likely would have otherwise…

Props to Paulsstuff for this one - Liberal candidate apologizes for Nazi comments - Canada.com

What are your thoughts on Mr. Dion disclosing his ‘hearing disability’ on the campaign trail? Why now?

Did the thought just occur to him out of the blue?  Apparently he first disclosed the condition to Jane Taber on Sunday, and then told the media in general on Monday. (Duff to to Roger Smith on Monday’s MDL ).Why?

Reader May has a great summary of her thoughts on the subject from the previous post:

May Says:
September 8th, 2008 at 10:32 pm

Re: Dion’s claimed hearing problem:

I’m sorry; I find this extremely difficult to believe for the following reasons:

1. If this were true we would have found out long before now: Dion’s English has long been a discussion topic and it would be logical and politically expedient to have given this explanation a year ago. Saying it now makes it seem like he is trying to gain sympathy.

2. If he had a medical condition, he would know its name.

3. People with hearing problems almost have an accent; a “fuzziness” or lack of sharpness in their speech. I do not hear this with Mr. Dion.

4. Dion is not the only one who speaks English in this manner. Maxime Bernier; for example; speaks English poorly in a manner almost identical to Mr. Dion. I find them both almost impossible to understand. To the best of my knowledge Bernier has no hearing problem.

5. There has never been any complaint about Dion’s command of French. If he had a hearing problem he would have speech difficulties in any language.

Finally; hypothetically supposing this is true it doesn’t change the problem: To be Prime Minister you must be able to effectively communicate in both languages.

Exactly. And to flesh out point #1, it’s very strange to me that Jason Cherniak knew about this for ages, but not Michael Ignatieff!

…Asked why he only spoke up about the problem now, during an election campaign, Dion said he doesn’t know why and said he shouldn’t have.

Quoi?

Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told CTV’s Canada AM on Monday that he wasn’t aware of the hearing problem but said Dion has made his objectives for the country more than clear to him…

I don’t doubt that Dion has a hearing problem, but I question the timing of the revelation.

And there is a remedy for the cocktail party problem. It is called a hearing aid. Modern ones are amazing. They are fitted with tiny microchips that can be adjusted according to the social setting. I strongly suggest that Mr. Dion look into it.

- Also please see A Step to the Right.

Globe - Greens out of Leaders Debate.

…On the matter of the Green Party, the consortium of broadcasters will issue the following statement: “The Consortium approached the parties to explore the possibility of including the Green Party in all or part of the Leaders’ Debates. However, three parties opposed their inclusion and it became clear that if the Green Party were included, there would be no Leaders’ Debates …

So it wasn’t just Harper opposed to the idea.

…But even as Ms. May vehemently denied she is co-operating with the Liberals, an email surfaced showing Ms. May cheering on a Liberal candidate.

This morning at 9:19 a.m., Ms. May sent an email to Brent Fullard, the new Liberal candidate in Whitby-Oshawa, Ont., and copied the email to a broad range of reporters and politicians.

“I cannot help myself!!! GOOD LUCK BRENT!!!,” writes Ms. May in response to a Liberal press release announcing Mr. Fullard’s candidacy. “You and Doug together can expose the massive incompetence of Mr. [Jim] Flaherty.”

Elizabeth May was just on CTV playing the sexist card, saying this was a shame for women, and daughters and so on.

However, with her tendency to put her foot in her mouth , perhaps the Consortium has done her a favour.

BTW, 89% of the respondents to my Sept. 1 Lizzy May poll should be happy about this decision.

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Wednesday Update: May in! Not necessarily a bad thing. I hope someone asks her where she stands on about abortion.

All this talk about whether or not Stephen Harper wants a majority government is a little ridiculous. Of course he does. Stephane Dion likely wants a majority Liberal government too. What leader wouldn’t want to win a majority?

The real question is what does the population want? A recent Ipsos Reid poll shows that Canadians seem to be fed up with minority governments:

…Sixty-three per cent of Canadians would prefer that the next government hold a majority of seats in the House of Commons, according to the Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by Canwest News Service and Global National…

(Alternate Gazette link with same story here. )

However, realistically they expect another minority.

What do you think? Do you think it’s time for a majority government in Canada? I have a new poll up, just waiting for your answer.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

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Update: I’ve left comments at both SDA and Cherniak’s asking for folks to participate in this poll. So far, my request to Jason is awaiting moderation.

Noon Update: Well, so far Jason hasn’t let my comment past moderation so I can only guess that he doesn’t want any Liberal supporters to vote at the poll.

I tried.

Evening Update: This will be a site to keep an eye on - LISPOP: Seat projections (WLU)

Stephane Dion will have to kick off the Federal election campaign with a bus, because his fuel-sucking jet is not quite ready.

For some reason, the LPC just didn’t get it done again.

Things appear to be in chaos already. They hadn’t prepared enough ahead of time to have a cleaner jet ready, the way the CPC and NDP have done. Stephen Taylor and Steve Janke have the details.

And he said it was going to be a ‘Clean campaign’.

Hah!

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8:45 am Update : The Writ has been dropped.

Press conference in front of Rideau Hall. Harper is asked about the warm, fuzzy family-oriented ads (sounded as if it was David Akin who asked).

Harper’s response was amazingly candid and genuine. I hope to find the exact wording soon on the net, because I don’t want to do it an injustice. He didn’t duck the question. He answered it head-on and honestly. (Note: Not surprisingly, Kady O’Malley has quite a different take on things.)

Another question about the timing of this election. Harper’s translated response was something to the effect that the population must decide who has the mandate - the government or the opposition? Well said.

CTV has a great election page up, BTW. Try the little quiz on the right. It’s lots of fun for political junkies and useful for any undecided Canadian voter.

9:30 update : Dion’s on now. He says the Government sat on their hands??? C’mon Stephane!

Duceppe’s up now and playing the Bush card. *snore*

More live-blogging at the National Post.

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Monday Update: Don Martin - Liberal campaign shows all the signs of poverty, poor planning.

All week long I’ve been racking my brains trying to remember where I heard a Liberal strategist say that their election meme would be Do you really want a Harper majority?

Well, I found it this morning. It’s right at the end of the last segment of CTV’s Question Period this past Sunday. (Transcribed as best I could.)

Craig Oliver asks the political strategists:

"Before you go, very quickly, what is the ballot question, starting with the Conservatives here?"

Tim Powers: "Economy and leadership."

Steve MacKinnon: "Stephen Harper. Do you want him to have a majority government?"

Brad Lavigne:"It’s time,…"

Oliver (to McKinnon): "What, what’s that??? YOU want Stephen Harper to have a majority government?"

McKinnon: "No, to Canadians. Do you want to give Stephen Harper a majority government and continue on these policies, these wrong-headed, right-winged policies…"

Now contrast this with today’s Globe article - Fearing Harper could win a majority, rivals sound early alarm.

…And while Liberal strategists deem an overt plea to prevent a Tory majority a strategic mistake – because it would imply they don’t expect to win – some hinted the polls on the eve of this election campaign might at least shake up their voters.

“Canadians … will always have a thought in the back of their mind, which is, ‘Imagine if this were a majority Conservative government,’” said Montreal Liberal MP Denis Coderre.

The party’s national campaign co-chairman, Senator David Smith, said: “A lot of people will be thinking that to themselves. But I’m not saying it. ”

Oops. I guess someone let the cat out of the bag a bit early!

…Scott Reid, who was communications director to prime minister Paul Martin, said the polls will force reporters to ask questions about a Conservative majority, even if the Liberals don’t.

But he said voters remain skeptical of Mr. Harper, and the Liberals have to show he is cynical and manipulative. “He’s a hundred kinds of nasty, he’s a bully, and he’s not looking out for your interests,” Mr. Reid said.

“If we don’t persuade people first that they need to get rid of Stephen Harper, then we won’t get to the discussion about what kind of alternative we represent,” he said.

So, the strategy was apparently to let the left-wing press do their dirty work, but McKinnon let the cat out of the bag on Sunday.

So we weren’t just being paranoid after all.

And the Liberals obviously don’t expect to win.

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Update : Quite a good article by Don Martin - Dion should sell ideas, team, not cheap shots.

Liberals catch late flight from Air Inuit - Ottawa Sun.

It’s a strange turn of events when Conservative supporters start to find themselves questioning the latest polls results in such usually left-wing media as the CBC and the Star, that show the possibility of a Conservative majority.

But that is exactly the very ironic situation in which many of my readers and I find ourselves at the present time.

Of course, that would suggest that polling companies might skew their results to support the strategy of the MSM outlet that commissioned them, and we certainly don’t want to go there.

However, Liblogger Steve’s readers at Far and Wide are puzzling out the high CPC numbers in Ontario from the recent Environics poll as well. So it’s not just us.

My gut feeling is that media who commission polls are less likely to flaunt the results if it doesn’t support their bias. So the polling results may end up on page 3 rather than as the headlines if it will hurt their favourite party.

This may seem counter-intuitive if you’re pushing the fear-factor, but the theory has always been the the idea of a Conservative majority is supposed to be ’scary’. I recall a Liberal strategist on MDL a few days ago saying that this would be one of their memes going into this campaign - Do you really want a Conservative majority?

In any case, I humbly submit these offerings which should help provide a bit of balance in the ‘Majority’ speculation:

Dion, like Clark, not to be underestimated - Globe.

Ivison - Harper is not just being modest (Post).

And finally, the brilliant Chuckercanuk dispels all the rumours. And yes, Nik will have the truth.

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Update: Liblog strategy - How to avoid a full on Dion disaster (The Maple Three).

And a great discussion is going on at Sandy’s - Beware polls claiming Conservative majority!

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Saturday Update: The Stop-a-majority strategy is front and centre at National Newswatch. See this Globe article (of course).

Aside from the fact that Chuckercanuk has proven that the opposition parties have nothing to fear, can someone please tell me what would be so awful if it actually happened?

Perhaps something would actually get done in a timely fashion instead of all this bickering and grandstanding. The Ontario Liberal government has been running the province with two successive majorities and things are going great, right?

O.K. Maybe that was a bad example.

Jack Layton is after Stephane Dion’s job. He wants to be Leader of the Official Opposition. And in order to achieve that goal, he is writing off Dion as a political opponent.

Interesting strategy.

Greg Weston tells us in today’s Sun that Jack is going after Stephen Harper. Apparently, Mr. Bean doesn’t even merit his attention!

Of course the official story is that Jack wants Stephen’s job - Prime Minister. But in real life, could he possibly become the next resident of Stornoway? In some ways, Jack Layton seems to be a stronger leader than Dion and certainly recent polls reflect that perception.

Lawrence Martin warns us not to underestimate Mr. Bean Dion. Advice worth considering for sure.

I’ve heard many pundits suggest that Dion’s expectations are so low that if he exceeds them at all he will be regarded as being successful.  That’s like telling your child who usually gets D’s in school that a C would be awesome. Yes, perhaps. But if the rest of the class is getting A’s & B’s, should your kid get to be class valedictorian?

The Gazette’s Don MacPherson calls Dion the new Joe Clark. He discusses Dion’s latest concessions to changes in the the Liberals’ Green Shift platform as follows:

Were Harper to make a similar policy concession, he might be praised for being flexible and responding to criticism for a change, because he is supposed to be stubborn and rigid.

But Dion’s concession is more likely to be seen as perhaps only the first in a series of retreats from a position that was poorly chosen in the first place and a sign of weakness. That’s because Dion is the Joe Clark of the 21st century.

The Post’s Don Martin also suggests that Dion’s last minute amendments could be interpreted as weak ‘waffling’.

Martin points to what I see as a very arrogant attitude on the part of the Liberals, who obviously haven’t had enough time out to learn their lessons:

…The Liberals don’t just want to win, according to Mr. Dion’s argument, Canadians need them to win to save the country from an incorrect governing choice in 2006. That will be a tough sell, given the Liberals’ less-than-perfect record in power…

Jack Layton has likely assessed all these nuances and is ready to move into the political vacuum on the left created by the presently dysfunctional Liberal party.

I believe it’s his for the taking.

Time to get out the orange paint for Stornoway.

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Noon Update: Just caught a glimpse of the NDP rally being shown live on CTV Newsnet. Jack has clearly taken a page from Obama’s playbook.  He was standing in a circle of supporters, rather than at a podium on the stage. The discussion was heavily punctuated with the word ‘change’ - another of Obama’s trademarks.

Then came the clincher. He remarked that it was getting very hot and he decided removed his jacket. This again is the standard Obama play that Dalton McGuinty also loves to emulate.

My husband was sitting beside me and said, "Hey! His sleeves are already rolled up! Nobody rolls up their sleeves before putting on a suit jacket!"

A clearly contrived performance.

So, is it o.k. to admire Americans again? Just asking.

(Evening note: Graham Richardson remarked on the already rolled-up sleeves as well on MDL)

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Dion is holding a press conference now. (1 pm) He wants Gerry Ritz to resign.

Liberal talking points for this election are: Most right wing, most secretive, most pro-Bush, neo-con, hidden agenda, yadda-yadda.

Did I miss anything?

*Yawn*

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Evening Update: This has got to be horrible news for Dion! Canadians set to vote Conservative:poll - CBC!!!

Check out the Ontario numbers.

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Friday Update: NDP to take aim at PM, shrug off Dion - Star.

FYI, 570’s Jeff Allan will be discussing the upcoming election at 10 a.m.  He also just announced by way of promo that he will be interviewing CTV’s Mike Duffy.

You can listen online here. (Link top right)

I hope to be addressing this topic later this morning. Comments welcome anytime.

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BTW, this is a heads-up to the Duffinator himself. Looks like you’re losing some of your Liberal fans. ‘Impolitical’ is questioning your objectivity here and Liblogger Red Tory has these kind words:

…No, instead, we got Mike Duffy, CTV’s morbidly obese cut-up, back from two months of basting his corpulent pile of flab in the sun, pronouncing that Dion, just as the Tories expected, had stupidly fallen into their oh-so-clever trap and that now Harper “will be able to say on the campaign trail that he tried to work with the opposition…”

Nice.

Makes Garth’s weaselette comment seem rather tame by comparison.

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10:30 am update: Well, not a whole lot new from that segment, except to remind you that MDL returns to CTV newsnet tonight at 5 pm. However, Duff and many other pundits have pointed to the recent Strategic Counsel poll results as being significant - especially on the question of whether or not the government is going in the right direction:

…In addition, the latest poll suggests 49 per cent of Canadians feel Canada is on the right track, while only 34 per cent feel the country is on the wrong track…

It has been emphasized that this is in sharp contrast to the mood in the U.S. that seems more intent on change.

More bad news for Stephane Dion.

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Today’s Star poll: Who do you think is the most likeable federal party leader?

This one should be interesting to watch.