Friday, December 26, 2008

dreidelgate

Looks like the Tories are up to their crazy partisanship. Shame on them for threatening the Jewish Community, just for inviting Michael Ignatieff to a menorah lighting! Looks like Tony Clement's aides are threatening and bullying the Jewish community. So much for reaching out to the Liberals, through threatening communities that welcome their leader. You think in this time of the season people would be better, well not Tory aides.
Take a look at this report.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Seasons Greetings

Hey Everyone,

I would like to extend to you all, a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years to all of you who have read this over the past year and enjoyed my writings. In the spirit of the year, I hope everyone who is reading this has time to enjoy with family and friends to celebrate.

I appreciate the comments from readers, as well as their criticism and its time like these that remind me how this is a fun hobby, that I can use to send my opinions to an audience.

And here for a little treat, is where Santa is right now.

-Jamie

Friday, December 19, 2008

30 Billion reasons the Tories can't run the government

Stephen Harper is an "economist". Yes, he has a masters degree in economics, but his lack of grasp on the economy and spending and understanding the market has me wondering what kind of economist is Harper.

His statements make no sense, and if we took his stock advice, well we would be even more broke than before. Its proven now that he has no plan, lowering the GST only created a deficit situation even more inevitable after spending like a drunken sailor.

I have commented many times on the lack of fiscal foresight and insane spending by this Conservative Government, and this 30 billion dollar deficit is just the cherry on top. Let's remember that 8 weeks ago Harper said there is no recession. That during the fiscal update offered no stimulus, until threatened with being removed from office. He closed down parliament when he was going to get defeated by the house.

This type of systematic mismanagement, and fiscal incompetence shows how badly damaging the Conservative are to this country, and makes me wonder what kind of "economist" Stephen Harper is. Because I think he has studied "ostrich" economics, aka the art of putting your head in the sand and pretending there is nothing going on outside, while the place is in an earth quake.

Just a few thoughts

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Appointing Senators, thats a very Liberal idea.

It's funny how desperate Our great El Presidente Harper is. He wants to push through senate appointments to a body which he has refused to acknowledge and badmouth and request change his whole political career.

Lets get some direct quotes from Harper....

Here is my favorite
"This is the most important step we must take in dealing with Canada's democratic deficit, because there is nothing that will limit the prime minister's stranglehold on the political system more thoroughly and more permanently than establishing a Senate elected independent of the prime minister."-- Toronto Star, 28 Dec 2003

Independent of the Prime Minister, meaning not afraid, like Tory MP's are of the PM.


In regards to senate elections....
The federal Conservative Party promises the gradual election of the Senate. "A Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, its platform says, "will appoint only elected senators to the Senate."-- Globe Editorial, 18 June 2004

"I don't plan to appoint senators, that's not my intention, so we will be, in some cases, waiting upon an election system," he said.-- Toronto Sun, 14 January 2006

My god, he almost has a principled view on the senate. Too bad he changed his opinion. Stephen loves power, he craves it. He will do anything and slam anyone as long as he can stay in power. We are dealing with a desperate man, with a desperate agenda, in desperate economic times.

Just some thoughts....

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Remember everyone...

The last time the Liberals were in power, and the economy was humming along, despite an economic slowdown in 2001. The government had a surplus, a massive surplus with an emergency contingency plan...

Now we have the Conservatives, with Harper and his hyper-childlike partisanship, Jim Flaherty who despite being a smart guy, seems to be Harper's lackey. Let's talk about the lack of contingency, the partisanship, the bad economic stewardship. This recession was coming from a long way off, look at how the sub prime loan thing lingered and grew into the financial crisis down south, but Stephen and friends covered their ears started yelling, "lalalalalala lying lying, there is no recession, Conservative good, Liberal bad". They wasted the contingency on god knows what. They created tax cuts that benefit the rich, rather than income tax cuts to the poor. They have squandered over a billion dollars on "consultants" after campaigning against the practice.

These are plenty of reasons for the Liberals to unite, and fight. Just look at this laundry list of incompetent decisions. The pathetic mismanagement of the economy, and lack of any reason to run away till January really show the Tories are crazy about holding power.

This leads to my next point. Michael Ignatieff is the man to lead the Liberals against Harper. We must unite around Michael and his team, and work together to raise funds, campaign, fight back against Conservative lies together. This is going to be hard for a lot of people, but I think the end result of exposing the Conservatives for being bad at Governing is a good result. Just look at our team, no lackey's, no yes men, all smart MP's and candidates. Its time for the party to work together.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Its all about electability.....

Whenever I watch the UFC, they always have these redundant beer ads about a light beer being more drinkable than its competitor. The Angus Reid poll on the weekend has established one thing amongst the Liberal Leadership contenders, Michael Ignatieff is the most electable candidate. Let's be honest here, there is a lot of egos and infighting in the party, but we are only a tiny percentage of voters. Voters want more of Michael and they have expressed their interest in seeing him as leader.

Numbers don't lie, and these type of polls are only a shot at the potential growth which Michael Ignatieff has compared to Bob Rae. Bob's legacy from his NDP years hampers him across the electorate, from Alberta to Ontario, whereas Michael has no such baggage and is seen as a strong voice to lead the party.

Now, with the leadership race now heating up, as the Hon. Stephane Dion has announced he is resigning we enter into interesting times for the Liberal Party of Canada. There could be an election, or there could be a coalition. I have no inside knowledge on what is happening in this direction, and the party must start soul searching as to what our role will be in the near future. I think we should thank Mr Dion for his leadership, and his legacy as the man who took on the separatists and beat them at their own game.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Big Labour strikes back...

My brothers in big labour have struck back at the Con propaganda machine. Reasonable says I...

Monday, December 01, 2008

The Grand Coalition Government of Canada

It has a better ring than Canada's New Government




Let me be the first to say that I am impressed by politicians for the first time in a long time. But I would like to thank Stephen Harper for making this all possible. His lazy economic policies, his strange and vindictive attack against his political foes, and his bad overall governance have put is in a situation for a coalition government to take a shape and form very soon.

How did we get to this? It's quite easy... The Conservative Government has sat on their hands for the past 2 years, they have done nothing to help create jobs for Canadians. Flaherty has offended Ontario, Harper has been partisan when he should have been a Prime Minister, and they tried to govern like a majority in a minority situation. They have only thought about themselves and have failed to address the issues that we face as a country. In typical Conservative fashion, they deny there is a problem, just as they did during the election. But now the signs are there, and the media has finally grown a pair.

This coalition has come out of the Conservative mismanagement, and will be up against a powerful Conservative propaganda/leak machine that has already tried to derail the agreement with the Ignatieff story, and the NDP tape leak. The Coalition will have to be open and transparent to have success, and I think this new era of cooperation will help foster this transparancy in all 3 parties.

Credit for this coalition has to goto Stephane Dion, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe. I for one have not exactly been the biggest fan of the NDP, but Jack has really shown me a new side of him. The idea of puting people first in tough times shows how the 3 parties have matured in the face of Harper's juvenile antics. Dion has taken the lead, and his goal to raise decorem in parliament might be possible under this coalition.

Leadership for our economy is what we need as a country. Look at the example of Unemployment cases rising by 90% in Oshawa in November, and its safe to say we are in a recession, in Jim Flaherty's riding! I don't know how he can face his consitituents who are hurting and need help. The stimulus plan will help Canadians shore up their savings and retirements in a direct injection to the economy, another thing the Conservatives seem to have forgotten about.

So now, the spin cycle goes beserk. The Conservatives are going to demand a $300 million dollar election, and make up all sorts of outrageous claims about Jack wanting to nationalize everything, and the Liberals bring back a carbon tax. So i decided to give a head start.

So lets get it out of the way, Conservative arguments of the future

-Stephane Dion is evil and wants to carbon tax you to death
- Jack Layton is an evil socialist who wants to tax business to death
- We already addressed the economic crisis with tax cuts 2 years ago before it happened
- We won the election 38% of Canadians vote for us, Stephen Harper is the leader?
- Its not fair, we should be the government......
- Stephane Dion is not a leader (oh crap, we already used that one)

Liberal Caucus backs Dion

This is great news for the Liberal Party of Canada, it shows that Michael, Bob and Dominic are supporting Stephane Dion, and they are united "tous Ensemble" together. It was dissapointing and disheartening to hear various people believe the articles planted in the National Post about Michael Ignatieff. It is safe to say that Michael is supporting this 100% and his loyalties are not in question.

From CTV newsnet


Mike DuffyNewsNet closed captioning>> Scott: We're going to go back to ottawa, where ctv's mike duffy hassome updated information on the drama that's swirling in ottawa rightnow. Mike, what do you have?>> Mike: Well, I've just had a word from across the street at theliberal caucus, which is still underway, but it's about to break up.Stephane dion met with bob rae, michael ignatieff and dominic leblancthis morning. He showed them the terms of the deal that he, mr. Dion'sstaff and he had been working on with the ndp. They agreed that theterms were good and they went to the liberal caucus, where they -- weare told unanimously said that they support mr. Dion in being the leaderand in this deal going ahead he will be the prime minister on an interimbasis until the liberal convention in vancouver in may and that they'regoing to write a letter to the governor-general telling her that theopposition parties no longer have confidence in the government and thatthey've all agreed that stephane dion is the man and that there areterms of an arrangement that would guarantee political stability overthe next two and a half years. Liberal-ndp coalition with the bloc onthe outside but offering their support for a period of 30 months so thatthe new government can get into place. Just repeating that, the threeliberal leadership contenders met, stephane dion this morning, saw andwe are told approved of the terms of the arrangement with the ndp. Theythen took that message to the liberal caucus, which will break anyminute now, but undoubtedly, that will be the word coming out, the nextstep is to send the message to the fwochb governor-general who isoverseas but essentially it all turns on the opposition partiesdefeating the government on the vote a week from today.>> Scott: Mike, does this handcuff the liberal leadership liberalleadership candidates in any way is this>> Mike: We're not clear. Obviously the liberal leadership race will goahead. We are not clear whether or not members -- whether mr. Dion andmr. Ignatieff and mr. Leblanc will have roles as cabinet machinesministers or whether they will be free to campaign. I think the viewearly this morning was that mr. Rae thought you could goeth. I think mr.Ignatieff had a slightly different view, ie, that it would be better notto be in cabinet, so they would be free full-time to cross the countryand meet liberal detle. So that part isn't clear yet, scott, but as soonas they come out I'm sure we'll get an answer to that question as well.Liberal caucus just about to wrap up but as i say, the interim dealapproved by the three leadership candidates -- and they've brought theirendorsation of stephane dion as the new prime minister of canada to theliberal caucus meeting now underway.>> Scott: Now, mike, i know things are rapidly developing here but whatdoes this do internally with the tories?>> Mike: Well, it's not clear what the tories can do to fight back. Theycan make their own representations to the governor-general, but this isirregular. It certainly is irregular. I don't think that it'sunconstitutional. It's foreseen in the rules, if a government loses theconfidence of the house, that the governor-general could call on anotherperson. I think the tories will be attempting to portray this assomething that started not as a result of anything that they did but asa result of the outcome of the last election, because you'll remember onthe weekend, I think it was, we had thomas mulcair telling reportersthat they had discussions with the ndp beginning two or three days afterthe last election, long before parliament resumed, long before theeconomic update was on the table. I'm not sure that much turns on this,but that undoubtedly, i think, will be one of the arguments the torieswill put forward, is that this is not as much an attempt to show a lackof confidence in the government as it is to subvert -- this will be thetory argument -- subvert the will of the people who spoke in the federalgeneral election.>> Scott: Absolutely the best soap opera on television right here on ctvnewsnet, mike. Thanks very much.

Ivison was wrong wrong wrong!!!!

Michael is not going to be interim leader. He hopefully will be leader after May 1. But until then Stephane Dion is the leader of the Liberal Party. Any Liberals who believe the National Post need to look at other media sources that actually have a Liberal viewpoint.

-Jamie

PS, see Bob on Canada AM, and Michael on Question Period....