"The bottom line is, we can't even take care of our 2.5 million people. People are complaining there's 60,000 people waiting to get into housing. There's congestion on our streets. It's right now, we can't even deal with the 2.5 million people in the city. I think it's more important that we take care of the people now before we start bringing in more. There's going to be a million people, a million more people, according to the official plan, which I did not support, over the next 10 years coming into the city." - Rob Ford
It's absolutely hilarious to watch all the dust eaters go after Rob Ford as he increases his lead in Toronto's mayoral race.
During a debate on CP24 last night, Ford made the above statement when asked this question.
"A lot of the immigrants and refugees that arrive in Canada actually end up settling in the GTA. So how do you think these refugees have contributed to Toronto in the past and how do you think these refugees will contribute to Toronto in the future?"
Ford gave an honest and sensible answer. He's right, Toronto can't deal with its existing population so why would anyone be interested in attracting any more... of any persuasion.
Ford's scrambling opponents have now tried to turn this into a slam against refugees but that's a stretch. It's politics at its worst, but not surprising from the cast of characters running for Mayor.
It's pretty sad when a rational response to an obvious problem is turned into a needless shit storm.
Ford nailed it when he said : "I think it's more important that we take care of the people now before we start bringing in more."
How could this be a slam against refugees when many of the "people we have now" are refugees?
Toronto is busting at the seams and its not the place to be directing newcomers, especailly when other parts of the province and country need and want population.
For any straight thinking person, Rob Ford just got better lookin'.
Is it the guy who has a huge lead in Toronto's Mayoral race because he connects with the average hard working Joe, or is it the guy who thought he just had to show up to win.
It's pretty sad when the likes of George Smiterman have to resort to this kind of poltics.
No longer is it about what Georgie Boy can do for Toronto in the future, it's all about what Rob Ford has said in the past.
Pathetic. If anything, I think Smitherman's tactic will only help Ford.
Rob Ford may be a little rough around the edges, but he's exactly what Toronto needs after seven years of David Miller.
With the G-20 Summit just over a week away, there's no use talking about the pros and cons of holding it because there's no turning back now.
From my perspective it's a huge waste of money and we should have never committed to it because I'm sure very little, if not nothing will be accomplished by it.
Having said that, there's also no use protesting it, because again, it's going to happen and nothing is going to change that and nothing will stop the next one from being scheduled somewhere else in the world.
Believe me; I have no problem with peaceful protests. It's every citizen's right to protest. Peaceful protest is actually an admiral form of response even thought like the summit itself, peaceful protest rarely accomplishes anything.
This posting is directed at those imbeciles who plan on taking it to the next level by protesting with force during the summit. You know the lowlife creeps who can be classed as professional shit disturbers who have nothing better to do so they go out of their way to push against the establishment.
Often they don't even know what they're protesting against, it's simply a way of disguising their jealousy. They're jealous of achievers and earners and those who accomplish, so they find disgust in anything that might be connected to those things.
Basically, they're losers.
They'll show up at the G-20 looking for a fight. They'll bait police, scream obscenities, and throw things and burn objects usually while wearing cowardly masks over their faces.
They won't be protesting against any particular issue, because they don't really understand the issues, they'll be there for the thrill of it.
Deep down it's a response to their own personal shortcomings.
And just to clarify what might be perceived as a contradiction in this posting, let me explain what I mean when I say peaceful protest rarely accomplishes anything. It doesn't.
But violent protest accomplishes even less, and here's how.
Say I'm watching a news clip of the summit and I'm thinking about what a ridiculous waste of time and money it is and then I see a masked hoodlum throw and molotov cocktail into a group of innocent people.
All of a sudden the Prime Minister isn't such an asshole.... the protester is.
As recently as last week John Tory said he would not enter the race for Mayor of Toronto, but I have a feeling he's got something up sleeve.
Something like a radio show.
The Toronto Star released a poll this weekend that shows if Tory was in the race he'd wipe the floor with everybody and this gets a guy to thinkin' that maybe Johnny boy is using his CFRB talk show to position himself for a late entry.
As long as he's out of the race Tory can continue to do his talk show, but once he declares the law says he's got to pull himself off the air.
But what he's doing is brilliant. He doesn't commit now, he stays on the air while quietly promoting himself, then at the last minute he enters the race and wins in a landslide.
The results of this weekend's Star poll have to have Tory thinking. He loves doing the radio thing, but he loves politics even more and he'd be a great Mayor.
As it sits, without the Tory factor, George Smitherman and Rob Ford are neck and neck in the polls, but even though Ford would make a much better Mayor than Smitherman, Tory would be that much better than Ford.
In some ways the entire thing is a tragedy. Back in 2003 the left wing imbeciles in Toronto chose the hopelessly pathetic David Miller over Tory and the city has been paying for it ever since.
During the seven years that David Miller has damaged the city, Tory could have been building it into what it should be.
But it's never too late. Hopefully John Tory will feed off this weekend's poll and sit in the bushes until the precisely the right moment before declaring his candidacy.
Toronto needs John Tory, Toronto deserves John Tory.
Our Prime Minister has lost me on this one. One billion dollars for security? That's what it's going to cost to secure Huntsville and Toronto for three stinkin' days in June? That's the price of host the G8 and G20 summits?
I feel like an idiot. For years I've been spouting off on this page supporting Stephen Harper by calling him the rational man and then along comes this debacle.
Hosting these useless summits may not be the sole decision of the Prime Minister, but ultimately the buck stops at his door and somewhere along the line he should have looked at the costs and said thanks but no thanks.
And I'm not going to position this like the Toronto Star or the Liberals and NDP are, by listing all the others things that money could buy, because to me its just straight-up economics. There are good purchases and bad ones, and this one is really bad.
What possibly will be accomplished by gathering world leaders in this province for three measly days in late June? What reasonable return can we expect on an investment that starts at one billion dollars and increases from there?
The answer is none.
Of course the spin doctors and the political weasels will tell you otherwise, but this will boil down to nothing more than three days of lavish posturing by a bunch of guys who are already pre-positioned on most issues.
And man oh man does in send a bad message. In these so called tough economic times, with several economies teetering on the brink of disaster, how does this do anything but tell the world the men in charge don't really give a damn.
It actually makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. Toronto will be turned upside down for a couple of days while it resembles a prison camp, the economy will take a big hit, and we're supposed to think there's an upside to this?
Tell me how in the space of 72 hours, 20 men gathering over fine food and wine, will accomplish anything that will come even close to justifying the expense?
Any thing of any substance needs more time than that.
This was the perfect opportunity for our Prime Minister step out and underline that he's "the rational man", but he blew it. He got us sucked into a billion dollar party.
With today's technology, and given the fragile world economy, why couldn't this G8 and this G20 have been done by video conferencing?
We're continuously told by government to pull back, spend wisely, don't waste and think of the future, so why doesn't it apply to them?
Harper could have taken the lead and recommended these summits take place through the new media and then released numbers on the savings, not the other way around.
And if the other guys had balked, he could have told them to hold their futile meeting somewhere else.
Make no mistake about it, nothing; absolutely nothing will come of either summit. We'll get the usual bullshit while they try to justify it, but don't be fooled; this is a pathetic billion dollar road to nowhere.
A bad idea, a bad investment and horrifically bad timing.
Last week I wrote a piece called "Why I like Stephen Harper", and a frequent Harper detractor who calls himself Mikey took his usual shot at the Prime Minister in the comments section.
I challenged Mikey to once and for all explain exactly "why" he doesn't like the Prime Minister, because I was growing tired of his one line insults.
I told Mikey, write a detailed piece about the PM and I'll gladly post it on the main page.
This is his response.
Pretty simple: Harper and his party listen to and take advice from
people who make the world safe for child molesters.
That, and the fact that he's dragging this country backwards socially.
And he takes credit for economic safeguards put in place by other
governments that helped us avoid the worst of this recession. Since
he's the bitch of big business, we could easily be worse off than the
USA if he had more time to put his fingerprints on our economy.
How about his unwavering support of Israel? Is it just me, or are
people who think god promised them land complete wack jobs?
Have we covered his complete disdain for democracy? His belief that
parliament serves at his beck and call is dangerous, and he certainly
has a totalitarian streak in him.
Reducing the GST to 5% was moronic pandering that got great reviews
from the many idiots that post here. Anyone spending more money
because of it? Now can anyone tell me how much money is not going to
things like health and education because of it? For God's sake.
Does his lack of balls concern anyone? He must pick and choose who
gets to ask him questions, because: 1)He can't think on his feet; 2)A
free press does not fit into his vision of Canada.
One other thing: I wasn't comparing Harper to Hitler, that's idiotic
and I'm surprised (but not really) people took it that way. The reason
I brought up Hitler was to show that having principles means nothing.
The KKK have principles, and they stick to them pretty ferociously, big
friggin deal.
Is that enough? I could go on for days about his hair if you'd like.
I like Stephen Harper because he does a lot of stupid things, like withdrawing funding from Toronto's Gay Pride Festival.
I know what you're thinking; the above sentence doesn't make sense.
Oh but yes it does. Given Harper's reputation in the GTA, and the assumption that he and the other whack jobs in his caucus are homophobic, cancelling funding for Gay Pride has to be one of the ridiculous and stupid moves he could make.
All he's doing is fuelling the fire and solidifying his image as a right wing, controlling asshole freak that eats babies for a hobby.
But Harper doesn't seem to care because he's an obvious man of principle, or better put, he's the rational man.
In this case Harper could be like most other politicians and simply throw 400 thousand dollars at the Gay Pride Festival again and avoid any conflict and not risk having his image damaged any further in Toronto. I mean really, what's 400 grand in the big picture.
The money could go the festival organizers again, they could use as they please and the Prime Minister walks away unscathed.
But Stephen Harper doesn't work that way. He puts principle first, and to tell you the truth, this moves appears to be so stupid on the surface, there must be a lot of principle in involved.
Do you not think he and his caucus sat in a room and discussed the fallout from withdrawing funding? Do you not think they knew the reaction would be totally predictable and they'd be accused of being homophobic? Do you not think they calculated that it would play into the hands of the opposition who would jump on the homophobia bandwagon?
Of course they did, but they went ahead and did what they had to do. They took the 400 thousand dollars and did with it what they thought best. Considering the Gay Pride Festival was now strong enough to stand on its own they decided to direct the money to smaller centers across the country.
In recent years urban centers had been getting most of the money for marquee tourism events.
It really is remarkable when you think about it. Considering all he was up against in an area of the country that he has virtually no support in, Harper had the balls to do what he thought was best and fair for all.
It's such a bold move you just know it has nothing to do with homophobia, it's such a politically stupid move you just know there's got to be more to it. Under the surface and according to the books and to the benefit of the majority it must have been the most rational thing to do.
Roughly 24 hours after writing a piece in which I agree with Dalton McGuinty and applauded him for sex education reform in the Province, he does a 360 and scraps it all.
At this point there's no use arguing the merits of the new plan that was put in place and then quickly withdrawn because it ain't gonna happen.
What we have to look at is the man. The man who has led this province for close to seven years with a clever mix of lies, deceit and fear mongering, the man who has fooled the electorate in such a way it puts a huge knot in my stomach.
The stupidity that reigns supreme in the Province of Ontario, with its perverted obsession with everything Liberal is something that will go down in political history and I really don't see an end it sight.
McGuinty showed his true colours this week. He showed how willing he is to say one thing and then do another. He showed how easy he can throw us a bone, and then quickly withdraw it when the going gets tough.
The comparison between McGuinty and John Tory is beautifully exposed through this latest Dalton flip flop.
Tory, a man of conviction proposed full funding for all schools during the last election because it was just and appropriate considering funding was already in place for Catholic schools. Tory held on to his conviction and lost an election over it.
Was this bad politics? In the end, yes. But did it tell us something about the man? Yes, it told us he puts people and principle first.
Compare that to McGuinty, the two faced, professional liar who doesn't know the meaning of back-bone or decency. He'll do what ever he can to weasel his way through another year with an eye towards another election.
But he can't do it alone and he doesn't. He's got the support of millions of Ontarians who allow themselves to be continuously led down the garden path while turning a blind eye to his unbelievable lack of integrity, and all because he's not Conservative.
Hey everybody, I agree with the Premier. Ontario's king sized-liar, who on a day to day basis can't be trusted as far as you can nudge him, has it nailed when it comes to sex education in Ontario.
McGuinty wants kids as young as eight years old to start learning about wangs and va-hoo hoos and all the neat things you can do with them. He thinks kids are better off if they're equipped with the knowledge of the potential danger of hand jobs that can lead to humpin' at a very early age.
Before kids leave Junior High they'll know all about sexual orientation, back-door fun and risks of putting somebody's private in your mouth.
It's a lot for a large segment of the population to swallow, pardon the pun, but in the era of the new media it's something has to be done.
Granted, it's too bad it's come to this, but what's the alternative. It's either get to the kids early with accurate information or ban every computer in the province, but of course that isn't possible.
I'll admit, I'm thrilled my kids just missed the computer age when they had young impressionable minds, we didn't have to worry about what they were looking at behind closed doors or what kind of smut they clickin' on when we weren't home.
Now it's a whole new world and kids are being exposed to things that I didn't know existed until I was well into my teens, and that's no exaggeration.
I think the biggest mistake parents can make today is to think their kids are different than everybody else's. I often hear parents claim that their kids are "good kids" and they're pretty sure they don't surf the net for porn or experiment with sex. They're not like that.
Yea sure.
The problem is, in the pre-computer era sexual development was on a different time table. It was on more of a natural schedule. Now, kids are exposed to all kinds of weirdness at a much earlier age which adds to more pressure within their peer groups.
They're tuned in to sexuality at a much earlier age and I can only assume, judging by how kids are reaching puberty earlier, that they're getting those "feelings" at a much earlier age.
Yes, it would be nice to ignore all this and wish things were just like they were in the old days, but that would be naïve and dangerous.
Several so called family groups and Christian groups have already come out against McGuinty's plan claiming that sex education should be left up to the parents. Again, that would be nice in a perfect world, but in today's fast paced world, and with computers playing such a huge part in our lives, it's just not possible, or in many cases, comfortable for parents to take this on.
It's 2010 and it's a new world out there and we have to face up to it. It can be ugly, unsettling and scary, but to put our heads up our hoops and ignore it would definitely be the worst case scenario.
I really can't believe I'm saying this, but here it goes, good job Premier!
I've received several e-mails from readers asking my opinion on the Helena Guergis / Rahim Jaffer situation.
I find it amazing how Liberals are so willing to over-look lies and deceit and proven theft by their own party, only to salivate when it comes to something juicy with the Conservative party.
I guess it goes with the territory. The Prime Minister has done such a good job of running the country, Liberals will leap at any chance to point at something.
Having said that, I'm totally disgusted by the Guergis / Jaffer affair and I think the Prime Minister should have acted sooner. I made this point in a postingfrom March 10.
Give the Prime Minister credit for doing what he did on Friday by firing Guergis from his cabinet, but the optics are bad. It appears he didn't move until his back was against the wall, and there are still some serious unanswered questions regarding Jaffers laughable sentence in an Orangeville court last month.
On the upside the Prime Minister has agreed to get the RCMP involved, and unless you're so paranoid you believe that Stephen Harper is such a control freak that he even controls the RCMP, this should help clarify a few things.
There are two ways to look at this. Give the PM credit for finally acting, or scratch your head about the whole affair since the night Jaffer was charged with drunk driving and drug possession. I'm somewhere in the middle, leaning towards scratching my head.
As for the bizarre behaviour of Guergis and Jaffer over the past few months, I not saying they're connected, but remember, there is one word that can often explain why people have stepped outside their norm and all of a sudden become erratic and careless.
Over the past month or so the subject of racism has been discussed on this website and my spin has been consistent with what I've written on this site for going on four years now.
The word racism has been horribly abused in recent times with the politically correct lunging at any opportunity to use the word to make themselves feel better, and too often it's carelessly used by supposed victims as a means of gaining an advantage.
When this happens it takes away from legitimate cases of racism and clouds its true meaning.
However, if one needs a clear cut example of what racism really is, we have to look no further than our neighbours to the south and witness their vicious debate on health care.
A couple of weeks ago it went to another level when a protest turned extremely nasty in Washington. Several black members of Congress had to endure racial slurs as they entered the Capital building.
Because they support President Obama's health care plan, they were called the "N" word.
That my friends is racism. Pure and simple. Clear and the point. Ugly and mindless. It wasn't all the protesters who reduced the health care debate to this, but enough of them to expose what is really at the basis of the battle that's currently taking place in the good old USA.
Here's the deal. About 30 million Americans wake-up every morning without health care and live on the edge of staying healthy or experiencing financial disaster. Of that 30 million a vast majority are visible minorities.
Therein lies the real dilemma. The extreme right in the States can attempt to paint any pretty picture they want, and anti-health plan protestors can pretend their motives are pure, but it's all bullshit.
They hide behind increased taxes and excessive government, but really its something else.
At the very root, health care in the United States is white against black. It's a frightenly significant portion of the white establishment not wanting to sacrifice anything for the poor, and most of the poor and un-insured are black and brown.
Frankly, I've found the battle in the States to be puzzling. To think that a single person could be prevented from seeing a doctor, or brought to financial ruin because of health care in the world's supposed richest country is shameful. I'd like to think any decent, logical thinking person knows the United States should have more accessible health care, it should be a given, but this is where the racial aspect comes into play.
Those opposed, like those who rant and rave at tea party gatherings, are Americans who are well looked after. They're insured through work or they can afford to finance their own health care. The people their protests are directed at are the disadvantaged and poor, and again, we all know what colour most of them are.
Not white.
When an issue of this magnitude is tackled there is always going to be conflict and arriving at the final literature is always going to be difficult, but there seems to be no co-operation what so ever in the American health care debate. Just cold insistence from the nay-sayers that health care should be left to the free-market system and that things are just fine the way they are.
Well that's ridiculous. Things aren't fine. Too many people are suffering, and too many are being left behind in a country that ironically prides itself in being the world's keeper.
There are legitimate arguments against welfare, hand-outs and expensive social programs, but you can't argue against giving anyone access to a doctor - unless of course you have ulterior motives.
Believe me, I'm no David Miller sympathizer but for the sake of this posting I'll take his side on this one.
Why would anyone think, for even a nanosecond, that Dalton McGuinty would actually keep his word when it comes to funding for the TTC and other rapid transit projects.
This guy might go down as the greatest liar in Canadian political history.
Yesterday when he withdrew, or delayed, or postponed funding for the TTC he simply added another lie to the disgustingly long list of lies he's perpetrated since becoming Premier seven years ago.
The man is horrendously untrustworthy and what makes it even worse, is that he lies with a smile on his face.
According to David Miller, who might be a bad Mayor, but a very decent man, he stood beside McGuinty no less than four times while the Premier announced big financial plans for the Toronto Transit Commission.
And then yesterday, poof, when the budget was announced McGuinty took it all away without an apology, an explanation or even an excuse. He did what he has done far too many times since becoming Premier, he broke a promise. He lied and then walked away with his head held high.
This has nothing to do with whether David Miller would have spent the money wisely, or whether the proposed projects were necessary, it has everything to do with lies and deceit.
Once in a while a politician is forced into backtracking or changing direction or making adjustments, but when it comes to McGuinty all that is swept off the table. With McGuinty it's a way of life. It's how he governs and how he operates.
The saddest part is the electorate of Ontario who had the chance to kick his lying ass out of office a couple of years ago, but chose to stick with the status quo.
And there could be more to this. There are reports that this lie has tentacles that could reach into the Toronto Mayoralty race this fall. McGuinty delayed funding until after the election as a favour to George Smitherman, his former cabinet minister.
Instead of allowing Miller to take credit for improved infrastructure, McGuinty will re-instate it once Smitherman is elected.
It sounds slimy, but remember, it's Dalton McGuinty we're talking about.
Yes, Toronto deserves Rob Ford and I mean it in a good way. After six-plus years of a disastrous socialist Mayor, over-seeing a disastrous socialist city council Toronto has to be saved.
Make no mistake about it, Toronto is still a great city, but not nearly as great as it once was or as great as it could be. I'd like to say that David Miller has been a one-man wrecking crew, but he hasn't been, he's had the help of several wing-nuts who are determined to turn Toronto into some broken down wasteland.
It's interesting how the flakey anti-Ford crowd in Toronto love to talk about some of his notorious rants, and his swearing at a hockey game, and his opposition to stuff like bike lanes, but they conveniently over-look the things they should really be concerned about, like bad budget management at City Hall.
Then again that shouldn't be surprising because Toronto city council is full of socialists and supported by NDPers, and they tend to not care about silly stuff like budgets. They like to spend other people's hard earned money.
Rob Ford is exactly what Toronto needs right now. A big mouth, brash bastard who isn't afraid to tell it like it is and once for all put an end to the ridiculous behaviour that has put Toronto in a deep hole.
As Ford has said more than once, Toronto doesn't have a funding problem, it has a spending problem.
Who cares if Rob Ford is over-weight, who cares if he's disturbingly blunt, who cares if he doesn't have a bleeding heart for every conniving leech with their hand out, what Toronto should care about is that Rob Ford is the exact opposite to what has put Toronto in the mess its currently in.
I've often said, more than any other level of government, a city has to be run like a business and as a businessman David Miller has been an abject failure. Ford on the other has been a rather successful businessman.
It will never fail to amaze me how the socialist element of Toronto thinks. They have city council members who eat muffins and expensive coffee at their expense, they have city council members who spend obscene amounts of money on office supplies, restaurants and cab rides and they have city councilors like ultra-socialist Paula Fletcher who last week screamed at a taxpayer. They have all this to be concerned with, but they choose to look the other way.
They'd rather point at the size of Rob Ford's belly and whine about his bombastic style in order to take away from the message that Toronto really needs to hear. It's time to get rid of your lousy socialist city council and your road to nowhere Mayor.
Ford calls it like it is and has gone a long way in helping the city by exposing a truck load of elected idiots with grotesque spending habits.
It's unpopular with the usual suspects of course, and I can't wait to see what's written and hear what's said by the predictable crew over the next week or so leading up to Ford's official announcement. They'll attack him for everything that doesn't matter and ignore all the valuable attributes he'll bring to the job.
Ford claims there has been a groundswell of support for him and I believe it. Hopefully, once and for all, meat and potatoes people will lift their butts off the couch and get out and vote.
It won't be easy because all the skunks and weasels who like to line up at the trough will organize and do whatever else they have to do to keep the big bad Conservative man out of office.
It should be a battle.
And to think we could have been saved from all this shit if the city had used its collective brain back in 2003 and elected John Tory.
One more note. Spare me the bullshit about me not living in Toronto. I love the city, I grew up in the city, I worked in the city and I care about the city.
Believe me; I'd love a ballot..... because Toronto deserves Rob Ford.
Every citizen of Canada deserves a thorough explanation regarding what came down in an Orangeville courtroom yesterday.
You want to talk about dirty optics, well how about this one. Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer got the deal of his life when drunken driving and cocaine possession charges against him were dropped in a plea bargain. He got with a simple case of careless driving and a five hundred dollar fine.
These things happen all the time. Whether we like to admit it or not, even under our precious system money talks and way too often people with coin walk away from things that the average guy would pay dearly for.
But there's an added dimension to this one. Jaffer is married to a sitting Conservative, junior cabinet minister Helena Guergis. How's that for a shitty smelling rat?
Hey, this may be completely above board and be one of those situations where the police, or the courts or the judge blew it. But we have to know. We have to know without a doubt that this isn't one of those slimy inside jobs that was orchestrated because somebody knew somebody who knew somebody.
This is serious stuff. Drunk driving is a crime against humanity and cocaine possession ranks right up there with the worst of the worst. The Harper government has been huge advocates of get tough legislation and transparency in government so they better put their money where their mouths are on this one.
There is nothing more humiliating for the average citizen than to see the so-called privileged given a different set of rules than the rest of us.
How does drunken driving and cocaine possession turn into a five hundred dollar fine and a simple slap on the wrist? We deserve to know and it should be spelled out clearly and concisely.
If it's a valid outcome then tell us how it was arrived at. Let us know that this isn't just another one of those arranged outcomes to look after the welfare of someone who's attached to a sitting government.
And before all you Harper haters get too carried away we can hang part of this one on the provincial Liberals as well.
What took place yesterday took place in a "provincial" courtroom which means if this is such a travesty of justice the provincial government should look into this and explain it right along with the federal government.
I know what you're thinking. If Patterson's writing about the budget and the anthem it will be another stroke job on his bum chum hero Stephen Harper.
Pretty much.
I've maintained over the past couple of years that I fully endorse the job the Conservatives have done while steering us through a global recession with a minority government. I think the budget is sensible and right for the moment.
Needless to say Stephen Harpers detractors are painting it as a vicious right wing document that attacks societies most vulnerable, but that's par for the course. In their eyes the guy can't do anything right.
Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton did their jobs yesterday. They attempted to poke holes in the budget and came forth with the predictable crap. The problem is neither one of them, but especially the Liberals, can offer up anything better.
Ignatieff represents an interesting problem for the Liberals. While the party enjoys an undeserved popularity across the country, especially in Ontario, Ignatieff is like a large stinky coiler hanging around their necks.
The longer the Liberals keep this lame duck around, the worse it's going to be for them. People talk about Harpers stiffness and lack of personality but what about Ignatieff? Every day he remains as leader, is another chance for Harper to look better.
Canadians in growing numbers are rejecting this guy and eventually it's going to affect the Liberals over-all status. Screw the polls, I really think if an election was held today, the Conservatives would get their majority and Ignatieff would be mostly responsible.
What does this have to do with the budget? This. If Ignatieff thinks the document is so bad, why doesn't he make another move to bring down the government? Why doesn't he roll out something better that the other two parties simply can't resist?
Answer - because he can't, because he's afraid.
And now the anthem. Was it a diversionary tactic, designed to get people talking about something else just before the budget was handed down? Maybe. I know a lot of people would like to think so, but what in the budget was so terrible that Harper would need to go to such great lengths to divert attention?
Why would he want to take attention away from freezing MP's salaries, or the scaling back of big government, or the freeze on foreign aid, or increase in research and development?
Taxes aren't going up; old age pensions aren't being touched our Olympic athletes will continue to be supported.
If anything, I think the anthem issue was raised as a feeble attempt to appease women on the heels of a two week patrotic love-in.
Funny thing is, I don't think enough women give a shit.
One of the most surprising aspects of the Olympics to me was how the Prime Minister came out of it relatively unscathed.
He really seemed to enjoy himself while spending a good portion of the two weeks in Vancouver supporting our athletes.
He was everywhere, at hockey games, the speed skating track, the curling rink and the ski slopes. He always had a smile on his face, was dressed in red and white and seemed genuinely involved.
I kept waiting for the shit to the hit fan. I kept waiting for all the Harper Haters to come out of the woodwork looking for reasons why this was a bad thing, but it really didn't happen.
I expected he'd get roasted for being in Vancouver while Parliament was prorogued, and be accused of watching sports rather than running a government.
But what do know, it seems patriotism ran so deep for a couple of weeks that Liberals laid off and gave the guy a break.
Of course now that the party is over, the Toronto Star is back on the attack.
Maybe it's a generational thing. Since the story broke this morning that TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone has trouble keeping his pecker in this pants, I've heard differing opinions.
The younger set seems to take the attitude that he's only 32 and he's not married, so what the big deal. But remember, this is a generation that's pretty well given up on the political process and all the deceit that's involved.
They're numb to this stuff.
The older crowd, of which I'm a part, looks at it somewhat differently. Commitment comes to the forefront and you correlate commitment with honesty and you hope that's the over-riding quality in anyone let alone someone who wants to run for Mayor of Canada's largest city.
But let's face it, today that's rather naïve. Lately it seems "whoring" politicians are more the rule than the exception. If they'd not screwin' around, they're screwin' the public with bold faced lies and double talk that helps them slither through the next moment.
It should be interesting to see what the future holds for Adam Giambrone. If he's an NDPer, something I don't know, then in the city of Toronto he'll be cut a lot of slack for what he's done. It seems to be extremely important for Toronto to have a socialist Mayor.
If he was Liberal, he'd be cut some slack, but not as much as an NDPer.
If he's Conservative, he's done. He'll be roasted, fried, sliced and diced between now and election time.
According to one of the tunnels that Giambrone has been putting his subway into, Adam thinks David Miller is a God.
At this point, I don't know if that means he's smart or he's stupid.
It was with great sadness that I learned of John Tory's decision "not" to save the city of Toronto.
This is a tragic story really. A man that should have been elected Mayor the first time around, and then the perfect man to relieve the Province of Ontario of the underhanded Dalton McGuinty.
But it was not to be.
In the first case, he was the victim of perpetual stupidity, and in the second case he was the architect of his own demise through the well intentioned full funding proposal.
It's too bad because in the end, we got exactly what we deserve, and we're still paying for it.
Frequent reader Frank the Tank sent me this article. I guess its supposed to have some impact but its mostly ironic. It's a childish column with goofy analogies written by a rim licking Liberal who's actually biting the hand that feeds him.
I'm sure Rational Man would love prorogue the CBC..... with no end date.
The following is another comment that was sent to me, and it's so true. It addresses the bullshit that proroguing isn't democratic and exclusive to Stephen Harper.
"Jean Cretien parogued parliament a total of four times while enjoying three majority governments. One was obviously to avoid the upcoming Adscam report.
Just because the House isn't sitting doesn't mean that the government has stopped working. MP's are in their ridings, the executive is functioning and the buerocracy is still working every day."
NDP At 20, Liberal At 30, Conservative At 40 - Yea, You Grow Up
January 1, 2010 @ 12:40
Check out the crap going on over at Taliban Mike. I really don't know where to begin with this stuff.
We have a rational Prime Minister whose done a solid job of guiding us through these unique times but he's been hampered by what I call the "weasels in the woods". The anti-cons who don't look at results or history, they look at nothing beyond the party and they can't stand losing their grip on their socialist needs and nothing, not even the welfare of their country and/or military will stop them from pouncing on and then eating their own.
The Prime Minister's recent decision to "prorogue" government again, is not only within his right and part of our democratic process, we should be glad it is when you consider the disgusting opposition in this country.
"Prorogueing" saved us from a useless election last year, and this time will help protect our military from getting poked full of holes by the likes of the spineless Jack Layton, and a host of Liberals who can't run a fuckin' party let alone a country.
The "wood weasels" will tell you that the Prime Minister has "prorogued" Parliament to avoid pointed questions about the Afghanee detainee affair. That's partly right, he's done it so turn coat, two faced political pigs can't critisize a brilliant miitary that has been forced into some tough decisions.
Because it's war. Because it sucks. Because that's the way it is.
Don't pretend for a goddman minute that you care about a single Afghani detainee, all you care about is an opportunity to slam your Prime Minister because he's Conservative.
In his naive posting, Taliban Mike actually quotes Liberals and NDP wanks.. like that's supposed hold any water. Like they're going to say anything that even comes close to the real feelings of the average level headed Canadian.
And let me make this abundantly clear.. again. If the roles were reversed in this situatiion I would support the Liberals for putting our country and our militray ahead of politics. That's what you do in the grown up world, you put country first. You don't salivate waiting for the next promised socialist program that somebody else will pay for.
Face it lefties, the world has changed. You're never going to get a government that hands you everything on a silver platter. It's not possible, it's not rational. An NDP government will not feed your family, raise your kids or cut your grass every Thursday. They may promise it, but it will never happen.
Look what this mentality has done for the once great city of Toronto. And Mike is actually proud of his city for shunning the Conservatives?
And if you want to get sucked into another perversely corrupt Liberal government, that's your choice, but remember, we all have to suffer the consequences.
To jump all over the Prime Minister for this latest, completely democratic "prorogue" of government is to ignore the reality of the situation and side with the bad guys.
The Taliban thanks you.... and oh yea, grow up!
And oh yea yea... the PM is dead on with so-called climate change as well.
I guess it's a tough day for all those bleeding heart Liberals who like to link Stephen Harper to George Bush Jr. and make him out to be some kind of a horrible beast.
Harper jumped into bed with Barack Obama in Copenhagen yesterday, and to that I say good on ya.
I've said all along that Stephen Harper is the "rational man" and he proved again over the past few days by not getting sucked into some damaging climate change deal with the world's flakiest countries.
Harper puts jobs, families, the economy and Canada's future ahead of questionable scientific reports about the world heading towards climatic disaster, and when you get right down to it, that's his job.
What can the bleeding hearts say now? Barrack Obama, the world's saviour who represents everything that's right and just in the world is on the same side as our Prime Minister.
The reasoning is simple. Because the countries that are pushing for extreme measures have the least to lose, and before anybody with half a brain jumps into that pool they better make bloody sure it makes sense.
That's why Obama and Harper have taken the route they have by reaching a compromised deal, and to some degree it's actually pushed things ahead faster. China and India jumped on board and will sign the deal.
There's still a long way to go, but It's a sensible beginning.
I spent an hour or so watching CBC Newsworld mid-day yesterday and by the end of it I had a pretty good idea what it must be like to have H1N1, I wanted to puke all over the floor.
I have no idea who the CBC weasel was who was hosting, and I can't even remember the name of the two NDP defense critics who were spewing typical NDP crap, what I do know as that all three should be ashamed of themselves.
Nothing but political opportunism from the politicians, and yet another nauseating example of the CBC being used as an anti-Con tool that you and I have to pay for.
Let me put it bluntly.
Anyone who chooses to chase after the current government and attempt to pin them to the wall through this so called Afghan detainee issue might as well spit in the face of the closest soldier, stomp on the Canadian flag and then bugger off to whatever fantasy land they want to live in.
It's amazing that we could be at war, in a god forsaken hell hole, and the priority for some, becomes an attack on the government over the alleged, supposed or casual torturing of "some" Afghan detainees.
War is wrong, torture is wrong and killing is wrong, but sometimes it happens and when it does you have to keep perspective and support your side without flying off the handle and salivating at any opportunity to make somebody look bad, in this case, the sitting government which has to walk a thin line between what's right and what's reality.
I watched a few other newscasts last night and the story was buried with just a passing update. It got the coverage it deserved.
But the CBC is like Tiger Woods on a blonde going out of their way parade whoever they can through their over-priced, over-staffed studios to attack anything Conservative.
I finally had to turn it off because I was so disgusted.
I thought for a moment, who are these people, these guys, these assholes that can actually go on television and attempt to use a difficult situation as a way of improving the status of their broken down useless political party.
As for the CBC stiff sitting behind the desk, I don't even want to think about him other than to wish I was part of the government so I can run his ass off the set and out onto Front St. (along with about two thousand others)
Don't they know they're playing right into the hands of the Taliban propaganda machine, don't they realize they're actually empowering the enemy?
"Let's not pretend this detainee affair is anything but deflection and distraction from the core issue, defeating the enemy, and identify it for what it truly represents: rank political opportunism intended to gain a few votes in the next election in Canada."
I've received several e-mails from the predictable group wondering why I haven't had anything more to say about the so called Afghani scandal. You know, all the bullshit about Afghan detainees being abused after being handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan police.
I haven't had anything more to say about it, because I really don't think it deserves a response.
This has turned into a disgusting political field day for the Liberals and NDP, even though they're well aware that war sucks. It's dirty and abusive and unfair and criticism of our side on any level is nothing short of slimy.
It's a way to take something that's relatively insignificant in the big picture and turn it into a slam against the Conservatives... and believe me, I'd say the same thing if the roles were reversed. You see, I put our country and our troops first.
A headline in today's Toronto Star makes we want to puke. "Afghan beaten by police was in Canadian custody: top general"
Read it if you want, but it changes nothing. Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk said not only was it known Afghan police abused prisoners but that one in particular had been handed over by Canadian troops.
That's what it comes down to, "one in particular." Natynczyk is drawing from recent information he got over the past 24 hours, but it still shouldn't be considered a condemnation of our soldiers or the government.
"One in particular" shouldn't cause a massive shit fit that only serves to criticize people who are in a tough position to make decisions and protect the interests of our soldiers and their reputation.
"One in particular"
Not to be cold, but when your get right down to it how in the hell, in times of war, with so much going on over there, should anyone on "our side" be raked across the coals for something that happened to "one in particular."
It's interesting to read some of the comments that have been attached to today's story in the Star. I'm surprised they haven't been deleted.
How about this one!
"God forbid they are beaten with newspapers by Afghanistan soldiers when in their custody. Most of them would gladly bomb your home, or your child's school if given half a chance. And you Liberal sheep insist on making this a political story! Let's remember the Liberal government was in power when this all started, and some of what you cry about so loudly took place under their watch. If you have personal feelings to express, do so. That is all of our rights. But stop this infantile habit of trying to turn everything into a political game."
And this one says it all.
"I do not know one person who cares about this. Not once have I heard anyone bring it up at work or at the coffee shop."
Bingo. This is a non-story that has been perpetrated by a Liberal media that is grasping at straws because just about everything else the sitting government has done has sat well with Canadians.
Ignatieff and Layton and the Toronto Star and everybody else who wants to turn this into something it isn't should be ashamed of themselves.
It's war. It's tough and miserable and crazy at times. To turn "one in particular" into some national inquiry is pathetic. The attempts by some to turn this into a way to get at Stephen Harper is downright creepy.
I'm done with this story because there's nothing else to say, other than I'm embarrassed for those who deserve better.
PORT OF SPAIN-Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a partisan shot at his opposition critics while touring the HMCS Quebec in Trinidad-Tobago Sunday.
"Let me just say this: living as we do, in a time when some in the political arena do not hesitate before throwing the most serious of allegations at our men and women in uniform, based on the most flimsy of evidence, remember that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are proud of you and stand behind you, and I am proud of you, and I stand beside you."
That just about says it all.
Meanwhile, the NDP announced Sunday it will use its "opposition day" in the Commons on Tuesday to hold a vote on the need for an inquiry.
"If the Toronto elites had been more in tune, humble and realist, Stéphane would have been willing to take all the time and absord all the hits needed to rebuild the party."
Stephane Dion must be one proud fella today. His wife, who obviously wears the pants in the house lost her mind on Saturday and posted a facebook attack on Michael Ignatieff.
Granted, Ignatieff is a class "A" stooge in his own right, but Dion's wife, who goes by the name Janine Krieber wrote a scathing piece on Ignatieff's underhanded means of grabbing control of the party, she criticized his decision not to back the coalition and now claims the party is in total disarray.
Come again?
Listen lady, the party was in disarray before Ignatieff took control and a lot of it had to do with your limp dick husband who we'll now refer to as Mr. Krieber.
It wasn't Ignatieff who led the Liberals to defeat in the last election and it wasn't Ignatieff who was willing to jump into bed with the vile Jack Layton and it wasn't Ignatieff who produced that Mickey Mouse home-made cell phone video to announce plans for the coalition.
It was your husband, Mr. Krieber.
I love this crap. What Canada needs is a Liberal party in disarray so we can get on with the important business of electing a majority Conservative government.
As a matter of fact, that's why the Liberals are in such disarray and even becoming more disarrayed - they simply can't deal with the straight forward, solid job that Stephen Harper is doing leading this country.
And again, before you all start hootin' and hollerin' let me repeat, as a rule, I'm not partisan. I was forced into it by the ridiculous under-handed corrupt Liberal government that ruled this country for much too long through the 90's and early 2000's, and the liar that's screwin' up Ontario hasn't helped either.
Yea, Stephan Dion-Krieber must be real proud this morning. It's always a proud moment when your wife proves she has bigger balls than you do!
Here's a message to all of the bleeding heart Liberals who are thoroughly enjoying the bullshit focus that's been placed upon the Harper government this week.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Right off the top lets establish this, Taliban forces in Afghanistan long ago adopted a tactic of falsely accusing Coalition troops of mistreating detainees so this is nothing new.
Other countries like Australia have dealt with it, but to their credit have chosen to ignore it and stand behind the reputation of their military.
I'm embarrassed for Canada. I'm embarrassed that a small minority of anti-cons, which includes significant members of the media, have been able to take this non-story and not only attempt to embarrass a government, but also embarrass our military.
Even if the stories were true, I have a feeling that most Canadians, in fact the vast majority, feel the way I do. As cold and hard as it sounds we can't take responsibility for the treatment of detainees once they're handed over to Afghani authorities because we're not capable of preventing it.
Oh yea, it's easy for some people to say we are, but it would be far too much to ask.
Remember this isn't just an issue of innocents being tortured; this is an issue of torture itself. According to the critics, even convicted Taliban shouldn't be handed over if we think there's a chance they'll be tortured.
In other words our military should somehow come up with a system of figuring out whose guilty and who's innocent and then once they've determined that, figure out who will get tortured and who won't, and once they've determined that, find a place for those who might be.
It's ridiculous and I'm sure deep down, most of the assholes that stood up the House of Commons today and demanded answers from the Prime Minister know it is.
But it represents a chance for a dying Liberal party to grab at something, a chance for a pathetic NDP party to continue their campaign of smearing our military and a chance for Harper haters to lash out.
Was the Prime Minister aware that some detainees had allegedly been tortured? So what if he was!
Our country is at war and war isn't pretty and shit happens and I go back to what I said earlier, given the realities facing our military (a frustrating war in a shit hole of a country) what exactly are they supposed to do?
The Prime Minister, I'm sure, appreciates the situation and rather than act on here-say, unsubstantiated reports and the word of the fuckin' Taliban decided to back the military and protect their reputation through extremely difficult circumstances.
I went for a physical a few weeks ago and was given a PSA test. Today I received a $30.00 bill for for it.
Thirty dollars is no big deal, but in his 2007 election campaign Dalton McGuinty promised to cover the cost of Prostate Specific Antigen tests for men 50 years of age and older in the interest of early detection.
However, in December 2008, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced in a bulletin that it will only cover the cost "when a man has been diagnosed with" or "when a health care practitioner suspects prostate cancer."
So much for the early detection promise. If you voted for the Liar, he got you to bend over and he rammed it up your ass.
Please note, this skunk had no first hand proof of torture, but beyond that, somebody should tell his guy war is war and it gets ugly at times. Canadian soldiers did what they were supposed to do, hand over prisoners to Afghan authorities - what happened after that was out of our hands.
We can attempt to change a government, but we can't change a culture.
Ask some of the families of killed Canadian soldiers what they think of this story and I'm sure you'd get an ear full.
Shame of the Toronto Star for making a big deal of this, and shame on the sinking Liberals for jumping all over it.
How dare we critisize our military on any level for this, and kudos to the Harper government for putting the reputation of our soldiers and the horrible job they have to do, above what a few suck holes think.
This story is so pathetic it's almost funny. The Liberals are howlin' over a flyer distributed by the Conservatives, in which allegedly paints them as anti-semitic.
Wow. The Liberals have spent most of the past two decades going out of their way to paint Conservatives as intolerant red neck yahoos - unfounded of course - and now they're squakin' over this?
How fortunate of the Liberals to have a newspaper like the Toronto Star in their back-pockets to defend them at any cost.
*note to Liberals - I know what you're thinking, I defend the Conservatives at any cost, which is not completely fair.
Somebody has to offer some balance and I don't defend the Conservatives unless it makes sense. Reality is, based on most of the shit written in the Star or spouted by blind Liberals, its not hard to make sense.
I'm sure there will be a lot of Liberals who'll be quick to point the finger at the federal Conservatives for the HST pain that is about to be inflicted on the people of Ontario, but remember this, the final decision to bring the tax grab to this province was that of Dalton McGuinty.
The same Dalton McGuinty that vowed in the last provincial election that there would be no new tax increases. The same Dalton McGuinty who's quick to blame Stephen Harper for anything that goes wrong in the province.
How interesting, that this professional liar was so quick to embrace the HST after it became quite apparent that his failure as Premier had plunged the province into staggering debt and he desperately needed the money.
It was but one short year ago that Dalton McGuinty rejected the idea of adopting the HST saying it was wrong for Ontario.
If the McGuinty legacy will reveal anything it will be this - in a profession that's full of liars, he is and will always will be... unrivaled.
I have a 407 transponder, in fact I have two. This despite the fact I find the pricing and business practices of the 407 to be offensive.
But it's a choice I've made; convenience over principle.
I'm sure you've read recent stories about the highway and the billing screw-ups that have left hundreds deep in the hole and with no where to turn when it comes time to get their registration renewal. It's downright maddening.
A deal struck with the Harris government back in the early 2000's totally screwed the drivers of Ontario and crazy as it seems to a bunch of you, I'm willing to admit it. Harris did a lot of good for the province, a lot of good that Dalton McGuinty is still taking credit for, but the 407 deal was bad, very bad.
Ontarians are left with a convenient highway that will be operated by a consortium for the next 99 years. They want to make lots of money, and to their credit, when it came time to do the deal with Harris; they got everything they wanted and more. The result is thousands of stories of 407 billing problems that have left people owing perverted amounts of money and unable to get their new license stickers until they pay up.
But here's the deal people, I have the feeling that there is more to these stories than a lot of so-called victims are willing to reveal and when it gets right down to it, there is a way that all Ontarians can rebel against the 407.
Stop using it.
I know this doesn't help those who are still with massive bills and no one to help them, but going forward if you don't like the pricing or you're afraid that one day you might become a victim, stop using the bloody highway.
The deal that the 407 got with the province has proven to be iron clad with no loop-holes or options, so the best advice to anyone who's been screwed by the consortium, or those who are afraid they might be screwed in the future is to turn in your transponder and don't use the highway. In other words, the citizens of the Province of Ontario should put the consortium out of business. Stay off the road, dry up the funds and watch them walk away. It's the only way.
I know what you're thinking. Fat chance.
The same advice has been given to Toronto Maple Leaf fans over the years - stop going to games and maybe things will turn around, but for some reason when it comes to getting down and dirty with protests, we tend to turn around bend over and take it up the ass.
I don't plan on handing by transponders in. I've got an account and any charges immediately go onto my credit card so I don't seen how I could run into any billing problems.
I think the road is too expensive, I think the deal they got with the province is too sweet and I don't agree that the consortium should be able to prevent Ontarians from renewing their registration.
But I find the highway to be luxuriously convenient and when I really need it, I appreciate it and I'm willing to pay for the convenience.
If you are against the Pan American Games coming to Southern Ontario, and would like to see them cancelled, click on the discuss button and leave your feelings.
The 1976 Winter Olympics were originally awarded to Denver in May 1970, but a 300 percent rise in costs led to Colorado voters' rejection on November 7, 1972 of a $5 million bond issue to finance the games with public funds.
Denver officially withdrew on November 15 and the games were awarded to Innsbruck.
John Tory will have his new career as a radio star solidified today when George Smitherman announces his plans to run for Mayor of Toronto.
With Smitherman in the race, Tory doesn't stand a chance.
Let's see, given the recent voting history of the city of Toronto, who stands the better chance of becoming Mayor, a gay Liberal or a Conservative businessman? You get the idea.
John Tory would be a great Mayor for Toronto. He'd be the right guy at the right time but his big business profile is too repulsive to far too many. He'd be the best man to clean up the mess created by David Miller, but that won't be an issue in good old T.O.
The gay Liberal thing will carry too much weight. The only thing that could be better in Toronto would be gay and NDP.
Qualifier - CanadianThinker.com has no problem with a gay Mayor what so ever so if you're getting all revved up and anxious to call me something that deals with a trailer park, relax.
George Smitherman may turn out to be the best mayor the city of Toronto has ever had, or he may turn out to be the second worst, but it will have nothing to do with his sexual preference.
However his sexual preference will definitely play a part in the minds of some voters and the Liberal part won't hurt either. It's almost a Barack Obama scenario.
Regardless of his platform, experience, history or the campaign he runs, Smitherman will get thousands of votes based solely on what he represents non politcally and there will be a legion of people working for him from that angle.
I'm willing to bet this election will set a record for voter turnout.
This is where I'm supposed to say "not that there's anything wrong with that." but I just can't. It's not right. Ultimately whoever becomes Mayor should be elected on merit.
The saving grace - Smitherman can't help but do a better job than David Miller
My complete feelings on Southern Ontario acquiring the 2015 Pan American Games are in a posting from yesterday, but today I just had to add this.
Yesterday's celebration in Guadalajara, Mexico and a so-called victory party in Toronto were nothing more than shameless displays of self- interest.
There is absolutely nothing for the average citizen of this province to be excited about.
The Pan American Games are second rate at best and will do nothing but end up costing the taxpayers of this province tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds. Any infrastructure benefits to our community will most assuredly come at a staggering price.
We don't have the proper government officials in place at this time to pull this off, and given the voting habits of Torontonians that's not about to change any time soon. And you watch, the unions are going to have a field day with this.
Deadlines mean threats, so expect them to fly. Cost over-runs will be the legacy of these games and the people responsible for them will walk away clean, which brings me back to my original point.
Dalton McGuinty and David Miller will not be around when the games happen, but given their dismal popularity they went after these games to establish a short term legacy and take attention away from the horrific damage they have done to both Toronto and Ontario.
They used these Games, and will use your tax dollars to prop themselves up over the remaining months of their respective regimes and then hope they've been forgotten when the depth of the damage becomes known.
As for anyone else who was hootin' and hollerin' yesterday, you can bet they too have a self interest in the Pan American Games coming to Toronto, be it through cushy jobs or inside contracts.
Those not attached to the games represent a completely different story. Not only do the vast majority have no idea what the Pan American Games are, they don't care about them and probably can't figure out what the hoopla is about.
They don't have a legacy to create or their hands in somebody else's pocket. They're just going to be left with the bills.
I defy anyone who reads this blog, without googling it, to name one great moment from the Pan American Games. Give me a freakin' break.
It couldn't be more perfect. The city of Toronto took a giant step towards the toilet today and leading the charge was David Miller and Dalton McGuinty.
That just about says it all. Arguably the two worst politicians in the history of their jurisdictions are front and centre as Toronto gets sucked into hosting something called the Pan American Games.
I challenge every reader of this blog to do something this weekend. When you're out and about, ask your friends and acquaintances what the Pan American Games are and I bet the vast majority will have no idea.
This is so sad it's almost funny and it will provide great fodder for those who look upon Toronto as loserville. The city has lost two Olympic bids (thank goodness) but now we're supposed to get a warm one over winning the Pan American Games?
Are you kidding me? The competition was Bogotá, Columbia and Lima, Peru. If anything, the organizers of this farce are probably chuckling behind closed doors laughing at the suckers from the Great White North who took the bait hook line and sinker.
We've heard the usual bullshit through this. It will create jobs, improve the infrastructure of Southern Ontario and put the spotlight on Toronto for two weeks in the summer of 2015, but the most important detail of today's announcement was this - The province of Ontario will cover any deficits.
The games are still six years away and already provisions are being made to cover deficits, and you can bet your ass there will be a deep one. They're having trouble selling tickets for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver from cryin' out loud, what makes anyone think they'll be able to sell tickets to the Pan American Games in Toronto.
This is going to be ugly people and the most nauseating part is that both Miller and McGuinty will be long gone long after the citizens of Ontario will be paying for this grotesque waste of time.
There they were in Guadalajara, Mexico today with big smiles on their faces, hands raised in the air desperately hoping that the flashing cameras would somehow make them look like heroes in the eyes of those who elected them but you know they were also comfortable in the fact that they'll never have to deal with the dire consequences of today's decision.
They will be long gone.
David Miller has done a remarkably rotten job of running the city of Toronto and he'll leave as Mayor next year with the city having barely a pot to piss in, while McGuinty has plunged the province into dizzying heights of debt - and these are the two guys that thought this would be a good idea.
It stinks from one end to the other and highlights the need for the people of Toronto and Ontario to wake up and correct the mistakes they've made in the last few elections.
They've put their faith in a socialist Mayor and bold faced liar Premier and look where it's gotten them.
Paying for the Pan American Games.
And of course I have to address the absence of the Prime Minister at today's announcment in Mexico, he was the only head of state not to be there.
Good for him. The rational man probably knows this is a big mistake and he had better things to do than be part of a predictable disaster so he sent Sports Minister Gary Lunn.
Second hand representation for a second rate event.
Here's another reason I like Stephen Harper. He's a down to earth guy who likes to fuck with people the odd time, especially the media; a media that rarely gives the man a break.
If anybody out there actually thinks the Prime Minister "doesn't" watch Canadian news they're just as stupid as the millions who live around Toronto and refuse to vote for the guy even though he's by far the best choice for the country.
It's the big story in the news this morning and of course the Toronto Star and the CBC are all over it.
They like to portray the man as some kind of a dim-wit who's got his head stuffed up his ass who has no idea what's going in the very country he rules. But really, let's get serious. Do you really think the Prime Minister of this country doesn't watch Canadian news?
Stevie boy is probably behind closed doors this morning laughin' his bag off watching the reaction of his detractors. They went for the bait hook, line and sinker. Not only that, but Harper didn't say he doesn't "read" Canadian news, he simply said he doesn't normally watch it.
I don't believe him but I sure do admire him for having the balls to have some fun with the legion of dink-brains whose sole purpose is to slam him every chance they get.
It happens all the time in politics, people call for the resignation of politicians at the drop of a hat. It becomes so common place that you tune it out most of the time.
However, every so often something happens that genuinely should result in the resignation of a politician, and that's where we are right now.
The e-health scandal in Ontario is of paramount proportions, so much so that it should go right to the top. Dalton McGuinty should resign.
Forget about shuffling his cabinet or asking for the resignation of those below him, on this one the Premier should take the fall. A one billion dollar boondoggle with scandal attached to it should target the big guy, the boss, the guy in charge.
Please read the dirty details. I've attached the Toronto Star story. Not even this liberal rag can lessen the blow of what the McGuinty government has cost Ontarians. You and I have to pay for this while Liberal insiders have become rich because of it.
The crazy thing is, the Teflon man will survive this. In Ontario, being a Liberal politician gives you a decided advantage over the rest of the pack simply because you're Liberal, and for some reason, it's even cushier for McGuinty.
His hundreds of lies and his despicably bad governing shoots right over the heads of a hopeless electorate that gives this guy a free pass on just about every issue.
But the buck should really stop here. It doesn't matter if McGuinty knew about this or not. He should have, but even if he didn't, it happened under his watch and for that, he should take full responsibility.
If he was any kind of person, if he truly cared for this province and the people who live in it, he would walk away today.
But he won't. Why would he? Anyone who can lie and deceive with the craft of this man certainly doesn't have the personal integrity to take responsibility. He'll pass the buck, and deflect the heat.
Our Prime Minister attended a charity gala for the National Arts Centre last night and took the stage to sing a Beatles song, and it went over wonderfully with the audience.
Of course the Toronto Star couldn't let it lie, they've accused him of flip-flopping on the issue of attending flashy black tie galas and making this appearance only to set up the four by-elections he will call today.
Harper said last year that didn't agree with tax subsidized galas because they didn't resonate with Canadians which is true. Problem is, last nights gala was a charity event organized by his wife to squeeze money out of rich people for the NAC.
But that's the good old Toronto Star for you. However I'm sure several people who visit this website will find their own problems with what the PM did last night.
Here I'll help you out. Harper should have sang a song by a Canadian artist, I'm sure we're gonna hear that one as ridiculous as it is.
But please, don't use Harper's reduced funding for the arts in Canada, because that was a good move. There was way too much waste going on. HIs atttitude towards government funding for the arts will probably turn into more of these charity events, and that's the way it should be.
Stephen Harper - The Rational Man - The right man at the right time for Canada.
It comes with no surprise that Brampton - Springdale MP Ruby Dhalla introduced a private members bill in the spring that wants to create a short cut for immigrant seniors.
Bill c-428 is a desperate attempt to hold on to her Brampton seat should there be an election called in the coming months.
The bill calls for immigrant seniors to become eligible for Old Age Security after only three years in the country instead of the present requirement of ten tears
After Dhalla's nanny problems a while back, she knows she's on shaky ground in her Brampton riding even though it's heavily populated with people of her South Asian heritage.
Problem is, whoever runs for the Conservatives in Brampton - Springdale in the next election will also be South Asian so the election could actually be fought on issues and not nationality.
Dhalla's introduction of Bill c-428 is a shameless attempt to survive in Parliament. Private members bills rarely pass and this probably won't but that's part of Dhalla's scheme.
Introduce the Bill, have it rejected and then accuse the Conservatives of being racists, and hope the "R" word remains ingrained in minds of South Asian voters in Brampton when the next election rolls around.
This wouldn't be unique. Liberals have been painting a picture of Conservatives being intolerant for years, even though it was under the Mulroney government that more immigrants came into the country than any other Liberal government before him. Even Trudeau's. Look it up.
Dhalla is hoping if the Conservatives ignore Bill c-428 it will stick to whoever Conservative runs against her, even if they're South Asian.
But there's one problem with this desperate plan and something that Dhalla chooses to ignore. The South Asian population is a rather proud group of people and they don't really care to have someone like Dhalla bring criticism upon them.
They know that the very suggestion of such a Bill won't sit well with other Canadians, or other immigrants who had to wait the ten years. In other words, they won't care for the attention it brings, especially when it has little or no chance of passing.
I live in the riding of Brampton - Springdale and I don't really care for Ruby Dhalla, but it has very little to do with her being a Liberal. She's just a bad politician and a bad representative.
On several occasions I've called her office and not once has she had the consideration to call me back. Not once.
Of course if I wanted to play handball against the curb I could claim that she probably sees my last name and figures guys named Patterson don't matter in her riding, but that would be leaning on the "R" word and you know I don't like that.
No, I think she hasn't called me back because up until nanny-gate she was a slam dunk in Brampton - Springdale. She's of South Asian heritage and she's a Liberal, and most immigrants are still buying into the bullshit stories of how Pierre Trudeau was their messiah.
Hopefully, in Brampton - Springdale that will change.
"While stitching a wound on the hand of a old farmer, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually, the topic got around to Ignatieff and his bid to be the PM of Canada.
The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, he's a 'Post Turtle'.
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'Post Turtle' was.
The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'Post Turtle'.
The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, you know he doesn't belong up there, you know he doesn't know what to do while he's up there and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass moron put him there to begin with."
Just when there seems to be no hope for this country politically, a ray a sunshine washes across the land.
It seems that Michael Ignatieff's latest stab at power has knocked him on his ass.
A new Angus Reid Strategies/Toronto Star poll has found that Canadians much prefer the sitting Prime Minister to the power hungry Liberal who loves himself more than any other person on earth.
Ignatieff's feeble attempt at winning over the Canadian public with misguided television ads that claim "we can do better" have left Canadians thinking just that, Ignatieff and the Liberals CAN do better, in fact a hell of a lot better than they've been doing.
By the way, who was the wizard who came up with that slogan? "We can do better" When the brains that be sat in a Liberal strategy room and came up with it, didn't anybody think it might be taken the wrong way?
Wow. And they want to run the country?
Meanwhile, it seems that Canadians are coming around to reality, the reality that Prime Minister Harper has done a pretty good job steering this country through a global recession and when compared to the "Power Prick" he's head and shoulders the best man.
The Angus Reid Strategies/Toronto Star poll found that Canadians see Harper as better suited than Ignatieff to tackle the economy (33 per cent to 23 per cent), health care (23 to 16) and crime (38 to 12).
The poll also found that 27 per cent of Canadians favoured Harper as prime minister, compared to 16 per cent for Ignatieff and 12 per cent for NDP Leader Jack Layton.
All of these are indicators that Harper could be moving into majority territory if an election was held in the near future.
What a wonderful day for the city of Toronto. David Miller, the one man wrecking crew of a Canada's greatest city has announced he will not run for a third term.
Miller has sited family reasons for making this decision, and for that we must respect him, but at the same time, let's not kid ourselves, he's well aware of the damage he's done and the huge hole he's created for the city.
He's not coming back because he knows the city is well beyond any hope of recovering from the damage he has done in any short time period.
Miller says he stand behind his record, but it's a record that would get nowhere near by turn-table. It doesn't matter what aspect of the city you look at, it's worse off now than it was when he took over.
Financially, infrastructure, transit, cleanliness and ironically, socially the city is a freakin' mess compared to what he inherited from every lefties favourite whipping boy Mel Lastman.
Hopefully the voters of Toronto have learned their lesson and will opt for a businessman as their next Mayor. More than any other level of government a city has to be run like a business and you need the appropriate person in control.
What a shame that John Tory lost to Miller back in 2003. Toronto could have been saved from all of this and undoubtedly been in much better shape than it is today.
But that was then, and this is now and looking forward Toronto has been saved from any more David Miller, arguably the worst Mayor in the city's history.
Hopefully CFRB will be in the market for a new afternoon man in the coming months.
There really is no hope for this province or the country for that matter as long as the city of Toronto continues to tolerate lies, corruption and tax grabs.
Sad that the mindless, tunnel vision electorate of Toronto refuses to even consider a Tory candidate despite the abuse they continuously receive at the hands of the Liberals.
It's downright masochistic. Dalton McGuinty has been a miserable failure for Ontario as a manager. Forget the long list of lies and deceit and tax grabs, McGuinty has exposed himself as your stereotypical good politician which often translates into a bad person.
And make no mistake about it, someone who's tied to as many lies as Dalton McGuinty can't be a good person.
For that reason, the people of St. Paul should be ashamed of themselves this morning.
You had the opportunity to send a big message last night but you refused. It was only a by-election; the government wasn't going to change so you had the chance to make a statement, but your blind hatred of anything Conservative and your systemic Liberal ways have wasted an opportunity.
There are a lot of no-minds licking their lips today. Especially in the GTA, where we have a passion to be pushed around by Liberals and tolerate anything they do based solely of the fact that they aren't Conservatives. These are the same people, who actually think that Michael Ignatieff isn't power hungry.
Parliament resumes today and Ignatieff heads back to the Capital with one thing in mind and one thing only. He wants to become Prime Minister.
I find this fascinating. The countries Harper-Haters, most of who reside in and around Toronto have always accused the Prime Minister of being a power-hungry mad-man. An insensitive slime ball who cares about nothing but himself.
Well sorry folks, but you ain't seen nothin yet. With the economy turning around, and the country doing quite nicely thank-you, Ignatieff has comes to the conclusion that if his master-plan of leaving the United States after thirty some-odd years and wrestling power as Liberal leader and then becoming Prime Minister is going to happen, he better do it before things get too much better.
After all, even Liberals might start to realize that all things considered the Stephen Harper has done a pretty good job.
Iginatieff comes back to Ottawa today with only one person in mind. Michael Ignatieff.
If he cared about anyone else he wouldn't be ready to throw the country into yet another election that will cost over 300 million dollars. Michael Ignatieff wants to become Prime Minister and he doesn't give a shit how it happens or how much it will cost.
This has nothing to do with the economy and virtually nothing to do with any other issue because stacked up against the rest of the world, Canada is cruisin' along just fine, and that scares the daylights out of Michael Ignatieff.
He wants the big job and right now and he knows that if he can fool enough people outside of the GTA he can win an election........ and then feed off the good work of Stephen Harper.
Much like Dalton McGuinty continues to feed off the bold decisions of Mike Harris.
If we're spared the futile exercise of another election this week, ironically it will be the doing of NDP leader Jack Layton.
Jack says if the Conservatives come around and adopt a couple of his ideas this week then he'll support them in any non confidence vote on Friday.
It's typical of Jack. In his position as leader of the number four part in the country he loves minority governments because it allows him to exercise the type of power he could never earn by winning an election.
But there's more to this one. Jack doesn't want an election call this week because he deathly afraid of what the election results may be. There's no doubt that the NDP will finish fourth again, what scares Jack is how badly they'll finish fourth.
Jack Layton's best-before date is grossly over-due and he knows if an election his held this fall the NDP could suffer their worst showing in history. He's done as leader of this party but he just won't admit, and he definitely doesn't want proof through an election.
There's no doubt that from a political stand-point Jack Layton would love to see the end of Stephen Harper. Harper stands for everything that Jack supposedly hates and Layton would love to put the Conservatives under his heel and crush them.
I haven't written about politics or religion in some time but I thought I would today because they collide in the Toronto Star.
It's another feeble attack on our Prime Minister.
The headline reads, "PM ate the wafer, aide says" - Video appears to show prime minister taking but not consuming communion host at LeBlanc funeral.
Read the story and then appreciate how goddamned ridiculous the Star's Harper bashing has become. If anything, it tells me the Prime Minister must be doing a pretty good job if this is all they have to go after him for.
But all that aside, what bothers me the most is that in 2009 we're still stuck in the dark ages of bogus religious practices like eating wafers that symbolize the body and blood of Christ.
Are you kidding me?
The Toronto Star actually took the time to print this shit? There are actually Catholics who are offended by the fact the Prime Minister accepted communion when he's a Protestant? There are Harper haters who are going to use a goofy church biscuit to piss all over the guy?
Help me please.
Here are the words of Neil MacCarthy, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Toronto, explaining that Harper should not have accepted the communion given that he isn't Roman Catholic.
"In the Roman Catholic faith we say that Roman Catholics are the only ones who should present themselves for communion because we believe they are actually consuming the body and blood of Jesus Christ."
Yea, and the cow jumped over the fuckin' moon just before Jack and Jill went up the hill.
Yes I know, some people might argue that their issue with the Prime Minister is that his people claim he ate the wafer even though there's no evidence that he did, but come on people, who gives a flyin' crap. If you want to give anything, give the guy a break.
We're talking about a religion that he's not part of and if he took the wafer/cracker or whatever the hell it is by mistake and didn't end up eating it, so bloody what.
Think about it, the body and blood of Christ? We're suppposed to take this stuff seriously? It's enough to make me howl in the 21st century.
But hey, no problem, if you still believe in it, good on ya. If it makes you feel better and you really think it has some basis, cool. Sorry if this offends anyone, but I have as much right to reject this nonsense as you do to embrace it.
Something like this should never be used to create a major incident with the sole purpose of embarrassing somebody.
It's a cracker for Christ's sake.
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
I have always been vehemently opposed to taxpayer money being used to finance professional sport but this situation is different.
Word is that Jim Basillie, who put up a quarter billion dollars of his own money to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, would like the federal and provincial governments to provide the 130 million dollars needed to upgrade Copps Coliseum.
Believe me, if this was Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver I'd be dead against it. I wouldn't like it if it were Edmonton, Calgary or Winnipeg either.
Why should taxpayers pay for what amounts to the factory for a multi-million dollar business - especially a place for grown men to play a kids game at exorbitant amounts of money.
But again, this situation is different. This is Hamilton and if any city in Canada deserves a break, it's Steeltown, a struggling city with fabulous people that's in the midst of an industrial revolution. As the steel industry dies in Hamilton, this feisty little city is scrambling to re-invent itself and re-furbishing Copps to NHL standards is something that would help immensely.
Yes, Jim Balsillie is a billionaire and he could probably afford to re-furbish Copps himself, but he's already done his part by swooping in and grabbing a team in a league that otherwise wouldn't dream of coming to Hamilton.
A re-furbished Copps Coliseum, with at least 41 NHL dates a year would do wonders for downtown Hamilton.
Up until now, Copps has been somewhat of a lame duck because although it was built with the NHL in mind, it got screwed over time and time again and there's never been a consistent bona fide attraction operating out of the building.
An NHL team would be different. It would give the city a new attitude and I'm sure restaurants, bars and condos would be soon to follow.
In a lot of cases, most cases in fact, tax money being thrown at pro sports is a bad deal for the taxpayer, but in Hamilton it would be a clear cut investment. But most of all, it would be a reward for the great people of Hamilton, hard working and proud people who've played second fiddle to Toronto and the surrounding area far too long.
They've been slapped around by the NHL far too many times as well, so if Balsillie manages to pull this off and actually win control of the Coyotes it's the least we could do for the Hammer.
Just when I thought I might be able to warm up to this Michael Ignatieff guy he exposes himself as weakling.
Ignatieff put politics ahead of his country last night by sending a representative to the perverted Tamil protest on the Gardiner Expressway with the promise that the Liberals would raise the issue in Parliament.
I don't know what's worse, the extremely selfish Tamil protest, or that Ignatieff is giving in to these idiots.
That's what he did.
The minute that pack of assholes took control of the Gardiner yesterday the situation went to another level. There should have been absolutely no negotiation, only force.
Ignatieff may think he looks like a hero to this community and it's a way of grabbing some ethic vote, but what he did was slap every law abiding Canadian in the face yesterday.
By sending a representative to the Gardiner Expressway with a promise of action, he immediately gave the Tamil protest a sense of accomplishment.
These selfish bastards, many of who appeared to by young and rowdy and probably unable to explain what's going on in Sri Lanka, walked away last night having won something they were after and it should never have gotten to that point.
What took place in the streets of Toronto yesterday was anarchy. The Tamils took control of a major artery and ignored police and to compound the matter they paid no mind to the safety of all other Torontonians.
The Gardiner was blocked which caused all the major internal streets to be plugged, which meant regular movement and more importantly emergency vehicles were crippled.
If you had to be rushed to a hospital last night, it meant nothing in the minds of the Tamil protesters. All they cared about was themselves and something that is happening half a world away.
Now tell me, why should any of give a shit about what's happening in Sri Lanka, if these protestors don't give a shit about you and me. Given their attitude it lets you appreciate why Sri Lanka has been so screwed up over the past 25 years.
It's madness and provides another example of the crap this country has to put up with because it's so willing to bend over backwards for every ethic and religious group under the sun, and I'll go back to a point I've made on this website over and over and over again.
If that had been a protest conducted by people who weren't a visible minority, about a domestic issue, it wouldn't have lasted ten minutes.
But the rules have become distinctly inconsistent in this country and it's got to stop now.
Unfortunately, when people like Michael Ignatieff want to play politics and give-in to selfish bastards it makes the situation that much worse.
He should have stayed out of it, like the Prime Minister has. It's a Toronto issue until the Mayor asks for help.
But therein lies the problem. If Toronto had a Mayor with balls, the protestors would have been given a short deadline and then if they didn't move, the snowplows should have been brought out of storage and they should have been nudged off the highway.
I hope the Conservatives go after this Ruby Dhalla thing like a fat kid on a Smartie. This will be a lesson for us all.
The inconsistencies of how our political parties are handled by the media and the general public in this country is shocking.
Even though "Nannie-gate" is gaining a lot of steam and even though the Liberal lovin' Toronto Star has acknowledged it, Dhalla should count her blessings that she ain't a Conservative.
Can you imagine a big bad Conservative being accused of abusing a couple of nannies? The shit would hit the fan so fast you'd be digging it out of your eyes for a month.
I should qualify by admitting that Ruby Dhalla is my MP so there might be a bit of bias here. I don't particularly like her or her party. In fact on more than one occasion I've requested that her monthly propaganda newsletter not be left in my mail box. Somehow the message fails to get through.
But this is serious stuff folks and it's vital that the truth come out because the hypocrisy and stench of the situation is overwhelming.
Dhalla is accused of abusing two immigrant nannies, while and up until yesterday she held the portfolio of multiculturalism and youth critic. How's that for hypocrisy if the stories are true?
Here's more. The Liberals have always held onto the image of great immigration masters. They open the doors and they welcome the world while big bad Conservatives are tagged as bigots. Meanwhile, it's usually Conservatives who create the jobs that immigrants get before they cast their ballots for Liberals. Go figure.
And here's some stench to sprinkle on your hypocricy. Two weeks ago, the accusing nannies raised the issue in the presence of two Liberals MPPs in Toronto and they ignored it, preferring to protect their federal cousins from controversy. Something Dalton McGuinty doesn't want to talk about.
I'm really anxious to see how this unfolds because if the roles were reversed, the anti-Cons (Mike from Lowville) would be screaming from the highest perch making all kinds of accusations.
It's amazing how Liberals and socialists lie in wait for Stephen Harper to do something wrong so they can dump all over the man, but they usually come up empty so they stoop to criticize his clothes and physique.
Well let me tell ya, this story ain't no cardigan or barrel gut, what Ruby Dhalla is accused of could ram her shapely little ass in jail so it should be pursued.
Unfortunately, a lot of Conservatives outside of government won't be able to spend a lot of time on this.
They're too busy building companies and creating jobs. For everyone.
I know it bothers a lot of you when I extoll the virtues of our Prime Minister, but I really think more people should take the time to look beyond the fact he's not a Liberal.
Even the Toronto Star couldn't ignore this.
"It's the Canadians who went first, everybody has been following that."
I know a lot of Stephen Harper haters won't like this, but once again I've got to tip my hat to the guy for the way he handled himself during the Summit Of Americas in Trinidad.
For the first time in a long time we've actually got a Prime Minister who acts like a Prime Minister, who doesn't say and do a lot of stupid things like his predecessor did.
And I especially like the way Stevie boy has handled the Jamaican situation.
He landed there last night with a message that might have raised a few eyebrows, but he also took the important step of acknowledging the Jamaican problem in Canada.
Harper will address both houses of the Jamaican Parliament today and during that address he will speak of the great ties between our two countries and the contributions Jamaicans have made to Canadian society.
Again, that may seem odd to some given the gun violence and gang warfare that takes place within the Jamaican community in Toronto, but for the most part it's true.
Most Jamaicans that come to Canada are law abiding people who want nothing more than to improve their lot in life. Unfortunately, there is a fringe that cast a shadow over the entire population.
And that's where Harper stepped up to the plate yesterday. Rather than spew a bunch of blather about all the good stuff, the Prime Minister actually touched upon the gun violence issue in Canada.
"We're certainly aware of reports of violence among people who are identified with the community."
"We know ... that the vast majority of people who live in those areas and belong to the Jamaican Canadian community are not only deeply shocked and concerned about this kind of violence, they're often the first victims of it and the people most concerned about it."
It showed a lot of balls because without being over-critically while in a situation where diplomacy was the order of the day, the Prime Minister sent a message that not everything is perfect and that Jamaican crime in Canada is not going unnoticed.
Of course if Canada wanted to hard line our relations with Jamaica we could cut off all immigration from that country until we got the gang and gun problem under control in Toronto, but that wouldn't be prudent. It might be smart and warranted, but political correctness dictates you don't do things like that.
Instead you do what the Prime Minister did. You extend an olive branch with a message tied to the end of it.
It was another despicable showing by the Toronto Star this week as it tried to make a mountain out of virtually nothing during the G20 Summit in London.
On Thursday Steven Harper missed a group photo with the other G20 leaders and the Star was quick to position the Prime Minister as a goof ball who missed a very important photograph because he was somewhere having a piss.
In reality it meant nothing. Harper claims he was being briefed at the time and didn't concern himself with the photo opportunity because as he put it "I"ve been at enough international meetings to know that there's always another photo op."
Bingo. It was no big deal at all, but the Star reported the story using words like "red faced and ridiculed" trying to paint a picture of a Prime Minister who was out of step with the rest of the world's leaders and that his office "was at pains to explain away any embarrassment."
What a load of unfairly slanted, disgusting bullshit.
In the end the Prime Minister was correct; there was another photo op, and this time the Italian Prime Minister failed to show.
It's one thing for a news publication to attack and criticize someone for valid reasons, but the Toronto Star's constant unfounded attacks on Stephen Harper are no better than the Fox News Channel's mindless attacks on Barrack Obama.
Remember, it's the Star that in the past has printed stuff about Harper's clothes and his weight.
The extreme right wing whack jobs in the United States are pissin' their pants over this, but I totally agree with the Obama administration's decision to stop using the phrase "war on terror."
Even when I was one of the many million who had been sucked in to supporting George W's charge into Iraq, the phrase "war on terror" never sat well with me.
What did it mean? I could never really figure that out.
It was a war on Saddam Hussein, I know that. In retrospect it was a war spawned out of revenge for a guy's dad, I know that.
I have vivid images of old man Bush after losing the election to Bill Clinton in 1992 rehashing what went wrong and continuously telling his goober son George about the huge mistake of not finishing the job in Iraq during the Gulf War.
George Jr, being the goober that his is, got all hyped up and excited and dreamt of the day he could make things good for his daddy.
Don't laugh, I really think that's all it really amounts to... and who knows what the real story is behind 911 and the opportunity it gave W. to put his plan into action.
"War on terror" was nothing more than a sell line or a tag line. The same kind they use to sell beer, cars and running shoes.
It was meant scare the living shit out of the average American and justify a flimsy excuse to invade a country that ultimately had very little to do with 911 or terrorism in general.
"War on terror" was a smoke screen that fed every vengeful yahoo from Kentucky to North Dakota and the Bush boys knew it would. As military strategy came out of the war rooms, propaganda came out of the White House that would make every American think their was a "boogey man" around every corner.
And it worked, for a while.
But then as the truth came out and it became apparent that thousands of young Americans were dying for no reason the term "war on terror" lost its luster.
The war wasn't on terror, it was war on a country and it was making a lot ruthless bastards in the United States extremely rich off weaponry contracts.
If there was an actual "war on terror" taking place, it was happening in Afghanistan where Canada was sacrificing its own soldiers.
But you never hear the Canadian government use the term "war on terror" you never hear our soldiers use the term either. It's the Afghan war, just like it was never anything more than the Iraqi War.
The difference being, the Afghan war was justified.
Say what you want about Dalton McGuinty, but he's a much better politician than John Tory.
Let's go back to the fall of 2007 during the provincial election campaign when John Tory introduced full funding for faith based schools.
On the surface, it was the right thing to do. In politically correct Ontario it was really a no brainer. If there was full funding for Catholic schools in the province, it was only fair that other religions get the same thing.
Of course that's not the way it played out. There was a backlash based on intolerance and it literally sunk Tory. His attempt to be fair and considerate of all Ontarians turned out to be his demise.
It was a noble and gutsy move, but it was political suicide.
Meanwhile there was the Dalton McGuinty lurking in the background, poised to lose the election based on deceit, lies and non-action.
He had an unprecedented list of broken election promises behind him and a province that had suffered considerably under his leadership. But then one morning he woke up and John Tory had handed him an election by possessing a quality that McGuinty can't relate to.
Honesty.
Now let's zoom the clock forward to the spring of 2009. Ontario rejected John Tory over an issue that made sense, and re-elected a bold faced liar who's been virtually invisible since the world economy started to tank.
That is until yesterday when he came out of hiding and tossed out his intention to harmonize the GST and PST in today's Ontario budget.
Forget about all the window dressing attached to this, and the smokescreen of a one thousand dollar rebate for most families, because in the end this is nothing more than another trademark McGuinty back door maneuver.
And forget about attempting to tie it to the federal government. In the end, this is Dalton's decision and Dalton's alone.
This tax punch will cost Ontario families a lot more than one thousand dollars a year, and regardless of what the Liberal leaning Toronto Star claims, it's nothing more than a ruthless tax grab at the worst possible time.
But nobody should be surprised. We all knew what Dalton McGuinty was all about prior to the election in 2007 and we were ready to dump him, but then John Tory made the fateful mistake and leveling with the people of Ontario by telling the truth during an election campaign.
Meanwhile, at the same time Dalton McGuinty was promising no tax bumps and rejecting any suggestion of harmonizing the GST and PST.
John Tory, honest man - bad politician.
Dalton McGuinty, excellent liar - great politician.
It's been very interesting over the past couple of days to see how the Barack Obama "Special Olympics" comment has been downplayed and ignored.
Listen, I like Barack Obama, he seems like a good guy and I wouldn't want his job for all the money in the world, but let's face it folks, what he said was wrong with a good measure of stupid sprinkled over it.
I've heard all the excuses over the past couple of days, and I know that we can all say things we regret, but come on, he's the President of the United States.
Comparing his bad bowling skills to the Special Olympics on national television was way over the line.
We all deserve to be forgiven, but at the same time, nobody deserves the pass that Obama got on this one. If George W. had said the same thing I'm sure the reaction would have been a lot different.
And in case you're getting the wrong impression, let me make it clear, I like Obama and I know George W. is a dufus.
But really, Obama miraculousy came out this one without a scratch.
Meanwhile, about the only news outlet that went after Obama was the Fox News Network and that was predictable because it's a right wing, extreme Conservative cesspool of unbalanced and often vicious reporting.
At the top of the list is Sean Hannity. I don't know if you've ever watched this guy, but he's a mouthy little weasel who puts his own pocket book ahead of his country by spreading verbal terror.
In his quest to get ratings, and his thirst for money, he's willing to say extreme and damaging things about Democrats and President Obama that actually hurt the country.
He plays news clips out of context and spews outrageous nonsense that may attract viewers, but you have to ask, at what cost?
Sean Hannity does his country no favours. He calls himself a great American but he's the farthest thing from it. If anything, he's extremely unpatriotic.
It's one thing to have an act and become rich off it, but when that act spreads unnecessary fear throughout the country for self gain with total disregard for the consequences, it moves into another territory.
"He shouldn't be here," said Tyler Kinch, one of the protesters outside of the Telus Convention Centre. "The Canadian government shouldn't let in a war criminal. No one should be welcoming a war criminal and we shouldn't accept the fact that criminals can come to Canada and not be arrested."
Yesterday there was a protest outside the building where George W. Bush made his first paid speech since leaving office.
Yes, George W. is a bit of a goof, and yes some of the moves he made as President were downright deceitful, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed in Canada. That doesn't mean people in a free nation should not be allowed to hear him speak.
Protests are fine, but the extreme reaction of people like Tyler Kinch, is actually more dangerous than letting Bush into the country.
When George W. is charged with something, and then convicted of something, then the law can take over.
Until then, people like Tyler Kinch should shut up and grow up!
No doubt about it, these tough economic times are giving a lot of companies an excuse to downsize.
After making bad investments and horrible decisions a lot of big boys who sit at the top are using the so-called bad times as a cover to get out from under the misery they caused long before the economy was an issue.
It's despicable, but its reality and if its going to continue to happen I recommend that the Ontario New Democratic Party take a long hard look at this angle.
What better time to shut down an irrelevant and useless party than right now.
The provincial NDP party has gathered in Hamilton this weekend to elect a new leader to replace the pylon they've had at the helm for what seems like 400 years. Howard Hampton is taking his sorry act into the sunset with virtually no accomplishments that he can point to.
But he's not entirely to blame. The whole socialist NDP movement is a dead dog not only in the province, but right across the country.
It's time is done. Socialism doesn't work and unfortunately neither do most of the people who used to work for the unions that the NDP blindly support.
Although Hampton was a bad leader, who often made no sense while making all kinds of wonderful statements and promises while knowing he would never have to enact them, it's not all his fault.
His big brother Jack Layton can take a lot of the blame.
As much of a wingnut as Hampton is, Jacko is an even bigger nut who did quite a bit to turn off the people of Ontario.
Jack's whack job attempt at over-throwing the Harper government last December was the final straw in the eyes of many and reduced the NDP to something that should be thrown into the back of an old pick-up and taken to the dump.
Make no mistake about it, the ripple effect has hurt the Ontario NDP Party so the timing couldn't be more perfect for Howie Hampton to say goodbye and start collecting his bloated yet undeserved government pension.
And that's why it's also good time to shut down the whole mess.
Use the economy as an excuse. Say these tough economic times make it difficult for the party to go forward with their support never lower, and their resources never thinner.
Pack it in, say goodbye and blame everything but the truth.
The NDP is irrelevant - and nothing proved it better than Thursday's by-election in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock.
There will be a lot of smug faces in the Ontario riding of Haliburton -Kawartha Lakes-Brock today, and I guess to some extent it's warranted.
John Tory was the victim of another huge backfire last night as he lost a by-election which will lead to his resignation today.
He was defeated by Liberal Rick Johnson in a riding that was considered a major Conservative stronghold.
Yes, there will be a lot of happy people today, running around laughing and snorting about the big shot from Toronto getting smacked for trying to hijack their riding.
They taught him a lesson. They sent a message to politicians who think they can take them for granted. They gave the Conservatives the boot and elected the Liberal guy.
Problem is, there's another side to this story and it probably outweighs the brief moments of exhilaration that will be enjoyed today.
From this day forward, to the next provincial election, the riding of Haliburton -Kawartha Lakes-Brock is under the direction of the truth challenged, non-active, zero productive Dalton McGuinty.
That's the prize for dumping John Tory.
Yes, Rick Johnson is the MPP, but what can he do for the riding when the man who leads the party has been in hiding since the economy went south? What can Rick Johnson do except play the party line and hope that Dalton McGuinty stops blaming the federal government for everything.
What can Rick Johnson do for Haliburton -Kawartha Lakes-Brock if Dalton McGuinty can't do anything for the province?
The roads in Ontario are in horrible shape. Wait times in hospitals continue to be a huge problem. Public transit is lagging and outlaws continue to control Caledonia.
If any of those people who turned their backs on the Conservatives last night feel good this morning, it may not last.
You've traded your best long term interests for instant gratification. You've bought into a bad government with a king sized liar at the helm. You've handed the reins to a nice guy in Rick Johnson, but you've pretty much guaranteed that your riding will become stagnant.
In a McGuinty government, Rick Johnson will take his seat at Queens Park, but that will be the extent of it. He'll be told to respond to any problem or any issue by blaming the feds, it's the McGuinty way.
If John Tory had been elected it could have been different. The party leader could have gone to Queens Park and made some noise on your behalf. He could have kept pressing the issues and exposing the sitting Liberals for what they are and forced their hand on a few issues.
But now, you have nothing working for you. Nothing at all.
Don't get me wrong, the whole by-election process can stink and the way this one came down didn't sit well with many. But it wasn't unique, it wasn't against the rules and actually, if you had scratched the below the surface, you may have determined that Tory was the best option.
But revenge got the better of you and now Dalton McGuinty has a hold on you.
Yes, it's a big day for John Tory. By ten o'clock this evening his political career could be over.
Tory is running in a by-election tonight and you can't help but think that he'll pulled another boner, not as big as the last one where he endorsed full funding for faith based schools, but a significant mistake just the same.
You might remember, in last spring's election Tory lost in Toronto, so he's been leader of the Progressive Conservative Party without a seat in the Legislature and that's just not acceptable.
So he's going after one tonight, but his method may come back and bite him in the ass.
Tory worked a deal with PC MPP Laurie Scott.
She held the Conservative stronghold of Haliburton -Kawartha Lakes-Brock, but agreed to surrender in order to force a by-election in which Tory could take her place.
It's been done many times before and usually works. You pick a super stronghold and assume that the electorate will fall into line and vote for the party - especially vote for the leader of the party.
Not so fast.
As part of her deal, Laurie Scott got one of those delicious government severance packages, one hundred thousand dollars to be exact, so in the eyes of many, she sold her seat.
Not only that, if Tory wins, come the next election, he will probably run in a Toronto riding which would re-open the door for Scott to run in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes- Brock - and still keep her hundred grand.
To many, even staunch Conservative supporters, it stinks. It stinks way too much and given that this is a by-election and won't change the government at Queens Park they are poised to send a message to John Tory, Laurie Scott and politicians in general.
Liberal Rick Johnson could win, and if that happens, look for Tory to resign tomorrow.
It's sad because personally I'm convinced that John Tory would have made a great mayor of Toronto and a much better Premier than Dalton McGuinty.
But he keeps tripping on the way to the finish line
Toronto Mike has an interesting debate going on today. It deals with a political cartoon that was published in the conservative New York Post on Wednesday.
The question - is it racist?
I'm the first guy to say that the word "R" word has been over-used and terribly abused over the past few years, to the point where it's lost a lot of its meaning.
But that doesn't mean there are valid cases of it, and that's part of the tragedy, when legitimate acts of racism take place, they're buffered by all the idiots who are screaming the word for no reason.
As for the New York Post cartoon, yea, I think its racist. Blatantly racist.
The paper hides behind the excuse that Obama didn't actually write the stimulus plan so it's not really directed at him, and others argue that its playing on the recent chimpanzee attack on the women in Connecticut - it displays government as a bunch of monkeys gone mad.
Well, they can dress it up any way they want, but from my perspective if these examples were used in any matter, they were used as timely front to take a racist shot at the President.
Remember, this is the United States of America, and whether they'll admit it or not, there are millions of American conservatives who still can't get their head around having a black President, and the New York Post is known for its anti-Liberal stance.
Let's get serious. Given the disgusting history of connecting black men with apes and the fact America has just elected its first black President who's the face of the stimulus package, why would the New York Post even dream of going there? Didn't someone there think it might be a tad insensitive?
No, because they wanted to make a statement. A racist one.
I've already had several e-mails from readers wanting to know about I thought about the Obama visit, but I've got to be honest, there isn't a lot to say.
The visit lasted just over seven hours, and part of that time was taken up with Obama buying cookies and eating a beaver tail at the Byward Market.
Another chunk of time was wasted for Obama having to sit in the same room as Bob Rae.
When a foreign leader comes to Canada he usually meets with the leader of the opposition and in this case Michael Ignatieff brought little Bob along so he could feel really really important.
This visit was nothing more than a respectful gesture by the President Obama and a whole lot of window dressing. Obama and Prime Minister Harper signed some kind of a clean energy agreement while he was here, but it will probably get shoved into a drawer somewhere and be forgotten.
The Prime Minister seemed to handle himself pretty well. They guy must be self conscious in situations like this because his critics are mean and plentiful just waiting for him to do or say something wrong.
Yesterday, he seemed to be confident and relaxed and actually seemed to enjoy his time with the world's foremost political superstar.
Which leads to another observation - it was bittersweet to see the reaction of approximately two thousand people who gathered on Parliament to catch a glimpse of the President.
Obama was received with the same delirious delusion that greets him in so many places throughout the United States. For most of these people he's way beyond a politician; he's something that really hasn't been designated yet.
Most the people who were screeching at the top of the lungs yesterday probably have no idea when it comes to the issues and probably never will because they don't really care.
Meanwhile they treated an American politician with way more respect and admiration than they ever would a Canadian and I find that a little sad because Obama really hasn't done anything but be born black and win an election.
There's not much of a history there, but I will say this. If Obama changes the world like most expect him to, it will clear up that designation thing.
Barack Obama makes his first international trip as President Thursday and he'll be face to face with a man who was tagged as a Bush lover.
It was a tact used by the Liberals whenever possible; they attempted to tie Stephen Harper to George W. They wanted the impression left that Harper was nothing more than a bum boy for Bush and he had the same outlook and attitudes towards the rest of the world.
W. had such a horrible reputation towards the end of his Presidency that linking Harper with the incompetent goober seemed like a good strategy. After all, it's not like the Liberals had any policy or history of their own to stand behind.
They had no policy to speak of and nothing but a long history of lies, deceit and corruption.
Harper was helpless. Publications like the Toronto Star went out of their way to show pictures of Harper and Bush together. Usually smiling at each other, or shaking hands - anything that made them look like buddies.
I found this to be amusing, because regardless of who the American President is, you'd like to think our Prime Minister would be on friendly terms with him. It's good business.
I wondered what the critics wanted to see. Should the Prime Minister have refused to smile, should he have knocked Bush's hand away instead of shaking it? Should he have publicly condemned the President? Should he have kicked him in the nuts?
Stephen Harper did nothing through W's Presidency that should have tagged him as a bum boy.
He simply steered his way through what was on his plate and I don't expect him to be any different with Obama.
As a matter of fact, much to the chagrin of the far left in Canada, I have a feeling these guys will get along just fine, maybe even better than Harper and Bush got along.
Prime Minister Harper may now find himself in the position of not having to maintain a united North American front with an idiot. It may actually be a welcome change for Harper to deal with someone who's a little more rational.
I wonder how Liberals will react to that?
If Harper greets Obama with the same handshake, the same smile and the same conciliatory attitude, what will they make of it? Will they be disappointed, or will they fall back on the old favourites?
Harper is a phony and who deep down still wants to make the rich richer, the poor poorer and along the way eat the odd baby.
This posting was left by a frequent visitor to CanadianThinker.com named Jon from Buffalo.
As always, I appreciate all input to CanadianThinker.com but that doesn't mean I have to agree with it all.
Over the past couple of weeks I've been amazed at the American Conservative reaction to Barack Obama's Presidency which is still in its infancy.
Here's Jon's posting.
YES WE CAN.....raise taxes
YES WE CAN.....redistribute wealth by robbing from the rich and hard-working and giving to the poor and lazy
YES WE CAN.....give 'pork' to our supporters and call it "stimulus".
YES WE CAN.....raise gas prices (15 cents in the 3 weeks since we took office)
YES WE CAN.....impose income limits (first on corporatons, next on the public)
YES WE CAN......delay the DTV transition because those who voted for us are too stupid to pay attention to deadlines imposed 6 years ago
YES WE CAN......cripple the intelligence-gathering of the country by closing Club Gitmo
YES WE CAN......continue to take over banks and dictate their policies until we control the entire country's money supply from top to bottom
YES WE CAN......institute nationalized health care which will decrease quality and increase cost--but only to those who work for a living
YES WE CAN.....allow unfettered illegal immigration, which will have the double benefit of sapping the rich, while at the same time creating more government dependent Democrat voters.
YES WE CAN......turn the United States into a new Socialist nation--in record time--Welcome to the United Socialist States of America: The USSA
Wow - it's Obama's fault digital television transmission has been delayed and he's responsible for gas prices going up a few cents. Didn't they bounce up a couple of bucks under Bush last summer?
I know a few of you will be surprised to my reaction to this, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, a Canadian Conservative has more in common with an American Democrat than he does an American Conservative.
I shake my head a laugh at Jon's "Yes We Can" bit beause it displays how out of touch Americans are after decades of arrogance and then eight years of the worst President in their history.
Over the past few weeks I've also listened to a lot of American talk radio and I'll be honest, I've furiously tried to call their 800 numbers to get on the air.
Not only do the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity betray thier country by spreading lies about Liberals, they also tell lies about Canada.
Canada is often used by these jerk-offs as an example of what could happen to their country if Obama's allowed to follow through on his so-called socialitst agenda.
They look at Canada with pity, they consider us a socialist waste land that's on the verge of collapse.
And that's why I run for the phone, because I want to get on the air with these nit-wiits and get the word out that Canada is twice the country the United States is.
Yes, our taxes may be higher, and our health care system may have some challenges, but hey, we're doing OK.
A lot better than Americans.
On average, we have a higher standard of living and even though we might have to wait a few hours in an emergency room from time to time, at least "everyone" is allowed to wait, and if the problem is considered severe, in the vast majority of cases, you're pushed to the head of the line.
Compare that to the United States where millions go through their daily lives with no health care at all, and even more disturbing, they get little sympathy or concern from fat cat Conservatives who have a twisted and ignorant view of the rest of the world.
I probably shouldn't get as upset as I do when I hear some Americans refer to Canada the way they do, because I know where it comes from. They're taught from an early age that America is the greatest country in the world with virtually no rival for that title.
All the while, a much better country, a much more compassionate country, a safer country, a much more financially stable country and a much "healthier" country sits right on top of them.
Don't get me wrong, I love our American neighbours and I'll cut them some slack for their ignorance because they don't know any better because they've never been forced to know any better.
But now that their country is quickly going down the toilet because their financial foundation was screwed and their President "lied" them into a needless war, they better look around.
Instead of dumping all over their refreshing new President they should open their minds.
What you've been doing over the past several years hasn't worked, it's been a disaster, so the new guy is working on solutions.
And if those solutions make you look more like Canada, believe me, you'll be taking a step up.
Fred...what I would love to see from you and I think it is deserving in this case....is an acknowledgement of Ignatieff as a Rational Man. Give credit where it is due. He did the right thing.
Stu
Hey Stu, glad you asked because I've been thinking about this since Ignatieff became leader of the Liberals.
This may come as a shock to a lot of you, but I've made this comment many times before, I'm not partisan. I don't care what the party is if their policies make sense.
Problem is, there was so much corruption and deceit through the Chretien years I was literally pushed towards the Conservatives because any "rational man" could never give himself to the NDP.
So disenchanted with the Liberals I supported the Conservatives and became even more committed to this party by the unfounded and often silly criticism of Stephen Harper.
He was hated mostly because he was Conservative and that never sat well with me.
Then along came Stephane Dion and there was absolutely no reason for me to change my position. This odd little man with his goofy ideas served to do nothing but reinforce by support of Stephen Harper who, crazy as it seems, given his mandate, continued to act in the best interests of the country.
Now the landscape has changed a bit.
I've got to admit that what I've seen of Michael Ignatieff so far has impressed me.
In the wake of the coalition crap he came along and brought some sense to it all. He took the pulse of Canadians and put an end to it. He considered the budget and declared it reasonable, but more than anything else, he realized that another election at this time was not in the best interest of the country.
Unlike Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe he has put Canada first.
I'm not naive, I realize part of Ignatieff's plan is to let the Conservatives flap in the wind and take the heat for the economy which will only strengthen the Liberal position going into the next election, but that's OK.
That's politics. It's rational above board politics, something we didn't get from Chretien and something we'd definately never get from Layton.
Nope, I can't deny it, So far so good with this Ignatieff guy.
Jack and Gilles went up the Hill
To fetch a bucket of power,
Jack struck out and went into a pout
And Gilles came slimily after.
If any good can come from what this country has been through over the past couple of months, its this.
Tens of thousands of Canadians can find a nice long mirror and have a look at themselves from head to to head and rethink their committment to Canada.
If you were one of the people who supported a coaltion in this country, one that involved seperatists and socialists, you should be ashamed of yourself and question your patriotism.
Yes, the formation of a coaltion is within the rules, its in our constitution, but that doesn't mean anything goes. The option of a colation is there if its good for the country and it makes sense given the situation.
This situation did not call for it and Canadians, genuine Canadians let it be known loud and clear that they had no toleraance for it. The idea of a coaltion got pounded in every poll.
And the reasoning was simple. It involved Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe, and anyone in this country who were willing to overlook that fact should give themselves a long hard shake.
If there any doubt in your mind, all you had to do was witness the behavious of Jack Layton over the past 24 hours. This is a power hungry politcally selfish man who cares about only one thing and one thing only - Jack Layton.
He was committed to rejecting the budget before it was even revealed and as quickly as Michael Ignatieff accepted it, Layton turned on him.
Jack Layton is bad for Canada and it's totally unneccessary to explain why Gillies Duceppe is bad for Canada.
But I will say this. Also bad for Canada is anyone who even entertained the idea of a coaltion.
Shame on you!
And before the usual crew writes back, I realize the Conservatives made noises about a similar coaltion in 2006, but number one, it didn't happen because they didn't come close to signing anything, and number two, I would have felt the same way.
I would have rejected it immediately because I put Canada first.
I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago, but on the heels of the federal budget I have to say it again.
I wonder if we're in the final chapter of the little big man.
Or should I say the big little man, or the guy who dreams of being big but is nothing more than a little dot on the Canadian political landscape.
Jack Layton will get to play politics over the next couple of days and personally it's enough to make me physically sick.
We have a great political system in Canada, but every so often its flaws are exposed, and that's where we are right now with a coaltion hanging over our heads.
Even before the budget was delivered yesterday, Layton vowed he would not support it, and once it was handed down yesterday, he didn't disappoint. He quickly ran for the television lights and started to spew his socialist nonsense.
The man is power hungry. Yes, all politicians tend to be that way, but this guy is something else.
He's the leader of a dormant, irrelevant party that hasn't gained an inch since he became leader, but he looks at the current situation as an opportunity to grab power that he could never get through a ballot box.
Over the next couple of days Jack Layton will move from insulting the Conservatives, to insulting the Liberals if they decide to support yesterday's budget.
This guy is desperate for a coalition because he knows if the Liberals support the budget, not only will he never have a shot at power, he'll probably lose the confidence of his party and be forced to go away.
And if that happens, it will be good for everyone.
Jack Layton is doing nothing for the NDP let alone for the rest of us. He's offered nothing but a steady stream of bullroar with nothing to back it up. Even as he dreams of a coalition he offers nothing in the way of alternatives.
He criticizes every aspect of yesterday's budget, while pretending to hold the "real" answers close to his chest.
He's full of it.
Jack has no answers because Jack doesn't deal in reality. He deals in the world of socialism which has an approval rating in this country of about 12 percent.
Can you imagine this man was given any degree of power in this country? Can you imagine if he had a say in our lives? I shudder at the thought.
Jack Layton is bad for Canada and the sooner he goes away the better.
I found it interesting yesterday while watching coverage of the budge on CTV Newsnet.
There on the screen was Toronto Mayor David Miller, a staunch NDPer. They were asking his opinion on the budget and of course he didn't like it because it didn't do enough for Toronto.
I had to chuckle because the immediate question that came to my mind was this.
"What have you done for the city of Toronto Mr. Miller?"
He's done absolutely nothing; in fact he's caused it irreparable damage.
The Conservatives were forced into by the whack job threat of a coalition, so they were forced to do some things probably didn't want to do.
But that's politics.
We should kiss the ground that Stephen Harper walks on because his compromise has probably saved us from a coalition that features separatists and socialists.
I fully expect Michael Ignatieff to support the budget because he it's really the only thing to do.
Ignatieff has probably spent lots of time considering the consequences of sharing power with Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe and being of sound mind and body has decided to side with the rational man.
Not only that, but I'm sure he likes the idea of letting the Conservatives govern during a deep recession.
A couple of weeks ago I was watching the Fox News channel and they interviewed several black people in New Orleans and the question was simple.
What does an Obama Presidency mean to you?
The answers were frightening. For tens of thousands in New Orleans, where life still isn't back to normal for poor people after the floods, Obama offers hope, but it's a false hope.
There are those in New Orleans, and apparently millions across the rest of the USA who think this man is going to perform miracles.
Based on the run up to his election, and the unrealistic expectations placed upon him, there are people in the United States who feel their lives are going to change dramatically starting today.
Some of the responses in New Orleans were mind numbing. Some feel having Obama as President will mean jobs and homes and prosperity almost instantly.
The African American President will be expected to change the lives of African American citizens simply because he's African American.
Unfortunately, the poor and uneducated in the United States, which by the way includes all races, expect the most of the new President but they don't seem to know how the system really works.
They've either been shutout of the process or they gave up on it long ago.
But now that some of that hope as returned it means punishing pressure for Obama. Even if he was able to accomplish half of what's expected of the man, he would still come up terribly short in the eyes of those who are going to depend on him the most.
It's not Obama's fault.
As someone running for President, he's got to deliver a message of hope and change, but it applies to all Americans in general. The problem is, it's been received by America's most vulnerable in a twisted way.
They feel because of Obama's race and the nonstop comparison to Martin Luther King, the message of hope and change is directed at them in particular.
Barack Obama inherits a country that's in woeful debt because it's currently fighting two wars in a world that's experiencing a severe economic downturn.
People are losing jobs and homes and assets at an alarming rate and that has to be his first priority.
Last night while watching CNN there was a panel of prominent black Americans that including Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, it also included a black activist University Professor whose name I honestly didn't catch.
They were talking about what the Obama Presidency will mean to African Americans and the Professor's response was startling,
Not only does he expect Obama to put the welfare of African Americans at the top of his list, he claims all the "brothers and sisters" will hold him accountable.
In other words, black America could be the first segment to actually turn on Obama.
Changing the plight of black America to the extent so many black Americans expect him to, is totally unrealistic.
Meanwhile, as the United States looks toward s hope and change and prosperity, no matter how superficial, here in Canada we have the likes of Jack Layton.
Is there anyone more pathetic in Canadian politics than this man?
Despite having failed to move his broken down party one inch forward during his leadership, Layton continues to mouth off about next week's Conservative budget while attempting keep alive his desire for a coalition.
Layton said yesterday that the NDP will not support next week's budget under any circumstances, even though he hasn't seen it or heard it.
Layton continues to hold on to the position that Stephen Harper can't be trusted and the only way for Canada to break out of the world wild economic slump is for the NDP / Liberal coalition to take over.
He fails to mention the Bloq, even though the Bloq was the original deal maker.
Meanwhile, Michael Ignatieff, to his credit, remains non-committal. Being a man of character and pride, he'd prefer not to enter into a coalition. He'd prefer to take power the honourable way, through an election.
You see, that's the difference. Jack Layton with his 12 percent approval rating knows he'll never be able to win power the conventional way, and given his failure as leader of the NDP, he sees this as his only window of opportunity. A coalition is his only passage to glory and actually having an official say in government.
Snake like.
Meanwhile, Ignatieff realizes if it doesn't happen for him through a coalition, his opportunity will come down the road. He can sit back, direct a good opposition and then pounce during the next election.
The honourable way.
Layton meanwhile, the conniving whack job, can't take the honourable route because he doesn't stand a chance
So he takes the slimy way.
Hopefully we're in the final chapter of this man's abhorrent political career.
This week's Harper Bash deals with an American company called Navistar.
Last week they gave 500 layoff notices to workers in Chatham, yet this week they announced they had signed a deal a 254 million dollar deal with the Canadian government to build a bunch of army trucks at their plant in Texas.
My goodness, how heartless can this Harper government be?
Can you imagine allowing Navistar to layoff a ton of people in Canada and then turn around and hand this company 254 million dollars to build military vehicles in the States.
It sounds so bloody ridiculous there's got to be an explanation. The point is, there is, but it depends on what side of the Harper Hater line you fall on whether you want to accept it.
If you hate the guy, regardless of what he does, you want to believe that Stephen Harper is a puppet of the Americans and is willing to sell us out at any cost. You want to believe he doesn't care about Canadian workers and its just another dumb decision along the way.
On the other hand, if you want to be rational, and accept the whole story based on the facts, you're willing to listen long enough to find out that the Chatham plant is not equipped to produce the trucks, and that as part of the deal the government carved with Navistar is to have a regional benefits clause that requires Navistar to match the $254 million contract with equal investment in Canada.
These little tidbits were lost on a lot of people. But you know what people - Harper Haters.
This is one of those stories that gets the juices flowing when you read the headlines, but it makes sense as read down the columns.
No doubt there are those within the CAW who are furious about this, but that's their job.
They're paid to make noise and overlook the fact that the Chatham plant would have to be totally retooled for this job.
On the other hand, I was talking with my boys Craig and Matt on The Rock in Windsor this morning and they said most of the feedback they got from listeners who work at Navistar in Chatham was level headed.
They were well aware that the military truck contract didn't make sense for their plant. It was almost a non issue.
But that's no good for Harper Haters. No way. They'd prefer to present the story like our Prime Minister is an out of control madman who'd prefer to give this contract to Americans over Canadians, just because he's stupid.
Let's get a grip. I'm sure as it stands it was hard for the government to make this announcement given the current economic climate, and I'm sure they knew the optics were all wrong.
But they went ahead with it because they had to, because our military needs trucks. So they cut the best deal they could, which again, involved a 254 million dollar investment coming back into Canada.
The Rational Man comes through again.
And one more note. Dean DelMastro is the MP for Peterborough. He's a Conservative and he made a great point on the Kruz Morning Show with Mike Melnik and John Badham this morning.
We shouldn't be so quick to get our knickers in a knot when we guy something off the Americans, because they buy a lot more off us, than we do them.
Funny thing though, Harper Haters don't like to mention that.
Yes, I'm sure this will come as discouraging news to Harper Haters. Barack Obama plans to make Canada the location of his first state visit after becoming President.
Damn! Why couldn't he have snubbed us? That way it could have given Harper Haters something to point to. They could have blamed the PM for all sorts of things and used them to explain why Obama wasn't coming to visit America's best friend first.
They could have used Harpers stature, his looks, his demeanor, his policies, his cardigans or his preference for hockey over football.
But now they can't because yesterday it was officially announced that Obama would come here first.
Apparently it was a no brainer for Obama. Coming to Canada for his first state visit was never in-question. He likes Canadians, he appreciates our friendship and he wants to get to know the Prime Minister.
Imagine that, Barack Obama wants to get to know the Prime Minister that so many loony left Canadians accused of being a bum boy for George W. Bush.
These are the same Canadians that earlier this week basking in the glory of Obama choosing Mexican President Felipe Calderon to be the first world leader he would meet in Washington. Actually, that's going to happen Monday, before he's Obama even takes office, but that didn't matter to the bird brains.
There were those who suggested this was a slight against Canada, against the Conservatives and against Harper for his apparent love and devotion of George W. and the screw-up during the American election when some NAFTA documents were released in Canada that embarrassed Obama, an issue that never really became an issue in the States.
Meanwhile, Harper Haters chose to ignore that it's a long standing tradition for the Mexican President meet with the U.S. President-elect before inauguration. It means absolutely nothing.
But that didn't stop the usual suspects from crawling out of their holes.
NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar - "I guess it shows what happens when you interfere in someone else's affairs."
Green Party leader Elizabeth May - "Mr. Harper's people tried and did interfere with the Democratic nomination race in a way that was damaging to Mr. Obama's campaign, so I think the prime minister of Canada is going to fall to the bottom of a fairly long list of priority meetings."
Wrong and wrong.
Sorry to disappoint you, and if Stephen Harper and Barack Obama actually hit it off, I'm sure there will be professional councilling available for anyone who needs it.
We're less than three weeks away from the resumption of Parliament and still the Prime Minister has heard nothing from the opposition regarding ideas or suggestions for the upcoming budget.
Remember back to November when the three hacks tried to take control of the government through the back door? They claimed to have lots of ideas then, but where are they now?
Big Man Jack is always the first the step forward with all the answers when he knows they'll never be used. Where are his ideas and policies now that they could be used to save us all from hell?
Same with Michael Ignatieff, he's offered a lot of posturing and superficial comments, but as far as concrete solutions go... nothing.
After parliament was perogued the Prime Minister said he was open to suggestions, and the offer was readily accepted.
I guess we can assume one of two things.
They're holding their cards close to their chest so they can save us all with a Bloq backed co-alition, or, they have no idea what the hell to do.
I suspect the latter and that's why I think the Conservative government will survive.
There are no clear cut answers at this point and the opposition parties will step back and hope the Conservatives drown in a world wide dilemma not of their making.
If you've got eyes in your head and you have the opportunity to read the Toronto Star on a regular basis, you know the paper is on a mission.
Over the past month, the Toronto Star has kept a negative tone to their economic reporting and I'm convinced I know why.
It's aimed directly Stephen Harper and his upcoming budget and subsequent vote of confidence.
It's amazing how you can look at the Sun, the Post and even the Globe and there's an air of optimism in what they write. Not all of it, at least they attempt to look for a bright side.
Not in the Star. It's a steady stream of doom and gloom spiced with a good measure of anti-Conservative pleasure.
The Toronto Star doesn't want the economy to get better because they don't want Stephen Harper to remain in office, and by maintaining a tone of negativity in their economic reporting they're hoping it sticks to the Prime Minister even though he's got relatively nothing to do with it.
Today is another blatant example. Yesterday the TSX had its sixth consecutive day of positive growth but there headline is this. "TSX rising, but bear lurking."
Through the month of December the Toronto Star provided a steady stream of bad news that is some cases was literally over the top. All it served to do was freak out people who had no reason to be freaked out.
But that's the Toronto Star for you and you can expect more of it right up until the end of the month because this paper is on a mission.
"Harper's senatorial appointments do seem to have met the single most important qualification for the job: They have all agreed to serve a fixed term and to co-operate when the time comes for reform."
I might as well respond to this one quickly before all the Harper haters fill my inbox demanding my take on today's Senate appointments.
I know what the take will be by the Harper haters. The words patronage and abuse will be heavily used. Harper haters will try and angle the appointment of eighteen Senators as some kind of seedy back room deal.
But it's not.
To my mind it's a lot like the four billion dollar bailout that Harper was forced into.
The Prime Minister didn't want the country to go into deficit, but once it became apparent that the auto makers would need a bailout, and that some form of stimulus would be needed there was no avoiding it.
The irony is, the same people that demanded the Prime Minister do something, are the same people that are now criticizing him for the deficit.
Mindless really.
Same thing with today's Senator appointments. The Prime Minister pushed and pushed for an elected Senate but experienced nothing but push-back at every turn.
So what does he do? He does what any rational human being would do. With another federal election staring him in the face, he fills the Senate with his own choices.
He didn't want to. He wanted to reform the Senate. He wanted Senators to be voted into office, but when that was met with resistance he was left with no alternative.
Sorry folks, but I've got to do it. I've got to defend Stephen Harper again.
The man simply can't win.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from regular reader Mark Irvine who was almost pleased that Canada would be going into deficit for the next couple years. He pointed to the fact that the Prime Minister had promised some time ago that we wouldn't.
Of course that was before the economic shit hit the fan and every Liberal and his little brother New Democrat demanded something be done to "save the world economy."
All along the Prime Minister took the rational road and maintained there wasn't much use doing anything until we found out what the Americans were going to do when it came to the big three auto makers.
It really was the only plan of attack. There was no other. Why spend the money if the Americans weren't going to.
Surprise, surprise. Almost immediately on the heels of the American governments plans to throw $17.4 billion dollars at the auto industry down there, Harper has announced that he'll reveal his plans tomorrow.
What a whacky guy that Stephen Harper. He's a real doofus.
But there's an amusing attachment to all this.
All the Harper haters out there demanded he do something weeks ago are now poised to jump all over him for running a deficit. But how do you throw billions at the auto industry and save the economy without running a deficit?
Seriously, the guy can't win.
Yes, he's made some mistakes lately but that comes with the territory when you're dealing with a Liberal media and a bunch of hatchet men who want to grab power without earning it.
Here's what I really like about Stephen Harper and why I continuously call him the "Rational Man." Despite all the bullshit he's had to take lately he remains true to his beliefs.
Today he admitted he finds himself "uneasy" as a small-c conservative at all the government intervention in the economy, but his training as an economist tells him that these are the policies we must adopt under the circumstances.
I wouldn't be surprised if the "circumstances" he's talking about is a minority government.
No wonder if an election was held tomorrow he'd win a majority in a landslide.
I'm sure it was with great reluctance and pain that the Toronto Star had to print today's headline - Strong Tory Majority - Poll.
Being a bright red Liberal paper the Star likes to avoid such things, but in this case, the newspaper simply can't. It's the third poll released in the past week that reveals how much the reprehensible coalition back-fired.
If wasn't so pathetic you could almost laugh at how Jack and Gilles went up the hill with that other little squirt and tried to grab power without earning it. How they totally misjudged the Canadian public through their slimy little game.
I keep thinking of the battle waged on CanadianThinker.com with all the whack jobs out there that actually supported the coalition, without an election, while being totally oblivious to how the majority of their fellow Canadians really felt.
Here's the deal you legion of losers. Canadians may be indifferent to their politics but when you try to pull a fast one on them, they re-act.
It's refreshing to know there are a ton of Canadians out there who possess enough common sense to gravitate towards what's right. They may not have voted for Stephen Harper in the last election but a coalition that could only exist with separatists was too much to swallow.
It was enough to move them from the centre to the right.
What pro-coalitionists have to realize is that there were hundreds of thousands of people out there that voted for one party in the last election - Liberal and nothing else. They didn't vote for a coalition and the very thought of jumping into bed with the Jack Layton and the Bloq was such a turn off they've moved over to the Conservatives.
Yea, can you say backfire?
From today's Star - read it and weep.
"Canada's ruling Conservatives would win a strong majority in Parliament if elections were held today, according to a poll showing the new leader of the opposition Liberals has done little to boost public support.
Canadians favour the Conservatives over the Liberals by 45 per cent to 26 per cent, an Ipsos Reid poll showed. The New Democrats (NDP) had the backing of 12 per cent."
Last night I caught the news flash about the United States senate refusing a rescue plan for the big three auto makers and I had mixed emotions.
Part of me worries about what's ahead if the car companies fail, but then part of me knows it probably won't be allowed to happen.
Another part of me sides with those who rejected the bail-out based on their reluctance to hand over money to whack jobs that've proven they can't handle it.
Like those hogs at AIG who are still handing out perverse bonuses under the disguise of
"retention" salaries. They claim if they don't hand over millions to executives who already have millions they'll lose all their good people.
I realize its easy for me to say, but given the current climate, I might suggest that good people wouldn't expect more millions when they've already got several million, but that's a whole other issue.
I'm sure part of the Senate decision last night was based on the reluctance to give the corporate pigs at GM, Chrysler and Ford a barrel full of money with no clear cut plans other than to make sure they look after themselves, personally.
It's amazing how greed takes over and who it can be applied to so many levels of business and government, including right here in Canada.
What happened in our country last week was nothing short of greed.
Jack Layton speaks for the people but he doesn't really care about the people. He cares about Jack Layton and nobody else. He proved it with the coalition crap.
Same with Stephane Dion. Given what he had been through, how he had been overwhelmingly rejected by the Canadian people, it was nothing short of amazing to watch him come back and actually take a greedy grab at power.
And it filters down. Take Vaughn mayor Linda Jackson for example. Take the time to read this article and you'll quickly appreciate how greed takes over.
How Jackson's greed would allow her to take taxpayers money in her city and literally dump it down her throat. The total disregard for those struggling families in Vaughn that might have a problem with her buying one hundred dollar bottles of wine at expensive restaurants and then charging it back to her citizens.
Where do these sows get off?
Given the given the current economic atmosphere, and the lead up to it, how could anyone like Jackson justify meetings at swanky Italian restaurants which included extravagant meals and booze.
At the very least, if you choose not to use a board room for a meeting and you just have to go to a restaurant to pig out on taxpayer's money, wouldn't it be cool to maybe pay for your own booze.
It brings us back to this question. Is anyone who would do this really worthy of being in position of power? Should anyone so disconnected from the people they serve have access to public money?
The capper with Jackson is the lies and then the backtracking and then the feeble attempt at justification.
Just plain sickening.
I'm sure the citizens of Vaughn can't wait for the next election.
Today was a great day for Canada. When Bob Rae withdrew from the Liberal leadership fiasco it was a triple punch for the country.
It means Bob Rae can't become Prime Minister, it means Jack Layton will not become a cabinet minister and it means the Bloq will not have an official say in our government.
What more could anyone ask for on one day?
Rae is a lot like Layton only a little more slippery. At least Layton is true to his party while he grabs for power without earning it. Rae is a socialist at heart who changed colours so he'd have a better chance at running the country through the ballot box.
Bob Rae was an unmitigated disaster as Premier of Ontario and there's no reason to think he wouldn't be just as bad or worse at Prime Minister. Bob Rae has absolutely nothing on his resume that qualifies him to lead the country and his decision to drop out of the race today and step aside for Michael Ignatieff was unwittingly patriotic.
Bob Rae cares only about Bob Rae and he desperately wants to be Prime Minister but the writing was on the wall and having backed a coalition that was overwhelmingly rejected by the country Rae went beyond the point of no return. He had to drop out. He had no backing.
Rae's withdrawal today also means the end of the reprehensible coalition, that although legal and within the rules, was a disgusting prospect that anyone who really cares about this country should have discounted from the moment it was proposed.
It was wrong. No matter how you looked at it, from whatever angle, it wasn't right for the times, it wasn't right for the country, and obviously it wasn't right for Michael Ignatieff.
Using his brain, Ignatieff distanced himself from the coalition based upon nothing but feel. It felt wrong because it was wrong and he knew it. He knew even before the polls were released that Canadians didn't want a government forced upon them so he took the high road.
Michael Ignatieff, if nothing else, respected the very basis of our democracy. He respected our votes.
No doubt as this thing unfolds over the next few weeks Ignatieff will posture and position himself to put as much pressure as he can on the Prime Minister, but he will not jump into bed with Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe.
He will listen to the Conservative budget in late January and make a decision at that point. If the Liberals don't like it, they will vote against it, regardless of what the NDP and Bloq do.
But if the government should fall you can bet your ass there will be no coalition.... there will be an election.
This is beautiful, Rae believes the coalition should go forward without your vote, but it's the exact opposite when it comes to the Liberal leadership.
One of the more fascinating aspects of the reprehensible coalition movement this week was how basic math was pulverized.
We saw it again yesterday at the Nathan Phillips Square rally.
What a perfect snapshot of Toronto; the city that prevented a Conservative majority, the city that elected David Miller and the city that's crumbling under a socialist city council had the largest coalition rally in the country.
It says so much, but back to the math.
Yesterday people were walking around with signs claiming they are "part of the 62 percent majority."
Hmmm. If you're part of the 62 percent majority then you must have committed some kind of election fraud. In order to be part of the 62 percent majority, you would have had to cast three ballots on October 14. One for the Liberals, one for the NDP and one for the separatists.
That's the only way you could become part of the 62 percent majority. The only way!
Let's take it one step further. The tedious claim that simply by not voting Conservative in the last election makes you part of a 62 percent majority is not true either. To do that, you're assuming that everybody who voted Liberal, NDP and Bloq in the last election feels the same way you do.
But you can't do that because you have no way of knowing and the only way of finding out is by having an election, and beyond that, the only way to absolutely find out is to have the coalition run as a single party.
So let's get something straight. Unless you voted three times it's impossible to be part of 62 percent.
You're either part of the 26.2 percent who voted Liberal, the 18.2 percent who voted NDP or the ten percent who voted Bloq.
Until this goes back to the people there is absolutely no way of determining percentages because we don't really know how many people actually support or don't support the attempted power grab.
We could always look to recent polls that reveal Canadians have overwhelming rejected the coaltion, but apparently, according to the pro-coalitionists on this board, you can't believe them.
But we're supposed to believe some half-baked 62 percent formula.
If anything, there's only one percentage that's clear at this point. While the Liberal and NDP vote supported by separatists has become fuzzy, the 37.6 percent of Canadians who voted Conservative, earning 143 seats remains intact.
How insulting that somebody who voted just once, for a losing party, thinks they have the right to take someone else's vote away.
And don't use parliamentary rules as an excuse. The rules allowed a power grabbing coalition to form and the rules allowed the Prime Minister to suspend Parliament.
Sometimes rules suck and should be changed, especially a rule that allows someone to have their vote stolen without an election.
Canadians Call for New Election; Harper Would Win Big Majority, Sweep Seat-Rich Ontario and Overtake Liberals in Quebec
Canadians Call for an Election
Below are highlights from a new Canada-wide, COMPAS Research poll on the recent turmoil in the House of Commons. Permission is granted to publish or broadcast results provided COMPAS Inc. is appropriately cited.
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By a more than 2:1 margin, Canadians call for another election if the choice faced by the Governor-General were between inviting Stephane Dion to form a government and hold a fresh general election weeks after the most recent one. That is the key finding from a national representative poll completed December 4, 2008.
If an election were held today, Stephen Harper would win a large majority based on nation-wide support of 51% compared to 20% for the Liberals, 10% for the NDP, 6% for the Greens, and 8% for the Bloc. Harper would sweep seat-rich Ontario with 53% of the vote compared to 24% for the Liberals and 10% for the NDP in that province and would surpass Dion in Quebec with 32% of the vote compared to 19% for the Liberals and 35% for the Bloc.
Key factors in this lightening speed transformation of public opinion:
66% of Canadians oppose the Bloc Quebecois having a say in who forms the government;
48% have confidence in Stephen Harper as Prime Minister in the current economic climate compared to 14% for Michael Ignatieff in second place, 11% for NDP leader Jack Layton, 8% for Stephane Dion, 4% for Bob Rae, and 3% for Gilles Duceppe;
58% believe that the Coalition's real or main motivation was a power grab while 28% perceive the Opposition as honestly believing that Harper is a poor manager of the economy;
61% believe that the Liberals, following their drop in support in the October election, should not be trying to form a government.
The poll also indicates Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives would romp to a majority victory with a record 46-per-cent public support if an election were held today.
Yes, bad news for Liberals but great news for Canada because anyone who takes the time to look into this guys history will reject him unconditionally.
Unfortunately most Canadians, check that, the vast majority, don't take the time necessary to form an intelliegent opinion. That's why Stephen Harper's cardigans probably cost him a majority.
Of all the incompentent quacks you don't want carrying your message, Bob Rae is the man.
Nobody should be surprised at Rae's insistance at following through with the coalition, after all his blood is NDP. Like Jack Layton he wants to take what he didn't earn.
This was sent to me my CanadianThinker.com reader Joe McLean.
Canada was stunned Monday when it was announced that The Stanley Cup will be awarded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, possibly as early as December 6th.
The Cup will be stripped from 2008 playoff champions the Detroit Red Wings and be awarded to the Leafs, who didn't even make the playoffs.
How is this possible, Canadians ask?
Well, the Leafs have formed a coalition with Eastern Conference semi-finalists the Montreal Canadiens, and conference quarter finalists the Ottawa Senators, now outnumbering the Red Wings.
According to current Leaf coach Ron Wilson "the Red Wings have lost the confidence of the league and should hand the Cup over immediately to our coalition".
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is cutting short a European trip to try to resolve the unprecedented hockey crisis that could force a second playoff series, or see the Cup be awarded to Team Coalition.
Laugh, but this makes about as much sense as the bullshit we went through this week.
Wow, what a different a day makes. On Wednesday this website was crawling with coalition supporters rejoicing in what they thought was the imminent end of the Harper Conservatives.
They were downright nasty saying all kinds of terrible things about me and anyone who looks like me. Check out some of the comments.
Today, they're nowhere to be seen.
Its one thing to lose, but I would expect that anyone who would endorse the theft of my vote would at least have a comeback despite their loss. Surely you have something to say.
The past few days have been a real learning experience for me. How so many so-called Canadians could actually endorse what was about happen to our country is something I'll never forget. It's one of those life altering experiences because just when you think you've seen it all, along comes an issue that proves you haven't.
The amazing thing about the past couple of days is how many people were ready to trash the Prime Minister, endorse a coalition of losers and then stand back and watch as Canada suffered a severe imaging hit for absolutely no reason.
Many argued they were doing it because of the economy, because Canada was in a severe economic crisis, even though the Bank of Canada said Monday that Canada's economy continued to expand, growing at an annualized rate of 1.3% in the third quarter, faster than expected, and the quickest growth rate of the year
The coalitionists were so passionate just a few short hours ago, but now, nothing. No response. They've disappeared.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised because anyone who would be so quick and willing to sell out their country to seperatists obviously doesn't have the back bone to admit they lost.
The craziest thing about what happened in Ottawa today is that there are actually thousands of people walking around disappointed - disappointed that the Governor General did the appropriate thing, listened to the Prime Minister, and derailed a power grab by three extremely selfish power hungry men.
Imagine that, disappointed that our government wasn't brought down by three men who combined, barely had the votes to do it.
Forget about all that 62 percent bullshit. Yes, 62 percent of the country didn't vote Conservative, but inside that 62 percent each one of the men involved received nothing close to the amount of votes that our Prime Minister did.
Imagine that, there are people walking around disappointed that I didn't have my vote in October's election taken away from me.
And they have the nerve to use the word "democracy'?
I did my duty on October 14th, went to the polls, cast my ballot for the Conservatives and they won. Not only did they win, but they actually increased their minority. It was all done in good faith but there are those who think that should all have been wiped away this week.
Wiped away, even though each of the individuals that were attempting this power grab hadn't achieved anything near what the Prime Minister had.
Yes what they attemped to do was within the rules, but it goes way beyond that.
Apparently there are several members of the Liberals party who are thrilled with what the Governor General did today because they were never really comfortable with the over-throw and one of those people is Michael Ignatieff who has a good chance of becoming the next leader of that party.
Good on him. Despite knowing full well that this was within the rules, there was a part of him that knew it was morally wrong. Within the rules, but a direct slap in the face to those who voted in the October election.
And that's before the separatist angle was taken into consideration.
Today really is a great day for Canada. There were hundreds of thousands of selfish vultures circling above waiting to pick the bones of anyone who voted Conservative, but the Governor General stepped in and did what was right.
She listened to the Prime Minister, acknowledged the recent election, respected the votes of Conservatives and will allow the elected government to govern.
Was there any other way?
Leading up to today I kept hearing from coalition backers that the overthrow was within the rules and I should live with it. Well what happened today was well within the rules but it will be interesting to see how coalitionists react. Something tells me they won't like the rules today.
But let me simplify it this way, the rules that formed the coalition would have robbed me of my vote. The rules that were used today let me keep it.
There's no telling what will happen in the months ahead, but hopefully whatever happens, it ends in another election.
Not a half-baked take-over by two career losers and an enemy of Canada.
Make no mistake about it, this man is responsible for the past week.
Jack Layton is a power hungry socialist who knows he will never be able to govern through the ballot box so he devised a way to feed off the accomplishments of others.
But then again, that's the NDP way. Underachieve and then put your hand out to achievers.
The worst part of this past week is how it made Canada look to the rest of the world. In the middle of these so-called tough economic times Jack put together his coalition even though it would make Canada look unstable globally.
There was no reason for it. Despite the so-called tough times Canada remained in pretty good shape compared to the rest of the world. The Prime Minister, contrary to ignorant belief had done a pretty good job steering the country through the past couple of years.
But that didn't matter to Jack.
His thirst for unearned power allowed him to make this country look artificially unstable at the worst possible time.
Well done Jack. You're a fine Canadian.
I know you're probably wondering why I've left the other two guys out of this, but lets face it. Stephane Dion was probably talked into it like a naive little child, and Gilles Duceppe was only doing his job.
HEY NOW, what do you say we do this?
Hit the "discuss" and tell Jack what you think of him and his infamous week of trying to wreck the country.
I'll compile them all and then send them off to his "arsholedness".
Hey Canada, did you catch that impressive speech by the guy who might be your next Prime Minister, the guy who was overwhelmingly rejected by Canadians in the last election, the guy who was dumped by his own party. Should be a fun ride having this fella drive the train.
Holy freakin' cow, am I dreaming all of this? I just saw Stephane Dion stumble through a speech that was delivered to the networks about half an hour late, a separatist refuse to use the word Canada, and a socialist who is despised by roughly eighty percent of the electorate.
The more I think about it, Stephen Harper should resign and let this crew take over just for the fun of it. Then again, he wouldn't do that because he puts Canada first, and the Kooky Coaltion would drive this country into the ground before the New Year.
Wake up Canada.
P.S. I also saw a Prime Minister who said all he needed to say before meeting with the Governor General tomorrow and hopefull y saving us from all of this.
The seperatist who will hold the balance of power in the coaltion government refused to speak to Canadians in English tonight, and didn't say the word Canada once.
Overlook it if you wish. Keep your head firmly planted up your ars. But don't bitch about the consequences.
There's not a lot to say here. Just listen.
It's a clip of Gilles Duceppe speaking to the media in Ottawa yesterday.
After listening, if you still back the coaltion, then maybe you're no better than a seperatist.
Wake up Canada!
Hats off to Liberals John Manley and Frank McKenna who have decided to put Canada first and reject the coalition. They refuse to align themselves with seperatists.
And wasn't it hilarious to see Elizabeth May bound back onto the scene yesterday. The Green Party earned zero seats in October's election. Talk about the loonies taking over the asylum. Next thing you know David Suzuki will be named to cabinet.
Wake up Canada!
It should also be known that Toronto MP Gerard Kennedy "worked the phones" all weekend to help structure the coalition with seperatists. A fine Canadian.
I received a lot of response to my postings yesterday and as usual there was no censoring.
There is a mechanism on my site that blocks certain comments until I can review them, but rarely do I choose not to post them.
This one came in yesterday and it's a fine example of how some people, in their pathetic attempt to defend the seperatist coalition, will stop at nothing.
The men who fought in the World Wars were fighting for freedom. To say that they were fighting for Canada is a bit naive. When you get right down to it, they were fighting for their lives. Fighting for the hope of seeing their loved ones again. To try and wrap the Canadian Maple Leaf Flag around these guys, when the Flag hadn't yet been introduced is laughable.
I highly doubt that my Great Uncle who fought in WWII gave a rat's ass about the future of Canada and Quebec's stance in the dominion.
Poor argument Fred.
Kram
Hey Kram, if your uncle is still alive, go ask him what he fought for, and if he's not, you should go to his grave today and apologize.
It's rather simple, the coalition government that was formed Monday could not have happened without the support of the separatist Bloc Quebecois.
Therefore, anyone who supports this coalition in any form should no longer call themselves a Canadian.
Jack Layton and Stephane Dion could not have put together their plan to overthrow our government without calling a separatist into a room and offering him something.
If you agree with what happened on Monday afternoon, everything our fathers and grandfathers fought for means nothing to you. It can't. You agree that a separatist should have a say in our government, and don't kid yourself, he will.
Jack Layton and Stephane Dion may have dressed it up nicely but nothing could have gone forward without Gilles Duceppe getting his slimy treasonous hands on some degree of power.
Anyone in this country who agrees with any part of what happened in Canada on December 1st, 2008 should be ashamed of themselves; you gave up on your country today. You should no longer call yourself a Canadian.
Meanwhile, if this deal with the separatists goes forward, at the very least it should go to a vote. If the Liberals and NDP really feel that they're read to govern then we should go back to the polls regardless of the cost.
And to take it one step further, I totally agree with Ryan Doyle of CFRB who made a great point on his show Monday night. We should go back to the polls and Layton and Dion should run on a coalition ticket.
The NDP and Liberals should band together and run against the Conservatives straight up.
Of course they probably wouldn't want any part of it now because they've pissed off so many people across the country, Harper would probably get the majority he deserves.
Watching Monday's press conference was extremely amusing. Several times the three Back Room Boys were asked to put a precise price tag and a time table on their plans that will supposedly save the country, but they wouldn't. They wouldn't because they couldn't and they couldn't because none of them has any idea how to run a country.
Stephane Dion gave the Liberals their worst showing in 141 years, while the socialist Jack Layton has failed to move his fourth place party ahead by one stinkin' inch during his leadership.
Part of me would like to see Layton thrown into power so we could actually see what would happen. I'm sure it would be similar to the disastrous reign of Bob Rae's Ontario Socialists in the early 90's, probably even worse.
If anyone out there thinks for one minute that what happened to Canada on December 1st, 2008 had anything to do with the economy, or was done to help or save the country you are sadly mistaken.
This was a power grab initiated by Jack Layton who knows he could never be voted into a position of power in Canada, so he jumped into bed with a Liberal who was overwhelmingly rejected by Canadians just six weeks ago, and he jumped into bed with a separatist, a man whose sole purpose is to break up our country - and let it be known that Layton had initial coalition talks with the separatist the week following the election, long before he got to use the "state of the economy" excuse.
If this makes you happy then you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
And one last point. The Kooky Coalition, without details or timetables is floating the idea of an expensive stimulus package.
To do this before we get Barack Obama's economic plans and the American government's plans for the big three auto makers is absolutely, positively irresponsible.
But then again it's not about Canada. It's all about power..... and treason.
I urge all "Canadians" to get off your ass over the next few days and contact your member of parliament and voice your displeasure.
You can also contact the Governor General and at the very least demand another election.
The socialist readership of CanadianThinker.com will love this.
Right here and right now, I'm accusing the Harper government of a flip-flop. I'm accusing Stephen Harper of saying one thing and then doing another. It was a dramatic flip-flop, from one freakin' day to the next.
There, I said it.
And now I'll go on to explain why he flip-flopped on the "subsidies" issue. He did it to save his own ass, no doubt about it, but more importantly he did it to save us from a coalition government.
Say what you want about Stephen Harper, but give the guy enough brains to realize what would become of this country if Stephane Dion, Jack Layton and a goddamn separatist were given control.
I realize there's a whole whack of you out there who would love to see the end of Stephen Harper regardless of the means, but just step back for a second and think about what you want. Your pathetic anti-Conservative stance could see three of the biggest dipshits in Canadian political history take control of your lives.
For one second, stop dreaming up things to pin on Stephen Harper and think of how incompetent Stephane Dion was during the election. Think of how mindless and unreasonable Jack Layton is, and then take it one step farther, close your eyes and think about a Canada that has Gilles Duceppe calling some of the shots.
Once you consider all this, its no wonder that Stephen Harper flip-flopped. But instead of being criticized for it, he should receive a medal of goddamn honour.
And let's back up a bit. Harper found himself in this situation because he had the audacity to put forward a bill that would stop taxpayers from funding the aspirations of political parties to the tune of thirty million dollars a year. Going forward, he wants you and I to stop subsidizing the likes of the Bloc Quebecois.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
And before the likes of Mike from Lowville start hammering back, I'm well aware that back in 2004 Harper moved forward on a proposed coalition to unseat the Paul Martin's Liberal minority.
But the time, Harper would have led the coalition and the sitting Liberals were in total disarray. Compare that to now, is there any of the opposition leaders that you'd feel comfortable with in control of your country?
If the answer is yes, then you better get your head out of your ass.... and now that you've done that, appreciate that Stephen Harper has been low key on the economy.
That's exactly what we need right now. Even my CBC lovin', socialist swingin', tree huggin' friend Dan Duran agrees, what's fuelled a lot of this so-called economic crisis is negativity in the media that has filtered down to the masses.
The American election ended and the media needed a new story, so they took a bad situation and made it decidedly worse by dragging everyone into a deep depressing hole
Check out the Toronto Star which is literally rejoicing in the fact that a troubled world economy is coinciding with a Harper government.
There are people out there who are freaked out and they don't even know why. They've got money in their jeans but they don't want to spend it because they keep hearing of impending doom, doom that probably doesn't exist and will probably never happen.
Give Stephen Harper credit for taking a calm, level headed approach to what's before us. Give him credit for not jumping onto the freak-out train like the opposition parties and scaring the living shit out of everyone.
It's the last thing we need right now. That, and the return of Mats Sundin.
There's no doubt that Ontario needed another statutory holiday, and it was a good move to place it in February during the dead of winter, where previously there was no holiday between Christmas and Easter, but where the McGuinty government really blew it was by calling it Family Day.
Family Day leaves the wrong impression.
It leaves the impression that Ontarians would actually use this day for family reasons. You're left with the image of mom and dad getting up and gathering the kids together for a day of family togetherness. Everything is pushed to side so that Mom, dad, Johnny and Suzie can go off and spend quality time that otherwise wouldn't happen.
Bullshit. You just know that in 99 percent of situations, Family Day is just another day off. Another day that mom and dad can stay in bed for another hour or so, and another eight to ten hours that most kids can spend in front of a computer or video game.
The concept of Family Day sounds nice, but all it's done is open a big can of worms.
As the city of Toronto moves towards contract talks with its employees, Family Day has become an issue. The city would like to withdraw it because it feels workers already get enough time off in a year. There are nine required statutory holidays, but in the current contract with its workers, the city grants eleven holidays, plus two float days.
Last February the city took a 2.3 million dollar hit to staff the holiday, so this time around they'd like to avoid it by giving employees the option of using a float day for Family Day.
Considering the average Joe doesn't get nearly as many days as a city worker currently gets it seems like a reasonable request.
But CUPE plans to fight this to the limit and of course part of the spin will be to use the Family Day angle. Make it look like the city is depriving its poor overworked employees of spending more time with their families. They'll use the word Family to argue their case hoping it makes the city back down.
An extremely amusing attachment to this is the position of firefighters. No doubt firefighters earn their dough and we can never forget that they run into a building while others are running out.
However, as it stands, firefighters only work seven days a month. Granted they're seven 24 hours shifts, but it means there are 24 other days in the month that they can spend with their families. Their insistence in maintaining this holiday seems a little weak.
I'm not arguing against this holiday. On the contrary, I think it was long over-due, and I don't blame CUPE for arguing the case, why wouldn't they, but it was intended for those people who are held to only the required yearly stats. In the world of public employees it's a whole different ball game and at some point, given the current economic situation, the city has to push back.
Remember, Family Day wasn't David Miller's idea.
City employees get eleven days where most others get nine, but they also get two floater days which I believe includes their birthday.
That's more than enough time to take Johnny and Susie to the zoo.
Talk about a hard ass. Barack Obama sure sets some lofty conditions for his children.
Obviously his kids have been asking for a puppy for a long time, and obviously he responded by saying something like "The day we get a puppy is the day I become President of the United States."
I'm sure that line has gotten a lot of other fathers out of having to get a dog, but in this case it came back to bite him in the ass.
Meanwhile, regardless of your political slant, you couldn't help but feel good about what happened on Tuesday night. Granted there was a lot of misplaced glee, brought on solely because of skin colour, but in this case it's acceptable.
Only time will tell if Barack Obama is the right man for the job. Whether experience really matters, whether is economic plans are sound or whether his foreign policy is a pipe dream.
In the mean time we can all bask in the glory of this great moment in history.
I've got be honest, up until just a few months ago, the thought of a black president in my lifetime was something I didn't consider. I really didn't think it was possible. I thought something would always stand in the way.
Last night truly did prove to millions of African Americans that anything is possible.
It will be interesting to see how much of an impact it will have going forward and whether it will change the mind-set of an entire race of people.
Judging by the reaction Tuesday night, I think it's safe to say "yes it can!"
I don't want to sound like a snob, but I have to say this. There are a lot of people who will vote for Barack Obama today who are just as blind as the hundreds of thousands around the GTA who insist on clinging to the Liberals.
I'll even go one step further. There are a lot of people in Canada who are pulling for Barack Obama without really scratching beneath the surface.
I can see it. I can feel it.
Admittedly, I want Obama to win the election today because I genuinely feel he represents the change that the United States and the rest of the world needs right now. But believe me, this determination didn't come easy.
There is a lot we don't know about Obama and no matter how you slice it, he really doesn't have a lot of experience, but I've come to the conclusion that maybe that's a good thing. He can lead the free-world in a new direction with a fresh approach.
However, there is also the real possibility that this guy could be an unmitigated disaster and that's the chance that everyone who casts a ballot today will take.
Unfortunately, I don't think too many people have thought it through to that extent.
Obama is young, he seems like a cool guy, he's black and he's not Republican. The package he offers has allowed far too many people to become lazy and decide they're going to vote for the guy regardless of what's beneath the skin.
I sound like I'm contradicting myself because I too support the man, and that's why I might be coming off as a snob by writing this piece but I decided to support Obama after I thought about it long and hard.
I don't think I have much company in that regard.
Barack Obama will likely become the President of the United States later tonight, and it will provide a wild ride into the next decade.
I don't think there will be any middle ground with this guy. He'll either become the great messiah that many have predicted, or he'll be a living nightmare.
I was still in Brampton this morning, so very early I spun the radio dial and listened to a couple of Toronto's morning talk shows.
I amused by something I heard on The John Oakley Show. The point was made, and its completely valid, that the overwhelming percentage of African American's in the United States are going to vote for Barack Obama simply because he's black and that in its purest form its nothing short of racism.
Apparently the number is somewhere close to 98 percent and that's taking into consideration the millions of blacks who don't usually vote but plan to line up tomorrow.
But is anyone surprised?
African Americans tend to vote Democrat anyway, but this election, whether you like it or not, is racially historic so it really shouldn't surprise anyone when you consider what it represents.
African Americans have been cut out of the political process for centuries, so excuse them for getting a little excited over this one. Historically they've been a suppressed people constantly looking for someone to lead them out of the dark ages, so excuse them for supporting the black guy.
Granted, there are dangers to this. Ballots will be cast without really considering the issues, but then again, that will probably be balanced by the millions upon millions of white people who won't vote for Obama for the same reason blacks are voting for him.
Thank you so much for mentioning the work we're doing in Chicago, it's been an inspiring experience. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet in person, I absolutely loved Humble & Fred in the mornings.
The Iraq war is costing the United States of America roughly 12 billion dollars a month, and by the end of the year it will have cost the country one trillion dollars.
It's an expenditure that can't be sustained and it provides an extremely valid reason why Barack Obama wants to "sit down and talk."
During the current American election campaign Obama has been vilified by the right for even suggesting that talking to America's enemies might be better than bombing them.
It's an interesting phenomenon.
As children we're told not to fight. We're encouraged to communicate and resolve disputes through the spoken word, not the broken bone. But for some reason, those rules change as we get older.
There's no doubt there are several "wing nut" countries throughout the world and several barbaric organizations like Al Qaeda. Some will argue that you can never negotiate with these people and surely never reach what the vast majority of us want - world peace.
But what's the alternative? Under the current plan, by the time the United States pulls out of Iraq and Afghanistan they will have spent three trillion dollars and from all accounts, they simply can't sustain such expenditure. It will literally cripple the country and we've already seen evidence of that.
There's an element in the United States that prefers to write Barack Obama off as some kind of a socialist crack pot.
Is he that, or is he a realist?
To remain adversarial may or may not have prevented terrorist acts in the United States over the past five years, but we'll never know. And it's that unknown that nagging.
It's not Republican policy to sit down and talk, or to show any kind of weakness or conciliation when it comes to the so-called bad guys, so if John McCain becomes president we can expect more of the same. More war and more billions spent.
However, if Barack Obama becomes President, then maybe, just maybe the United States has the chance to change direction.
To stand up in the United States of America and propose "talking" to the enemy is dangerous territory. It's not the American way. Crushing things is the American way.
But Barack Obama doesn't care and to me that doesn't show weakness, it shows immeasurable strength.
MONTREAL- A Quebec comedy duo notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state has punked Sarah Palin, convincing the Republican vice-presidential nominee she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
It's been interesting to listen to American conservative talk radio over the past few days.
Mental midgets like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are telling Americans not to believe the polls which have Barack Obama way out in front.
Their strategy is elementary. They want Republicans to get out and vote. You know the deal, it's difficult to get people to get out and vote at the best of times, but when they think the outcome is a foregone conclusion it's even worse.
Limbaugh and Hannity know the polls are correct, but they're so desperate to push their perverted agendas, they'll like to their listeners, tell them the polls are wrong, and hope they'll get off their fat asses and maybe close the gap.
But it may all be a waste of time.
I spent Wednesday, Thursday and the better part of Friday at a conference in Toronto. It was the Corus Entertainment Leadership Conference and a good measure of it dealt with this rapidly changing technological world and the importance of radio and television to be connected to their audience through the "new" media.
Encourage collaboration with listeners and viewers. Encourage them to be part of the process by actually contributing content.
One of the most compelling panels involved four people under 25 years of age. They called it the "Net Generation Panel" and among the group was a 22 year old woman named Rahaf Harfoush from Toronto, who's a new media strategist.
She's just a kid, but she has big clients all over the world who depend on her to come up with ways to connect them with potential customers.
But right now she's reaching the end of a three month hiatus. She has spent the last three months in Chicago working on Barack Obama's New Media Team, and apparently it's been a smashing success that could very well provide the margin of victory.
It's every simple. When it comes to new media, Obama has clobbered John McCain.
It's not that McCain's team ignored the web. They used it, but as you might expect, they used it like a 71 year old man would use it compared to a progressive 47 year old.
McCain used it, but he didn't take full advantage of it like Obama did. And part of Obama's strategy was to hire some brilliant young minds like our own Rahaf Harfoush.
A gang of kids went Chicago and set up a social network that could very well blow the doors off Tuesday's election. They set up a network that challenged young Americans to take an interest in this election.
Much like it is in Canada, it's been difficult in the United States to get 18-24 year olds to become involved in the process. A lot of them don't vote because they're turned-off by politics. They tend to lean left, but only a small percentage are inspired enough to actually go out and cast a ballot.
This year could be much different.
Tens of millions of young Americans have been reached through Obama's on-line social network which has encouraged them to stand up and be counted this time. It's an historic election featuring two distinct candidates and "net" generation has apparently bought in.
If the response to the network is any indication they will come out in droves on Tuesday night in numbers that that have never been realized before.
Not only that, but these are people that haven't been counted in the polls. They don't talk to pollsters, and often aren't even asked. So come Tuesday, it could be overwhelming, which in way, makes Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity correct.
The polls aren't accurate. Obama may have an even bigger lead than they indicate.
Not to repeat myself, but I have to say it again. I may be a Canadian conservative, but that doesn't put me anywhere close to an American conservative.
A Canadian conservative is a lot more in common with an American democrat, and I guess that's why I hope Barack Obama wins the election on Tuesday.
I think he's the right guy at the right time and he'll represent a refreshing change from eight ridiculous years of George W. Bush.
Having said that, I'm worried. I'm worried that the world's self appointed greatest democracy could come crashing down Tuesday night. Not from a literal standpoint, but more symbolic.
Anybody with a brain knows the fable that is the United States of America, all the crap about it being the world's greatest country and a beacon of hope and prosperity.
It's far from the world's greatest country, hell its doesn't even come close to Canada but the average American has eaten the bullshit so long, they won't even take the time to look at their northern neighbours and appreciate how much better off we are
Maybe on Tuesday, when everything they apparently stand for explodes, it will make a few million people wake up.
I have a feeling that the upcoming American election could reduce the United States of America to nothing better than a banana republic. I have a feeling the election could be "influenced" and Americans blacks will be the target.
If you thought voter irregularities in 2000 and 2004 were bad, you haven't seen anything yet. I fully expect that heavily populated African American areas of the United States will experience "problems" on Tuesday night. It will difficult for these people to cast ballots with anything and everything thrown in the way to prevent them from voting for Barack Obama.
The United States is poised to experience the largest African American voter turnout in its history and it simply won't be tolerated and everything possible will be done to prevent these people from voting. Hell, there was already evidence of it in advanced polling.
There will be excuses and cover-ups and propaganda to cover it up, but I truly believe it could happen.
The so-called greatest country on earth, the world's so called ultimate example of freedom and democracy could be so blatantly exposed on Tuesday night it may never recover.
This posting proves I'm not always against the McGuinty government.
Even though he's built his empire on a stack of lies, and most of what he says can't be trusted or believed, from time to time he does come up with something rational.
Like a cell phone and GPS ban which will be introduced in the Ontario legislature today.
It's not only long overdue, but it's also extremely reasonable. You will still be able to use your cell phone with an ear piece and you'll be able to use a GPS if its mounted on the dashboard.
The proposed legislation wants to get people away from one hand driving and the distraction of looking away from the road while tending to other business.
Some might argue that all forms of telephone calls and global positioning should be banned, but at this point, that's unrealistic. We've crossed the line.
Too many people depend on constant communications in their jobs. We've established new standards and to take that completely away at this point would be too damaging.
Unfortunately, in this new world of multi-tasking, over work and horrendous expectations, to take phones out of cars completely at this point would put too many people at a disadvantage.
That's why the McGuinty government has taken the measures they have. A compromise that will take gadgets out of your hands while driving, but still allow you to communicate.
TORONTO - Ontario's Liberal government downgraded its growth forecasts, cut some spending commitments and will run a $500 million deficit in 2009, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said Wednesday.
The fall economic statement, designed to update projections contained in the March budget, shows the province is faring much worse than initially thought.
Revenues will be nearly $1-billion lower than projected seven months ago, and the 1.1% growth rate has been slashed to 0.1%.
The deficit represents a broken campaign pledge for the Dalton McGuinty-led Liberals, who promised balanced budgets while in office.
The Liberals made a similar promise in 2003, then subsequently introduced a $2.6-billion health tax and ran deficits for two consecutive years.
The resignation speech he delivered yesterday should never have been necessary. If the Liberals had had their shit together at their leadership convention a couple of years ago, Stephane Dion would never have been put in this position.
From day one it was obvious this guy didn't have the goods to be a leader, and the only reason he was vaulted into that position is because of petty infighting within the party during the leadership convention.
And this presents another reason why I still can't get over the actions of Toronto voters last week. They continue to support a party that can't even elect the right leader, let alone run the country.
Having said that, Dion did step over the line yesterday.
When he linked the Liberal defeat to Conservative money and their ad campaign that depicted him as an incompetent wimp he was stretching it a bit.
If anything, the Liberals were guilty of the worst smear campaign. Linking Stephen Harper to George Bush and then suggesting Harper was somehow responsible for the global financial melt-down was pathetic. So pathetic in fact that it made a few ridings in the GTA wake up and respond by supporting the Conservatives.
And it would be a good idea for Dion to get over his Green Shift debacle.
The election was a week ago and I think most Canadians still don't know what the hell it was other than just another tax.
Politicians have to wake up. As nice and cute as it is to come out as great protectors of the environment, its still way too early for the "average Joe" to buy in. They don't have the time or the money. Sure, everyone will claim they love the environment and they're willing to do anything it takes to preserve it, but when it comes right down to it, if it gets in the way of putting food on the table it's a different story. Especially on election day.
Dion never got a handle on that. And the people of Toronto never got a handle on the rational straight forward common sense approach that Stephen Harper was offering.
Check out Toronto Mike's website today. He responds to my postng from yesterday - Toronto Mike Is Happy.
Very eloquent, extremely fair and to be honest, inspirational. From now on I'm going to be a far nicer and more understanding Freddie P.
I'll attempt to drop the grumpy old man image and behave like most others in the country. I'll pretend I can't read between the lines and I'll bend over and freely take it where the sun don't shine.
Tomorrow I'm going to write about some cana lillies my wife and I plan to transplant.
If Stephane Dion resigns as leader of the Liberal Party today, it will be a very noble act.
If Stephane Dion resigns as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada today, I will gain an immeasurable amount of respect for the man.
Dion knows he's done and apparently he's decided the step down now, rather than hang- on and take the inevitable abuse that will come from within his own party.
There's no future for Stephane Dion or the Liberals with him as leader.
He should have never been the leader to begin with. He was a consolation choice, the product of some petty infighting during the last Liberal leader convention. The moment he won it was painfully obvious that he was the wrong guy.
The image was wrong, his strategy was wrong and there were far too many party members who were never happy with him as leader.
But give the guy credit. There will be grandstanding and no silly claims of a come back.
Speaking of Toronto Mike, I love the guy. I really do. But I'm not big on his politics.
On his site today, Mike received the results of last night's election in a very peculiar way.
So thrilled that Stephen Harper didn't win a majority, he displayed pleasure that the Bloc didn't fall in Quebec. How bizarre is that? The Bloc, a party whose sole purpose is to force the break-up of Canada, a party who puts Canada second, a party made up of unpatriotic, treasonous bastards.
It's just another example of the anti-Conservative paranoia that reigns supreme in the GTA. The moniker "Toronto" Mike fits well.
To be honest, I've never really understood why Mike is so anti-Conservative. He's a smart young fella, but I've never really read any concrete reason why he hates Stephen Harper so much.
On his blog today, Mike goes on about new leadership for the Liberals, and even mentions Justin Trudeau as some kind of hope for the future. Based on what, I don't know. It can't be connected to the record of his old man, because Pierre damaged the country a lot more than he helped it.
But to Toronto Mike, it doesn't matter. As long as it's not Conservative it's OK. As long as it's not Stephen Harper, everything is just grand.
At the end of his piece, Mike refers to Harper as a loser. But just for record, let it be known that Toronto Mike voted NDP yesterday.
When you're out and about today, look around. Appreciate that almost half the people you see didn't bother to vote yesterday.
Admittedly, that's a tad dramatic because if you want to slice it precisely, 41 percent of the people you see today didn't bother to vote yesterday.
Can you imagine that?
A wonderful democracy like Canada and only fifty-nine percent of those eligible actually took the time to exercise their franchise. Only fifty-nine percent bothered to use what so many others around the world would give their lives for. It's disgusting.
That, or the evil man with the secret plans has done a pretty good job of running the country. So good, that almost half of Canada is so comfortable, they didn't feel the need to leave their houses.
Having said that, of the fifty-nine percent who did vote, you have to wonder what a lot of them were thinking.
Take Toronto for example. I find it odd that pretty much the rest of the country could embrace Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, but the city of Toronto remains a sea of red.
Isn't it amusing that the rest of the country, outside of a few small pockets and predictable Quebec, decided that the Prime Minister deserved a stronger mandate and the chance to move Canada forward in an unencumbered way.
But not Toronto. Nope, not Toronto. Toronto is special. Toronto knows more than the rest of the country when it comes to politics. Toronto knows about the Harper hidden agenda and the all the nasty things that he'd do if ever got a majority. Toronto has saved the country from its very demise. Thanks Toronto.
Thank you for electing Bob Rae, who singlehandedly destroyed your province when he was premier back in the early 90's. Thank you for electing Ken Dryden who has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he may know how to stop a puck and write a good book, but as a politician he leaves a lot to be desired.
Thank you Toronto for giving the country a sea of red in the country's largest city, and a shout out to those two other ridings that actually chose the NDP. How impressive.
Toronto likes to think of itself as a progressive world class city. How comical.
This election proves that Toronto is actually miles behind the rest of the country when it comes to dealing with the issues. Hell, it's behind the rest of the GTA.
Just look at an election map and appreciate how the rest of Ontario caught on while Toronto was left behind.
Torontonians don't think before they vote. They're like blind robots who mark an "x" beside Liberal regardless of the political climate, the country's health or their party leader's incompetence.
In some ways, they're just as bad as those selfish Quebecois who vote Bloc.
I know I'm going to get pounded for this, but I think the Prime Minister was smart for not revealing his official platform until yesterday.
It showed balls. He unveiled the plan just one week before the election so it would be fresh in the minds of the electorate. He didn't throw it out a few weeks ago, hoping that most of it would be forgotten or ignored by those who plan on voting on Tuesday.
Lets be honest, most Canadians pay little or no attention to election campaigns. They end up casting their ballot based on the last commercial they saw, or the last newspaper article they read or the last thing their spouse told them.
It's sad, but true. Most people don't have the time or the interest to follow an entire election campaign so they're ill-equipped to make an intelligent choice of voting day.
At least by releasing his platform late in this campaign the Prime Minister has put it up front, allowed it to be fresh in the minds of Canadians just a few short days before they have to make their decision.
Today is Wednesday, and the election is Tuesday. This way, nobody can claim they weren't aware what the Conservatives stand for.
Of course the left element will scream and holler about this, but I'm not surprised. They're same people who can be found mostly in Ontario, where unbelievabley the Liberals lead the Conservatives by six points in the polls.
The Canadian election is next Tuesday, and if there's anyone out there sitting on the fence and wondering if they should vote for the evil, child eating Steven Harper, then you should take a few minutes to check this out.
The Desperate (Liberal) Party of Canada has stooped to a new low and come up with a website called BushHarper.com and not surprisingly, I became aware of it by clicking on to the Toronto Star website and seeing the advertisement down the right hand column.
Yes, I'm quite aware that politics can get nasty and that all parties can get stupid when it comes to attack ads, but the Liberals have really gone overboard with their attempt to link Steven Harper to George Bush.
I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a stupid guy. At least I don't think I am. I admit I've aligned myself with the Conservatives and I'd like to see Harper get a majority, but I'm not so blind to this that I can't see reality.
Steven Harper is not George Bush and he doesn't come close to deserving the connection that's become so fashionable for the legion of nit-wits who are so anti-Conservative they're willing to buy into lies, deceit and political fantasy.
To see clearly, you can easily see that Steven Harper isn't connected to George Bush anywhere other than those areas where he has no choice. You can't change the fact that Canada is closely connected to the United States both geographically and economically and sometimes, despite your politic stripe, you just have to play the game.
Hey folks, I'm like a lot of you. I think George W. Bush is complete goof ball and an embarrassment to the free world, but I'm also able to separate the facts and see the situation for what it is. Steven Harper does not deserve the Bush connection.
And that's why I want anyone who's sitting on the fence to click on this site and play the video. Appreciate how pathetic it is and how desperate it is.
Do you really want the people responsible for this ad to run your country?
If you're still can't make up your mind then make sure you click on the little speaker icon at the top of the page. Where it says "Play introduction".
If at this point you still can't make up your mind, then there's no hope for you.
I'm surprised violence didn't break out during the Canadian election debate last night. While watching, I kept expecting someone to reach across the table and smack Jack Layton upside the head.
Even Elizabeth May, who could probably kick the shit out of all the guys.
Layton was at his "I can't be elected so I'll say all kinds of ridiculous and outrageous things" best.
When you're as much of a flake as Layton is, and you lead Canada's third and not rising political party, you can sit there and say whatever you want and poke holes in everything everybody else has to say.
You can sit there with a smirk on your face and talk about the Prime Minister's love affair with big oil and George Bush and you can tell all kinds of tales about how wonderful the world would be if there were ever enough goombahs to elect you.
To be honest, I have no idea how Stephen Harper would let himself be talked into a debate with this format. As the incumbent, you really can't win. You're under attack constantly but there's really no substance to the attacks and if you don't have a very strong moderator you're cooked.
Harper didn't look very good to me last night, but it could have been a lot worse if the other people around the table had anything to offer. He still came off as the most competent and most rational.
A lot more could have been accomplished if the debate had been more traditional.
Lucky for Harper, Layton is so aggravating; most Canadians probably came away from the debate not thinking about the winner, but rather thinking about the big loser - who was sitting between little Stephane Dion and that wretched, treasonous bastard Gilles Duceppe.
There's a radio commercial currently running that features an obviously older woman talking about her financial portfolio. She talks about a 20 percent drop and then proceeds to blame the Stephen Harper Conservatives.
It's a Liberal ad of course, and it's so far off base, so wrong, so ridiculous, to believe it you either have to have your head up your butt or you're a first degree moron.
That's what the Liberals are hoping for of course. That the same followers who gave the Liberals a thirteen year run through the 90's and into the new millennium will fall back into line and swallow their unbelievable bullshit.
To pin the current world economic situation on Stephen Harper is laughable. To blame him for the Wall Street greed and near collapse of the American economy is such a stretch; to buy into it means you haven't taken one second of your precious time to face reality.
If anything, Stephen Harper should be commended for keeping Canada in good shape while the pinheads south of the border flirt with economic disaster.
No doubt what happens down there will eventually affect us, but it has nothing to do with Stephen Harper and for the Liberals to attempt to make that connection shows how desperate they are and how screwed they are to have such a limp dick leader.
I understand that politics can get dirty, and the accusations can fly quite freely, but in this case it's downright deceitful. But then again, that's the Liberal way. They lied and connived and literally stole from the Canadian public for thirteen years. They assume, by producing fantasy ads, the same group of simpletons will come back.
Are you one of them?
One more point. I love the way the Liberals always like to publish pictures of Stephen Harper and George Bush shaking hands or smiling at each other.
Now tell me, if Stephen Dion ever gathered enough morons to elect him Prime Minister would he refuse to shake hands with the sitting American President.? Would he refuse to smile?
I've got to admit I'm somewhat disappointed with the reaction on this website over the past few days.
I guess when you get right down to it, there's a problem with my writing. It's not clear enough.
Not once during my handling of the Heather Mallick controversey did I endorse or support Sarah Palin the politician. What I did was support Palin the person, who suffered a ridiculous attack through the website of Canada's public broadcaster.
I said it before and I'll say it again. I could care less about Sarah Palin or the Republicans and to be perfectly honest, I actually want the Democrats to win.
I know that may come as a surprise, but I've said this before as well, a Canadian Conservative probably has more in common with an American Democrat than they do a Republican.
But even that is getting off base because politics played no part in what I wrote about Heather Mallick. It was simply a case of right and wrong. It could have been any politician of any political stripe.
What Mallick wrote about Palin was wrong and defending her from that aspect was right.
It went over the line and went to far and there was no better proof of that than the release of yesterday's report by the CBC Ombudsman.
Still, for some frequenters of FreddieP. that wasn't enough. They preferred to overlook the the report and continue to defend Mallick strictly for political reasons.
I'm not stupid, I've done this blog enough to sniff out the weasels. I know the crew who can't stand anything Conservative, those who will find any excuse to jump on the right, even if it means having someone and their family attacked personally.
It's pathetic actually, and to pretend Mallick's piece was written as satire is moronic.
I sound like a broken record but I'll say this again as well. When it comes to the issues, everyone is fair game and can be attacked accordingly.
Take this video for example. (Thanks Bill L.) Sarah Palin sounds like an idiot and proves quite conclusively that she probably isn't up to the job as Vice-President of the United States.
But it has nothing to do with her daughter, her husband or her apparent resemblance to a porn star.
Let's get something straight, I don't have a hate on for the CBC. I have a problem with the way it's run.
Ideally I think there's a place for the CBC in Canada and I'd love to see it function in a proper, balanced and fiscally responsible way.
But that's the problem. It's a bulky, expensive mess that's been infiltrated by a legion of whack jobs who've literally stolen it from the Canadian public.
"Public" is the key word. It's the public broadcaster which means it should be "fair and balanced" - to steal a slogan from a private American cable network, which as well, is anything but fair and balanced.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company is partly supported by the tax dollars of Conservative Canadians, but they have absolutely no voice on the network and that just isn't fair. The CBC has been literally taken over by an element fixated on rejecting anything "right".
Their programming is so slanted to the left it's downright perverted and it's gotten to the point where something has to be done to literally wrestle it away from the current regime that allows Canada's network to speak for only part of the country.
I also have a problem with the excessive spending habits at the Corp, and having worked in private broadcasting for most of my life I realize where it takes seven people to produce a radio show at the CBC, a quality product could easily be achieved with half that many or less.
After all, in many cases quality radio is produced by private radio with only one or two people producing the show.
Times and situations change, but for some reason the CBC hasn't caught on. You have to do more with less in today's society, and although it's tough to swallow sometimes, and it's not always the best route, often it's just plain stinking reality.
The reality that should be facing the CBC right now is downsizing and fiscal responsibility, not to mention a balanced approach to political reporting. But nobody has the nuts to tackle it.
That's why it was so encouraging to hear the Prime Minister address excessive arts spending last week. Maybe, just maybe he'll have the nuggets to do what has to be done if he gets a majority.
Some of you keep making the point that I would "take a job at the CBC in a minute."
That's half true. Way down the road I would definitely consider a job at the CBC and I would be proud to play a part in the development of a "new" CBC. I'd consider it an act of patriotism.
But it would take more than a minute to consider, because as it stands, I would find the place nothing but bloody frustrating.
I thought it extremely odd that so many people who participated at FreddieP.ca defended Heather Mallick last week.
Yesterday's report issued by the CBC Ombudsman (please read) puts everything into the proper perspective. The Mallick article was vicious, over the line and definately did not belong on the CBC website.
I hope those who were so ready to defend our often perverted public broadcaster read this and then give their heads a shake.
Mallick was wrong, the CBC was wrong and looking ahead, maybe the Corp. can do something about its one sided, almost childish position on Canadian politics.
Stephen Harper continues to wipe the floor with his opposition in the current election campaign, and yesterday he forged ahead even further in my mind by having the balls to say what so many others think.
Harper should be commended for having the guts to say it, because as a politician its one of those places you don't usually go. You avoid it because every whiny freeloader will come out of the woodwork and you leave yourself open to the scrutiny of other spineless politicians who don't mind dumping millions into pointless arts programs.
The Prime Minister will be criticized for this of course. He'll be taken out of context and be accused of attacking the arts in the general. But that's not the case, Stephen Harper like myself, has nothing against the arts, it's the attitude of some so-called artists that he has problem with.
For much too long money has been thrown at things in this country with no accountability, no purpose and no reason and it's got to stop.
Harper hits the nail on the head when he talks about ordinary folks. While ordinary folks try to come up with creative ways to pay the mortgage, the food bill and their next tank of gas, they have little or no interest in having their tax dollars handed over to somebody who wants to throw paint at a wall and call it art.
Ordinary Canadians don't have anything against the arts, but they have a big problem with waste and so does the Prime Minister.
And cut the PM some slack. He's not ending arts funding all together, (which wouldn't be a bad idea) he's cutting back after actually increasing the Canadian Heritage fund by eight percent.
What he did was review the books and make some tough choices on where he could save a few bucks for the taxpayer. Unfortunately, for those who think they have a god given right to our tax dollars so they can pursue a hobby, the party may be coming to an end.
Meanwhile, the totally irrelevant Jack Layton came out barking yesterday, using the Conservative hidden agenda argument, claiming the Prime Minister will probably sell off the CBC if wins a majority.
We can only hope.
*when you click on the link, notice the headline in the Toronto Star. They leave out the word funding. Conveniently.
Yesterday when I wrote the posting "Pig" I wrote it with a certain purpose that I'm convinced that I accomplished.
I believe in freedom of speech and I believe politicians are fair game for just about anything. I also believe that Sarah Palin is surrounded by a lot of questions marks and might prove to be a disaster if the Republicans are elected.
What I don't believe in is taking personal shots that go beyond the issues at hand, and I especially reject taking shots at a politicians family, people who are on the peripheral. People who are on the peripheral and didn't choose to become targets in any form.
It's interesting that so many people who responded yesterday missed the point. So ready to jump on anything Conservative they immediately aligned themselves with Heather Mallick and defended the bullshit she wrote.
They descried the piece as clever and funny and intelligent when in reality, it was none of that.
It was left wing vitriol that attacked a woman for her looks and insulted her family for their apparent lifestyle. It had nothing to do with politics and had everything to do with a woman (Mallick) who is a frustrated feminist who is uncomfortable with Palin's combination of success and attractiveness - and, of course - her political stripe.
Jump all over Sarah Palin for all the things she deserves to be criticized for. Her position on issues and her track record as a mayor and governor. Criticize her for policy and trustworthiness, but don't criticize her for the thickness of her lips or the image of her husband and children. That's just petty, dirty and most of all, piggish.
I'm especially disappointed in those FreddieP.ca readers who defended Mallick's piece yesterday by describing it, or comparing it to a Saturday Night Live piece.
What a joke.
Mallick's purpose was not to be funny or cute or irreverent. It was to attack someone she hates for being nothing more than good looking and Conservative.
I wanted to write about Heather Mallick last week, but I honestly couldn't find the time. It wasn't until Sunday night, sitting in the tin palace, that I got to sit in front of my laptop and express the outrage I have towards this woman and the CBC.
I honestly do want my money back. I want someone to sit down with a calculator and figure out how much tax payer money goes to the CBC every year then divide it by how many tax payers there are, and then give me that much money back. I don't want one cent of my tax dollars going to support what's become a left wing loonie bin.
Even before Mallick's disgusting and vicious diatribe against Sarah Palin I didn't like my tax dollars supporting the wasteful CBC, but now I'm adamant. I don't want any attachment to what amounts to a national embarrassment.
The CBC is a big time waste of taxpayers money to begin with, and that's bad enough, but when it supports frustrated feminists like Heather Mallick, who write from a position of jealousy and hate rather than relevance and reason it becomes downright maddening.
The CBC is a left wing hell hole, we all know that, and we can take its constant clawing at anything Conservative as long as it plays within the rules and speaks with some rational. But Mallick's attack on Palin was immature and terribly unfair and we should expect more than that from out so called national broadcaster.
It became way too personal and petty and went into areas that expose Mallick as an unstable bitch who rather than get space on the CBC's website, should get space in a psychiatric hospital.
And this has nothing to do with support of Sarah Palin. I could care less about Palin and to some extent I agree that's she's not qualified, but nobody has the right to go where Mallick went in her personal attack on Palin and her family.
This story made big news in the United States and although I don't usually care what Americans think of Canadians, in this case I'm a tad embarrassed. There's no defense for it, and it makes Canada look ridiculous having such comments come from a public broadcaster during an American election campaign.
Last week on her FOX News show, Greta Van Susteren called Mallick a pig.
It's what I use at the tin palace to update FreddieP.ca, but when I left the brick palace yesterday morning I drove away without it.
That's good for Delyse, because now she gets to curl up in her cosy little bed and surf the net at night. When I have the laptop she misses those moments.
Anyway, that's the deal, but it's OK. Between the radio bits that I do over the next couple of days and the odd thing that I can post from the fabulous radio studios of Corus Entertainment, I should be able to make it through the week before my little darlin' arrives on Thursday night with my/her/our laptop.
Meanwhile, if there are any FreddieP.ca readers out there that would like to write a guest posting for the site, feel free to e-mail me with a picture that I can attach to it.
No, I didn't suffer a severe head injury that would make me say such things, it's something that often crosses my mind when I hear Jack Layton make ridiculous statements generally, and even more ridiculous comments during an election campaign.
Today he's promising to do something about gasoline prices in Canada if somebody ever gives the entire country a frontal lobotomy and elects him Prime Minister.
As wonderful as that sounds it's just plain silly. For an apparently seasoned politician to make such a statement is either a blatant lie or an extreme case of naivety, simply because, it can't be done.
We've been through enough with the gouging and ruthless oil companies in this country and its obvious there's not much any of us can do about it except stop using gas.
I won't get into formula of how oil prices are set in this country other than to say, it's not nearly as above board and honest as they say it is. It's not. It's greed plain and simple, but given our dependency on oil, and the way the supply is strictly controlled by a select few, the only way the government could ever combat the collusion would be to build its own refineries, and of course, that's never going to happen because they're way too expensive.
I don't like the fact that Stephen Harper or any other Prime Minister can't do shit about the price of gas in this country, but at the same time, I realize that's the way it is and it will always come back to the same thing.
If you don't want to get screwed by an oil company, stop using their product.
Impossible I know, but unless you think along those lines there's no use getting revved up about the price and what its doing to your standard of living.
Government can't do anything about it without screwing up several other things, so we can only hope somebody invents a practical electric car and gets it on the market before experiencing a mysterious death.
We're screwed when it comes to the price of gas in this country and for a politician to stand up and say he can do something about it is mindless.
Unless of course you represent the NDP and know you have no chance of ever winning the election and you can say any stupid thing you want.
And that my friends is why I might vote NDP. I'd love to see Jack have to deliver the goods on some of his whacky statements and promises.
The price of oil dropped to one hundred dollars a barrel yesterday, but when you drive to work this morning you'll notice the price of gas in Ontario jumped by close to thirteen cents a litre or fifty cents a gallon.
How's that for the Canadian oil companies ramming it where the sun don't shine.
The excuse this time is so feeble, so ridiculous and so pathetic that it leaves you shaking your head to the point of bruising your brain. They blame the hurricanes that are sweeping through the southern United States.
How bizarre.
When the world price of oil goes up, the price at the pumps goes up immediately, but when the world price goes down, it takes a little longer to make it to the pumps.
But in this case, with such a dramatic drop in the world price over the past several days, you'd think the hurricane excuse would at least make us break even at the cash register.
And to make matters worse, where the oil refineries are located, where the storms are having the most effect physically, in the United States, prices will not rise nearly as much as they have in Canada.
The oil company collusion in this country is perverted and corrupt and something has to be done about it, and it should become an election issue.
In some ways, it couldn't have come at a better time because it will (or should) put pressure on all the parties to come up with a solution. Of the course the easy thing to do would be to blame the Conservatives, but this bullshit has been going on in this country for way longer than the Conservatives have been in power, and before then, the Liberals did very little to combat the oil companies.
Needless to say, there's not much we can do about it today or tomorrow, but maybe over the long haul we can fight back in other ways. By refusing to use gas station convenience stores, car washes or coffee shops.
Phone the oil company you use the most and voice your displeasure and refuse to buy or support anything they sponsor. But most of all, phone your MP and scream into the phone, and if its a Liberal or NDP MP don't let them pass the buck and blame it on the Conservatives.
Tell your MP that you want "them" to do something about it. Voice their opinion in Parliament on your behalf or contact the oil companies directly. It's all we can do.
The behaviour oil companies in this country is ruthless and heartless. They know that gas is a necessity and that Canadian families are being severely affected by it, but they don't care.
Meanwhile there are a bunch of fat ass pricks at the top making more money than they'll ever be able to spend in a lifetime.
I know of lot of you will come here to get my impression of the upcoming federal election, but so far I haven't been able to generate enough energy to convey how I really feel.
Let me put it this way. How anybody in this country could put an "X" beside the name of a Liberal is beyond me.
They've done nothing to prove they've changed and they offer very little compared to the Conservatives who've done a commendable job of governing this country through the past two and a half years.
Elections are won and lost in Ontario, and there's nothing to indicate that this no-mind province has shaken its blind Liberal love. It means the best we can hope for is another Conservative minority, but at the end of the day, what will that prove?
Hopefully the people of Quebec will have enough brains to shun the Bloc and throw their support behind the Conservatives.
It's the only way to counter-balance the idiocy of Ontario.
Mayor Miller's excuse for not attending the funeral of firefighter Bob Leek doesn't wash with me.
Miller claims he flew back to Vancouver for his daughter's birthday, and he put it this way.
"I think everybody understands that as a father you have to be with your daughter when she's turning 13."
I don't.
If your daughter's birthday falls on a Tuesday, you can celebrate it on a Wednesday or a Thursday. The kid doesn't care as long as the gifts are there.
I know at 13 my daughter would have understood me not being able to be at her birthday if the reason was valid. Thirteen year olds can reason pretty well these days.
And what's the big deal about turning thirteen. Unless, as Sue-Ann Levy wrote in the Toronto Sun yesterday- "the mayor converted to Judaism when no one was looking? If turning 13 is such a big deal to him, did his daughter have a Bat Mitzvah?"
Regardless of what Miller says, or what the cult of left wing loonies that follow him around say, he should have been at the funeral of firefighter Bob Leek.
Leek died on the job and that should have taken priority for the Miller. Yea, the timing was bad for the Mayor and it screwed up his plans, but it comes with the territory and its one of those sacrifices you make when you take on the job of running the largest city in Canada.
It was unbelievably selfish, and for Miller to use the excuse that he talked with Leek's wife before going back to Vancouver, and she said it was cool for him not to be there, is ridiculous. What else is she going to say in that situation?
It should have never to come to that. It should have been a no brainer. He should have been at the funeral and then got back on a plane and celebrated his daughter's birthday. When you think about it, how much of a disruption would that have been, six or eight hours?
It's pathetic. Just another pathetic example set by a man who's systematically ruining a great city.
Yea, choke on this all you mindless fools who returned David Miller to office in 2006.
The man you elected to ultimately destroy your city, won't be attending the funeral of firefighter Bob Leek today. Instead, the Mayor will continue a holiday with his family up the British Columbia coast.
Personally, I really can't believe it, and its got nothing to do with my preposition that he's the biggest screw-up in the history of Toronto politics.
It's got everything to do with what's right, and the Mayor of Canada's largest city should be at the funeral of a Toronto firefighter who died while serving the people of the city.
It's a no-brainer with absolutely no valid explanation or excuse.
The problem with Miller is, you never know where he's coming from. He doesn't like people who disagree with his bizarre method of governing, and he doesn't like a lot of things that don't fit into his twisted view of the world. Like cars.
So who knows why he won't be there today. It's such a formality that the mayor should be front and centre at today's funeral, there must be another reason why he won't be there, and if there is, it's probably some petty dispute he's had with someone within the firefighting ranks.
Today there will be firefighters from all over North America attending the funeral of civic hero Bob Leek, but the freakin' mayor of the city in which he died won't be there.
I sit here and write the words, but I honestly can't believe it's true. While Bob Leek is being honoured for his heroism, David Miller will flitting up the coast of British Columbia, probably with a clear conscience.
What could possibly be that important that the Mayor can't hop on a plane again and pay his respects to a civic employee who paid the ultimate price.
Apparently having to return from B.C. last weekend to show his phony face at the blast scene was a large enough pain in the ass for the Mayor and he couldn't wait to skip town again once he had pointed fingers and laid blame at the feet of everyone else.
Instead of sticking around like any reputable Mayor would, instead of being on-sight daily to show concern and offer help, he's not only ignored the situation, he's buggered off to the other end of the country.
And here's the real kicker, not even the Deputy Mayor will attend today's funeral. Joe Pantalone is having a grand old time in Italy, and had no intention of interrupting his holiday for the funeral.
Of course that begs the question, what's the use of having a Deputy Mayor?
When Bob Leek died for the people of Toronto, he was on vacation but priority drew him to the scene of the disaster.
If we needed any more proof of the useless waste of time that David Miller is, the aftermath of the propane explosion in Downsview says it all.
Talk about a lack of leadership.
It's bad enough that the city is crumbling around him while he leads a dysfunctional council that has a twisted sense of priority, but his lack of leadership through Sunday's disaster is downright shocking.
Where has he been, and what is he doing?
It's at times like this that a mayor has to step forward and lead the way, even if a good measure of it is window dressing.
The people of the affected are have to feel like the man who leads their city actually cares about their plight and is working overtime to make sure they're looked after.
Much like Rudy Giuliani did during 9/11.
This should be a piece of cake for Miller. He should be in that neighbourhood every day, talking to the people and reassuring them the city will do all it can to get their lives back to normal. It's a chance to shine.
But so far, he's done nothing.
He's blurted a few words about "not laying blame", but that was more designed to cover his own ass as it was to be fair and rational through a difficult time.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. David Miller is not only bad for Toronto, he's downright dangerous.
His politics, attitude and personality are the last thing Toronto needs at this point in its history.
He's got to be stopped and the people of Toronto should investigate any and all legal ways to have him removed before his mandate ends in three excruciatingly long years.
When you get right down to it, I guess the citizens of Toronto should be glad that David Miller has announced he’ll run again for mayor in 2010.
It gives them lots of time to figure out a way to prevent another victory.
When asked on Tuesday whether he’d defend his crown in the next municipal election, Miller offered nothing more than a “yes” but it was enough to sound off the alarms and let every know that Toronto needs to be saved from this guy beyond the current term.
The city is dirty, mismanaged and carries a staggering three billion dollar debt.
Since Miller has become mayor you can’t point to one progressive or beneficial thing he’s done He’s blind socialist who’s leading Canada’s greatest city into the abyss and somebody’s got to stop him.
Toronto needs a realist. A straight shooter who will run the city the way it needs to be run.
The Toronto Star sure didn’t disappoint with its handling of Stephen Harper’s performance at the G8 Summit in Tokyo.
They bashed him at every turn and made sure they got lots of pictures of him with George Bush. It’s what the Star likes to do.
Forget that our Prime Minister stood on the world stage and wouldn’t back down or buckle under to pressure from those who’d like to suck Canada into a bad environmental deal, the Star’s mandate is to pulverize Conservatives and it doesn’t seem to care about the consequences.
Stephen Harper showed strong leadership in Tokyo and acted in the best interests of the country that he was elected to run, and for that we should be thankful.
The Toronto Star meanwhile went out of its way in a half-baked attempt to make the man look foolish. And for that it should be ashamed.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we should be proud of our Prime Minister’s stand on climate change.
Whenever you elect a leader, you expect that person to put country first and act in the best interests of the long term. That’s what Stephen Harper has done, and that’s what he’s doing at the G8 summit.
To get sucked into some bogus plan that doesn’t include the large developing nations would be disastrous for Canada, and the Prime Minister won’t stand for it.
I really can’t see how anyone could look at it any other way. As the Prime Minister says,
"The argument that we should do more is an interesting argument, but it can't be made by those who aren't doing anything, so I think the pressure will be on them to do something. Over the coming years, developing countries will account for the majority of the world's emissions; as a result, their participation in any climate deal is indispensable.”
He doesn’t think Dr. Henry Morgentaler should have been awarded the Order of Canada because abortion is such a divisive issue and he’d prefer the Order of Canada to bring Canadians together, not pull them apart.
To that I say nuts.
Just because Morgentaler tackled an issue that was downright explosive at times, doesn’t mean he should be any less worthy than someone who fought for a woman’s right to vote.
Morgentaler was a pioneer who showed immeasurable guts, commitment and determination through his fight to earn women the right to make decisions over their own bodies.
You can’t draw a line down the middle and say one accomplishment is more worthy than another just because one is a hot potato.
While trying not to sound too cruel or hard, I’ve got to say, it bugs the shit out of me that the Prime Minister offered another apology yesterday.
This time its for something that happened almost eighty years ago. The National Residential School Survivors' Society saw native children taken from their homes and forcibly assimilated with the general population.
Like the Chinese head tax, wrong, but so easy to say so many years later.
At the time, decisions were made with the best intentions, so I wonder, does anyone of this generation have the right to apologize for those who made those decisions.
Maybe those responsible would be against apologies. They could argue that at the time and under the circumstances and not having a crystal ball, it was the right thing to do, and having someone apologize for them almost a century later, when hindsight is 20/20, would be an insult.
Such apologies serve no purpose other than to re-open old wounds and from my perspective look cheap and patronizing.
It's better to forget and move on. If not, it leads to things like this.
If anyone had any question about how far David Miller has his head shoved up his naïve asshole, it should be crystal clear now.
Miller’s call for a national hand gun ban was futile enough, but this is way over the top. Now the mayor has called for the closure of two target shooting ranges on city property.
It’s absolutely unbelievable how Miller runs around the city pointing fingers at everything but the root cause of so-called gun violence in the city.
I don’t know where he gets his nerve. I don’t know how he can actually do these things and then show his face in public. I don’t know how he comes up with this crap.
He’s more than willing to close down a couple of shooting ranges denying law abiding citizens of some recreation, but he refuses to identify the thug element from a certain cultural group that’s responsible for most of the “gun violence” in the city.
Does the man who was given the responsibility of running the city really believe that closing these ranges will do “anything” to stop crime?
If he does, if that what he really thinks, then he’s not fit to be mayor.
This guy has to grow some big balls and tackle the real problem. Go after the actual perpetrators and once and for all get it through his thick pinko skull that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Soon any and all medical procedures in the province with be covered by OHIP.
Details have not been released but we can only assume that with the announcement that gender surgery will be covered, all procedures will be covered.
If there's is enough money in the system to pay for a sex change, there must be enough money to cover absolutely every other medical procedure that up until this point has not been covered.
If the system is in such great shape that a man can become a woman, or a woman can become a man at taxpayers expense, then expense for absolutely every other procedure under the sun has to be covered.
Again, Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman has only confirmed gender change, but we can only assume the rest will follow.
There is no excuse for assaulting any one under any circumstances, and the thought of someone suffering physical and emotional injuries while fishing is unconscionable, but complaints from several areas of the province about certain fishermen not following angling laws, continuously fall on deaf ears, and are conveniently written off as racism.
Again, this is no excuse for violence, but enough complaints, spread out over a large province should be enough to initiate an investigation by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Unfortunately, because of budget restraints and political correctness, neglect by the Ministry has turned into an issue for the Ontario Human Rights Commission and it's whacked out leader Barbara Hall.
Because of cutbacks, fishing decorum goes virtually unchecked in the province and its become a passionate issue for those who care about our lakes and steams.
I find it amusing that the Ontario government refuses to even consider that there might be a problem with the abuse of angling laws in the province, but doesn’t hesitate to crack down on those who feel there is.
We must repeat there is no excuse for racist remarks or violence because no man has the right to lay his hands on another. However, we do have the right to have an issue examined from all sides and dealt with accordingly.
Barbara Hall is a real winner through all of this. She quickly grasped this issue and turned it into a racial thing as a method to justify her existence as head of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, yet at the same time she's allowed literature to printed reminding certain people of angling laws, including catch limits.
Obviously she realizes there's a problem with some groups. Obviously she's talking out of both sides of her mouth.
Yes, here we go again. The government of Canada plans to issue another formal apology, this time to Indo-Canadians.
It deals with the Komagata Maru, an Indian ship that came to Canada in 1914 with almost 400 would be Indian immigrants aboard.
It was turned away and the incident has never been forgotten, with members Canada’s Indian community pushing for an apology ever since.
Even though it happened almost 100 years ago, even though those involved are no longer alive and even though times were different and policies were different.
Now, in 2008, the Conservative government plans to issue an informal apology on behalf of all Canadians, Canadians who had absolutely nothing to do with this moment in history.
It’s obvious the apology will be issued for political reasons, and of course there’s money involved, 2.5 million dollars in commemorative grants will be handed out.
On the surface, CanadianThinker agrees that no harm can come from an apology, but when you scratch the below the surface, why is it necessary? All countries have dark moments in their history, but they were often dictated by the times.
Canada seems to be the poster child for apologies.
The greatest country in the world, that remains the first choice of many immigrants today, but we’re made to feel guilty for the actions of some of our ancestors who have long since departed.
It’ll be interesting to watch the bullshit fly now that Brenda Martin has arrived back in Canada.
The Liberals have already made it political and I’m sure they’ll only increase that angle over the next few weeks while Martin awaits release from a Waterloo Women’s Prison.
Already Dan McTeague, Liberal for Pickering- Scarborough East has jumped in.
“The fact that it took this long was certainly something that didn't go unnoticed for most Canadians and it was only when we got the press heavily involved did things start to move."
Yea, yea, yea.
The truth is, the Liberals would have had no interest in this case if they didn’t think they could have made the Conservatives look bad. It just lined up perfectly for them, and started with that unofficial visit by former Prime Minister Paul Martin.
And that’s the key. It’s easy for the opposition government to issue all kinds of wild statements and make cute little visits to Mexico; it’s an entirely different thing for a sitting government to handle the issue.
They have to worry about diplomacy and protocol, even if the other country is a wretched hell hole like Mexico.
The Brenda Martin case has all the makings of a TV movie and the Liberals saw that from a mile away. By pretending they actually cared about Brenda Martin they could look good and take a swipe at the Conservatives all in one motion.
As much as the Liberals helped Brenda Martin, they exploited her more.
Yesterday’s posting about the double murder/ attempted suicide in Brampton has turned even uglier.
It turns the victims were married. It wasn’t a Good Samaritan coming to the aid of a stranger being attacked by her spouse; it was a husband coming to the aid of his wife who was being attacked by a stranger.
An unprovoked attack that is incomprehensible. Like something out of a cheap slasher film and it happened in a small plaza on a quiet street in Brampton.
But as disturbing as the murders were, the story behind the attacker is extremely unsettling as well.
Brenda Martin was sentenced to five more years for her part in an alleged fraud scheme yesterday, but it’s expected a deal with the Canadian government will see her quickly transferred home, have her already served time converted into a Canadian sentence, and she’ll be free in no time.
It was all arranged to allow Mexican authorities save face, while appeasing demands from Canada that she be released. It’s the Mexican way.
Brenda Martin did herself no favours by mouthing off so much over the past few months, but you can understand it when someone is the victim of a corrupt justice system. The Mexican system is undoubtedly corrupt and the Martin case proved that when it was revealed Brenda was offered a deal two years ago.
Immediately after her arrest she was told she would be driven directly to the airport and allowed to fly home if she came up with 125 thousand dollars.
The Mexicans deny it, but I believe it. We’ve had more than enough indication of what goes on in Mexico with foreign tourists and it continues to happen and why anyone continues to travel there is beyond me.
Of course there will be those who will jump all over the Conservative government for not doing enough, but ultimately they did all they could. They have to play the diplomacy game to some extent and that’s why Brenda will probably be free within a few weeks.
If the government hadn’t stepped in, you can best your ass that Brenda Martin’s ass would rot in that Mexican prison cell. The Prime Minister pushed for her release and the Mexicans moved, but in a way that allowed them to save face.
It was a deal with the devil, but a Canadian life was on the line.
I caught Julina Fantino on the John Oakley Show earlier today and it was the same old story.
Ever since Fantino became Commissioner of the OPP he’s been neutered and when Oakley pressed him about the domestic terrorism and lawlessness practiced by groups of Native people in Ontario, he offered little.
It’s a “no go” zone.
There’s always a lot of double talk about negotiations and getting to the root cause of the problem, but never is the question answered, “why can Natives get away with things that others can’t.”
Fantino keeps asking for understanding, and they he pointed towards Deseronto where the OPP put down a native protest earlier this week.
It was hardly comparable to what’s going on in Caledonia, and hardly comparable to the illegal cigarette industry that continues to flourish under his nose… and the Premier’s.
Already today I’ve had a few e-mails from people wondering what I thought of the aversion of the TTC strike.
On Friday I criticized the Mayor for being out of town during negotiations and wondered why he wouldn’t come home early to save the day?
Apparently he didn’t have to.
According to Rob Ford, whose word I would take long before anyone else on city council, says the deal was done long ago and the push towards a deadline was only window dressing. Intended to add dramatics and make some people look like heros, but mostly the Mayor.
David Miller arrived home from China early on Sunday, and then apparently intervened just enough to turn things around and take on the role of saviour.
Today Miller is downplaying it, but according to Ford, it’s just part of the Hollywood production that was orchestrated some time ago. A collaboration intended to boost the Mayor's image.
Ford predicted this would happen a few weeks ago on the John Oakley Show. To a tee.
It's amazing how we demand honesty from our politicians, and then sometimes when they tell the truth they're crucified.
Imbeciles like Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity had a field day yesterday. These guys put their country behind their red neck popularity, so they jumped all over Obama and blew what he said way out of proportion.
Obama simply stated the obvious in San Francisco a week ago, but it has turned into such a shit storm that it may be hard to recover from. When it comes to politics, honesty is not always the best policy and definitely not the smartest.
Obama was talking to a group of people about why many working class white Americans, especially in rural areas are reluctant to support him.
He said that he regularly visited towns in Pennsylvania and the Midwest where the jobs had long since disappeared, and political promises of an economic revival had proved empty.
“So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” he concluded.
I didn’t get the chance to write about this yesterday, but we talked about it on CKTB and it wasn’t even close.
Most of the people I talked to agreed, banning hand guns in Canada is not realistic.
It can’t hurt anything of course, but for people like David Miller to pretend it’s the pressing problem facing the city is nothing more than a joke.
Hand guns are already banned in Canada. If you don’t have your gun registered, then it’s illegal. You’re not supposed to have one.
Banning hand guns will only affect those citizens who own guns legally.
Miller argues that by banning all hand guns their will be fewer in the country and the opportunity for theft from registered guns owners will be eliminated.
True, but if he thinks the criminal element in Toronto won’t find other ways to get them he’s sadly mistaken. He’s already complained about how many guns come in from the States, and that’s not going to change any time soon.
Miller has started a cute little petition on Facebook, and he’s produced a You Tube video towards the cause, but once again his head remains firmly planted up his ass.
Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. And until the root cause of the gun problem is addressed it doesn’t matter what you do.
Miller refuses to talk about the small element that’s producing the vast majority of the gun violence in Toronto, Jamaican gangs or posses or whatever else you want to call them.
It’s a tiny fraction of the over-all population, and a small fraction of the vastly law abiding Jamaican population. But that’s where the problem is and that’s what should be addressed.
To think these gangs wouldn’t be able to find guns is laughable.
Unfortunately, Miller is terrified of the “R” word so he’d rather play the political game and have some fun with Facebook and You Tube and add it to the list of things he blames on Stephen Harper.
There is no excuse for the words that were spoken about homosexuals by Saskatchewan MP Tom Lukiwski during a party, but I’m sure all perspective will be lost on the incident.
First of all, it happened almost 17 years ago when Lukiwiski and now Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall were young Conservatives horsing around at a campaign get together.
Again, there’s no excuse for what Lukiwski said, and Wall looks foolish for some of things he said about then NDP leader Roy Romanow.
And you have to question the stupidity of leaving a video tape that contained all the nonsense in an office you’re vacating for another political party, but you also have to question to the tactics of the NDP.
It’s sad when a broken down, insignificant little party has to dust off a 17 year old video tape and go running to the press with it, and even more disgusting when the federal leader of the broken down party chooses to make political hay with it in Ottawa.
I’m sure Jack Layton will push and push and push on this one. It will give him some air time and attention, something he’s desperate for because his politics hold us much water and make as much sense as the stupid things Lukiwski said.
Toronto has no chance because of the twisted logic that’s applied to what’s happening in the city and the misguided criticism of a man that although covered with a gruff and basic veneer is really the only person that’s preventing the once greatest city in Canada from slipping totally into the abyss.
I truly admire my friend Mike Boon, but Boon is so emblematic of what’s wrong with the Toronto. Just go to his website and search Rob Ford and you'll see what I mean.
While the mayor and his NDP council systematically ruin the city, Boon prefers to put his focus on Rob Ford and criticize his so called political incorrectness and his personality.
Mike is like so many other bleeding heart Liberals and socialists in Toronto. They like to jump all over the Ford for his brash personality and some of his outrageous statements, while ignoring the real problems.
If it wasn’t for Rob Ford, so much of the incompetent, inept and wasteful policies at Toronto city hall would go unchecked. If it wasn’t for Rob Ford, the city of Toronto might find itself in worse shape than it already is.
While David Miller and his band of yahoos enact policies that push the city in reverse, Mike Boon and his like prefer to worry about whether someone is called an Oriental instead of an Asian.
While the David Miller regime mismanages tax dollars, and wastes money on free lunches, free trips and golf memberships, people like Boon prefer to focus on the fact that Rob Ford was overheard using profanity at a hockey game.
While David Miller continues to wage war against the hard working, productive and progressive people of Toronto, the loonie left would rather talk about Rob Ford’s statements on cyclists.
It’s interesting to note that last week; right on the heels of Ford’s domestic problems, city council passed a motion that made him apologize for the Oriental comment.
It was political opportunism at its best. Kicking a guy while he was down, especially when the irony of the situation was that most Asians didn’t give a damn that they have been referred to as Oriental.
Like most Torontonians, the Asian community was too busy earning a living and going about their business to worry about a “word.” Like most minorities, they don’t need guilt ridden Liberal white people to think for them.
I’m totally mystified by the mind set of so many in Toronto.
Look around, you’re city is in big trouble and it’s in big trouble because of the delusional freak you’ve elected not once, but twice.
Meanwhile, you want to jump all over the one guy who’s got enough balls to stand up and expose Toronto’s dangerous council for what it is.
Sure, Rob Ford might not be the most eloquent guy, but believe me, he’s the least of your problems and would make twice the mayor that David Miller is.
It was interesting to hear the reaction to Barack Obama’s speech yesterday. I’m not sure how much it accomplished because when it comes to the discussion of race, there’s always a big line drawn down the middle.
Those who support Obama liked the speech and those who want to see the guy brought down, found lots of reasons to criticize it.
Needless to say most black people supported what he had to say, and his decision to disagree with, but not disown Reverend Jeremiah Wright showed commitment and loyalty which I assume is a quality most people would want in a President.
But more than that, Obama’s point that the use of the Reverend’s sound bites in the manner they were, only perpetuates what’s wrong with America.
Too often race is used to divide and tear down.
That doesn’t make what Reverend Wright said any more acceptable, but he’s from a different era, a different mind set and and different experience and Obama can’t be held responsible for what he said.
In some ways Obama can be commended for not turning his back on someone who amounts to a crazy old uncle who deep down you love dearly. Most of the things Wright had to say were said long before Obama decided to run for President.
At this point it doesn’t really matter anyway. What’s done is done and now it’s up to the people of the United States to decide.
If you’ve read between the lines on this blog over the past couple of months you’ve probably determined that I was pulling for Barack Obama in the Democratic leadership race.
Now I’m not so sure.
Obama will deliver a speech on race relations this morning, prompted by his association with his pastor Jeremiah Wright, and it better be a doozy if he wants to pull himself out of the big pit he finds himself in right now.
If you haven’t seen some of the sermon highlights delivered by Obama’s pastor of twenty years, you should.
Wright is “way out there” and the finest example of a racist you'll ever find, and even though Obama is not responsible for what Wright says or thinks, he’s got to explain why he’s maintained an association with him over the past two decades.
As a man running for President, he’s just got to do it and then the people have to decide whether to accept it or reject it.
Like it or not, choice of association plays a part in this situation.
Meanwhile, it’s amazing how race keeps forging its way into campaign, even in Toronto.
I listened to the Oakley Show for a while and I was amazed at how many people who identified themselves as black, defended the words of Jeremiah Wright, claiming all he was doing was telling the truth.
Among the things Wright said:
The U.S. government "lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of colour."
There are four federal by-elections today and although they all matter, I prefer to focus on the two in the land of the Liberal, aka Toronto.
It’s expected to be no contest in Toronto Centre and Willowdale where Liberals will romp to victory even though the party has done nothing but suck-out in opposition while contributing nothing to the country.
The Liberals claim to be a party of principle but they’re coming off 13 years of non-productive government while accomplishing nothing more than electing a milk toast leader who refuses to take a stand on anything when it really matters.
So afraid of going into a federal election, Stephan Dion and his wimp ass party have wasted several opportunities to bring down the Harper government, simply because they’re not sure they can win.
How’s that for leadership and integrity.
But it doesn’t matter in the Liberal Lagoon known as Toronto where people don’t vote with their heads, they vote with their past.
Who dad used to vote for, who led the country when the immigration flood gates were open, what party the Toronto Star has told them to vote for over the past few decades.
It’s hard to believe that Toronto maintains its liberal love-in when you consider the federal Liberals did absolutely nothing for the city during its rein of arrogance and corruption through the 90’s and early 2000’s.
It’s hard to believe that Torontonians are so freaked out by change, so sucked in by anti- conservative hysteria that they’ll line up like a bunch of flea bitten lemmings in two ridings today and vote for the same old shit.
On a municipal level Toronto is being destroyed by an NDP city council, and on the provincial level Toronto is being ignored by a gaggle of goohead’s who hold power through a legacy of lies.
The country needs to give the Harper government a clear man-date to govern, allow them to lead with strength and see where it takes us. It certainly can’t be any worse than the Chrétien years.
But in the end all that matters to Toronto is that Liberals aren’t Conservatives, so I guess the city deserves everything it gets.
I just listened to an emotional interview with Brenda Martin on the John Oakley Show.
A distraught Martin remains in a disgusting Mexican prison, another Canadian victim of a whacked out judicial system in a backward third world dump.
As it stands, the Liberals have taken a great interest story with former Prime Minister Paul Martin having visited Martin in prison, and Liberal MP Dan McTeague pushing from all sides for the Harper government to do something.
As I wrote last week, the Harper government should do something; The Prime Minister should make a statement about the welfare of Canadians in Mexico and the crappy treatment we’ve been getting over the past couple of years.
Having said that, don’t be fooled by the actions of the Liberals. This is the perfect opportunity for the opposition to make political hay.
It was kind of the former Prime Minister to visit the prison last week, but this shouldn’t open the door for the rest of the party to start hooting and hollering while placing unrealistic expectations on the current government.
It’s an emotional issue that has the sitting government caught between a rock and a hard place. Despite being extremely frustrating, diplomacy plays a part in this and you’ve got to believe if winning this women’s release was that simple, she’d be back in Canada by now.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier spoke with his Mexican counterpart on Saturday, but to this point, that’s about the extent of official government response.
It’s a touchy situation that has to be dealt with delicately by those in power; meanwhile its easy pickin’s for an opposition that had a dreadful record of Foreign Affairs while it enjoyed power under a bumbling fool named Jean Chretien.
It was interesting to see yesterday’s reaction to the remarks by Geraldine Ferraro about Barack Obama.
Ferraro intimated that a good measure of Obama’s success in the run for President is because he’s black.
Yea, no kidding.
Of course she’s been vilified from all sides for stating the obvious, but so it goes with today’s politically correct world. You’ve got to watch what you say, even if what you say is painfully obvious.
Ferraro’s right, Obama has benefited from being black but there’s nothing wrong with that. It used to be someone wouldn’t be considered because they were black, now it's gone the other way.
Talk about a major breakthrough.
Ferraro said Obama is “very lucky to be who he is, and the country is caught up in the concept”, and she’s bang on.
It’s all a question of timing and in 2008, on the heels of the United States being run into the ground by a goober, America is ready to consider anything, even something that’s perceived as radical by some, and Obama has definitely benefited from that.
The USA desperately wants to break away from the status quo and what better way to do it than this.
It’s awakened the youth vote, it’s changed the mindset of white America and needless to say it’s given hope to black America.
These are all wonderful things, but wonderful things that have come about for only one reason.
Mike Stafford is filling in for John Oakley on am 640 this week and he made a great observation this morning.
The newspapers in Toronto, and I’m sure through most of North America are jam packed with wild stories about Eliot Spitzer and the 22 year old prostitute who was paid upwards of five thousand dollars a night.
We’ve learned everything we need to know about Ashley Alexandra Dupre. Her hopes and desires her career aspirations and her troubled child hood.
Meanwhile, the real story has been ignored, the true inspirational aspect of the Eliot Spitzer controversy.
David Paterson.
On Monday he’ll be sworn in as New York’s next governor.
New York’s 55th Governor will be their first black Governor and he is legally blind.
I was never big on Paul Martin as Prime Minister of our country but I’ve gotta say I’m rather impressed with his intention to help get Canadian Brenda Martin out of a Mexican jail.
Martin is in Mexico City for economic meetings and he met with some guy who acts as Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs for the asshole of North America.
The former Prime Minister thinks Ms. Martin should not be in jail and he’s disgusted that she’s been held without charges for over two years. Good on him.
But it raises the question, what is the current Prime Minister doing?
If a Prime Minister does nothing else, he should at least stand up for the rights of Canadians and Stephen Harpers inaction on this issue has been disappointing to say the least.
Even if he can’t do anything directly, I think it would make all Canadians feel better if our Prime Minister spoke out against the treatment of Canadians in Mexico and threaten economic measures if things don’t change and change quickly.
But for some reason he won’t do it.
Harper keeps his mouth shout and wastes an opportunity to show some positive strength to those Canadians who can’t stand the guy.
Diplomacy is one thing, but watching your citizens get pushed around and murdered in a third world toilet is another.
There are exceptions to every rule, but I think it’s safe to say, to be a politician you have to have a certain level of confidence and a good dash of arrogance.
How else can you explain the actions of New York State governor Eliot Spitzer?
He’s definitely not stupid. He went to Princeton and the Harvard Law School, so he’s got brains and a high level of intelligence, but political arrogance got the better of him and allowed him to do something unbelievably stupid.
Here’s a politician who ran on a platform of law and order and high moral ground, ironically he even wiped out a couple of prostitution rings over the past several years.
But like a lot of politicians (not all) he played the people for fools and thought he could stand behind his good guy image and his position would protect him from everything.
He rented hookers that cost 43 hundred dollars a night by using a high class prostitution ring, the very thing he fought against in public. He went into hotels under assumed names and apparently requested to do unnatural things (up the bum) all the while going to great lengths to project the image of Mr. Clean.
Talk about violating the trust of the people and thinking you’re way above the laws of the land. It’s pathetic, but more than that, it’s cruel.
Spitzer has a wife and three daughters and one of his last hotel flings was on February 13th, the night before Valentines Day.
How’s that for extra insult to his family?
The man is a skunk and if I was a citizen of New York State I’d be awfully pissed off that the hypocrite didn’t resign yesterday.
For a country that considers itself the greatest on earth, the United States sure has a screwed up way of choosing Presidential candidates.
Listen, I think it's great that the vote goes to the people. The average Joe should be able to decide who the leader of his party is, but holy cow, do they have to stretch it over two bloody years.
In Canada, I'm not so big on a system that sees only a select few decide who leads our respective parties. I actually prefer the American way.
But for cryin' out loud, condense it people. Stretching primaries and caucuses over several months does nothing more than confuse and divide. It really is stupid, but it will probably never change because Americans would never entertain the thought that that they could actually do something stupid.
Why would you want a system that creates war within a party before you even get to a general election? Why would you want a system that allows candidates to be dissected way beyond reason simply because the media runs out of things to talk about?
Why not get it get it over with quickly. Hold primaries and caucuses but have them all happen on the same day or during the same week after a brief campaigning period.
Let the people decide but expedite the process because the current system, under today's media, does nobody any favours.
Given the current system, whereby candidates are butchered beyond reason, you have to wonder how many quality people choose to stay out of it.
Not that I’m complaining, but its been quite a while since the whacked out goof balls from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty have done their thing.
Yesterday they converged on city council with more misdirected concern that shut down business for over an hour.
This time they were barking about Robert Maurice, who was found frozen to death in a downtown stairwell last week. No doubt a terrible tragedy, but far from a case of homelessness and government neglect that OCAP claims it is.
Apparently, Maurice had a rooming house, so police are trying to piece together why he was found in the stairwell and what the cause of death was. It doesn’t appear he was a starving victim with nowhere to go.
But the facts don’t stand in the way of OCAP who like to shit disturb whenever they can, while attempting to make successful people feel guilty for looking after themselves.
I heard a few sound bites from city council and it was the usual crap.
OCAP spokesman Gaetan Heroux, thought it was perfectly acceptable to disrupt city business, but found it totally unacceptable for police and security to attempt to remove him.
“Get your hands off me” could be heard on tape as I’m sure Heroux deep down was hoping chaos would erupt because that’s the way OCAP likes to operate.
Meanwhile, the city claims there are more than enough hostel beds in the city and routes right back to the problem the city has always had. A lot of so-called homeless people don’t use them, and the reason they don’t use them is because there are mental illness issues.
And that takes us back to the long standing issue of forced shelter which goes counter to the beliefs of OCAP and Toronto's left leaning council.
When the temperature plunges to a certain level, the city should have the right to drive around in cube vans and literally scoop people off the streets to protect them from themselves.
It might prevent some frost bite and at the very least, put some of those hostel beds to use.
Last week provided a great example of how the media handles news along partisan lines.
The George Smitherman story went away pretty quick didn’t it?
The Health Minister of the Province in a condescending and insulting manner offered to wear adult diapers in response to the shameful neglect that’s going on in Ontario’s old age homes.
This smart ass prick offers to wear a diaper to check its absorbency so he can better judge what the provinces elderly are going through, and he gets away with it.
A week later it’s a non-story. It’s more or less gone away. The only updates I’ve read are that’s he retracted the offer. But that’s it.
I can only image what the reaction would have been if Smitherman was a Conservative.
It would still be front page news, especially in the Toronto Star, and there would still be calls for his resignation from every half baked socialist group in Ontario – and it would be a feeding frenzy for the Liberals.
But when it comes to the media in Canada, but especially in Ontario, there are two sets of rules and this issue magnifies it.
Even if Smitherman made the offer with the best of intentions, which I don’t think he did, he would still be involved in a major controversy if he was Conservative.
It seems to be the mind set of this province that we want Conservatives to be heartless, we want them to be uncaring and there’s significant cooperation from the media.
Meanwhile, the most untrustworthy and deceitful government this province has ever known gets a free pass.
When the Chuck Cadman story broke last week it seemed a little odd based on the fact a million dollar life insurance policy had been offered to a dying man.
Anyone with a brain had to ask the question at that point – who sells a life insurance policy that covers a man with terminal cancer?
That’s why I was hesitant to comment on the story before getting more of the facts, and yesterday we got more of the facts.
Cadman’s wife Dona claims she asked the Prime Minister point blank after her husband died whether he knew of an insurance policy bribe, and PM denied it.
"He looked me straight in the eyes and told me he had no knowledge of an insurance policy offer. I knew he was telling me the truth; I could see it in his eyes," said Cadman.
It also explains the bogus telephone call the Liberals have been trying to use against the Prime Minister. In it, Stephen Harper tells author Tom Zytaruk that Cadman had refused an offer from two members of the Conservative party, but it wasn’t an offer of an insurance policy Harper was referring to, it was an offer to rejoin the party.
"Chuck liked, respected and trusted Stephen Harper. I like, respect and trust Stephen Harper. If I didn't believe in my heart, that he was telling me the truth. ... I wouldn't be running as the Conservative candidate for Surrey North," said Cadman.
That was another burning question that begged to be answered all weekend.
If Stephen Harper was such a rotten and ruthless guy why would Dona Cadman be interested in running for the party?
This was a non story from the get-go and if an offer was made, it was made by a couple of over-zealous party members without the knowledge of the Prime Minister, but what makes even this angle lose steam is the fact that Chuck Cadman refused to name anyone before he died.
Nice try Liberals, now shut-up, there's a country to run.
I’ve received several e-mails wanting to know by opinion on the Chuck Cadman story.
He’s the BC Independent MP who passed away in the summer of 2005 from skin cancer.
There’s a story swirling around that the Conservatives offered him a million dollar life insurance policy to vote against a teetering Liberal minority before he died.
I’m going to take some time before I comment on this one. Get more of the facts, like how does a dying man get a life insurance policy?
As I listen to the Stafford Show right now, there’s an insurance guy explaining how that’s pretty much impossible.
Was there a bribe of another sort? Maybe, but we’ve got to wait and find out.
Meanwhile, enjoy the writings and rantings of Liberals who are blowing huge wads of groin glue over this one while forgetting about adscam, bribing Belinda Stronach with a cabinet position and that little 1993 bribe of eliminating the GST.
But maybe, just maybe the Liberals have jumped the gun on this one and maybe they should have done their homework first, like I plan to do.
And believe me, if there's something to this, then then Harper should have his ass nailed to the wall, very much unlike that crook Jean Chretien.
Meanwhile, if you want to jump right into this thing, you might want to visit Toronto Mike who not surprisingly uses the CBC as a source.
The CBC, now there’s a source of balanced reporting.
Mike is a man torn between the NDP and Liberals, but I still love him.
I just heard Mike Stafford mention FreddieP.ca on am 640 but his reference was not entirely correct.
While talking about Caledonia Mike said that I had tried to contact my local Liberal MPP Linda Jeffrey to discuss the issue three or four times over the past few months.
No Mike, more like ten times – with absolutely no reponse.
Coincidently Mike just happened to mention this on a morning where I had placed yet another call to Jeffrey’s office where I finally got to talk to someone.
Mike Chaddock is Linda’s filter and his job is to make sure calls are safe enough for Jeffrey to answer.
The conversation didn’t go too well. It became somewhat heated as I got the usual runaround and claim that no messages from Fred Patterson had been received by the office.
I raised several issues with Mr. Chaddock including the two postings below, but I didn’t get far. In the end, he promised to pass my concerns and phone number to my MPP, and she would hopefully return my call.
Meanwhile, today marks the second anniversary of the unlawful occupation of the housing site in Caledonia, and still no substantial action from the Premier.
Yesterday he passed the buck again, claiming the Prime Minister is responsible for the domestic terrorism taking place in Caledonia, but that’s simply not true.
Upholding the law in the province is the responsibility of the OPP and that falls under the province.
Yes, land claims are a federal issue and there is no excuse for the foot dragging that’s taken place over the past half century, but the issue at hand is blatant lawlessness in Caledonia that is going unchecked.
A land dispute is no excuse for breaking the law.
It’s been established that there are two sets of rules in Ontario, one for aboriginals and another for the rest of us.
Theft, physical assault and trespassing are common place in Caledonia but the OPP through the directive of Commissioner of Julian Fantino, which I’m sure filters down from the Premier, stand by and watch it happen.
Apparently natives will hold a pot luck dinner at the housing site today as some kind of a celebration and there’s an ill-advised protest planned for Fantino’s neighborhood on Sunday.
Gary Mchale, who’s emerged as the leading activist against what’s happening in Caledonia will take a mob to Fantino’s house on Sunday for a peaceful protest.
It’s wrong.
Fantino’s personal life should be left out of it and McHale stands to do nothing more than tarnish anything he might have accomplished to this point.
I guess McHale feels it’s important to give Fantino a little taste of what occupation of personal space is all about but it won’t go over too well.
I’ve had several e-mails from people who want to know my take on the federal budget that was handed down yesterday.
To be honest, I don’t have a lot to say.
It was a boring and uneventful, much like Canadian politics are right now. That’s what happens when you have a minority government.
I often hear it said that Canadians like minority governments because it keeps the sitting party honest. They can’t do anything radical because they can be toppled by the other parties.
Well there you go, yesterdays budget was a minority government budget so there’s no use complaining about it until somebody is given a clear mandate.
I’d love to see the Harper government given a majority but I think it’s too late for that now. The unfounded Conservative hysteria that exists in Canada won’t allow it.
I’m sure come the next election Canada will play it safe and re-elect the Liberals.
We get what we deserve.
Having said all that, I will comment on one aspect of the budget. The tax-free savings account. The government will allow Canadians to save up to five thousand dollars a year out side of their RSP's in a savings account that is exempt from tax or capital gains.
Seems like a good idea, but already the its under fire.
I've heard complaints on the radio this morning that the average Canadian can't afford to save any money so this will only benefit those who can save money, in other words, the rich.
As I watched Tiger Woods win another golf tournament over the weekend I got to thinking about Barrack Obama.
Obama owes a lot of his success to Tiger. I know it sounds crazy, but follow me on this one.
Obama has become the first black American to actually be taken seriously in a Presidential run. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were nothing more than token candidates, but Obama has not only been taken seriously, he’s also taken a sizable lead in his battle with Hillary Clinton.
Americans have accepted the idea of a black man leading their country and I really think that Tiger helped ease them into it.
When Tiger turned pro in 1996, golf was still and predominantly white sport, dominated by white players and run by extremely white establishment.
This wasn’t basketball, football or baseball. This was something much different with a much different attitude.
Then along came Tiger who took ownership of the PGA tour. Nobody would admit it, but in the beginning it made a lot people of uncomfortable because it represented a dramatic change in the profile of the sport.
But not only has it survived under Tiger’s reign, it’s also thrived. The sport of golf has never been bigger or more popular and Tiger Woods is the reason. A black kid from California has made a lot of money for a lot people and needless to say he’s been widely accepted by everyone involved with the sport.
And I really believe Barrack Obama has been a benefactor of this.
Tiger proved to a twisted and generally intolerant American society that the sky won’t fall and the world won’t end if a black man takes control of a white institution.
I realize its only golf, and it’s hard to compare it to the highest office in the world but I truly believe they’re connected.
I appreciate all the input I get for FreddieP.ca and I’m reluctant to criticize any of my contributors, especially one with the loyalty of a guy named “Argie”.
But I have to question something he wrote yesterday about Barack Obama in the Rush Limbaugh posting.
Argie wrote this:
"How about a story that is worth discussing? How about the fact America appears to on their way to electing a guy with virtually no political experience, a suspect background and apparently no stance on any of the issues?"
I’ve heard this argument before but it falls on deaf ears, it just doesn’t make any sense to me and it’s all because of one man. This man.
If the United States of America could hold an election in 2000 and sit back and watch the loser of that election take office, and then re-elect the same man after he’s literally driven the country into the shitter, and survive that, then the United States of America can withstand anything.
Nothing anyone can claim or makeup against Barack Obama can come close to what has been inflicted upon the American people over the past eight years, and if Obama represents anything he represents refreshing change and new direction.
If George W. Bush represents experience then maybe it’s a good thing that Obama doesn’t have any.
I realize we can't expect our politicians to be all things to all people and solve every problem that our society encounters, but if there's anything we should expect it's to have our Prime Minister step forward when our citizens are dying abroad.
It's reached the point now where Canadian deaths in Mexico should be addressed by Stephen Harper.
It might be different if there were clear cut reasons and explanations why Canadian tourists continue to die in this backward country, but there isn't.
I realize politicians have to be diplomatic and not step on the toes of authorities in other lands, but this is out of hand.
Too many Canadians have died around suspicious circumstances and its time for the leader of our country to step forward and speak on our behalf. He should demand answers.
But so far we've heard nothing from the PM and even our foreign affairs department has been next to useless through the last four deaths which have happened within the last two years.
Personally I'm not thrilled that diplomacy with Mexico ranks above the well being of Canadian citizens traveling to a corrupt country.
I watched the South Carolina primaries last night and was very happy to see Barack Obama destroy the Clintons.
Notice I didn’t say Hillary Clinton, because the race for the democratic ticket has become ugly with Bill Clinton playing an unprecedented role in this election. Never before has a former President got to campaign in such way, because never before has a former President had a spouse run for the office.
Bill Clinton has got into some nasty politics over the past week attempting to draw Obama into the gutter while hopefully turning the South Carolina primary into a contest of racial pride. Clinton was hoping that by making race the issue in a state with a large black population, the white vote would come out strong and support Hillary.
But it didn’t happen.
Although Obama captured 80 percent of the black vote, he also captured 25 percent of the white vote in a three person race. Hillary and John Edwards split the other 75 percent. That’s an excellent showing over-all and could definitely give Obama the push he needs heading into Super Tuesday on February 5th.
But all that aside, it still gets back to the same old thing for me.
Given the choice between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, I don’t see how any American could be undecided. It should come down to a question of integrity and in that case the Clintons are big losers.
Bill let an intern wash his hog in the oval office while probing her unnaturally with a Cohiba, and Hillary let him get away with it.
The story in yesterday’s Toronto Sun is almost too much to comprehend but it sure gives us an idea of how the public sector can work against us.
There aren’t too many jobs in the private sector, probably none, where an employee could screw around with their expense account to this extent and not get fired for it.
Ward 6 York Catholic school Trustee Christine Nunziata has had quite the time at taxpayer’s expense, using public money for personal vacations to the Dominican, Cuba and other places.
Not only that, she’s run up huge cell phone bills for non work calls, she bought jewelry on her expense account, a five hundred dollar visit to Canada’s Wonderland, lingerie, a one hundred dollar Wal-mart gift certificate and a digital camera.
Trustees get $18.500 in salary, and then another 18 thousand for work related expenses, but there is little or no accountability. It wasn’t until the Sun got tipped off and went after this spend-thrift that the enormity of her extravagance was uncovered.
And man does she like to eat. There were several bills from restaurants where she didn’t pay till after midnight. At Thai restaurants, high end Carman’s Steak House and bars where she charged alcohol even though that’s especially forbidden.
And Christine Nunziata really loves her fast food as well. She charged her morning coffee and doughnuts at Tim Horton’s to the taxpayer and wracked up hundreds of dollars at McDonalds, Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s and Pizza Pizza.
I guess this explains why another one of her bogus expenses was a shopping spree at a plus size woman’s store.
There’s some good news though, Nunziata is the niece of form MP John Nunziata, and he’s still around, so obviously she hasn’t tried to eat him.
In most other jobs this would grounds for dismissal, no questions asked. But so far, that hasn’t even been mentioned in the Nunziata case, only repayment – but that isn’t nearly enough.
It’s pathetic.
Meanwhile you have to wonder how many others are doing it while schools continue to be under funded by the province.
That voice with an echo is that of Mayor Miller who’s once again talking with head stuffed up his ass.
Turns out Saturday’s murder of a man who was caught in crossfire in front of the Brass Rail was shot with a registered gun and its prompted Miller to call for a complete hand gun ban across the country.
In this case the Mayor argues that it’s ridiculous that a 22 year old man could legally have a gun. “Why would he need a gun” asked a bewildered Mayor and on those counts he’s correct.
The problem is that’s where Miller always stops his response to Toronto’s gun predicament.
The vast majority of gun murders are by unregistered guns, which means they’re already illegal. In other words, if a gun isn’t registered to anyone and has the serial numbers shaved off, it’s already banned. But it still exists, it’s still out there and regardless of what the federal government does, they’ll always be out there.
I’m one of those freaks who think that guns don’t kill people; people kill people and as long as we’re inflicted with bad ass punks who’ve never had the benefit of a decent upbringing there will always be a demand for guns and a steady supply.
For some reason the Mayor never wants to identify the problems that lead up to a young man wanting a gun.
In Toronto the profile of those who commit gun crimes is so consistent, so predictable and obvious, it’s aggravating.
But the Mayor refuses to acknowledge it or deal with it. It’s like he’s afraid of something.
No they weren't, tears weren't enough to knock Hillary Clinton out of the race for the Democratic nomination.
She won a close battle with Barak Obama in New Hampshire last night that surprised even the most astute political pundits including myself. Only kidding.
Times change and I guess and emotional display in 2007 is received much different that it would have just a few short years ago. Hillary was expected to suffer from Obama momentum and her choke-up in the coffee shop on Sunday.
But it didn’t. She won a key primary last night and now has her own momentum heading into the Michigan primaries.
Instead of showing weakness, Hillary’s emotional moment was perceived as softness and lucky for her it was.
Further to the perception of Hillary, Bill Carroll made a good point on his show yesterday morning. He’s not a fan of Clinton’s, but it has nothing to do with what happened on Sunday.
Carroll says he lost a lot of respect for Hillary during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
He feels Hillary was too soft on Bill and by so readily forgiving him; it set a bad example to other women of all ages.
Hillary Clinton did herself no favours yesterday when her voice cracked and she almost started to cry during a campaign stop in New Hampshire yesterday.
She was asked how she’s keep with a grueling schedule.
There was nothing wrong with her reaction, I saw the segment on television many times yesterday and I really think it was genuine, but unfortunately in this situation that doesn’t matter.
It’s allowed conservatives in the States to jump all over her and claim a woman’s not up to the job of running the most powerful nation in the world. If she’s capable of breaking down over a question in a coffee shop, what will she be like on the world stage when things get tough?
Again, that’s not what I think; it’s what all those who oppose Hillary will say, including those in the Democratic Party who don’t support her.
How is it a double standard? This way.
I truly believe if it was one of the male candidates who reacted the same yesterday, he would have been applauded for showing emotion, simply because men don’t usually do it and aren’t expected to do it. Some would say it shows the soft side and the office needs a soft side.
On the flip side, knuckle dragging chauvinists and in this case, the enemies of having a women in the White House, and Hillary in particular, will tell you that most women are just blathering weaklings and shouldn’t be running world powers.
It’s wrong and unfair and doesn’t explain what happened yesterday. But this is politics and it can be nasty and Hillary will probably pay for it.
I gave up on the useless Maple Leafs early in the third period last night and then flipped between CNN and Fox News to watch the Iowa Caucus results.
Fascinating. The victory by bible thumping former evangelist Mike Huckabee on the Republican side was surprising enough, but the victory by Barack Obama in a state that couldn’t be any “whiter” is a stunning statement.
Obama wasn’t expected to win here; in fact many believed he would finish third behind Hillary Clinton and John Edwards and then hope to fare better in the primaries. But he captured Iowa and the momentum could easily carry him through to the Democratic nomination.
And if that happens we’re going to learn a lot about the United States of America.
Back in 2000 the US was shamed by voter irregularities in Florida and most of the missing or damaged ballots were in black voting stations and the inexplicable problem of unusual and tedious lineups at voting stations were in black neighbourhoods.
African Americans tend to be Democrats and its no secret if that even half the black vote in American bothered to cast a ballot, they could control the outcome of an election.
In Florida in 2000, black people were prevented from voting in Florida and result was four years of George W. Bush. As it was, Al Gore won the popular vote, but in a shady and concerning turn of events in Florida, the wrong man became president.
And that’s what makes me look ahead to next year if Barack Obama wins the Democratic ticket. If he wins for the Democrats he most definitely will become president, but only if the election is on the up and up.
This may sound far fetched and impossible in the United States of America, but don’t kid yourself.
If Obama runs for president his initial strategy will be to reach out to black America and make sure they come to the polls, and chances are, with a black candidate they will probably turn out in record numbers.
Then it all becomes the responsibility of the system. Will black America be given the same access to voting stations and ballot boxes that the rest of the country gets?
Will the same attention to detail be given to those areas of the United States that are poor and desolate?
You’d like to think so, and you’d expect that the Democratic Party would make sure, but it’s still a huge unknown. An African American has never run for President before and we saw what happened in 2000.
We might find out that America the beautiful ain’t so beautiful afterall.
Leslie Roberts started his show with a story about his daughter and it was gripping and totally relatable to anyone with a grown daughter.
A couple of years ago Robert’s daughter Lauren who was living with her mother in Montreal, decided to come to Toronto and live with her father.
She sold the idea to her dad claiming it would be a great way for them to bond and get to know each other and make up for lost time.’
Well it wasn’t long before she convinced Leslie to let her boyfriend move in and Roberts managed to look the other way during many of the incidents that ensued and the bonding plans never really happened.
A couple of months ago after an internship, Lauren got a full time job and announced to her dad that she was getting her own apartment – with her boyfriend – and she’d be moving out over the holidays while her dad was away.
Leslie had many concerns starting with her ability to pay because her boyfriend was in school and didn’t work. Dad didn’t feel any better when Lauren revealed her boyfriend was planning to take some time off school.
Meanwhile, over the holidays Lauren moved out of the house and when Leslie returned he found a mess in her room and bathroom that from his description turned your stomach.
He went on to say how he felt betrayed and used and he questioned her lack of respect and you couldn’t help but wonder if Lauren was listening and what she was thinking if she was.
We soon found out when Leslie had his producer phone Lauren and put her on the air.
It was great, spontaneous, real radio and we don’t get a lot of that these days.
I just caught Stephane Dion’s interview on the John Oakley Show and it provides another reason why I think so much of Oakley.
Most guys talk a big game on the radio but when they sit face to face with the people they criticize on a day to day basis they turn into suck holes.
Not Oakley.
He went after Dion about Kyoto and Bali and although he got nothing but Liberal mishmash in response, it was refreshing to hear Oakley challenge Dion at every turn.
I’m sorry, but I for the life of me can’t understand how some Canadian’s are so unwilling to give Stephen Harper a chance when they’re faced with a weakling leader like Stephane Dion and a Liberal party with such a long history of lies and corruption.
Oakley challenged Dion on China and why that country should be exempt from any agreement that Canada enters into. It’s a valid and sensible argument that seems to escape a large number of people in this country who refuse to consider anything Conservative.
Dion’s response was typical. I’m not really sure what he said, but from what I could gather, he still wants to expose Canada for a sucker punch. Have us follow Kyoto to the letter of the law while the rest of the industrialized world snickers at us behind our back.
I was going to make the point that the Liberals would probably be better off “not” having Stephane Dion do any radio or television interviews. Just keep him behind the scenes and let the anti-Harper propaganda do its job.
But it really doesn’t matter. The Liberal party could have a baboon as the leader of their party and that would be fine with their blind followers and uninformed peckerheads who don’t look beyond the headlines.
Chalk up another victory for the environment and the hysterical over-reaction this issue has created since Al Gore produced his award winning fantasy flick “An Inconvenient Truth.”
The latest Canada poll results reveal the governing Conservatives have plummeted in the polls and their environmental policy is being blamed.
Believe it or not, the wishy-washy Liberals with their limp dick leader have now passed the Conservatives in popular opinion.
The Liberals, who had 13 years to establish and act on an environmental policy – but didn’t – have 32 percent support while the Torys have plunged six points in the past week to thirty percent.
In shameful Ontario it's even worse with the Liberals holding a ten point lead, 41 to 31.
I’m not surprised because it was just over a week ago when I heard the results of another poll that said the environment has clearly become the number one issue for Canadians.
What a joke.
The only reason most Canadians say the environment is the most important issue is because it’s easy.
When asked, it’s easier to sound like a hero and blurt out “the environment” than it is to take the time to actually learn about other issues.
The environment is sexy and makes you sound like you care even though you probably take no measures to help the environment yourself. You’ve seen Gores cool movie and it made you mad at all the polluters and you want to make a statement.
You pick up newspapers like the Toronto Star and listen to people like David Suzuki and when you’re told that Stephen Harper is an enemy of the environment it makes the choice rather easy when asked what party you support. You choose Liberal.
You don’t take the time to really understand what the Prime Minister is trying to accomplish or take the time to appreciate how he’s looking out for the best interests of your country. No, that’s too hard.
Instead you just read the headlines and take from it that Stephen Harper wouldn’t sign an environment deal in Bali so he must be that rotten guy that everybody says he is.
The environment! I can only shake my head and laugh.
It’s such a bullshit issue when it comes to political polling. It’s just so fluffy. It allows people who pay no attention to politics on a day to day basis to actually feel informed and important when asked about it.
And given the extreme left wing media influence in this country, especially in Ontario, people are led to believe the Prime Minister doesn’t care about
"The bottom line is, we can't even take care of our 2.5 million people. People are complaining there's 60,000 people waiting to get into housing. There's congestion on our streets. It's right now, we can't even deal with the 2.5 million people in the city. I think it's more important that we take care of the people now before we start bringing in more. There's going to be a million people, a million more people, according to the official plan, which I did not support, over the next 10 years coming into the city." - Rob Ford
Is it the guy who has a huge lead in Toronto's Mayoral race because he connects with the average hard working Joe, or is it the guy who thought he just had to show up to win.
With the G-20 Summit just over a week away, there's no use talking about the pros and cons of holding it because there's no turning back now.
It's brilliant. At least I hope it is.
Our Prime Minister has lost me on this one. One billion dollars for security? That's what it's going to cost to secure Huntsville and Toronto for three stinkin' days in June? That's the price of host the G8 and G20 summits?
Last week I wrote a piece called "
I like Stephen Harper because he does a lot of stupid things, like 
Roughly 24 hours after writing a 
Hey everybody, I agree with the Premier. Ontario's king sized-liar, who on a day to day basis can't be trusted as far as you can nudge him, has it nailed when it comes to sex education in Ontario.
I've received several e-mails from readers asking my opinion on the Helena Guergis / Rahim Jaffer situation.
Over the past month or so the subject of racism has been discussed on this website and my spin has been consistent with what I've written on this site for going on four years now.
Every citizen of Canada deserves a thorough explanation regarding what 
One of the most surprising aspects of the Olympics to me was how the Prime Minister came out of it relatively unscathed.
Maybe it's a generational thing. Since the 
Check out the crap going on over at 
I guess it's a tough day for all those bleeding heart Liberals who like to link Stephen Harper to George Bush Jr. and make him out to be some kind of a horrible beast.
I spent an hour or so watching CBC Newsworld mid-day yesterday and by the end of it I had a pretty good idea what it must be like to have H1N1, I wanted to puke all over the floor.
I've received several e-mails from the predictable group wondering why I haven't had anything more to say about the so called Afghani scandal. You know, all the bullshit about Afghan detainees being abused after being handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan police.
"If the Toronto elites had been more in tune, humble and realist, Stéphane would have been willing to take all the time and absord all the hits needed to rebuild the party."
Here's a message to all of the bleeding heart Liberals who are thoroughly enjoying the bullshit focus that's been placed upon the Harper government this week.
I have a 407 transponder, in fact I have two. This despite the fact I find the pricing and business practices of the 407 to be offensive. 
If you are against the Pan American Games coming to Southern Ontario, and would like to see them cancelled, click on the discuss button and leave your feelings.
My complete feelings on Southern Ontario acquiring the 2015 Pan American Games are in a posting from yesterday, but today I just had to add this.
It couldn't be more perfect. The city of Toronto took a giant step towards the toilet today and leading the charge was David Miller and Dalton McGuinty.
It comes with no surprise that Brampton - Springdale MP Ruby Dhalla introduced a private members bill in the spring that wants to create a short cut for immigrant seniors.
"While stitching a wound on the hand of a old farmer, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. 
What a wonderful day for the city of Toronto. David Miller, the one man wrecking crew of a Canada's greatest city has announced he will not run for a third term.
If we're spared the futile exercise of another election this week, ironically it will be the doing of NDP leader Jack Layton.
I have always been vehemently opposed to taxpayer money being used to finance professional sport but this situation is different.
I know it bothers a lot of you when I extoll the virtues of our Prime Minister, but I really think more people should take the time to look beyond the fact he's not a Liberal.
It was another despicable showing by the Toronto Star this week as it tried to make a mountain out of virtually nothing during the G20 Summit in London.
The extreme right wing whack jobs in the United States are pissin' their pants over this, but I totally agree with the Obama administration's decision to stop using the phrase "war on terror."
Say what you want about Dalton McGuinty, but he's a much better politician than John Tory.
It's been very interesting over the past couple of days to see how the Barack Obama "Special Olympics" comment has been downplayed and ignored.
Meanwhile, about the only news outlet that went after Obama was the Fox News Network and that was predictable because it's a right wing, extreme Conservative cesspool of unbalanced and often vicious reporting.
The words of a king-sized loser.
No doubt about it, these tough economic times are giving a lot of companies an excuse to downsize.
There will be a lot of smug faces in the Ontario riding of Haliburton -Kawartha Lakes-Brock today, and I guess to some extent it's warranted.
Yes, it's a big day for John Tory. By ten o'clock this evening his political career could be over.
I've already had several e-mails from readers wanting to know about I thought about the Obama visit, but I've got to be honest, there isn't a lot to say.
Barack Obama makes his first international trip as President Thursday and he'll be face to face with a man who was tagged as a Bush lover.
Jack and Gilles went up the Hill 
If you've got eyes in your head and you have the opportunity to read the Toronto Star on a regular basis, you know the paper is on a mission.
Hey Fred,
Last night I caught the news flash about the United States senate refusing a rescue plan for the big three auto makers and I had mixed emotions.
Today was a great day for Canada. When Bob Rae withdrew from the Liberal leadership fiasco it was a triple punch for the country.
One of the more fascinating aspects of the reprehensible coalition movement this week was how basic math was pulverized.
This was sent to me my CanadianThinker.com reader Joe McLean.
Wow, what a different a day makes. On Wednesday this website was crawling with coalition supporters rejoicing in what they thought was the imminent end of the Harper Conservatives. 
The craziest thing about what 
Hey Canada, did you catch that impressive speech by the guy who might be your next Prime Minister, the guy who was overwhelmingly rejected by Canadians in the last election, the guy who was dumped by his own party. Should be a fun ride having this fella drive the train. 
The seperatist who will hold the balance of power in the coaltion government refused to speak to Canadians in English tonight, and didn't say the word Canada once. 
There's no doubt that Ontario needed another statutory holiday, and it was a good move to place it in February during the dead of winter, where previously there was no holiday between Christmas and Easter, but where the McGuinty government really blew it was by calling it Family Day.
Talk about a hard ass. Barack Obama sure sets some lofty conditions for his children.
I don't want to sound like a snob, but I have to say this. There are a lot of people who will vote for Barack Obama today who are just as blind as the hundreds of thousands around the GTA who insist on clinging to the Liberals.
It's been interesting to listen to American conservative talk radio over the past few days.
Not to repeat myself, but I have to say it again. I may be a Canadian conservative, but that doesn't put me anywhere close to an American conservative. 
This posting proves I'm not always against the McGuinty government.
Check out Toronto Mike's 
If Stephane Dion resigns as leader of the Liberal Party today, it will be a very noble act.
Speaking of Toronto Mike, I love the guy. I really do. But I'm not big on his politics.
The Canadian election is next Tuesday, and if there's anyone out there sitting on the fence and wondering if they should vote for the evil, child eating Steven Harper, then you should take a few minutes to check this out.
There's a radio commercial currently running that features an obviously older woman talking about her financial portfolio. She talks about a 20 percent drop and then proceeds to blame the Stephen Harper Conservatives.
I've got to admit I'm somewhat disappointed with the reaction on this website over the past few days.
Let's get something straight, I don't have a hate on for the CBC. I have a problem with the way it's run.
I thought it extremely odd that so many people who participated at FreddieP.ca defended Heather Mallick last week. 
Yes, it's amazing how some people think.
Actually, I forgot my wife's laptop.
The price of oil dropped to one hundred dollars a barrel yesterday, but when you drive to work this morning you'll notice the price of gas in Ontario jumped by close to thirteen cents a litre or fifty cents a gallon.
Yea, choke on this all you mindless fools who returned David Miller to office in 2006. 
The Toronto Star sure didn’t disappoint with its handling of Stephen Harper’s performance at the G8 Summit in Tokyo.
While trying not to sound too cruel or hard, I’ve got to say, it bugs the shit out of me that the Prime Minister offered another apology yesterday.
There is no excuse for assaulting any one under any circumstances, and the thought of someone suffering physical and emotional injuries while fishing is unconscionable, but complaints from several areas of the province about certain fishermen not following angling laws, continuously fall on deaf ears, and are conveniently written off as racism.
Yes, here we go again. The government of Canada plans to issue another 
Yesterday’s 
Brenda Martin was sentenced to five more years for her part in an alleged fraud scheme yesterday, but it’s expected a deal with the Canadian government will see her quickly transferred home, have her already served time converted into a Canadian sentence, and she’ll be free in no time.
I caught Julina Fantino on the John Oakley Show earlier today and it was the same old story.
If you’ve read between the lines on this blog over the past couple of months you’ve probably determined that I was pulling for Barack Obama in the Democratic leadership race.
It was interesting to see yesterday’s reaction to the remarks by Geraldine Ferraro about Barack Obama.
Mike Stafford is filling in for John Oakley on am 640 this week and he made a great observation this morning.
I was never big on Paul Martin as Prime Minister of our country but I’ve gotta say I’m rather impressed with his intention to 
There are exceptions to every rule, but I think it’s safe to say, to be a politician you have to have a certain level of confidence and a good dash of arrogance. 
For a country that considers itself the greatest on earth, the United States sure has a screwed up way of choosing Presidential candidates.
Not that I’m complaining, but its been quite a while since the whacked out goof balls from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty have done their thing.
I’ve received several e-mails wanting to know by opinion on the Chuck Cadman story.
I just heard Mike Stafford mention FreddieP.ca on am 640 but his reference was not entirely correct.
Meanwhile, today marks the second anniversary of the unlawful occupation of the housing site in Caledonia, and still no substantial action from the Premier.
I’ve had several e-mails from people who want to know my take on the federal budget that was handed down yesterday.
As I watched Tiger Woods win another golf tournament over the weekend I got to thinking about Barrack Obama.
I watched the South Carolina primaries last night and was very happy to see Barack Obama destroy the Clintons.
The 
No they weren't, tears weren't enough to knock Hillary Clinton out of the race for the Democratic nomination.
Hillary Clinton did herself no favours yesterday when her voice cracked and she almost started to cry during a campaign stop in New Hampshire yesterday.
Leslie Roberts started his show with a story about his daughter and it was gripping and totally relatable to anyone with a grown daughter.
I just caught Stephane Dion’s interview on the John Oakley Show and it provides another reason why I think so much of Oakley.