Vancouver King

Joe who?

Why would they reconsider income splitting? It meets the gov't acid test that all such tax related changes should be made to increase the transfer of wealth to the top 5% of Canadians. As the middle class borrows more cash to pay it's bills, we can be certain that income splitting will allow the purchase of that up scale Mercedes by those already flush with wealth.

Comprehensive risk management? What a joke. Alberta and Harper will pump this sludge to the West Coast in full knowledge that British Columbians will suffer the colossal financial and environmental losses when the huge spill inevitably takes place. The pipeline owners have demonstrated they can't run a lemonade stand. Nothing short of a $25 billion up-front contingency fund will mitigate the risk.

Trudeau's move means henceforth the Senate will be considered the Conservative Senate, with all the brand damage and stink that goes along with it.

Prediction: Conservative weak minority with NDP official opposition. Trudeau will about double Liberal seats at Tories expense. Expect the resulting circus to last less than a year.

I'm rather enjoying the daily spectacle of Question Period where Mulcair chews on and spits out Harper on a regular basis. The PM looks helpless, mouthing inanities rather than answering questions as Mulcair lands blow after blow. Nick Nanos reports the drubbing is now taking a measurable toll - leadership numbers for Harper (and Trudeau) are down 5 points and the NDP leader's are up. With more RCMP documents due to be court filed, this is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

This latest Conservative miscreant now thrown under the bus should best be remembered as yet another Tory cheat that Stephen Harper publicly extolled as virtuous - even speaking for the PM in the Commons. Pension or no pension, the takeaway in this affair is Harper's utter lack of judgement in appointments and ethics. The stench of this gov't is unbearable.

Finally, an issue that will spell the demise of this government. Their only strong suit - managing the economy & finances - has been dealt a $3 billion body blow. In what must rate as this centuries greatest understatement, PM Harper bleated, "There seems to be a lack of clarity". Summon the minority government advisors.

You have the gall to dis Libs over entitlements when just days ago the public was treated to Mike Duffy slithering out of a hotel kitchen so he could avoid media questions on his fraudulent expenses. In a showdown between fraud and entitleements I will take entitlements everytime.

Americans are less and less interested despite Alberta handing them virtually all the associated refining jobs. There is an administration in place willing to offer more than lip service in reducing green house gases. Alternative energy production is Obama's priority, consider that fully 25% of Texas' electricity is now generated by harnassing the wind. With 70% of British Columbians opposed to pipelining this sludge to the coast, Harper will have to ram through this project - putting at risk 30+ seats and his majority. The man in the pocket of big oil has a problem.

For some of us decades have passed awaiting this trend to be confirmed. Although the leadership of Layton and Mulcair have much to do with new-found NDP respectability, most of the recent surge is reaction to Tory miscues from reopening the abortion debate to gutting environmental laws. That this NDP surge also comes in the presence of strong Bob Rae Liberal leadership bodes well for it's durability. My crystal ball is forecasting an eventual weak Conservative minority - a raucus circus so ineffectual the NDP rides a tsunami of public disgust into the gov't benches.

NEWS FLASH! The Toronto Star is poised to endorse the NDP this election! (source CBC, Evan Solomon) Does the Liberal implosion have no basement?

It never matters what proportion of voters remain undecided since they always eventually vote exactly as the decided do. Howls of despair from business and the establishment will be forthcoming on the morning of May 3rd if the nation wakes to the reality that the man in the pocket of big oil no longer has the keys to the treasury.

Nonsense. Ekos' latest numbers include seat projections showing outright Con losses and this mornings Nanos results show Tories down to 37%. Today's new attack ad aimed at Layton tells all who will think that panic has broken out in the Tory war room. Your Harper envy clouds your reason.

We are likely in the midst of the most significant voter shift in living memory. Finally, a true left of centre alternative emerges as Liberals flirt with 3rd party status. Such is the Grit reward for always campaigning from the left but always ruling from the right. If the Quebec numbers hold, expect enhanced NDP support elsewhere. As unlikely as it might seem, the surging New Democrats appear to be also stealing votes from Conservatives - now reduced to mid 30% levels and all but assured of forming another minority. It took weeks for anything of consequence to occur in this election - who would have guessed the Bloc's disintegrating campaign would give Jack Layton a real shot as Opposition Leader?

How soon before Tories poll mid 30s - $7 billion for banks and oil companies but $50 per month for poorest seniors. Election? Bring it on.

The man in the pocket of big oil is about to serve his masters - again. The nation's reputation as a defender of the natural world now lies in ruins. Welcome to the results of Stephen Harper's vision of Canada's rightful place in the environmental firmament - international pyorrhea and laughing stock among nations.

A preemptive non-nuclear strike serves American interests in addition to global security. In the seemingly unending, out of control debasement of it's currency, I'm betting the administration didn't fail to notice the surprising strength of the greenback as a safe harbor - witness the near panic to buy Yankee bucks a few days ago when Dubai defaulted. It's easy to imagine a scenario where nuclear facilities, and perhaps a neighborhood or two in Tehran, are destroyed to generate the appropriate crisis atmosphere. If the generals are up to it, the military campaign can be dragged on sufficiently to not only derail the gold train - wealth that should be poured into American treasury notes - but to restore international confidence in the dollar. Scramble the jets.

Nuke them 'til they glow.

Correct, GST will now be payable along with PST on used vehicles. Thats means the feds will now collect 5% of the proceeds of over 150,000 annual transactions each valued at an average of over $14,000. Just on this item alone it is easy to see Harper's tax grab and his billion dollar bribes to have the provinces harmonize. Among endless examples, taxpayers will have expensive reminders of their govts chicanery every time they dine out in restaurants or work out in the gym. Harper deserves his share of the coming fallout.

Too bad it's Harper offering up bribe money to B.C. and Ontario to implement tax increases on already beleagured taxpayers. This is the only issue anywhere in the realm that has the potential to turn a Tory 10% poll lead into a trailing by 5% debacle. Harper's sales tax - what a ring that has to it.

Could continuing Liberal disfavor give the NDP momentum towards the magic 20% threshold? If it happens New Democrats could be destined for official Opposition status.

Obviously not restricted up the ass sufficiently to prevent the marketing of houses to those unable to meet the payments or, more important, the packaging of these subprime mortgages into investment grade derivatives. The motive? - colossal profits to realtors, investment banks, rating agencies and politicians (via campaign contributions) who gladly looked the other way. That litany of greed is being underwritten by taxpayers, the same working families interviewed for this global poll.

What sensible regulation can be brought to bear against "too big to fail"? America stressed having no interest in day to day decisions of bailed out firms but this hands off approach has resulted in banks using the taxpayer's dime to respeculate in financial markets leading to current asset bubbles and the shameless bonuses that grate against any sense of fair play.