maplesyrup

What is going on? Why did Keith Martin actually bolt the new Conservative party? Now people are leaving from the Alliance side as well. What does he know that the rest of us don't? -from CP 'New Democrat Svend Robinson issued a news release citing Keith Martin's past statements advocating private, for-profit medicine and said his defection is a sure sign of the right-wing drift of the Liberals under Prime Minister Paul Martin. "The obvious ideological attraction of Paul Martin's right-wing agenda is a good fit for an unabashed supporter of for-profit privatized health care like Keith Martin," said Robinson.' How many more defections are coming up over the horizon? Yesterday I saw on the news MP Rex Barnes saying some not very favourable comments about Stephen Harper. Is he going to leave too? Are there going to be any PCs left in this merger? How many Independents are there now sitting in the House of Commons? It appears that Peter Mackay's renegeding on his very public agreement with David Orchard to secure the PC leadership is coming back to haunt the new Conservative party. How in the world did Peter MacKay ever get the leadership of the PCs? Just saw an interview with Jm Prentice and he said it would take $1 miillion for the leadership run and he doesn't have it. The government (our taxes) are now heavily involved in the funding of our political parties. Maybe, especially because of the power in the PMO, we need to now look at how political parties leadership campaigns are funded.

Noise Polution: Tim Stevenson, a city of Vancouver councillor, is upset about the increasing levels of noise in our cities. He is going to attempt to fast track a by-law to outlaw audible car alarms by June within the City of Vancouver limits. I am supportive of this attempt to help turn down the decibel levels in our cities. For those of you who ask, how will we protect our vehicles, councillor Stevenson says, get a gun (just kidding about the gun part, that is).

Tony Clement to announce his intentions Thursday at 11 AM (ET)

Interesting timing for the Keith Martin announcement of his defection. It appears that it might happen on the same day that the warrants in relation to the RCMP raid on the BC Legislature are being unsealed in BC Apparently Martin is first going to sit as an Independent, and then run for the Liberal nomination in his riding. Martin will be announcing today at 1 PM (ET) ----------------------------------------------- 'Bad day for new Conservatives Bachand bows out. Right-wing party has no future here, says sole Tory MP from Quebec' http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgaz...23-BD20C067056A 'Warning there is no future for a right-wing party in Quebec, the only Progressive Conservative from this province to win a seat in the House of Commons is quitting politics. Holding back tears, André Bachand, 42, announced that - after completing his term as an independent MP - he will sit out the next election.' ----------------- Here's more fodder for the CBC fans, NOT. Personally I think the National Post needs to lighten up and get a sense of humour. My goodness. 'Harper stunt smacks of CBC bias' by Gerry Nicholls in the National Post http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...64-dbb50ed67054 To Morgan below. Actually liberal is not a derogatory word, nor is conservative, for that matter. Just folks with a different perspective about things. By focusing on non-substantive issues like the CBC, the Conservative party could end up handing the Liberals the biggest majority any party has ever had in the history of Canadian politics. Some people just don't get it, there is no room in Canada for the Republican Party. And actually I did read the whole article, including the part where the author identified himself as Harper's buddy. Strange that you forgot to mention that.

Hi theloniusfleabag......last year, just before the Americans were about to go to Iraq, I had the privilege of attending one of Gwynne Dyer's lectures. He forecast that the Americans would go in and create a mess. Then after 2 years, the rest of the world would have to go in and clean up the mess. It was only recently that I discovered that Dyer was a columnist, so upon noticing his columns, I was curious to know first of all, if anyone else had heard of him, and if so, what did they think of his musings. "Two Years on Afghanistan Today' by Gwynne Dyer Daily Gleanor, Fredericton, NB http://www.republicons.org/view_article.as...ARTICLE_ID=1102 'It was probably never taken seriously at the Pentagon, which has always backed its warlord allies against the Karzai government's attempts to assert the authority of the centre. When Karzai tried to fire four or five governors who were running their provinces as personal fiefdoms last May, U.S. officials overruled him. Until recently the U.S. also blocked every attempt to expand ISAF's role beyond Kabul, because international peacekeeping troops would not tolerate the informal American-warlord alliances that are the norm in rural Afghanistan. Now the roof is slowly falling in, and U.S. policy is slowly starting to change. More aid money and new Provincial Reconstruction Teams are being sent to Afghanistan, and ISAF is at last being asked to deploy its troops outside of Kabul. But there is little enthusiasm among NATO countries for playing second fiddle to the U.S. special forces in provincial Afghanistan, and there is still no sign that the U.S. is ready to break with its warlord allies. Three predictions. There will be no internationally recognized free elections in Afghanistan in 2004 (though some sort of charade may be arranged). U.S. forces will pull out within three years. The Taliban will be back in power within five.'

The contradiction in the two events, signing the agreement with Orchard, and then going against what he agreed to, by merging his PC party with Harper's Alliance party has done MacKay in, at least for the leadership race, if not his own riding in Nova Scotia, in the next election. This ripping up of the Orchard agreement, has created a large part of the turmoil for the new party, and eventually may be the catalyst for another pary of progressive conservatives being formed by the folks who are opposed to the merger. We will have to wait and see on that one. Meanwhile we have a leadership contest to watch.

Quote Christians and conservatives are the Jews biggest allies while liberals are typically pro-Palestinian and possess a greater tendancy towards anti-semitism. Unquote I have serious reservations about the accuracy of the above statement. It reminds me of a comment attributed to Mulroney "if you throw enough mud against the wall, some of it sticks". Perhaps Liberals just respect everyone's right to choose the religion of their choice, without taking sides. Also there are a lot of Jewish people, both in and outside of Israel, that do not support the policies of the current Israeli government. I doubt they are considered anti-semitic. --------------------------------------- Intersting to note that Tony Blair's people are very concerned about the Dean candidacy. Maybe they have a hunch he is going to be the next president. 'Dean's bid for White House alarms Blair allies Alliance could be strained by anti-war stance' http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,1227...1121817,00.html 'Amid concerns that a Dean presidential campaign would be dominated by attacks on the Bush-Blair invasion of Iraq, one ally of the prime minister has suggested that he would prefer anyone but Mr Dean as president, although in public Mr Blair will be careful to ensure Labour and Downing Street are seen as neutral in the Democrat race.'

Yesterday the former Alliance leader Stephen Harper announced his candidacy for the leadership of the new Consrvative Party, with a good speech. Around the same time we have: -former PC Jim Prentice withdrawing from the leadership race -former PC leader Peter MacKay announces that he will not be seeking the leadership -the only PC MP from Quebec Andre Bachand announced today that he is bolting the party to sit as a Independent, and is leaving politics altogther after the the next election. Bachand said at his news conference that he is mourning the death of the PC party. -tomorrow PC MP Keith Martin ihas called a press conference. Rumours are that he is bolting as well, perhaps to the Liberals. -Orchard and Stevens are in the courts to bring back the PC party -another group has made a formal application to Canada's Chief Electoral Officer to re-establish the PC party -Former Prime minister Joe Clark has opted out of the new Conservative party -and there is the situation of New Brunswick MP John Herron -what is his future? Today there is a perception problem that the Conservative party is a takeover of the Progressive Conservative party by Stephan Harper and the Canadian Alliance. These optics might be overcome if someone besides Harper is chosen as leader. It doesn't matter in this context what your own personal beliefs or aspirations are. What counts here is what is marketable to the Canadian citizens, the voters in the next election. In politics however things can change very quickly. So we will wait and see what happens concerning the other possible candidates. Initially I thought that if Bernard Lord entered the race, the two finalists would be Lord and Strahl. Strahl is well liked and might end up being the compromise candidate in the end, should he decide to run.

Mackay definitely out of leadership race Bachand will sit as Independent until next election -from CBC ---------------------------- 'Harper launches one Krafty attack' by Barbara McClintock http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-01-13-0015.html 'Harper launched his "One Conservative Voice" rally-style campaign at the Ottawa Civic Centre by taking aim at Paul Martin's privileged background, and styling himself as an average family man from humble beginnings.'

Harper gave a good speech, short, to the point, touching all the bases, focusing on Martin, and had some good quips as well.

theWatcher.....that's correct, if we chose a 100% proportional representation system. There are different kinds of proportional representation methods such as those in place in New Zealand, Germany, and Israel. There are lots of small one issue groups out there such as the Chritians, the Greens, etc. whatever, that I may, or may not, agree with. One seat out of 308 is not a big amount, but they do deserve to be at least heard. It seems to me that our Canadian government has always operated best for Canadian society under minority governments, when they had to pay attention. Any of these governments that we have had, have always had way too much power for such a small group of elites.

Former Bush Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill's exposure on the real White House's machinations about Iraq/WMD is one thing. Now with the results of this latest poll finding below, published today, there appears to be trouble brewing on the horizon for Bush. 'Bush is trounced in poll of Jews' AP - from New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/s...3p-135627c.html 'U.S. Jews would overwhelmingly support any major Democratic candidate over President Bush if the election were held today, according to a survey by the powerful American Jewish Committee.' It looks like the spokes are beginning to come off the wheels for the GOP. I'm sure that this is having an impact in the races for Congress as well.

More trouble on the horizon for the Martin Liberals apart from their growing scandal problems in BC. PM, voters out of sync on priorities by Hugh Windsor Globe and Mail http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/Articl...12/National/Idx 'The initial conservatively oriented policy messages coming out of the Paul Martin-led government are putting the new Liberal regime on a collision course with the expectations of the electorate it is hoping to woo. And all of this new emphasis on fiscal rectitude could backfire, according to some seminal public opinion tracking coming out of EKOS Research Associates.' This is an excellent article, and the author appears to have hit the nail on the head.

'Harper launches campaign, takes aim at Martin' http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...ol=968705899037 'He said the new Liberal prime minister is "on every side of every issue and flits from trend to trend, one set of polls to the next . . . . Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Martin commits to positions like Britney Spears commits to marriage," he said in his election-style speech, which could just as easily be delivered after the election writ is dropped.' 'Today, one leadership rival bowed out, the campaign of another appeared to be fizzling, and a pair of high-profile MPs seemed on the verge of quitting.' It's worth reading this Canadian Press story as it appears that quite a few political events are coming down the pipes in the next few days for Conservatives, which include Keith Martin, MacKay, Stronach, Strahl, and Andre Bachand Harper's speech was fine, covering all the Conservative bases, taking lots of shots at Martin, and copying a strategy used by the NDP's Jack Layton, representing himself as an ordinary Canadian. At least Harper has the brains to realize that the Liberals are the Conservatives target, not the NDP.

'Democractic history in the making" Gordon Gibson National Post http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...a3-6d6c9e52fece 'The men and women of the assembly are very ordinary people, by design. They had been selected at random from the province's voters list -- subject to their willingness to serve, which does add a significant bit of self-screening -- and they constitute an excellent match for the geographical, gender, age, occupational, ethnic and educational profile of British Columbia.' ----------------------------------- - here's a much better article 'Welcome to a new era of liberal democracy' http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...Story/National/ 'But it is those very elites who raise the most objections to electoral reform and citizens' assemblies. Which makes one wonder whether what they most fear is losing their ability to dominate public discourse.' --------------------------------------------- This is the beginning of Canadians concretely exploring substantially more fairness in their electoral voting systems across Canada. Unfortunately from our federal Liberal government, there is no interest and we get the same old, same old. Paul Martin is trying to create a diversion with his catchy worded diversion "democratic deficit", which has absolutely nothing to do with a fair voting system for Canadian citizens. For the most comprehensive background on a fair voting ststem in Canada please go to: www.fairvotecanada.org

U.S. dollar put on yellow alert Orderly decline, or disorderly crash? Jaqueline Thorpe Financial Post http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...9d-2522f37c024d 'The first full working week of 2004 is barely behind us and the U.S. dollar has found itself on yellow alert -- at significant risk of further attack. While the greenback has dropped more than 30% against the euro over the past two years, its 2% skid in the first week of the year has many openly wondering: When does an orderly decline become a disorderly crash? "The risk of a U.S. dollar collapse -- or at least a further substantial decline -- seems to be more and more likely," George Magnus, chief currency strategist at UBS in London, said in a report last week. Just a few weeks after putting out his projections for 2004 -- and he was already known as a U.S. dollar bear -- Mr. Magnus cut his year-end forecast for the greenback to US$1.40 per euro from US$1.32.' Are we seeing signs of trouble ahead for President Bush? Job creation figures disappointment, An effective slap from fromer Treasury Secretary O'Neill on Iraq/WMD. The Democraric race finally showing signs of excitement. It looks ilike things might be starting to unravel for him.

Not sure what the connection David Orchard has with this group, if any, but Orchard will be on CBC Newswolrd this evening. Harper's kick-off for the Conservative party leadership starts at 7:15 PM (EST).

Tonight on CBC's the National with Peter Mansbridge, there will be an expose on the latest details of this growing Martin Liberals scandal in BC. Today we learned that a federal Liberal riding executive was arrested in connection with the RCMP probe into drugs and organized crime. This same federal Liberal riding executive, is related to the Victoria Police officer, who has been suspended, in connection with the 20-month long RCMP investigation. ------------------------ Premier Scrambles to 'Restore Trust' 'Gordon Campbell's dance with the media yesterday at one point defied credulity, and left all the big questions unanswered.' By Barbara McLintock TheTyee.ca http://www.thetyee.ca/News/current/Premier...store+Trust.htm 'Brave faces, deep tentacles' 'And despite the brave face being put on events by federal Liberals in B.C., there seems little doubt that at least some tentacles of the investigation are going to lead back to them. There is no other rational explanation for the fact that the police also acquired (either voluntarily or through search warrants) documents from Mark Marissen, the head of the Martin campaign in B.C. (as well as the husband of deputy premier Christy Clark), from Bruce Clark, the head fundraiser for the Martin campaign in B.C. (as well as the brother of Christy Clark), and from Eric Bornman, the operations manager for the Martin campaign in B.C. '

Don Newman, host of the CBC show Politics, just announced that CBC Newsworld would be carrying Stephen Harper's launch for the Conservartive party leadership tonight live from Ottawa starting at 7:15 PM (EST). After his kick-off in Ottawa tonight, Harper's first stop is Fredericton, NB. Probably good symbolic strategy, as all 4 Maritime governments are PC at the moment. Norm Spector, the New VI's (Vancouver Island television station) political commentator, former Mulroney advisor and Times Colonist journalist, who was a panelist on Polits, stated that he felt Harper was head and shoulders about the rest of the possible candidates. Rick Anderson suggested that Harper's position wasn't as strong as people think, even in the West, and that he thinks Clement will have a strong showing. Anderson may be just trying to drum up some interest with his comments. The panelists didn't think much about Stronach's candidacy. Interestingly enough, there is not one sigle declared candidate right at the moment. That will all change this evening, of course. Prentice has officially withdrawn according to his website. Will his supporters scatter or gravitate to one particular candidate? The Canadian Alliance held its last caucus meeting today in Ottawa. On to better things, they hope. Chuck Strahl, if he enters the race will surprise. Both David Orchard and Stockwell Day, will be commenting on CBC Newsworld this evening.

Harper to launch campaign for the leadership today in Ottawa Is Prentice withdrawing from the race due to lack of funds? ------------------------------- 'Harper a shoo-in? Not quite' -from Toronto Star http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...ol=968350116467 'But while Harper can count on more grassroots money than any other prospective candidate, many charter members of corporate Canada would have given him the cold shoulder. Over the past few weeks, there has been evidence that some corporate heavy hitters are ready to put up a lot of cash to help someone beat Harper for the leadership of the new party.'

'US looks at job creator across Pacific' by Gwynne Dyer The Daily News '"That enormous sucking sound you hear," third-party candidate Ross Perot told American voters during the 1992 presidential campaign, "is American jobs disappearing south to Mexico."' http://64.4.10.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN...a12%2c00%2ehtml 'But a large chunk of the world's jobs is now open to the lowest international bidder. This is not just a trend; it is an earthquake that is going to reshape the global economy.'

'NDP Launches 'No Star Wars' Internet Ad Fund' http://www.ndp.ca/ 'Paul Martin's racing to join Star Wars missile defence - and we've got to act fast to stop him. So the NDP's going to buy print ads in major newspapers to let Canadians know why Martin's dead wrong on Star Wars - and the more people who donate, the bigger the ads will be. Will you make a small donation of just $5 (or more) to help Jack Layton and Canada's NDP stop Star Wars? Would you give $5 to urge Martin to spend those billions on technology that really makes the world secure, like technology to fight climate change' ------------------ Also it looks like Chuck Strahl's website has changed, hmmm, wonder what that signifies.

Education should be free to those that want it, and should be paid for out of taxes. It is tragic, particularly for all these young students, that are being saddled with those massive student loans, in order to get an education in Canada. Why doesn't Prime Minister Paul Martin cancel that masssive corporate tax cut, and help our Canadian students instead?

Canada's new Defence Minister, David Pratt, with the blessing of Prime Minister Paul Martin, thinks joining the US for their Star Wars project is going to make Canada safer. 'NDP attacks Canada-U.S. missile shield talks' -from CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/08/defen...ce_shield040108 'Federal New Democrats say it's a "profoundly dangerous" mistake to begin formal negotiations with the United States on a ballistic missile defence shield'

First Nunavut-run election kicks off tomorrow January 12, 2004 by Jim Bell Nunatsiaq News http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/40109_01.html 'Nunavut's first election, held Feb. 15, 1999, was governed by the Northwest Territories elections act and organized by the Yellowknife-based Elections NWT agency. But Nunavut's own agency, Elections Nunavut, will run this one. They'll follow rules set out in a new, made-in-Nunavut election law, passed during the life of Nunavut's last legislative assembly, which dissolved today.' Voting takes place from February 2 to 12.