Molly

As do I. It's not their first stroll through the public relations minefield.

Yep. And I remember when the Sask provincial PC policy was 'Abortion is a matter between a woman and her doctor." and Graham Taylor was appointed Health Minister. He didn't need legislation when he had regulations and purse strings to work with. Abortion services access went from okay to gawdawful overnight, and the last I heard, still hadn't recovered.

I was never on that turnip truck, and my birthdate is wa-ay before yesterday. A co-incidental year for review after 40 straight years of being the expert on the block is not at all normal... and if you didn't hear any outcry, you weren't following the issue.

I have the funny feeling that you would be impervious to proof, no matter how ironclad. Let's pretend that funding has not been withdrawn.... but the question then becomes why that funding approval is over a year late. Are we really to believe that 'the cheque is in the mail'?

You are correct that I'd spoil my ballot rather than vote CPC, but 1) the Liberals didn't raise this subject. Brad Trost did. And: 2) Of course Harper wouldn't act openly and attempt to criminalize abortion, because the CPC would be erased from the map on the very first opportunity following. A low-key harrassment campaign, though, that defunds advocacy and ties up access in red tape is pretty much a given. Feel free not to listen. It's the Tory way. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" — L. Frank Baum

It's over 40 years ago that my politically interested fellows figured out that all of the parties would be trying to solve the same problems, using the same resources, under the same conditions. The steps any might follow in order to reach a conclusion varied mightily, but in the end the conclusions they drew were remarkably similar. (There might be lots of ways to skin a cat, but in the end, a skinned cat remains the goal.)

Which term and which other democracies? There is no rational yes/no answer. The question is better phrased as "Has Canada been ...etc.". Spectrum-wise, we all know that the LPC tends to the social left and the economic right in Canada. Btw, I was expecting to be challenged on that description of the Thatcher Liberals, because they were a very right-wing lot. But then, the Romanow NDP was pretty darned right wing, too. (And both knew all about dirty tricks and political favoritism. Our favorite man in the news, Brad Trost, described Saskatchewan politics as blood sport. I can agree with that.)

Ha! Your own numbers call the lie to your conclusion!!! What's more even if you were right (that conservative=/=anti-choice, Liberal=/= pro-choice in real numbers) Conservatives are whipped to anti-choice positions, while the Liberals are whipped to pro-choice. And buddy, if you think that this is only about 3rd world aid, then you are well and truly 'wandering around behind the little animals'.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1399433 OTTAWA - Elections Canada is investigating complaints that Liberal supporters across the country are being harassed by rude phones calls - some in the middle of the night - from callers fraudulently representing themselves as Liberals.

Someone posted an article in which Joe Volpe was claiming that false and harrassing phone calls were being made in his name in his riding, originating from a call centre in North Dakota. Our own Liberal candidate has made the same claim, and now Ruby... Are there more?

You might want to check in with some of those other women before you scoff too loudly. They'll likely be able to tell you some stories that will curl your hair.

He's a back bencher who has been given a lot more latitude and responsibility than dull-knife loose cannons generally get. The shots he took at Diane Ablonczy over Pride funding, for instance, would have had a lot of folks hustled toward the door, fast. This is a message the Conservatives want on the table. Maybe not everywhere during an election, but they want it out there. They'd like to have it both ways, but it doesn't really work that way. No party tent is big enough for (both him and me).

Yes... three. Three too many, but at least it wasn't the whole blessed bot-herd. I cannot now, and never will be able to abide the stunning arrogance that would insert smug bystanders into something so important, and so deeply personal. Dopes like this guy... he's an embarrassment to his constituency, his province, his gender, his race, his religion his generation, his (any other way you want to measure him).. but not, apparently, to his political party.

Again.... you seem to be assuming that men don't have children, and women don't have jobs. Check out some of this: http://www.nawl.ca/en/issues

And yet kooks TM like this seem to thrive in his caucus, and somehow, the funding, never denied, just never seems to be apprpved either. How very odd.

I don't really buy that so-called truism. The LPC truly is, and has been a party more of the right than of the left, but has always had to differentiate itself from the only other truly credible alternative- the other right wing party. If that leads to an apparent emphasis on the left-ish principles, that's life. In order to define what one is, one must define what one is not. If the other credible party was to their left, they'd be 'campaigning from the right, and governing from the left'... like Thatcher did in Saskatchewan.

Exactly. Without them, the old boys clubs don't even bother to ask the questions, much less find answers.

I'm a married mother. I can't imagine why any woman would vote for the Conservatives either.

Ah, yes. That guy! Misogynist and homophobe... loose cannon......he's Pankiw lite. He's been stinking up the back benches long enough to get a pension, and is used to keep the dinosaurs happy. I liked this comment:http://www.prairiedogmag.com/?p=22028 "This MP is not a rouge rogue extremist–this is the attitude of the Stephen Harper Conservatives. They’re riddled with religious kooks* (and don’t get me started on their homophobia). This is just terrible. If you support this party as it is currently behaving, you clearly oppose woman’s rights and more importantly their health. You should reconsider your political affiliation this election. Unless you’re comfortable with all the nice, smart, funny people thinking you’re an asshole. *Get used to this mean term–I’m bringing it back because it’s accurate, memorable shorthand for a certain brand of lunacy the Conservatives are uniquely prone to among political parties. If you are religious and not a kook, I’m not talking about you. “Religious” is the adjective, not the noun. The key word is “kook”. ----------

The label you are looking for is "fixer".

Only a very few need that much attention though, and would honestly rather go out so long as it's not too rigorous. Advance polls are an option between the extremes. Good for you for taking the opportunity to mention that option, though. RNG, the dementia thread has wandered off down a different lane though I note a few folks have voted to deny franchise to folks so afflicted. It's a subject that demands compassion, and discretion. I honestly don't believe that Elections Canada is qualified to decide who is sufficiently mentally fit to be allowed to vote. We don't demand IQ tests, nor do we demand other forms of mental health- and Lord knows we all know folks we figure don't have enough grey cell action to vote sensibly... Most voting rules and regulations are based on trusting citizens to act in good faith, and I have never really seen a time that such trust was misplaced. I can tell many stories of folks breaking rules out of having a clumsy understanding of what those rules actually are, but only one sure incident of a true attempt to cheat (one double vote). Trusting folks to decide for themselves (or for their loved ones) that they are lucid enough to vote is okay by me. It's the compassionate thing to do, and certainly the most fair and the least complicated. It will stay okay with me until such time as I see that trust abused.

Exactly the same way any other ballots are kept safe. If possible, they are handed back to the returning officer at the end of each day. If that isn't reasonable, then they are held and secured by the DRO. Everything is kept in a (witnessed) sealed ballot box.

I do it all the time if it's reasonably convenient, just to make sure my vote is in. I often advise people to do it, too, if there is any question at all about how things might work out for them on voting day. It's not just for absences. Campaign workers should all do it, or as Punked suggests, vote at their returning office, but it is often much easier for folks with any mobility or stress or other health issues. Someone with early-stage Alzheimers, for instance, is likely better off going to an advance poll just for the general lack of excitement one finds there. Same goes for almost anyone who might need assistance of some kind.

Ah, yes. He's the guy who fired Linda Keene for the heinous crime of doing her job.

I don't want to start a thread to ask about this, 'cause that would give it wa-ay too much attention but.... the talking heads keep raving about how great Layton looks, how energized and how healthy- but to me, he looks like the wrath of God. He looks like a very, very sick man. So, how sick is he really? What's telling the lie- my eyes or the talking heads?