Promises, Promises

File this under As Above, So Below or the Microcosm is a reflection of the Macrocosm.

Jason Cherniak truly is a Liberal. Like his leader he does not know whether he is coming or going. He threatens and blusters to shut down his blog and then doesn't. Sort of like Dion's threats over the Throne Speech.And like his leader he gags those whom he disagrees with or who disagree with him.

As I wrote last week, I'm not sure how much longer this blog will be around. However, as long as it is it will be my board to advertise my ideas. I will allow comments that disagree with me, but only if they disagree in a reasonable way.

Don't keep us in suspense like your flip flopping leader, don't change your comment policy yet again just shut your blog down already and get over it.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Cherniak, blogs, bloggers, Canada, progressives, Liberals,

A Reply To Northern Liberal

The Northern Liberal asks;

Isnt it a bit rich for Conservatives and Dippers (the latter in particular) to be heaping scorn on Dion for proping up Harper when both parties at one time or another propped up Paul Martin's government when their own poll numbers weren't hot?

The difference is that the NDP got $4 Billion dollars in social spending appended to the Martin Budget and ended tax cuts for corporations. Big difference. And they were able to get the Martin government to accept changes in his Minority Government bills including forcing his government to live up to its commitment to his good friend Bono.

The NDP have been consistent in opposing Harpers Throne Speech's and Budgets. Which is more than can be said for the Liberals who supported the extension of the War in Afghanistan, supported Harper budgets, and who vote by sitting on their hands or taking a sick day off during crucial votes.

It's a little thing called principle.

SEE:

Tories Kill Kyoto

Jack Layton PM?

House Divided

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Jack Layton, Conservatives
Canada, Stephen Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,

Contact High

This is on the Stephen Harper Party page;

The Dion-endorsed Green Party will blow your mind

And apparently it did to this guy who is also on the same page.
Looks like he got a contact high from the Pot graphic.

Conservative Youth

This is the face of Conservative Youth,

As the Sex Pistols said; Pretty Vacant.


There's no point in asking
you'll get no reply.
Oh just remember a don't decide
I got no reason it's all too much
You'll always find us
out to lunch

Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
we're vacant
Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
a-vacant

Don't ask us to attend
'cos we're not all there.
Oh don't pretend 'cos I don't care
I don't believe illusions 'cos too much is real
So stop your cheap comment
'cos we know what we feel


Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
we're vacant
Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
a-vacant

Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
Ah but now
and we don't care


There's no point... (etc.)

Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
we're vacant

Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
a-vacant

Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
Ah but now
and we don't care

We're pretty a-pretty vacant
we don't care



H/T to Apply Liberally



SEE:

The Stephen Harper Party

Canada Goes To Pot

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Government, PM, PMO, Harper, Stalin, Great, Leader, Autocrat, Conservatives,
ethics, accountability, autarch, autocrat, politics,
Elizabeth May, Green Party, Liberals, Dion,
medicare, healthcare,war on drugs,marijuana,cannabis,pot,Stephen Harper,Tony Clement,drug war, medical marijauana,

Tories Kill Kyoto

No, not Dion's Dog.

New Liberal Leader, Stéphane Dion is the owner of Seadream's Kyoto. 
We wish you the best

Canada's commitment to the Kyoto accord.


Had they killed his dog well then maybe he would have had enough principles to get mad and get even.

Dion's choice: Save the planet, or save his political ass

But somehow I doubt it, after all he has made his choice.

Dion pledges to ‘make parliament work'

Instead this staunch defender of Kyoto, the accord and his dog, wimped out and the result was gales of laughter in the house today.

Tory laughter rains down on Dion

Dion drew the loudest laughs as he read press releases from environmental groups who accuse the Tories of cancelling Liberal programs and replacing them with inferior ones.

"And I quote the Sierra Club," Dion began.

"Federal programs were slashed and the importance of climate change was downplayed. An entire year was lost. End of quote.

"But I continue to quote the Sierra Club. . ."

Of course when you abandon your principles you deserve the cat calls.

Canada Liberals send PM lifeline

Dion has accepted a Throne Speech that Kills Kyoto, and his Party will sit on their hands to allow it to pass.

No retreat with honour for Dion

Harper's government a majority in all but name

Not because Canadians don't want an election, which is his excuse. But because the Liberals don't want an election. Showing that they are not only fiscally bankrupt but politically bankrupt as well.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Jack Layton, Conservatives
Canada, Stephen Harper, Liberals, Dion, PM, Kyoto, Throne Speech,

House Divided

The Liberals are saying that Canadians tell them they don't want an election. Actually its the Liberals who don't want an election. After all the past few days have been like the rest of Dion's year as leader, Annus Horribilis.

Stephane Dion remained undecided Tuesday whether to bring down the Harper government over its throne speech even as evidence mounted that his Liberal team - particularly in Quebec - is not ready to fight an election.

The Liberal leader lost both his Quebec lieutenant and the director general of the party's Quebec wing just hours before Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled the government's blueprint for the new session of Parliament.

More top Quebec Liberal officials quit party

With a federal election campaign possibly only days away, the federal Liberal party has just lost two of the key people responsible for ensuring it can fight a campaign in Quebec.

On Tuesday, former MP Serge Marcil resigned as the director-general of the party's Quebec wing, saying he has decided to take an attractive job offer in the private sector. While Quebec wing president Robert Fragasso agreed the timing was "very particular," he said Mr. Marcil is leaving the Quebec wing in good shape and there are a number of talented people who can replace him.

However, Mr. Marcil's departure leaves the Quebec wing without a director-general, just as the party is searching for a national director to replace Jamie Carroll, who quit amid controversy over remarks many members of the party's Quebec wing felt treated Quebec francophones as just another ethnic minority.

News of Mr. Marcil's departure came only 24 hours after Hull-Aylmer MP Marcel Proulx handed in his resignation as the Liberals' political lieutenant for Quebec. After MP Denis Coderre, a savvy veteran political organizer turned him down, Mr. Dion reached past his dozen Quebec MPs and into the Senate to name Celine Hervieux-Payette, one of the few caucus members who supported his leadership bid, as his new Quebec lieutenant.

However, her Senate colleague, Liberal party president Marie Poulin, was nowhere to be found on Tuesday.

While her office refused to comment, confirming only she was not going to be present for the reading of the speech from the throne, sources said Ms. Poulin is vacationing in Bermuda.

Ex-Dion adviser is now the Prime Minister's secret weapon

Mark Cameron knows the inner workings of Stéphane Dion's brain, and now he is one of Stephen Harper's most trusted advisers.

In the unique position of having served Mr. Dion and now the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron recently joked that if the Conservatives lose the next election and the Liberals win, he could just stay in the PMO and no one would notice.

Chrétien's book revives spectre of house divided
Pollster says former prime minister's memoir could undermine Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion could find that his old boss, Jean Chrétien, is more trouble than any Conservative attack ads, according to pollster Nik Nanos.

By reigniting his old feud with Paul Martin, his successor, in his new book, Chrétien could do some serious damage to the Liberals, Nanos says.

"The Liberal brand has been able to effectively weather the image storm outside of Quebec," Nanos said yesterday. "Even with Stéphane Dion's rough ride, the Grits are still very competitive in Ontario and urban Canada. However, if a narrative emerges that the Liberals are a house divided, that would be potentially more damaging than any attack ad on Dion."

Harper vs. Dion: A battle of the bland

A new poll suggests the next federal election won't exactly be a battle of towering personalities.

Both Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion have a "charisma deficit" among voters, according to the Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll.

The good news for Harper is that while his personality is deemed a weakness by 41% -- among voters of both sexes and almost every age group -- Dion fares even worse.

Half deem Dion's personality as a weakness.

And while 38% consider Harper's personality an asset, just 19% feel that way about Dion.

The natural governing party is a house divided. Which means this is the best time for an election for the Conservatives and NDP.

SEE

Adscam Aftershock

Denis Lebel Nationalist

Sept. 11 for Dion

Politics is Local

Quebec By-elections

Rudderless Liberals

Liberal Flap

Ouch

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Jack Layton, Conservatives
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, NDP,

Adscam Aftershock

While the pundits tell us that Stephane Dion is suffering the usual fate of the Leader of the Opposition, the reality is that the Liberals lost Quebec because of Adscam. That was shown in the by-election. They lost all three seats.

The party had relied on greasing the wheels of their machine in Quebec. Money flowed for party organizing. Not an election was won without a bit of the old baksheesh, the greasing of palms, the payola to ensure door to door campaigning.

They were a party in power, one that could promise favours and including cold hard cash. Without that financial base they had no organization in Quebec, no real base. And the lack of largess exposed the party for the specter it was, a thinly veiled ghost of its past success.

With Harper playing the nation card, this further isolated Dion the last of the Trudeau federalists.

The Liberals are no longer the party of Quebec, they can't afford it. And so the knives come out in Quebec, aimed at Dion, the anti-nationalist. But it is not nationalism that brings home the bacon, it is federal funding. And now the payola is coming from the Conservatives. And so Quebec will be wooed by a new prince. And she will dance with guy who brung her presents.

Dion and the Liberals came empty handed, lost, and left. And the Quebec wing of the party should look in the mirror if they want someone to blame. And Dion can shuffle his cabinet like a deck of cards but in Quebec they all come out as jokers.

Marc Garneau says he wasn't part of Dion's vision

Liberal director to be shuffled out in bid to mend party divisions

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Quebec, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec by-election,
Elizabeth May, Green Party, Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Jack Layton, Conservatives

Liberal Flap

Dion expected to shake up party

Yep, he is going to make them all wear Puffin suits.



SEE:

Liberal Party Song

Puffin Dance

Huffin and Puffin

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Puffin, bird
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, Ignatieff,

Denis Lebel Nationalist

As newly elected Roberval–Lac-Saint-Jean Conservative MP Denis Lebel told CPAC last night "I am a nationalist and Mr. Harper knows that." Well that says it all. Harper played the Mulroney nationalist card and has won over voters from the BQ as well as the ADQ.

In fact this can also be seen in Saint Hyacinthe-Bagot which went neck and neck all night between the BQ and the Conservatives. While the NDP came in third there. In playing the nationalist card Harper bought himself a round of support in rural Quebec. It is the nationalists in rural Quebec who voted Conservative as they do BQ.


The NDP on the other hand are now a viable left wing alternative to the BQ in Quebec. Their position on the War and the Environment resonated with voters in Outremont and will in other urban Quebec ridings come the general election. Mulcair's acceptance speech last night emphasized that he was the Peace Candidate first and then the Environmental Candidate. The war will be as big an issue as the environment come the general election and that bodes well for the NDP.

"Today, Quebec has chosen a new direction," NDP Leader Jack Layton told supporters in Outremont, and praised them for "making history and changing the direction of politics in Quebec and across Canada. For the future we are hoping that what people see here now about the NDP is something that we are going to be able to take to the ballot box, not only in the election here in Quebec but the rest of Canada as well, as people realize we are a national party with representation everywhere," he said.

The Liberals lost last night, in all three by-elections and thus they can no longer claim the mantle of the Natural Governing Party. They can no longer take Quebec for granted and will be forced to retreat to Ontario as their base. They are no more important in Quebec now than the NDP and anyone who says they are a player needs only look at their standing in Roberval and Saint-Hyacinthe after last night. Those are not big numbers.

In a Liberal nightmare scenario-turned-reality, the party lost a traditional Montreal fortress and was reduced to single-digit support in two other Quebec ridings. A party that owned the province through much of Canada's history has now fallen below what was supposed to be the nadir of the post-sponsorship election last year.

Francophones deserted the party in all three ridings on Monday. Their last remaining stranglehold on multi-ethnic, federalist pockets of Montreal was slackened.

And in Roberval–Lac-Saint-Jean the Liberal candidate was high profile, a businesswoman who was head of the Chamber of Commerce, while the NDP ran a parachute part time candidate. She certainly lost big for the Liberals.

With high profile candidates the NDP can make a break through in the next election in Quebec while the Liberals will need to rebuild. Something they have failed to do for the past year. Petulant over Dion's victory, the Quebec Liberals abandoned the party to work for Charest and his victory should have been telling about the party's loss of power in Quebec. And last night was the result of their petulance.

The finger-pointing began before the ballot boxes even closed.

Some said it was incompetence on the part of Liberal officials. Others said it was the result of leadership rivals sabotaging the Liberal campaign.

Less than a year after Liberal Leader Stephane Dion moved to reunite his party after a winning a bloody leadership race, that fragile unity was in danger last night and questions swirled about his leadership ability after his party was shut out in three byelections — including the traditionally Liberal bastion of Outremont.

Liberal insiders recount a litany of organizational problems with the Outremont campaign, including an apparent power struggle between members of Dion’s entourage and personnel in the Quebec wing’s headquarters. For example, while some in the Quebec wing tried to keep Dion’s appearances in Quebec to a minimum, personnel in Dion’s office insisted on him making trips to his home province to campaign.

Fuelling the discontent even more was an article published over the weekend in which unnamed Liberal supporters of Dion and Michael Ignatieff traded barbs over whether the poor campaign was the result of incompetence, or of sabotage by Ignatieff supporters trying to undermine Dion’s leadership.

And so while the Liberals regroup some to lick their wounds and others to sharpening their knives. Good thing then that newly elected Saint- Hyacinthe MP Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac is not a Liberal.

Born in Vietnam, Thai Thi Lac was adopted by Quebecois parents and raised from the age of two on a local farm. She speaks French and reminded voters of her local roots by telling them during the campaign that, unlike the other candidates, she knows how to castrate a pig.

SEE:

Sept. 11 for Dion

Politics is Local

Quebec By-elections

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Quebec, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec by-election,
Elizabeth May, Green Party, Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Jack Layton, Conservatives

Sept. 11 for Dion

Dion in Outremont conceding Liberal defeat in all three Quebec by-elections, as seen on CPAC.

"When a general election comes we will remember this evening
of Sept 11 err Sept 17"

Uh oh Freudian slip.


And thanks to Far and Wide for setting up a live blog in on the by-election.

SEE:

Politics is Local

Quebec By-elections

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Quebec, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec by-election,
Elizabeth May, Green Party, Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Jack Layton, Conservatives

Politics is Local

If the Conservatives win the byelection in Roberval-Lac-St-Jean today it will be because this former BQ stronghold has seen a neighboring riding get largese from their Conservative MP Jean Blackburn, and because the Conservative candidate is a former Mayor who is personally popular as this CPAC report shows. Harpers coat tails will not count as much as local politics.

And while all politics is local, it is also interesting that in CPAC's coverage of all three by-elections the top national issue discussed was Afghanistan.

Quebec By-elections

Carole-Anne Guay looks at the by-election taking place on September 17, 2007 in the Quebec riding of Roberval-Lac-St-Jean.

SEE:

Quebec By-elections

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Quebec, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec by-election,
Elizabeth May, Green Party, Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Jack Layton, Conservatives

Quebec By-elections

As fellow blogger Gone Green In Alberta points out CTV has a media bias in its Quebec By-election polls when it comes to the Green Party.

The Greens are ahead of the Conservatives in Outremont. But you wouldn't know it from the way it is posted.

The Greens are ahead of the Liberals too, in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, again you wouldn't know it from how the poll is set up.

And the only poll that is unaffected is that of Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, where they are neck and neck with the NDP.

And Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean is the only riding the NDP is not ahead of the Liberals.

It is not just NDP candidate Thomas Mulcair who is popular in Outremont, and Quebec in general, it is also Jack Layton who has scored well in polling of Quebecers.

In Quebec, support for Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe now sits at 17 percent (up 1 point), compared with 29 percent for Stephen Harper (down 3 points), 18 percent for Jack Layton (up 3 points) and 10 percent for Stéphane Dion (down 2 points).



Leader Approval. There have been some shifts in the approval ratings of the party leaders over the past three months. The proportion of Canadians approving of the job being done by Stephen Harper has fallen below the 50-percent mark for the first time since he became prime minister and now stands at 48 percent (down 6 points from March). Approval of Stéphane Dion has declined once again to 38 percent (down 2 points) and the proportion expressing disapproval of him has risen to 48 percent (up 5 points). Jack Layton has the highest approval rating of any of the party leaders at 56 percent (up 2 points), and a similar share of voters in Quebec approve of the job being done by Gilles Duceppe (53%, down 3 points). Approval of Elizabeth May has dropped three points to 42 percent.

Which leaves Dion as the dud. And it doesn't help when the dud chooses his doppelgänger to run. But then Dion has been more of a similcarum of a leader than a real leader.

The biggest loser of all, if Mulcair pulls it off, would be Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. The loss would be a devastating blow to his already shaky leadership.

"If his party underperforms, Dion -- as an untested leader -- will take the biggest hit," wrote Toronto Star columnist Chantal Hebert on Friday.

"By all indications, Dion's candidates in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot and Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean are not even in contention for second place."

The degree of pressure on a leader also depends to a large extent on how closely the party's candidate in a by-election is identified with the leader.

This plays heavily in Outremont because Coulon was handpicked by Dion, who also blocked Justin Trudeau from the nomination, though some Liberals maintained Trudeau would have been the party's best hope in the riding, said Antonia Maioni, director of McGill University's Institute for the Study of Canada.

"Dion's claim was that he'd win back Quebec, and this is what potential Liberal voters are going to look at, and more so people in the party. If he fails to capture the riding, one of the safest Liberal seats in the province, it's not going to play well outside Quebec."

"Coulon is sort of Stéphane Dion's alter ego," said Antonia Maioni, a political scientist at Montreal's McGill University. "He's like Stéphane. An academic, quite reserved, very well spoken. And so in many ways, this is not only a by-election, but it's also a referendum on Stéphane Dion because he's chosen someone who resembles him the most."

SEE:

Rudderless Liberals

Layton and May Winners

Ms. Joe Clark

Waiting For Dion

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Quebec, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec by-election,
Elizabeth May, Green Party, Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Jack Layton, Conservatives

Rudderless Liberals

Well they have a new mascot, a dance and possibly a new party song. That's a start.

Liberals can win the next federal election, but only if they come up with clear policy alternatives, some fresh ideas, new faces and a simple message, the party's pollster said Thursday.

While Canadians still don't trust Harper entirely, MPs said Marzolini told them voters aren't particularly enamoured of the Liberal team or its agenda either.

The problem is their Leader.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, second from right, and his wife, Janine Krieber, relax aboard the tour boat Atlantic Puffin in Bay Bulls, Nfld., August 28, 2007. Dion was gracious and polite, but humour challenged, the Star's Susan Delacourt says.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Puffin, bird
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, Ignatieff,

Liberal Party Song

Along with their new official mascot and dance the Liberal Party could adopt this as their anthem.

The Puffin Song

Copyright 1990 by Tom Knight

I'm not like the penguin, don't confuse me with ducks

I'm dressed for dinner in my finest fancy tux

My beak it is pretty, my feathers are fine

Long time ago, the hunters wanted mine

Call me a Puffin, 'cuz that's my name

I live on an island just off the coast of Maine

But I wasn't born here, I was brought by a man

And now my burrow is here on Egg Rock Island

Chorus:

Come fly with me

Fly across the sea

Come fly with me

Puffins we will be

My brothers and sisters, my lovely wife

We like to gather, we love the social life

A picnic for puffins, a tasty old treat

I hope you like fish, it's our favorite thing to eat (Chorus)

And here is an exercise they could try at their next caucus meeting.

An original dramatic action song – “Underwater World” – proved the perfect
opportunity for all age groups to work together.

" For a Puffin likes nuthin',
more than tasty fish,
And a beak thats full for stuffin',
is every Puffin's wish."

The value of this sharing was soon apparent. The children
worked in mixed age groups and the P3 seaweeds (7-8 year olds) were
soon swaying as gracefully as the P7 ones (11-12 year olds). The P1 shoals
of fish (5-6 year olds) were shown how to twist and wriggle by their older
brothers and sisters, and the young puffins took no time at all to copy the
older ones in tossing sandeels in their beaks, while waddling around the
stage! There was a great sense of togetherness and of each individual
contribution being an important part of the whole

For their next convention they could invite the Puffins to play.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Puffin, bird
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, Ignatieff,

Puffin Dance

Now that the Liberals have adopted the Puffin as their official mascot their Great Leader does the Puffin Dance.



After all the Puffin is known as the "clown of the sea,"

Yes, yes I know this photo is already controversial.

However to be fair and balanced here are some more goofy politician photo's.





















I guess that was Day doing his

Stanfield imitation.





















And of course who can ever forget this.
The Queen of the BBQ circuit
before he became King.





















Apparently it's a Liberal Leader tradition
to also be the Minister of Dance.
Pierre does the pirouette.












H/T to Engaged Spectator.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Puffin, bird
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, Ignatieff,

Huffin and Puffin

This is too silly by half. However it should be noted that the Liberal Party of Canada hides it's excrement too, but not well enough as the Gomery Commission proved.

And is flapping ones wings very hard, puffins flap their wings a hundred times to get going, a backhanded comment on Dion's Leadership?

Canadian political parties might not have official birds just yet, but deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has a suggestion for his party -- the humble Atlantic puffin.

"They put their excrement in one place. They hide their excrement ... They flap their wings very hard and they work like hell," he told reporters at the annual summer caucus gathering in St. John's, Nfld.

"This seems to me a symbol for what our party should be."

Liberals embrace Family Values....

And like a true politician, Mr. Ignatieff praised puffins for their "good family values." "They stay together for 30 years," he said.

Unlike Emperor Penguins who were embraced by the social conservatives for their family values until someone pointed out that they also have shown homosexual and polygamous tendencies.

When dealing with fowling ones image one should be careful of not appearing bird brained.

"My wife and I were very impressed with the noble bird. Noble in my lexicon means underappreciated as well."

Noble ah yes Mssr. Ignatieff does come from a Russian Aristocratic family after all, so I guess he can appreciate nobility and being in Dion's cabinet I guess he also understands being underappreciated.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Puffin, bird
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, Ignatieff,

Ouch

Fair is fair, I have been trashing the Conservatives today so lets take a look at how Dion's Liberals have been fairing according to Nik Nanos of SES polling;

According to the SES Research tracking, the 10-point Tory lead in May 2006 melted away to a statistical tie on the eve of the Liberal leadership.

Indeed, by the spring of 2007, they had been so successful that Dion trailed Harper by a resounding 25 points on the best prime minister measure.

Of greater concern for the Grits is that, in his home province of Quebec, Dion trailed Harper by 33 points with only 10% of Quebecers giving the nod to their native son.

How bad was it? When the Liberal leader trails an Albertan Tory, a Toronto NDPer and a separatist on the best PM measure -- it has to be pretty grim.

Ouch.



SEE:

Layton and May Winners

Ms. Joe Clark

Waiting For Dion

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Jack Layton, Conservatives
Canada, politics, Liberals, Dion, NDP,

Actions Have Consequences

When you flip flop on an important bill of rights for workers, don't be surprised when you are held accountable by those you have betrayed. Liberals Defeat Anti Scab Law

Dion heckled off stage at Ottawa labour rally

The hecklers chanted "anti-scab, anti-scab" in reference to Dion's withdrawal of Liberal caucus support nearly three months ago for legislation banning the use of replacement workers during strikes in federally regulated industries.

HAMILTON (AM900 CHML) - A Hamilton steelworker has played a lead role, in booing Liberal Leader Stephane Dion off the stage during a big labour rally on Parliament Hill.

Dion was trying to speak to several thousand unionized workers, who turned out in Ottawa to protest job losses in the manufacturing sector.

He never finished, loudly booed off the stage as Hamilton's Jake Lombardo accused him of double-speak and held him to account for the Liberal Party's stand against anti-scab legislation.

The rally comes on the heels of the closure of Hamilton Specialty Bar, and the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in Hamilton alone over the past year.

Lombardo adding that Dion also can't escape his government's record on the issue, insisting that the Liberals did nothing while in power.

Photos courtesy of NUPGE

See;

Anti-Scab

Dion

Buzz

Gomperism

Liberals

Unions


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
scab, anti-scab legislation, Liberals, Canada, BQ, NDP, Labour, labor, CLC, CAW, Buzz, unions, workers

A Kat Blog

Those cheeky Conservatives have launched an attack blog against Stephane Dion apparently written by his dog Kyoto.

The polite thing to do would be to respond in kind with a Kat blog about Stephen Harper.

His cat's name is Cheddar, the blog could be called Whine and Cheese.

And since Steve is a Star Trek fan maybe the blog could feature him as a Klingon.

The country's most powerful cat lover, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is using his official website to urge Canadians to foster pets that have been abandoned or rescued.

The web page — which is up during the Humane Society's Adopt-A-Cat month — shows a photo of a smiling Harper in a wood-panelled room at 24 Sussex Drive with two tiny kittens perched by his side.

Not shy about revealing his soft spot towards cats, Harper said he recently adopted a kitten -- an orange tabby named "Cheddar."

Since moving into 24 Sussex, Laureen Harper has been fostering stray cats through the SPCA.

"I lost my favourite cat Cabot about three years ago, who passed away in an unfortunate accident just outside of Stornaway. So I finally got over that and adopted a young kitten," said the prime minister.

"I'm not sure he knows his name yet but he seems to like everyone. He's the happiest cat I've ever seen, he likes everything and everybody."

In December, the Liberal Party elected a new leader, Stéphane Dion of Quebec. He trails Harper in polls, but not by much. Dion is a supporter of the Kyoto Protocol (which Canada has ratified) and seems to mention global warming with each breath. He even has a dog named Kyoto. This puts Harper, a cat lover and not a Kyoto supporter, in a bind.

See:

Dion Harper


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, cats, politics,
dog, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, blogs, Kyoto,