Another Tory For Capital Punishment

Back during the Conservative leadership race the current Minister of Health, Tony Clement was one of the contenders, and as the way-back machine at Stephen Taylor's blog reminds us he too is favour of capital punishment.

Tony Clement declared that he believes that capital punishment should be an option for extreme cases. "My personal view is that in the case of serial killers and murderers of police officers, for instance, that it would be appropriate in those circumstances". -- Tony Clement

He joins our current Minister of Justice in sharing this opinion.

This is the not so hidden agenda if the Harpocrites win a majority but they have to keep it quiet for now.


See:

More Conservative Media Backlash

Conservative Columnist Opposes Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment Poll

Harpers Lethal Injection

The Return of Capital Punishment

Say No To Capital Punishment

Pro-Life Pro-Death

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More Conservative Media Backlash

Over the Harpocrites reversal on capital punishment of Canadians abroad. This time from the National Post in an editorial. There can be no joy in Harperville this weekend over the continuing criticism from its normally sycophantic media allies. And the fact they keep reminding us of the Harpocrites Hidden Agenda.

Yes, the United States is "a democratic country that supports the rule of law," but it is also one that has come to a different conclusion on the fundamental moral question of whether it is ever permissible for the state to take a human life in the service of criminal justice.

With his announcement, Mr. Day is either (1) falsely suggesting that this difference in outlook isn't worth making a diplomatic fuss about, even though a man's life is at stake; or (2) indicating that this government truly does support capital punishment, notwithstanding the three-decade old ban on the practice that's been in place in our own country (not to mention a 2001 Supreme Court of Canada decision that effectively declared the practice unconstitutional).

Both of these implications reflect poorly on the government. If Stephen Harper's party seeks to overturn our nation's stance on such an important issue, the proper place to do so is Parliament -- not a communique involving a single Canadian monster awaiting a cocktail of pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

Ouch.

H/T to more notes from the underground.


See:

Capital Punishment Poll

Harpers Lethal Injection

The Return of Capital Punishment

Say No To Capital Punishment

Pro-Life Pro-Death

Free Kadhar

More Foreign Affairs Incompetency

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Conservative Columnist Opposes Capital Punishment

In an editorial in today's Edmonton Sun,and Calgary Sun, Calgary Sun columnist Licia Corbella speaks out opposing the Conservative Governments reversal on capital punishment .

She spanks Harper for his decision to abandon a Canadian to face lethal injection in the U.S. In particular she points out, as I have, that it reveals the Conservatives hidden agenda regarding Capital punishment.

Now Licia is no raving left winger, heck she is proudly opposed to all things Liberal. She is a dyed in the wool conservative, check out her columns, and yet even she is appalled at Harpers anti-democratic, executive decision to overturn a longstanding Canadian policy. I quote;

"Canada is a country that opposes the death penalty. Period.

Now, with no debate, the minority federal Conservative government has changed decades of Canadian foreign policy to stop seeking clemency for Canadians facing the death penalty in other countries.

Asked about his government's about face on protecting a Canadian from the death penalty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said seeking clemency for Smith would run counter to his government's tough stance on crime.

In other words, Harper is comfortable with reversing decades of democratic Canadian procedure while in a minority position, but isn't comfortable being at odds with party policy.

How's that for a killer of logic not to mention Canadian ethics?

It's also bad politics for the Tories, who have been portrayed with having a scary "hidden agenda" that they will roll out should they ever win a majority.

Yes, Smith is a monster. But Canadians decided long ago that capital punishment is an even bigger monster.

Shame on the federal Tories for letting it loose. "

Some honorable gentleman; "Here, Here."

When the right wing press and its columnists oppose this decision you know that it ain't as popular with the base as the Harper hoped it would be. It's a big political duh' oh.


See:

Capital Punishment Poll

Say No To Capital Punishment

Pro-Life Pro-Death

Free Kadhar

More Foreign Affairs Incompetency

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Capital Punishment Poll

This is an online poll so vote It is on Canoe.ca , home page for the Sun papers. Because clearly the conservative echo chamber has been voting. And you can vote twice, click here and then go to the home page and vote again. See we can do that echo chamber thing to.

Should Canada bring back the death penalty?
Yes
No
Not sure



Results

Should Canada bring back the death penalty?
Yes		66%
No		28%
Not sure		5%
Total Votes for this Question: 1610

SEE:

Harpers Lethal Injection

The Return of Capital Punishment

Say No To Capital Punishment

Pro-Life Pro-Death

Free Kadhar

More Foreign Affairs Incompetency

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Harpers Bonapartism

I did a tongue-in cheek post on the Progressive Conservative Leadership Race in Alberta last year comparing the candidates to the Bolshevik leadership. And in perusing that post I came across this definition of Bonapartism which does really describe the Harper Government well.

What Are The Characteristics Of Bonapartism?
The dictator may pay a hypocritical homage to the tradition of popular consent by means of occasional plebiscites in which the people are asked to endorse some proposal desired by the government. But this purely formal consultation is usually carried out in an atmosphere of intimidation wherein the propagandists of the ruling clique predict the direst consequences unless the proposition is confirmed.

Trotsky used the term affectionately when he referred to Stalin.

The contradictions within the bureaucracy itself have led to a system of handpicking the main commanding staff; the need for discipline within the select order has led to the rule of a single person and to the cult of the infallible leader. One and the same system prevails in factory, kolkhoz, university and the government: a leader stands at the head of his faithful troop; the rest follow the leader. Stalin never was and, by his nature, never could be a leader of masses; he is the leader of bureaucratic “leaders,” their consummation, their personification.

It seems appropriate given Harpers Law and Order government has embraced the military and the war in Afghanistan and has branded the Canadian state in the Conservative party image.

Bushism-Cheneyism has aspects of Bonapartism, whereby the state rules in an authoritarian way and disregards the people, representing itself as the true representative of the business classes. In fact, it serves only a small spectrum of corporate cronies of the ruling elite, disadvantaging almost everyone else. It expands government, but not into provision of useful infrastructure (bridges, airports), but toward the provision of "security" (often just a label for make-work unnecessary jobs, such as extra al-Qaeda-fighting police in Wyoming) or of artificial "investment opportunities" such as an Iraq under US military occupation..

And we know Harper the student of history admires autocratic power and has studied Stalin, thus his re branding of the party in his own image, as the Party of Stephen Harper.

And it became even more relevant this week when the party purged candidates that they deemed out of touch with the party line.

Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire. He used the term Bonapartism to refer to a situation in which counterrevolutionary military officers seize power from revolutionaries, and then use selective reformism to co-opt the radicalism of the popular classes.

Tory brass won't let them run in the next election

What do elected Conservative candidates Brent Barr, Bill Casey and Mark Warner have in common?

GLORIA GALLOWAY

From Friday's Globe and Mail

November 2, 2007 at 4:46 AM EDT

The Conservative Party has named the members of the management committee that has taken over the duties of the riding association that renominated banished Tory MP Bill Casey in his Nova Scotia constituency.

But neither Mr. Casey, nor the president of the riding association in Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, know who those committee members are.

"It's a secret committee. They took over our riding association and all of our money and they won't even tell us who's on it," Mr. Casey said yesterday.

Mr. Casey had hoped to run again for the Conservatives despite being kicked out of the caucus after voting against the federal budget over changes to the Atlantic Accord. But when the members of Mr. Casey's riding association elected him as their candidate despite the expulsion, the national council vetoed the decision and said it was bringing in a new committee to nominate someone else.

It was "anti-democratic," Mr. Casey said.

But he isn't the only elected Conservative candidate to be internally disqualified.

Two others - one in Toronto and one in Guelph, Ont. - announced this week that they had been stripped by the party brass of the opportunity to run in the next election.

Mark Warner, an international-trade lawyer who was elected by the riding association in Toronto Centre, says the party took issue with his participation in a local forum on income and equality. He was eventually given the green light to participate, he said, but on the condition that he remain silent throughout.

Mr. Warner said he believes he should be able to discuss issues that are pertinent to an urban downtown riding. And he doesn't believe he should have been disqualified as a candidate for saying so.

"The riding association made a choice to elect me as a candidate; the riding association was happy for me to continue as a candidate," Mr. Warner said. "If the national party wants to officiate the judgments of a local riding association, I think there are some questions there that democrats will want to discuss."

As for Brent Barr in Guelph, the Conservative national council accused him of not generating enough support for the Conservatives through canvassing and of running a poor campaign in the last election - charges he vehemently denies.

"I wish that I would say that we did something wrong because then I would actually be able to stand up and say here's my resignation. I would be comfortable with my resignation. But that's not the case," Mr. Barr said.

But Conservative Party president Don Plett said there were problems with the candidacy of both Mr. Warner and Mr. Barr that had to be addressed. He disagrees that there is anything undemocratic in the process.

"Our Prime Minister [Stephen Harper], our leader, has made it absolutely clear that he does not appoint candidates, that we have a democratic process. Both Mr. Barr and Mr. Warner were elected by the democratic process," Mr. Plett said. "The fact of the matter is that there were certain issues. And, as there are in all parties when there are certain problems with candidates, candidates at times get removed."

As for the anonymity of the committee that has taken over the riding association in Mr. Casey's constituency, Mr. Plett said the names are not a secret.

But "the management committee, for the best part, has asked that their names not be put into media because, the fact of the matter is, I think everybody in the riding wants to try to find a peaceable resolution there," he said.

"They are all working toward finding a candidate to run in the next federal election and they don't want anything interfering with that."

TORONTO STAR
EDITORIAL

TheStar.com | comment | PM's way or highway

PM's way or highway

Nov 02, 2007 04:30 AM

Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised in the Conservative party's 2006 election platform that local party riding elections would be conducted in a "fair, transparent and democratic manner."

But that certainly isn't the case in Toronto Centre where Conservative candidate Mark Warner has been dismissed by the party's national leadership after he wanted to play up urban and social issues, such as poverty, affordable housing and reaching out to minorities.

None of these issues are high on Harper's list of priorities, as Warner learned when Don Plett, national party president, signed the formal letter informing him that he was no longer the party's official candidate in the riding. Warner, who immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago as a child and has a successful international trade law practice, was slated to run against Liberal candidate Bob Rae.

Warner said he had wanted to stress subjects that matter to residents in the downtown riding, which is home to a large immigrant population and big tracts of public housing.

The move is yet another sign that Harper, despite his claims to the contrary, has little interest in fair and transparent local riding elections. It also is a clear indication that Harper is out of touch with big cities and wants little to do with helping to address their major social and economic problems.

PM distancing himself from 2 rejected candidates

Updated Fri. Nov. 2 2007 4:20 PM ET

The Canadian Press

HALIFAX -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he had nothing to do with decisions by the Conservative party's national council to reject the nominations of two Tory candidates.

Harper says Mark Warner and Brent Barr, both from Ontario, were disqualified by the party's National Council -- and he had nothing to do with it.

The prime minister, in Halifax to address an aboriginal conference, says the democratically elected body is charged with the responsibility of making sure the nomination of candidates runs smoothly.

Warner, an international-trade lawyer, had hoped to run in Toronto-Centre, but he was forced to withdraw his candidacy because of what he called "friction'' with the council.

Guelph businessman Brent Barr says he was told his nomination was rejected because he had not done enough to promote party.

"Frankly, I'm not involved in those kind of decisions,'' Harper said. "The National Council is democratically elected and makes those decisions under the constitution of the party.''

See:

Harpers Fascism

Leo Strauss and the Calgary School

Post Modern Conservatives.

Liberals The New PC's

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Harpers Lethal Injection

It is a specific case of a Canadian facing the death penalty in the U.S. that the Harpocrites have decided they will use as their cause célèbre to arbitrarily abandon our long standing national policy that we do not extradite criminals to countries with the death penalty and that we fight for Canadians facing the death penalty abroad.

The U.S. implemented the Death Penalty in 1976 the same year that Canada in a free vote ended the death penalty. Remember 'free votes' that used to be the cornerstone of the Reform/Alliance/Conservatives parliamentary reform policy until they became the government.

A bill to officially ban the death penalty passed in a free vote in 1976.

A free vote on reinstating the death penalty was held in the House of Commons in 1987. MPs agreed by a 21-vote margin to maintain the abolition of capital punishment.

And the irony is that the Canadian on death row is facing death through lethal injection which is now before the Supreme Court in the U.S. as a form of cruel and unusual punishment, torture by any other name.

Is The Government Finally Scrutinizing The Death Penalty?

Since the Supreme Court effectively legalized the federal death penalty in 1976, death penalty legislation or even legislative oversight has been nearly non-existent. Feingold's hearing this summer on death penalty implementation was the first of its kind since 2001-- the last time a Democratic majority enabled Feingold to chair a Senate committee.

But there are indications that Feingold may no longer be the lone wolf in Washington howling about the death penalty's moral and practical problems. His hearing this summer actually made front-page headlines when fired U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton gave specific examples of the Alberto Gonzales-led Justice Department eagerly pursuing death sentences at the expense of due process. Nationally, executions this year are down to 42, their lowest level in a decade.

Of those executions all but one were done via lethal injection. And the Supreme Court's stay of execution for Mississippi prisoner Earl Berry was, according to the New York Times, an "indisputable indication" that the Court will stop all deaths by lethal injection until next spring.

That's when the nine justices argue Baze v. Rees, which will determine if death row inmates can challenge the so-called three-drug cocktail used for executions as a violation of 8th amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Some doctors now argue that the drug combination may sometimes result in inmates being paralyzed but not anesthetized, meaning the final moments of their lives are spent in searing pain, unable to move.

Looking at the Ethics of the Lethal Injection Challenge

The Supreme Court decided to halt an execution in Mississippi this week, marking the third stay from the justices since they agreed to hear a challenge to lethal injection. It likely means that states will hold off on all executions until the high court rules on the case, which claims the drug mixture used for the injections can cause severe pain and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

The "de facto" moratorium and the case itself raise an interesting ethical question. In the past, other inmates have challenged the constitutionality of lethal injection, have lost their appeals and have been executed. And Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says that the court has declined to take similar appeals in the past. So how is it fair that the justices have just now decided to weigh in, and, in the meantime, executions are likely to stop?

Marin judge rules lethal injection procedures invalid

Portrait of lethal injection reveals a barbaric scene

The other irony is that the Canadian in question is an Albertan. And Alberta is the home base of Harpers Law and Order Government.

The lawyer for a Canadian awaiting execution in a Montana prison says he was shocked by the federal government's announcement it will no longer seek clemency for his client.

In the past, the government has requested that Canadian prisoners sentenced to death in the U.S. be allowed to serve out life sentences here, since Canada opposes the death penalty.

The apparent change of heart came as a blow to Don Vernay, lawyer for Albertan Ronald Allen Smith, who faces lethal injection for the 1982 murders of two men in Montana.

"I mean, talk about having the wind knocked out of you. I'm astounded, is all I can say," Vernay told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced in the House of Commons on Thursday that he will not plead for clemency for Smith, since he had been found guilty in a democratic country "that supports the rule of law."

On Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed Canada has no interest in wading into the debate over capital punishment, and would not be coming to Smith's aid.

"The reality in this particular case is, were we to intervene, it would quickly become a question of whether we were willing to repatriate a double murderer to Canada," Harper told reporters.

"In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime I think that would send the wrong signal to the Canadian public."

Vernay said representatives of the federal government contacted him about a year ago and said they intended to try and bring Smith home.

"They came to us and they said we want Mr. Smith back in Canada, he's one of our citizens," Vernay said.

"We want the death penalty lifted and we are going to do whatever we can to secure his transfer to Canada and to have the governor of Montana grant clemency. And so we were pleased and we were surprised."

Vernay said he flew to Montana and met with the staff of Gov. Brian Schweitzer late this summer, and got the sense the clemency request was on the agenda.

"It was in the preliminary stages but everybody knew that this is what was on the agenda," Vernay said.

"And we had the Canadian government 100 per cent behind us and then all of a sudden out of nowhere comes this statement."

Vernay said the decision seems to fly in the face of Canada's position on the death penalty and sends a confusing message to the world.

"For your government to make a statement like that to the world internationally that you now support the execution of your own citizens -- what can I say? I mean, it's breathtaking in terms of its implications."

The Harpocrites are abandoning not only Ronald Allen Smith to his fate, but any right to legal intervention that could occur in the Supreme Court hearings on lethal injections. Perhaps fearing their intervention could sway the court.

"We have no desire to open the debate on capital punishment here in Canada -- and likewise, we have no desire to participate in the debate on capital punishment in the United States." Harper told reporters.

Now if one was prone to conspiracy theories one could be forgiven for thinking that the Harpocrites abandonment of this specific case is a sop to the White House, given the President is Executioner In Chief and rather proud of his record of executions when he was Governor of Texas.

And we know that the White House endorses other forms of torture err cruel and unusual punishment; like waterboarding, using public security as an excuse. Which is the excuse Stockwell Day gave for this sudden reversal of policy;

"It would send a wrong message. We want to preserve public safety here in Canada."

One wonders since this announcement has come out of blue. One has to ask why now, and why are they doing this. There is a hidden agenda here despite the Harpers assurances that he does not want to open up a debate on capital punishment.

Except they have.

In 1987, the House of Commons defeated a motion to bring the death penalty back. Among those who voted in favor of the idea was Rob Nicholson, now the federal justice minister. Nicholson did not talk to reporters in Parliament and his chief spokeswoman did not respond to queries about whether he still backed capital punishment.

Yep, a not so hidden agenda. It is the slippery slope towards a return to capital punishment in Canada if the Harper Law and Order government gets a majority.

Mr. Harper added: "The reality of this particular case is that were we to intervene, it would very quickly become a question of whether we are prepared to repatriate a double-murderer to Canada. In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime, I think that would send the wrong signal to the Canadian population."

SEE:

Say No To Capital Punishment

Pro-Life Pro-Death

Free Kadhar

More Foreign Affairs Incompetency

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The Return of Capital Punishment

The Harpocrites have decided that it is okay for another state to murder Canadian citizens as long as that state is a so called democratic one.

The Conservative government's announcement that it will no longer stand up for Canadians who face the death penalty in the United States is drawing fire from the opposition. The Tories officially announced a change in Canada's foreign policy when it comes to Canadians on death row. "We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law," Day told the House of Commons on Thursday.

Though as arch conservative Pat Buchanan reminded us last night on Dan Abrams show on MSNBC , discussing the use of waterboarding as torture, "the United States is NOT a democracy IT IS A Republic."

This is the same Republic that kidnapped Mehar Arar and sent him to Syria to be tortured and is still illegally holding a Canadian citizen at Gitmo.

And there are those in the United States who will be impacted by Canada's failure to support our own citizens whose right to life is threatened by state sanctioned murder.

Feingold Statement on the Severe Injustices of Capital Punishment

So much for Canada's international reputation as a defender of Human Rights. Once again tarnished by the Orwellian logic of the Harpocrites. They have of course used this logic to attack Canadian values and government programs, claiming them to be aberrations; simply the result of the previous Liberal governments, whether it is over the issues like the Middle East, Kyoto or Peacekeeping.

They are now imposing their Conservative values in reshaping the policies of the Canadian state through executive edict. This is just another example of their anti-democratic agenda, an agenda that uses the power of the PMO and cabinet to avoid parliament.


SEE:

Say No To Capital Punishment

Pro-Life Pro-Death

Free Kadhar

More Foreign Affairs Incompetency

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Liberals Favorite Tax Cut

The Liberals will support the Harpocrites mini-budget because it contains one of their favorite tax cuts.

"We certainly like the significant corporate tax cuts," Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum told CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

SEE:

How To Spend The Surplus

House Divided

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Green Audit

Kettle, pot, black. Maybe now we will quit hearing how for thirteen years the Liberals did nothing. The Harpocrites haven't done anything either for the past two years. Except blame the Liberals.

Federal governments -- be they Liberal or Conservative -- continue to fail to make decisions and implement policies that would protect Canada's natural environment, says the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.

Well at least Harper didn't name his cat Kyoto. Tories Kill Kyoto



SEE:

Clean Air Clean Water No Wildlife

Tories Hot Air Plan The Facts

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How To Spend The Surplus

Gee after all these tax cuts announced by Diamond Jim the Minister of Finance the Government still has an embarrassment of riches. And how do they intend to spend it?

The government will still have $10-billion in surplus cash to apply to the national debt.

Instead of wasting it on the national debt they should use it to fulfill their promise of increasing actual daycare spaces. This is not just a broken promise, but as predicted by the opposition, one that has fallen flat on it's face.

Few companies keen to provide daycare

The Tories thought tax credits would spur employers and community groups to open 125,000 spaces over five years. Cross-country consultations have poured cold water on the election promise

An analysis of the possibility of getting Alberta employers to create child-care spots says: "Discussions with employers, businesses in Alberta, were mainly reflective of what we heard across Canada in terms of child care not being their line of business, shared concern that it would be too costly and complex for small business to consider."

As for the idea of tax credits, those performing the analysis said: "shareholders are skeptical that a tax credit will create an adequate incentive for employers to create new child care spaces and are concerned it unfairly favours large enterprises." Nor would tax credits work for non-profit organizations, they say.

Many stakeholders said long-term funding to sustain the spaces was needed as well as the start-up financing that the government had offered. And there was a general consensus that the money should flow to the provinces and territories for distribution rather than from Ottawa to child-care providers directly in the form of tax credits.

By the time the 2007-08 budget was released last March, Ms. Finley's successor, Monte Solberg, decided that, like the Liberals, he would give $250-million annually directly to the provinces - something Ms. Finley had vowed never to do. He also offered a 25-per-cent investment tax credit to businesses that create child-care spaces in their facilities, but, as the consultations predicted, there would appear to have been little uptake on that incentive.

Mr. Solberg, who repeatedly declined to be interviewed for this article, conceded to The Canadian Press last month that the creation of 125,000 spaces might not be doable and said "we have to be realistic" when asked whether the election promise could be kept.

He cited plans for about 10,000 spaces to be created across the country - far short of the number required to meet the election goal.

SEE

The ABC's of Privatizing Daycare

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Facebook Politicians

Here is the Facebook listing for Canadian politicians.

It appears that Dion is more popular here than in Quebec. Jack Layton is in second place while our PM places third.

Poor Gilles Duceppe has the least support and he has no pic. And he can't blame Facebook for being Anglo it has hundreds of thousands of members in Montreal, QC and Quebec City, QC .

Name:

Stéphane Dion

Supporters:

11,557

Name:

Jack Layton

Supporters:

9,137

Name:

Stephen Harper

Supporters:

6,815

Name:

Gilles Duceppe

Supporters:

377

While the guy who wants Dion's job may have a lot of friends in high places and the back rooms of the party but not on Facebook. He has a ways to go to catch up with Dion, Layton and Harper.

Name:

Michael Ignatieff

Supporters:

3,969

Lucky for him the other contender for Dion's job, unelected, Bob Rae doesn't have a profile on Facebook. Come to think of it neither does Gerard Kennedy.

In Toronto Liberal Martha Hall Finlay, unelected, is in a race with Dipper Peggy Nash, elected.

Name:

Martha Hall Findlay

Supporters:

259

Name:

Peggy Nash

Supporters:

289

While Olivia Chow of the NDP is in a neck and neck race with Belinda Stronach who is no longer a MP.

Name:

Olivia Chow

Supporters:

2,486

Name:

Belinda Stronach

Supporters:

2,455

There are 166 politicians listed and the majority are men. However women politicians on Facebook are more popular than the majority of their male counterparts.

And of these three are openly gay, Brison, Davis, and Siskay.

Scott Brison, Carolyn Bennet and Dr. Hedy Fry were all wannabe Liberal leader. Maybe Ruby will try next time.

Name:

Scott Brison

Supporters:

1,819

Name:

Ruby Dhalla

Supporters:

1,812

Name:

Libby Davies

Supporters:

1,237

Name:

Carolyn Bennett

Supporters:

987

Name:

Dr. Hedy Fry

Supporters:

745

Name:

Todd Russell

Supporters:

685

Name:

Irene Mathyssen

Supporters:

517

Name:

Tina Keeper

Supporters:

428

Name:

Maria Minna

Supporters:

405

Name:

Bill Siksay

Supporters:

363

Another neck and neck race is between these two, and McGuinty has more name recognition.

Name:

Rebecca Coad

Supporters:

354

Name:

David McGuinty

Supporters:

353

File this under Geekiest photo.

Name:

Gord Zeilstra

Supporters:

395

Poor Paul Martin remains the forgotten PM. Heck the other Martin is more popular.

Name:

Paul Martin

Supporters:

55

Name:

Pat Martin

Supporters:

156

The NDP, Liberals and even the BQ outnumber the Conservatives. In fact it's hard to find any Conservatives outside of the boss in Facebook. Must be the long arm of the PMO. Somebody forgot to send the memo to this guy though.

Name:

Bev Shipley M.P.

Supporters:

278

Of course there is always the possibility that being on Facebook could be embarrassing.

FRENCH government ministers have faced embarrassment from their own children whose entries on Facebook were aired to the public.

Embarrassed ... French PM Francois Fillon's son Antoine has revealed some of his favourite pastimes on Facebook / File

French Prime Minister François Fillon's son, Antoine, 22, is a member of several “high-brow” chat groups including "I am too proud of my poo" which has 93 members who discuss the "16 different types of turd", Telegraph.co.uk reporte


You even find wannabe politicians here. This guy is running against right-whingnut Calgary West Conservative Rob Anders.

Name:

Kirk Schmidt

Supporters:

311

Heck even a wannabe B.C. Green candidate has a profile.

Name:

Dan Grice

Supporters:

312

While this would be B.C. NDP MP is driving a solar car.

Name:

Julian West

Supporters:

245

Being the NDP Defense spokesperson who has taken the lead on opposing Harpers War has not hurt Dawn Black's popularity.

Name:

Dawn Black

Supporters:

221

Despite his efforts to be the Blogging MP Garth Turner seems to have overlooked Facebook.

Name:

Garth Turner

Supporters:

241

And there is even one Senator listed from Alberta no less. And no it's not Bert Brown. Rather it is former leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.

Name:

Grant Mitchell

Supporters:

60

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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

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