For a minute, let’s forget what partisan side of the fence we’re all on, and turn into poll analysts. Forum Research is the only pollster doing any poll tracking of the four byelections, which are to commence tomorrow. Forum’s probably last poll of the cycle before Monday lists the following
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Progressive Proselytizing: A Scandal in Two Institutions: The Senate Half
What has become known as the Senate Scandal is really a scandal in two institutions: the Senate, of course, but also the PMO. The PMO half of this scandal was written here. What follows is the Senate half of the scandal: One of the advantages of living in a (relatively)
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Byelection observations: Keep an eye on Brandon later today.
I say that because PM Harper is in Winnipeg this (last) evening at the Jets game. It will be extremely interesting to see whether he pops in to Brandon-Souris tomorrow to personally campaign or not for the local Conservative candidate. The fact a personalized brochure was mailed out from the
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Amazing how the news cycle works.
The RCMP releases their investigation notes on the Mike Duffy Senate Scandal from an officer explaining his thoughts on what he thinks so far of the investigation…. and 2 days later, you’d never even known anything was going on in Toronto with Rob Ford. He’s almost completely disappeared from the
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: A prediction wrapped in a question
Is it too early/too bold to predict that because of today’s RCMP revelations/allegations that multiple members of the Prime Minister’s Office and top Conservative Senators conspired to whitewash the Mike Duffy report, it may have assured the Liberal Party wins the Brandon-Souris byelection on Monday – a riding it has
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What If
….everything you thought you knew about our democracy was an illusion? The following video, made before the last U.S. election and directed toward an American audience, will doubtlessly resonate with Canadians who despair of our current state: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On The Perils Of Retirement
As a retiree, I occasionally think that maybe I have too much time on my hands – too much time to follow politics, especially its more sordid aspects which, sadly, seem to define almost all politics today. National, provincial and municipal affairs appear beset with a kind of self-indulgence and
Continue readingBlevkog: I Got Nuthin’
I want to post something about Mayor Guy They Let Wear The Big Gold Chain Rob Ford. Something concise and insightful perhaps, with an underpinning of satire. I can’t because I’ve been reading the latest news on the Rob Ford front. It’s all gone past that now and the best
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: A further note to Premier Wynne: Why the foot-dragging on Ranked Ballot for Toronto?
As an aside to this blogpost’s main point, this would also be a good time to ask Premier @Kathleen_Wynne (her twitter address, if you were wondering) to allow Toronto to use ranked ballot for electing mayors in elections, as was passed by council and which they they requested, and which
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Please Premier Wynne… remove Rob Ford now..
..or give Toronto City Council the tools to do it themselves, before he embarrasses Toronto and Canada any further or hurts someone: An unprecedented council meeting descended temporarily into chaos on Monday, when Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford got into a screaming match with spectators..Councillor Pam McConnell, who
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: It’s not really about the crack, or at least it’s…
It’s not really about the crack, or at least it’s not all about the crack. The crack-centred Rob Ford jokes, skits, songs and Internet memes certainly have been entertaining, but Ford’s recent crack use is but one of the many reasons he is hopelessly unqualified to be mayor of the
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: You know ratings must be bad at SunTV when..
You may have heard of the saying, “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”. That saying may be too charitable for what has just occurred at QMI media, better knows as the organization that runs the Sun Media Chain and Sun TV. Their editorial board came
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Repeat after me: Justin Trudeau is making rookie mistakes… have you got that?
Justin Trudeau at left, with some boring white guy in a tie that’s too wide. Don’t ever underrate the power of pixie dust! Below: The same boring guy with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and with well-known cage fighter Patrick Brazeau. Weirdly, everyone in these pictures appears exactly as illustrated! Repeat
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Potential Policy Priorities for a Potential New Liberal Government
I found this interesting; one of the Toronto LPC riding associations put forth a list of policy resolutions over the weekend and sounds like it asked their member what should be top priority for a new LPC government to implement. I have a copy of the preliminary paper which lists
Continue readingwmtc: 11.11: lest we forget, let’s not forget: there is no glory in war.
For Canadians who fear and distrust the steadily growing militarism suffusing the culture of our country, two recent books are indispensable: What We Talk About When We Talk About War, by Noah Richler, and Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety by Ian McKay and Jamie Swift. Richler’s
Continue readingIn This Corner: Why I feel sorry for Rob Ford.
I now officially feel sorry for Rob Ford. Oh, I’m not saying that he should stay on as mayor of Toronto. I am in no way supporting this morbidly obese, alcoholic, drug sampling, gansta-friendly mayor of North America’s fourth largest (and most image obsessed) city. Oh, no, he’s gotta go
Continue readingcentre of the universe: By sea, by land, by air
Canada has operated internment camps for Japanese, Ukrainian, German, and Italian Canadians. These Canadian citizens and immigrants were accused of being saboteurs and spies and were forcibly removed from their homes and were detained in government-run work camps throughout the country. They were not permitted any defense, and in fact,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A tale from the political crypt: a tip o’ Broadway Bob’s Top Hat to Hizzoner Rob Ford
Bob McClelland spotted walking down a staircase in Victoria, circa November 1985. (Ancient Vancouver Sun photo.) Mr. McClelland didn’t know it yet, but forgiveness for his sins was at hand. Below: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. He’ll be forgiven soon too. Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a province
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: What’s needed to get rid of Mayor Ford; provincial or federal type voter turnout
Well, I don’t think I need to re-hash everything that’s gone on in Toronto; other then Mayor Rob Ford has had 2 press conferences in a single day where he’s come out and managed to combine a tearful ‘I smoked crack while in a drunken stupor’ admission into a tearful
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Apparently, the courts are the new enemy of Senate reform
So says the Prime Minister to his party faithful at their Calgary convention: “We were blocked by the other parties in the minority parliaments, and now we are being blocked in the courts,” said Harper in a lengthy keynote speech to the Conservative party faithful Friday night….Harper’s designating “the courts”
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