The topic came up recently in a discussion I had with a prolific and thoroughly progressive blogger who will go unnamed. He lamented that he had become fed up with Canadian prog bloggers who seemed not terribly interested in progressivism at all and, by contrast, far less interesting than their
Continue readingTag: CPC
Trashy's World: Can someone please tell me why…
… the Harperites keep flogging their Economic (In) Action Plan? I still see ads for this propaganda although the recession ended long ago. Is this the best use of our tax dollars? Why not cease and desist this campaign and instead funnel that money into a place that needs it? I’m
Continue readingTrashy's World: KPMG reports on fighter jet cost over runs…
…are due out as early as today. And they might be embarrassing for the CPC government as the real costs may come in as much as three times higher than the Harperites have claimed and vigourously defended. All to which I say “BAH”! EVERYONE knows that KPMG is part of
Continue readingTrashy's World: So, uh, the President of TB…
… doesn’t have anything better to do than to declare war on Santa-haters? Really, Uncle Tony? Really? The Government of Canada has no guidelines that restrict federal employees from putting up Christmas or other holiday decorations in their workspace. “There are those who would like to snuff out the holiday
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: It’s like pulling teeth
McGregor and Maher published another installment in their series covering the robocalls controversy a couple of days ago. They led with the news that Allan Mathews, the former RCMP investigator who has been working as an investigator for Elections Canada, has been asked to submit an affidavit in the case of the applicants who are seeking to overturn the election results in six ridings. If he complies, he may end up on the stand for cross-examination. But this, several paragraphs into the story, is just as interesting if not more so. Earlier this month, a few days after the Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia News reported on email records that showed Elections Canada officials suspected the Conservatives of "mischief" with misleading telephone calls during the last election, Shrybman wrote to the agency to complain that it had failed to provide the emails when he requested records of complaints in August. This week, Elections Canada agreed to introduce records containing the emails… The Conservatives have maintained all along that this challenge is being brought by sore losers who didn’t like the election results. That line of attack is blunted by the fact that the emails in question reflect complaints that Elections Canada…
Continue readingTrashy's World: I almost fell of my bus seat when I saw this headline:
Tories still see ally in Rob Ford Really? Seriously? Toronto area Conservatives are coming to this train wreck’s defense? Would Ford have the utter gall to run for the CPC in the next election? Of course he would. OTTAWA – Those whose an…
Continue readingTrashy's World: Petty partisan politics…
…trumps good legislation most of the time in Harper’s government. And that is really too bad, especially in this case because this was a good Private Members Bill that should have passed. OTTAWA – The New Democrats’ efforts to h…
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Vote Harvey Locke: The Progressive Choice for Calgary-Centre
Today (November 26th) is by-election day in the great riding of Calgary-Centre! The Liberal campaign has been as exciting as it has been improbably and for the first time since 1968, Calgary-Centre might such send a Liberal to Ottawa. Though … Continue reading →
Continue readingTrashy's World: The last traces of the…
… hated-by-the-west National Energy Program (NEP) were gone by the end of 1986 under PM Brian Mulroney (who is, incidentally the last true Conservative PM… unless you count Liberal PM Paul Martin, but I digress…). Using my superior ma…
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: Democracy Watch update
Democracy Watch has a published a new media release. Here’s the first three paragraphs: OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch called on the federal Conservatives to introduce the bill to ban false election robocalls and strengthen election law enforcement that they promised to introduce by the end of September under a resolution passed unanimously last March by federal politicians. Democracy Watch’s national letter-writing and petition drive has resulted in more than 56,000 messages being sent to politicians across Canada calling on them to pass effective laws to stop election fraud robocalls, and to strengthen enforcement of election laws. To their credit, the federal Liberals introduced private member Bill C-424 last May to increase fines for false robocalls and other fraudulent attempts to sway voters from $2,000-$5,000 up to $20,000 to $50,000. The Conservatives rejected Bill C-424 on Wednesday (Nov. 21). 56,000 messages actually doesn’t seem like all that much. Surely there are more Canadians than that who want to see the health of our democracy protected. The Conservatives have made it pretty obvious that they’ll stall on this as long as possible; they don’t seem likely to act without a lot more pressure. If you agree, perhaps you’d like to send…
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: Crank calls?
In his report on the election tabled in August 2011, [Chief Electoral Officer Marc] Mayrand made brief mention of the "crank calls" that incorrectly advised voters of changed polling locations but there was no indication that these were a widespread or coordinated effort. Mayrand said only the Commissioner of Canada Elections was investigating. That’s taken from an article by Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher that was published last Friday. It reports on email communications involving Elections Canada officials and Conservative Party representatives in the last few days of the 2011 federal election campaign. That article has certainly stirred things up again. It’s now quite clear that even before the polls had closed on May 2nd of last year — fully 18 months ago — some at EC were already suspicious that there had been an organized effort to mislead voters. That’s a lot more serious than "crank calls" and their suspicions were directed at the Conservative Party of Canada. And now every line of investigation that came up empty because investigators were too slow to get there takes on new significance….
Continue readingTrashy's World: Things that I won’t bitch about again…
… until I’m 50. Really. From the Ontario government website: Whether on a city street, highway or county road, and regardless of the speed limit and the number of lanes, motorists travelling in both directions must stop when approaching a s…
Continue readingTrashy's World: I know I’m not big on the current trend to glorify the military…
… but this is downright insulting! A final slap in the face! A vet has to be under the income threshold of 12K per annum to qualify for financial assistance to offset costs of their final interment? $12,000??? Really? Meanwhile, Harper’s government spends $28 million to glorify the War of
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: The view from under the bus
This past week Michael Sona publicly declared his membership in a very large club: people who have grown impatient waiting for Elections Canada. Beyond that and his claim to be completely innocent of any attempt to suppress votes in Guelph, there’s not that much to take away from his interview
Continue readingTrashy's World: No one does scary better than this guy!
Yikes! It’s Jason!!!! (5) Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: The court has spoken
The post I put up yesterday to report on the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding Etobicoke Centre has been updated a couple of times with links to media coverage. There’s lots there if you want to dive in and get even more detail. Short version, as you’ve probably heard by now:
Continue readingTrashy's World: Is this for real?
C’mon. At the very least, these folks deserve to have their final arrangements paid for by the state. I guess the Harperites don’t agree. (5) Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingTrashy's World: Del Mastro thinks some folks on the interweb thingy….
… are, ahem, lacking in civility. Yup, can’t argue with that. But. Seriously. Mr. Del Mastro. This is coming from a government MP whose party has been the LEAST civil in the history of Canada. Perhaps the whole frickin’ WORLD! You guys wrote the book on cynicism and a lack
Continue readingTrashy's World: Yes, there are wackos on the left as well as the right, but…
… those on the right sure as hell seem to be coming out of the woodwork more often these days. We in Canada have the pride of Saskatchewan, Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott who thinks that rewarding and praising women who are clearly part of the lunatic fringe and even more
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tweetergate? Meatergate? For heaven’s sake, stop her before she Tweets again!
Alberta’s Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith Tweeting “let them eat steaks” over the worldwide web. Injudicious Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The offending Tweet; the real Ms. Smith. Alberta Opposition Leader Memo to Self: Whatever was I thinking? Whoever does Wildrose Party Leader Danielle “Marie Antoinette”
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