Oh to Chuck the Media

Thanks for the morning smile, Darcy.

The skip of the Broomer Brigade comes out and says what many, many, many are thinking these days. You know, that thing about the tell-tale stains on the Canadian media's bedsheets. He summons Chuck Norris to go all Huckabee on their collective solar plexus.

Great rant.

Not Even Santa Supports the Coalition

I wasn't going to post about politics this weekend. But, I just couldn't pass this up. Truepeers has a post about the pro-coalition rally in Vancouver, organized by the Public Service Alliance of Canada et al, held in a ballroom at Canada Place. Notable moments included a dues paying union member being denied entrance because he had an anti-coalition sign, and a tape of Stephane Dion malfunctioning. But, the following incident was the icing on the cake:

Even Santa, who was walking around the Canada Place lobby greeting people, wasn’t finding it so easy to get laughs. When two men who appeared to be rally organizers spotted a couple of young children sitting behind a pillar with their mother, they walked Santa over to greet them. “Ho, ho, ho!” Santa asked in a jolly tone, “So do you support the Coalition?” The young mother responded in a less than festive tone, “No.” Santa responded, “Neither do I.” Oh, Oh, Oh. Santa instantly moved on and the children, like most Canadians, were left asking questions about what exactly was going on.

Then, of course, there was the pro-coalition rally at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. The crowd, with professionally printed signage courtesy of the labour movement's war chest, were left to play an embarrassing game of "Where's Stephane," when Mary Walsh invited the presumptive coalition leader to the stage and, like Macavity in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Cats," Dion wasn't there. (Or, he wasn't quite ready -- which is also telling.)

Dear Mr. Dion: Optics are actually rather important in modern politics.



This sort of reminded me of the embarrassing moment during a Republican rally in the U.S. election campaign, when John McCain wanted to acknowledge Joe the Plumber. McCain asked Joe the Plumber to stand. But Joe the Plumber wasn't there. So, in probably the worst cover line ever, John McCain, frustrated and a little on his heals, said: "Well, you're all Joe the Plumber."

Well, you're all Stephane Dion.

PS. Since Santa is clearly going to be giving a lot of lumps of coal this year, what exactly will his carbon footprint be?

Mississauga News Smacks Down Coalition

Just weeks ago, in the run-up to the general election, the Mississauga News gave its endorsement to Stephane Dion and the Liberals. No real surprise there. They might have endorsed Morris the Purina spokescat if he were a Liberal.

So, only weeks later, with the announcement of a possible Liberal-NDP coalition that relies upon support of the secessionist Bloc, the Mississauga News has come out white-hot against this configuration. If Mississauga South M.P. Paul Szabo picks up his usually friendly hometown paper, this is what he will read:

Canadians did not elect Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe as Prime Minister. Canadians did not elect New Democrat leader Jack Layton as Prime Minister. Canadians did not elect Liberal leader Stéphane Dion as Prime Minister.

What makes those three think they have the right — or the support of Canadians, as a whole — to overthrow a duly elected government and ignore the will of the people?

How dare they ignore the democratic process, trample on the rights, will and wishes of the Canadian people, and turn our electoral system into a joke?

[...]

In their quest for personal power, have Duceppe, Layton and Dion forgotten they are simply representatives of the Canadian people, individuals who serve the wishes and needs of the Canadian people, or has their greed and desire for the country’s ultimate political seat deluded them into thinking they are the ones who will determine the future of Canadians?

The leadership of this country should not be determined by a bunch of backroom political hacks whose parties couldn’t win support from voters.

This newspaper did not support the Conservatives during the election a mere six weeks ago. However, the Canadian people did support the Tories and elected them, and their leader, Stephen Harper, as our federal government.

When the people speak, all political parties would be wise to listen, or face the most dire consequences. Canadians will not soon forget the treacherous actions of Duceppe, Layton and Dion — not if we can help it.

And for those who read headlines, not analysis -- the same people who mistake a slogan for an argument -- the editorial is entitled "Party Leaders Lack Honour."

And, just to be clear, the News editorial finds the behaviour of all four major parties to be "sickening" and "shameful."

The Axis of Weasel

Conspirators of the Bananadian coup.

h/t SDA

Welcome to Bananada

El Primo Ministro Harper grafted a poison pill onto his minority government's economic statement. The opposition gangs balked.

The Harper government, in announcing a $28-million-a-year cut to taxpayer subsidies for political parties, thought it had a winner. Voters, feeling the pinch of tough times, surely would appreciate a measure that cut benefits for politicians.

What the proposal was really designed to do was give governing Conservatives a hefty partisan advantage into the future.

Conservatives are the most effective fundraisers in Parliament; their party doesn't need the taxpayers subsidies.

Secret meetings were held over the weekend between Papa Doc Chretien and Don Eduardo Broadbent to plot the details of a new Canadian junta to be installed after a pending parliamentary coup.

The official said NDP Leader Jack Layton asked Broadbent to call Chretien with the idea that the two elder statesmen could finesse a deal to defeat the minority Conservative government and form a coalition with support from the Bloc Quebecois.

The NDP and the Liberals together don't command a majority of the Commons seats.

A Librano hit man believes that it is imperative that Signor Harper and the Conservative gang of 143 be whacked ... now!

This becomes relevant because suddenly, he is weak. In fact, at this particular moment, he is almost unable to defend himself. Owing to a ridiculously ill-considered act of hubris, he has laid himself vulnerable to his opponents. Their imperative could not be more clear: kill him. Kill him dead. Do not, whatever you do, provide him with an opportunity to extend his hold on power. Because you can be damn certain he will never again be so reckless as to give you a chance to finish him off.

Generalissimo Dion and Colonel Layton have discussed the terms of the coalition junta and the division of powers, perks and entitlements.

A cabinet would be composed of 18 members from the Liberal Party and six from the New Democratic Party. The Bloc Quebecois agreed to support the coalition should it form a new government, the newspaper said today, citing unidentified people.

The coalition may vote to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s six-week old government as early as Dec. 8. Liberals are undecided on whether the prime minister in such a coalition government should be party leader Stephane Dion or whether an interim leader be chosen, the newspaper said.

But would the new junta throw Generalissimo Dion under the bus?

The Liberals are taking the prospect so seriously that some MPs are privately discussing ways to dump Leader Stephane Dion without waiting for their party’s scheduled May 2 leadership vote.

And to add to the intrigue, Colonel Layton and rebel leader Duceppe had negotiated toppling the government some time ago. The pieces were already in place before the government's economic statement, rendering disingenuous any reference to that statement, or its lack of a "stimulus package" as the reason for an impending constitutional crisis.

Layton, however, appears deadly serious when he pitches the coalition as a potentially unifying force in federal politics.

"Nothing could be better for our country than to have the 50 (BQ) members out of 75 who've been elected in Quebec actually helping to make Canada a better place. We just approach it on that basis and say, 'We're willing to make that happen. Here are the things we're going to be investing in and transforming together.'

"If they're willing to work with us, we're willing to accept that offer."

All this for $1.95.

Parties currently receive $1.95 for every vote they receive in a federal election, provided they win at least two per cent of the nationwide popular vote. The annual subsidy is used to pay for staff and expenses.

On the surface, it would appear Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives have the most to lose if subsidies were cut because they garnered the most votes in the October election. The Conservatives earned $10 million in subsidies, compared to $7.7 million for the Liberals, $4.9 million for the NDP, $2.6 million for the Bloc Québécois and $1.8 million for the Greens.

But because the Conservatives have such a strong fundraising base, their subsidy represents only 37 per cent of the party's total revenues.

By comparison, the subsidy amounts to 63 per cent of the Liberals' funding, 86 per cent of the Bloc's, 57 per cent of the NDP's and 65 per cent of the Greens'.

In the throws of a nascent global economic crisis, the "axis of weasel" has chosen this moment to add political instability to the mix.

The last word here rightly belongs to the lonely voice of reason in this sorry affair.

Absolutely no one pins even a sliver of blame on the Liberals, the NDP or the Bloc. Of course not. Faced with the unreasonable and extreme proposal that they raise funds in the same way as the Conservatives have been doing for years — by asking people for their money, rather than taking it from them — they really had no alternative but to seize power. What on earth were they supposed to do? Revamp their moribund fund-raising organizations? Find a message and a leader capable of motivating large numbers of Canadians to click the “donate” button on their websites? Get off their collective duffs? What were the Tories thinking?

No. No, the sensible, restrained, pragmatic thing to do when threatened with the loss of subsidy is to take down the government. The sober, reasonable, moderate thing to do in this time of economic uncertainty is to provoke a constitutional crisis — to cobble together a coalition without a prime minister or a program, propped up by a separatist party, and demand the governor general call upon it to form a new government, replacing the old one we just elected. It’s been six weeks, after all.

Thank God that Canada has such statesmen in this time of peril, willing to put partisanship aside in pursuit of high office. What a contrast to those hyper-partisan, power-mad Conservatives, with their insane demands that the parties make do on the millions in tax credits and reimbursements they receive outside the subsidy.

Interesting times in Bananada.

Poll Numbers Have NDP Seeing "Red" -- In their Cross-Hairs

For the record, I'm no fan of the "horse race" narrative of election campaigns, and I do think that media outlets devote altogether too much time and space to discussion of polling results. Still, like an unopened bag of Doritos, sometimes the temptation is too inviting.

The Toronto Star ("NDP Surge in Cities as Liberals Languish: Poll) reveals the numbers from the latest Harris-Decima Poll, which gave the Conservatives 38%, the Liberals 23%, the NDP 19% and the Greens and Bloc 9% each.

"The movement towards the NDP, if it continues or even holds at current levels, raises the stakes dramatically for the Liberals and creates a significantly greater margin of comfort for the Conservatives," Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson said in a release.

But, of course, it gets worse for the beleaguered Red Machine:

In the cities, NDP support reached 22 per cent, up from a campaign low of 14 per cent, while the Liberals languished at 25 per cent – their lowest level of the campaign.

But, wait. There's more.

Angus Reid also release some new numbers today.

• Conservatives 40%
• Liberals 21%
• N.D.P. 21%
• Bloc Quebecois 10%
• Green 7%
• Other 2%

The Grits and the NDP are even at 21 per cent, with the Liberals now nine points below their 2006 total (30.2%) and the New Democrats surpassing their last showing in a federal ballot (17.5%). The Bloc Québécois is once again in fourth place with 10 per cent, while the Greens fell to seven per cent.

As has been the case for the first three weeks of the campaign, the Tories remain dominant in Alberta (67%) and Manitoba and Saskatchewan (52%). In Ontario, the Conservatives have amassed a 12-point lead over the Liberals (39% to 27%), with the NDP a close third (25%).

You read that right. According the Angus Reid's numbers collected around the middle of this past week, the N.D.P. is tied with the Liberals, and the Conservatives now have a comfortable lead in formerly fortress Ontario.