Chris Selley in the National Post Your results may vary, of course. Earlier in January, Ekos tagged Mr. Harper with a whopping 59% disapproval rating, against 34% approval — so, a -25% approval deficit. (Bob Rae, by comparison, had 44% approval against 24% disapproval.) That sounds bad. But in September 2010, the last time Ekos [...]
Conservative Party
How not to pay tribute to former Czech president Vaclav Havel
A classless act by Government House leader Peter Van Loan. It’s not the first time this has happened. Back in November, both she and a representative from the Bloc Quebecois were prevented from delivering Remembrance Day statements on two separate occasions. And this folks is what drives me crazy about the Conservative Party. It’s not [...]
Big Yellow Taxi
Why Peter McKay’s “taxi” ride in a search & rescue helicopter strikes a nerve in Newfoundland. For centuries, families in Newfoundland and Labrador have grieved for those who went to sea and didn’t come home. The risk continues. Fishing is among the most deadly jobs in the country, and the dangers inherent in travelling to [...]
Brian Topp
Last week I got an invitation from Pat Atkinson to meet NDP leadership candidate Brian Topp at Amigo’s Cantina last night. I have always been fascinated by NDP leadership races, partly because they make absolutely no sense to me and I never know what is going to happen on the convention floor. (yeah I just [...]
When do you stop spending?
Jim Flaherty said today that he would spend to defend Canada from another recession. Under questioning from opposition MPs, Flaherty said for the first time that the Conservative government would move in with another round of stimulus spending if the world economy suffers a double-dip recession. “We would obviously do what is needed” if there [...]
Why the Canadian Wheat Board Still Matters
From the Calgary Herald Essentially, grain growers in the Prairies (not the rest of Canada), are obligated to sell their wheat and barley destined for export, domestic milling or malting to the CWB. The board in turn sells those grains, and pools the final price back to grain farmers. Those grains destined for livestock feed [...]
Harper’s new cabinet
Saskatchewan votes Conservative in 13 of 14 ridings and we get one cabinet Minister (Hon. Gerry Ritz) and one Minister of State (Lynne Yellich) out of it. Regardless of Harper’s decision not to include more of us in cabinet (not sure who else is deserving), congratulations to the Hon. Lynne Yellich who has represented Saskatoon [...]
What I learned
Local MPs performance don’t matter much : NDP’s Vegas candidate won, their English speaking candidate in a 98% francophone riding won, Ken Dryden and Lawrence Cannon lost. Never bring down a minority government when you are behind. Ignatieff thought it was because Canadians weren’t paying attention to him, in truth, we just didn’t like him [...]
All Candidates Forum in Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar
I got an email from Doug Ramage and the Saskatoon Riversdale Community Association that they are hosting an all-candidates debate on April 28th. All of the candidates except for the incumbent Kelly Block have committed on attending. Hopefully the Conservative campaign will change their mind and decide to participate in this forum. Speaking as an [...]
The Campaigns in Saskatoon
I was looking for a list of nominated Saskatoon candidates for the federal election and I realized that none listed, even the Liberals don’t have a complete list of nominated candidates on their site (same thing happened under Stephane Dion) and while the NDP don’t have a list of their candidates anywhere. So after spending [...]
My political worldview
Economically (apparently I prefer deficits) and on defence spending I agree with the Conservatives but on Senate Reform, Quebec, and Moral Values, I am with the Liberals. It’s kind of a fun survey but I realized that locally I find myself politically at odds with four of the city councillors at the left end of [...]
The gloves are off
Dan Gardner in the Ottawa Citizen on the bare knuckle politicking that is going on now. Readers will remember that the original "Enemies List" was compiled by Richard Milhous Nixon, a lifelong politician whose defining qualities were tactical ruthlessness and a burning sense of resentment for "eastern elites." Sound familiar? I don’t buy the argument [...]
Why being a politician is no fun
Great post by David Atkin And now we have Stephen Harper’s rock concert. For the last several weekends, the prime minister has been having some buddies over to his house to play a little music in the basement. They managed to put together a decent little five-song set and thought it would be fun to [...]
