Conservatives Move To Keep Canadian Airforce All Gassed Up

You know your government is light on achievements when they're hailing the extension of a maintenance contract. What next: "Conservative Govenment Pledges Lots Of Toilet Paper In HOC Men's Room"?

Census Deja Vu

The U.K. Census debate looks quite a bit like ours, minus the Libertarian crazy talk. In any case, a good overview of the issues involved should Canada go the U.K route (although, to be fair, the U.K. is a long way from deciding just how their new, modernized census will look in the end).

A Fine Balance...

A graphic showing the narrow climactic range during which human civilization has flourished; the dashed yellow line shows how quickly we are leaving this zone.

h/t

Mike Lake's Blast From The Past

Before the Harper government chose Mike Lake as one of their point men for the long-form census debate, his most notable achievement was to be conned into submitting a petition to place Bigfoot on the endangered species list by a well-known Bigfoot hoaxer. Despite what he was saying way back then, he was not compelled to present that petition. And in any case, these days he's using a different and contradictory argument for his actions.

And the answer to that new argument is: no, you don't have to agree with the petitions you present, but they shouldn't be ridiculous time-wasters that trivialize Parliament, either.

Teneycke On Patriotism And Separatism

The Vampire Teneycke lashes out at Margaret Atwood (over an admittedly silly on-line petition from Avaaz):

This is not the first time Atwood has put her political agenda ahead of principles and patriotism. In the 2008 election campaign she was asked if she would vote for the separatist Bloc Quebecois if she lived in Quebec, she said: “Yes. Absolutely. What is the alternative?”

Seriously?

How about voting for someone who doesn’t advocate the breakup of the country?

This is the same fellow whose papers have once again began publishing Ezra Levant, who in his 1995 column "10 Reasons to Hope for a Yes Victory" cheered for a separatist victory, and who later suggested that Alberta should separate if Quebec didn't.

How about employing people who don't advocate the breakup of the country, KT?

Canadian Life Coalition Demands Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda's Resignation

...for her Abortion flip-flop. They're also calling her a "pro-abortion activist".

And I'm not sure quite how I feel about it. On the one hand, its stirring up just this kind of dissatisfaction within the Conservative base that justifies, politically, making the lack of abortion funding in the gov's G8 Maternal Health initiative an issue.

On the other hand, Oda's latest statement shows--here, and in the case of the Tamil Migrants, and in the case of the flying, veiled Muslim women--that the Harper government is capable of doing the right thing once they've achieved a certain temporal distance from their own rhetoric. Because, in the end, after spouting alarmist nonsense, the processing of Sun Sea refugees has by all accounts gone forward in an exemplary (meaning humane) fashion. And after pandering to the Sun Media crowd for a couple of days, the nonsense about possible Muslim terrorists flying Air Canada while veiled has been allowed to die away (because, seriously, how could having terrorists on board make an experience with Air Canada significantly more crappy?).

Though I disagree with Wells: the CLC response to Bev's back-peddling demonstrates that the SoCons will not let Harper and Co. off lightly for this most recent display of human decency.

And, more importantly, if you think that Canada's response to refugee ships might be a little more firm, or if you think that you really should have to match your face to some piece of photo ID before boarding an airplane in our country, this whole Harper gov. tactic of masking a commitment to the status quo behind inflammatory rhetoric trivializes your debating points.

Fox News North North Updates

You want someone to blame for those extra crazy editorials the Sun has been cranking out these days? Apparently, you can blame Mark Bonokoski (or praise him, if you're a fan of semi-literate ranting).

Also, the Vampire Teneyck's recruitment efforts seem to have gone into reverse. Chris Brockbank, a Sun Media exec for two years, has "resigned out of frustration"

As for the whole Margaret Atwood/petition thing, I won't sign it. As long as FNN doesn't get a mandatory carriage license, I'm fine with them setting up shop. Because it will be a kick to watch them fail. In fact, my worry is that they fail too soon. I've written up nearly 400 FNN jokes that have "Ezra Levant" in the punch-line, and I'd like a chance to use some of them.

Off To The Left Coast

Am leaving this morning for 10 days in beautiful B.C. (next to awful Alberta and Somnambulant Sask.). Will be walking, checking out the local Meaderies, book hunting, and maybe stalking Caddy out by UVIC. Also letting mom cook for me, and arguing with dad and the little brother. I'll post on a somewhat looser schedule, and may seem unusually mellow. Back after labour day.

Finally, NDP Begins To Question Jack Layton's Leadership

...on Bill C-391:

Manitoba NDP MP Jim Maloway said he was not consulted by Layton or anyone else on the proposed bill.
"I got a heads-up on Saturday that there would be announcement by the leader Monday morning on the gun registry," said Maloway.

Regardless, said Maloway, he still plans to vote with Hoeppner.

"Nothing there changes my view on the long-gun registry," said Maloway.

He also said Layton's proposal is too little too late.

"This bill just went through committee last spring," said Maloway. "Where were all these amendments at the committee?"

If you read closely here, it sounds as though Maloway is admitting that Layton's new bill will not derail the vote on C-391. Furthermore, read between the lines and it sounds like Maloway is saying that he will not co-operate in the bringing forward of Jack's new "compromise" bill. Looks like the NDP leader has lost control of the debate and his own caucus.

So, is his gun registry stance Jack Layton's worst political mistake in a career that hasn't seen too many of them?

Iggy's Been Working Out

I've written once or twice about how Iggy should exit his summer tour physically: should he sport an Alberta beer gut, thus appealing to Der Volk and maybe making inroads into the Tory strongholds out West, or remain lean and efficient like the Eastern Liberal Hawk that seems to be his default setting?

And I'm proud to announce that it looks like Iggy's managed a classic Liberal compromise: nobody would dare call the man a scrawny elitist, but there's obviously a rowing machine at the back of that bus.

And he's been filing his fangs back a little, so as not to hurt anyone when he's baby-kissing. That too is good.

Victory will surely be ours.

Da Wymman O' Canada: We Supported Jack Layton

...and all we got was this lousy ribbon.

Pity when your legacy on gun control winds up being a half's penny worth of cheap fabric.

Jack's Latest Feint

Mr. Layton is in a difficult spot: 12 of his MPs from rural ridings have told their constituents that they will oppose the registry. The votes of those 12 MP, when added to those of the 144 members of the Conservative caucus plus the two independents who normally vote along Conservative lines, would spell the failure of the motion to kill Ms. Hoeppner’s bill.

But Mr. Layton, who represents a downtown Toronto riding, personally supports the registry, as do other members of his caucus from urban constituencies. So he is proposing to introduce his own legislation – possibly in the form of a private-member’s bill – to address rural concerns.

You're kidding? A new bill wouldn't come up for a vote until the registry was dead and gone, so its useless. A private member's bill might never come up, so is less than useless. And, please, can we dispense with this silly argument about how Jack's being "brave" in allowing his back-benchers to "vote their conscience"? What a load of BS; the NDP knows how to march in lock step as well as any party in the Western word. Pretending that they've suddenly discovered the principle of local democracy is just too rich.

Update: Its to be a private member's bill. I've no idea how this is supposed to "stave off" a final vote on Bill C-391, and presumably neither does Jack or anyone else. Is the vote on C-391 supposed to be postponed until Jack's private member's bill slowly rises to the top of the parliamentary queue?

Update 2: Here's how:

Layton was pressed by reporters on how he expects this bill to become a reality, when Hoeppner's bill is lined up for a vote so soon after Parliament resumes. He suggested that if all parties come onside, they could use the bill as a basis to reach a solution — presumably meaning that Hoeppner's bill would either be amended or would die.

So Jack's compromise would require the Tories to *cough cough* dump bill C-391.

Monday Morning Quick Hits

Tories abandon non-whites: Alberta base puts kibosh on ethnic outreach.

And:

NDP abandons cities: gun registry cowardice will hurt candidates in T.O. and Vancouver.