Divo Part II--What John Baird Wants

h/t

Updated from here.

Suck On It, Ezra

 Something remarkable is happening in Alberta. Despite determined efforts by some alarmist columnists, the public and our government stubbornly refuse to be afraid of anti-hate legislation.

Meanwhile, Brian Storseth's Private Member's Motion/Bill/whatever repealing Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act is not on the order paper for Tues., Oct. 4.  Can we therefore conclude that this little speechy uprising has been quashed?

Tory Divo Alert!

The Conservative foreign affairs minister demanded — and got — gold embossing on his business cards shortly after being shuffled into the portfolio last May, contrary to government rules.

Baird then ordered the word "Canada" dropped from the standard design, also against federal policy.

And he insisted that "Lester B. Pearson Building" be removed from the standard street address for Foreign Affairs' headquarters in Ottawa, thereby erasing the name of a former Liberal prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

And a bowl of smarties every morning in his office, but no black smarties!  And a blue seat cushion for his seat in the HOC, not the regular green seat cushion, because green makes his butt look big.  And a pitcher of water for whenever he addresses the House, cooled to 5 degrees below room temperature, as measured in Centigrade.  Not Celsius...Centrigrade.  And not the caffienated plonk from Tim's at cabinet meetings.  Just the superior gay coffee from Satanbucks.  Fuck the plebes.  They won't see him drinking it.  And who else are they going to vote for anyway?

The Minister performs La donna è mobile(*) from Rigoletto

(*) My Italian is a bit rusty, but I think this translates as "Donna is Easy" or "That Donna, She Gets Around".  And rigoletto is some kind of noodle, I think.

Testify, Brother Borys!

 Some progessive bloggers has bemoaned the lack of youth, vigour and new ideas in the LPoC.  The new candidates for leadership within the party seem too much like the old ones, if not identical to the old ones.

Well' Borys Wrzesnewskyj seems willing to tear things up from root to branch.  Will we start hearing cries of "too radical", "too left"?  Well, remember, half the federally party's vote just went NDP, and the most recent polls show that it isn't coming back.  Remember too that all the issues that were supposed to render the NDP toxic to the middle--"Taliban" Jack, the accusations of anti-semitism over their stance re Israel/Palestine.... 

Look at those polls again.  None of that's harmed them at all.

Brian Storseth's Section 13 Repeal Fizzled Already?

Yesterday I noted that Tory back-bencher Brian Storseth was set to propose a private member's initiative calling for the repeal of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. That's, of course, the hate-seech provision.  (Here's a National Post editorial praising the move.)

But then weird shit happened.  The press council at which Storseth was set to announce his legislation was cancelled.  And later Kady O'Malley gave this cryptic tweet from QP:

So is Storseth's initiative already being quashed by the Man Upstairs, or did Harper and Co. push it back so as to give more media play to their flag flying bill?  It's not on the HOC agenda for today either, which means nothing can be done before Friday.

Furthermore, Kady has described Storseth's legislative thingy as a "motion" on several occasions, as that is how it appeared in his original advisory .  If that's all it is--a non-binding statement of opinion--then it amounts to a big nothing.  Or a little nothing, depending on your priorities.

Here We Go Again

A Tory MP plans to introduce legislation as early as Friday calling for the repeal of a section in the federal human rights code banning hate speech over the Internet.

My guess?  Once again, almost every journalist in the country will support it, and the Federal Government will realise that going ahead with a repeal is to trade their few hundred votes, and the votes of the racist fringe, for the votes of 100,000s of people who actually have steady jobs. 

It happens every time.

Blogging Tories Infected

This is what you see when you access any of their pages:

More info on their disease here.

Velshi Bails

...on Ethical Oil, is replaced by Tory Blogger.  Not to suggest causality, but I would note that the Harper government, after huffing and puffing a bit over the Canadian Value of Free Speech, seems to have decided against taking public action over the Saudi government's threat to sue anyone running EO's adds:

When QMI Agency reported that Riyadh had hired a high-powered law firm to tell Canadian media not to air Ethicaloil.org ads that are critical of Saudi oppression of women, several Tory ministers denounced the move as a violation of free speech rights.

The Commons foreign affairs committee has been asked to look into the matter, but Conservative MP and committee chairman Dean Allison just lumps it in with a host of issues the committee might look into.

[...]

Allison refused to say whether he’d try to convince the Conservative majority on the committee to take up Ethicaloil.org’s concerns, but he didn't close the door completely.

“We are going to have a steering meeting this Thursday,” said Allison. “I think that when we meet Thursday, I think what we’ll end up doing is trying to nail down a bit more of an agenda as we move forward.”

...which would be the right decision even if the Saudi action is a SLAPP suit (which it almost certainly is).  After all, you can't tell a Canadian law firm (Norton Rose) that they can`t pursue a case through the Canadian legal system.

Which leaves Ethical Oil (getting its funding from God Knows) and the cash-strapped Sun TV, who are still running the ads in question, on their own.

Good time to take a long vacation, Alykhan?

Update: Now here's a mind-blower.  Velshi has been appointed to the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, a City of T.O. committee that was founded by...Jack Layton!

The Meaning of CLOUD

 Several weeks ago, the first results of CERN's  Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (or CLOUD) experiment were revealed.   This experiment was designed to study the chemical factors behind cloud formation and, more particularly, to study the influence of galactic cosmic rays on the Earth's climate through the media of aerosols and clouds.  Naturally, the results were mangled by all the usual suspects, which variety of response prompted several of the scientists involved in CLOUD to attempt a few on-the-fly debunkings in the comments section of Real Climate.  One, Jeffrey Pierce of Dalhousie, has returned with a more extensive discussion.  Considering the subject matter, it is a model of clarity.  Here's his conclusion re the "clear-sky hypothesis", which is the one pushed by climate change skeptics as most likely driver behind AGW:

In summary, the clear-sky hypothesis is driven by 5-20% changes in ion formation rates in the troposphere. These ion changes would need to drive changes in cloud cover by several percent to account for reported correlations. While uncertainties in processes remain, it appears unlikely to me (and most other scientists working on aerosol-cloud interactions who’ve shared their thoughts on this hypothesis with me) that this mechanism will be strong enough to greatly change clouds. I would not go so far to say that the case is closed on this mechanism, but if it is to be important there must be some amplification factor in one (or more) of the questions described above that we are currently unaware of. Thus, it will be exciting to see what the future CLOUD experiments (or other controlled experiments) show regarding questions #3 and #4.

And here is his more general conclusion:

While reported observed correlations between cosmic rays and clouds are suggestive of effects of cosmic rays on clouds, cosmic rays rarely change without other inputs to the Earth system also changing (e.g. total solar irradiance or solar energetic particle events, both also driven by changes in the sun, but distinct from cosmic rays). Thus, we must understand the physical basis of how cosmic rays may affect clouds. However, it is clear that substantially more work needs to be done before we adequately understand these physical connections, and that no broad conclusions regarding the effect of cosmic rays on clouds and climate can (or should) be drawn from the first round of CLOUD results. Finally, there has been no significant trend in the cosmic ray flux over the 50 years, so while we cannot rule out cosmic-ray/cloud mechanisms being relevant for historical climate changes, they certainly have not been an important factor in recent climate change.


So there you have it.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

 Certainly not Talia herself, obviously:

Rather, its the footwear and what's on the t-shirt.  From the Sun Family Blog:

Speaking of the Toronto Sun crashing, it hit bottom (again) today (Sept 25).

[...]

Today's Girl was wearing a T-shirt with big logo across the front. The caption actually mentioned the brand of boots she was wearing which (surprise!) was the same brand as the t-shirt logo. And look! By sheer coincidence, right next to the Girl, there's a half-page ad for the exact same brand of boots.

[...]

Back in 2000, I spoke with two managers and one vice-president at the Sun: if an advertiser wanted to use the Girl to (subtlety) promote its interests, (e.g. wear a t-shirt with their logo on it), it should cost at least $10,000, with the girl getting $1,000. The Sun folks just laughed and said they would never sell the Girl.

Here's the website of the company to whom the girl was sold, the company that's sullied the purity of the Sunshine Girl page with filthy lucre.  I would point out, though, that of all the shots in Talia's Sunshine Girl portfolio, this is the only one that shows her anomalously clad.  I feel she perhaps is the victim in all this.

The Keystone XL Pipe-Line Is A Side-show

Given the events on Parliament Hill this afternoon, I thought I would pitch in 2-Cents or so.

To me, the best/only way to "green" the tar-sands is to sell any oil from them to our American cousins exclusively, and wait for their federal and state governments to force change upon the oil patch.  Harper and Co. are controlled by Western Petro interests, but to the Yankees Alberta doesn't amount to a patch of dickweed. 

Indeed, Ezra, in his pre-Ethical Oil days, was touting the Northern Gateway pipe-line as our get-out-of-jail card  should Obama or his successors impose green regulations: we could just sell to the Chinese or other third-world countries, who wouldn't be so picky about our carbon emissions.

Therefore, Northern Gateway is where the action is.  That's the pipe that must be plugged.

Ezra Levant On SLAPP Suits

Today's he's talking them; yesterday,  he was launching them.  And of course everyone wants to support a Canuck against the oppressive Saudis.  But, based on past experience, if anyone could successfully slander a primitive tyrannical dictatorship, its Ezra "defamatory and with malice" Levant. 

In fact if the Devil himself sued Ezra for slander, I suspect the Devil would win.

From One Sinking Ship To Another

Den Tandt goes from Sun Media to the National Post.  The world goes on as always.

In case Sun readers were wondering: hey, where the hell did Den Tandt go?

PCPO Campaign In A Nutshell

...tearing down stuff they don't like.

More Dirty Business: Who Funds Wind Concerns Ontario, Part II

According to Elections Ontario, if you want to spend over $500 getting word out on your issues during a provincial election, you have to register as a third party advertiser.  We know that Wind Concerns Ontario, the anti-wind-energy group with connections to Climate Change Denialists, has bought billboards:

But they have not, as yet, registered as third party players.

Now, when you register, you have to give certain information that eventually becomes public, including the sources of your funding.  So, if WCO plays the game according to Hoyle, in six months we find out how "grass roots"  they really are. 

So far, though, they don't appear to be living up to their obligations.  Who knows why not?

Brief Notes On Gerard Kennedy's Beard

I had heard rumours to the effect that Gerard Kennedy had "gone the full commie" (ie grown a beard), but now that I've seen pics, I am somewhat assuaged; I can still imagine doing a business deal with the guy, for example, which in many cases is simply inconceivable. 

I mean, a few Canadian politicians have made it work--Pablo made it work--but usually the result is disaster.  The beard wears the man.  And of course its not as bad as bald, which Mussolini ruined for generations of aspiring public servants. 

But if Gerard runs again, it should definitely come off.  The beard, I mean.  His other hair is, as per usual, excellently placed and coloured.

Marc Garneau Is On The Case

From here.

Updates on the museum's status here.  Short version: they've won a six month reprieve.

PS. Councillor Augimeri is also on the case.

Gerry Nicholls: Full Metal Wingnut?

All that matters [to David Suzuki] is his almost mystical need to stop climate change, even if that’s an impossible task.

And this perhaps is why Suzuki is endorsing McGuinty. It actually has nothing to do with those giant wind-turbines ( McGuinty’s Mechanical Monsters) which blight the rural landscape.

Suzuki simply realizes that McGuinty is to Ontario’s economy what Arnold Schwarzenegger is to wedding vows.

And by that I mean McGuinty’s policies of high taxes, excessive regulation and massive deficits will ultimately cripple Ontario’s economy.

This will increase Ontario’s poverty and unemployment and economic misery, but on the green bright side it will also result in a lessening of industrial activity which might slightly reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions.

This is the future Suzuki is applauding.

OK.  So this appears in the Canada Free Press, so Gerry probably doesn't believe any of this horseshit, he's probably just pandering to the "turbine truthers" in his audience.  But if he does actually think that David Suzuki wants to increase "poverty" and "economic misery" in Ontario, and that's why he's supporting the McGuinty Green Energy legislation...if he actually believes that Mr. Suzuki is evil, in other words, then Gerry Nicholls is a kook.  I truly hope, therefore, that Gerry is being entirely cynical, shovelling boob-bait to the yokels that frequent CFP.  The alternative is frightening to contemplate.

That is all.

Flaherty Channels Ford

 ...goes looking for the gravy train in Ottawa, seeking waste, fraud, and abuse. 

But here in T.O. we know how that worked out.  The only gravy turned out to be on Rob Ford's tie.  Watch the same thing play out on a national scale.

Tory Turmoil Up Kanata Way

It didn’t take long for community members to come out swinging at a Carleton-Mississippi Mills all-candidate’s debate on Sept. 19 held by the Kanata Chamber of Commerce and Metroland Media Group at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Kanata.

In the first question of the evening, Progressive Conservative candidate Jack MacLaren faced Matt Muirhead, a Kanata resident and former executive director of the riding’s provincial Progressive Conservative association.

Calling Tory veteran Norm Sterling’s ousting “wrong”, Muirhead said that he himself has been banned from the party for life and has since become a supporter of Cornell.

Boy, these Ex-Landowners have been nothing but trouble for Mr. Hudak.

Sun Smears Suzuki

 When you read this story about the "controversy" David Suzuki and his foundation have found themselves in for endorsing Dalton McGuinty's Green Energy initiatives, you have to read between the lines.  What's between the lines can be found in a November 2010 blog post by Donna Laframboise, once journalist for the National Post.  It covers a lunch-time meeting between her and Sun Media's Kory Teneycke, in which young Kory tried to convince Donna to return to the business as a T.O. Sun columnist and Sun TV News talking head:

Kory responded to my really, I’m not a television person protestations with assurances that it would be OK. At the beginning, few people would be watching anyway, he insisted. He was sure that, with a bit of practice, I’d do fine.

[Teneycke's]one firm directive was that I should challenge David Suzuki.

Sun media has been planning to target David Suzuki since April of 2010 (when Kory met Donna).  They appear not to have hired a designated Suzuki basher, as per the original plan. But nothing else seems to have changed.

When They Came For The Avro Arrows, I Did Not Stand Up

 ...for I was not a delta-winged interceptor aircraft. 

Parc Downsview Park Inc., the folks who have decided to shut the Canadian Air and Space Museum and replace it with a couple of hockey rinks, are a crown corporation, so eventually this mess lands on Mr. Harper's lap. And its an appalling one.  The Alouette 1 was made in this building, for chrissakes; there are documents related to the Avro Arrow that can probably be found nowhere else on the planet, as well as the famous full-scale replica, which is apparently now sitting in the parking lot. 

A dumb move for a government intent on re-militarizing Canadian history.  Unless its got something to do with the whole Diefendiety movement I hear is springing up.  I hear they want to scrub The Arrow from all official records. 

Another Lawsuit Against Ezra Levant? Place Your Bets!

 Given that lawyers involved represent "enemies of the West", I'm tempted to cheer for the home-town boy.  But, given past experience, when any organization Ezra's involved with gets sued, they tend to cough-up.  I'm wondering how long before Fox News North, who are also running the ads, pulls them and grovels in public.

Dirty Business: Who Funds Wind Concerns Ontario?

Dunno, really.  There have been rumours that the PWU (Power Workers Union) is behind them, but nothing really solid, and its clear that however it raises funds, WCO's core membership are local NIMBY's.

However,  their new book, Dirty Business, shows multiple links to Energy Probe, Lawrence Solomon's faux enviro group.  From the EP website:

(September 9, 2011) Dirty Business, a new book that focuses on wind power’s impacts on Ontario’s power systems and rural communities, features three Energy Probe directors (retired banker Parker Gallant, economist Michael Trebilcock and Globe columnist Margaret Wente), and a past executive director (Tom Adams).

Given the obsessions of Wente and Co., it isn't surprising that they might have allowed some of their columns to be reproduced for the volume.  More intriguing is Parker's Gallant's role as the book's "Contributing Editor", which suggests some kind of consultative role in its creation.  He is also, as it turns out, on WCO's BOD.

As background, Energy Probe seems to have begun life as a kind of quirky, right-wing group devoted to promoting free market solutions to environmental problems.  As you can see from the Star article at the bottom of the link, back in the 1990s Solomon managed to convince the right-wing Donner Foundation Canada to kick in several $100,000s (perhaps as much as $1.6 million) for various projects, and their name still appears on the Energy Probe Research Foundation's donors page.  So these guys are pretty well-heeled

In any case, whatever EP might have started out as, it has in recent years degenerated into your standard-issue AGW denialist group, or at least serves as an outlet for Mr. Solomon's curious notions on the topic.

I'm not sure this gets us much closer to answering who funds Wind Concerns.  But perhaps it will cause a few people--journos, maybe who are in a position to get answers--to at least ask a few questions.

PS.  As of this mornin, WCO had not filed for third-party status here, which limits the manner in which they can spend money to promote their cause.. 

Where Canadians Stand On Palestian State Vote

More results here.  I count myself among the 46 per cent.  Not that my opinion, or the opinion of a plurality of Canadians, matters much.

Oh, and this, in itself, is harmless, for reasons I've given here.  As long as no new legislation follows. 

Download This Video!

 WK has dug up the much suppressed video footage of Stephen Harper calling for a "hat trick": Torys at the municipal, federal, and provincial level.  Tim Hudak's gang have been trying to make footage disappear ever since.  Meanwhile, a new Leger poll suggests the hat-trick may be hard to achieve--another dead heat, although this one with the PCPO a few points up.

NY Times Fluffs "Goreathon" Climate Change Piece

Their mistake is to treat Canada's own Tom Harris as a credible representative of the "sceptical" side of the AGW argument.   Mediamatters gets some of it right: such technical training as he has is in mechanical engineering, but Tom is mostly a lobbyist/PR guy, not a scientist. 

But there's way more to it than that.  For example, the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) is pure astroturf, and  probably gets funding from Aussie humvee maker Alan Gibbs.  I don't know what Tom's making, but a couple of years ago they were offering $70,000 to $90,000 per year to the administrative head of their American affiliate (a job that eventually went to Steve Goreham). 

So these guys are well paid to spread the FUD.

But perhaps most relevant for the people at the NY Times is (or should have been) Mr. Harris's association with  The Friends of Science, a precursor to both the ICSC and  NRSP (Natural Resources Stewardship Project).  The Friends and Tom have recently made news in Canada.  Basically, they were the recipients of about $500,000 in funds from various oil industry sources channelled improperly through research accounts at the University of Calgary.  Part of this money was used to fly sceptics to various conferences and throw fancy parties for them (Tom Harris included).  Another $175,000 wound up going to the PR firm APCO Worldwide, Mr. Harris's employer at the time, where it helped finance the video Climate Catastrophe Cancelled , script courtesy of...you guessed it...Tom Harris.

This unfolding scandal has given U-of-C a real black eye, and the leader of Alberta's official opposition has requested an investigation to determine whether the university has been subject to "inappropriate corporate influence".  So you may hear Tom's name again in the near future.

And one final question I'd like answered: how is Tom Harris qualified to teach a 2nd year course in climate science anywhere, let alone Carleton University?   I thought the kooks all taught at the University of Ottawa.

David Suzuki Confirms That NDP Is No Longer The Party Of Environmentalists

Dear NDPers,

When I was young and growing up in B.C. I used to vote for you people.  Then, Mike Harcourt sold out over Clayoquot Sound, went from being a Green to a hippy kicker as soon as he came into power and had to choose between the unionistas and enviros.  And this NDP preference--for choosing free beer for autoworkers at union meetings over protecting our shared environmental heritage--was confirmed when Carole James vowed to repeal the B.C. carbon tax in 2009,  by Jack Layton in the 2008 federal campaign, and by Andrea Horwath's current campaign for Ontario Premier. 

No wonder Mr. Suzuki can't stomach you anymore.  And, as I say, this isn't being purely partisan. I used to vote NDP.  You have truly disappointed me. It has become evident over time that your enviro wing served the same purpose as the SoCon wing of Canadian Conservative parties.  You gave them sweet words, but when push came to shove it was always the autoworker slamming a six-pack in the parking lot of his plant in Oakville at lunch that won out over the well-being of the noble fox snake.  

So, people talk about the LPoC losing parts of its base, but an equally important historical fact about voting behavior in the past decade is that the NDP has lost about 10% of the national vote that it might harvest to the Green Party and Liberals.  If you ever want to form a government nationally you will have to win that back somehow.  I don't see any evidence that you are even trying.  Andrea Horwath sure isn't.

Forget Free Speech: Its Time To Grovel

The London Free Press is slated to become a "mobile newsroom", so called because these kinds of changes typically involve reporters being set free to wander the streets in search of other employment.  In any case, Quebecor boss-of-bosses Pierre Karl Péladeau decided he would use the occasion to visit his word-slaves at the LFP and pull a few wings off.  In advance of the glorious visit, Joe Ruscitti, the paper's editor-in-chief, sent around the following e-mail:

“Monday morning Aug. 29 930-11ish, PKP will be in the building and it’s my understanding he aims to have a walk about in the newsroom, including chats with staff.

“This would be a good time to look and act sharp.

“This would probably not be a good time to tell the boss how much better we would be if we had this many more reporters or this or that piece of equipment, etc.

It turns out PKP didn't show, though the revamp is still scheduled for late this month.  The reporters lose their cubicles.  The old press room is being rented out as a hand-ball court.  As part of the "mobile" theme, staff will have to bag their own trash and carry it to the dumpster. 

So I hear, anyway.

Complete This Sentence: Bad News For The Ford Regime

is bad news for...

Vote For Hudak, And This Little Fellow Gets It

 Seriously.  Or at least  Carleton-Mississippi Mills Tory candidate Jack MacLaren would allow roads to be built into the provincially endangered species' habitat.  Useful, I think, to remind people of the words of Norm Sterling--the Tory MPP who Mr. MacLaren usurped--when he spoled of the rural Libertarian wing of the PCPO that Mr. MacLaren represents:

"They don't believe in conservation authorities, they don't believe in milk marketing boards, they go so far as to say let's abandon our planning laws in the province of Ontario."

Another Day Away From The Computer

Might write something this evening if anything interesting happens during the day.  Otherwise please carry on with what you were doing.

Ontario PCs: For Tim...

...safety comes first.

An Interesting Phone Poll

Got a robo-call last night (from Access Research? Someone at 180 Bloor West, anyway, whose voice-mail won't give you a company name) asking who I'd vote for municipally, what I thought of Rob Ford's performance, and should my local councillor support his package of cuts in September. 

Somebody may be getting cold feet.  I wonder who?

PS. Forum Research, who did the poll through the 2nd link, is also at 180 Bloor West.  But it was done Monday.  Maybe this was a follow-up.

Torys Tank In T.O.

 ...in this new Forumn Poll.

I'll be away from the computer until this evening, so this may be it for the day.  Meanwhile, team Hudak, straight from telling the good folks of London that he will grow the local economy by killing the Samsung solar parts plant, adjusted his strategy in Windsor by refusing to say how many jobs he would eliminate there in the name of economic growth.

And, oh, the Abacus poll is crap.

Your Daily Hillier: A 2 Hillier Day!

From his Facebook page today:

Seems like Randy hasn't got the ixnay on the mudfolksway message from Hudak Central; as of this morning he was still claiming that the McGuinty No Skills Left Behind tax credit was aimed at foreigners, rather than available to Canadian citizens.

Mind you, fellow Ontario Landowners Associaition alumni Jack MacLaren had an even worse flub up.

Ah well.  Maybe its time to cue it up.

Your Daily Hillier: Tim Gives Randy A Few Extra Strikes

Key Gray on Randy's issues with the CRA:

So OK. Taxes aren’t being paid in the household. There’s a strike. Hillier misread the form. There’s a strike. Hillier neglected to tell the integrity commissioner. Strike three. You’re out. Resign.

But of course the rules aren’t the same for everyone. Conservative leader Tim Hudak won’t throw him out because of his tax woes.

And that’s because he will likely win this eastern Ontario riding. In fact in some quarters of the landowners rights movement, Hillier (or his wife) might be a hero for neglecting to pay the CRA.

Win in the riding, maybe, but cost the PCPO 5 ridings elsewhere in the province.

Meanwhile, does anyone know what the count is against Jack "I am a Canadian and I believe charity should start at home" MacLaren?

Tim Hudak Hires THEM To Do Campaign Dirty Work

 Hiring call-centers in News Brunswick, when Ontario phone spammers are going hungry?  Whose side is the Hudak campaign on?  Why is he sending push polling and dark ops jobs out of province?  Does Tim Hudak hate Ontario?

PS.  Oh my!  Tim Hudak would never have got educated if he hadn't swiped  American scholarship money from a full-blooded Yankee.

The Tories Can Only Hope Hudak Unleashes Hillier And MacLaren

Because only more of those guys can turn these numbers around.

h/t

PS. Ipsos-Reid also has the Libs up a bit.

The Only Gravy Rob Ford Could Find

 ...was on those poor kid's Xmas turkey.

Although I disagree that the late upsurge in Anti-Ford administration anger is entirely a product of Metro's downtowners.  I know a couple of Ford voters living in the ridiculously congested Finch West/Yonge Street area who were supposed to get some form of enhanced public transit under Miller's Transit City...eventually...and who will now get dick in perpetuity. 

Recently, they've been reconsidering the manner in which they deployed their franchise in the last municipal election.

Your Daily Hillier: Tea Party Torys Celebrate Randy Hillier, Trash Ernie Eves!

Dave Krayden from the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies opines:

Do you remember Ernie Eves? Yes, he was that Red Tory who helped destroy what Mike Harris had produced over two terms of true conservative government in Ontario. He inherited the Mike Harris file and promptly reduced it back again to Liberal Lite, thinking that conservatism could never win in Ontario despite the overwhelming evidence of the last decade that had allowed him to remain in government. You lost, Ernie and you lost because you refused to stand for conservative principles. Now you are at again.

Why are you trying to destroy the campaigns of Jack MacLaren and Randy Hillier in my backyard? You just cannot abide the fact that a democratically elected nomination rejected your favourite candidate and nominated a real conservative. Jack and Randy are probably two of the only true conservatives on the block this autumn. Don’t take that happiness away from me. Yes, I know you are upset that the democratic process prevailed in the nomination of Jack MacLaren. I know that the Progressive Conservative establishment wanted Norm Sterling to win because he was more in keeping with the Red Toryism and the status quo of this party. But guess what? The people have taken the party back. They are in control. For a change. Get used to it.

Which brings me to Tim Hudak. Mr. Hudak you are not gong to win this campaign by default. You will not find electoral success by pretending that you are just as liberal as the opponents. You will not win by refusing to stand as a principled conservative.

You know, I don't know what more Tim Hudak could do to prove his "Principled Conservatism" bonafides short of personally hurling a brick through the window of an East Indian restaurant. 

And maybe his newly inflamed rhetoric is having its intended effect.

Your Daily Hillier: Randy Still EvadingTaxes

I guess the question is: will Randy pay his taxes before the end of the campaign?  Day three after the big revelation, he still seems to be on the dodge.

Ethical Oil?

There have been a number a number of media pieces on the Ethical Oil Institute.  They all ref this detailed post at Deep Climate, so that's probably the best place to start.  DC's unsurprising bottom line is that the EOI is almost certainly an industry astroturf group, sharing an office with McLennan Ross, an Edmonton law firm that works with players in the Alberta tar Sands.  I find the most interesting revelation to be that:

...the registration date of March 9, 2011 shows plans for the Ethicaloil.org were well underway long before Velshi’s initial blog posts in June, and indeed before the Canadian election campaign (which was called in late March).

...because Mr. Velshi originally treated the whole project as something he had started up on a personal whim.

Also worth noting is that the McLennan Ross contact at Ethical Oil is Thomas Ross, who served as Ezra Levant's lawyer during his run ins with the CHRC.  Ezra also serves on the board of Ethical Oil, and in fact is the fellow who coined the phrase.

Sun Media Empire Contracts

...closing down Kanata call center and snuffing 100 jobs so Quebecor can consolidate its call centre operations in Sarnia.  Because it just doesn't take that many people to sell subscriptions to Sun newspapers anymore.

Mind you, these are the last folks within the media chain that deserve to be sacked.  And its a pity that Quebecor seems to be cannibalizing its print resources to keep feeding cash to the money-sucking disaster that is Sun TV News.  Good people go jobless to keep Ezra in beanys and grease-paint.

Jack MacLaren: Making News For The Wrong Reasons

Seniors upset over Tory candidate’s debate snub.  Jack MacLaren joins fellow OLA (Ontario Landowners) alumni Randy Hillier as the Tory candidate most likely to give Tim  Hudak a conniption.

Rumours Of Infidelity

From Bourrie's Facebook page:

 Bourrie isn't namining names, but apparently alot of ccs on the email including one to the PM.  As to newsworthiness, you might argue that there are national security implications.

Update:



Updated again

Toronto Sun Shames Great City Of Toronto

Toronto is a clean and beautiful city… that is littered with a few eyesores. Some of the most evident examples are the poorly maintained and abandoned 24 Hours newspaper boxes. Their once bright orange exteriors are now covered with street grime, graffiti, stickers and posters. This is more than a sign that Sun Media who owns these boxes does not care about its image but it is company that has little regard for the communities that they place them in.

I took that shot of that box years ago, and if anything it looks worse today.  Click through the link to find out more about The 24 Hour Box Guerilla Art Makeover Project, the demands they've made of Sun management, and what they plan to do if these demands are not met.  And remember the state of the 24 Hour boxes next time a Sun columnist rattles on about the amount of litter in town.

h/t

I Take Partial Credit For The Results Of This Poll!

 A newly released Harris-Decima poll shows Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Liberals have an 11 point lead over Tim Hudak's Progressive Conservatives - the first time the governing party has bested it's main rival in many months.

The Ontario poll has the Liberals in the lead at 40 per cent, the PC's with 29 per cent, the NDP at 24 and the Green Party trailing with six per cent.

It was this story, I tell you, that I broke that cracked the camel's spine!  Booyah!   Boooyah!   BooYAHBOOyahBOOHyaH!  BOOHYAH!  Too bad we don't have a provincial senate.  I could demand a seat from Dalton, near the aisle for bathroom breaks.  And maybe one for the wife.  I wouldn't worry about accommodations.   I'd eat little meeting sandwiches and the freebie food in the provincial Senate cafe, and sleep in my seat in the Senate chamber, as is the tradition federally.

Ontario Federation of Labour: Hudak Resorting To Gutter Politics

Full release here. What can I say? I'd use language ever harsher than Sid Ryan.

Also, Selley seems to think the PCPO has bungled their response to the issue.  I certainly hope so.  It doesn't sound like, politically, the place you want to go less than 72 hours into the campaign.

In News Unrelated To The Ontario Election

English Defense League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson), soul-mate of JDL-Canada and their myriad of followers, is back in prison, either for breaking the conditions of his parole or for dressing up as a rabbi.  Not only is he back in the can, he has  begun a hunger strike.  I will forgo any jokes about English cuisine, because I can't think of any right now.

Most Terrible Tory Turmoil! Disgruntled Tory Throws In Towel!

OTTAWA — A local Conservative is endorsing the Liberal candidate for the provincial election in Carleton-Mississippi Mills, calling the “narrow-minded” politics of Progressive Conservative candidate Jack MacLaren “the wrong choice for the riding.”

Meanwhile, Randy Hillier has picked up the Hudak meme re the Liberal's tax credit for immigrant professionals.  Or, perhaps more likely, Hudak has picked up the Hillier meme:

People used to call them "New Canadians".  For Mr. Hudak and Mr.  Hillier, they're not Canadians at all.

I Think I Can See Why The NDP Turfed Him

Barry Weisleder is out as the NDP's Thornhill candidate.  Lets speculate as to why.  Hmmmmm.

Zionists, Canadian imperialist hostility towards Palestinians, renewed resistance across Canada.

Real live communists!

Apartheid State

More Apartheid State

More Zionists

Even More Zionists

And they wanted to run him in Thornhill...

Although not necessarily good news.  This may indicate that the NDP thinks it can win with a more appropriate candidate.

The Friends Of Randy Hillier

Yesterday, Tory MPP for Lanarck Randy Hillier linked approvingly to a post by one Jeff Goodall in which the latter referred to ex Tory Premier Ernie Eves as a "Pink retread" out to sabotage the Ontario Conservatives.  Here are the titles from a few other blog posts from Mr. Goodall:

Coping with Black intelligence realities

and:

‘Store swarmings’ on the increase, which begins:

...in Toronto, I have been in clothing stores in predominantly Black areas where I had to pick my way around merchandise lying on the floor. Blacks would take clothes off the rack, look at them, and if they didn’t like them then rather than hang them up again they would simply drop them on the floor.


Randy seems to know Mr. Goodall personally, enough to feature him prominently on his Facebook page, so I wonder if he knows and approves of these particular opinions.

And for those who think the PCP=Tea Party rhetoric is over-heated, the graphic below is also from Randy's Facebook page (from the "likes" section):

Q.E.D.

Leak Or "Leak", Redux

 If the Liberals orchestrated the leak, it would explain why the biggest item in their platform – a major tuition break for post-secondary students – was not mentioned in the conference call. This way, other promises – such as a pledge to expand train service for suburban commuters – got more attention than would otherwise have been the case. And when the tuition freeze was revealed on Monday, it not only got a very clean news hit; it also caught off guard the Liberals’ opponents, who thought they knew all the platform’s key planks.

In general, there wound up being more coverage of the platform than would normally have happened – exactly what the Liberals say they were aiming for. And it appears likely the Tories played a part in it.

I speculated along these lines a few days back. Too clever by half?  I don't know; they did get an extra day of (mostly) positive coverage.  True or not, I'd stick to the story.

Pinko Retreads In The MSM

Last week, former Conservative premier Ernie Eves said the PC Party had become "the Tea Party version of Ontario politics," prompting Tory Randy Hillier to call Eves "a pinko re-tread."

Meanwhile Randy has clarified that the man whose words he endorsed is not him.  But note: Facebook does not grab lines randomly out of the texts you link to.  It takes the first couple unless you tell it otherwise.   Randy, or someone on his staff, selected the line "I honestly wonder if he [Ernie Eves] ever was a genuine member of the party..." and so forth to head up the posting.

Tory Turmoil: Ontario Tories Turn On Each Other

To be clear: Hillier didn't write these words.  He seems to be endorsing them, however.

Leave Tim Hudak's Family Out Of This Campaign

He's    busy  exploiting   them  for  his  own  ends.

I  could  go on.

Back To Work

Summer's over, and hopefully more, and more substantive, posts will soon follow.  After this one.

Damn Right Its Close

 Steve V will have the deets...eventually.  But the takeaway is: Within the margin o' error!  BOOHYAH!!!

source

A Leak Or A "Leak"?

 The Libs get a day of decent coverage from the leaked document; a second day from the official one.  A fluff-up, or tactics?  Like the old line from WKRP: "Don't let that get around...and don't let it get around soon."

The Shorter Lorne Gunter

Albertans are suckers.

McGuinty Gives Money To Same Group As Jason Kenney Did

Ezra Shits!  Inflammatory emails fly across cyberspace  (see bottom of YouTube clip)!

Now, there are differences between the two occasions.  For instance, the provincial money to Palestine House is coming at arms-length, via a Trillium Foundation Grant, whereas the federal money flowed directly from Mr. Kenney's ministry.  So if that grant proves the McGuinty government is down with Hamas, then so are the Harper Tories, perhaps even more thoroughly.

Of course the real question Ezra and others need to ask is: where is Tim Hudak in all this?  Doesn't he owe voters an statement re funding these alleged jew-haters?  Only he, it appears, can swoop down and save us all from the Islamist menace. 

Thus far, Hudak has pointed rejected Ezra Levant's kooky notions.  Let's see if he keeps the streak alive (or, even more wisely, entirely ignores anything that Sun TV, with its audience of several, says.).

Valley Park Middle School Protesters Import Yankee Wingnut

 The media advisory from NoIslaminschools.ca, the folks behind various protests re Muslim prayers sessions at Valley Park Middle School, describes the "mystery" speaker for their upcoming  fundraiser as:

...a 9-11 Survivor & 1st Responder on the Bucket Brigade will be the Keynote Speaker. A leader in the fight against the New York City, Ground Zero Mosque, he has been on Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS and a Documentary on the Ground Zero Mosque.

But if you run the various key-words through Google they point pretty clearly to standard-issue American Muzzie basher Tim Brown, of the 9-11 Families for a Secure America, itself an off-shoot of the Federation for Immigration Reform, both which groups might safely be described as far right, a few cans short of a six-pack, and etc.  Don't know what the big mystery is supposed to be.  As far as I can tell, Mr. Brown doesn't have any trouble crossing borders. 

In any case, equating the ground zero mosque with the cafeteria at Valley Park seems like more than a bit of a stretch.

Tim Brown speaks out here.

Calling All Libertarians: Explain Randy Hillier To Me

So, if Libertarians co-ordinate their interests with other  Libertarians, are they therefore commies? 

There's an interesting philosophical issue here re how Nominalists (here = Libertarians) can possibly justify the introduction of general concepts.  But fuck it I'm off to the pub in a few minutes.

PS.  I freely admit Mr. Bell's original plaint is not particularly coherent, and Randy might be flailing about in search of a vote. 

Source

Rob Shows Tim How Its Done

I'm not quite sure what it is he's showing him, but Tim is clapping, so I guess Rob must doing it well.  Also, a nice line from the source story:

...the Star has learned of polling data showing Ford’s popularity steadily sinking from an almost 70 per cent approval rating after the Oct. 25 election to only 45 per cent in early August.

Though, apparently, he's still big in Etobicoke.

Also, Mr. Ford did not ask Mr. Hudak about the latter's threat to suspend the uploading of services to Ontario's municipalities.  A bit odd, that, as it will likely cost the city a good  $170 million.

Editor Steps Down For Publishing Denialist Paper

Peer-reviewed journals are a pillar of modern science. Their aim is to achieve highest scientific standards by carrying out a rigorous peer review that is, as a minimum requirement, supposed to be able to identify fundamental methodological errors or false claims. Unfortunately, as many climate researchers and engaged observers of the climate change debate pointed out in various internet discussion fora, the paper by Spencer and Braswell [1] that was recently published in Remote Sensing is most likely problematic in both aspects and should therefore not have been published.


After having become aware of the situation, and studying the various pro and contra arguments, I agree with the critics of the paper. Therefore, I would like to take the responsibility for this editorial decision and, as a result, step down as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Remote Sensing.
 
The paper at issue, “On the Misdiagnosis of Surface Temperature Feedbacks from Variations in Earth’s Radiant Energy Balance”, was authored by Roy Spencer and William Braswell.  It was pretty clear several months ago that Spencer was trying to sneak it through the peer review process, refusing to name the journal that had accepted it so as to head off attempts by outraged climate scientists to have the thing yanked. 
 
Wolfgang Wagner, the editor in question, has behaved honourably, stepping down so as to protect the good name of his journal (Remote Sensing).  Mr. Spencer and Mr. Braswell's only accomplishment, other than grabbing a few headlines on Fox news,  has been to damage the reputation of that journal.  And I say "only" because at this point it is hard to imagine how their own scientific reputations could become more sullied by this incident than they already are.

Canada Wins The War! Canada Wins The War!

 And history will record this: that it was the good work of Canada’s Armed Services – your work – working with our allies, that enabled the Libyan people to remove Gaddafi from power.

Not to denigrate the efforts of our Royal Army.  I know all 12 guys, and they rock!  Hell, the gov only gives 'em 5 guns between 'em, because they prefer to fight bare handed and otherwise it would be too easy!

But c'mon, pass me the barf bag!

The Drip Drip Drip of Bad News

Another poll that shows Tim Hudak's lead slipping:

 With Tory support at 35% to the Liberals’ 30%, the poll suggests Mr. Hudak would clinch a narrow victory to lead a minority government if Ontarians voted tomorrow.

Steve V will surely come along and explain this latest poll, but I'd say it bears out the old maxim that campaigns do matter (even if they're barely underway yet).  You can't hang onto a lead with news like this coming out every day:

Calling Sterling's treatment at the hands of Hudak's PC party "disgraceful,''[Ex-Tory Premier Ernie] Eves said: 'I don't care who hears this. The treatment that Norm got from his own party was not very polite, was not fair, it was not loyal, it was not compassionate and it was not very honest.''

After Eve's comments, the 200-member audience, which included former premier Mike Harris and federal Conservative heavyweight John Baird, applauded and cheered, according to the release.

[Chatham-Kent Essex Conservative candidate Rick] Nicholls said it was the first he had heard of the report and wanted to dig into it before making a statement.

[Halton MPP Ted] Chudleigh, in Chatham to street campaign with Nicholls for the upcoming provincial election, also declined comment.

Instead, Chudleigh, armed with a cardboard wheel, which he called Premier Dalton McGuinty's wheel of tax, said Ontarians are in store for more taxes if the Liberals are re-elected in October. A gust of wind blew the wheel over and it landed on Nicholl's head. He was not injured.

This, by the way, is my favorite picture of Ernie Eves.  When he first ran against Dalton...well, that was one for the ages.