Saturday, August 25, 2007

Fall Election?

Interesting comment from His Nibs yesterday:

Speaking of election, I am still of the view that we Liberals had better be ready to go in the fall. Don't let Harper put out a budget first - that's his plan and we should be trying to throw him off it. Gilles Duceppe has given us an in and we had better not dismiss it out of hand.

Consider:

1) Bad news out of Afghanistan, prompting Mr. Duceppe to issue threats.
2) Dumb moves on the part of John Baird et al over the Kyoto Law, the issue on which they are weakest, causing all of the opposition parties to issue threats.
3) A burgeoning police scandal.
4) A burgeoning funding scandal.
5) A greater acceptance among the Canadian people and the Liberal Party of Stephane Dion. His English is a little better, and people are more used to hearing it.
6) A demoralized Tory base, as witnessed by the number of Tory bloggers who are throwing in the towel.

The only thing I would be worried about is the Lib's financial state. But if Jason is making pro-election-type noises, I am sure they have been cleared by the higher echelons.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

and the LPC is broke, support for the Afghanistan Mission in Quebec is UP 5% BECAUSE of casualties, the police scandal is a QPP local issue, a funding scandal that only a tight ass accountant can figure out and Kyoto is a non-issue because no party wants to fight an election on killing the economy.

Yup . . . continuing brilliant election planning from the Liberal intelligentsia.

Yawn . . .

Prorogue coming, new throne speech, new program.

Burton, Formerly Kingston said...

I am dying for an election, bring it on, lets let Canadians make a decision. Now after that rousing cheer for political entertainment. I truly believe the LPC has more to lose then the CPC. Jason should be careful what he wishes for because he looks at all these issues with red tinged glasses on.

Ti-Guy said...

Boy, you fucking Connies sure sound desperate, all pumped up with bravado and certainty.

...then, again, you all always sound like that. It's your substitute for actual fact and careful reason.

*bleh* I want this government gone because it's the dumbest and meanest I've ever witnessed (Come back Mulroney; all is forgiven). And if any of you had any decency, you'd admit it.

Anonymous said...

And it's cute to watch Liberals try to think, rather than spew received Liberal wisdom.

The odds of USA and/or Israel bombing Iran before the end of Bush's term approach 100%. Lately the buzz has been that it will happen in the next 6 months.

As Jeffrey Simpson has pointed out Canada has basically handed over its foreign policy to the Canada-Israel committee. And the CIC has a hardon for war.

Harper will be under enormous pressure to support the USA\Israel axis in the leadup to the bombing and will no doubt be forced to offer his "unwavering support", even if this means condoning stragegic nukes.

All the gains Harper made in Quebec will disappear overnight. The Tories will tank in Ontario. That's what is going to happen.

Ti-Guy said...

Lately the buzz has been that it will happen in the next 6 months.

Buzz? Buzz? Are you for real?

Jeffrey Simpson is in full dotage, by the way. Time to ship him off to the Soylent Green factory.

Burton, Formerly Kingston said...

Interesting comment anon 12:10, to quote my friend Ti-Guy, please provide a link to validate your statement or slowly step away from the bar, pay your tab and go get some sleep. Ti Guy, I stand by my comment concerning the LPC has more to lose then the CPC, they are no prepared for a national election, they do not have the funds to run a national campaign and I believe they would have to borrow heavily to do it. Also be it right or wrong but if the CPC sees an election in the future they will break open the war chest and start slamming the LPC again before the official fall of the govt. Well everyone professes to dislike negative advertising, we all know that it works, and I do not think the LPC can afford to respond in kind.

Anonymous said...

Jason called Steven Harper as asshole so it must be true.

Jason is a magical elf from Toronto so anything he says must means it's true.

Hahahahaha voters have not warmed up to Dion, and don't quote me that one SES leadership poll. He is still a pathetic, geeky looking Professor who couldn't do a 30 second soundbite if his life depended on it.

Now more than ever, we need Iggy.

Ti-Guy said...

I stand by my comment concerning the LPC has more to lose then the CPC, they are no prepared for a national election...

So what? The CPC wasn't even prepared to govern, so who cares about campaign preparedness. Besides, the only time I hear this is from Conservatives. Concern-trolling?

The only thing the Liberals have to plan for are snarly attacks and smears from the lying Conservatives (which the Conservatives will spend lavishly on, no doubt...gotta spread the wingnut welfare far and wide). I still don't know what they should do about that. It's difficult to figure out how to deal with political adversaries who lie, all the time, about everything, and whose supporters don't seem to have a problem with that.

Anonymous said...

Yes, what the country really needs is someone who is really good with the 30-second soundbite.

Desperately.

No greater calling than to master the 30-second soundbite.

Must . . . conquer . . . the . . . 30-second . . . sound . . . bite . . . . Lives . . . at . . . stake. ugggghhhh.

(some leaders just aren't cut out for the half-minute pitch, and die trying.)

Do I need to go on?

Such pure rubbish.

Go follow your leader down the well-trodden low path. Canada is better than that.

wilson said...

Have Liberals had a policy convention since electing Dion?

It's always a good idea to go into an election with actual policy in hand.

IMO, PMSH purposely did not explain the 'mission' well to Canadians. Polling showed, when the question was framed in a 'help the Afghan women & children' light, support went up to over 80%.
Beware of Tory TV...
Libs will need big $$ and big policy to stop a Harper majority, fearmongering will not cut it, this time.

Ti-Guy said...

Well everyone professes to dislike negative advertising, we all know that it works, and I do not think the LPC can afford to respond in kind.

Actually, it's the PR firms (who get the lucrative contracts to do negative advertising, which is easy money) that tell us that it works. Their definition of "works" needs a little qualification, I think.

McGuinty rejected consultant advice to go negative in the last election, and that worked, despite having such an embarrassment of riches in negativity to work with.

Ti-Guy said...

Polling showed, when the question was framed in a 'help the Afghan women & children' light, support went up to over 80%.

What polling? Don't start making shit up, Wilson. Your credibility is lousy as it is.

Anonymous said...

"Have Liberals had a policy convention since electing Dion?

It's always a good idea to go into an election with actual policy in hand."

The only policies the Liberals will publicly admit to are the ones contained in the Women's Caucus "Pink Book", such as the policy to earmark 1% of GDP - $15 billion - annually for state sponsored institutionalized, unionized, day care.

Fifteen billion. Where do they think they'll get the money?

The beauty is that we all know who wears the pants in the Liberal caucus, and that there is zero chance that Stephane Dion will backtalk his feminist masters, who delivered the Liberal leadership to him based on the 33% female quota they extorted from him.

So essentially, feminists think they are "winning" by saddling Dion with unelectable policies, thus ensuring the re-election of Harper.

Anonymous said...

"1% of GDP - $15 billion - annually for state sponsored institutionalized, unionized, day care."

great . . just what Canada needs another 20,000 CUPE members.

Jack Layton is salivating . . .

Deno said...

"1) Bad news out of Afghanistan, prompting Mr. Duceppe to issue threats."


Ammm, excuse me BCL, but what bad news out of Afganistan?

Here is a copy of a post I made on My Blagh.


"Deno Says:
August 25th, 2007 at 1:26 pm | Edit This |
Since I can’t post this on your last posting on Afghanistan here is a list of accomplishments that Canada and NATO have done for the Afghan people. To bad our left wing bias media chooses to not inform Canadians about all the good Canadian soldiers are doing in Afghanistan.

Also the latest poll shows that a majority of Canadians support the afghan mission and proves that the left in Canada is again out of step with ordinary Canadians.

51% for the mission
45% against
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=57003c80-cb12-4bb3-8cf3-63ba897253c9&k=87493

Here is a list of NATO’s accomplistments in Afganistan

At the national level the NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) development work has ensured that:

1. Millions of girls are back in school with 400,000 new female students starting school for the first time this year;
2. Over 100,000 women benefited from micro finance loans to set up their own business;
3. Over a quarter of parliamentarians are women;
4. Over 7 million girls and boys are in school or higher education;
5. 83% of the population now has access to medical facilities, compared to 9 percent in 2004;
6. 76% of children under the age of five have been immunized against childhood diseases;
7. More than 4000 medical facilities opened since 2004;
8. Over 600 midwives were trained and deployed in every province of Afghanistan;
9. GDP growth estimates of between12-14% for the current year;
10. Government revenues increased by around 25% from 2005/06 to 2006/07;
11. Income per capita of $355, compared to $180 three years ago;
12. Afghanistan is one of the fastest growing economies in South-East Asia;
13. Over 4000 km of roads have been completed;
14. Work has begun on 20,000 new homes for Afghans returning to Kabul;
15. Over 1 billion square metres (roughly 32 km X 32 km) of mine contaminated land cleared;
16. 10 universities are operating around the country, against one (barely functioning) under the Taliban; and
17. 17,000 communities benefited from development programmes such as wells, schools, hospitals and roads through the Government’s National Solidarity Program (NSP).

Most of those projects have some, often substantial, Canadian components: money, management and personnel. Some, like (13) new roads and (17) new wells and schools, are the work-a-day projects of the Canadian soldiers in the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) who are managing or doing the building and rebuilding using funds provided by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Further, the creation of the sorts of institutions which will make it possible for Afghans, themselves, to address their own political problems in their own ways – but free of dangerous fundamentalist propaganda – is also underway in the form of communications and information technology development which facilitates the free exchange of ideas and information:

18. 10% of Afghans now own a mobile phone, compared to 2 lines per 1000 people in 2001;
19. 150 cities across Afghanistan now have access to mobile phone networks and internet provider services; and
20. 7 national TV stations (6 private); numerous radio networks, plus a diverse and increasingly robust and professional print media are up and running.

That’s 20 out of a much longer list of ISAF projects.

Deno said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deno said...

BCL I keep getting this message when I try to use HTML tags

"Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not closed:"

How do I close a HTMLTag?

Ti-Guy said...

Jesus...now the illiterate DeKnob is cut 'n pasting his cut 'n pastings.

Spread the hate, eh Deknob?

Anonymous said...

And since we have some bye-elections coming up the voters in those ridings might want to be aware that if they don't elect a Conservative....

Well, check this out please.
http://www.acreativerevolution.ca/node/164

wilson said...

TiGuy, you know I don't make shit up
ei:Soldiers at foodbanks.

....''Indeed, as we reported on our front page yesterday, when Canadians are asked whether they support our mission, their approval is upward of 80% to 85% when pollsters first explain the breadth of our humanitarian and reconstruction efforts...''
National Post
Published: Saturday, August 25, 2007


Obviously PMSH wants an election in the fall.
If he didn't, he would have given Libs an out on the Kyoto or bust bill.
He didn't, we're goin' !!!

It's lose lose for the Libs.
Dion doesn't band with the Dippers and seppies to bring down the Gov't over Kyoto or bust, he will be called a fraud by his own unhappy campers and the lovely Lizzy May (Cons will laugh and do the I told you so); if he goes for broke, broke and without a mandate (via policy convention) Libs will be eating each other alive during the campaign...it will be more delicious than watching the Chretien & Martin 3 year p*ssing contest.

bigcitylib said...

Deno, Sounds like you're not cut and pasting the whole link (or whatever). If its an especially long one make sure youre getting the whole thing.

Ti-Guy said...

Indeed, as we reported on our front page yesterday, when Canadians are asked whether they support our mission, their approval is upward of 80% to 85% when pollsters first explain the breadth of our humanitarian and reconstruction efforts...

What polling firm, Wilson? Link, please. Anything reported in the Nazionale Volkspost is automatically considered a lie by me, so the my standards a proof are quite high.

I'm not accusing you of lying, but of appalling credulity (look it up; it's not that insulting).

Ti-Guy said...

How do I close a HTMLTag?

*snort*...

Ti-Guy said...

It's lose lose for the Libs.
Dion doesn't band with the Dippers and seppies to bring down the Gov't over Kyoto or bust, he will be called a fraud by his own unhappy campers and the lovely Lizzy May (Cons will laugh and do the I told you so); if he goes for broke, broke and without a mandate (via policy convention) Libs will be eating each other alive during the campaign...it will be more delicious than watching the Chretien & Martin 3 year p*ssing contest.


I love how wingnuts construct elaborate narratives to understand reality and predict the future. They really are special.

bigcitylib said...

Wilson,

Sounds like a push poll.

Ti-Guy said...

No kidding. Wilson?

wilson said...

I'm techno challenged, so here's the long shortcut.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a26fa1a8-866d-4c2c-8042-f8013c8f4f80&p=2

pg.2
..''In a string of polls for the National Defence Department in late 2006 and early 2007, Ipsos Reid tweaked the questions even further, and found dramatic differences in response.

When the question referred to military operations that help to secure "the environment for the civilian population" through activities "that include combat," backing shot up to the low 60s.

After a lengthy preamble that said Canada is trying to improve human rights for women and build a more free and democratic society in Afghanistan, another question drew support from 81%....''


Yes, it was a push poll. The Gov't knows what it will take to win over Canadians re: Afghanistan.
Why do you suppose PMSH hasn't made much of an effort to get the masses on-side? Waiting for an election?

So, what about policy TG, or do you think Dion can just wingit??

Ti-Guy said...

What are you asking me?

You know Wilson, despite everyone's "good intentions," reality is something you can't change by fiat. I've come to the conclusion that wasting money and lives in Afghanistan is not in my interests as a Canadian citizen and that's the end of that.

...go ahead...accuse me of Taliban-loving. I couldn't care less anymore. The contempt the Conservatives displayed this week over constitutional rights to peaceful assembly just drives home the point that the people screaming loudest about freedom and democracy and women's rights for Afphanis couldn't care less how these things are protected in their own backyards.

Anonymous said...

"The beauty is that we all know who wears the pants in the Liberal caucus, and that there is zero chance that Stephane Dion will backtalk his feminist masters, who delivered the Liberal leadership to him based on the 33% female quota they extorted from him."

I thought Dion won by pandering to racial minorities. Who are these feminists he pandered to?

Anonymous said...

Let's get it over with. The sooner the Conservative majority, the better off we'll be. The only downside is that it may trigger a Liberal leadership change; we certainly don't want THAT.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see the Puffin as your motto. "It tries to hide it's excrement." How like a Liberal.