Northern Gateway Set To Heat Up

The National Energy Board (NEB) report on the project is set to be released by month's end.  All the media hoopla around the release will occur...wait for it...in Alberta, with B.C., the province through which most of the pipe-line will run, made a mere spectator.  Assuming the NEB gives its approval, and Harper's cabinet signs off on the project, this issue will dominate B.C. politics up until the next federal election.  Former government chief of staff Norman Spector gives a hint of the gathering mood:

“There are a lot of people in Alberta who think the federal government is going to bowl this pipeline through British Columbia. It isn’t going to happen, whatever the legal authority. It isn’t going to happen. They better wake up and smell the coffee.”

Recent polls appear to have shown a rise in support for the pipeline, but I suspect that's because it has fallen out of the headlines for awhile.  Watch sentiment to turn negative as things heat up.  And if the feds try to push this thing through, expect national unity problems out on the West Coast.

Inside The Tory Mind

...its not too good for numbers & letters & such. Norm Spector thinks Tuesday April 13th will be our next election day. Except in the body of his latest, he writes:

With these documents on the public record, Mr. Harper could then cross the street to Rideau Hall to request a vote on Tuesday April 12th, explaining to voters that Canada needs a single set of safe hands on the wheel (namely, his!) to deal with the next phase of the economic recovery through gradual expenditure restraint and no tax increases.

The discrepancy is because Norm got the day wrong until someone in the comments told him April 12th was a Monday.

Poor calender reading skills aside, this

Waiting until the fall would also give Michael Ignatieff more time to recover from his disastrous 2009. On the other hand, dropping a quick writ in the spring — a page straight out of the Jean Chrétien playbook — would throw a spanner in the Liberals’ thinkers conference, planned for Montréal from March 26 to 28.

... makes some sense. So I am rather hoping Iggy et al have some kind of policy "plan B" ready should this "thinkers conference" abruptly need to be called off. I have been told that they do, that's there's been stuff ready since the election threats back in September. We may soon find out.

...although I think a good portion of Harper's current "popularity" (under majority support in all polls) is predicated on his not being seen to act opportunistically, and that it will dissipate if he triggers an election. But, again, we may soon find out.

When Norman Spector Offers Liberals Advice

...they should start running hard in the opposite direction:

Perusing this morning's press and punditry, the overriding message is that the Conservatives presented a Liberal, or a Liberal-coalition budget. With the odds of an economic recovery in the next 12-18 months being slim to none, that's not a message I'd want to have congeal in the minds of Canadians if I were a Liberal strategist.

[...]

If Mr. Ignatieff is bold, he would seize on the endorsement he's been given by the other opposition parties and play it for all it's worth on the campaign trail after bringing down the government. Nor would he give Mr. Harper a chance to get up from the mat.

This one's a giggler from start to finish, and you know Spector is too smart to believe his own con. Its either an elaborate head-fake or Spector has adopted well to the "open bullshit valves to 10 and leave them there" ethos of the blogosphere.