Good News Bad News
The Liberals have disowned their Abbotsford candidate over allegations he attempted to bribe the NDP candidate to drop out. Considering how safe Abbotsford is for the Tories, it boggles my mind why Dave Oliver would even bother.
On the bright side for the Liberals, they've gone on the attack against the Tory platform which has finally been costed. For the record, I think Harper is smart enough not to go into deficit, but I do think his "fiscal imbalance" pledge is going to cause him a lot of grief over the next few years. The amount of money the Premiers want, coupled with his tax cuts, is going to force him to cut back on other promises, or leave the provinces (and Quebec especially) upset.
UPDATE: Thinking it over, this whole Abbotsford thing is rather troubling. The NDP candidate makes an unsubstantiated far fetched accusation and, poof, everyone believes him? With Zeisman, the guy is actually going to trial - here it's just "he said, he said". Hopefully this story won't get too much media play, because it really seems like a non-issue to me.
On the bright side for the Liberals, they've gone on the attack against the Tory platform which has finally been costed. For the record, I think Harper is smart enough not to go into deficit, but I do think his "fiscal imbalance" pledge is going to cause him a lot of grief over the next few years. The amount of money the Premiers want, coupled with his tax cuts, is going to force him to cut back on other promises, or leave the provinces (and Quebec especially) upset.
UPDATE: Thinking it over, this whole Abbotsford thing is rather troubling. The NDP candidate makes an unsubstantiated far fetched accusation and, poof, everyone believes him? With Zeisman, the guy is actually going to trial - here it's just "he said, he said". Hopefully this story won't get too much media play, because it really seems like a non-issue to me.
posted by calgarygrit at
4:44 p.m.
27 Comments:
If you ad up all the mismanaged programs, value for nothing programs, and the fact that the Liberals break federal accounting rules by storing up to 9 billion dollars in NGO foundations, you can bet there's a lot of money laying around.
W.R.T foundations, the Liberals pay out huge (billions) of dollars a year to foundations, even though the money is not supposed to be spent for several years. This expense is recorded in the current year expense, reducing the surplus.
Accounting justify an expense in a year only if the full amount will be used in the year. Read 04-05 AG report for a better picture.
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Anonymous, at 4:57 p.m.
^^ first sentence of 3rd paragraph should be 'Accounting rules justify...'
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Anonymous, at 4:58 p.m.
I'm really pissed that people have chosen to use first Zeisman, and now Oliver, for jabs at their political opponents. We all lose when guys like these two attempt to subvert the electoral process. It's a criminal act in my mind to attempt to gain office through subversion or fraud. Zeisman and Oliver should be criminally charged for what they've done, because it's you and me who get screwed out of our chance to participate in a fair and informed manner when fucks like these two attempt to decieve us.
This is above partisanship, it's a matter for a criminal court, and both Harper and Martin did exactly the right thing here in kicking the fuckers out.
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Anonymous, at 5:19 p.m.
Firstly I must say that you and I sit on opposide sides of the political fence. However, I read your blog a lot and am very entertained. Although I want like hell to have the Conservatives change this country for the better, I am a tad bit concerned about the numbers. The thing I'm banking on is the Liberals always magically found several billions of dollars at the end of the fiscal year for their pet projects or their cozy relationship with the NDP in the last budget. I hope that's the case this time.
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Anonymous, at 5:19 p.m.
Their budget is fine, and no more funky than a Liberal budget would be. Besides which, given the state of the economy, the estimates for budget purposes are probably to low given the growth rates. They will still have to much money.
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Anonymous, at 5:21 p.m.
cg: he'll cut fed revenues to match fed responsibilities. if the provinces accept tax points (and offesting eqaluization adjustments) not all of it will be found money. Subtract any spending shifted down.
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Anonymous, at 5:35 p.m.
The Conservative platform is BALANCED even with spending and tax cuts.
on the state-run CBC Newsworld, the Deputy Chief Economist of the Conference Board of Canada reiterated his endorsation of the Conservatives Party’s campaign numbers, saying that they will not result in any deficit, and in fact allow for a continued surplus.
The Conference Board of Canada is a body upon which the Canadian government has long relied to endorse their own economic outlooks, including the Liberal government’s outlooks of course.
See here for more:
http://www.proudtobecanadian.ca/blog/index/weblog/3497/
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Anonymous, at 5:43 p.m.
The Conservative estimates of the surpluses going forward is way too rosy for my comfort level.
I find they leave very little room for anything untoward to happen in the economy that may cause them to lose tax revenue while they pay for all of their promises.
It is only a matter of time before the massive budget, trade, and current account deficits come home to roost in the US and when their economy goes into the dumps our will be right on its tail.
The Liberal always underestimated the surpluses, for political reasons I am sure, but at least by doing so they were in a position to cushion any shocks to the economy from unforeseen circumstances.
I am afraid the Conservative spending plans have reduced that cushion to nothing.
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Anonymous, at 6:22 p.m.
The Liberal record on fiscal forecasting is horrendous to say the least... All these surprise surpluses at the end of the year.
Nevertheless, I do, as well, believe there are problems in the costing of the Conservative platform. For instance, the $750M on the capital gains tax cut is much, much too low. Investors are going to take advantage of this proposal big time.
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Anonymous, at 6:30 p.m.
If Martin comes out of the closet and say he has done coke as PM he can make up some lost ground in the urban areas. This is Canada after all.
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Anonymous, at 6:36 p.m.
For the record, to call the CBC "state-run" is misleading. It's a Crown corporation. Neither the state nor the government tells the CBC what to put on the air.
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Aeolus, at 6:59 p.m.
Not a problem for the Conservatives.
Simply collect ALL OF THE BROWN ENVELOPS WITH CASH AT VARIOUS LIBERALS OFFICES.
Yes!
In Canada.
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Anonymous, at 6:59 p.m.
Is Polygamy a Liberal value?
Has Martin been posed the question yet?
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Anonymous, at 9:20 p.m.
RCMP criminal investigations of various senior liberals.
Gomery indentifying liberal party corruption.
Wasteful spending...2 billion dollar gun registry...HRDC boondoggle...Canada Steam Ship Lines registered in the Barbadoes to avoid Canadian taxes...on and on...
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Anonymous, at 9:29 p.m.
Martin was asked about polygamy today.
Reporter: If polygamy was made legal through the courts would you use the notwithstanding clause?
PM: Polygamy is illegal and will always be illegal.
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Anonymous, at 11:12 p.m.
Captain Canada pulled the trigger on his BC bud for two reasons.
First and foremost, he is tired. He is trying to keep up with a many decades younger than he is, who is presenting fresh ideas and a vision.
Paul Martin is looking as ragged and tattered as I have ever seen him.
Poor snap decisions come from being that worn down.
Second, the Martin gang were terrified of looking indecisive.
As the Martin team is all anti-gun they have no idea it is ready, aim fire.
They fired first.
It all adds up to a weary team with only fear and fright to sell their fight.
No one is buying it.
Tired.
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Anonymous, at 12:11 a.m.
I'm glad to see someone else is considering innocence before guilt. However, as another person has pointed out, Paul Martin is so politically weak he cannot even afford due process to his flock.
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Anonymous, at 2:06 a.m.
This is what political campaigns have become. They are stage-managed to the point that any distraction from the desired news cycle has to be disposed of quickly regardless of principle.
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Anonymous, at 2:39 a.m.
For all we know this kid running for the NDP could just be a mendacious punk on the make. So his letter was "notarized" -- big deal. A completely unsubstantiated, trumped up allegation with no hope of sticking. But MISSION ACCOMPLISHED for him! He effective knocked out his Lib opponent.
Pretty smooth move.
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Red Tory, at 2:49 a.m.
If I may, C.G., I don't think it's a non-issue - I think the issue is how quickly Paul Martin is willing to completely abandon his troops in battle. It's utterly shameful. As I pointed out on my blog, if all it takes to force a candidate out of a race is an unfounded and far-fetched allegation, this country is, for lack of a better term, fucked.
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Ryan Ringer, at 3:13 a.m.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Oil is at astoundingly high levels. Ditto for Natural Gas. Also, minerals, metals, and pulp and paper costs a hell of a lot now. This primary resource extraction gig our economy is run upon seems pretty good right now.
Our Federal government is awash in cash, an embarrasment of riches. I think BOTH the Tories and the Grits underestimated the surpluses in their platforms. Grits because that is what they have done for the past decade, and the Tories because in 2004 when they actually released ACTUAL REAL non-BS surplus numbers, they were ridiculed for it, so they might as well just stick with the Liberal numbers for now.
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Anonymous, at 3:41 a.m.
Is this Liberal candidate NDP bribe story a very, very elaborate Liberal plant?
Pay off a young candidate who could use a lot of money, accuse the Liberal candidate of bribery in a riding where it makes no sense, have the Prime Minister uncharacteristically make a decisive statement and take quick action (decisive action copied from Stephen Harper, of course), then a couple to a few days later, have it all fall apart or the NDP candidate retract and, therefore, try to discredit the original Judy Wasylycia-Leis complaint, RCMP investigation, and SEC investigation?
No way. That is all pure bull shit. It could not happen that way.
But with Ominous martial music, quotes taken out of context or, better yet vis-a-vis the Liberal attack ads, made up quotes (or still better yet, a quote that someone else said, but you use that quote to attack the person who you're attacking who actually wrote the person who said the quote to disagree with the quote, if you can believe it, and if you can follow it), it would make a good ad, eh?
Or maybe George Bush planted a brain control device in Paul Martin so that he would turn into a babbling idiot at press conferences? That's my theory.
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Anonymous, at 6:07 a.m.
Did anyone ever think this was a "change the channel" moment? Think about it....no more talk about Military Atack Ad. Did you hear Martin after the announcement? He wanted to sound as decisive as Stephen Harper no doubt. This guy Oliver is a Martinite going back in time. Is he is taking this in the head just to give Martin an opportunity to change the channel? This smells really bad!
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Anonymous, at 9:47 a.m.
If there's any kind of conspiracy theory going on here, the perhaps it would be the NDP in BC getting one of their own candidates who didnt have a hope of winning to claim a bribe was made, in the hope that it will boost them in BC, and knock the liberals down a bit in BC?
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Anonymous, at 11:04 a.m.
It is a shame that the one time Martin actually acts on a matter of ethics, he gets it wrong.
The Liberal candidate accused of offering the bribe was gone before he had a chance to tell his side of the story. Martin should have at least allowed for some investigation and due process in the matter. What if the NDP candidate has made false allegations ?
The whole scenario seems incredible, as knocking off the NDP would make little difference in this riding.
Martin obviously felt he needed to appear decisive, in response to Harper's recent dumping of a candidate. The problem is, Harper had more legitimate reason to dump his candidate than Martin did.
Perhaps the alleged bribe really did occur, and in that case, Oliver must be purged from the party.
I think the best thing Martin could have done is to order an immediate investigation, and publicly state that Oliver will be dumped IF ANY EVIDENCE of wrongdoing is uncovered.
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Anonymous, at 11:38 a.m.
It's He said He said who are you going to believe an NDP'r or a Liberal?
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Anonymous, at 8:06 p.m.
Anonymous # whatever is right, PMPM should have asked for an investigation. Instead, he stripped the guy assuming guilt.
Harper had reason - the candidate fudged an application form that is probably 20 pages long.
Martin had allegations. And if allegations are enough, then Goodale would have stepped down. If an investigation is enough, then Goodale would not be running under the Liberal banner.
Once again, inconsistency from PMPM.
By
Candace, at 4:05 a.m.
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