Thursday, August 28, 2008

Parliamentary Death Watch: Thursday Edition

A recap of election speculation from the past few days:

-The GG has been grounded and will not be going to Beijing for the Paralympics. Sure, sure, everyone assumes this is so Harper can call an election but, really, isn't it just part of his greater ploy to destroy our relationship with China?

-Harpers aims to crush Liberals. Well, duh. Isn't that the point? I actually agree with Flanagan's theory completely, however I'm not sure how a September 5th election call facilitates crushing the Liberals better than a September 15th one would? But, yeah, Flanagan is right - Harper wants to crush the Liberals and, given the fundraising gap between the two, he's en route to doing that.


-Oh, and while the Guelph by election will soon be irrelevant, this is a pretty funky political map of the riding.

posted by calgarygrit at 8:38 a.m.

14 Comments:

  • I hope I am not going colour blind. When I look at the map of Guelph, I not sure if I see polling division north-north-east of Guelph that has a shade of purple to represent the percentage of people who voted for the Bloc Québécois. I did not know that Quebec bordered Guelph. Vladimir Charest must be following Russia's lead by expanding Quebec's empire.

    By Blogger Skinny Dipper, at 9:15 a.m.  

  • I think that's the "Liberal/Conservative tie" colour...but I guess it's possible the Bloc is on the march. Meh, if Quebec isn't going so well for them, why not try their luck in Guelph?

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 9:32 a.m.  

  • This comment has been removed by the author.

    By Blogger me dere robert, at 9:50 a.m.  

  • Flanagan is right and Liberals should be listening. They should be running two campaigns right now. The first to win the election. The second to convince Liberals that if they lose they can't afford to dump Dion. If Harper wins and the dump him we'll be seeing a Harper government for a long time.

    By Blogger me dere robert, at 9:51 a.m.  

  • Suck it up you guys. Dion has a great advantage going for him: i.e. the public is underestimating him. I heard him at a Grit rally in Calgary during Stampede Week. He has improved his delivery infinitely. He also radiates sincerity - a big advantage over Bush's pal Steve Harper. By the way, that is the second advantage that Dion takes into the fight. Harper is going down. You can say you heard it here first.

    By Blogger Darryl Raymaker, at 10:01 a.m.  

  • Thanks for the revelation on just how coloured blind I am.

    By Blogger James Curran, at 10:06 a.m.  

  • I also saw Dion recently, at Garth Turner's town hall. As you said, he radiates sincerity. Actually, I was quite blown over by the qualities which more than one publication (Walrus, National Post come to mind) have referred to as "too kind, too nice, too honest, too frank" to be Prime Minister.

    Some people can't move beyond their low expectations, and I think it is a CPC strategy to do what they can to lower political expectations. People have to get used to the idea that it may actually be possible to have an honest and open Prime Minister.

    Personally, I came away from Garth's event very excited that we had that possibility in front of us.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:17 a.m.  

  • I too think Dion may totally surprise people in a campaign... it seems to me that party leaders are frequently misunderestimated.

    If I was forced to gamble, I'd lay cash on a Harper majority, but I don't have any concrete predictions. I think a lot of outcomes could happen.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 10:20 a.m.  

  • The Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario is going to the Paralympics instead of the GG. Since he is actually disabled, it's really a much better choice, n'est-ce pas. Nothing for the Chinese to get upset about here, but interesting that the Globe didn't mention this little fact in what was actually a very long article.

    By Blogger jad, at 11:11 a.m.  

  • Shortly after his election Dion supporters put it out there that it's traditional for a leader to get two tries before being dumped.

    They should keep him for another election, please?

    In any case, they have to reform their leadership election laws to reflect how it's done in the 21st century.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:11 p.m.  

  • "If I was forced to gamble, I'd lay cash on a Harper majority, but I don't have any concrete predictions. I think a lot of outcomes could happen."

    Thank goodness you're not an investment advisor.

    By Blogger JimTan, at 4:40 p.m.  

  • Tories have until tomorrow to submit their final written arguments. Elections Canada has until October 10th to file their response. Should those land mid-campaign period, Harper will not be able to reduce the Liberals signficantly enough to force a leadership convention.

    And incidentally, no, that's not what it's all about, duh. Flanagan isn't talking about crushing the Liberal party in an election, he's talking about eliminating the party as a viable organization. That's is most definitely NOT what it's about if you're at all interested in good governance and democra.. oh.. nevermind.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:48 p.m.  

  • Wow, I had no idea the L-G was disabled. I agree, the article ought to have mentioned so -- I think that makes him a great choice for the Paralympics. That's awesome, I hope more Canadians get to learn this.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 1:17 a.m.  

  • It should the reverse of Flanagan's scenario holds true. If the Grits can get back into government, I have a feeling Harper will resign and the Tories will have nobody to take over. They simply coast for at least an election cycle or two after that.

    In short, the next federal election will be important, but with some very distinctively choices, IMHO.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:59 p.m.  

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