Random Wednesday Links
1) I'll give Flaherty props for the home reno tax credit in this year's budget - it seems to be having the desired effect. As for the Tories' festival funding...not so much.
2) Notice how it IS Tony Clement now making the funding decisions. Looks like Brad Trost may have been right about the Ablonczy demotion.
3) The suggestion to cast Stephen Baldwin as Stephen Harper in the fictional G8: The Movie looks more and more like a stroke of genius, as we learn that neither one of them can balance the books...
4) For those keeping an eye on nominations, Bob Speller and Steve MacKinnon are making pushes in Haldimand-Norfolk and Gatineau. Gatineau certainly seems very winnable with Liberal fortunes up in Quebec, while Speller will need to overcome an 8-point gap from 2008 to get back into the House.
If you're looking to stay up to date on nomination news, I'd bookmark Pundit's Guide.
2) Notice how it IS Tony Clement now making the funding decisions. Looks like Brad Trost may have been right about the Ablonczy demotion.
3) The suggestion to cast Stephen Baldwin as Stephen Harper in the fictional G8: The Movie looks more and more like a stroke of genius, as we learn that neither one of them can balance the books...
4) For those keeping an eye on nominations, Bob Speller and Steve MacKinnon are making pushes in Haldimand-Norfolk and Gatineau. Gatineau certainly seems very winnable with Liberal fortunes up in Quebec, while Speller will need to overcome an 8-point gap from 2008 to get back into the House.
If you're looking to stay up to date on nomination news, I'd bookmark Pundit's Guide.
posted by calgarygrit at
11:23 p.m.
13 Comments:
The Haldimand-Norfolk nomination meeting was on July 20. Wasn't there, but I was pretty sure Speller was the only candidate. Is anyone running agaainst McKinnon in Gatineau? Even if there is I'm he's got what it takes to win the nom.
By
Anonymous, at 12:43 a.m.
Should say: "Even if McKinnon has competition I'm sure he's got what it takes to win"
By
Anonymous, at 12:44 a.m.
Summer quiet time . . so where's you boy Iggy ?
Seems he's bailed, left the country he "loves" so much so he can hang with his intellectual euro buddies and soak up some real culture . . . no bbq hot dogs and cold beer for him.
Canada, not good enough for Iggy.
But he's your boy, so you deal with him.
When he gets back.
By
Anonymous, at 9:45 a.m.
Amazing Fred! Is this really the best thing you guys can come up with? Damn Iggy for travelling outside of Canada and how dare he have an education like Harper!
I think it is politically stupid for Iggy not to be spending time going across Canada but at the end of the day it is his choice.
If you wanted to play the pro-Canada card you may have wanted to have a leader who has not already insulted Canada. I mean lets compare what Harper and Iggy have said about Canada.
Fred, so what exactly do you want in a leader? Somebody who never travels the world, is fearful of culture and education, eats large amounts of hot dogs and is drunk by the time everybody else gets home from work?
It really is strange Fred for you to attack education as a negative given the people Harper values the most are most often the ones with the education. Kind of like why Harper had such an issue in the Reform days of going to the general membership for ideas over academics. But I mean it doesn't matter. You are hardcore Conservative supporter. Harper could run up a massive deficit and you would still believe he is a true Conservative. He could fund one of the largest gay pride parades in the world and you would still think he was a great social conservative.
If Harper does resign and you are looking for somebody who does simply stay in Canada and eat hot dogs and drink beer. I do suggest attempting to recruit Dean Murdoch or Terry Cahill. Both fit the mold of the individual you want leading the Conservative party perfectly! And even better they are both fictional just like the idea that Harper still represents any conservative values.
By
Anonymous, at 11:02 a.m.
I'm no Harper fan, but blaming the deficit on him? Come on.
Could anyone have balanced our books given what happened to the World economy? (And if so, should anyone have...?)
I mean, the Opposition threatened to bring him down unless he spend a butt-load of money to make the deficit even worse.
Again: not a Harper fan. A lot to hate about the man, a lot to blame him for. But the deficit? Come on. Get serious.
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Robert Vollman, at 1:19 p.m.
The issue is not that he is in a deficit but the fact it is so large. Individuals such as Fred who are hardcore supporters turn a blind eye to the large deficit that Harper has run up but if it would have been a Liberal government they would be screaming bloody murder.
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Anonymous, at 3:12 p.m.
Thanks for the link, Dan. I haven't heard any more Liberal names from Gatineau as yet, but to answer another commenter, I believe Mr. Ignatieff was over there earlier today, and I'm told there may have been some news out of that.
If anyone has any news from their part of the country or their nook in the political spectrum, I always love to hear about it.
By
The Pundits' Guide, at 3:29 p.m.
turn a blind eye to the large deficit that Harper has run up but if it would have been a Liberal government they would be screaming bloody murder.
You're right, people would be screaming murder if a Liberal government ran up this big deficit.
Generally speaking, people give a free pass to right-wing administrations when it comes to the economy. Look at Mulroney, Bush and Reagan: huge spenders racking up huge debts and deficits yet got free passes (relative to how they were handled on non-economic issues, that is).
Even Ralph Klein left office with the largest per-capita spending of any province in history, paving the way for Alberta to ridiculously find itself in a deficit position, and yet people say he was fiscally responsible just because he was conservative.
People may be far, far tougher on conservatives when it comes to certain issues (social policy, the environment, etc), but they're far too soft when it comes to the economy.
All that being said, given that the Liberals forced Harper to spend more money or risk getting kicked out, and given that the largest spending increase in Canadian history was the final year of Liberal government, the deficit would probably be far, far larger had they been in charge instead.
By
Robert Vollman, at 6:30 p.m.
CG, you have your Baldwins mixed up.
The Daily Beast suggested Daniel Baldwin to play Harper.
Stephen Baldwin is the broke Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin is the guy in 30 Rock .
William Baldwin is the other one.
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french wedding cat, at 12:24 a.m.
Thanks for clearing that up, hoser.
So, Daniel plays Harper. Steve (the broke one) plays Flaherty. Alec (the sexy(?) one) plays McKay.
The other one - plays the rest of the cabinet.
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Anonymous, at 11:10 a.m.
Anon- I was there, and he was unopposed.
And it's worth pointing out that the 8 point spread was mostly due to vote splitting, as an independent candidate took something like 3000 votes, and the Green Party did surprisingly well. Still, it seems likely that if Gary McHale (the independent candidate) doesn't run again, the Liberals could take it.
By
Unknown, at 1:54 p.m.
What are the Liberals thinking in Gatineau - its a heavily heavily francophone BQ-held riding and they want to run an anglophone Liberal hack who grew up in PEI and speaks heavily accented French?
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Anonymous, at 12:37 a.m.
I'll give Flaherty props for the home reno tax credit in this year's budget - it seems to be having the desired effect
Let's see...you charge a whole bunch of loot on the public credit card to subsidize rec room renovations at the expense of:
1. renters
2. rec room renovators who did it last year on their own dime
3. rec room renovators who will do it next year on their own dime
4. taxpayers who will never be able to afford a rec room, let alone do renovations.
And let's not forget that much of this activity would be taking place anyway, so the tax credit is just a big fat cheque in the mail for nothing in particular.
And this is laudable why, exactly???
By
rod, at 9:29 a.m.
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