Shouldn't we really be blaming the Nova Scotia Liberal government who designed his grade 5 curriculum?

From the government who brought you a Minister of Science who doesn't believe in science, comes a (former) Foreign Affairs Minister who doesn't believe in geography:

Defence Minister Peter MacKay might want to give his old Grade 5 geography teacher a call for a brush-up.

MacKay made a bit of a gaffe Tuesday night, when he stated British Columbia shares a border with California when he posed a question to the state's former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The "Terminator" actor politely quipped that Oregon and Washington happen to exist between B.C. and the Golden State.

Though this probably shouldn't come as a surprise, given MacKay has trouble telling Toronto from Halifax:

2010 in Pictures: Hello Sports Fans

Moment of the Decade: #1 The Merger

If you missed it, I asked readers to nominate, then vote, on Canada's top political moment of the decade. Over the first two weeks of January, I've been counting down the top 10 vote getters. Today, the political moment of the decade:



The right wing merger didn’t get a lot of Canadians excited. There weren’t protests in the streets. Canadians outside the Ottawa bubble may not have even been aware it was going on. If they did, few immediately recognized it as the game changer that it was – after all, right wing parties in Canada changed their name and their leaders every few years. And it seemed unlikely they would even change their leader this time.

So former future Prime Minister Bernard Lord and a slew of other high profile candidates yawned and took a pass, letting Stephen Harper walk over Belinda “Bake a Bigger Economic Pie” Stronach and Tony “Never Get Tired of Losing” Clement. Most assumed Stephen Harper could never become Prime Minister – hell, he was the Canadian Alliance leader. And he was from Calgary. We all knew Ontarians would never vote for him. The thought of Quebecers doing that was laughable.

Because, after all, the Alberta firewall guy was up against the Paul Martin juggernaut. One of Martin’s top Alberta organizers was going around the 2003 leadership convention telling everyone that, merger or no merger, the Liberals were going to win 9 seats in Alberta next election. I still have my Paulberta t-shirt, as an ironic keepsake. Everyone just knew Paul Martin was going to win 200 seats. It turns out he barely did…it just took him 2 elections to do it.

So it’s fair to say the merger didn’t really grip the nation the same way the coalition or the Stronach floor crossing did. Sure, we enjoyed watching David Orchard and Joe Clark huff and puff. Scott Brison joining the Liberals was kind of interesting, but all it did was reinforce the feeling that a Martin landslide was inevitable. Let’s face it, this wasn’t political theater of the highest caliber.

But in retrospect, it proved to be one of the most important events of the decade. Because, to pick a moment of the decade, you really need to think about what the decade was all about.

The story of the 90s was the Liberals balancing the financial and national unity books. The story of the 80s was Brian Mulroney's rise to power and what he did there. For the 00s, the overarching political narrative was the fall of the Liberals and the rise of Stephen Harper. The event that made it all possible was the merger.

And that, is why I suspect it was voted the political moment of the decade.


You can see the full results here. Thanks to everyone who voted - I had a lot of fun with this one, and I must say the final list is very close to the top 10 list I'd have produced if I did this myself.

#10: Paul Martin is Quit-Fired
#9: Dions Wins LPC Leadership
#8: The Clarity Act
#7: The 2006 Federal Election
#6: Confidence Vote Mayhem
#5: Adscam
#4: Same Sex Marriage Legalized
#3: No to Iraq
#2: The Coalition Crisis
#1: The Merger

Memory Lane

From a Liberal press release, some oldies and goodies:


“The Liberals, apparently, want to prorogue the House. They want to run out of town, get out of town just one step ahead of the sheriff. Is the Liberal government committed to staying here as planned throughout the month of November so that it can be held accountable in the House for its actions?” (Stephen Harper, Hansard, October 20, 2003)

“Now is it true that the government will prorogue the House so that it will not be held accountable for its shameful record?” (Stephen Harper, Hansard, October 20, 2003)

“I'm pretty convinced now that they intend to prorogue and run away from accountability.” (Jay Hill, Alaska Highway News, November 17 2005)

“It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they decided to prorogue Parliament... I'm sorry if I sound a little cynical... This is a government (for which) the rules of engagement don't apply. They'll move the goal post, change the boundaries and bribe the referee.” (Peter MacKay, Nanaimo Daily News, July 18, 2005)

“It's like hitting tilt on a pinball machine... I think it's a bald-faced admission that the government doesn't really have an agenda and... that there's a few contentious bills that I think they just want to deep-six.” (Peter MacKay, Canadian Press, September 16, 2002)

"Mr. McKay! Someone on the Internet agrees with you!"

I've generally found Jane Taber's new "morning buzz" blog to be an interesting read and I've bookmarked it.

However, I do have to take issue with her first point today:

But [Peter MacKay's] office is taking some solace now in what Canadians outside of the Ottawa bubble are saying. In fact, his staff found this comment on Aaron Wherry's latest Question Period sketch at Maclean's, which they showed to the minister:

“I’m sure there are a few other examples of suspected or confirmed Taliban who passed through the hands of Canadian forces before being beaten by their fellow Afghans wearing uniforms. There are also millions of examples of Afghans who were beaten by fellow Afghans without ever coming into contact with a Canadian – but we don’t care about those people, because they’re irrelevant. We only care about the three or four that could possibly prove useful in the eternal quest to embarrass the Canadian government. This is about politics, not morality.”

Now, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Canadians outside the Ottawa bubble are rather blasé about this story - it doesn't affect their lives personally, so I'm not sure this will be much of a game changer. MacKay comes across looking rather bad, but he certainly wouldn't be the first Harper Cabinet Minister to be shuffled out of his portfolio for gross incompetence.

I would, however, like to caution Mr. McKay's staff and Jane Taber that those outside the Ottawa bubble do not tend to read Macleans.ca recaps of Question Period. They probably don't post on them, and they certainly aren't people who have left 2,258 comments on the site.

I guess this is a step up from the annoying "people I talk to in my riding" anecdotes politicians are so fond of but, truth be told, the taxi driver or waiter in an MPs home riding is a lot more indicative of "outside the Ottawa bubble" thought than what bloggers and fanatical blog readers are saying.

Before they were stars

A picture of Peter MacKay from the Dalhousie yearbook, sent in anonymously:

The Carp Hits the Fan

I won't pretend to understand how equalization works. I won't pretend to understand if the "opt back" to the Atlantic Accord is the same or different than the original Atlantic Accord. I won't pontificate on the pros and cons of side deals with the provinces. I won't speculate on the legitimacy of the Senate holding up a budget, or of provinces suing the federal government.

But I will say that the optics of the atlantic disord we're seeing right now are very very bad. One MP down. Another wavering. Peter MacKay butting heads with his boss. A non-blowhard Premier from Atlantic Canada going to war with Harper. Plunging poll numbers out east.

Remember how Atlantic Canada punished Chretien and the Liberals in 1997 over cuts to EI? I'm betting a few Tory MPs out east are feeling a little nervous right about now.

Better Know a Riding

I'm heading down to Calgary for the ALP convention this weekend so no updates until Sunday. Until then, I am pleased to present the first part of a 308 part series, Better Know a Riding. Today - Central Nova! The fighting Novas!

Central Nova is home to St. Francis Xavier University, and its neckless President Dr. Sean Riley (left). Their sports teams are the X-Men and X-Women, although instead of telepathy and flight, their super powers include winning the MacLeans school rankings and...I dunno...chemistry. Alumni include Brian Mulroney, Frank McKenna, and, I kid you not, Ronald MacDonald.


Which MP, described as "the closest thing to eye candy on the diplomatic circuit" by the New York Times has the stuff to lead this proud riding? Well, it's none other than Peter MacKay. Today, I profile the battle royale between Mr. MacKay and Elizabeth May. [The Frog Lady has a good run down here as well]


First of all, here are the results from the last election:

Peter MacKay CPC 40.66%
Alexis MacDonald NDP 32.89%
Dan Walsh LIB 24.56%
David Orton GRN 1.59%
Allan H. Bezanson ML 0.29%

So all May has to do is increase the Green Party vote by 2600% to win the riding. There's rampant speculation that the Liberals might not run a candidate which would be HUGE since, if you assume every single Liberal in the riding votes for May, that moves the Green Party all the way from fourth to third. One other thing which I think people are overlooking is that the Marxists-Lenninists might also not field a candidate this time as part of the "Stop MacKay" movement which might prove to be just the momentum boost she needs.

But numbers only tell part of the story so I've decided to compare the candidates on a few topics to see who comes out on top.


Famous Insults

MacKay: Calls Belinda Stronach a dog
May: Calls Canadians stupid
Edge: McKay. There are 100,000 Canadian voters May may have offended with her remarks. On the flip side, neither Belinda Stronach nor any dogs have votes in Central Nova.

How They Handle Losing

MacKay: Kicks chairs. Spends time with his dog.
May: We'll find out soon enough
Edge: Probably May

Rumoured Secret Alliance

MacKay: Condi Rice
May: Liberal Party of Canada
Edge: Nobody does it better than the Republicans - edge MacKay



David vs. Goliath

MacKay: Become Tory leader by beating David Orchard
May: Become Green leader by beating David Chernushenko
Edge: Chernushenko seems slightly more stable than Orchard so May gets the edge here



Recent Gaffes

MacKay: Confuses Halifax with Toronto at East Coast Music Awards
May: Decides to run in Central Nova
Edge: Toss-up



So, really, both candidates seem quite evenly matched. I'll take MacKay by a nose (which, in his case, could mean quite a large margin of victory...).

Arse Lickers of Satan

This is from a week or two ago but I just saw it now and got a real kick out of it. You'd think Peter MacKay making a fool of himself would get tiring after a while but I still enjoy it every time.




Hat Tip: Bond. Sir Robert Bond.