The World According To Pierre

It's not nearly as fun pointing these things out when the guy giving the quotes is aware that he's full of shit but, via a Macleans commenter:

"These are his words and it's perfectly fair to quote his words and cite his deeds."
- Pierre Poilievre; in defense of May 2009 attacks ads against Michael Ignatieff.

"My message to Mr. Ignatieff; put aside the election ads and the smears, and work with us to build the next phase of the EAP."
- Pierre Poilievre; in response to January 2010 attacks ads against Stephen Harper

Pierre Poilievre - Audio Expert

From QP today:

Mr. Pierre Poilievre (Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, CPC): Mr. Speaker, it is clear, in fact, that the tape was tampered. The matter is now settled and both parties are pleased with that settlement.

From Stephen Harper's audio expert:

A tape recording at the centre of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's $3.5-million defamation suit against the Liberal party was not altered as the prime minister has claimed, a court-ordered analysis of the tape by Harper's own audio expert has found.

The key portion of the recorded interview of Harper by a B.C. journalist contains no splices, edits or alterations, a U.S. forensic audio expert has determined.

It's not that I don't believe Pierre Polievre, but I'd be a lot more inclined to accept team Harper's talking points if the Tory MP making these claims was an expert in the field of tape-doctoring like, say, Gurmant Grewal.

Shamelessly Partisan Anti-Conservative News Bits

1. This Couillard thing keeps getting more and more intriguing, even two and a half weeks after the Minister's resignation. An aid in Michael Fortier's office is gone, after it's revealed he dated Couillard. And accusations of influence peddling are flying! Will the fun never end?


2. Does it make me a bad person to be glad that Pierre Polievre is in trouble?


3. Meet the new Judge Gomery - Jeffrey Oliphant. And it didn't take long for the first conflict of interest connection to emerge (I personally don't think it's a big deal that Mulroney appointed him, but I'll be curious to see if the opposition/media latch on to this at all).

Fight! Fight! Fight!

It's gotten to the point where it's almost weird when John Tory is the one criticizing McGuinty and explaining how the Tories would run Ontario. I thought John had permanently deferred to Van Loan/Flaherty/Poilievre on that.

Yesterday it was Pierre Poilievre displaying his usual class in response to the following rather benign criticisms the small man of confederation leveled at Harper's immigration plan:

Then he was asked about the sweeping new federal immigration reforms and he replied that his own ancestors were unskilled workers - just like the parents of some Canadian Rhodes scholars.

"I wouldn't want to shut out folks who don't have a skill. I wouldn't be here," McGuinty told a news conference.

"We were part of the exodus from Ireland at the time of famine. We had no skills, we couldn't speak English, and we were dirt-poor.

"But we were looking for opportunity and we brought with us a solid work ethic."

So Poilievre responded showing the usual maturity he has become known for, first saying that immigration was a federal jurisdiction and then attacking provincial immigration policy (anyone else catch the fun contradiction there?):

"All Dalton McGuinty has ever done on immigration is run a sponsorship-style slush fund that cost him his citizenship minister," Mr. Poilievre said in an interview.

Now, assuming the Conservative position is that it's OK for Ottawa to offer economic advice to Ontario, one wonders why it's not alright for Ontario to offer immigration advice to Ottawa. After all, it's not like McGuinty turned the Ontario Liberal website into a giant attack ad on Harper.

The most popular game in Ottawa has become trying to guess Harper's motives which seem to make about as much sense as a typical Lost episode. Here's a few of the theories I've seen floating around - there are probably more:

1. They want to blame McGuinty for the impending economic slump
2. This will help CPC fundraising
3. Trying to hurt the "Liberal" brand in Ontario
4. Trying to damage a future McGuinty run for LPC leader
5. There are enough people who dislike McGuinty that this will get them votes
6. Flaherty wants to replace John Tory
7. This is to remind Ontarians that they like federal/provincial fighting
8. Deflect attention from Cadman/Mulroney
9. A chance to re-emphasize that they're the party of tax cuts without having to actually cut taxes
10. Portray Tories as being best for the economy
11. Beating up Stephane Dion isn't challenging enough anymore
12. Harper just likes picking fights with people