Not a Leader

That was how Stephen Harper described Stephane Dion in 2008, when "unelected" and "unaccountable" Liberal senators blocked Harper's senate reform legislation.



I look forward to the new attack ads:

Tory senator questions colleagues' loyalty to Harper

OTTAWA — A Conservative senator is calling into question his colleagues' loyalty to Prime Minister Stephen Harper after Tory senators revolted against his reforms and forced the government to change course on its Senate reform agenda, Postmedia News has learned.

Policy Time

And slowly but surely, we begin to learn a bit more about the international man of mystery:

Ignatieff sketches out 'doable' Senate reform ideas

Liberals present job creation proposals

Daycare tops Liberal agenda

Yes, the specifics are still missing, but those will come. With voters wholly unimpressed with Stephen Harper, now is the time for Michael Ignatieff to show Canadians what he stands for - and he appears to be doing just that.

Second Thoughts

I know there's no rule that says I have to post every few days here but I kind of feel I should put something up. Unfortunately, the only real newsworthy story out there right now is...gulp...Jack Layton's musings on the Senate. So it is with great reluctance that I link to Layton's call for a referendum on abolishing the Senate. Apart from Harper tossing a bone to his base ("I'm sorry about the Quebec nation thing but look! Bert Brown!"), I can't see this being a real vote mover for anyone. I'd be surprised if the question of Senate abolition gets on a referendum ballot anytime soon.

As for me...meh. I think there's something to be said for having the Senate as a check on the House and they do a lot of good committee work, adding needed amendments to more bills than people realize. It's abundantly clear that the current system is deeply flawed but I think an elected Senate would be far worse. Once you elect Senators, you're giving the institution legitimacy and inviting activist decisions which opens up a whole can of worms, especially if you have unfair regional representation.

So, yeah, it's kind of a non starter for me. But for all of you out there who love talking Senate reform, go nuts!

Monday Night News Hits

-The Ontario election is off and running...after being off and running for the past few months. I'd be betting on a McGuinty majority.

-SES has a town hall set up for the Ontario election where, amongst other things, you can try and beat the experts with your predictions. Sounds like fun.

-Stephen Harper has Senate envy. Except in this case, he's not envious of the size, but of how Australia uses it.

-Veil voting has become a hot topic in the Quebec by elections. To me, it doesn't seem unreasonable, so long as veiled voters can show their face to a female elections officer. The vote will be on September 17th.

The Senators are out, and so is Senate reform

1. The Green Party environmental platform calls for a dreaded carbon tax and higher gasoline prices. Sure, it'll be unpopular, but if people are serious about meeting Kyoto (and the Greens certainly are), you'll only get there with hard line tactics like that.


2. On the international scene, G8 leaders have agreed to consider thinking about perhaps maybe possibly wanting to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050. And people laughed when Harper said he'd be instrumental in bridging a compromise...


3. I'm not sure if this helps or hurts Dion's status as a "leader" or a "hero", but Liberal Senators are shelving Harper's Senate reform bill for now.


4. Bill Casey is gone from the Tory caucus. I seem to remember a few commentators being hard on Dion for booting Comuzzi for breaking party ranks on a budget vote in March...I invite them to weigh in.


5. I've got to hand it to SDA for the "IOC rapes gay nazis" description of the new London 2012 Olympic logo.

Thursday News Round Up

1) Harper has announced he will be appointing barley farmer Bert Brown to fill a Senate vacancy. Bert Brown is, of course, famous for plowing the following phrase into his field in the 1990s: "Triple-E Senate or else...appoint me and screw the effective and equal part of it".


2) After Rona Ambrose's initial Green Plan was met with scorn and ridicule leading to her departure from the file, the Conservatives are planning to release a new and improved Green Plan which...wait for it...weakens the targets set out in their first plan. Either the Tories are trying to dampen expectations, or this is their election trigger.


3) Speaking of the environment, John Baird went before the Senate today to claim that meeting our Kyoto targets would lead to a massive recession, unemployment, sky-rocketing gas prices, the cancellation of Hockey Night in Canada, and the closing of all Tim Hortons coast to coast.


4) I don't think we'll see the Greens stand down in St. Catharines but the mere fact that some of their members are talking about not running a candidate is exactly why I thought the Dion-May deal was a strategic coup de force for the Liberals.

Friday News Roundup

1. Harper now says he'll comply and submit a Kyoto plan which is...interesting. I kind of suspect he'll submit a mischievous plan rather than an actual one he intends to follow but after seeing Gordon Campbell cut his opposition off at the knees, Harper certainly has the opportunity to do the same thing to Dion.

2. Harper wants the Liberals to apologize for being exonerated in the Income Trust scandal. Uh-huh. It seems to me that no one really has anything to apologize for in this. There were improprieties so the opposition was right to call for a probe, but the Liberal Party was innocent of any wrong doing so obviously they're not to blame. The one thing I do agree with is that the Tories should pull their TV ads which implicate Goodale, since he's been cleared of any wrong doing. But, as for everyone demanding everyone else apologize? Puh-lease.

3. I'm glad to see Dion coming out in favour of term limits for Senators. This is consistent with what he's said and written in the past and makes sense since Prime Ministers will be freer to appoint younger Senators.

4. Rick Hillier has referred to the Liberal rule as the "decade of darkness". If the General finds himself job hunting in a year or two, he should definitely consider writ ting sci-fi, because he certainly has a flair for the dramatic.

5. "Bush Snubs Canada" was the front page of my local paper this morning. I'm reading Eddie Goldenberg's book right now and one point he makes is that the so-called "snubs" are usually just oversights and are rarely intentional. So I wouldn't read much into this.

6. Ditch the penny!