Remembering Dec. 6, 1989: May they rest in eternal peace

Geneviève Bergeron (1968-1989)
Hélène Colgan (1966-1989)
Nathalie Croteau (1966-1989)
Barbara Daigneault (1967-1989)
Anne-Marie Edward (1968-1989)
Maud Haviernick (1960-1989)
Maryse Laganière (1964-1989)
Maryse Leclair (1966-1989)
Anne-Marie Lemay (1967-1989)
Sonia Pelletier (1961-1989)
Michèle Richard (1968-1989)
Annie St-Arneault (1966-1989)
Annie Turcotte (1969-1989)
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (1958-1989)

"Je Souviens" came to mean something more to me on this day than whatever the original intent of using it as the line on our license plates. I am so grateful to have the chance to raise two boys of my own to understand that we need to build a world without violence - towards women or anyone for that matter.

It's the least I can do in their memory. That and to keep singing:



Each time I feel like this inside
There's one thing I want to know
What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?

Shorter Peevey Stevie: Bloc votes are only legit when aligned with the CPC

I guess Peevey Stevie feels better when he vents his spleen in public and tells us what he really thinks of the Bloc Québecois caucus that represents the majority of Quebec ridings:

“Mr. Speaker, not a single member of the House, not even a member of the Bloc, received a mandate to have a government in which the separatists would be part of the coalition,” Harper shot back

This attitude is not new. I recall similar feelings of disgust I felt towards Harper when he cavalierly dismissed the votes of the BQ that helped pass legislation legalizing gay marriage back in 2005 when he was Opposition Leader:

"Because it's being passed with the support of the Bloc, I think it will lack legitimacy with most Canadians," Mr. Harper said on Monday. "The truth is most federalist MPs oppose this."

Contrast that with his government's record of recognizing BQ votes with no hint of disapproval over the last three years, and you have yet another wonderful example of how full of shit he continues to be. As aptly pointed out by G&M columnist Jeffrey Simpson, Harper is clearly willing to bring on a completely unnecessary and avoidable unity crisis to save his own political skin (and at a time of great economic uneasiness, to boot).

It is therefore fair to speculate that in addition to an economic bungle, a political mess and possible constitutional crisis, Mr. Harper's miscalculations, and subsequent attempts to save himself, might produce a national unity problem, too.

It's never a good idea to tell the voters what they were or weren't voting for - as if anyone could get inside their millions of heads. In the end, you have to respect the members' will; otherwise you are disrespecting the voters who put them there and in the numbers present.

So Stephen Harper is again proving he is more Fascist than democrat. Can't say we weren't warned.

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Advice to the GG: if asked to Prorogue, Make him Sweat!

I see that to top it off, Harper has embarrassingly inconvenienced the office of the Governor-General of Canada. With Michaëlle Jean forced to cancel her trip and fly home early, I suspect Harper will pull out all the stops and ask her to prorogue Parliament before the Opposition benches have a chance to vote in line with their oft and clearly stated position that his government has lost the confidence of a majority of the MPs.

If he does request a prorogation, one suspects that he will hold out as long as possible first while he shores up support for this action among his caucus and grassroots, in order to minimize the negative reaction to "pulling the fire alarm" in this way.

Now, I am no constitutional scholar, and I don't suppose Jean would be very comfortable in not granting a prorogation should Harper request it; but here is an interesting idea to let the G-G off the hook (at least partially):

What is to stop her from deciding to consult with her advisors and take say, a few days' deliberations before making her decision on whether to grant the request? That could even take her as much as a week, perhaps. And if the Opposition acts on the floor of the House to formally declare non-confidence in the meantime, then would not the prorogation request itself be prorogued (or negated?)

Call it the "Let me get back to you when I get back to you" option.

You're quite welcome, your Excellency

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Dion Misunderestimated Again

The strategy of the emerging Liberal/NDP coalition government is evidently designed to drive Peevey Stevie so insanely enraged that his head explodes before the afternoon is out.

The goal is to inform Ms. Jean that a viable alternative to the current government exists within the current Parliament, in the form of a coalition between the Liberal Party and the NDP. The Bloc is expected to promise to support the coalition to survive for at least a year, which would allow for the passage of two budgets.

"We've decided that the only person and the best person to lead and form a coalition government is the elected leader of our party ... Stéphane Dion," said leadership hopeful Dominic LeBlanc.

"We are comfortable with that, we support that and we think that's right."

I, for one, can't wait for Harper to blow up.

Mike Duffy, you are a tool

And Harper is a fool for taking the bait. Here is The National Post's Don Martin on Harper's comment of the whole incident:

To use his first spontaneous media appearance of the campaign to declare Mr. Dion the most unworthy of the two candidates for prime minister based on a minute of misunderstanding is not the most flattering reaction for the prime minister.

In the end the incident they hoped to use to define Mr. Dion as a confused ditherer may actually provide more telling insight into the character of Stephen Harper.

This tempest in a teapot is rather eloquently summed up here. And kudos to Mr. Comartin for his unfailing decency. I hope he gets re-elected on Tuesday.

As for Mr. Duffy? Heck, this isn't even the first time this week he's been a total jerk, and Ms. Elizabeth May was stellar in calling him on it:


CTV has some better assets at their disposal than Duffy. If there was ever a time for fresh blood, it's now. Duffy, I know you're not reading this, but let me tell you something: I studied journalism under Lindsay Crysler, Enn Raudsepp, Rod McDonnell and a host of other painstakingly ethical professors at Concordia University in the 80s and early 90s. This sort of thing would have given me a failed grade and censure from the department. You have a national audience. Canada deserves better than this from its biggest commercial television network.

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Tank By Tuesday!! (new CPC slogan)

If that's not the new slogan, it sure appears to be their new modus operandi. I am starting to put things together here. Seems the SHITs* have lost all the non-Harper backroom assets normally at their disposal.

Michael Fortier and Peter MacKay (the latter of which is a complete dumb-ass anyway) are both fighting tooth-and-nail just for their own ridings. Fortier also has the added burden of covering for many Montreal area candidates' media requests (not entirely surprising, given that some can't even answer a simple question in french). Fortier was key to the strategy behind the 2006 campaign, so that's one major brain that isn't nearly as available to the national campaign as they would surely like.

Back in March, Peevey Stevie's braintrust, Ian Brodie became a liability he could no longer be seen talking to - particularly now that the candidacy he was attempting to sandbag is now clearly heading for the White House. So that's a second "brains behind the operation" gone.

Then they lost number 3 in week one of the campaign when Ryan Sparrow had to be given the boot over Puffin-Poop Peccadillo and his public dumping on the father of a Canadian soldier that had been killed in action in Afghanistan.

So his behind-the-scenes team was already bleeding out profusely by the time he had to dismiss his longtime aide, Owen Lippert, who dutifully fell on his sword over the John Howard speech plagiarism scandal last week.

With his cupboard bare, Harper now has to rely on his own tin ear to lurch along through the rest of the campaign. And all he can do is revel in his own perceived brilliance, and speak over the heads of these silly Canadian voters, directly to his true constituents: the Neo-Con masters such as Karl Rove.

So spread the word: the new mantra is for the Conservatives is "TBT", or

"Tank By Tuesday"

Can they do it? Tune in this time next week to find out!

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(Tip 'o the Hat to Cyberwanderer for that last link.)

*For the uninitiated: that's the Secret Harper Imitation Tories.

Dion's got his mojo back

When asked how he expects Stephen Harper to respond to the news that "more than 230 economists teaching in Canadian universities (were collectively) calling for economically coherent action on climate change and putting a price on carbon", Stephane Dion responded:

"He will, Stephen Harper, say that they are crazy, they are insane," Dion said. "There is only one economist who is disagreeing with them and he's still prime minister, but hopefully, won't be by next Tuesday."

SNAP!!



Yeeeeeah, baby!

What was that about corporate greed and corruption?

Just in case you missed it at the congressional hearings into the AIG collapse, here is a sweet little tidbit:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., also said that even as losses were engulfing the company, AIG executives depleted AIG's capital through stock buybacks and higher dividends.

Pretty much sums up a sick and twisted situation for you. Looks like things are going to get ugly, and we have barely scratched the surface.

For more blood-boiling AIG outrages - even post-bailout! - see this stuff over at dailykos.

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No Depression?

Oh joy:

The word “recession” wouldn’t describe the deep structural problems affecting everything from the U.S. housing sector to the Canadian oil industry, said Bank of Nova Scotia chief economist Warren Jestin.

“You have to invent a new word to describe what we’re in now,” he said after the banks presented their perspectives at the Economic Club today.

How about: Global Economic Shitstorm?

But please, no depression. (Apologies to Uncle Tupelo).



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Tories' record of blood on their hands

From the CBC: fresh allegations the Secret Harper Imitation Tories turned the CFIA from inspectors to mere paperwork auditors.

"We might not have had anybody dead [if company officials were still obligated to report positive listeria findings]. It's terrible. My dad eats this stuff all the time. I eat it," the inspector said.

...

"Before, you had authority, you were like a cop. We were the meat police. Now, you're just looking at the paperwork," the Toronto-area inspector said.

Gilles Duceppe had it right yesterday, calling Harper out for having no moral compass.

Rae puts Peevey Stevie off-script

Up there on the platform
He is speaking to the people
The people are responding
With clapping and a cheering
But the meaning of the message
Not revealed to those assembled
They're taken for a ride
Taken in his stride

When the generals talk
You better listen to him
When the generals talk
You better do what he say
--from "When the Generals Talk", by Midnight Oil



That really sets the table for the debates, eh? Harper is going to be on the defensive, while his deputy leader is stuck spending extra time trying to save his own riding (that's the real power play behind the Dion/May agreement). Harper has so few other mouthpieces than himself that he trusts. Now here he is shown up as someone who isn't his own man. So what other speeches has he had imported? And was this even Howard's own speech to begin with? Or possibly something prepared in Washington or London?

Here's another from the Oils: "US Forces"


And while we're at it: "Short Memory"


HELP! I can't stop!!


In case you're wondering, the singer of these songs is today Australia's Right Honourable Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, and as such, a member of the government that succeeded Howard's late last year.

As Peter Garrett sang in "US Forces" back in 1982:
"Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many dying"

Indeed.

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Too Phoquen Phunny

Tip o' the hat to Paul Wells.

My Kingdom for a Vested Sweater® Take-off

It's not exactly Mayor Tommy Shanks but it may be even funnier:

Tip o' the Hat to impolitical.

Gerry Ritz and the Sorry (Excuse for) Tories

Dear Mr. Ritz,

I am a father. I have a 4-year old and a 14-month old, and they both have voracious appetites. I used to make grilled-cheese sandwiches with hungarian salami tucked inside for the oldest one. I'd give him a slice of salami while he was waiting for his lunch.

I'd also give the younger one some tiny pieces of meat. He laps that stuff up like nothing else.

Well, I guess he's lucky to be alive. Some other people's babies aren't so lucky.

And you found it possible to joke about "...death by a thousand cuts, or should I say: 'cold-cuts'?". I think I know what was going through your head at the time. It wasn't guilt, or anguish over the unnecessary illnesses and deaths your actions led to. Instead, you were concerned about the political fallout for your useless party's government, weren't you?

Weren't you?!?

You rhetorically asked if one of the tragic deaths caused by the recent listeria outbreak might be your political opponent. Tell me something: what if it had been your political opponent who'd died as a result of this negligence? Not so funny anymore, eh?

Is that what it would take for you to understand what a disgusting and dishonourable jackass you are?

Let me remind you of something. You are supposed to be "responsible". You are supposed to be in charge of making sure government oversight of the meat packing industry is in place and effective.

You, Gerry Ritz, have blood on your hands.

You, Gerry Ritz, should accept responsibility and step down immediately.

Your government's inattentiveness speaks volumes.

Instead of issuing (and re-issuing - for better photo-ops) lame apologies dripping with faux sincerity, you can start to exercise your sworn responsibilities by reversing this.

Then you might regain a glimmer of whatever humanity you checked at the door when you signed your Conservative Party nomination papers.

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Papineau candidates debate from this a.m. (podcast)

For those who missed it, the most*-candidates debate broadcast this morning on Daybreak - CBC Radio One Montreal - is available for a limited time on the CBC site as a podcast. Ingrid did a fine job showcasing the depth of Green Party policy on several issues: from tackling poverty as a long-term strategy toward public security, to the economic and trade benefits we can realize by promoting our culture internationally, (instead of eliminating the program outright, as the Harper government did just recently). Click here to download the whole debate.

*The Conservative party's nominee, Mustaque Saker, was absent; in his place sat the much higher profile Michael Fortier, Minister of International Trade, even though Fortier is running in the off-island riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

Hein vs. Fortier, Barbot and Trudeau in Papineau riding debate this morning

Papineau riding's Green Party of Canada nominee, Ingrid Hein and her riding rivals will be participating in a debate on culture and law & order (the real stuff; not the TV show) on Daybreak, CBC Radio One, Montreal (98.5 FM) today, September 15th, at 7:40 am (EDT).

Host Mike Finnerty and the gang will be broadcasting from a popular local eaterie with the candidates. As of last Friday, the Conservatives were planning to send Minister of International Trade Michael Fortier in to pinch-hit for Mustaque Sarker, effectively denying listeners the chance to hear their actual CPC candidate go toe to toe with his rivals on english radio.

Since that's the case, I wonder: Will the Liberals' Justin Trudeau impress us avec ses abilites to change back et en avance dans la same sentence jusqu'au le point of headache-inducing distraction? Will the Bloq's Vivian Barbot and the NDP's Costa Zapirofolous show up? Tune in to Daybreak, 98.5 FM and find out.

Well Ingrid Hein will certainly be there. Listen in on the live feed here.

Should be interesting.

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Harper and Layton CAVE: the day belongs to May

Victory for democracy!

Mother May I? The answer is now yes. From here on in Canada, May Day may now be celebrated on 10 September. Thank you Mr. Layton, and Mr. Harper, for putting an end to this silliness and respecting the will of the vox populi (as well as good ol' common decency).

Dare we hope that this might become a trend?

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Harper's Worst Nightmare?

What a bother this representational,... what do they call it? demogra...? demma? democracy? Yeah, democracy stuff is. 308 bloody candidates - all with ...freakish skeletons in their closets ...and mouths! Mouths that might say words that can't be controlled, not like robots can. That's it. GET ME ROBOTS!! LIKE IN THAT SECOND BORING STAR WARS MOVIE!!!

At least until I can get my majority, and then sell this god-forsaken socialist backwater country to the United States where is belongs! Now let me look at that notaleader site. WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT FINISHED YET?!? Well, show me what you've got. Did they get the puffin in yet? Let me see... THAT'S CRAP!! I TOLD YOU - I WANT THE PUFFIN TO CRAP ON HIS SHOULDER!!! HIS SHOULDER, MORONS!! GET IT RIGHT!

Great, so first I have to tell the media I'm some kind of fruit, and now I've got a puffin that isn't pooping where I want it to? THIS IS NOT HAPPENING TO ME!!!

AAARGGGHH!!!

Okay, I'm good now... Hey, who's that? Come out where I can see you! Is that a microphone? GET BACK HERE YOU! DON'T STICK YOUR TONGUE OUT AT ME!!

This was SUPPOSED to be a SAFE ROOM!! Now I'll have to sue somebody to shut them up and make up some crap about doctored recordings again.

Where's Emerson? EMERSON!!!

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G&M interview with May: on her exclusion from the televised debates

Right on, Lizzie!

"I think it's in the public interest to have a woman political leader on the stage, if for no other reason that it gives young girls, young women a role model. Not that I want to be their role model in all things, but if you don't ever see a woman on the stage in a federal televised leaders' debate, the message to young women is that they don't belong on that stage, that women aren't in politics."

The whole thing it definitely worth a read.

Mother May I? Layton ties himself in knots, while Harper clams up

You won't have to try hard to read between the lines of this CP report on Layton's appearance, wherein he proves that he has the requisite two sides of one mouth to live up to our current Prime Minister's standard.

REGINA - Jack Layton says the NDP's reputation for fighting the establishment and championing the underdog is intact despite his refusal to allow the Green Party a podium at the televised debates.

The New Democrat leader is on the defensive over the decision to exclude Green Party Leader Elizabeth May from the Oct. 1 event.

At a Regina coffee house, Layton told a breakfast crowd of cheering supporters that the NDP won't "let the old interests and powerful sectors" stand in the party's way.

But later, he defended excluding May by saying she had already endorsed Liberal Leader Stephane Dion for prime minister.

Layton also tried to shift responsibility for the decision to the television networks that will host the event.

Some NDP supporters at a Monday night rally in Vancouver expressed shock at the party's stand.

No kidding they expressed shock. Enough that Layton figured he couldn't keep running for cover any longer, evidently.

As for Peevey Stevie, after whining on and on yesterday about how unfair it would be to have to face May, he's evidently decided that's not the right side of the issue to be on after all, and today is shutting his yap on the matter (looks like he already winded himself apologizing for his pooping puffin problems).

And we thought the American election was entertaining? Heck, we've even got "Scandalpedia" now (courtesy of the Grits).

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