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Before Liberals Complain About Parliament Being Prorogued As Undemocratic........
Jean Chretien prorogued Parliament four times during his time as Prime Minister: February 5, 1996; September 18, 1999; September 16, 2002; and November 12, 2003.
* On each occasion, the Liberals killed their own legislation. Several bills ended up dying over and over again due to Liberals proroguing Parliament or calling early elections.
* September 16, 2002 – After a summer of Liberal in-fighting and Jean Chretien being forced to announce his planned retirement date in August, Chretien prorogued Parliament, killing legislation so that he could unveil his legacy agenda.
* According [to] Eddie Goldenberg, Chretien decided to have a Throne Speech just to test the will of the Martinite forces who were trying to push him out early: Chretien was happy. "I like that. It is exactly what we just discussed. Prepare me a statement. But just one more thing," said the old fox. "I want a Throne Speech in the fall. The government will stand or fall on it. If they want to vote against me on it, then it is the one case in which I will run again." (Eddie Goldenberg, The Way it Works, p. 380)
* November 12, 2003 – Jean Chretien announced that Parliament was prorogued on the eve of the Liberal leadership convention (so Chretien and Martin didn't have to sit together in the House of Commons and face a dispute over who was Prime Minister). Martin did not become Prime Minister until December 12, 2003 and Parliament did not resume until February 2, 2004 – almost four months later
And by the way, Chretien prorogued Parliament in November, 2003, to avoid having to face the AG's report on what happened with the Liberal Party and Adscam, and thus allowing Paul Martin to answer for what occurred under Chretien's term as PM.
Always Hire A Professional For Your Advertising
So I'm out Xmas shopping last night, and a van drives by with advertising on the sides and windows. Forget the name of the company, but what jumped out was the writing underneath. On the side window it had info on the product or services they offered. Included in said information was The Therapists Choice. Unfortunatly, when doing the lettering the spacing was off between the letters "e" and "r" in therapists, displaying what appeared to read:
The Rapists Choice.
Might wanna spend the extra cash and get that litho work done by someone qualified next time.
John Bennett Of Sierra Club Latest Caught In Kyoto Lie
Fresh on the heels of Climategate comes Canada's own John Bennett of the Sierra Club. Caught Bennett on CTV news being interviewed about Copenhagen and Kyoto. In sticking with that fine tradition of fudging facts and figures to enhance the climate-change argument, Bennett stated that only Canada failed to meet the targets it agreed to and said it would meet under Kyoto. Right away I knew he was lying.
Now one would think that these climate alarmists might actually realize that google is our friend, and if they insist on lying they will be quickly called on it.
And with that I give you Exhibit "A". The chart to the right
(courtesy of http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/kyoto-whos-on-target/ ) shows that a number of countries will miss their Kyoto targets. Of course Bennett also stated that all Kyoto signatories will meet targets while forgetting to point out that of the 189 countries signed onto the pact, only 39 actually had targets to reduce emissions, but we'll save that for a future post.
Heather Mallick Is An Embarrassment To Canadians Donate Now To Kick Her Out
And the CBC actually pays this wingnut with Canadian tax dollars?
Charles Adler's rebuke pretty much nails it.
" But I will be happy to throw in 133 dollars, one loony for every Canadian who has fallen in Afghanistan since our mission began there nearly eight years ago. Every one of those Canadians was proud of this country. All of them and all who came before them, fought for your right to say what you please. In honour of them, I would propose to our government that we launch a Heather Mallick in which Canadians coast to coast to coast contribute money to those Canadians too embarrassed to be called Canadian. Getting them out of the country would be the greatest social program in the history of Confederation. This chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Heather, as of today, you are the quintessential definition of weak. One very weak Canadian."
( http://www.charlesadler.com/2009/12/my-letter-to-heather-mallick.html )
I'll match Charles $133. In fact, Mallick can choose the destination of her choice, as long as it's a one-way ticket and it takes her outside of Canada's borders for good, and I'll pay for the flight myself.
The Canadian Press Thinks Repeatedly = 2
Just another gleaming example of what journalistic integrity has been reduced too. Check out that headline:
"Red Cross repeatedly warned Canada of Afghan prison abuse: documents"
Now read the first line of the story:
"OTTAWA - The International Red Cross met twice with senior Canadian officials in Kandahar to deliver veiled but insistent warnings about torture in Afghan jails a year before Canada acted to protect detainees."
So in today's math repeatedly means two. And it gets worse. The story states the Red Cross gave dire warnings of torture:
"But the risks were so dire that detainees might be tortured in Afghan jails that the agency felt compelled to alert senior Canadian diplomats and officers in person, say memos made available on a confidential basis to The Canadian Press."
Seems pretty clear cut, right? Nope. It seems a Red Cross spokesperson actually denies the gist of the story, yet the Canadian Press still ran with that headline:
" A spokesman for the International Red Cross played down the face-to-face sessions with Canadian officials.
The agency would "never share confidential information," and the memo and Mendes' comments are "someone's interpretation of the meeting," Bernard Barrett, Red Cross spokesman in Washington, D.C., said in an interview."
Brilliant job by the Canadian Press. Smear the government with a story that actually refutes the headline if one takes the time to read it. You guys must make all journalists so proud.
Travers Makes Himself Useful
In the OLO War Room, columnist James Travers must have seemed an inspired choice. He can turn a purple phrase with the best of them. He stands foursquare against troops, widows, and orphans. He's for plummies, toffs, and pointyheads. He's short on guts and glory, long on assay. He has an ego as big as the Ritz, and fragile as a Gruyère Soufflé. To receive a document drop on a Matter of National Importance would be sweet validation, which most likely happened under Liberal governments.
So the Ignatieff Liberals—someone in the OLO—got the brilliant idea of having Travers write about a trove of Richard Colvin's long-sought emails from Kandahar, the same documents three esteemed generals had justlaid wayside with their testimony.
This is a standard bit of hardball damage control. Refute damning facts, testimony, and documents to anyone who might review them with credibility, pass them instead to a compliant journalist—a "high-value third-party," in PR lingo—who can be counted on to convey their content with opposition-friendly gloss.
Travers did not disappoint. His piece in Saturday's Star is replete with snide references to the Pm and three generals, who did not spend more than enough time outside the wire for his liking to be able to state the facts. Apparently volunteering to step into the shoes of the highest ranking military personnel ever to be on the front lines in Afghanistan isn't sufficient for our Liberal leaning scribe.
James Travers Writes His Most Idiotic Column Ever!!!
With Liberals trailing by 10 points in the polls, the Toronto Star and James Travers are having trouble discerning reality from partisan politics. Travers latest editorial can be summed up in one word. PATHETIC. Check out this beauty of a piece:
" It's been a long march into twilight. A country that gave the world Lester Pearson's peacekeeping and Brian Mulroney's stand against apartheid is now struggling with Stephen Harper's apparent blindness to compelling evidence of Afghanistan prisoner abuse.
For all its sound and fury, the counter-attack that politicians, bureaucrats and generals mounted this week was morally weak and legally flimsy. In struggling to sway public opinion, finely parsed denials skidded around the looming conclusion that Canada transferred prisoners into probable torture after being warned by the pre-eminent and most credible victims-of-violence organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross."
Did Travers just infer the testimony of three highly honored and respected generals was flimsy and weak? Wonder how those three esteemed gentleman feel about Travers slight on their reputation. Travers bigger problem is that on the same day he writes this tripe the Globe and Mail runs an editorial on the same subject by Christie Blatchford. It's also worth pointing out that the Globe and Mail was quite critical of the government after Colvine's testimony.
But what sets Blatchfords editorial apart from Travers is that hers is actually based on fact. Take for example Travers reference to the Red Cross, and what the actual facts of Colvine's emails were:
" It seems to have been Mr. Colvin's visit to the provincial prison in Kandahar city on May 16, 2006, that first triggered his concern. But that inspection and an earlier one upon which he relied, made in December of 2005 by the International Committee of the Red Cross, were, in the Afghan context, practically sunny about their findings."
Blatchford goes on to list more facts, all of which are damaging to Travers attempt at smearing the PM. Perhaps Travers should do some research rather than taking notes from the OLO, or whatever it is he supposedly does to glean information for his column. Blatchford actually references testimony from Hillier, which I would suggest to Travers is neither morally weak nor legally flimsy:
"From the start, Canadian soldiers were using gunshot residue tests (this was mentioned by the former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier in his testimony to the committee this week, but the significance of the remark went unnoticed) to sift the wheat from the chaff.
They detained only those who tested positive for GSR (meaning they had recently either fired a weapon or been right beside someone who had), were found with guns or bomb-making parts or near IED strikes or were otherwise highly suspicious, such as well-dressed men carrying large amounts of Pakistani cash.
Mr. Colvin's claim that innocent farmers were being cruelly dispatched to torture suggests he paid scarce attention to the "Taliban by night" phenomenon, whereby the man who farms by day becomes, under cover of darkness, a low-level fighter in the insurgency. Whether he acts out of need or is coerced into fighting with the Taliban, once he begins shooting or planting bombs, for the soldier, he is the enemy."
It's called journalistic integrity Mr. Travers, something you yourself seem to be morally weak on.
Torture For Dollar$: Donolo Me$$e$ Up
With Liberals feeling a little more optimistic what with those in Iffy's office joining the unemployment line and the hiring of supposed savior strategist Peter Donolo, it appears that optimism might be short lived:
"Liberals Link Fundraising to Torture Allegations
Daniel Proussalidis
The federal Liberal Party is using the Afghan torture allegations as a fundraising tool.
CFRA News is in possession of an e-mail from the party's national director calling for donations to the party to stop the Conservatives from making Canada a place the Grits "can no longer recognize."
The e-mail also accuses the Conservatives of engaging in "Republican-style attack politics" that undermine Canada's mission in Afghanistan.
The message from Rocco Rossi contends donations to the Liberals will help the party "find the truth" about the federal government's awareness of allegations that Taliban prisoners had been tortured by Afghan authorities."
Liberals were already suffering from lack of credibility with the detainee issue from the outset, no transfer agreement until the dying days of Martin's debacle of a government. Combine that with the testimony from three former generals contradicting Colvine's testimony, with Hillier noting Colvine was only outside the compound once during his entire time in Afghanistan, and it looks like the Liberals were fishing for another faux-scandal.
Any progress the Liberals might have made on the issue was quickly erased with the decision to boost fundraising with torture as the theme.
Keep at er' Peter, because if this is part of the strategy of the new Liberal braintrust, those polling numbers should stay in very Dionesque numbers.
Hey, What Ever Happened To H1N1?
Just a few short days ago, we had the likes of Liberal Bob Rae stating Canadians had died as a result of the Conservative governments handling of H1N1. Some Liberal MP's, notably Hedy Fry demanded to be shown to the front of the vaccination line, you know, all that hand shaking. Liberal MP Martha Hall Findley was on the airwaves daily calling this the worst pandemic in decades, and admonishing the government for improper planning.
And we had Liberal strategist (sarcasm on) Tom Clark, host of Power Play, telling us daily that the government was incompetent in it's handling of the pandemic.
But much like wafergate, the worst recession since the 30's, stimulus deficit, piano playing, it fell on deaf ears for the voters of Canada. Heck, it even turns out many regions are now weeks ahead in their vaccination dispensing.
So now the Iffy Liberals, led by Donolo, are smelling fresh blood on the Afghan detainee issue. Sorry Peter, it's old news. Those allegations came out in 2007. Covine is just repeating his unproven allegations before committee. And the Liberals will fail to realize any gain from this latest faux scandal. It seems the Liberals never saw fit to get a prisoner transfer agreement until the party was on it's political deathbed under Paul Martin. It was the current government who succeeded in having rights to check on prisoners and their health after transfer. Then there is also the issue of Iffy's writings on torture, which I'm sure you hope you can hide under the rug.
So huff and puff all you want, as the Big Bad Wolf strategy you appear to insist on keeping with will only see more failure in your polling numbers. At the end of the day Ignatieff will prove to be strike three in leader choice for your party.
Donolo Liberals Same As Davey Liberals...
The PM leaves the country on government business and like clockwork, the Liberals quickly assume faux scandal #17,865.
"OTTAWA – Angry Liberals accused the Conservative government of reaching a new political low by circulating flyers accusing the Grits of being ant-Semitic.
The "scandalous" flyers, endorsed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and which target ridings with large Jewish communities, accuse the Liberals of participating in an anti-Semitic conference in Durban, supporting terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah and specifically go after Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff for accusing Israel of committing war crimes".
Sorry guys, but:
#1 Liberals did attend a conference in Durban which few would argue was not anti-Semitic.
2. Liberals refused to have Hezbollah labelled as a terrorist group. And if I remember right there were some opposition MP's at rallies in Quebec for said groups.
3. You guys do realize Ignatieff did in fact state Israel may be reponsible for war crimes, no? Of course, that was one of Iffy's quicker flip-flops, right up there with asbestos, HST, etc., so maybe you missed the quick change in position.
And hey, whatever happened to Iffy. Since his rapid decension in the polls he appears to have adopted the WK bubble boy strategy, that being out of sight, out of mind to mitigate any further damage.
Peter Mansbridge Tells An Outright Lie!!!
I'm watching Dragon's Den, which I think is a great show, and during a commercial break, Mansbridge comes on announcing the headlines for the upcoming news show. He states shocking new testimony shows ALL Afghan detainees were likely tortured. Now at first I'm thinking I must have misheard, and through the wonders of PVR's, I rewind and yep. he said all Afghan detainees were most likely tortured. The allegation is that all of the prisoners Canada handed over to Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service in 2006-07 were tortured. That is quite different than all Afghans turned over by our forces were tortured. And I have a rather obvious question for anyone to answer. Are we to believe that prisoners only allegedly began being tortured once the Conservatives won the 2006 election?
Uh Peter, that was and is a blatant lie. Perhaps you or the higher ups at CBC might want to correct the record. From what I heard, that sounded more like a Liberal Party press release from a worn-out strategist.
p.s. It's also rather ironic that when you guys run around with cap in hand demanding money for local television you provide another blatant example of why most Canadian's disagree with you.
Michael Ignatieff's Office Fuels Unemployment Rate
Another day, two more "resignations" in the OLO.
"Two senior Ignatieff aides are leaving their positions in the Opposition Leader's Office to return to Toronto.
Mark Sakamoto and Alexis Levine, both lawyers who have been part of Michael Ignatieff's inner circle since his 2006 leadership bid, confirmed their decisions in separate e-mails to The Globe and Mail tonight. They were part of the "Toronto gang" around Mr. Ignatieff".
To put things in proper perspective, Iffy has the Liberals polling at the same numbers Dion scored in the 2008 election. Despite a recession Liberals decry as the worst since the 30's. Despite Boob Rae screaming Canadians are dying from an as yet fictionary Conservative H1N1 pandemic.
Wafergate, Chequegate, blue sweaters, Beatle tunes, and a worn-out strategist fella, and still Iffy and the Rosedale gang can't put a dent in the PM's armor. Methinks it's quite obvious the fault lays at the feet of numero uno, the anointed one. But don't believe me guys. Just keep eating your own.
CTV Gets an F In Math...
Gotta hand it to CTV. With the latest quarter of fundraising figures just released, and the Liberal total for the quarter taking a significant drop from the previous quarter, CTV still tries to give it a positive spin for the Liberals, with what I would call dubious math skills at best.
" So far this year, the Tories have raised $12.8 million while the Liberals are not far behind with $7.6 million."
Uh, guys, that's a $5.2 million dollar difference. Exactly how far back would the Liberals need to "lag" before they are far behind?
Lizzy May, QP Protesters, and Fake Blood?
Interesting story from CBC.ca. Those protesters that tried to interrupt QP the other day, the ones the NDP and most notably Elizabeth May jumped to give praise too, appear to be quite the actors, or is it make-up artists? Seems CBC has uncovered the fact the above pictured protester "enhanced" his removal by HoC security with some good old fake blood. I wonder if Dizzy Lizzy still stands by this comment: "I just want to share with all Canadians that those were our children we threw out of the House of Commons today. Those were the best, the brightest, the most dedicated, the most responsible young adults in Canada." -- Elizabeth May
Sorry Lizzy, the best, brightest, and most dedicated young adults in Canada are doing other things than hoaky photo-ops. Being enrolled in our armed forces, attending colleges and universities to better themselves and their futures, helping those that cannot help themselves.
Iffy And His Strategist Badly Outwitted Again
Watching the Liberals sad attempts to halt Iffy's slide in the polls has hit the embarrassing stage. After watching Iffy and some dumbfella rail against partisan stimulus spending, today the Conservatives release a list of spending projects in Ontario that shows Opposition ridings have received more stimulus funding than the governing party. Sandy has a great post
up after inspiration from a comment left at Joanne's
blog by Frmgrl.
I wondered why the PM and his MP's didn't push back more against the partisan spending faux scandal put out by the opposition. Every day we saw the Red Star, Globe and Mail, Tom Clark, Taber, Travers et al, all talking about this being the downfall of the Conservatives and their strong polling numbers. Turns out all of the above may have just been played big time. Voters are about too see the party that cried wolf once too often have to wipe the egg off their faces again. Now that they've beat the story too death for the last week, and given the new facts and figures put out by the government today and which should be hitting all Canadians in the next few days, courtesy of the same marks, one is left to wonder who is the one giving Iffy and the Liberals strategic advice. My guess? Homer Simpson.
16 years ago today Adscam was born:
Sponsorship scandal
(Redirected from Adscam)
"Adscam" redirects here. For the American sting operation, see Abscam.
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship"or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. The program was originally established as an effort to raise awareness of the Government of Canada's contributions to Quebec industries and other activities in order to counter the actions of the Parti Québécois government of the province that worked to promote Quebec independence.
The program ran from 1996 until 2004, when broad corruption was discovered in its operations and the program was discontinued. Illicit and even illegal activities within the administration of the program were revealed, involving misuse and misdirection of public funds intended for government advertising in Quebec. Such misdirections included sponsorship money awarded to ad firms in return for little or no work, which firms maintained Liberal organizers or fundraisers on their payrolls or donated back part of the money to the Liberal Party. The resulting investigations and scandal affected the Liberal Party of Canada and the then government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. It was an ongoing affair for years, but rose to national prominence in early 2004 after the program was examined by Sheila Fraser, the federal auditor general. Her revelations led to the government establishing the Gomery Commission to conduct a public inquiry and file a report on the matter.
In the national spotlight, the scandal became a significant factor in the lead-up to the 2006 federal election where after more than twelve years in power the Liberals were defeated by the Conservatives, who formed a minority government that was sworn in February 2006.
Posted by paulsstuff at 12:00 PM 5 comments:
Liberals Cried Wolf Once Too Often
Despite Kinsella and the Liberals best efforts at screaming scandal, it appears the strategy has backfired. With poll numbers back to where they were last election, it appears voters have tuned out to the faux scandal of the week. The biggest problem is the supposed scandals ended up leaving egg on Iffy's face.
1. Wafergate turned out too be a fabricated story from the now feeble mind of a supposedly brilliant strategist.
2. The size of the deficit was quickly muted with Iffy's rant about not enough money being spent.
3. Partisan spending has been quickly thrown to the wayside, with both McGuinty and Duncan stating they had a role in deciding where stimulus fund would be spent Seems NDP Paul Dewar must have been in on the Conservative spending master plan as well, with his riding getting the fifth highest amount of stimulus spending in Canada's 308 ridings.
4. The ongoing rant about the PM being anti-arts was defused with the piano performance.
5. The old Liberal tactic of calling the Conservatives racist and anti-immigrant has now died a proper death. Just ask Ruby Dhalla.
With another week soon to start, I'm sure an old weather beaten strategist is planning his next childish attack, aided and abetted again and again by the same msm culprits, The problem for the Liberals is nobody really seems to be listening, and nobody seems to care.
A Challenge To Buzz Hargrove
I see Buzz is in the news again, talking about the Liberals wanting him to run as a candidate in the 2008 election. Ya know what Buzz? You should run in the next election as a Liberal. Better yet do it in a riding with a strong CAW base. Maybe Colin Carrie's Oshawa riding. Better yet, Jim Flaherty's riding.
Why do I want Buzz to run as a Liberal? Because Hargrove, much like his hand-picked replacement Ken Lewenza, is so out of touch with the average working guy/gal, running in an election would be the wake up call you guys need to get back to reality. Buzz does a regular gig on AM640 radio as a guest, where he disses the PM and Conservatives, while praising Liberals and telling us we need higher taxes, like raising the gst. Buzz also likes to throw out the name of his new BFF Frank Stronach.
Hargrove's fetish for all things Stronach is a perfect example of how far off he is from reality. Imagine the former head of the CAW telling his members we should be embracing higher taxes, while at the same time never mentioning Stronach uses a tax loophole to avoid paying income taxes on the millions in salary he pays himself. That loophole was put in place by then finance minister and Liberal Paul Martin.
So go ahead Buzz. Run in one of those ridings I mentioned above. That's the heartland of the GM worker. I'm sure you'll fare about as well as CUPE head Sid Ryan, who I think is 0'fer3 is his numerous attempts at becoming an MP.
McGuinty Liberal MPP Caught Up In Conservative Partisan Cheque Scandal
Look at the above picture closely. Anyone know who that gentlemen on the right is holding the cheque? Why, it's none other than Joe Dickson, an Ontario Liberal MPP, part of Dalton McGuinty's government. The photo was taken at a photo-op to announce new spending for water infrastructure improvements in Pickering. What's even more noteworthy here is the fact there is no Conservative in the picture.
I wonder if Martha Hall-Findlay will forward this to the ethics commissioner as well.
Dalton McGuinty Implicated in Conservative Partisan Spending
Pay particular attention to the second photo. That's McGuinty and the PM getting off a rail car in (gasp) Michael Ignatieff's riding. In fact there are plenty of pictures on the net of Harper/McGuinty funding announcements, totalling billions of dollars. Even more surprisingly is that many of the funding announcements have been made in ridings held by Liberal MP's. Has the blogging and msm been wrong about who it is stabbing Iggy in the back? Speculation is Bob Rae, but Dalton sure seems to enjoy the PM's company, no?
Ontario & B.C. eHealth Scandals Should Concern All Canadians
Why? Because much of the provincial and territorial funding for healthcare comes from the federal government. I wonder how Quebec taxpayers or those in Atlantic Canada feel about $2 billion being spent for nothing in return. It's no wonder Iffy demands more stimulus funding,$2 billion was spent with no return.
The real story here, and something not one journalist has dared touch, is how Liberal governents half the country apart, have both managed to come up with the same scheme to give contracts, many untendered, to cronies, with no return to the people of the respective provinces.You can flip-flop the names McGuinty and Campbell in stories and the rest of the story still holds true.
Take this one step further. How was it supposedly independant ad agencies invloved in Adscam all mirrored each other in the way contracts were recieved, handled, and subsequent "donations" returned to the federal Liberal Party?
Given the duplicate ties between the Ontario and B.C. scandals, legal authorities might be well served to begin looking for common ties between the two governments. Perhaps start with reviews of meetings, e-mails, and phone records, to find what and who the common link is.
Kinsella's Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds
With Liberals plummeting in the polls, the latest attempt at a faux scandal is being led by Warren Kinsella. Seems Kinsella takes issue with the Conservative government doing photo-ops and presenting cheques that the coalition demanded. The latest attempt at turning Iffy's abysmal polling numbers is pointing out a link on the Action Plan website takes you to a clip of the PM's piano performance. My question is, do these idiots not know how to use google? A quick google search finds this Ontario government web-page:
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/news/index.php
Seems WK's hero Dalton McGuinty uses the same strategy as the federal Conservatives. Note it doesn't say Ontario government in any of the links, but rather McGuinty government. And what's that at the top right? Why it's a box you can click on to go directly to McGuinty's own personal website. You can watch you-tube videos, follow his Titters. Then there's that whole big cheque thing. The pic here shows a Liberal MPP caught in what Kinsella says is a compromising situation. A photo-op (gasp). p.s. There are hundreds of these photos out there.
Of course if he and other Liberal MP's and bloggers wish to keep up the pathetic fake scandal, have at her. The party who cried wolf once to often is now coming to the realization that Canadians care about real issues, not trumped up fluff.
And I'll have a little more time on Sunday. Perhaps I'll do my own photo montage of Chretien/Martin era MP's doing the photo-op things Liberals now find so reprehensible. Sorry boys and girls, having been found by a federal inquiry to have been involved in an illegal kickback scheme that duped the Canadian taxpayer and redirected funds to the party is why you are in opposition. By all means, keep up these shenanigans to remind voters why you can't be trusted to govern again.
Some Good News For Liberals In Latest Ekos Poll...
You can only drop another 25.7% in the polls, which should happen by Halloween given the way Iffy has been leading the party. Once you hit 0% there's only one way to go....up!
Iffy Quickly Becoming Sybil
Had a smile on my face last night just before I went to bed and read on NNW that Iffy was going to have an adult conversation with Canadians to tell us his plans for tax increases, cuts in spending (health care a la Chretien/Martin?), etc. Knowing Iggy's track record, and the fact his slumping poll numbers will further fall with such talk, I eagerly awaited his alter-personality quickly trying to dispel those tax hike policies. And he didn't disappoint. As pointed out on Joanne's fantastic BLOG
Iggy has now perfected flip-flopping into hours rather than days.
He's already displayed this multiple-person persona in the past. Asbestos and previous talk of tax hikes are two excellent examples. Heck, Iggy stated in the past that the Tory ads framing him as just a visitor backfired and now today Iffy tells us they did just that. Maybe that's why Ignatieff has so many nicknames. Iggy, Iffy, Ignegative, the Count, the list goes on.
Perhaps it's because he seems to be a different person depending on what province or territory he's in, Hell, he even changes persona during question period. First question the caring compassionate left-leaning socialist, next question a right-leaning Liberal complaining of government spending (that he demanded).
Or maybe what's really happening is Iffy is getting a little confused, what with all the apparent strings being pulled in the backrooms of the OLO. Perhaps if his pal Obama gets his health care reforms through Iggy might return south of the border to get the pill to fix his woes. And I'm not talking about the little blue one.
Did The PM Get A Dig In At Ignatieff With His Performance?
The blogosphere and msm is abuzz talking about the PM's wonderful performance at the National Arts Centre, where he performed the Beatles tune "Help From My Friends".
Thinking about it, the PM knowingly or unknowingly actually managed to get quite the dig in at Iffy. Think about the lyrics. "I get by with a little help from my friends". At the same time Iffy is dodging questions from Denis Codderre's resignation as Quebec Lieutenant and the Quebec wing of the Liberal party throwing Iffy under the bus. We haven't seen a break-up of this significance since that whole Paris Hilton/Nicole Ritchie spat.
p.s. Be sure to see my previous post, to see previous Liberal and NDP attempts at similar performances!
What's The Difference Between A Conservative, A Liberal, and a Socialist?
Excellent posts across the BloggingTories site on PM Harper's great performance playing the keys and doing vocals on that great Beatles song I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends. Click on the links to the right. Be sure to check out ChuckerCanuck and Blue Like You.Contrast the two pictures above and you get a good idea why the country is in good hands and Liberal fortunes continue to fall. I'm guessing if that was Iffy performing a Beatles song it would have been Taxman.
And to be fair to the socialists, you can see a performance by none other than Jack Layton. At least Layton, like the PM has a sense of humor. Perhaps Kinsella is just a little confused, as Ignatieff appears to be the real Mr. Angry.
Michael Ignatieff The Liberal Parties Version Of The Edsel
Being both a political junkie as well as life-long avid car buff, I can't help but compare Michael Ignatieff to the Ford Motor Companies Edsel model. Both were greatly hyped by the media, both were short lived in their respective political and automotive history as a popular choice, and unless Iffy can stop the bleeding and downward momentum, both he and the Edsel will have experienced a term of roughly 3-4 years. In fact when looking at this Wikipedia entry for the Edsel, one could easily change Edsel for Ignatieff and the sentence would still make sense:
"The Edsel was a marque of the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The brand is known best as one of the biggest commercial failures in the history of American business"
That could read:
Ignatieff was a marque of the Liberal Party of Canada during the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 years. He is known best as one of the biggest commercial failures in the history of Canadian politics.
Forget all the current polls showing Iffy tanking. Polls change daily. A better indicator is actual results, so let's review. Another comparison is production numbers for the Edsel and seat counts for the Liberals in the last three elections.
1958 Edsel production- 63,110 Edsels were sold in the U.S., with another 4,935 sold in Canada
1959 Edsel production- 44,891 cars were sold in the U.S., with an additional 2,505 sold in Canada.
1960 Edsel production- 2,846 vehicles were produced (Total!)
2000 Federal election- Liberals 172 seats
2008 Federal election- Liberals 77 seats
What once seem implausible may actually occur. Iggy may continue the downward trend, this time giving PM Stephen Harper the majority that has so far eluded him. Somehow, I can visualize Stephane Dion, Bob Rae, and Denis Codderre sitting in an Italian restaraunt in Quebec deciding who gets to stab Iggy in the back next.
You Know Your Time As A Kick-Ass Liberal Strategist Has Passed When....
You criticise the other guy for something your hero did previously. Warren Kinsella's latest, an anti-Timmies rant:
"Some smart Liberals were there to meet him - you can see kick-ass Liberal MP Bonnie Crombie in the photo - and make an important point. The media ate it up, as it were. The Reform-Conservative minions, terrified by that, told the RCMP to move the group away. (Um, is that legal?)"
Gee, I don't know WK. Didn't your hero Chretien get involved in some little situation involving the RCMP and the use of pepper spray on demonstrators?
From the Hamilton Spectator September 11th, 1998: "In 1995, The Prime Minister grabbed a protester, Bill Clennet, by the throat and pushed him to the ground.
By 1997, it seems, he maintained his tough guy approach to dealing with demonstrators, according to 1998 investigation which concluded orders were handed down by the PM, himself. Some students were arrested by the RCMP, and some were even pepper sprayed. When a reporter asked Mr. Chrétien about the RCMP's use of pepper spray on the peaceful protest, Jean did it again. Canada's leader replied, "Pepper? I put that on my plate."
Um, is that legal? The problem nowadays are these wonderful search engines that can find anything. Google, Bing, etc. So ya, bring on the election. And I mean the federal one, not the one airing it's dirty laundry in Outremont.
Opposition Parties Working Behind Closed Doors On Coalition
Received an interesting email from someone well connected to what goes on in the HoC. It appears that a coalition between the Liberals, NDP, and yes, the Bloc is still very much on the table. The difference this time is the three parties learned their lesson well from Canadians after the last debacle, with Dion, Layton, and Duceppe calling a formal news conference to inform Canadians about their coalition. Outrage among Canadians was quite amazing, with polls showing the Conservatives in the mid to high 40's as outrage spread across the country.
And yet, those same three parties are still talking about said coalition, albeit this one behind the scenes, out of the view of Canadian voters. Realizing a formal coalition between the three parties is akin to political suicide, the parties are now working towards the same goal as the previous agreement, while at the same time keeping voters unaware of their plan. Whenever the next election takes place, Conservatives will focus on the threat of a coalition government.
Phase 1 of the new coalition is to try and blunt that attack. Thus you now have Layton and Duceppe voting with the government. You have Ignatieff stating he will fast track the EI reforms. While the usual suspects claim this to be posturing among Lib and Dipper strategists to get the upper hand, what it really is is an attempt to say to Canadians, Hey, Stephen Harper worked with each of the parties, why can't the three parties work together as well?
Phase 2 will be the Liberals tabling a non-confidence motion, with Layton and Duceppe joining in with that tired old-line about the PM going back to his old ways, refusing to work with the other parties, and therefore the necessity to vote down the government.
Phase 3 consists of telling Canadians they agree we don't want an election, and approaching the GG to ask for a chance to form government. The goal is to remove the PM before the economy and Conservative polling numbers picks up even more steam, allowing them to say it was themselves who are responsible for the economic turnaround.
In effect they will be doing what most Canadians have already stated was unacceptable, achieve power without having to win an election, something none of the three parties realize they could achieve themselves. And if they have to throw the Canadian voters under the bus to achieve it, they won't think twice.
Political sleaze at its best!
Ignatieff's Political Career Nearing Readiness For Body Bag
First off, before anyone accuses me of being insensitive with the title, nothing could top Michael Ignatieff's over the top faux outrage over body bags being shipped to northern Manitoba reserves. This quote here takes the cake:
"It simply says: 'We expect aboriginal Canadians to die,"
Liberal MP's, including Marlene Jennings were quick to follow suit with equally outrageous comments. If only Iggy actually did a little research before spouting off. A member off Health Canada confirmed that the body bags were part of a "routine shipment", one that goes out every three to four months. Another representative also stated that the Manitoba reserves in question are in the northern remote, and access is sometimes difficult during the winter months.
It was also noted that there are deaths on reserves, like anywhere else in the world. Sickness, old age, suicide, drownings, exposure, accidents were all cited as reasons for the quarterly shipments of said body bags. And in the event of an H1N1 pandemic with resulting deaths, body bags lower the risk of further transmission of the virus from the deceased individual.
One would think that someone who boasts daily of his Harvard pedigree and time abroad might want to actually research something before jumping the shark with such over the top partisan rhetoric. While the PM and POTUS focus on the economy, trade, Afghanistan, etc., Iggy gives us another glimpse of why Stephen Harper is Prime Minister, and his own chances of becoming PM are dying a quick death, much like his predecessor, Dion.
Ignatieff Turns Back On Liberal Senator's Bill
Gee. just months ago, Liberals and journalists were whining about Conservative ads outside the writ period. Undemocratic, sleazy, turning Canadians off of politics. Among the most notable were Yaffe and Aarron Wherry. I'd provide links of all the posts Wherry did bashing the PM for ads outside the writ period, but that would probably overload the internet that Al Gore invented.
Remarkably, the entire MSM is eerily silent now that the Liberals have followed suit with their own ads outside of the writ period. Heck, even the Bloc are running ads. So hypocrisy is obviously at play here in a big way, with the fact that a Liberal senator thought so much of the situation he put forward a bill to have pre-writ spending included in campaign spending limits. Anybody know Iggy's opinion on that bill?
"OTTAWA – Senator Dennis Dawson today introduced Bill S-236, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (election expenses). This bill would classify all advertising bought by political parties in the three months immediately preceding the call of an election as an "election expense," which would be included in the limits imposed on party expenses during the election campaign itself.
"The Canada Elections Act sets out very strict limits on what a party can spend during election campaigns. This bill simply ensures that if one starts campaigning by advertising just before an election, that spending is caught by the statutory spending limits," explained Senator Dawson.
"With the introduction of fixed election dates, all parties know when an election will take place and can easily start spending on campaign-style advertising in the months leading up to the call. That undermines the values and fundamental fairness of the Canadian system as found in the spending limits contained in the Canada Elections Act. Frankly, this bill addresses a real gap in the Conservatives' fixed election date law," said Senator Dawson.
The bill expands the definition of "election expense" to include a cost incurred, or non-monetary contribution received, by a registered party, an electoral district association or a candidate, for property or a service that is used to directly promote or oppose a registered party, its leader or a candidate, during the three months immediately prior to an election campaign.
Bill S-236 addresses concerns raised in the past by a number of experts, including former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley. While appearing before a Parliamentary committee in 2006, Mr. Kingsley suggested that fixed election dates would carry with them the need to regulate advertising by political parties before the actual writ period.
Ignatieff Accuses The PM Of Wanting To Win The Election
The more Iggy opens his mouth, the more I want an election. Imagine, the PM addressing a room of party faithful, telling them he wants to win a majority and squash the separatists and socialists. I guess Iggy was out of the country so long he doesn't realize that's been part of the Conservative way of thinking for decades.
So I guess if Ignatieff says this shows Canadians what the PM is really about, then he must consider it wrong and thinks the opposite way. That being he doesn't want to win a majority, squash the socialists, or, most notably, the separatists.
Must be that whole coalition thingy. The one he said he signed and supported and Bob Rae said he did not. Just imagine a 36 day campaign of this stuff.
Some Friendly Advice For The Liberals And Their New Ads...
Congrats guys, you've managed to improve your video quality immensely since that Dion Coalition debacle that everyone had fun dissing. Now, I understand that you guys have put out something in the area of $2 million for your new set of ads, with the first three just released. So being curious I gave the vids a once over. The first thing I noticed was I was feeling a tad nauseous. Now that's not that uncommon when I view Liberal dribble, especially when it's Ignatieff lecturing me on how Canadians can be better than we are today. Of course that doesn't say much about that last 13 years of Liberal rule. But there was just something about that video with Iggy in the trees that turned my stomach, and I realized what it was.
So my advice is, on the next round of ads, try using a TRIPOD!
Update: I just noticed a fellow Blooging Tory has done a similar post, and has made another remark I missed, Ignatieff stays centred but the background appears to move. Was this shot in a studio, like the ones at Sears that take child portraits?
http://alwaysright.ca/the-new-liberal-advertisement-and-why-they-should-invest-in-a-tripod/
When A Homeless Person Gets Motivated...
OK, this story might seem a little lame, but it is true and happened to me today. I went to the local No-Frills to pick up some cases of bottled water (sorry David Miller), and saw this older gentleman who appeared to be homeless, walking around the parking lot approaching people unloading groceries into their car. I assumed he was panhandling.
When I came out of the store with my cart full and began unloading it, he approached me. Maybe I'm a little jaded from similar incidents in Toronto, but I readied for the worst. I was quite surprised when he asked if he could return my cart to the store and keep the 25 cents you need to put in to get a buggy. He explained that he wasn't begging, but had fallen on hard times and this was how he was getting money for food.
I asked how it was working and he said he made about $15 a day, enough to eat properly, although he hated the fact he had fallen on such hard times and had to resort to it. An elderly couple parked beside me said he returned their cart for them and brought their 25 cents back to them, as they were on a tight budget and though only a quarter, it still meant something to their budget.
So I thought, here is this guy, who people automatically stereotype because of his situation, standing on hot ashphalt in the blaring sun to be able to eat, and he still does a good deed for the elderly couple. Long story short, told the guy he had my respect, keep his head up as things will get better, and gave him $10.
I feel like Bill Murray in the movie groundhog day. I wake up to hear the leader of the Liberal Party threatening to bring down the Conservative government Gilles Duceppe is on his I'll bring down da Tory's rants, and Jack Layton says he'll work with the government, and then goes on to say the PM won't work with anyone.
Sounds like early September 2008. The only difference is the Liberal leader is Michael Ignatieff instead of Stephane Dion.
Hey, wait. That's why it feels like groundhog day!
Is It Dalton Ignatieff or Michael McGuinty?
Working a ton of hours but just couldn't resist addressing Iggy's latest "thoughts", which were a result of a rainy summer season. It appears Iggy has taken a page out of Dalton McGuinty's liar liar pants on fire strategy of stating something he himself knows to be untrue. It appears Iggy is boasting that if elected he will get rid of the $50 billion deficit without raising taxes. So without raising taxes that would mean one of a few things:
1. Iggy plans on massive spending cuts. But where to cut? Health care.? Maybe. Put our healthcare system through the Chretien/Martin debacle all over again. Cut funding to the arts? Oops, better avoid that one, Remember the last election Iggy? I know. Let's change the rules for EI eligibility. That could bring in over $54 billion over the years. And you could save money by cancelling that EI reform blue ribbon panel.
2. Increases in government revenues. This might be a tough one without those tax increases Iggy just promised to avoid. I suppose he might insist on balancing the budget with increased revenues, but that would be the exact opposite of what Kevin Page and TD economist and uber-Liberal Don Drummond said could happen.
3. He could save millions by eliminating the vote subsidy thingy. Oops, never mind. Just remembered that whole coalition thing that supposedly was a result of those subsidies being eliminated.
4. Phone his BFF, Barak Obama, and ask if he might be willing to add another $50 billion onto that gazzilion U.S. deficit.
5. Come up with Adscam 2, the sequel. Only this time figure out how to get the advertising agencies to give the government money for nothing.
6. Hold $500 dinners 365 days a year, with all proceeds going to the federal treasury.
7. Have John McCallum do a series of Chevrolet commercials, increasing the sales of GM cars and making it more likely to recoup that auto-bailout money.
8. Appoint Bob Rae finance minister. Iggy said he wouldn't raise taxes. He never said Bob Rae wouldn't.
9. Increase lobster sales to China, something the Conservative government has disappointingly overlooked as a massive revenue generator.
Torqued Headline Of The Day Award Goes To.......
(drumroll) CTV, for this gem of the story not reflecting the title:Harper cabinet unleashes flood of patronage.
Seeing that headline I was thinking that the PM had just pulled a Chretien in naming hundreds of people with close ties to himself and the party to plum patronage jobs. A quick read turns up this: At least 20 of the 111 appointments made Aug. 4 went to identifiable federal and provincial Conservative donors and supporters. So roughly 18% of the appointments made had some type of ties to the Conservative party. I assume CTV thinks the PM should have avoided naming anyone who could be tied to the party. Actually I think the PM deserves credit for keeping that number so low. Perhaps someone should tell CTV to google the definition of patronage.
I just can't help but wonder what percentage of appointments made by previous Liberal governments would be. I'm guessing something closer to 99.9999999.
New Poll Puts Conservatives At 39%
From the National Post via NNW:
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives have surged to a big lead over the opposition Liberals in the eyes of Canadian voters, reveals a new poll, a trend that could dampen speculation of a fall election.
In a discouraging sign for the Liberals, party leader Michael Ignatieff trails the prime minister on bread-and-butter issues at the forefront of many Canadians' minds, such as the ability to steer the economy through recovery and rebalance the country's finances. If the trend continues, Ignatieff could soon be facing roughly the same poll numbers as his beleaguered predecessor, Stephane Dion.
The Conservatives now command 39% in support among decided voters, compared with 28% for the Liberals, according to the survey, conducted exclusively for Canwest News Service and Global National by Ipsos Reid. Since the last Ipsos poll two months ago, the Tories have climbed five percentage points, while the Grits have slumped seven points.
The NDP stand in third at 14% of the vote, up one point; followed by the Green party at 10%, up two points. The Bloc Quebecois posted 8% in support nationally, while 7% of respondents were undecided.
The poll comes amid speculation that the government could fall shortly after Parliament returns from summer break on Sept. 14. Last spring, Harper and Ignatieff averted a summer election by agreeing to form a bipartisan working gr
Elizabeth May Quickly Becoming John Tory Redux
Gotta love it. Dizzy Lizzy has displayed a John Tory-like tendency when it comes to being leader of the Green Party. Much like Tory, Lizzy is 0-fer in all her attempts at getting elected to Parliament. Choosing to run in a Conservative ministers riding, Peter Mackay no less, reeked of John Tory's bad decision to run against a provincial Liberal cabinet minister in the last Ontario election, with the same results on voting day.
After Tory's embarrassing loss, he had to scramble to find a riding to run in. He managed to get a Conservative MPP to step aside so he could run in what he thought was an easily winnable riding. The result was Tory lost the by-election, cost the party a seat in the legislature, and ultimately his job as party leader.
May has managed to take the Tory debacle and pick it up a notch. She recently announced she will run in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, currently held by, wait for it, a Conservative cabinet minister. One who, by the way, won the riding quite handily. Political pundits have already been critical of May's latest choice of riding to run in, but now a new threat has emerged to May and her desire to run in the B.C. riding. That threat is coming from none other than another Green Party member:
"Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is being challenged by a member of her own party for the nomination in her chosen riding of Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC.
May will have to deal with newly-declared candidate Stuart Hertzog of Victoria, a Greenpeace activist who has been involved with the Green Party in Alberta and British Columbia since 1983, and who is the publisher of the website GreenPolitics.ca.
In a blogpost published late yesterday entitled "Why I am standing as a nomination candidate", Hertzog says he became involved in grassroots activism because "Secret decisions were made behind closed doors, in cabinet or at private meetings with corporate CEOs and lobbyists," that could only be fought by winning the war for public opinion. However, unfortunately he has seen that "the same tendency towards anti-democratic centralisation has become dominant in Canada's Green parties".
Hertzog says he disagrees with the decision of the Green Party of Canada's Federal Council to make electing the leader its overarching priority, saying that:
"[T]he 'leader' of a Green Party is supposed to be a spokesperson, not a dictator. The cult of leadership and its promotion by the corporate media is not Green. I believe that getting the leader of the Green Party elected won't change anything, except to guarantee the flow of funds to central party coffers and reduce the Green party to being seen as just another bunch of untrustworthy politicians that make self-serving deals...."
The Poll Nobody Reported????
No, not the latest Nanos attempt at Liberal spin, but the latest Ipsos-Ried poll. Now one would think that with the msm constantly speculating on a fall election, a poll that shows the Conservatives in the 40% range might be worth a headline or two. Well, I've dome my own polling, and nobody was aware of this recent poll and it's numbers. The only way it came out is in Don Martin's editorial in today's Calgary Herald where he talks about the possibility of an election occurring during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Included in that editorial is this:
"Yes, avoiding an election based on the men's hockey team landing gold is a tad odd, but so were reports Prime Minister Stephen Harper will base his campaign on seeking a majority mandate, at least until a new Ipsos Reid poll came out Friday that showed the Conservatives surging ahead and flirting with 40 per cent voter support."
Could be a rogue poll, but most certainly worth mentioning, especially giving Nik wrong on the numbers Nanos latest spin about Canadian's warming to another minority government.
Torqued Headline Of The Day Award....
Today's example of MSM spinning a story with a torqued headline award goes to CanadaEast.com:
"Poll suggests many would like to see Elizabeth May in Commons"
So reading the headline would appear to imply that most Canadian's want Dizzy Lizzy in the HoC. Problem is when you start to actually read the story it says over 40% want her in Parliament. No exact number, so I'm guessing it's probably 40.?%. So what is the number who don't want her there? Try 36%.
"OTTAWA - A new poll suggests that just over 40 per cent of Canadians would like to see Green Party Leader Elizabeth May win a Commons seat.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey indicates that only 36 per cent of those surveyed don't want her in Parliament.
A plurality supported May's election in every region but Quebec, where 45 per cent were opposed."
So 40% is many and 36% is only. It's funny, but every poll showing the PM's leadership numbers always seems to state the number who are against his leadership, and that's usually what the details of the poll reflect on. So Lizzy has 4% more that think she should be in Parliament than do not. Hardly impressive. Then there's that margin of error thing:
"The poll, part of omnibus phone survey, questioned just over 1,000 people July 23-26 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20."
I think this even surpasses that other headline about the supposed Tory loyalist who wants to run for Iggy in the next election. Problem is he has never ran for office, or held a key role in the party. Keep spinning guys.
National Newswatch Officially Joins Liblogs....
Just kidding. NNW is still my favorite news aggregator. But I find it a little hard to figure out out why a supposed news aggregator would include a Liblog (BigCityLib), as being newsworthy. I might understand it if the blog posting was based in fact, or related to a specific error made by the government, or even criticism of a government minister for errors they have made carrying out their position.. But this link features none of that.
"Is Harper continuing to use Marquee Tourism Events Program funding announcements to punish/reward members of Team Tory? After all, Lisa Raitt and her Sexxxy Isotope show have been in the news again recently, and not in a good way."
What it is is in fact baseless gossip by a Liberal blogger on whether Conservative ministers are punished by being left out of funding announcements. Of course it fits the narrative of Lib conspiracy theories, but it seems quite lacking in being newsworthy. The fact that there were only two comments left on the blog at the time of this posting by me shows how actually newsworthy it is/was.
Perhaps NNW might enlighten me as to how this was deemed worthy of mention, and who made that decision. Perhaps I'm having a seniors moment, but perhaps they could also point out similar links from blogs of other parties on the left and right of the political spectrum.
Globe & Mail Takes Journalistic Integrity Another Notch Lower...
Amazing. I see this headline from the G&M on National Newswatch- Veteran B.C. Tory eyes run for Parliament with Liberals, and I think, wow, this could be big. Igantieff and the Liberal's have managed to get a current or former Conservative MP to run as a Liberal in the next election. Then I read the actual story, and find this:
"I'm not a professional politician by any stretch. I've never run for anything in my life. And I'd like to give it a shot," said Mr. Veniez, who has asserted he was fired by the Harper government because he was forcing coal companies to pay higher shipping rates."
They do allude to him being a ""self-proclaimed bag carrier" for three Mulroney-era ministers", whatever that's supposed to mean. So here is a tip for the Glop and Pail. Brian Mulroney hasn't been PM for a very long time. This gentleman has never run for public office. He has no ties to the current Conservative Party other than having been appointed to a government panel.
Perhaps you might want to ease up with the Torqued Headline BS.
BREAKING NEWS: New Attack Ads Being Planned Slamming Iggy
So it appears all the media pundits were right. Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party will be facing a barrage of attacks of Ignatieff''s previous writings and positions on things such as the Iraqi War in the next election campaign. Ignatieff''s extended absence from Canada will also be front and center in the next campaign, helping to point out Iggy's demands for such things as EI reform ring shallow as he wasn't in the country during the current rules being implemented. I can't wait to see Tom Clark, CTV, CBC, and various journalists such as James Travers declare that this type of attack on Ignatieff''s character are turning Canadians off of politics. The funny thing is, it's the NDP planning to attack Iggy over these subjects.
"OTTAWA — NDP National Director Brad Lavigne set the stage for an election war for the left with the Liberals by suggesting Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was into torture, into Iraq and out of the country.
Lavigne made the comments in Ottawa where he said the NDP will use this weekend's conference in Halifax to build an "election ready" NDP primed to fight Prime Minister Stephen Harper, should his government tumble in the autumn.
"Mr. Layton has written a book about investing in Canadians and their communities. Mr. Ignatieff has written books defending torture," said Lavigne.
"Mr. Ignatieff has defended and supported the war in Iraq … If Mr. Ignatieff or Mr. Harper were prime minister in 2004, Canada would still be in Iraq today."
Lavigne also scoffed at Ignatieff's proposed changes to reform the Employment Insurance system saying the Liberal leader was "out of the country" when the system Canada has today was crafted."
Because $874,999.80 Isn't Enough....
In one of the more bizarre stories recently, Chicago Blackhawks young superstar Patrick Kane is alleged to have beaten and robbed a Buffalo cab driver over 20 cents:
"BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane was charged with attacking a cab driver in his home town Sunday, a beating police said was triggered when the driver did not have 20 cents in change to give the player and his cousin.
Buffalo police said the 20-year-old Kane and his 21-year-old cousin, James Kane, had apparently caught a cab from the city's downtown nightclub district at about 4 a.m. ET. The cab driver suffered cuts to his face and his glasses were damaged, police spokesman Michael DeGeorge said.
Both men were charged with felony robbery and misdemeanour counts of theft of services and criminal mischief. Patrick Kane, who earned US$875,000 last season, pleaded not guilty in local court Sunday, WIVB-TV reported. It was not immediately clear when James Kane will appear in court."
Seems like a rather weird circumstance, but I think it might not be an isolated incident. You see, a friend of mine was dating the sister of a Tampa Bay Lightning defencemen. This guy was bringing in $2 million a year in salary, and yet had the audacity to tell me autoworkers are way overpaid, and he should be earning double his $2 million salary. And this guy routinely stiffs
The Toronto Star Never Let's It's Own Facts Get In The Way.....
Uber-Liberal so-called Newspaper the Toronto Star does it again, succeeding in bashing the Conservative government even though it's own editorial contradicts itself. The Star ran an editorial about the July job losses as reported by Statscan, with 45,000 jobs reported lost. So how does the Star paint this? well, they try and give the Liberal (NDP) EI proposals a push with this BS:
"The rolls of the unemployed in Canada continue to grow – by another 45,000 last month, according to a Statistics Canada report yesterday. Many or most of them won't be eligible for employment insurance (EI), due to the program's Byzantine eligibility requirements. There are 58 regional variations, with the minimum hours of work required to be eligible for EI ranging from 420 to 910.
But the Conservative government in Ottawa continues to play political games with this issue. And the premiers failed to address it in any meaningful way at their annual conference this week in Regina.
In June, the Conservatives made a deal with the opposition Liberals setting up a joint task force to consider reforms to EI. It is now obvious, however, that the task force was no more than a political feint to avert an election this summer. After just its second meeting this week, a Liberal member was reported saying that the Conservatives were not bringing any ideas to the table."
No mention of the current rules being put in place by the Liberal government of Chretien/Martin at a time of 10%+ unemployment. Quoting a "Liberal member" for criticism of the Conservative government as fact. Gee guys, ever heard of political partisanship? Both valid points when critiquing the editorial. But here is the biggest problem with the whole thing. It's this line here:
" Many or most of them won't be eligible for employment insurance (EI), due to the program's Byzantine eligibility requirements."
Most of them won't qualify for EI? Really. The problem is in the Star's ongoing quest to praise anything Liberal, including Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, they add this gem: "McGuinty has good reason to seek reform, given that barely one-third of the unemployed in Ontario qualify for EI. In this respect, Ontario trails behind other provinces, notably its neighbour, Quebec – even though Ontario now has a higher unemployment rate (9.3 per cent, compared to 9 per cent in Quebec)."
Hmmm, Might be a bit of a problem now. So the Star claims Ontario workers only maintain a 33% rate of qualifying, and Quebec workers fare far better. Statscan reported that the majority of the jobs lost, 38,100, were in Quebec. So the Star says we need EI reforms as proposed by Iggy. States that Ontario gets a raw deal in EI qualifying compared to Quebec, who have a much easier time of qualifying. States that most of those workers who lost their jobs won't qualify for EI. Never mentions almost all the jobs lost were in Quebec, and does state that Quebec's workers find it much easier to qualify. So if Ontario qualifies at a rate of 33%, and Quebec is much higher, how is it that most of those laid off workers in July won't qualify?
Maybe the next time the Star writes an editorial, they could be a little more accurate with the actual facts and numbers, and a little less zealous in their partisan attempts at helping the Ontario and federal Liberal parties. And they wonder why readership numbers are in the tank.
p.s. Maybe it's just me, but can anyone explain the reference to the rules as Byzantine, which is a name given to the Roman Empire?
Karlheinz Schreiber Finally Gets The Boot....
After years of abusing the Canadian courts at taxpayer expense, Schreiber will be finally be on his way back to Germany. Perhaps Robert Thibault or Paul Zed can drive him to the airport, seeing as they have more time to themselves after the last election.
"Karlheinz Schreiber's decade-long fight to stay in Canada came to an end Sunday afternoon in a Toronto courtroom.
The embattled businessman was ordered to return to Germany after his lawyer, Edward Greenspan, spent the day unsuccessfully arguing Schreiber's case to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
The 75-year-old faces charges in Germany of fraud, bribery, corruption and tax evasion. The federal government ordered Schreiber to surrender himself into the custody of a Toronto detention center by 5:10 p.m. ET.
Schreiber has fought extradition since August 1999. Most recently, his extradition was delayed so he could testify at an inquiry into his business dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney. But public hearings ended last Tuesday."
James Travers Does It Again, Go Figure....
Another day, another James Travers PM bash of an editorial. This guy is a complete joke. It took me all of 30 seconds to discount this most recent example of journalism. You see, Travers latest rant is about shipbuilding contracts that are about to be tendered. Of course this also fits in with the conspiracy theories on the Irvings Telegraph-Journal apology, but enough has already been written about that lunacy anyways.
So today Mr. Travesty seems to infer that the government investing $40 billion over 30 years is some type of reason why the PM should be turfed from office. Travers asserts that the PM is floating from one government handout to the next, selectively picking winners and losers. Of course one could ask why Travers never took issue with the Liberals doling out billions to Bombardier, but let's just focus on shipbuilding for now.
"Deep down, Stephen Harper surely has a soft heart. Nothing seems to stir the Prime Minister's protective instincts quite like a faded industrial beauty.
Shipbuilding is the latest to feel the gentle, generous touch the auto sector first experienced last spring. Over the next 30 years, the few remaining marine yards will be cutting up $40 billion in public cash – if they can get their acts and contracts together.
It's a heartening, wave-the-flag story. Distressed and in decline for decades, the industry now has a chance to escape the boom-and-bust cycle driven by a glacial defence procurement process prone to political reversals.
But wait, as they say in those breathless TV ads, there's more. By ordering right now, the federal government may someday get ships badly needed today. Better yet, with another election looming Conservatives will be seen stimulating sensitive political regions from the Maritimes through Quebec and Ontario to British Columbia.
Of course, there's tiny print the ruling party hopes no one will read. What's most transparent about the proposed new bidding process, the one discussed behind closed doors here this week, is that it's open to skulduggery. Linked to that is the worry huge premiums will come attached to the made-in-Canada label."
Very interesting. Of course one would think that a supposed credible journalist might delve into what the other parties positions are on the subject, and also look back on the history of the industry. Let's start with the history. Under the Chretien/Martin years, the Canadian shipbuilding industry was decimated. Travers might have noted that the Liberal government of the time actually paid taxpayer dollars to close the plants and put workers on the EI line:
"In the summer the Irving family announced it was closing its Saint John shipyard. The company is trying to decertify unions representing workers at the facility and is planning a new use for the facility.
At a recent Ottawa press conference NDP leader Jack Layton urged the Chretien government to reveal details of a $55 million secret deal with the Irving company to shut down the yard. Layton expressed outrage that the Irving family had contributed $100,000 to Liberal leadership frontrunner Paul Martin's leadership campaign. Layton urged Martin to make a much better effort to help workers, if he wants to be prime minister"
So paying a billionaire conglomerate taxpayer funds to CLOSE plants isn't worth mentioning, eh Mr. Travers? Now let's look at the current position of the parties. All of the opposition parties, the Libs, NDP, and Bloc are pushing for federal funds for shipbuilding contracts and jobs. Again Travers saw this information as unneeded in his piece:
" The federal Liberals have joined the call for a national shipbuilding strategy to ensure the future of the industry.
Marc Garneau, the party's industry critic, said too many large shipbuilding contracts promised by Ottawa have stalled.
"Shipbuilders are fed up with not being listened to by the Conservatives and we are concerned that this strategically important industry is under threat," Mr. Garneau said in a news release."
Then there is this press release from the Liberal MP from Dartmouth-Cole Harbor just a month ago:
"DARTMOUTH, NOVA SCOTIA – The Government of Canada must work with shipbuilders to develop the national shipbuilding strategy needed to secure the future of the industry in Canada, Liberal Industry Critic Marc Garneau said today.
"Too many of Canada's large shipbuilding contracts are stalled in the water," said Mr. Garneau. "Shipbuilders are fed up with not being listened to by the Conservatives – and we're concerned that this strategically important industry is under threat."
"Despite announcing new ship purchases to great fanfare, these projects have suffered setback after setback due to the Conservative government's failure to consult the industry."
Mr. Garneau was joined by Liberal MPs Scott Brison, Geoff Regan, Mike Savage and Judy Foote in a meeting with labour and management representatives of the Canadian shipbuilding industry today in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia as part of an ongoing dialogue to inform the shipbuilding policies of a future Liberal government."
NDP leader has taken the shipbuilding spending a step further, demanding the government invoke rules to protect Canadian shipbuilders that would most likely result in WTO disputes. Gilles Duceppe has also been vocal about getting federal funds to aid the industry in Quebec, including opening shuttered facilities that used to employ thousands.
But scouring Travers column, there is nary a peep or mention of any party other than the PM, aside from one passing remark about the Liberals and the Chalk Lake reactors. And Travers also infers that shipbuilding would be money wasted. Perhaps all those Toronto Star readers in the Atlantic provinces might want to let Travers know that they are hard-working, deserve help from all levels of government to resurrect a once great Canadian industry
$500 Reward Offered....Make That $1400...
To anyone who can provide verifiable proof of the person(s) responsible for the fabrication of the Wafergate story that was passed along to the Telegraph-Journal. The $500 will be paid as a donation to Toronto Sick Kids Hospital or the Canadian Cancer Society, or any reputable charity for that matter, in the name of the person providing the information, with the tax receipt issued to that person. All information received will be treated with strict confidence, with the source of the information remaining secret.
Please forward any info to: paulsblues45@hotmail.com
Anybody wishing to add to the reward total is free to do so.
Total to date $1400
Wafergate: The Resurrection
Great post as always at Joanne's in regard to today's front page apology to the PM in the Telegraph-Journal. From a previous post at Joanne's there was this:
" And Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, Roméo's son and a eulogist at the ceremony celebrating the life of the much-admired politician and former governor general, expressed regret Wednesday that Harper might be in any way criticized in a controversy stemming from the event.
"Mr. Harper made a very generous gesture in coming to Memramcook for my father's funeral," said LeBlanc. "His conversations with me and my family there were generous and warm.
"And I know that my father would – as I do – regret that his attendance at the funeral would in any way lead to any embarrassment to him."
Very classy, Dominic."
Very classy indeed. Which is something that seems to be sorely lacking in Iggy's hand picked strategist Warren Kinsella, as well as Libloggers like Big City Lib. I commented on Joanne's blog that I wondered if Kinsella would act with some rare grace and also follow the papers lead and apologize. He did quite the opposite. Conspiracy theories, strong-arming the Irving family, blah, blah, blah. I guess it's hard for a Liberal not to defend the Irving family, whose private jet and fishing lodge were enjoyed by Liberal cabinet ministers. But let's look at how absolutely idiotic WK and BCL's conspiracy theories are.
1. The PM decided to put something back in the news that was over weeks ago.
2. The government is strong-arming the Irvings so they will take multi-million dollar ship building contracts.
3. The PMO had a hand in the firings of the Irving paper, because the editor added something to the story the journalists never included in the original draft.
4. The opposition can't go along with ship building contracts, something that would greatly benefit employment in the Atlantic provinces, due to the apology.
It's now official, WK has completely lost his edge. Perhaps he spent to much time watching Barney reruns, after using a stuffed doll to bash Stockwell Day for, wait for it, his religious beliefs. Perhaps he is still reeling from insulting the huge Chinese community. Whatever it is, it appears he and his followers such as BCL, have lost touch with reality.
p.s. To the above mentioned, just a heads up. There are no Leprechauns. Just because you saw one on a Lucky Charms box doesn't mean they are real. No unicorns either. Elvis is really dead.Barney is really a dude in a costume. And Michael Ignatieff and your Liberals will lose the next election.
Final Score: CUPE-1 Toronto-0
So it looks like the game of chicken between Mayor David Miller and CUPE has come to an end, with tentative deals both locals are recommending be ratified. And while details have yet to be released, the head of CUPE local 416 had this to say:
"CUPE Local 416 president Mark Ferguson said today that the union fought back all of the concessions the city had sought but one councillor says that if that is true, Mayor David Miller has some explaining to do.
Ferguson wouldn't give specifics of the tentative deal reached with the city early today, but said that the support of his members gave the "bargaining committee the ability to fight back all of the concessions," the city sought."
So to use a hockey analogy, it appears the game went into overtime, with CUPE being victorious with a soft goal through the five-hole on Toronto goalie David Miller. Ironically enough, Miller appeared to be claiming victory despite the fact the 2.5 million viewers from Toronto saw the puck go between the wickets. And rumor has it that the netminder Miller's contract will not be renewed when it completes it's current term.
Some are comparing Miller's performance in net to that of Dave Reece, who was the starting goalie in that record setting night when Toronto Maple Leaf Darryl Sittler scored 10 points, including 6 goals and 4 assists, most coming against the woefully inadequate netminder.
How To Make Over 11% On Your Investments In Less Than A Year
Just take the advice of your own PM. While their is still volatility in the markets, the surge upwards appears to be continuing, with the TSX now 26 points shy of equalling it's high for the year. For those who heeded the PM's advice, congrats:
http://www.harperdex.ca/harperdex.py
Bob Rae: "Stop searching for scapegoats in Sri Lanka"- Blame Harper
On Tuesday the National Post ran an editorial placing some blame on the Liberals for their support of the Tamil Tigers and LTTE,and the resulting loss of life due to the civil war conflict. Today Bob Rae writes a rebuke to the editorial stating there are no scapegoats in Sri Lanka. Problem is Rae quickly dashes any credibility in his counter to the original editorial with this remark:
"The Liberal party stands firmly on a platform of tolerance, freedom and multiculturalism. The Harper approach has done nothing to restore peace and stability in Sri Lanka."
So Rae says to stop looking for a scapegoat, yet still finds the time to lay some blame with the PM and the Conservative Party. Uh, Bob, I think you spell it H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E. what's even odder about Rae's comments is that the original editorial was actually quite favorable to the current Liberal Party, and more notably, Michael Ignatieff:
"But the Liberals let it happen, watched thousands of gallons of blood be spilled halfway around the world without doing anything about it, for no other reason than to elect more Liberals.
Michael Ignatieff represents a break from this cynical Liberal tradition: In the past, he has stood four-square behind victims of Tamil terror. And this year, while the Sri Lankan army was engaged in the necessarily messy job of finishing off the LTTE cowards who were using Tamil civilians as human shields on Sri Lanka's east coast, he refused to exude traditional Chretien/ Martin-era Tiger apologism. Perhaps the latest news will give Mr. Ignatieff occasion to address the Liberals' past sins more explicitly. Given that the man became leader of his party largely on the strength of his international stature as a champion of human rights, Canadians should expect no less. "
Of course all of this is a moot point, as Rae apparently is trying to rewrite history. There are examples of Liberal MP's openly supporting the Tigers, most notably Paul Martin attending a dinner, along with Maria Minna. Just this year Gurbax Malhi, the Liberal MP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton, attended a rally in support of the Tamil Tigers terrorist group,a rally that included LTTE flags waving in the background, and someone blaring on a bullhorn something about the LTTE. Then there is also this:
"Yet so eager were Jean Chretien and Paul Martin to placate the Tamil voting blocks in Scarborough and other urban Liberal strongholds that they refused on numerous occasions to add the Tigers to Canada's list of outlawed terror groups. This made it difficult for police and security services to move against front organizations they felt were acting as money conduits for the Tigers.
Not coincidentally, the investigations that led to last week's raids stepped up just after the Tories kept a promise from the 2005-06 election to ban the Tigers. For their part, Liberal ministers, while in office, often ignored RCMP and CSIS warnings about suspected Tiger-front groups and attended their fund-raisers and community events anyway. Most recently, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal MP for Etobicoke Centre, and Jim Karygiannis, Liberal for Scarborough-Agincourt, both made speeches at the Canadian memorial service held after the 2007 killing of a senior Tiger commander.
We hear the grumblings all the time from small-c conservatives that the government of Stephen Harper is not different enough from the Liberal governments it replaced. Well, here is one front -- one very crucial front -- on which they are very different: They take national security far more seriously, and are prepared to withstand tremendous pressure from ethnic lobbyists to make Canada safer. This month's raids are the fruits of that vigilance.
Then again, as Rae stated, we need to stop looking for a scapegoat in Sri Lanka. If only he followed his own advice.
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Adrian Garelik is an Argentinian film producer and scriptwriter, that has always been involved in digital media distribution. In 2014 he started seeking opportunities for Blockchain and Bitcoin in the entertainment industry and became one of the founders of RSK Labs, a smart contracts platform built on top of Bitcoin.
He spent some years advising video, music and editorial companies on how to implement smart contracts on their industries. In 2016 he left RSK to start the developing of Flixxo, a blockchain based content delivery network and a video platform. Flixxo raised ~USD5MM on an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in 2017 and released its functional beta by June 2018.


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You are here: Home1 / FAQ2 / Covid-19 – Will we be able to Navigate in the South of France from May 1...
Covid-19 – Will we be able to Navigate in the South of France from May 11, 2020?
Following the announcement of the national deconfinement plan made by the French Prime Minister Mr. Édouard PHILIPPE on April 27, 2020, we learned that the possibility of "practicing outdoors individual sports activities" will be restored from May 11th.
All of the boating professionals, associations and federations in France have therefore embarked on the mission whose objective is to gradually release recreational boating from May 11, 2020.
Recreational boating is considered an outdoor sporting activity, but it was strictly prohibited on the Mediterranean coast as part of the fight against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic virus since March 16, while professional yachting activities are authorized since March 20.
After May 11, it will also be possible to gather up to 10 people and it will be allowed to travel within a radius of 100km from your home.
Finally, all the Regions and Departments of the Mediterranean coast of France are classified as "green" by the Ministry of Health, which means that the circulation of the virus is relatively weak.
Of course, all these permissions do not exempt boaters from respecting barrier gestures and the necessary social distancing.
Can we sail after May 11?
The answer is Yes, if we believe the publications of the main French boating and yachting associations and confederations, there is no doubt that boating should be released on May 11, 2020.
We also observe in various publications from Maritime Prefectures that there are no indications against the freedom of navigation as long as health precautions (barrier gestures and social distancing) are taken by all those involved in the sector (ports, boaters, professionals …).
Who will be able to sail after May 11?
This suggests the possibility of sailing for all those who do not live too far from their boats (less than 100km) for day-trips and perhaps even coastal cruises when a maximum of 10 people are onboard the boat. This is already very good news!
Who will have to wait until June 2 to hope to sail?
For all those, living more than 100km away from their home port, it will be necessary to wait for the next phase of deconfinement which will start on June 2, and which will be revealed about 15 days before.
We invite you to stay tuned for more information on the resumption of boating activities in the south of France, in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Frachtbox
The question is: Who will carry them and under what conditions?
With the cooling of the weather, the number of deaths and cases began to increase in the global outbreak of the corona virus. Many countries have been forced to put aside their efforts to return to new normality and take back the quarantine practices. While the fight against the corona virus continues, vaccine work has also accelerated. As vaccine studies continued, one of the biggest questions was how to deliver these vaccines to countries and people. The logistics sector proved once again its importance during this period of crises.
Delivery and storage conditions of different vaccines
The first corona virus vaccine was developed in partnership with BioNTech and Pfizer, which caused for great hope all around the globe. Immediately after, there was great news from Moderna, who also developed a vaccine. Both the resulting vaccines managed to be ninety-five percent effective. The vaccine, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, needs to be shipped at -70 degrees, and can last 5 days at refrigerator temperature. The Moderna vaccine must be delivered at -20 degrees but can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 30 days.
International vaccine transport
For international transport, aircraft are preferred in the context of vaccination. This is because air transport is much faster. As the race against time for the corona virus vaccine continues, the aviation industry, which has begun planning for distribution, stressed that this will be the 'biggest shipping problem ever experienced'. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) stated that a fleet equivalent to exactly 8 thousand Boeing 747s per day is needed for deployment. Because a temperature range of 2 to 8 degrees is needed to transport drugs, not all aircraft will be suitable for vaccine delivery. Some vaccines must be transported at very low temperatures, which will eliminate many more aircrafts in between the options.
Domestic vaccine transport
After the vaccines reach a country, trucks will be preferred for domestic distribution. Since the vaccines have to be transported under cold conditions, attention is focused on refrigerated trucks. A refrigerator truck is a type of vehicle that can carry products at low degrees and is usually preferred for food. (If you would like to learn more about this truck type, you may have a look at our article "Types of vehicles used in logistics") There are less refrigerator trucks available compared to normal trucks and now that they are in demand their value is increasing drastically. It seems that these trucks will be popular in domestic distribution. In this context, it is expected that the states will have to work together with experienced and large logistics companies.
Important criteria for vaccine transport
Type of transportation: Since each vaccine must be stored at different temperatures, preparation must be made according to it before and during transport. This, in turn, shows how important it is to ensure installation and infrastructure. Trained personnel that have knowledge about the vaccines should be present during logistical operations.
Border management: It is aimed to accelerate the checks that will be carried out at customs. Aircraft carrying vaccines are intended to be given priority on landings and takeoffs. In this way, the storage of vaccines entering the country will be provided quickly.
Safety: Because vaccines are valuable products, they also bring the risk of theft. At the same time, due to the sensitivity, there should be no interference in any way. For this reason, it is inevitable that some arrangements need be made during transport. Currently, this security process is being implemented in logistics operations, but in terms of predictability, early planning is vital.
The transport of the vaccines is as important as producing them, in order to save humanity from the corona virus outbreak. If the logistical processes are well planned, the vaccines are expected to be sent to most countries without any problems.


I can't believe it's all over. This weekend I'll start the task of consolidating my experience and pulling together some presentations to share internally and externally. If any of you have a group that you think would like to hear about this program let me know. I'll probably send the presentation out to all you hard-core readers regardless.
I'm back in the swing of work and heading off to Toronto on Monday (yes I love my job!) for my next project as..you guessed it...Test Manager. Apparently my reputation preceeds me. Serves me right for doing such good work in the past. Doh! I will be in the T-dot Monday to Thursday so if anyone is around and hungry let me know. :-) No, I don't know how long I'll be there yet but at least through the summer.
On other news I have also found a flat in Ottawa which is great. I'll be a Glebe-ite as of Feb 1st living 1/2 a block from a Running Room and a Beer Store...ah Canadian Glory!
It's a crazy snowy day here and there's much to do to prepare for Monday so I'll wrap this up. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you learned a thing or two and laughed once or twice.
So sorry this took me so long but guess what...I'm home!
I'm glad to be back in Canada and it honestly feels like I never left (aside from the subtle differences like the Golden Turtle being crap and a few zillion more potholes).
The flight home was a long one when our tvs shorted and I realized the fellow beside me didn't even bring a book. He also ended up sitting next to me between Toronto and London, ON too. We chatted for hours about absolutely nothing...crazy.
It was so nice to see my whole family again and Christmas was delightful. I wish I could have stayed longer but headed to Toronto to see the gals (Sarena, Elena and Jess avec baby) and see Jess' new house (beautiful!). Breakfast with Phil, Sarena and Jacs and then off home with a quick stop in Belleville to meet Jen's new baby Catriona (beautiful!). I got to Ottawa to find Christie and Leslie waiting for me at Christies...yay!
I have been asked a few times what it feels like to be back. It's hard to describe. Somewhat anti-climactic and partially manic.
I am still trying to sort out work and where I am going to live but my fabulous friends have been amazing support. It has been so fabulous to see them all and find out what they have been up to (even though they claim 'nothing's new'). I've been snowshoeing and to my bike-run class so am getting back in the swing. Had a great New Years Eve (if you get a chance to try the game Rock Band DO IT!) and tomorrow will head into the office and the dentist. Not sure which one will be more painful.
I'll send an update on my transition back to non-ADP Accenture and contact details for my Ottawa life.
Thanks for reading all this time. I appreciate your support and care. It's been a great help in my sometimes very difficult path through the last 9 months.


As a member of Girish's Street Team, you will help promote chanting, kirtan, and Girish's concerts at the grassroots level and work on projects designed to fit your schedule and lifestyle. Addicted to the Internet? You'll be the first to know about Girish's new online only videos and music! Always running errands? We'll help you spread the word about Girish while you're on the go! Girish's Street Team members will also receive sneak previews of the latest Girish music, videos, chant books, tour t-shirts, and more.
Girish's Street Team members will work on specific, independent projects that will help us make chanting, kirtan, and Girish hot topics in various communities. Projects might include completing action alerts we send you, leafleting at busy downtown spots over the weekend, developing connections with local businesses, and posting links to Girish's music and videos on the Internet.
Joining Girish's Street Team is a great way to get active for chanting, kirtan, and Girish's music—even if you have a busy schedule. All Girish Street Team activities are designed for individuals, so you can complete the activities on your own schedule.
Make Chanting and Kirtan a Hot Topic in Your Community by Joining Girish's Street Team!


There are four general styles available to style forms: .form-horizontal, .form-condensed, .label-left and no style for horizontal placed inputs, decreased margins, labels aligned to left and default form accordingly. You can combine any of them together.
Bootstrap styles input by default, so there is no need to add any classes to inputs. Just use them. Don't forget to include input type.
Bootstrap has a great documentation about forms.
Again Bootstrap helps. It has everything we need to prepend and append inputs.
Select2 - is a really powerful tool used to convert default selects to interactive search-enabled widgets.
Bootstrap Select - is Bootstrap based custom select, designed to behave like regular Bootstrap selects. This one can be colored as any button.
Note! Light Blue versions 1.0-1.2 uses Uniform as a checkbox styling library. Check previous documentation if needed.
Bootstrap has a great api to handle button states - bootstrap-button.js, so using it to imitate checkbox or radio buttons.
Any input can be sized by adding .span* class or .input-block-level if 100% width required.


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Bai Brands Hires Mike Pengue as Chief Strategy Officer
Press Release Jul. 15, 2016 at 9:42 am
HAMILTON, N.J., July 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Bai Brands, the innovative better-for-you beverage company and makers of Bai, Bai Bubbles and Antiwater, today announced the hiring of its first Chief Strategy Officer, Michael J. Pengue. Pengue joins Bai's executive leadership team with over 30 years' experience in sales, marketing, innovation and strategic business development, most recently as President of Nestlé Waters Business Units.
Based at Bai's company headquarters in Hamilton, N.J., Pengue will be responsible for developing, communicating and executing short and long-term business strategies to ensure sustainable growth. He will specifically focus on the innovation of products, technology and infrastructure. Pengue will report directly to Bai Founder and CEO, Ben Weiss.
"We are very excited to have someone like Mike join our Bevolution," said Weiss. "Mike brings incredible beverage experience, leadership, and a unique business approach that fits perfectly with our creative culture. Bai is the fastest growing brand in a very competitive category and we have no plans to slow down."
At Nestlé, Pengue lead the multibillion-dollar business of water and tea brands including Perrier, S. Pellegrino, Poland Spring, Nestlé Pure Life and Nestea. During his tenure, Nestlé Waters became the largest healthy refreshment beverage company and the third largest overall beverage company in North America. He also witnessed bottled water surpass carbonated soft drinks as the most consumed beverage in the U.S.
"Throughout my career I've seen beverage consumption habits change and evolve," said Pengue. "I see Bai and its portfolio of products as the next significant agent of change in the industry. The closer I've gotten to the brand, its visionary leadership and its creative culture, the more I've wanted to be part of this journey."
Prior to Nestlé, Pengue spent nine years at Dannon Yogurt in a variety of sales and marketing positions. Pengue's official start date at Bai was Monday, July 11th.
ABOUT BAI BRANDS
Bai is an innovative beverage company that brings great taste and better-for-you ingredients together at last. Its two lines of enhanced waters, Bai and Bai Bubbles, offer fresh fruit flavor and antioxidants with no artificial sweeteners and only 5 calories and 1 gram of sugar per serving. Bai also produces Antiwater, an antioxidant-infused, super-purified bottled water. The company was founded by 20-year beverage industry veteran Ben Weiss in 2009 and has grown rapidly with its products now distributed by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. Bai Brands was named one of Inc.'s 500 fastest-growing private companies in 2014, as well as one of America's 20 Most Promising Companies by Forbes in 2015. For more information, visit www.drinkbai.com.
BAI Brands, LLC.
http://www.drinkbai.com
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