Election news 2011

[styky]

Now wouldn't it be something if all the party leaders failed to win their ridings.

Now that sounds like a movement and I'm not sure whether I mean a course in direction of a bodily function.

[Lonesome Bullet]

It's happened before, which is why the Prince Albert riding had three Prime Ministers representing it.

http://www.sklibertytrain.com/?q=articl ... nce-albert

[styky]

Ex-PM Jean Chretien takes aim at Harper's plea for a majority government

(The Canadian Press) –

MONTREAL — Jean Chretien took aim Thursday at Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plea for a majority government.

Harper has repeatedly urged Canadians to give the Tories most of the seats in the Commons on May 2 to avoid another election.

But when asked about the prospect of a Tory majority, the former Liberal prime minister shot down the need to heed Harper's request.

"You know, most of the countries in the world don't have majority governments," Chretien, who himself won three consecutive majorities, said before addressing a conference on international policy in Montreal.

"Only in Canada, when I was there, we had three. In all humility."

more = http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadi ... Id=6565316

[styky]

Doctor says visit by Liberal leader to hospital was disruptive
# Daniel Nolan
# Wed Apr 13 2011

Hamilton Health Sciences is defending its decision to allow Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to stage a campaign event in a café at the Juravinski Cancer Centre after a doctor complained it disrupted patient services and distracted staff from their duties.

HHS spokesperson Jeff Vallentin denies Ignatieff’s visit caused any serious problems for patients or that staff put their duties on hold while the Liberal leader spoke at the Hummingbird Café, but admitted that “like anything, it wasn’t perfect.”

Ignatieff visited the Concession Street facility last Friday to announce a Liberal government would pump billions of dollars into health care once the current health accord with the provinces ends in 2014.

Dr. Pierre Major, an oncologist and an associate professor at the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences, said Tuesday he had no problem with Ignatieff’s visit because he wants “people paying attention to health care,” but took issue with where it was staged.

He said the event was staged in an area heavily used by patients to get to clinics and that the three elevators were shut down by security, forcing people to take the stairs and throwing appointments off by 15 minutes or so. He also said staff was distracted and took time away from their duties to see the Liberal leader.

“One of the nurses told me there was no one answering the phones,” Major said.

He suggested future events be staged before 9 a.m. to avoid conflict with patients or that they are staged in the front foyer or a hospital auditorium.

Vallentin denied three elevators were shut down. He said only one was shut down to permit Ignatieff and others to tour the facility, but admitted a second elevator had broken down at that time and was not operating.

“That did leave patients and families with one elevator for a short period of time,” Vallentin said. “That was regrettable.”

He refuted the suggestion phones went unanswered. “I cannot imagine that is the case,” Vallentin said. “I observed staff coming for quick peak and then getting back to their patients.”

Vallentin said Major’s complaint is the only one he has received, but said, “If anyone was inconvenienced, for that I apologize. I think, on the whole, it went well and people put in a lot of effort to ensure that patient flow, privacy and comfort was well cared for.”

http://www.thespec.com/news/elections/a ... disruptive

[styky]

Who's brainy idea was it to hold a campaign rally in a cancer center where half the people are immunosuppressed. They just put all those patients at risk. I'm not sure why the centre allowed it at all. Their all self absorbed idiots.

[Peter O'Donnell]

CBC News is reporting that the firing of Helena Guergis was based on unsubstantiated rumours from a private eye in the pay of the PMO, and letters from a party lawyer to the RCMP, all of which resulted in no actual evidence of wrong-doing. Despite the fact that this all happened within about three months, a year ago, there has been no apology and no reinstatement of the maverick MP and former Cabinet minister.

It strikes me that this is very damaging political material that casts doubt on the ethical practices of the PMO and the Prime Minister. If he wasn't responsible for the original conduct or mistakes, he is certainly responsible for the outcome. And he needs to apologize, and perhaps consider resigning. What that would do to the election, I can't say, but one possible solution would be to have a group of candidates continue on as an independent caucus and assume that they would elect a leader after the election, to serve as either PM or party leader, depending on how they now fare. But Harper, in my opinion, is now toast. I can't see how he can continue on, and there's apparently more stuff coming about what we knew in Afghanistan.

If Canadians are willing to endorse the leadership of a man who would arbitrarily subject an elected MP to false allegations that were not retracted for over a year, then what chance do you or I have for justice in Canada? Of course, I would know, having been blacklisted for thirty years, so to Helena Guergis I say this, welcome to the gulag.

[styky]

CBC News is reporting that the firing of Helena Guergis was based on unsubstantiated rumours from a private eye in the pay of the PMO, and letters from a party lawyer to the RCMP, all of which resulted in no actual evidence of wrong-doing. Despite the fact that this all happened within about three months, a year ago, there has been no apology and no reinstatement of the maverick MP and former Cabinet minister.

It strikes me that this is very damaging political material that casts doubt on the ethical practices of the PMO and the Prime Minister. If he wasn't responsible for the original conduct or mistakes, he is certainly responsible for the outcome. And he needs to apologize, and perhaps consider resigning. What that would do to the election, I can't say, but one possible solution would be to have a group of candidates continue on as an independent caucus and assume that they would elect a leader after the election, to serve as either PM or party leader, depending on how they now fare. But Harper, in my opinion, is now toast. I can't see how he can continue on, and there's apparently more stuff coming about what we knew in Afghanistan.

If Canadians are willing to endorse the leadership of a man who would arbitrarily subject an elected MP to false allegations that were not retracted for over a year, then what chance do you or I have for justice in Canada? Of course, I would know, having been blacklisted for thirty years, so to Helena Guergis I say this, welcome to the gulag.

All I can say is that is this the best that the CBC could do. If I were the CPC I'd cut their funding May 3rd

[Jean]

Apparently Ducepep was in a seedy bar in my riding earlier today. This is a rumor I heard, I'm not sure if it's true or not but it would be damn funny if it was.

[braveheart]

Earlier tonight I saw a good NDP attack add on who had the better attendance rate in the H of C.

So I guess the left feels attack adds are OK now.

[Peter O'Donnell]

CBC News is reporting that the firing of Helena Guergis was based on unsubstantiated rumours from a private eye in the pay of the PMO, and letters from a party lawyer to the RCMP, all of which resulted in no actual evidence of wrong-doing. Despite the fact that this all happened within about three months, a year ago, there has been no apology and no reinstatement of the maverick MP and former Cabinet minister.

It strikes me that this is very damaging political material that casts doubt on the ethical practices of the PMO and the Prime Minister. If he wasn't responsible for the original conduct or mistakes, he is certainly responsible for the outcome. And he needs to apologize, and perhaps consider resigning. What that would do to the election, I can't say, but one possible solution would be to have a group of candidates continue on as an independent caucus and assume that they would elect a leader after the election, to serve as either PM or party leader, depending on how they now fare. But Harper, in my opinion, is now toast. I can't see how he can continue on, and there's apparently more stuff coming about what we knew in Afghanistan.

If Canadians are willing to endorse the leadership of a man who would arbitrarily subject an elected MP to false allegations that were not retracted for over a year, then what chance do you or I have for justice in Canada? Of course, I would know, having been blacklisted for thirty years, so to Helena Guergis I say this, welcome to the gulag.

All I can say is that is this the best that the CBC could do. If I were the CPC I'd cut their funding May 3rd

That would be a month too late to help them. I'm not saying this is bad because it was on CBC, I'm saying it was bad because it was bad.

Some issues transcend partisan politics. This is major trouble for Harper. It will become evident once everyone processes the information. If I were wrong about that, I think I would be inclined to take the advice I got and leave Canada. I have to say (possibly for the last time) that my treatment here has been an ethical nightmare and something that almost any other country on earth would have taken action over. Canadians seem to be almost numb to this sort of thing and perhaps what I am seeing is post-traumatic stress disorder. Anyway, partisans can say what they want, Harper is done.

[braveheart]

CBC News is reporting that the firing of Helena Guergis was based on unsubstantiated rumours from a private eye in the pay of the PMO, and letters from a party lawyer to the RCMP, all of which resulted in no actual evidence of wrong-doing. Despite the fact that this all happened within about three months, a year ago, there has been no apology and no reinstatement of the maverick MP and former Cabinet minister.

It strikes me that this is very damaging political material that casts doubt on the ethical practices of the PMO and the Prime Minister. If he wasn't responsible for the original conduct or mistakes, he is certainly responsible for the outcome. And he needs to apologize, and perhaps consider resigning. What that would do to the election, I can't say, but one possible solution would be to have a group of candidates continue on as an independent caucus and assume that they would elect a leader after the election, to serve as either PM or party leader, depending on how they now fare. But Harper, in my opinion, is now toast. I can't see how he can continue on, and there's apparently more stuff coming about what we knew in Afghanistan.

If Canadians are willing to endorse the leadership of a man who would arbitrarily subject an elected MP to false allegations that were not retracted for over a year, then what chance do you or I have for justice in Canada? Of course, I would know, having been blacklisted for thirty years, so to Helena Guergis I say this, welcome to the gulag.

All I can say is that is this the best that the CBC could do. If I were the CPC I'd cut their funding May 3rd

That would be a month too late to help them. I'm not saying this is bad because it was on CBC, I'm saying it was bad because it was bad.

Some issues transcend partisan politics. This is major trouble for Harper. It will become evident once everyone processes the information. If I were wrong about that, I think I would be inclined to take the advice I got and leave Canada. I have to say (possibly for the last time) that my treatment here has been an ethical nightmare and something that almost any other country on earth would have taken action over. Canadians seem to be almost numb to this sort of thing and perhaps what I am seeing is post-traumatic stress disorder. Anyway, partisans can say what they want, Harper is done.

This is not endemic to the CPC - look at what was done to Fr Corapi in the US.

[styky]

In Brampton, a suburban boom city grows on fertile electoral ground
JOE FRIESEN
BRAMPTON, ONT.— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011 10:29PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011 10:59PM EDT
Eight years ago, the riding of Brampton-Springdale didn’t even exist. Today, it’s among the biggest in the country and one of the most fiercely contested seats in this election.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper made a point of launching his campaign in Brampton and has already returned twice, part of an exceptional effort to target not only Brampton-Springdale, but Brampton West, which the Liberals won by just 231 votes in 2008, and neighbouring Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

Together they make up the kind of suburban boom city that for the past two decades has attracted much of Canada’s population growth. Brampton was once a bastion of old Anglo Ontario, where the Protestant Orange parade was the year’s big occasion. Today, the flying of orange flags signals the arrival of the Sikh Khalsa Day celebration. Just under half the city’s residents are immigrants, and one in three is from South Asia.

These groups represent some of the most coveted demographics in this campaign. Both parties have tailored their policies and political strategies to appeal to new Canadians and their families. The Conservatives in particular, led by Mr. Harper’s lieutenant, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, have invested heavily in their ability to wrest these seats from the Liberals. The Liberals, who have seen their comfortable margins in the region dwindle, are endeavouring to hold on.

But stand still for a minute in Brampton and the ground will shift. The pace of growth here is relentless. The city, 45 minutes outside Toronto, added an astounding 100,000 residents between 2001 and 2006 as immigrants began to bypass the core of big cities for life in edge communities like this one.

Every evening around sunset, 30 or 40 Indo-Canadian seniors gather in Brampton’s Blackforest Park to chew over the day’s news, men on one side of the road, women on the other. These are some of the voters who’ve been the subject of relentless courting by the Conservative Party.

Major Singh, 67, was a Liberal for most of his 30 years in Canada. He has voted for the incumbent, Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, in previous elections but won’t support her this time. He doubts she can win again. Mr. Singh senses there’s been enough of a shift among Indo-Canadians to put Ms. Dhalla’s Conservative opponent, Parm Gill, over the top.

Ms. Dhalla, unusually for an opposition MP, has become almost a household name in Canada thanks to her high profile in the media. But her victories have narrowed in every election. The margin now stands at less than 2 per cent, down from 20 per cent in 2004. She has been hurt by a national trend that has seen immigrants turn away from the Liberal Party, as well as by her own bad press.

The Springdale area in the riding’s east, where much of the Indo-Canadian community lives, has been the site of intense campaigning. Both the Conservative and Liberal organizations accuse the other of slashing and uprooting signs. This is the district where Ms. Dhalla must seize a healthy lead if she is to win the riding again.

In the last Parliament, Ms. Dhalla proposed that seniors who had been in Canada for just three years should be eligible for old age supplement payments. It’s the kind of policy that might appeal to Mr. Singh and the rest of the group, but it doesn’t. They dismiss it with shaking heads, all of them surprisingly familiar with the private member’s bill.

“It’s not good policy,” Joginder Pooni said.

Parshotam Goyal, a retired teacher, asks how Ms. Dhalla can be re-elected when her attendance record in the House of Commons is so poor. She missed nearly half the votes in Parliament from 2008 to 2010, though he wrongly believes the figure is 70 per cent. He’s voting Conservative, he said.

more = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le1986393/

[braveheart]

In Brampton, a suburban boom city grows on fertile electoral ground
JOE FRIESEN
BRAMPTON, ONT.— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011 10:29PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011 10:59PM EDT
Eight years ago, the riding of Brampton-Springdale didn’t even exist. Today, it’s among the biggest in the country and one of the most fiercely contested seats in this election.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper made a point of launching his campaign in Brampton and has already returned twice, part of an exceptional effort to target not only Brampton-Springdale, but Brampton West, which the Liberals won by just 231 votes in 2008, and neighbouring Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

Together they make up the kind of suburban boom city that for the past two decades has attracted much of Canada’s population growth. Brampton was once a bastion of old Anglo Ontario, where the Protestant Orange parade was the year’s big occasion. Today, the flying of orange flags signals the arrival of the Sikh Khalsa Day celebration. Just under half the city’s residents are immigrants, and one in three is from South Asia.

These groups represent some of the most coveted demographics in this campaign. Both parties have tailored their policies and political strategies to appeal to new Canadians and their families. The Conservatives in particular, led by Mr. Harper’s lieutenant, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, have invested heavily in their ability to wrest these seats from the Liberals. The Liberals, who have seen their comfortable margins in the region dwindle, are endeavouring to hold on.

But stand still for a minute in Brampton and the ground will shift. The pace of growth here is relentless. The city, 45 minutes outside Toronto, added an astounding 100,000 residents between 2001 and 2006 as immigrants began to bypass the core of big cities for life in edge communities like this one.

Every evening around sunset, 30 or 40 Indo-Canadian seniors gather in Brampton’s Blackforest Park to chew over the day’s news, men on one side of the road, women on the other. These are some of the voters who’ve been the subject of relentless courting by the Conservative Party.

Major Singh, 67, was a Liberal for most of his 30 years in Canada. He has voted for the incumbent, Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, in previous elections but won’t support her this time. He doubts she can win again. Mr. Singh senses there’s been enough of a shift among Indo-Canadians to put Ms. Dhalla’s Conservative opponent, Parm Gill, over the top.

Ms. Dhalla, unusually for an opposition MP, has become almost a household name in Canada thanks to her high profile in the media. But her victories have narrowed in every election. The margin now stands at less than 2 per cent, down from 20 per cent in 2004. She has been hurt by a national trend that has seen immigrants turn away from the Liberal Party, as well as by her own bad press.

The Springdale area in the riding’s east, where much of the Indo-Canadian community lives, has been the site of intense campaigning. Both the Conservative and Liberal organizations accuse the other of slashing and uprooting signs. This is the district where Ms. Dhalla must seize a healthy lead if she is to win the riding again.

In the last Parliament, Ms. Dhalla proposed that seniors who had been in Canada for just three years should be eligible for old age supplement payments. It’s the kind of policy that might appeal to Mr. Singh and the rest of the group, but it doesn’t. They dismiss it with shaking heads, all of them surprisingly familiar with the private member’s bill.

“It’s not good policy,” Joginder Pooni said.

Parshotam Goyal, a retired teacher, asks how Ms. Dhalla can be re-elected when her attendance record in the House of Commons is so poor. She missed nearly half the votes in Parliament from 2008 to 2010, though he wrongly believes the figure is 70 per cent. He’s voting Conservative, he said.

more = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le1986393/

Little windows looking into the real minds of voters like this, are incredibly telling. After looking at the recent Nano's polls for Ontario and nationally I see one thing which matches this specific insight we just read.

The statement by this one voter matches what the polls are saying. The Conservatives have been up on the Liberals by a consistent 10 - 11 points since this election has been called. There have been some if very few polls which I consider Blips. The ND's are gaining on the liberals but not at the expense of the Liberals - yet at the expense of the Greens not the Conservatives. I see a shift in the ground and a major vote split on the left.

This we see in a large sample poll the Conservatives at 45 to the Liberals 24. If after looking at all the polls I factor in error rates that mens at best the Conservatives are at 42 and the Liberals at around 27/28.
The other bit we see is 16 % undecided. I read a piece on this yesterday. It struck me that the statements the person being interviewed made; that was they were undecided between the Libs and the ND's.

Thus my conclusion is that the Conservatives have stayed steady albeit hovering within a margin or error, and the left is in turmoil. Hence why we are seeing seething shrieks from the leftwing media. They are scared. The Liberals are scared of a take over by the ND's As I have said before Jack Layton and Bob Rae have something up their sleeve.

[styky]

2nd Liberal says residents targeted by harassing calls
CBC News
Posted: Apr 16, 2011 2:12 PM ET
Last Updated: Apr 16, 2011 2:12 PM ET

Liberal candidate Bob Speller says that harassing phone calls are being made to residences of some people known to be Liberal supporters. Liberal candidate Bob Speller says that harassing phone calls are being made to residences of some people known to be Liberal supporters.

Two Liberal candidates have now asked Elections Canada to investigate reports that residents in their ridings are being harassed by calls falsely claiming to be with their campaigns.

more - http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadav ... sment.html

[braveheart]

2nd Liberal says residents targeted by harassing calls
CBC News
Posted: Apr 16, 2011 2:12 PM ET
Last Updated: Apr 16, 2011 2:12 PM ET

Liberal candidate Bob Speller says that harassing phone calls are being made to residences of some people known to be Liberal supporters. Liberal candidate Bob Speller says that harassing phone calls are being made to residences of some people known to be Liberal supporters.

Two Liberal candidates have now asked Elections Canada to investigate reports that residents in their ridings are being harassed by calls falsely claiming to be with their campaigns.

more - http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadav ... sment.html

Ah the leftist black ops begin