Election news 2011

[braveheart]

So at the beginning of the election there was big talk by the pundit elite's that social media, bloggers, twitterers, etc; were going to play a big part in the election. This is going to be the "Twitter" election. The left were hoping to take a page out of the Obama play book. They hoped to capture the hearts minds and votes of the 18- 22 year olds who are the majority of social media users.

They were going to "rise up " and change the face of politics. Well Johnny the results are in. Only 6% of you are doing this. One more thing Facebook is being used more than Twitter this election. So it should have been called the Facebook election. They even got that part wrong.
I guess they feel like right Twitters now.

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/h ... p?id=62141

Canadian voters not tuned into social media, poll shows
Pundits are calling this year's Federal polls the Twitter Election, but a recent survey indicates a mere six per cent of voters are following it daily on social media channels.
4/18/2011 6:00:00 AM By: Nestor E. Arellano


It's been called Canada’s “Twitter election” because of the social media buzz thus far being generated by the 2011 Federal polls. But for all the trouble political parties have put into their social media strategy, Canadians are just not into following the elections through social networking sites.
A survey recently released by Ipsos Reid Canada indicates that only six per cent of the entire Canadian adult population (around 1.5 million potential voters aged 18 and above) are logging on to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or media news sites and blogs each day to discuss public policy and political issues. The survey, which polled 1,001 Canadians, was done over a three-day period right after the Federal Election was announced. Results are considered accurate to within + or – 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

“For all the talk about this being a social media election, we haven’t actually reached the hyped point yet,” Mike Colledge, president of Canadian public affairs for Ipsos Reid, told ITBusiness.ca.
“But this is our first kick at the can, this will still be known as our first social media election,” Colledge added.
Despite the low turn out, Ipsos Reid is also upbeat about social media’s role in future Canadian elections. “The study shows the fertile ground of potential voters who could sprout up in future election campaigns…” Ipsos Reid said on its Web site, also noting that at one in five Canadians (or an estimated 5.1 million potential voters) did log on to social media sites in varying degrees to check on the election during the past week.
Ipsos Reid said that apart from the 6 per cent that visited social sites daily, eight per cent went to social sites twice a week, and another seven per cent visited social sites once a week.
The leader of a non-partisan organization dedicated to encouraging school-aged children to vote when they come of age, said he welcomes the conversation on the elections now appearing on the social media arena, but thinks it is mainly political parties using the technology.
“I think there’s this perception that only youths aged 18 to 20 are using social media in this election. In reality, people of all ages are using social networking technology,” said Taylor Gunn, chief election office of the group Student Vote. Student Vote is non-profit, non-partisan organization that works with schools and teachers to help young Canadians understand the practice and responsibilities of voting.
“I think those using social media extensively for the elections are mostly people connected to the campaigning parties,” he said.
The Ipsos Reid survey actually showed that of the Canadians engaging in social media 29 per cent are aged 18-34; 22 per cent are aged 35 to 54; and 15 per cent are aged 55 years and older.
However, while younger Canadians may be more likely to join, it’s middle-aged (nine per cent) and older Canadians (six per cent) who are much more engaged on a daily basis with social media public policy and political discussion groups than their younger counterparts (four per cent).
Facebook not Twitter is election medium of choice
Another surprising finding in the Ipsos Reid release is that Facebook rather than Twitter is the dominant social media tool of choice for election-related discussions.
“It’s being called the Twitter election but in reality Facebook is the more popular social media discussion space,” said Colledge.

When asking which web sites Canadians visited to discuss public policy and political issues on a daily basis, the survey showed that respondents were nearly evenly split: 18 per cent chose new media sites such as Facebook and Twitter; while 15 per cent chose web sites of traditional news publishing and broadcasting companies.

[braveheart]

The left busted lying to the Canadian people . Look who wrote the piece. A CBC reporter.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadav ... ib-ad.html
Tories demand Liberals pull anti-Harper health ad

By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Apr 18, 2011 11:25 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 18, 2011 11:44 AM ET Read 123 comments123
The speaker was more likely former National Citizens Coalition president David Somerville. ((CBC))

The Tories are demanding the Liberals pull their new health-care ad, arguing that the party misquoted Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

The television ad asks if voters can trust Harper to be in charge of health care and says he once argued the federal government should scrap the Canada Health Act.

But it wasn't Harper who spoke the words cited in the ad — it was his then-boss, National Citizens Coalition president David Somerville, a Conservative spokesman said Monday.

The ad cites an Aug. 26, 2010 Globe and Mail piece for the first statement, and runs it with a headline that says "It's Past Time the Feds Scrapped the Canada Health Act."

But while that line did indeed appear in the Globe and Mail last year, it was in a column by writer André Picard. Picard was citing Harper from a 1997 statement he made as vice-president of the NCC.

A Google search makes it clear the line is oft-cited but never with a link to a recording or speech text. It's usually sourced to a famous speech Harper made in Montreal to a conservative American group called the Council for National Policy (where he calls Canada a northern European welfare state).

Now it appears Harper didn't use the line at all.

Contacted last Thursday, Liberal Party spokesman Michel Liboiron said he didn't think it was misleading to say the quote came from 2010.

"We wanted to use the most up-to-date reference, which would seem to be the Globe story," he said in an email.

CBC had tried last week to track down the quote but wasn't able to confirm it. The Conservatives contacted the media on Monday to announce their demand the Liberals remove the ad.

Neither the Liberal Party or NDP can provide source material for this quote.

The line appeared in the June 1997 issue of Bulldog, the NCC newsletter, Conservative spokesman Mike White said in an email.

"The Liberals know full well that the quotation belongs to Mr. Somerville, not Mr. Harper, because the Liberal Party correctly attributed the comment to Mr. Somerville in the Liberals' 2004 essay, "Stephen Harper and the National Citizens' Coalition," at page 5, footnote 20," White wrote.

[braveheart]

The Liberal Ad was a lie - hum another dog bits man story.

The left busted lying to the Canadian people . Look who wrote the piece. A CBC reporter.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadav ... ib-ad.html
Tories demand Liberals pull anti-Harper health ad

By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Apr 18, 2011 11:25 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 18, 2011 11:44 AM ET Read 123 comments123
The speaker was more likely former National Citizens Coalition president David Somerville. ((CBC))

The Tories are demanding the Liberals pull their new health-care ad, arguing that the party misquoted Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

The television ad asks if voters can trust Harper to be in charge of health care and says he once argued the federal government should scrap the Canada Health Act.

But it wasn't Harper who spoke the words cited in the ad — it was his then-boss, National Citizens Coalition president David Somerville, a Conservative spokesman said Monday.

The ad cites an Aug. 26, 2010 Globe and Mail piece for the first statement, and runs it with a headline that says "It's Past Time the Feds Scrapped the Canada Health Act."

But while that line did indeed appear in the Globe and Mail last year, it was in a column by writer André Picard. Picard was citing Harper from a 1997 statement he made as vice-president of the NCC.

A Google search makes it clear the line is oft-cited but never with a link to a recording or speech text. It's usually sourced to a famous speech Harper made in Montreal to a conservative American group called the Council for National Policy (where he calls Canada a northern European welfare state).

Now it appears Harper didn't use the line at all.

Contacted last Thursday, Liberal Party spokesman Michel Liboiron said he didn't think it was misleading to say the quote came from 2010.

"We wanted to use the most up-to-date reference, which would seem to be the Globe story," he said in an email.

CBC had tried last week to track down the quote but wasn't able to confirm it. The Conservatives contacted the media on Monday to announce their demand the Liberals remove the ad.

Neither the Liberal Party or NDP can provide source material for this quote.

The line appeared in the June 1997 issue of Bulldog, the NCC newsletter, Conservative spokesman Mike White said in an email.

"The Liberals know full well that the quotation belongs to Mr. Somerville, not Mr. Harper, because the Liberal Party correctly attributed the comment to Mr. Somerville in the Liberals' 2004 essay, "Stephen Harper and the National Citizens' Coalition," at page 5, footnote 20," White wrote.

[styky]

How crumbling Bloc may change Canada
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/04/21/ho ... nge-canada

[styky]

Michael Ignatieff gets chorus of boos from hockey fans


By Althia Raj, Postmedia News April 24, 2011

TORONTO — Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff made a quick stop-over at a hockey game in Mississauga, Ont., Saturday night, where the crowd didn't extend an overly generous welcome.

Ignatieff was booed by many accounts from fans watching the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors and the Niagara Icedogs at the Hershey centre.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/Michael+Ignatieff ... z1KSLXbEx4

[styky]

Anti-Harper voters may be reassessing leaders as campaign nears end
Bruce Anderson
Globe and Mail Blog
Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 11:35AM EDT
The most recent polls paint a clear picture of the size of the challenge facing the Liberals, but the actual nature of the challenge is subtle and complex. It lies below the surface of the horse race numbers.

Roughly 60 per cent of Canadians don’t want to vote for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. When these folks think there is a chance to replace the Conservatives with another government, some of them will consider voting for a party that isn’t their first choice. This was, of course, the game plan of the Liberals in 2004, 2006, 2008 and lots of times in the last century, too.

more - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le1995614/

[pirapoi]

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/pirapoi/traction.jpg">

[styky]

Interesting tidbit I heard today on the Llowel Green show. A senior called in and said that she had been to vote in the early polls and almost voted for the wrong party. She said the first name on the list was the Pirate party and the second was the PC party which she says she almost marked until at the last minute she realized it's no longer the PC party it's the Conservative party she wanted to vote for which was further down the list. If memory serves me PC stands for Progressive Canadian party. How many seniors with check off PC because the recognize the old call letters rather than the party they actually wanted to vote for.

[styky]

We voted this morning and I was disappointed to be the only ones there.
We handed over or ID and the school played the National anthem. Everyone stopped and stood. I felt very patriotic, anthem then vote.

[fourhorses]

A "Velvet Touch" Production
Now playing in Orange Zone theaters

[kick the bums out]

My MP can beat up on your MP