Why A Conservative Majority Government Is Needed

John Ibbitson has written a great column and in a common sense way lays out why a Conservative majority government would be a good thing  and why the public shouldn't fear one. 

Conservatives have 143 seats right now in the Commons and would need only 12 to obtain a majority. Providing they keep their current seats in which I'm sure they will.

 At the same time Canadians aren't buying what Iffy's selling.and I doubt whether they'll ever buy anything he's he's trying to peddle. They just don't like or trust him. Pre-writ polling history sure doesn't seem to be on Iffy's side so he'll have a steep hill to climb for Libs to have any chance. The next election is PM Stephen Harper's to lose.

There are many issues that requires a majority  that need to be dealt with. In minority government, there's too much partisanship,acrimony and games playing. Liberals are angry and frustrated. A recent example of the anger, is the outrageous  Jihadis comment from Bob Rae.  Tim Powers explains what's going on,

His comments also speak to an attitude of moral superiority still found in within the Liberal Party’s senior ranks. Many Grits still feel wronged that the public has not come to their senses and put them back in their rightful position as our nation's governors. This place called Canada is their burden and they will do as they see fit.

Liberals still haven't learned anything from their loss in 2006.   That there is a perfect reason for a Conservative majority. Liberals have to learn their lesson They're still the arrogant entitled party and need a lot of work to do before voters can take them seriously again.  They will do anything to get back into power even if it means banding together with the Dippers and the Bloc in an unholy alliance.  We  can't allow that to happen because it would mean disaster for our country.


There's a lot of uncertainty going on in the world right now from the crisis in the Middle East to the dire financial straits in the United States and Europe etc. If you don't think that any of that affects us, think again.  Another problem that is about to hit the wall  as each day goes by and that is pensions and health care. They are what you call unfunded liabilities and as the population ages we need to find a way to pay for them if we still want those programs.   A Conservative majority government is the only option to deal with these issues and keep Canada on as even keel as possible.

To quote John Ibbitson, "The truth is, ideology aside, Canada could use a dose of majority government right now."  So lets all buckle down,get to work and make it happen.
It is in the best interest of the country.
This new CPC ad signifies that we are in good hands and that we need to continue with this PM and  Conservative government next time though with a majority.

OK, Here We Go Again!

Elections Canada continues it's vendetta against the Conservative party.

OTTAWA - Two Conservative senators are facing charges under the Elections Canada Act over a controversy dating back to the 2006 election.
Senators Doug Finley and Irving Gerstein, along with two former party officials, are facing administrative charges laid earlier this week by Elections Canada.
The charges are not criminal and would likely only result in fines of up to $1,000 if they are convicted.
Elections Canada and the Conservatives have long fought over whether election ads, bought by the Conservatives for local candidates in the 2006 campaign, violated the law. Elections Canada maintains that although the ads were paid for by local candidates, the ads were really national ads and should be charged against the Conservative Party's national spending limit.
If that were done the Conservatives would have spent more in 2006 than the law allows.
The party won a court case against Elections Canada in January 2010 when Justice Luc Martineau called the Conservative elections expenses legal.

They lost the court case! So why are they doing this and why now?  Other parties did the same thing, why is EC not going after them?  What about Liberal leadership debts?  Why has EC has granted  them extension after extension when they shouldn't have?   Meantime, it's our money EC is spending on this vendetta.   EC has appealed and that appeal is still before the court. Can't they at least wait until the appeal process has ended?
Seems like double standards here by EC.   Liberals get free ride, Conservatives have the hammer coming down on them.  It almost appears that the so called "non-partisan" Elections Canada is indeed partisan. Here is  good reason to grant PM Harper and the Conservatives a majority, to clean house in every faction of the snivel service including Elections Canada.  Just by continuing on this witch hunt, Elections will have shred completely any credibility they've had.
EC, you lost, give it up!

BTW. Is there any way one could find out how much taxpayer money EC has spent on this?  Are they under the Access to Information Act? 

Stop the Presses! A Balanced Article by Yaffe

Barbara Yaffe usually is in PM Harper Conservative basing mode but has actually written a pretty balanced article today although she does  manage to get a few jabs in at the end. Guess she just can't help herself. But anyhow she says if there's an election the Conservatives will be going into a campaign in a position of strength.

The fact is, if forced into battle as a result of a lost budget vote, there's every possibility the Conservatives would win a majority government.

                                    ***************************************

After five years and two election wins, many Canadians finally have grown more comfortable with Harper. A Nanos poll Wednesday shows 48 per cent of respondents would be comfortable or somewhat comfortable with a Harper majority. He's not warm and cuddly but neither has he implemented any restrictive social policies domestically. And there's no denying, on an increasingly pertinent world stage, the Conservative leader has looked good. Nor has he overseen any major scandal involving the blatant squandering of tax dollars.. Conservatives enter a campaign with additional strength among immigrant communities, having worked doggedly for and won over ethnic support that used to belong to Liberals.
. Liberals, again, are poised to split the left-leaning vote with New Democrats, especially because so many of their policy positions of late have been similar.
. Conservatives are presenting a disciplined platform that gives priority to issues of prime concern to Canadians: Jobs and the economy.

This is the most common sense  she's made in a long, long time. Maybe she's just starting to come to terms that her leader and favorite party are toast.

BTW On Another Note.-If the coalition is banking on the Bev Oda affair sinking the Conservatives, they better think again. According to a new poll from Harris Decima not actually a Conservative loving polling company, the Oda affair is not catching  fire with the public.

OTTAWA - A new poll suggests the Bev Oda document-altering scandal may not be as damaging to the Harper government as opposition parties had hoped.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll found that half of those surveyed had heard nothing about the affair.
Of the 50 per cent who were aware of the controversy, 32 per cent said the international co-operation minister should resign from cabinet, 10 per cent said she should stay and eight per cent were unsure.
The poll comes as Liberals and New Democrats are vowing to turn up the heat on Oda when Parliament resumes Monday after a one-week break.
Opposition parties have already been relentlessly hammering away at the issue for two weeks, which revolves around an altered document from Oda's officials that ultimately denied funding to a church-based foreign-aid group.
The telephone poll of just over 1,000 Canadians was conducted Feb. 17-20 and is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20.

The Coalition Out of Touch

While the media and the coalition keep harping on the Bev Oda non issue, Canadians are paying more attention to the 10 yr.old girl who sings Lady Gaga's new song.

At the same time they're not helping the government address the bread and butter issues that most Canadians are concerned about like jobs, the economy, and security etc. For instance  the coalition are missing  the boat when it comes to addressing the human smuggling issue that PM Harper government is trying to do something about.

If the opposition parties think that Canadians are going to run out and vote against the Conservatives over technical issues or specific clauses in C-49, then they have seriously misjudged what is a true hot-button issue for both native-born Canadians and new Canadians. This in turn hands the Conservatives an important club to batter the opposition with during an election, or perhaps a vote that could trigger one if the Conservatives designated it a confidence motion. Stay tuned for more anti-human smuggling rhetoric from the Conservatives as they take full advantage of the oppositions blindness on this issue.

If the coalition wants to keep hammering on the Oda case thinking they can win they should think again.  It's  like one Liberal blogger puts it, "Also, if this is the stuff the Liberals are counting on to win an election, we’re toast." 
The coalition is out of step with Canadians on prisons too as most support the government's plan.

Media Has Failed on the Oda "NOT" Story

Over the last week the lame stream media has bombarded  print and the airwaves with the so called Minister Bev Oda forgery and how she lied stories about a document refusing funding for KAIROS which is actually an activist group that lobbies for social and ecological justice.. 

The media failed IMHO as usual to get to the facts and the truth. Photos of Ms. Oda  wearing sunglasses and smoking was plastered all over the papers to make her look in as bad light as possible. The photos have nothing whatsoever to do with the issue at hand.  They've hung her before all the facts are known. Instead they keep repeating the coalition talking points. Did they not pay attention to what was testified to in committee?  Did they not listen to what Margaret Biggs, CIDA's president and accounting officer had said?

Mr. Jean Dorion:

    Ms. Biggs, was the word “not” handwritten on the form that you signed on September 28, two months before the minister signed it?

Ms. Margaret Biggs (President, Canadian International Development Agency):

    No, it wasn't, sir.

Mr. Jean Dorion:

    So then, when you signed the form, you were in fact giving your approval. You were recommending approval, since the form states:

   “Recommendation: That you sign below to indicate you approve a contribution of $7,098,756 over four years for the above program.”
So then, on September 28, you were recommending that the minister approve the project.

Ms. Margaret Biggs:

    Yes, I think as the minister said, the agency did recommend the project to the minister. She has indicated that. But it was her decision, after due consideration, to not accept the department's advice.

     This is quite normal, and I certainly was aware of her decision. The inclusion of the word “not” is just a simple reflection of what her decision was, and she has been clear. So that's quite normal.

    I think we have changed the format for these memos so the minister has a much clearer place to put where she doesn't want to accept the advice, which is her prerogative.

I don't know if it's just plain laziness, the strong dislike they have for PM Harper and his government, especially the women in this government, or is it incompetence?  There has not been any common sense fairness  in this story whatsoever.  For that you have to go to the blogs for that including this one from a Liberal blogger no less.  It is thorough, well though out, fair and clear. Others to check out are Climbing out of the Dark, CruxoftheMatter, Bluelikeyou, and The Iceman.  It has taken citizen journalists to do the job of the so called profession journalists.  No wonder the lame stream media is losing credibility.

Greg Weston from CBC stated something rather disturbing on Power and Politics the other day that really should be investigated. He hinted at maybe some collusion going between civil servants and media.  You can hear it here at the 18:45 mark. 

“Good for us potentially, because, I think, I’m hearing more and more from the senior public service saying ‘enough’. And if they turn against the Harper Government there is no more ferocious enemy because they have all the brown envelopes.”

What did Greg mean by "us anyway?"  If this is true, it's not good and I believe needs to be looked into.  This is a good example of why PM Harper and the Conservatives need a majority.  House needs to be cleaned in the service.

The media and the opposition coalition have taken it upon themselves to be prosecutor, judge,jury and executioner before all the evidence is in.  They are seeing what they want to see. They are hearing what they want to hear never mind the truth.  They are looking for out their own self interests only and are trying everything in the book to bring this government down even if it means ruining reputations in the process.  They don't' care. They don't care about you. They don't care about me. They don't care about the country.
Shame on the media!!!   Thank God for the internet and blogs! 

The Coalition, Media Vipers Brood

I have refrained from commenting on this but I can't hold back anymore. This whole week the coalition and the media have been attacking CIDA Minister Bev Oda.  The yelling and screaming from the coalition and the over the top personal smears from the media at Ms. Oda has become almost unbearable. 

Turning down funding for KAIROS, a left wing faith based organization who are actually activists was the right thing to do.  The process?  Not actually pretty but the personal smears and outrage coming from the coalition and the media are uncalled for and sickening.  I have never seen anything like this before. I thought there was a call for civility but the hate and venom coming from this vipers brood is anything but civil.

What's with the attacks on Conservative women anyway?  I don't understand it. In the States the hate for Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter,etc. Here there was first Lisa Raitt, Rona Ambrose, Helena Guergis, now Bev Oda.  There never were attacks like this on Liberal women.  Why the double standard?  It's nothing but spite and hate. It's amazing that any conservative women would put their names forward for office.

This  controversy seemed to come up as three polls that came out stating the Conservative support was surging and the Liberal support was tanking. What Bev did happened two years ago why does it come up now?  Coincidence or  something sinister and calculated by the coalition, the pollsters and their media friends?   One has to wonder. Something evil is a foot.  It's no secret that coalition and the media hate PM Harper and his government and want them out.  They will do anything at the detriment of reputations and the country. They don't care!  I don't trust any of them anymore.

I grieve for my country at this time.There are so many more important issues that need to be dealt with and this is what is happening right now. It''s sad and pathetic.  It has gotten so out of control in my opinion that the only way I see for things to change is through divine intervention. That's why we must pray for Bev Oda and the PM. Pray that they may find strength and wisdom to deal with this this situation. Pray that the coalition and the media back off the personal smears and start to deal with issues that really matter to Canadians for a change.

 I recommend to you  some excellent commentary  on this is matter from Bluelikeyou, Crux of the Matter, and The Iceman
Update: (h/t to MaryT) A great post today by Steve Janke too.

Who Defends Womens Rights? Certainly Not Liberals

The left always like to  brag how they are the "defenders" of women's  rights.  In the past Liberals when they were in power, protecting women's rights meant funding organizations that engaged in activism instead of funding organizations that go to directly helping women.

Actually the defenders and protectors of women's rights are Conservatives  as Barbara Kay so aptly points  out in her column. Our Conservative government has come out to fund an initiative geared towards preventing honor type violence against girls and women.

Fortunately, strategies to diminish honour-motivated violence against girls and women in Canada are being mobilized by the federal government.One such initiative was launched last week by Minister for the Status of Women Rona Ambrose. The Edmonton Indo-Canadian Women’s Association has received $241,000 for a 24-month project designed to empower immigrant girls and women, “Elimination of Harmful Cultural Practices: A Community-Centred Approach for Education and Action.” The project is a tangible outcome of meetings and conferences sparked by a July, 2010 Frontier Centre report on the troubling persistence of honour-motivated abuse into the second and third generation of South Asian communities.
Part of the money will fund a shelter, WIN House, reserved for refugee and immigrant women fleeing abuse, within which the program, “Changing Together,” will operate. A priority is information outreach — to inform immigrant women before they come to Canada, on their arrival, at settlement offices, banks, doctors’ offices and other frequent points of contact (including Facebook and Twitter) — about women’s rights here, reassuring immigrants that such practices as forced marriages and dowry fraud are not tolerated in Canada.

She then sums up her column by saying that a Liberal government probably would not be intiating such a program. I agree.

Not to be (very) partisan, but I doubt that a Liberal government would have found the will to apply such “active, muscular liberalism” to the problem before a European-style crisis forced its hand.

Clearly something has to be done to stop this kind of violence against innocent women and girls and I'm glad our Conservative government is on the ball on that front.  Liberals seem to be more for advocacy when it comes to womens issues. Conservatives are more for helping women directly. Case in point, they are defending womens rights not only in Canada but also in Afghanistan by help women and girls to go to school  to work etc.  

Liberals just talk, Conservatives do!

Gilles Revives the Coalition Talk

Just a little more than a month before the federal budget is scheduled to come down,  Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe has resurrected the idea of the coalition.

(Ottawa) A few weeks of possible federal election, the Bloc Quebecois revives the idea of supporting "a coalition of political parties" - presumably made up of Liberals and NDP - to dislodge the Conservatives of Stephen Harper.

Now we need to know where Jack and the Iffy Waffle stand.  They need to make it clear before Canadians go to the polls.  It will be the coalition of the losers or a Conservative majority. PM Harper has made that clear. This latest just plays into the Conservative party's narrative they will use the in the next election whether it be this spring or fall 2012. 

With the last couple of polls in the last few days that have come out from Ekos and Ipsos, it certainly doesn't look that positive for the coalition so they need to be careful.  That's if these polls are accurate and indicates a trend.  I would caution though to take these polls with a grain of salt. None the less this latest from the Bloc partner will make it more difficult for the coalition partners and their media cheerleaders play down the coalition of losers.

Now that Gilles has spoken, it's time for Jack and Iffy to put up or shut up.

CTV Gets Outed By Sun Media Journalist

Sun News can't come soon enough and here's one reason why. The shoddy journalism of the lame stream media.  Case in point is the latest by CTV and Toothpastegate.  They pick on the PM's comment about toothpaste and miss the rest.  How ignorant!
Thank God for Brian Lilley from Sun Media who calls out CTV for their hit job on PM Harper  He clarifies what PM Harper actually said.   The last part on his blog is bang on.

I hope no one relies on Question Period for their news.
This is why viewers are hungering for something different.
This is why Sun News is on the way.

Amen!!!  If this is the kind of stuff that Sun News will be offering, bring it on!   It's about time some of these arrogant Harper Conservative hating so called journalists were called out on their hatred and bias.  It'll be refreshing to actually get some facts for change.

Others that are on this story:
Bluelikeyou
AlbertaAardvark
BCBlue

Do We Need An Adult Conversation on Multiculturalism?

I think we do. Saturday British Prime Minister David Cameron declared multiculturalism a failure. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it before him last fall.  Now French President Nicolas Sarkosy has come claiming multiculturalism has failed.
Charles Adler feels our Prime Minister  here needs to say something too and states that it harms our country.

If we love this country, let us share what we treasure and what we are happy to discard. Let’s declare that Canada is not for sale on the corrupt and corrosive altar of multiculturalism. Let us declare the “experiment” has been a monstrous failure.
Just as alchemists have not been able to turn base metals into gold, government-subsidized multiculturalism has not turned diversity into unity. A hoax is a hoax. And it’s time to call BS on the hoax of government-sponsored multiculturalism. It has created division, not unity. It has generated suspicion, not cohesion.
Multiculturalism divides Canadian against Canadian. It gives power to the basest elements in Canada, those who don’t believe in national unity and ultimately those who don’t believe in Canada as we know it.

                              **********************************************

I am looking forward to seeing Stephen Harper rise in the House of Commons and offer a David Cameron-like speech on multiculturalism. Does anyone doubt that the private Stephen Harper is on the same page as the now public David Cameron?

John Ibbitson clearly disagrees that there needs to be a debate in this country on that issue calling anyone who wants to debate frustrated, angry bigots.

Debating multiculturalism gives a voice to the angry, the frustrated and yes, the bigoted. It makes newer Canadians feel less welcome. It has the best walking on egg shells and the worst throwing eggs.

Excuse me?  So he basically  thinks that those of us who are not satisfied with our multiculturalism policy should just keep quiet. Well why should we walk on egg shells, not say anything and kow tow to those immigrants who demand the same things they had in their home country?  This is Canada for goodness sake! Our values, our way of doing things should be respected.  We should not be so timid.

To be against multiculturalism is not anti-immigrant. We should welcome immigrants but they should respect our values and integrate otherwise don't come.

So PM Harper, I'm with Mr. Adler, please stand up and say you agree with your counterpoints in Britain, Germany and France! I think.there is a silent majority out there who would support him.

PM Harper's Coalition Narrative

Are the opposition parties falling into PM Harper's coalition narrative  without even realizing it?   Increasingly all three opposition parties are in unison when it comes to opposing the government on kinds of fronts. Case in point, last night the three opposition's were united in voting for a Liberal motion to hike corporate taxes.
Then the Liberal leader comes out flip flopping on Bill S-10, a bill that would impose tougher sentences on some drug offenders stating the Liberals  will now vote against it.  They actually origninally supported this bill. They have now come in line with their coalition partners the NDP and the Bloc who have always been against Bill-S10.
Then you have Lib and Dipper social policy, you can't even tell them apart anymore.  It seems like the Libs are morphing into the NDP.   It's like they're one.

With all the opposition parties practically in lock step with each other these days it will make PM Harper's case that much easier.

NDP Hypocrisy

The NDP have been trotting out Charlie Angus  lately to howl about how terrible the  political discourse is becoming, that's it's American style but Matt Gurney aptly points out their hypocrisy.

Hoo boy. After NDP MP Charlie Angus expressed fears that Canada would reach American-style levels of poisoned political discourse, linked to the pending arrival of Sun News and the CRTC’s decision to water down its regulations against false news, Sun Media’s David Akin took to Twitter and launched a counter-attack. With a barrage of links, Aiken helpfully reminded the Canadian public of some of NDP moves that, evaluated fairly, wouldn’t have really done all that much to elevate the tone of our national political dialogue. A lot of them were familiar. There was Pat Martin’s bizarre asbestos puppet show. Or the time that an NDP MP accused Tory James Moore of surfing porn on his laptop while sitting in the House of Commons (the photos, which were not pornographic, were shots of his girlfriend taken on a beach vacation).
But the real winner was a link on the NDP’s homepage titled Taking Aim, inviting members to become part of an ominously named Target Team. The map helpfully includes references to taking the Tories “head-on” … and a map of Canada covered in — you guessed it — bulls-eyes.

Yup it comes with their own targeted map alright.

Is this not hypocrisy?   
Then the NDP are suddenly worried about truth in news?  It's not like we've been getting a whole lot of truth in the news anyway.   It's been going on for eons.

David Akin writes about NDP Speech police
 Lorne Gunter asks Who Gets to Decide What's True
This is all about SunTV.   The voices on the left are obviously terrified. 

Tarek Fatah About PM David Cameron,"Spot On"

Kudos to Tarek Fatah,out spoken voice  and founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress.  He commented on British PM David Cameron's bold speech on multiculturalism and how it has been a failure in Britain, saying that Cameron was "spot on."and Canada's multiculturalism will fail as well.

A prominent voice in Canada’s Muslim community said British Prime Minister David Cameron was “spot on” when he insisted British multiculturalism has failed.
And just like Britain, Canada’s will fail, said Muslim Canadian Congress founder Tarek Fatah.
He said Monday that, like Britain, Canada has been too tolerant in allowing Muslim immigrants to settle into closed communities, some of which preach Islamic values and a hatred toward the West.
“The Canadian multicultural model has failed, as the British model has,” said Fatah. “When first generation (Muslims) are more loyal to Canada than the second generation, then we have sufficient evidence to say that multiculturalism has failed.”
Citing the Toronto 18 terrorist plot as an example of the extremism that can result from ethnic isolation, Fatah said he hoped Canada can “pick up on” the points Cameron made in a controversial speech on Saturday.
While speaking at a security conference in Germany, Cameron called for an end to Britain’s “passive tolerance” of divided ethnic communities. He also said beefing up was needed in the prevention of extremism.
Fatah said Canada’s Liberal and Conservative governments push a tolerant, passive form of multiculturalism as a way of preserving votes.
“The newcomer finds solace in his or her own community,” said Fatah, “and when there is states-sponsored multiculturalism, there are people who make money out of the marginalization of these people.”
Multiculturalism in Canada hasn’t failed, countered Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress. But pockets of younger immigrants — particularly Muslims — have been slow to integrate into a Canadian way of life.
“(They) are not moving forward as quickly as we did in generations past,” said Farber. “You can have a large population of Muslims living in one area, and they have not yet seemed to be able to break out entirely from that one area and become part of the Canadian fabric.”

Thank you Mr. Fatah! I'm sure he's not the only one with these views.  More Muslims and  voices of other ethnic immigrant communities should be encouraged to speak out  too.   Plus our own leaders should grow a pair and echo the same thing that PM Cameron and  German Chancellor Angela Merkel have voiced. and that is MULTICULTURALISM HAS BEEN A FAILURE!!!
  
In the mean time Glenn Beck is informing  his audience all week on who the Muslim Brotherhood really are and how dangerous they are using their own words. It's a must watch.  The main stream media will not tell you the truth.  You can catch up here.  If you miss a show, they post each episode just hours after the broadcast. I would encourage each one to tune in.  We need to be informed.

Something You Should Know

Watching what's been going on in Egypt  been rather unsettling. Yes get rid of Mubarak, a dictator but then what? What is going to replace Mubarack? What kind of a government will Egyptians get if they're not careful? Well, Glenn Beck has done a good job last week filling his viewers in about what has been going on and what could be next for Egypt and will most likely spread to the rest of the region and ultimately to us.  You must watch Friday's episode. You must know what's going on. You need to be informed.



Here is Thursday's show as well.


If you want to see something truly frightening watch this interview with this radical cleric on with Sean Hannity. What is disturbing is that the cleric is British born.




I would like to see a free and democratic Egypt and Middle East. It would be good for Israel and the rest of the world but there's also the danger the opposite could occur like what happened in Iran when the Shah was run out of town. Look what they have now. They could get something like the Muslim Brotherhood who are extremists and who would impose Sharia law  I really don't think that's what they really want. This will spill over to North America if we're not careful so we must wake up!

Saturday UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of how multiculturalism has been a failure and how it breeds radicalism and extremism.  We must take a stand here as well against multiculturalism. 

 Pray for Egypt and that whole area including Israel.  These are tenuous times, it could go either way.
 

Don and Chantal Lookin for An Election?

Don Broaaa....dcast Newman and Chantal Hebert to me seem to want an election. Don Newman in his dreamworld thinks that PM Harper's trip to Washington today is a sure sign of a pending election. and he sites previous PMs as a reference. 

So, brace yourself for those photos of Stephen Harper at the White House with Barack Obama. And while we're at it, somebody better get the ballot boxes ready too.

What? That's kinda scrapping at the bottom of the barrel in my opinion. 

Chantal seems to think there needs to be an election because Parliament has nothing  to talk about.

The 40th Parliament is all talked out.

Uh? Excuse me, Chantal, that's a poor excuse to go to the polls,  there is plenty to talk about.  How the criminal justice system, the immigration and refugee system,are just two examples of what the government wants to talk about.  Canadians want something done on those two issues like yesterday. We are sick and tired of the lax justice system where criminals get off easy and sick and tired of so called refugees and human smugglers taking advantage of us re-the ships from Sri Lanka for instance in which the government is trying to address.  Even though chugging along with 69,200 jobs created in January, there is still plenty of work to do on the economy as well. We aren't totally out of the woods yet.  So no, this parliament is not talked out. Maybe it's Chantal who can't find anything to talk about.

There is no pressing issue to go into an expensive election right now so why?  It would be just plain opportunism for any political party at this juncture to trigger one. So why is the media pushing for one?  Is it to boost sales?  Is it to try and get rid of the evil Harper government and install their beloved Liberals or coalition in?  I don't know but it does seem that it is the media who want the election more so than the politicians. Liberal's have indicated they will vote against the budget,who knows what they'll do when it actually comes time to vote, they flip flop so much and it looks like Jack Layton and the NDP are looking for  away to avoid an election
So who knows? I could be wrong but I think Don and Chantal could end up being disappointed in the end.

Will We or Won't We?

Are Canadian voters going to the polls this spring?  Well maybe not so fast. According to Jane Taber it seems speculation has simmered down, anyway at least amongst  a few of MPs. I agree Liberal MP Glen Pearson.

He noted that the election speculation was “prepped by the media for the last few weeks as various pundits continued to ramp up some kind of ballot showdown.”

It's been hyped by the media ever since Iffy in his Christmas interviews was threatening to trigger a spring election   to  get rid of  the evil Harper government..  With nothing else to report on, the media took and ran with it. The CPC and LPC ads and the tours of the coalition leaders last month has just added to the hype.

Finance Minister Flaherty indicated yesterday that there would be help for low income seniors. That was something  Jack Layton was asking for in the budget in order to get NDP support.  Will it be enough? That's for Jack and the Dippers to decide.

Besides 64%Canadians see no need for a spring election.  So are we going to the polls or not?  My guess is as good as yours.  I tend to agree with the PM, it's  a 50/50 chance We'll probably  not really know until the budget vote takes place. Until then the speculation will keep swirling.

Morton-Dining Rematch?

That's what the Edmonton Journal is suggesting.  We could have a ground hog day type of scenario again just like Dec.2006 where we got Ed Stelmach. He became the Premier  which has been a disaster. His dealings with oil industry concerning the Royalty Formula to his handling of the recession giving us the largest deficit in Alberta history to the chaos in health care.  Ted Morton officially announced his candidacy last Thursday.  Jim Dinning hasn't officially announced he's running but he hasn't ruled it out.  My bet is that Dinning will  put his hat in the ring again.

I don't want to alarm you, but at some time in 2011, we might all be sucked into a political black hole -- and emerge in December 2006.
At least it will seem like December 2006.
Jim Dinning and Ted Morton will be in a head-to-head fight for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party -- just like in the week leading up to the final ballot in the leadership race four years and two months ago. But this time there won't be an Ed Stelmach to come from behind to win as the compromise candidate.
It'll be Jim and Ted in a leadership race do-over. A political mulligan, if you will.

I don't know how it's all going to shake out but in my opinion as far as Ted Morton is concerned, I think he's lost his credibility.  It'll really come down to who else is going to run.  It still won't make much of difference though because the PC party has been in power for forty years, they're old, tired and have run out of ideas.

My money is on Wildrose Alliance and Danielle Smith.  I believe if Albertans want real change and new ideas they should consider Wildrose.

Meanwhile in a side note another leader bites the dust.  Liberal leader David Swann is expected to announce today he's stepping down.  The Libs have not been able to get any traction even with all the struggles that have plagued Ed Stelmach and the PC government.