Stephen Harper, Canada's Thomas Jefferson?

In today's National Post, John Ivison writes that PM Stephen Harper, regarding what could be this PM's legacy, a keen passion for exercising and developing our sovereignty in the North, may end up becoming our Thomas Jefferson.

Here:

"People close to him point to his fixation on the Arctic and suggest he sees this as being his signature legacy project.

The Prime Minister has broken with years of benign neglect of the Arctic and appears to believe history will judge him more kindly for having invested dollars and political capital in the region."
..............................................................

"Stephen Harper may yet prove to be Canada's Thomas Jefferson, the president who doubled the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase and sent Lewis and Clark off in search of a route to the Pacific. At the very least, Mr. Harper has put God's frozen people in the North back on the political map." (h/t) John Ivison

TD Bank and the Liberals

So what's with TD and Liberals? Red Ed Clark is the latest to get into the political fray.

First you have Don Drummond who worked in the finance dept and advised Paul Martin.
In support of Dion's Green Shift:

"A prominent Canadian economist says Stephane Dion's "Green Shift" carbon tax plan is "a good start" that will leave the general Canadian taxpayer "better off."

"The idea itself is very sensible," Don Drummond, the chief economist at TD Bank, told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

"There's a growing consensus to do something about emissions. We need to put a price on carbons. This proposes it."

Drummond said that "in most cases" the average Canadian will "be better off" because of income tax breaks and additional federal benefits included in the plan. He also noted that the Liberal plan also addresses a "bizarre situation" on energy taxes.

"We have a fairly stiff tax on gasoline. We have a lower level tax on aviation and diesel. But we have no tax of other pollutants from energy (such as coal). So, it levels the playing field," he said."

And This:

"Don Drummond would be well-advised not to give up his day job as TD Financial's chief economist to try his hand at politics.

Mr. Drummond was curious about the regional economic impact of the Conservative government's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 2006 levels by 2020, and commissioned a study to investigate. So far, so good.

His mistake was to ask two environmental groups, the David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute, to author the report. It would be fair to say that neither group is particularly well-disposed toward the Conservatives -- in fact, at the last election Mr. Suzuki backed the carbon tax plan put forward by Stephane Dion's Liberals. The loathing is mutual -- one insider called the two organizations "official opponents of the government."

Frank McKenna former Liberal Premier of New Brunswick. This from Frank in November 2009:

"McKenna didn’t pull any punches when asked what the federal Liberal leader should do about Tory ads that label him “just visiting” and “only in it for himself.” “I think you have to fire back,” he said. “My inclination is to use attack ads when you’re attacked.” As for the sort of adversaries the Liberals are up against in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s tacticians, McKenna added, “They are dealing with thugs; they’ve got to fight back and fight hard.”

Now, Ed Clark , or "Red Ed" because he once worked for the Trudeau Liberal government,and helped draft the horrible NEP. He was fired shortly after PM Mulroney took office. Thank God for that!

Red Ed Clark has stepped into the political fray by criticizing PM Harper saying that the PM isn't listening regarding reducing the deficit. He said that Canadian CEOs want taxes raised.

"Last week at a conference in Florida, TD Bank CEO Ed Clark said Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn't listening to the overwhelming view of Canadian CEOs that tax increases are the best way to reduce a record deficit.

He told the conference that almost every person at a recent meeting of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives said “raise my taxes” to erase it.

Since when do bank executives get political and try to tell what the government what to do? They are supposed to be non-partisan. Especially from someone who crafted the NEP that stole millions of dollars from the west namely Alberta?

Mr. Iffy has come out in defense of Red Ed as recent as today at the Olympics of all places. You can understand why.

This is what Red Ed Clark donated to the Liberal Party, in particular to Michael Ignatieff in 2009.

Click on image for larger image.

Is TD another branch of the Liberal Party? One wonders.

BTW. Happy Famly Day!

Update: (h/t) reader, Ron Conway

"Ron Conway said...

Please add the following donations to the Liberal Pty as per Elections Canada-

Oct 28/2005 - 2000.00 - Liberal Pty Can

Jan 5/2006 - 2000.00 - Iggy campaign

Jan 6/2006 - 4895.00 - Liberal Pty Can

Oct 18/2006 - 2000.00 - Bob Rae campaign

May 11/2007 - 956.56 - Liberal mPty Can

Adding up the 2200.00 for Iggy & Rae he has donated over $13,000.00 to the Liberal Party of Canada in the past 5 years. Let not this man be called an ordinary Canadian- He is a very large supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada and their policies."


Ron

Quebec's Hypocrisy Regarding the Oilsands

What is it with Quebec? It seems they want it both ways. They attack us big bad Albertans for our evil, evil "Tarsands". Now the Quebec government is encouraging businesses to capitalize on our "big bad dirty oil." They want their businesses to invest in our "Tarsands." Go figure!

In a speech at the University of Ottawa last week, Gilles Duceppe cited climate change policies as another reason that Quebec would be better off as a separate country. For that reason alone, federalists should keep a close eye on what’s actually going on in the distinct society.

This morning, Le Devoir reports that Jean Charest’s government has invited Quebec business people to “seize the opportunities” in the oil sands as part of a subsidized trade mission to Edmonton, from March 22-25.

Meanwhile, La Presse is reporting that Ontario’s Minister Sandra Pupatello says that Quebec’s tailpipe emissions standards are a complete waste of time as the province only represents 4 per cent of the North America market and will have to adjust its standards when continent-wide standards are put in place.

And the New York Times reports that, because of economic concerns, Arizona has pulled out of the Western Climate Initiative, of which Quebec is a member, which is supposed to inaugurate a cap-and-trade program in 2012. (h/t) Norman Spector

PM Says, Don`t Feel Ashamed To Show Your Patriotism

PM Harper gave a tremendous speech in the BC Legislature yesterday. He talked about how we shouldn`t be afraid to show our patriotism. It`s OK to chest thump. We do live in an amazing country so why not express it.

Go Canada! Wave your flags! Feel the pride!


Watch it below or here complete with the responses from Premier Gordon Campbell and Opposition Leader Carol James.


Pt.1


Pt.2



Pt.3

Perogy Media Bias

It's now obvious the media has been biased as far as the perogy issue goes.
Marilyn Baker,Winnipeg Free Press did a comparison of Harper's prorogation and the one in 2003 by Jean Chretien. The perogies in the past were yawners, this one suddenly a crisis.

"Given this perfect opportunity, I decided to test my left-wing, anti-government-bias-in-the-mainstream-media theory.

My method involved searching for the word "prorogue" (and its derivatives) in all the main media outlets in Canada on specific dates. The results are astounding. They overwhelmingly support my hypothesis.

Take 2003, for example. During the year, there were 84 articles that referred to "prorogue."

That was the year that Jean Chrétien prorogued Parliament for two months in mid-November. Speculation had it that he did so to avoid having to sit alongside Paul Martin in the House of Commons, since Martin was to be acclaimed new party leader in November. And of course it's possible that he wanted to avoid taking the increasing flak from the sponsorship scandal. Also, the 84 articles included several references to Ontario's legislature, which also was prorogued in 2003.

Now let's look at 2010. In the month of January, there were 242 articles about prorogation in our mainstream media.

From Jan. 1 to 26, the Globe and Mail published 34 separate articles on prorogation in its print edition. (Think Douglas firs.) I didn't bother to count the number of online articles, which would include their perpetually outraged bloggers.

On Jan. 31, the entire two hours of CBC radio's Cross Country Checkup was given over to prorogation. CBC's The House also dealt at length with it.

Speaking of CBC's The House, on Jan. 23 it featured Iggy's sidekick, Bob Rae, singing Just Prorogue to the Beatles tune, Let It Be. But don't worry if you missed it. You can also catch him on the Maclean's website. Rae is quoted as saying that Stephen Harper "made a terrible decision."

He should know. During his brief stint as Ontario premier, he prorogued the Ontario legislature three times, for four months at a whack.

On Jan. 13, Tom Walkom of the Toronto Star called it a crisis of governance. There were 33 prorogue references in the month of January in the Toronto Star.

To his credit, Walkom also mentions the 2003 Chrétien prorogue, and admits that the PM did it for political reasons. He writes that "Curiously, even though his (Chrétien's) motive was seen to be as self-serving as Harper's, Chrétien's actions caused much less uproar."

Curious indeed. Hello? Nobody was alerted to any crisis of governance or democratic deficit or constitutional crisis in 2003. It was merely reported as an adjournment of Parliament.

Wait, I lie. There was one article. The 2003 shutting of Parliament for two months was decried as "unacceptable to hardworking Canadians!" by an MP, Betty Hinton, from Kamloops. Her statement was reported in the Kamloops Daily News. Once.

The other day in discussing this matter with a golfing buddy, a rock solid Liberal, I pointed out that Chrétien had prorogued Parliament four times and that Pierre Trudeau had prorogued Parliament eight times.

"I didn't know that," he sputtered.

"That's because no one told you," I smiled.

I bet he also doesn't know that in the 143 years since Confederation, Parliament has been prorogued almost once a year on average. (h/t) Winnipeg Free Press"

It was all media driven. Given the polls in the last weeks it shows how media bias can manipulate public opinion.

BTW. Is the media all in an outrage and is there full coverage over Liberal Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's prorogation of the Ontario legislature? Is there a Facebook Page? Will there be rallies?

Once again, Conservatives=bad, Liberals=good