Boy,Do The Liberals Have Problems

Since the trouncing they got on May 2, the Liberals are in an conundrum wondering what they should do next.  What do they do to make a come back or should they even make a comeback?  They sure have a lot of sole searching and a lot of work to do that's for sure.  It doesn't help that most of the candidates from the 2006 leadership race still owe money in which may put off potential future leadership candidates.

As if the Liberals didn’t have enough problems finding a new leader, there’s this: It costs too much to run, and if you don’t win you might have to mortgage the house to pay off the debt.
The Hill Times reports that most of the 2006 candidates for the leadership are still deep in hock: Gerard Kennedy owes $164,000, Ken Dryden owes $215,000, Joe Volpe owes $73,000.  Martha Hall Findlay still owes $125,000 (to herself, it appears), while Maurizio Bevilacqua, Hedy Fry and even Stephane Dion may all still have outstanding debts. Kennedy, Volpe, Hall Findlay and Dryden all lost their seats this month, making it even harder to raise money now.

Yikes, that's not a good start for rebuilding.  They certainly have trouble fundraising and what's going to happen when the voter tax subsidy is taken away?

And the situation will only be aggravated by the party’s own poverty, which can’t help but get worse when Prime Minister Stephen Harper cancels the subsidy lifeline. Small-time candidates will find themselves up against better-known MPs, plus their own party as it struggles to put together a fundraising apparatus capable of staving off bankruptcy.

But that's not their only problem, as Steve Janke points out Liberals are stuck in the rut of their own mushiness.  They don't know who they are and what they stand for. They tend to be all over the map on almost everything instead of finding a principal and sticking with it.

Then there's the infighting that's broken out.  Well at least there's one silver lining for the Libs, they have at least four years to figure things out and try and make a come back if indeed that's what they choose.  In the mean time we can have fun watching Jack Layton and his kids in the House and make sure the Conservative majority government becomes actually conservative.

Keep Slave Lakers in Your Prayers

I'm sure everyone is aware now of the tragic devastating fires in Slave Lake in Northern Alberta burning down nearly one third of the town.this weekend. More firefighters are on their way to help.

SLAVE LAKE, Alta. — More firefighting help is on its way to Slave Lake, but it will arrive too late for some parts of the northern Alberta town already destroyed by a wind-whipped wildfire.
Police say nearly one third of the town has either been destroyed or damaged after strong winds Sunday suddenly turned the flames on the town of 7,000.
All residents were ordered to leave Sunday afternoon, but the evacuation process proved difficult as smoke and flames blocked some of the highways.
No deaths or injuries were reported.
About 70 firefighters from the Edmonton area are on their way to Slave Lake to help battle the wildfires.
The province says equipment and approximately 200 firefighters from British Columbia and Ontario are also expected later in the week to help with the provincial firefighting effort

Residents started evacuated on Sunday and a state of emergency has been declared. What a horrible thing to happen. I can't imagine what the residents are going through. Thank God no one is hurt!

Residents in the town of Slave Lake were told to evacuate town Sunday evening after a series of fires were encroaching on the town of Slave Lake. A state of emergency was declared and residents were told to evacuate town or face being arrested.
Everyone, other than those directly involved in the rescue, fled town and forced to wait from a safe distance as their homes and businesses burned to the ground.

 For those who are looking for family or friends or just wish to help here's some contact information.

• Family members looking for information on where medical patients were moved can call Alberta Health Services at 1-866-301-2668.
• Anyone looking for help in finding family and friends in Slave Lake can call 1-780-523-338 for assistance.
• The Alberta arm of the Red Cross is accepting donations for displaced residents. You can donate by calling 1-800-418-1111.

And please remember to keep the people of Slave Lake in your hearts and prayers!  They desperately need it at this time.

Jack,Who Do You Think You Are?

Jack I don't think realizes he and his NDP have less clout now that there is a majority government than they did when there was a minority.   With his rhetoric he thinks just because his party has official opposition status now he has more power to wield around. He's warning PM Harper, he's going to take him on! .

Jack Layton is warning Prime Minister Stephen Harper not to ignore the New Democrats.
“Yes, he won a majority. But he is facing the largest, most united opposition in 31 years,” the federal NDP Leader told 2,500 delegates attending a convention of the Canadian Labour Congress on Wednesday.
It was Mr. Layton's first major speech since his party vaulted over the Liberals to become the Official Opposition after last week's federal election. New Democrats won 103 seats.
Mr. Layton accused Mr. Harper of ignoring a “brewing storm” of problems in pensions, casting himself as an ally with the provinces in strengthening the Canada and Quebec pension plans.
“It's the kind of practical approach that the New Democrat opposition will bring to the house each and every day,” he said in the brisk speech.
“Stephen Harper is in power. We are going to take him on.”

Hello,Jack, Conservatives have 167 seats, you have 102. Even though you'll be allowed to have your say, Stephen Harper doesn't have to give you the time of day.  
 Jack, that's what got Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals into trouble. Remember "Your time is up," and "If you mess with me, I will mess with you until I'm done."

Jack maybe you should come back down to earth.

Are The Greens On Their Way Out?

Much has been made of the spiraling downward trend of the once mighty powerful most successful political party of Canada who has ruled most of the time,the Liberal Party of Canada.  They suffered the most devastated loss in history on May 2.   Not much has been made of the Green party though.

Even though their leader Elizabeth May managed to win the first ever Green seat in the HOC, don't let that fool you, the Green party on a whole fared pretty badly in the election. 

 Little noticed in the aftermath of the federal election is how badly the Green Party did.
In fact, if you weren’t paying attention, you’d get the opposite impression. The Greens managed to elect an MP for the first time, and all the attention was focused on Elizabeth May’s glorious victory, just as Green-related attention has focused on Ms. May ever since she took over the leadership of the party.
But, unless you’re besotted by the glories of Ms. May, you have to wonder about the party’s overall health. In the 2008 election, the Greens attracted 937,000 votes, an increase of 237,000 over the previous election. Last Monday they gave it all back, and more, dropping to 576,000 votes. That’s less than they polled in 2006 or 2004, under then-leader Jim Harris. You have to go back to 2000 to find a worse result.
Ms. May was supposed to bring the party a higher profile and greater credibility. She has succeeded in the first, although party members have to wonder exactly who is benefiting from the extra attention: the Greens or Elizabeth May.  To a large degree their party leader has succeeded in establishing the Elizabeth May Party as a regular fixture, and has her seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands to prove it.
Great for Ms. May, but what about the 307 other candidates, all of whom lost? The 361,000 drop in votes would mean a cut of more than $720,000 a year in the party’s federal subsidy under the existing system. It will be a lot worse if, as expected, Prime Minister Stephen Harper eliminates the subsidy system and forces parties to raise their own funds.

Global warming isn't quite the fad that it was a few years ago and the average person cares more about their job, putting food on the table and paying the bills.  Green policies with solar panels and windmills just won't cut it.
In Ontario where they have been trying the "green" thing,  the Greens lost a lot of support.

Who was the biggest loser in last week’s election? You get a gold star for guessing right. It wasn’t the Bloc or the Liberals. It was the Greens. Although Elizabeth May finally won a seat, the Green share of the national vote plummeted. It sank from its 2008 high-water mark of 6.8 per cent to under 4 per cent – its worst showing in 11 years. In Ontario, formerly a hotbed of environmentalism, the Green vote fell by half.

Even  the well known influential environmental journalist,George Monboit, is starting to have questions.

Last week, Mr. Monbiot wrote a pair of searching columns in the Guardian. Environmentalism, he said, is stuck in denial, “and we have no idea what to do next.” Environmentalists simply can’t accept the fact that the vast majority of people on the planet prefer progress and economic growth to no growth. And yes, it is a choice. They don’t understand the science and they don’t understand the economics. They pretend that tackling climate change is relatively easy, when in fact it is demonically hard.

The Green party seems to be on it's way out. When the government gets rid of  the per vote subsidy, in my opinion, the Greens will be gone.

One Week After Election

Well it's one week after the historic election the dust is starting to settle. I thought I would share a few of my thoughts.

  PM Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have that much deserved and coveted majority although I'm sad to see that some capable ministers will not be back.   Conservatives will be able to govern for four years without the constant election threats,committees controlled by the opposition that obstruct, dilute and pursue faux scandals that waste time and taxpayer money.  They will actually be able to get some good things done for a change like finally killing the long gun registry but that doesn't mean they should have carte blanch.  We the public will have to watch,keep them accountable and make sure they don't get arrogant and adopt that culture of entitlement that brought the Liberals down.  

Jack and Olivia  moving into Stornoway are wondering how they're going to go about putting out fires and control  their new greatly expanded inexperienced caucus which is made up with a few young  kids that are going to need some training. I wish them well. Even though the NDP is now the official opposition, they will have less influence and power than they did before when there were minority governments and they had fewer seats.

Meanwhile the Liberals are licking their wounds from a devastating loss wondering what to do next and who will be their next messiah. The next few years the once mighty party will decide whether the party rebuilds, merges with the NDP or just dies.  Interesting days ahead to see what happens.

The Bloc, well it's a good day for Canada because now the Bloc has no longer any influence on the nation's business.

We'll have to listen to Lizzy May's screeching for four years but hopefully not too much.

The main stream media has lost the influence they once had.  They did everything in their power to sink PM Harper and the Conservatives but it didn't work.  Voters looked passed the hate, vitriol and the bias this time and made their choice.

Lastly congratulations to all who won their seats no matter what party.  The next four years are going to be fun and interesting to watch and just think no federal election until 2015.