Best Ad of the 08 Presidential Race

I know my support for Hillary has caused a stir among many of my friends.

I wanted to link an ad which I believe to be the best I have seen so far. If Hillary were to somehow miraculously win the nomination, I would run this ad against John McCain all day long.

Just WOW

I keep telling people nothing surprises me about politics anymore.

I was proven wrong today by the Conservative Party.

If I were an ambitious opposition party, I would bother asking the Conservatives if they have any confidence in the Ontario Superior Court, who signed the warrant.

They should also ask if they have confidence in the RCMP, who carried out the “visit”.

Would Harper even ask the GG for an election if he loses a confidence vote? Can he turn his fate to a body his government has no confidence in? I am simply floored…

Gay Bar Settles Discrimination Lawsuit

Bar Le Stud, a local leather bar (and before you ask, eww no) here in Montreal has settled a lawsuit brought forward by a woman who was not served by the bar because she had a vag and it was a gay bar.

Some in the gay community were incensed that a gay bar couldn’t refuse female patrons. I thought differently. The thing about equal rights people is that they have to be equal. The majority doesn’t have the right to keep out the minority, and yes, the minority doesn’t have the right to keep the majority out.

Liberal Party Elects Unilingual President

Edit: I had four different people from different parts of the Liberal Party confirm to me he was not, in fact, bilingual.

He will be speaking to the media in the upcoming days and we will be able to see for ourselves.

The point of this post was NEVER to smear anyone. I have met Doug Ferguson once, and I admit I did not speak to him in French. He is a good person. I know lots of unilingual good people.

If he is bilingual, and not bilingual in the Cory Pike way, but you know, able to speak and comprehend both languages, then I apologize, and I will be very glad to inform the four people who told me otherwise that they were indeed misinformed.

I will reiterate again my belief that any official, in any national party ,who speaks on behalf of a national party like a President or National Director, does need to be bilingual.


Sigh. Is it so hard to find someone who can speak two languages in this country?

I know Brigitte is 28 (Happy Birthday Brig!) but at least she took the time to learn English.

Poulin was the first President of the Party since David Johnston to be bilingual. (for the record that was back in 1994)

The point is the Liberal Party would never elect a President who did not speak English.

I know the Tory Party President isn't bilingual either.

Shame on both of them if you ask me.

The Liberals are the party of bilingualism. They should be held to a higher standard. I want to see a Liberal come tell me the LPC would entertain electing a unilingual francophone as Party President.

Also Filed Under "Things that Will End Well"

Shane Doan named Captain of Team Canada

taking bets on the number of people who are about to look mighty stupid...

File This One Under “Things That Will End Well”

Marie Poulin had to step down as LPC President and the LPC is looking for a replacement. Under the statutes of the party, the replacement for President must be either the VP Anglophone or VP Francophone of the party.

So the Liberal Party may be entering a federal election with one of 2 possibilities for LPC President.

Either one who cannot communicate with a quarter of Canadians, or someone who is bilingual but is celebrating her 28th birthday in a couple of days.

I think somebody will owe me a beer after this one...

Stephane Dion Getting a Little Help from Beyond?

It was a brilliant PR move to send Stephane Dion to the Habs-Bruins finale on Monday night. Sitting him between Ken Dryden and the Big M was certain to get the Liberal leader some free air time. The crowd will always give Ken Dryden an ovation.

Now remember Stephane, the PHILADELPHIA FLYERS. Start throwing the name Harper around with Hextall and compare Jack! Layton to Danny Briere for all his incessant whining.

Speaking of Monday night, how many of you could hear Harry Sinden screaming GHOSTS when Mike Komisarek’s shot went off a Bruin stick and by Tim Thomas? Or when Mark Streit did his best Maurice Richard impression in the 2nd period to go up 2-0?

Many former Habs have gone on to be great supporters of the Liberal Party, notably Ken Dryden and Serge Savard. They can all attest to the magic that surrounds the Montreal Canadiens and the city of Montreal during playoff time. The Liberals have a little magic of their own. How many times have the Liberals unexpectedly been saved by irrational circumstances? Maybe the ghosts of Mackenzie King, Laurier, Saint Laurent, and Trudeau are rearing their heads…much to the dismay of the Conservatives…

A few months ago (maybe weeks?), Stephane Dion was a listless leader with no grip on his own party, no support in his home province outside Montreal, and no chance in hell at becoming Prime Minister, a first for a Liberal leader in over a century. Now a Conservative scandal a day with only days left to force an election before the summer and it is looking more and more likely Dion will be moving into 24 Sussex in time for Canada Day. Some call it luck, but during playoff time in Montreal, we call it ghosts.

The biggest non-hockey ovation of the night went to none other than JEAN CHRETIEN. I have to point something out to the Quebec Liberals who like to rail on Chretien. When Jean Chretien became Liberal leader, the Forum crowd booed the English words to O Canada. Now they give Jean Chretien an ovation. How times have changed…

Conspiracy Theories Abound

I had a conversation with a friend about why Elections Canada would go to a judge in Toronto to get a warrant signed when it could just have easily sought a judge in Ottawa.

Did Elections Canada go judge-shopping? The warrant seemed like it could have been signed by any judge. Elections Canada had all the evidence it needed to get a warrant. They really didn’t need to go to Toronto to find a Liberal-appointed judge anyway. Besides, I am sure Ottawa has its fair share.

Judges are politically appointed. However, they are expected to be objective. If the warrant was bad, and a judge allowed a search anyway, the judge would face expulsion and possibly criminal charges. Conservatives can scream all they want, no judge is going to jail for the Liberal Party…

So even if it was a Liberal-appointed judge, is this where the infamous “leak” came from? I doubt it, since the media arrived before the Liberal Party, and even at that, EC had already been there for hours. Like I said before, no judge would risk their job and even jail time over this. It is likely, someone in the building saw people going to CPC HQ and carrying out boxes. It really wouldn’t take long for one person to tell somebody else. CTV is across the street. It wouldn’t take long before everybody and anybody was on the scene.

Ottawa is a small town, word gets around fast.

That is when it dawned on me.

Ottawa is a small town, word gets around fast.

If EC went to the Superior Court in Ottawa to get this warrant, word may get out, and word may get out to Conservative officials, giving them ample time to gear up the shredders. I am not accusing the Tories of hiding evidence. However, I hardly blame EC for taking any chances. Their job was to get what they were after, and word getting out to the Conservative Party would probably jeopardize the entire investigation.

In the end Elections Canada got what they wanted, and the Conservatives didn’t get a heads up, meaning that we will now be able to get to the bottom of this. But before the Conservatives go about smearing the reputation of the Canadian Justice system, they should probably realize that Elections Canada went to Toronto to make sure the Canadian Justice system would be able to function properly, and in turn, do what it is mandated to do to the Canadian people. Some people may not like that. The law doesn’t care…

Liberals Eyeing Election Victory for June 16th

Well, after accidentally becoming leader of the Liberal Party, Stephane Dion has a very good chance of accidentally becoming Prime Minister. While Quebec newspaper editors are trying to prevent their heads from exploding, Stephane Dion has about a 50% chance of overtaking the Tories in seats in the House of Commons, potentially taking a minority government with as little as 120 seats.

Stephane Dion may be headed into a perfect storm in the coming months. The Conservatives, who managed some popular populist measures in their 2 years in office, have not managed to convince more than 40% of Canadians that a right wing party is the right choice for Canada.

The last election was fought on ethics, and while Paul Martin and his band of merry men look flustered when it came to the conduct of their party, after footage of an RCMP raid hits the airwaves in Liberal ads, Gomery will only look like a thing of the past. There won’t be any news of an RCMP investigation into the government to hurt the Liberals, but there may be one haunting Stephen Harper. Not to mention Cadscam, which may not be enough to charge the Tories with fraud, but it will certainly be enough to warrant an investigation, especially with the Prime Minister on tape talking about offers.

Then there are expectations. The expectations for Stephane Dion are so painfully low, that all he has to do to surpass them is not screw up. Nobody understands Dion when he speaks English you say? Well if voters understand what Dion has to say during the campaign, it will already be a plus!

What about Jack! Layton? Well, maybe Canadians thought Jack! had a point when he asked Canadians to “park their vote with the NDP, just this once”. If I were an ambitious Young Liberal, I would get a copy of that quote, because it is time for Jack! to pay the piper. Canadians have surely learned their lesson. Parking your vote with the NDP will get your vote towed.

What is Stephane Dion supposed to do about the rising green Party movement in Canada? He needs to offer a real green plan that he will implement. He can even challenge the other parties to throw his government out if he fails to come through on his promise. He needs something substantive, especially a Carbon “Call-Me-Tax-If-You-Have-To” Investment Account. If May sees that the only way this will happen will be for her voters in swing ridings to throw out their Tory MPs, the message will go out. It won’t send thousands of votes to the Liberals, but in many ridings a few hundred will be enough.

Dion has shown leadership a couple of times while he served as a minister, most importantly when he negotiated the tricky Clarity Act through Parliament, after days of filibustering by the Bloc. “Just like I promised the Separatists would not steal this country, I promise the Conservatives will not pollute it.” Was that so hard?

Speaking of Quebec, it may the province that puts Stephane Dion into office. Cue the irony! Harper and Dion are competing for exactly ZERO of the same Quebec seats. In the ridings the Tories are after, the Liberals poll in single digits and vice versa, where the Tory vote in Liberal ridings peaks in the teens. Gilles Duceppe has made it clear he will focus mostly on saving his hide by attacking Harper. (it makes sense since attacking Dion will increase Harper’s votes in the close ridings outside Montreal.)

There are 5 or 6 ridings in the Montreal area which the BQ’s new turn to the right may alienate and are potential pickups for the Liberals, including the NDP riding of Outremont, where Tom Mulcair will have to expect the separatist voters who helped elect him may not be so supportive in a general election, especially when all the students have moved out of their residences…

As for me, I’ll be moving out April 28th (sorry Massimo) and I’ll be moving to Outremont in the McGill ghetto, and from what the students down there are telling me, by the time I get there, most of the NDP machine at McGill which worked tirelessly for Tom Mulcair, will be safely home in Toronto…

So as the pundits prepare to assail Stephane Dion for calling an election now, after months of backing down, they should really note that many small things are in Dion’s favor, and with a bit of momentum, we may see Prime Minister Stephane Dion back in the fall…

Backing Down…and Loving It!

Guess the Politician!

“I am not running because I want to focus my attention on the upcoming federal election. I would rather fight Stephen Harper than fight my own party.”

(ok so I am paraphrasing)

Is it Gilles Duceppe realizing he could never beat Pauline Marois?

No, it is Denise Brunsdon realizing she can’t beat Sam Lavoie.

Maybe we should call her Denise Duceppe. After all, they’ll likely both be gone after the next federal election…

Jokes aside...

Denise, I never knew you to back down from a fight, EVER. We both know the YLC needs this kind of a race to happen. Fight your election, tell Janice Sam will show up, and come back and dance.

Don Cherry's Face Was Priceless!

Harry Sinden once said there are 3 certain things in life: death, taxes, and the first penalty against the Boston Bruins at the Montreal Forum.

When Brisebois' shot hit the post as the 3rd ended, a smile came across Tim Thomas' face. Where were the Montreal ghosts for that one?

They were waiting til 2 and a half minutes into overtime. What guided Kovalev's shot over Thomas' shoulder? You could hear Harry Sinden muttering it now...ghosts...

Are the Liberals Abstaining from the NHL Playoffs too?

So the Conservative minister for Public Works, the “most accountable minister in the Senate” Michael Fortier put his foot in his mouth by predicting the Habs would lose to the Rangers in the 2nd round. It was an educated guess and with the plethora of playoff performers on the Ranger team, actually quite possible.

It was a bonehead move and the Liberals could have used it to embarrass the Conservative Party. Senate Liberal Leader and Quebec Lieutenant Celine “I survived another week” Hervieux Payette even presented Fortier with a Ranger jersey.

An alert reporter asked Stephane Dion who the Habs were playing in the playoffs. Never mind the fact that just saying Boston will make you correct 90% of the time, how could you live in Montreal and not be aware of the playoff madness that has swept the city? Is he really that detached from what is going on in Montreal?

I know Stephane Dion has no idea who the Boston Bruins are but the Bruins sure did their best Liberal impression on the ice last night…by not showing up to play…

Update: The cartoonists are ever so merciless in Montreal

Denise Brunsdon to Run for YLC President

What has transparency and democracy done to deserve this?

Harper Takes A Necessary Gamble

Jean-Pierre Blackburn opened a can of worms this morning when he mentioned the possibility of re-opening the Canadian Constitution if the Conservatives were to be elected to a majority government. Most pundits agree that if Stephen Harper were to get a majority government, the lion’s share of new seats would be in Quebec.

Blackburn’s sortie is no accident. We all know that Stephen Harper keeps a pretty short leash on his ministers so this is Harper’s way of finding out how much he can gain in Quebec while measuring the amount of convulsions Canada’s English media will have at the mention of the word Constitution.

Many people know I am a major advocate of re-opening the constitution, especially if it is done the way Trudeau did it, with consultations, chance for amendments, and not done by 10 premiers in a smoke-filled boardroom.

I will note one thing here. Pierre Trudeau, in his opposition to Meech Lake, said amending the Constitution is something that should happen once in a generation. We are approaching 26 years since 1982, and now that we have 2 parties in Quebec City open to this idea, this is an opportunity to really put the sovereigntists in a pickle.

What should the other parties do?

The NDP was always a proponent of this, so expect Tom Mulcair to stand up on his chair and yell at the top of his lungs how wonderful this is, especially if the Liberals oppose it.

The Bloc can’t really be opposed to negotiations, which will only take place if they get decimated in an election. I don’t wanna be Gilles Duceppe right now.

As for “poor” Stephane Dion (h/t Liza Frulla), his original opposition to the nation resolution gained him much support among English Canada’s media and bagged him many votes as the fiasco erupted just days before Super Weekend. His cautious attitude also earned him the respect of Gerard Kennedy, and maybe even his delegates once Kennedy fell off the ballot.

If Dion supports this, he is turning his back on all the people who elected him leader. He also gives himself a fighting chance at regaining some ground in Quebec.

If he opposes with the Constitutional “boogeyman” argument comprised of fear tactics, a Justin Trudeau speech about his father, and a slew of angry English media pundits, he sacrifices his chances in Quebec, but gives himself a fighting chance to remake ground in Ontario and elsewhere across the country.

Stephen Harper is already halfway across the street with the constitutional issue, having passed the motion about the nation and having made overtures to the two federalist parties in Quebec.
Stephane Dion may have finally found a wedge issue to go into an election with, but if he does, he will be turning his back on his home province, proving right all those who called him a traitor for the last 15 years.

Ce serait un beau risque pour Stephen Harper...mais un risque potentiellement mortel pour Stephane Dion…

Islam recognizes homosexuality

Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created by God, thus permissible within Islam, a discussion concluded here Thursday.

Moderate Muslim scholars said there were no reasons to reject homosexuals under Islam, and that the condemnation of homosexuals and homosexuality by mainstream ulema and many other Muslims was based on narrow-minded interpretations of Islamic teachings.

Siti Musdah Mulia of the Indonesia Conference of Religions and Peace cited the Koran's al-Hujurat (49:3) that one of the blessings for human beings was that all men and women are equal, regardless of ethnicity, wealth, social positions or even sexual orientation.

"There is no difference between lesbians and nonlesbians. In the eyes of God, people are valued based on their piety," she told the discussion organized by nongovernmental organization Arus Pelangi.

"And talking about piety is God's prerogative to judge," she added.

"The essence of the religion (Islam) is to humanize humans, respect and dignify them."

Musdah said homosexuality was from God and should be considered natural, adding it was not pushed only by passion.