Canadian Opposition: Divided on the left

Canadian Opposition: Divided on the left

Update: Today the Toronto Star has published a poll that shows Liberal numbers and Dion's approval rating at all time lows. Currently 11% approve of Dion's leadership. Dion's momentum score is at the lowest level seen for an opposition leader in Canadian history. 9% think Dion would make the best Prime Minister. Nationally the Conservatives have a 10 point lead on the Liberals but are at 36%, just shy of majority territory. Harper's approval rating is 33%. Where this Angus Read poll gets interesting is the regional breakdown.

Ontario: CPC 35, Lib 35, NDP 21, Green 8
BC: CPC 39, Lib 24, NDP 19, Green 16
Alberta CPC 63, Lib 15, NDP 11, Green 11
Man/Sask CPC 46, Lib 26, NDP 22, Green 6
Atlantic Canada CPC 35, Lib 28, NDP 33, Green 4
Quebec CPC 26, Lib 21, NDP 10, Bloc 36, Green 6

Overall good numbers well before a campaign is actually under way. As far as I am concerned, these numbers will only get better for Conservatives as Canadians are forced to focus on the day to day campaign and also the contrast in leadership between Dion and Harper. This poll also confirms that May made a major mistake not seeking a seat in BC. Currently the Greens are at 16% support in the province contrasted with 4% in Nova Scotia where she is running against Peter MacKay. The tie at 35% also confirms some of my arguments about Liberal support congested in Toronto with seats everywhere else in the province ripe for the taking.
-Darryl


****

It is hard to believe that just 5 years ago, us Conservatives were divided into two parties. The Canadian Alliance/Reform and the Progressive Conservatives both had volunteers, MPs, fundraisers, and voters who would support the right of center cause; but knew based on vote splitting that there was no chance that Canada would ever elect a right of center government. Ridings such as my own in York North (now Newmarket-Aurora) always saw a Liberal get elected with the combined total of the PC and Alliance vote greater than that of in our case Karen Kraft Sloan. Everyone agreed that the right should unite, but for years it couldn't be figured out how. In December 2003, Conservatives put their ideological differences on the backburner, and together as a united and disciplined party we took the Liberals to minority status in 2004 and eventually minority government in 2006. After 2 years in power, the Conservative Party is on the cusp of majority government that would comple the merger and the dream of a right of center government in Canada. Not long ago, it looked like Paul Martin was going to be Prime Minister for a long time while the right continued to fight each other. The merger and the sponsorship scandal quickly changed the landscape in this country, and right now the left wing opposition of the NDP, Bloc, Green and now Dion's Liberals have failed to recognize and adapt to this new reality. Fortunately, it is much more difficult to unite the left in the same manner that the Alliance/PC merged in 2003. Here is a quick look at the state of the Conservative opposition in this country.

The Liberal Party:

I posted yesterday about the state of the Liberal party of Toronto under Dion. Clearly it is becoming a regional party with its last remaining strong holds in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. Virtually all of the top Liberal talent is from Toronto and the GTA. Recent by-elections in Outremont and Vancouver Quadra demonstrated that even Liberal seats in Vancouver and Montreal could be vulnerable. Because of the Liberal talent in Toronto and I would argue the Toronto Star newspaper that publishes editorials such as todays, Liberal Ontario based support is congested in Toronto but bleeding in virtually every other part of the nation and province. I proposed a possible breakthrough of 30+ seats that could result in a Conservative majority without winning a seat in the 416. The post was a reaction to the Quebec polls that recently came out and the fact that Dion is facing a revolt within his own caucus and certainly among the grassroots, especially in Quebec. Today in the Hill Times we saw that 2/3 of the Liberal caucus wants an election right now. This number must be high because of the party's declining credibility as they abstain and no show for work, a reflection that they believe their own seats could be in danger if things get much worse and obviously it presents an opportunity to dump Dion as leader and replace him with someone else long before their previous leadership debts are paid off. The Liberal arrogance of believing they are Canada's natural governing party has resulted in a lack of platform, ideas, vision and leadership associated with the Liberal party. The grassroots troops are demoralized. Appointments and deals such as the one with Elizabeth May have not helped the party staff connect with the people on the ground. Overall there is a lack of enthusiasm among Liberals and this is having an impact on finances, volunteers, organization, policy and of course the polls for the party. They are almost extinct in Alberta and francophone Quebec, endangered in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and holding on for dear life in Ontario, BC and Atlantic Canada. Worse they are stuck in a position where they have to abstain and abandon their values and principles to the left opposition or they must trigger an election they cannot win at this point in time. This makes Dion look weak, local Liberals MPs look ineffective in representing their ridings and this also takes away the argument that Harper has a scary right wing agenda and people should vote strategically against him. Liberals have voted 60% of the time with the Conservative government and abstained or now showed almost 40% of the time, less than voter turnout in the last election.

In Montreal at the Liberal leadership convention, Stephane Dion arrived with less than 20% support on the first ballot. Michael Ignatieff who had supported the Iraq war and Afghanistan extension was seen as representing the right of the party. Bob Rae the former NDP Premier with a poor economic record in Ontario represented the left wing choice. Kennedy and Findlay would eventually go to Stephane Dion as would Ken Dryden. Bob Rae was eliminated and Ignatieff failed to grow above 50% of the delegates. After several rounds Dion won barely with no delegates from Quebec. His win was seen as a miracle and his performance thus far has been universally declared a disaster. Liberal Quebec was concerned the clarity act combined with the scandal would reduce them to 5 seats. Following the second place finish of Elizabeth May in the London by-election, Dion jumped on the Green bandwagon and based his campaign in Montreal on giving away green scarves. He was a former environment minister with a dog named Kyoto. The Al Gore movie had put climate change on the front pages at the time. The three pillar approach seemed to move the party to the left or back to the glorious Chretien days of the party's past. In the end a green wave would sweep Dion to the leadership, but like on St. Patrick's Day, it comes with a massive handover.

To win, Liberals have to get back some of that Conservative vote they lost in 2004 and 2006. Despite this reality, they seem to be looking left with strategic voting from the NDP and an alliance with the Greens that is unhelpful to both sides. Liberals want to be greener than the Greens, more socialist than the NDP while at the same time telling "Progressive Conservatives" there is a home for them in their party. When your all things to all people in opposition, your message becomes unclear and it becomes obvious that you stand for nothing. Waiting for the economy to tank or Stephen Harper to screw up while propping up a Conservative agenda is not a strategy that is going to fire up the base or the voters. Again, Dion has fallen into the trap of talking tough only to back down later. Does he ever learn?

In the Liberals do finally take a stand and we have an election, it is unclear who on the left would gain. Right now they are trying to market the fact that they have the better "team". Half way through the next election I bet all of that dream team will be campaigning in their own ridings as the next leader of the Liberal Party. Liberal right leaning votes and centrist swing voters are the key to a Conservative majority along with falling BQ support.


Green Party:

Under the leadership of Jim Harris, the Green Party seemed to be on the right track of moving the party away from a single issue party and into a new option with a broad platform and 308 candidates running in the country. They used tax shifting to appeal to the right and make the argument that they didn't fit anywhere on the spectrum. That idea would later be implemented in BC. They earned protest votes during the time of the sponsorship scandal when trust for all politicians was down. They began to speak up on a variety of issues and started getting media. A campaign was underway to get the Green leader into the federal televised debates. They were on the rise and the issue of the environment was becoming more important to voters. After the 2006 election, Jim Harris stepped aside and there were high hopes the profile of Elizabeth May would take the party to the next level.

So far Elizabeth May has been a mixed bag. Her deal with Dion was a huge mistake. One it tied her to his popularity. Two it tied her to his environmental record. Three it tied her to politics as usual as oppose to something different. It took away the argument that they were running candidates in 308 ridings. It resulted in awkward situations such as St. Catherines where the Green riding association was considering endorsing the local Liberal. I think the deal benefited May personally but did her party a disservice. I also think it has hurt her chances of getting into the leadership debates among the major networks. Finally the decision of Elizabeth May to run against Peter MacKay as oppose to London where she ran during the by-election lacked sanity. Somewhere in British Columbia where prospects were higher also would have made sense.

I also think Elizabeth May has taken the party a step backwards in focusing only on the environment. The last thing they want to be seen as is a bunch of fringe environmentalists who cannot be taken seriously. While Green coverage has increased, I still do not think they are covered in the same volume as all the other major parties in the media right now. Without more media and debate exposure, Greens will not be able to grow much more than where they are at right now. Victory in the next election would either be a seat won, a massive vote increase, a spot in the TV debates or coverage on at least par with the NDP. Despite challenges created by the leadership, no one can argue that the Greens have become a factor in Canadian politics.

Most polls have Green support around 10% and usually close to tied nationally with the NDP and Bloc. The by-election in London earned Elizabeth May a second place finish. The Green vote soared in the Ontario provincial election where there was also a second place finish and several victories over the NDP. The most recent by-elections showed the Green vote increasing and in some cases beating the NDP in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver. While Greens argue their vote pulls from everyone, it seems more likely based on the results that it harms the Liberals and especially the NDP more than the government. The environment, urban, young and protest vote seems to be driving the growth of this party.

If the Green Party does well enough to split the left vote in areas where the Liberals and NDP are strong, this will only help Conservatives in the first past the post system, similar to what happened when the right was divided. In terms of merger, Dion and May have got the ball rolling but the grassroots on either side isn't interested. Greens are running and campaigning against Liberals as well as Conservatives. The purpose in the race isn't justified if they endorse one of the other parties. There is an opportunity right now for May to break her alliance with Dion, accuse him of not standing up for Kyoto and position herself as the only party serious about climate change. The Green "none of the above" appeal is perfect for Liberals lukewarm about the party under Dion's leadership. They should push for an election because they have the most to gain right now among opposition parties. Priority number one for the Greens should be a spot in the debates where they can introduce Canadians to their platform and communicate their unique message. I would not vote Green, but I would like to see them get a crack in the debates. If that happens, Elizabeth May is going to have to appear as more than Dion's candidate in Central Nova.

Bloc Quebecois:

Holding 48 seats in Quebec, almost all of them outside of Montreal; how Conservatives stack up against the Bloc will be crucial to their chances at a majority government. Prior to Dion's abstain policy, Duceppe was the leader representing the party that would prop up the Conservative government. Supporters began to ask why they would vote BQ when they could simply elect a member of the government who would bring something back to the riding. This triggered the Bloc to go into opposition mode and combined with the NDP set the trap for Dion's downfall. The reality though is outside the manufactured confidence of the BQ, the situation for the separatists is not optimal for them either.

In the province of Quebec, Pauline Marois asked party faithful to remove her obligation to hold a referendum in the event the PQ wins the next election. The motion passed, demonstrating that support for a separate Quebec state outside of Canada is on the decline. In fact the country has not been this united in decades. In the last election, the Conservative breakthrough around Quebec City of 10 seats was seen as a shock. Now the BQ fears that the Conservatives have the potential to duplicate what we saw in the provincial election with the ADQ and also provincial Charest Liberal ridings outside of Montreal. The Conservative Party is now the federalist option and is talking about open federalism, something that appeals more to Quebec than the Liberal Ottawa knows best big central government approach. In the last election there wasn't much alternative for Quebec voters angry about the sponsorship scandal beyond the Bloc. Now Conservatives have offered another opposition and the BQ finds themselves fighting for relevance during these political times.

If the Bloc vote completely collapses and goes Conservative, we could see a majority government formed regardless of what happens in Toronto. If the Bloc holds steady, we will likely be in for another minority. For Conservatives, the newest development of NDP votes bleeding the Bloc is also helpful to our chances in Quebec. This could very well be Duceppe's last election campaign with future prospects for the BQ not looking bright. There is no chance of a merger with the Bloc either for left leaning voters. The BQ is a separatist party and politically could not merge into a federalist party.

The NDP:

By all accounts, Jack Layton and the NDP should be gaining most from the Liberal collapse but he is not. The NDP is traditionally strong in areas such as Vancouver, Sask, Northern Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Toronto but is having a lot of trouble growing beyond the seats they hold right now. Toronto remains Liberal red with the Toronto Star actually critical of Layton for attacking Liberals as oppose to being critical of Dion for not attacking Conservatives. Saskatchewan's by-election was a terrible showing for Layton and the NDP almost lost to the Greens in every other by-election. As the official opposition relinquished its role to the NDP, Jack Layton found himself on Lou Dobbs and on Barack Obama's website but still didn't turn that into support in the polls or votes. They risk the Greens surpassing them in popular vote and have lost the protest vote. Feuds with the unions such as the CAW and Buzz Hargrove have also not been helpful. The two horse race between Conservatives and Liberals is squeezing them out of the picture and there remains a risk of strategic voting if it looks like the Conservatives are close to a majority during the campaign. Despite some worrying signs, Jack Layton seems determined to go to the polls and this time has Thomas Mulcair and momentum in Quebec on his side. He also can claim to be the only federalist opposition party willing to stand up for Harper and may use this argument as a way to prevent the bleeding of strategic votes. During this campaign Layton will try his best to displace the Liberal Party as the official opposition. What will most likely happen is that he will be fighting for his survival as leader and for the relevance of his party among the congested left of the Canadian spectrum. Next NDP leader Thomas Mulcair??? NDP pride and a belief that they stand for principle while Liberals campaign from the left and govern from the right will prevent a merger between the NDP and Liberals. Paul Martin - Buzz Hargrove - Jack Layton during the last Liberal budget was probably the closest you will ever see to a NDP/Liberal left wing merger.

Mood of the Canadian Public:

As the Liberals, NDP, Greens and Bloc fight for the left, Canadians seem to be moving to the right. In my next post I will talk about the issues of the day, and what I believe the Conservative Party needs to do in order to close the sale and take a majority in the next election. I will also talk about the Beijing Olympics, the American election and other issues that may not be on the radar now but could come up in the middle of a potential election campaign.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

The state of the Liberal Party of Toronto & Dion

Update: In a move that could lead to a caucus revolt and an outright war with the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party, MP Denis Coderre has been demoted to heritage and will be replaced with Bryon Wilfert. Wilfert, another Toronto based MP (Richmond Hill) is seen as one of Dion's most loyal supporters. This is suppose to restore "discipline" to the Liberal party. Gerard Kennedy is now intergovernmental affairs critic. Martha Hall Findlay with assist with finance. Bob Rae will be foreign affairs critic. Despite calls from Dion loyalists for a demotion, Michael Ignatieff remains deputy leader. Sources say his role will be reduced however. We could be watching the Liberal Party of Toronto implode as clearly caucus is frustrated and has lost confidence in the leader. 2/3 of Liberal MPs are ready for an election right now. Clearly winning conditions do not exist, so one has to assume that MPs fear things will only get worse and their own seats could be in trouble the longer Dion stays as leader. We may be heading towards an election after all. It will be interested to see if Dion will get a campaign or if he will be sacked in the weeks and months to come.
-Darryl





The state of the Liberal Party of Toronto and Dion

Election readiness and potential for seat decline:

Stephane Dion is in very serious trouble as the house goes back into session tomorrow. At this point it is hard to see any potential upside for Dion as time goes on. The media has been questioning his leadership from the beginning and has basically written him off by focusing on his potential successors. He went into the convention with limited support and was chosen as a compromise between Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff. He inherited an organization still arrogant enough to think that they are Canada's natural governing party while in reality was quickly declining into a regional based party with a tarnish on their brand from the sponsorship scandal. They have not been able to counter the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservatives and in areas such as organization, fundraising, use of technology, and election readiness; they are simply not in the game right now. Worse, recent credible polls in Quebec have them in fourth place in Quebec City (behind the NDP) in Dion's own region and no where near competitive outside of the island of Montreal. Frankly it looks like they will not be competitive in over 50 ridings and their only realistic potential gain is Justin Trudeau in the province of Quebec. Outremont was a huge wake up call for Liberals and it seems that NDP Thomas Mulcair is doing a good job of promoting the "orange revolution" in Quebec. The Bloc is in decline, but most of their vote seems to be going to either the Conservatives or the NDP. The result of these numbers is the beginning of the revolt against Stephane Dion starting in Quebec.

Last week there were calls from some Liberals calling on Dion to resign, and if he failed to do that the party should consider revoking his party membership. Liza Frulla and others criticized Dion and his team in the media. Accusations began to fly about quotes from Ignatieff critical of the leader in Montreal. At the end of the day, the media and Liberals did a great job highlighting that the party is in serious trouble in Quebec and clearly not election ready. Little focus was put on the fact that their policy of big centralized government is now obsolete in the province. There was also minimal focus about how the Conservatives have become the real federalist option in the province and country. Finally the by-elections and recent polls in the Quebec highlight the fact that there is a division of the left between the Greens, NDP and Liberals going on right now. In Quebec that vote is split further by the BQ. Dion should also be concerned that he is losing organization and volunteers as more and more Charest Liberals decide to support federal Tories. It is a good thing that Dion's current riding is on the island of Montreal. Any election in the near future would likely result in losses in Quebec for Liberals and gains for Conservatives and potentially the NDP.

Outside of Quebec, things are not much better for Dion and Liberals. Alberta is a solid Conservative stronghold where Liberals and all other parties have no representation from. This makes it difficult for Dion to sell that his party is a national brand right now. In Saskatchewan Ralph Goodale is the only one left holding the Liberal flag in Wascana. After hand picked candidate Joan Beatty was defeated in the recent by-elections, the entire province with the exception of one is Conservative. I see no chance of Stephane Dion being able to reverse Liberal fortunes in these two provinces. Manitoba will also be tough sailing for Dion with Conservatives currently holding 8 out of 14 seats with a good three way battle in Winnipeg. In BC there are 36 seats currently with Conservatives holding 18. A strong NDP in the province could split the Liberal vote enough to allow for more Conservative gains. The recent Conservative showing in Vancouver was a huge positive for Conservatives in BC and a wake up call for Liberals there. If an election campaign began tomorrow, it seems that Liberals would have a huge uphill battle making gains in Quebec or West of Ontario.

If you take out the West and Quebec, all that remains is Ontario and Atlantic Canada. Currently Liberals hold 2/3 seats in the North, but it will be interesting to see if Conservative focus on the arctic translates into any seats there. In PEI, Liberals hold all four seats with potential for losses. In New Brunswick they hold 6/10 seats with limited potential for gains. In Nova Scotia they hold 6/11 seats but can only gain in four since they are not running a candidate against Peter MacKay in favor of Green leader Elizabeth May. They might hope to gain in Newfoundland with the spat between Harper and Williams, but currently they already hold 4/7 seats in the province.

Current standings in the House of Commons:

Majority 155 out of 308
Conservative 127 (+28 needed for majority)
Liberals 97 (+58 needed for majority)
Bloc 48 (total seats in Quebec = 75)
NDP 30
Independent 4
Vacant 2

Ontario Standings:

Liberals: 53
Conservatives: 41
NDP: 12

The winners and losers of the next election will be determined by Quebec and Ontario when Canadians hit the polls. We know Quebec is a write off for Liberals and the most likely potential route to a majority for Conservatives. In Ontario, the final Liberal stronghold could be the next and final blow to Dion. The Toronto Star is their messenger in the province and the 416 is really the only remaining area code where Liberals can claim safe seats. The question is how can this hold up as Liberals continue abstaining in opposition and the media begins to focus on how Dion cannot win and how Conservatives have an opportunity at a majority. Currently there are 106 ridings in Ontario. 22 are in Toronto proper. For now 3 are held by the NDP with Gerard Kennedy challenging Peggy Nash for one of them. Layton and Chow are the other two.

Outside of Toronto, the 905 Mike Harris battle ground will be the area to watch with 32 seats up for grabs. Conservatives currently hold 11 in the 905 and 3 safe ones in Simcoe county. Eastern Ontario is becoming a Conservative strong hold with a good three way battle in Ottawa. Areas like Kitchener Waterloo, London and Chatham through Essex county also looks good for Conservatives who are already strong in the rest of Southwestern Ontario outside of Windsor.

The area I believe Liberals have the biggest risk of losing seats is in Northern Ontario. Currently there are 10 seats in the Sudbury, Timmins, Kapuskasing, North Bay and Thunder Bay regions. Liberals hold 6 of those seats and the NDP two. If this becomes a tight three way battle and Joe Comuzzi is able to help us in the area, I think Northern Ontario is a place where the Conservative message will resonate.

In the greater Toronto area, Liberals will be defending seats like Brampton West, Halton (Garth Turner), Mississauga South, Mississauga Streetsville, Newmarket-Aurora (Belinda no longer running), Oakridges Markham, Oakville, Oshawa, Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Welland, Guelph, Brant and Kitchener Waterloo. NDP could also face tough three way battles in areas like Hamilton where Conservatives are competitive.

Liberals consider Ontario home turf, but that no longer is true. They are fighting for their lives outside of Toronto and their strong poll numbers in the province are deceptive because of the congestion of support in the city of Toronto. Liberals have some potential for gains outside of Toronto, but I believe the momentum is swinging away from them in those parts. Rural, Northern and 905 seats are the keys to a Conservative majority along with currently held Bloc/ADQ seats in the province of Quebec. For the Liberals, if an election were called tomorrow; it is hard to find the path to a minority government let alone a majority one.

The Liberal Team and Dion's leadership

There is no process that allows the Liberal party to replace Dion as a leader unless he voluntarily resigns. That is not likely to happen because he will want to take his shot at an election campaign as any leader has the right to do. The past Liberal leadership hopefuls including Dion are still in debt. The party is in no position to hold another convention. To be honest a new leader might improve winning conditions but in itself is not a solution to the current state of the Liberal party. A closer look at the dream team demonstrates a clear weakness of the Liberal party right now. Almost everyone from the dream team are from the stronghold of Toronto.

The Liberal Team:

Leader: Stephane Dion - Quebec

Team Ontario:

Michael Ignatieff - Toronto
Bob Rae - Toronto
Ken Dryden - Toronto
Martha Hall Findlay - Toronto
Gerard Kennedy - Toronto
Carolyn Bennett - Toronto
Joe Volpe - Toronto
Navdeep Bains - Mississauga near Toronto
Ruby Dhalla - Brampton near Toronto
Mark Holland - Ajax new Toronto
John McCallum - Markham near Toronto
Maurizio Bevilacqua - Vaughn near Toronto
Garth Turner - Halton near Toronto
David McGuinty - Ottawa

Team Montreal Quebec:

Justin Trudeau - not yet in commons
Jean Lapierre - not helpful
Liza Frulla - not helpful
Denis Coderre - not helpful
Irwin Cotler - closer to Harper on foreign policy
Marlene Jennings
Pablo Rodriguez

Team Vancouver & West:

Ralph Goodale - only strong player in Manitoba, Sask or Alberta
Ujjal Dosanjh - Vancouver
Hedy Fry - Vancouver
Keith Martin - asked to withdraw a motion on Human Rights Commission by Dion
Joyce Murray - Vancouver

Team Atlantic Canada

Scott Brison
Robert Thibault
Paul Zed
Wayne Easter

The Dream Team seems very slanted towards Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto with limited representation anywhere else. With the exception of Justin Trudeau and Scott Brison, all of the serious future leadership contenders and top critics are from 416 Toronto ridings. Team Liberal is really Team Toronto. Dion seems to want a new strategy of focusing away from his leadership and towards his team. He may want to rethink if that is a good idea. As the house returns to work March 31; it is starting to look more and more like Canada's natural governing party has been resorted to the Liberal Party of Toronto at present time. This is a problem much more serious than Dion's leadership, Quebec squabbling and a record of abstaining for Liberals. Reality must set in that the party needs to review policy and where they sit on the Canadian political spectrum. The days of winning consecutive majorities due to a divided opposition and strong BQ are over. Their party has not adopted to the new Canadian political landscape.

Are we going to an election in the next few weeks?

Highly unlikely. Conservatives would like one and are prepared for one, but none of the other parties with representatives are ready. The NDP got a wake up call on the by-elections. Greens have no power to trigger one. The BQ is at a very weak point and the country is more united than ever. Liberals have not been in this weak of a position for a very long time. The only way an election will happen is if Dion throws himself into a campaign before the internal knives put real pressure on him to step aside. Liberals are not ready. I predict this will go to the fix election date with Harper only gaining as he continues to prove to Canadians that he can be trusted governing the nation. The only thing Liberals can gain from an election is the chance to pick a new leader have the pending disaster a campaign would be.

Where do they stand on the issues?

With issues like Kyoto, childcare and the Kelowna accord off the public radar it is tough to figure out where Liberals stand on the issues. They abstained and allowed Harper to move forward with his own environment plan that would not meet Kyoto targets. Dion supported the Afghanistan extension against the wishes of many in his base. They abstained on a throne speech that cut the GST, reduced taxes and drained the surplus making new program spending impossible without raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere. As a result the top three issues of the economy, environment and Afghanistan have been basically neutralized. Now they risk alienating their base by not fighting the immigration change attached to the budget. With a voting record lower than turnout and supporting Harper 60% of the time they did vote; supporters have to wonder if that party is really fighting for Liberal ideals. Dodging confidence votes sends the message that they are only interested in winning and losing an election as oppose to the principles they claim to represent. A policy convention, platform release or shifting the focus to a Liberal vision for Canada and an alternative choice to the present government needs to be their top priority; not an election. Right now they are simply reacting to anything that breaks in the media and hoping that things fix themselves or the economy tanks. That is not a solution or a strategy but a formula for a serious wake up call whenever this party has the courage to face voters.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Earth Hour 2008

Earth Hour 2008

At 8pm local time on the 29 March millions of people in some of the world's major cities will use the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

Iraqi PM: Basra Is 'Decisive and Final Battle'

Iraqi PM: Basra Is 'Decisive and Final Battle'

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says Basra is a "decisive and final battle.'' He is vowing to remain there overseeing operations against Shiite militias until security in the city is restored. (March 29)



Al-Sadr calls for support of Arab states

Ihe battle for control of southern Iraq is continuing for a fifth day.

In one of the latest offensives, eight people died, including two women and a child, in an air raid.

Meanwhile a witness in Baghdad has told Al Jazeera he saw up to 40 Iraqi army and police surrendering their weapons to supporters of the Mahdi Army.

Its leader, Muqtada Al-Sadr, is calling on Arab nations to support his fight against US forces in Iraq.

James Bays reports from Baghdad.



Iraqi Government Break Ceasefire With Al-Sadr Mahdi Army

Three sides of Iraq, Government, Al-Sadr Mahdi Army and the Iranian-backed Siri in Basra battle for control over regions.Iran wants to make Iraq part of a one-Islamic state.



*****

Analysis: Iraqis' Basra fight not going well

• Story Highlights
• U.S. military intelligence analysis says forces control less than quarter of Basra
  
• Officials say militia's forces control many cities in Iraq's southeast
  
• Bush called the operation "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq"
  
• "This is going to go on for a while," one U.S. military official said

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Iraqi military push into the southern city of Basra is not going as well as American officials had hoped, despite President Bush's high praise for the operation, several U.S. officials said Friday.

A burned Iraqi army tank is seen on a street in the southern city of Basra on Friday.

A closely held U.S. military intelligence analysis of the fighting in Basra shows that Iraqi security forces control less than a quarter of the city, according to officials in both the United States and Iraq, and Basra's police units are deeply infiltrated by members of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.

"This is going to go on for a while," one U.S. military official said.

Iraqi forces launched their offensive in Basra this week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was personally overseeing operations in the southern city against what government officials called "rogue" or "outlaw" militia elements, most loyal to al-Sadr.

During a joint news conference Friday with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Bush called the operation "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq," saying the government is fighting criminals there.

"It was just a matter of time before the government was going to have to deal with it," he said.

The president also hailed the operation as a sign of progress, emphasizing that the decision to mount the offensive was al-Maliki's.

"It was his military planning; it was his causing the troops to go from point A to point B," Bush said. "And it's exactly what a lot of folks here in America were wondering whether or not Iraq would even be able to do it in the first place. And it's happening."

Don't Miss

• Bush praises Baghdad's move against militias
• Analysis: Iraq headed for meltdown
• Tour of prison reveals last days of Hussein
• TIME.com: Militants' deadline extended

But since the beginning of the government offensive four days ago, violence also has picked up in a wide area of southern Iraq, including in Baghdad's International Zone -- also known as the Green Zone -- which has been targeted by rocket and mortar attacks.

Coalition bombers have joined in the fight, hitting targets in Basra and Baghdad.

The Basra analysis also shows that militia forces control a wide swath of cities in Iraq's southeast, including areas near the airport, where British forces are located, the officials said.

More than 100 Iraqis have been killed in the fighting, including at least 14 in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.

The fighting has sparked fears that a seven-month cease-fire by al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, regarded as a key factor in a dramatic drop in attacks in recent months, could collapse or that the U.S. military will have to bail out the Iraqis.

On Thursday, the Interior Ministry imposed a curfew through the weekend in Baghdad, Hilla, Kut, Diwaniya, Simawa and Basra.

Officials banned pedestrian, motorcycle and vehicular traffic through 5 a.m. Sunday (10 p.m. ET Saturday).

Some positive results from Iraq

Some positive results from Iraq

Although I strongly oppose the war in Iraq, Strong Conservative has made a great post highlighting some of the progress that has been made in the country. Among the highlights of the post:

Did you know that 47 countries' have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?

Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

Did you know that 3,100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq?

Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?

Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program ?

Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational ?

They have 5-100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq's Air Forc e consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers ?

Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?

Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?

Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?

Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.

Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?

Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158% ?

Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?

Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently?

While I think the war has been on balance a disaster for the United States and George Bush; I think it is important to highlight the good as well as the bad.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

I will be boycotting Wal-Mart

I will be boycotting Wal-Mart

This woman was injured in a car accident and lost a son in Iraq. Yet this corporation is suing the woman for $470,000 despite their circumstances. This story disgusts me and quite frankly it is hard to find much positive in what Wal-Mart brings to the world. Common sense would be to make an exception due to the public relations nightmare here. Unfortunately Wal-Mart feels they have to be "fair" to all their employees by suing this lady.

Walmart has responded as follows:

"Wal-Mart's plan is bound by very specific rules. ... We wish it could be more flexible in Mrs. Shank's case since her circumstances are clearly extraordinary, but this is done out of fairness to all associates who contribute to, and benefit from, the plan."

The problem is legal experts have said they are not obligated to sue, they chose to sue this woman. From now on, I chose to shop elsewhere.

-Darryl

Canada's seal hunt kicks off

Canada's seal hunt kicks off

I know there would be some economic consequences for the economy of Atlantic Canada, but I wish there was some way to come up with a solution to end this hunt. As a Canadian, I am ashamed it continues. Clearly this hunt continues to bring about international condemnation throughout the media.

Update: Hunter makes a fair point. I have added a video that offers a perspective from the fisherman in this debate. CBC also has an extensive section on this issue.

The slaughterhouse argument is also a fair one. Here is a video that sheds some light on that practice. Viewer discretion is advised.
-Darryl

Fisherman Defend Annual Seal Hunt

Canadian hunters have hit back at accusations their trade is 'barbaric' and unnecessary.
(Sky News UK)



US Humane Society Opposition:







*International Media Coverage:

BBC (EU considering a ban)



Reuters United States





Russia (has their own seal hunt)



Al Jazeera



Canada's seal hunt kicks off

6 hours ago

CAP-AUX-MEULES, Canada (AFP) — Canada's annual seal hunt kicked off Friday, touting for the first time more humane killing methods that failed to sway animal rights groups.

Canada set the limit for this year's harvest at 275,000 harp seals, and adopted Independent Veterinarians Working Group recommendations to make the slaughter less cruel and curb international protests over the hunt.

"Unfortunately, I think this year's hunt will be 'business as usual' here in Canada," Sheryl Fink, a veteran seal hunt observer with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said in statement.

"I don't expect to see any improvement in the way animals are killed, or in the way this hunt is monitored," she said.

The new rules require hunters to check an animal's pupils for a blinking reflex, and to slit its main arteries under its flippers, after clubbing or shooting a seal, officials said.

The regulations are meant to ensure that hunted seals are dead before they are skinned on the ice, and starting this year are a condition of holding a seal hunting license.

But Fink said competing sealers face "unpredictable conditions" such as shifting ice, high winds, freezing temperatures and unpredictable seas -- "all of which make it extremely difficult to execute a so-called 'humane' kill."

In Cap-Aux-Meules, a tiny village in the Magdalen Islands on Canada's Atlantic Coast, several vessels set off for the hunt in the early morning but had not yet reached the seal herds.

Ice up to 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) thick on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence slowed their 30-mile (48-kilometer) trip, Denis Longuepee, president of the local sealers' association, told AFP.

One vessel was even forced to return to port after being slammed by huge chunks of ice, he said.

Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for Canada's fisheries department, confirmed: "It's been a very slow start."

"As of this morning, a grand total of three seals have been killed," he said, later updating that figure to possibly 15.

Sealers from this Canadian archipelago are allowed to slaughter as many as 15,000 seals this year. The hunt will then move in April to the coasts of Newfoundland, where the vast majority of the harp seals squat.

Animal rights groups protested Friday that permits were not issued in time for them to observe the start of the hunt. But Canada's fisheries department said almost 50 were eventually accredited.

In recent years, demonstrators and celebrities, including the Dalai Lama, pop icon Paul McCartney, French film legend Brigitte Bardot and Canadian-born actress and former Playboy model Pamela Anderson have campaigned against seal hunting.

A Connecticut businesswoman even offered sealers 16 million dollars (Canadian, US) -- the estimated value of commercial seal meat and pelts for thousands of local fisherman -- to end the killings.

Ottawa maintains the hunt poses no threat to the harp seal population, and insists the commercial cull is an economic mainstay of its Atlantic Coast communities.

"Our government works hard to ensure the Canadian seal hunt is conducted in a humane, safe and sustainable manner," Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said in a statement.

"We will not be bullied or blackmailed into forcing people who depend on the sealing industry out of their livelihood based on things that are simply baseless allegations," he said of "extremist" animal rights groups' protests.

Canada banned the killing of the youngest seals, less than 12 days old, in 1987 amid criticisms and threats of European boycotts that pushed the industry to the brink of collapse.

Last month, Belgium and the Netherlands banned the import of seal-derived products and Germany and Austria are said to be considering closing their markets too.

Implementation of the new humane killing rules also comes just as the European Union weighs a total ban on seal imports that could devastate the industry.

****

Toronto Seal Hunt Protest



Calgary Seal Hunt Protest

You can: Rotary International

You can: Rotary International


http://www.rotary.org

You can eradicate polio.

You can promote peace.

You can feed the hungry.

You can help children do better in school.

Because you can get involved with Rotary.

Learn more at rotary.org

Water Harvesting Rotary International

Water Harvesting Rotary International

Because the foothills of India's west coast are too rocky to retain rainwater year round, villagers must often walk for miles to fetch water for their families. Since 2003, the Rotary Club of Bombay Metropolitan, Maharashtra, partnering with local and international groups and supported by Rotary Foundation Matching Grants, has launched scores of water harvesting projects that preserve this precious resource.

The Last Hurdle: Rotary International

The Last Hurdle: Rotary International

American Rotarians join their Indian colleagues for a Sub-National Immunization Day, and get a close-up look at the battle to eradicate polio in India.

Soul of Africa PART ONE: Rotary International

Soul of Africa PART ONE: Rotary International

In the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Rotarians in South Africa are bringing education, nutrition and health care to AIDS orphans, with help from non-profit partner Soul of Africa.

Eradicating Polio Worldwide: Rotary International

Eradicating Polio Worldwide: Rotary International

In 1985, while polio was paralyzing 1,000
children a day, Rotary International committed to a goal.
A goal of ending polio worldwide.
Very soon now, after contributing nearly
$600 million dollars and immunizing over 2
billion children, the goal will be achieved
Eradicating polio worldwide.

That is humanity in motion.

That is Rotary.

Peace is Possible - Rotary International

Peace is Possible - Rotary International

The Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution program offers individuals the opportunity to pursue a master's degree in international studies, sustainable development, peace studies, and conflict resolution at one of the seven Rotary Center university partners. Learn more at www.rotary.org.

Just can't seem to get it right Today - McGuinty Budget 2008

Just can't seem to get it right Today - McGuinty Budget 2008

Dalton McGuinty and Dwight Duncan have clearly demonstrated that they don't understand the needs of the province in the 2008 provincial budget.

Tories hit mark on land claims

Tories hit mark on land claims

Fifty-four settlements resolved after public servants given target last year

BILL CURRY

From Friday's Globe and Mail

March 28, 2008 at 4:56 AM EDT

OTTAWA — The Conservative government resolved a record number of native land-claim disputes this year in a bid to improve relations with Canada's aboriginals and spur economic development on reserves.

Former Indian Affairs minister Jim Prentice caused a stir in his department last year when he quietly ordered public servants to conclude at least 50 specific land-claim disputes for the fiscal year ending Monday.

Meeting that target was left to his successor, Chuck Strahl, who confirmed yesterday that 54 claims have been resolved, of which 37 involved financial settlements.

"It was a big, all-out effort to do that," said Mr. Strahl, who took over the department last August.

The 34-year historical record of the specific claims process shows the ambitiousness of the target. On average, only 14 claims are concluded each year. The average annual amount paid out in settlements is $63.7-million.

The most productive year previously on record was 1993-1994, when the government paid out 30 specific claims settlements at a total cost of $263-million. The final tab for this year's record number of settlements will be about $70-million, Mr. Strahl said, which is only slightly higher than an average year. Mr. Strahl acknowledges that the department likely went after some of the simplest disputes to meet the demands of their political bosses.

"You want to do the low-hanging fruit first, that's for sure," he said. "I certainly gave no instruction that way, but it wouldn't surprise me."

Sources told The Globe and Mail that some native leaders expressed concern to Mr. Prentice that the bureaucracy would stop negotiating while the federal government established a new specific claims tribunal. To assuage those concerns, Mr. Prentice made the 50-claim promise.

The bill establishing the tribunal, C-30, was introduced last November and is still in the House of Commons. The new tribunal would have the power to make $250-million in settlement payments a year for 10 years with the aim of reducing the backlog of nearly 800 claims. Mr. Strahl expressed frustration that the bill has yet to become law, given that it has broad support.

"I am starting to get concerned about it. It's always possible an election could interrupt the process," he said.

There are two main types of land claims. Specific claims involve native communities arguing that their land or money has been stolen or misused. Common examples include reserve land used for highways or rail lines without compensation. From 1927 to 1951, it was illegal for lawyers to take on native clients for claims against the Crown.

The second type, called comprehensive claims, are usually larger and more expensive. These claims resolve land disputes with natives who never signed treaties with the government or establish self-government arrangements outside of the Indian Act.

Alberta lawyer Ron Maurice represents natives in land-claim disputes and worked with Mr. Prentice at the Indian Claims Commission and in private practice.

According to his contacts, Mr. Maurice said, not all public servants welcomed Mr. Prentice's 50-claim target.

"It's fair to say though that there are probably other people within the [specific claims] branch that saw it as being unrealistic or too onerous," he said.

Mr. Maurice said the focus on resolving land claims highlights a "sea change" in aboriginal policy.

In contrast to the 2005 Liberal plan signed in Kelowna, B.C., that would have spent $5-billion on programs for aboriginals, Mr. Maurice said Conservatives are spending money to resolve land claims in the hope that communities can raise their own revenue to meet social needs.

"I would think it's probably just a matter of course before the government expects first nations to look at their own source of revenues and the settlement of these land claims as one means of funding other aspects of band governance," he said.

Herman Crain, a band councillor with Saskatchewan's Muskoday First Nation, says a recent $10-million settlement will buy urban reserve land in Prince Albert.

He said the community could set up an on-reserve urban convenience store to sell tax-free cigarettes to status Indians living in the city.

"I think doors have started to open now," he said.

With a report from Brian Laghi

Age a bigger factor in election than race, gender?

Age a bigger factor in election than race, gender?

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

While the Democrats sweat it out over how voters perceive race and gender in this election, maybe it’s time for the Republicans to take a look at how Americans feel about electing a 71-year-old man.

If John McCain wins, he will be the oldest person ever to serve a first term as president. And a new survey out suggests that the public might have more doubts about voting for someone of McCain’s age for president than they would for an African-American or a woman.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows 72% of those surveyed say voters are ready to elect a qualified black candidate, 18% say they’re not. Meanwhile, 71% say Americans are ready to vote for a woman, 20% say they’re not. But only 61% say the voters are prepared to vote for a person over 70, while 29% say they’re not. Not exactly encouraging numbers for McCain and the Republicans.

Besides his age, McCain has had his share of health issues. He survived 5½ years as a POW in Vietnam, where he was badly mistreated. He’s also been treated for melanoma – a potentially deadly form of skin cancer – four times in the last 15 years. But the Arizona senator is active and keeps up as tough a work schedule as any of the candidates out on the campaign trail.

Doctors say there’s no reason McCain wouldn’t be able to serve as president, although they point out that certain health risks – like heart disease and cancer – a can become bigger factors for people in their 70s.

McCain’s campaign plans to release details of his medical history next month.

Liberals show no Grit when it comes to voting in Commons

Glen McGregor , Canwest News Service

Published: Wednesday, March 26, 2008

OTTAWA - Liberal MPs are casting votes in Parliament at a rate lower than the turnout of Canadian voters who made it to the ballot box in the last federal election.

By choosing to sit out confidence motions that could topple the minority government, Liberal MPs on average participated in only 64 per cent of recorded votes in the House this parliamentary session - just below the 64.7 per cent of eligible voters who cast valid ballots in the 2006 general election, a Canwest News Service analysis shows.

When they did show up for votes, more often than not, the Liberals voted in line with the Harper government. More than 60 per cent of votes by Liberals on bills, amendments and motions before the House, were in step with the Conservatives. The official Opposition supported the government on extending the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, motions on its centerpiece crime bill, and on other parliamentary business, such as a bill regarding the settlement of international investment disputes.

By contrast, Bloc Quebecois MPs cast 41 per cent of their votes in line with the Tories while New Democrats voted with the government only 26 per cent of the time.

The voting records support the growing contention that the Liberals are not truly functioning as an official Opposition as they seek to avoid running an election behind struggling leader Stephane Dion.

"Such a massive truancy is really something that should cause a lot of voters to wonder what's going on," said NDP Leader Jack Layton Wednesday.

While opposition parties often vote in step with the government on procedural motions, Layton says the Liberal show a degree of support that effectively offers the Tories a de facto majority.

"They are giving Mr. Harper the capacity to take the country down the wrong path, not just on high-profile items like Afghanistan, but just in general, they are there to support the government," he said.

"They are misrepresenting their role. They're supposed to be the official Opposition but the job is not being done by them. They're not showing up for work."

Every MP could have stood to record his or her vote as many as 76 times since the session began in October. But with the Liberals dodging confidence motions, the average Liberal MP cast only 49 votes - the worst rate of the four major parties.

Across the floor, Conservative MPs exercised their right to vote in the House an average of 73 times. Bloc Quebecois ranked second, with each voting an average 71 times, followed by NDP MPs, each averaging 68 votes.

Dion has cast 33 votes since October, using less than half his opportunities. By contrast, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been counted in 49 recorded votes, despite a travel schedule that often takes him out of Ottawa when the House is sitting. Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe both stood to vote 73 times.

Former prime minister Paul Martin, who remains a Liberal MP, has the worst voting record of all. He has not voted once this session. Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, who is leaving politics, cast only four votes, but like Independent Bill Casey, has often been away for cancer treatment.

Of those MPs with perfect voting records, all were either Bloc Quebecois or Conservative MPs.

The Canwest News Service analysis counted as a vote any time an MP "paired," a process where two MPs who intend to vote against each other agree to abstain to allow one or both to be absent.

***

Good luck finding out how your MP votes

Glen McGregor , Canwest News Service

Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008

OTTAWA - It is among the most fundamental pieces of information in a democracy: the record of how an elected representative votes on behalf of constituents.

But most Canadians would struggle to find a list showing how their MPs voted on legislation before the House of Commons, so buried are these data in confusing parliamentary records.

Voting records for elected representatives in other countries are readily available on the Internet. The votes in the U.S. Congress are listed on the House of Representatives website and there are numerous public-interest groups that chart online the voting records of American politicians.

NDP Leader Jack Layton says making voting records more accessible would make MPs more accountable.

One can see, for instance, that Democratic presidential candidate and Illinois senator Barack Obama missed 37.4 per cent of recorded votes in the U.S. Senate, and voted in line with Democrats 96.7 per cent of the time.

But there is no official publication that lists the voting records for Canada's MPs.

The results of recorded votes in the House of Commons are buried in Hansard, the transcript of the debates, and the House journals, and these do not list votes by MP.

To find out how an MP voted on any given bill or motion, readers must navigate through the www.parl.gc.ca website and, by cross-referencing with an index, find the journal for the day of the vote, then scan through it for the rollcall listing the yeas and nays recorded. For those not familiar with parliamentary procedure, the records can be confusing.

The journals list only the results of each vote and do not aggregate the results to see how any one MP voted on different bills or motions.

A Canwest News Service story this week revealed Liberal MPs have on average participated in only 64 per cent of the votes in the House this session, a rate less than the turnout in the last federal election. Canwest News Service compiled this data by downloading all electronic copies of the Journals then using database software to collate the text and extract the records for each MP - a time-consuming and technical process few are likely to undertake themselves.

NDP Leader Jack Layton says making voting records more accessible would make MPs more accountable.

"If they knew their constituents were likely to be presented with this information during an election, it causes them to think twice - in a positive sense."

Layton credits part of his early success in politics to deft use of the voting records for the city councillor against whom he first ran in Toronto.

"It was often quite shocking to the voters," he said. "By using them, it caused the councillors to pay a lot more attention to how their constituents might react to their vote," he said.

A privately run website tried to fill this information gap by collating all the voting results for MPs.

Web developer Cory Horner, of Victoria, B.C., created howdtheyvote.ca three years ago because he was frustrated by the process required to find voting records online.

"I was looking around the records and found it extremely difficult to find what I was looking for," said Horner. "I ended up automating the process for my own use, and then just releasing it."

He wrote computer programs to process the electronic versions of the Hansard transcripts and to load them into an online database. His site allowed users to click on the name of their MP and bring up a list of how they voted on bills, amendments and motions before the House. At its peak, the website drew as many as 200,000 hits per day.

But updating the data takes a lot of work and the site has fallen out of date, Horner admits.

He wonders why the government doesn't publish the same kind of information itself.

House of Commons spokesperson Heather Bradley said providing non-procedural information isn't part of the mandate for the parliamentary website, which is run by the House, the Senate and the Library of Parliament.

John McCain vs. John McCain

John McCain vs. John McCain

Straight talk express?

Wal-Mart the model corporation...

Wal-Mart the model corporation...

Wal-Mart is probably one of the worst employers on the planet. This story is simply immoral. I can see why people boycott this organization.



I recommend this movie to everyone "Walmart: The high cost of a low price"

Gore On Climate Naysayers

Gore On Climate Naysayers

Al Gore says that thinking climate change isn't manmade is like believing the moon landing was staged and that the earth is flat. He speaks to Lesley Stahl this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. (CBSNews.com)

Ron Paul on CNBC's Kudlow & Company

Ron Paul on CNBC's Kudlow & Company

Ron Paul on CNBC's Kudlow & Company 3-20-08 7pm est discusses why we should abolish the federal reserve

John McCain Weak on Economic Issues

John McCain Weak on Economic Issues

John McCain is going to have to select a VP who knows something about the economy. At a time of a recession and when the economy is going to be the number one election issue, these series of quotes question if McCain is ready for the job. He hits Conservative talking points from time to time, but it is clear he is right out of his element when discussing economic policy. His speech a couple of days ago didn't really provide much more confidence in his economic qualifications. With the economy, Iraq and health care as the top three issues according to Americans; I don't see how McCain is going to position himself in a way that gives him a chance to win in November.
-Darryl



McCain not an expert on economy

Barack Obama speech on the economy plus Obama/Bloomberg ticket?

Barack Obama speech on the economy plus Obama/Bloomberg ticket?

Barack Obama delivered a speech on the economy in the Great Hall, at Cooper Union, NYC.

Could there be an Obama-Bloomberg ticket?

• Story Highlights
• Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduces Sen. Barack Obama at economic speech
  
• Appearance comes four months after a much-publicized breakfast meeting
  
• Bloomberg hasn't endorsed Obama and doubts anyone would want him as VP

NEW YORK (CNN) -- He was only the warm-up act for Sen. Barack Obama's economic speech in New York on Thursday, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg sparked plenty of speculation by sharing the stage with the Democratic presidential hopeful.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's appearance with Sen. Barack Obama has political tongues wagging.

Obama praised Bloomberg for "extraordinary leadership" and said the billionaire mayor "shows us what can be achieved when we bring people together to seek pragmatic solutions."

A Bloomberg aide said that Obama asked Bloomberg to speak Wednesday and that the mayor didn't want to pass up the opportunity.

Their appearance Thursday comes four months after a breakfast meeting in New York that both politicians were sure to mention.

"Obama and I have to tell you that the reason I bought breakfast is because I expect payback at something more expensive," Bloomberg had said.

Obama joked that he's seeking a steak dinner. But political tongues were wagging about a potential ticket mate -- an idea Bloomberg has dismissed before.

"Nobody is going to ask me to run as vice president," he said in February.

Bloomberg, who flirted with the idea of a run for the White House as an independent, said in a February 28 New York Times opinion piece that he would not run for president.

The former Republican, who became an independent while in office, said he had "listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not -- and will not be -- a candidate for president."

That decision, coupled with a party switch, fueled speculation that he could endorse a Democratic candidate for the White House.

But political observers say that, for one, Bloomberg doesn't represent a region of the country that a Democrat or a Republican would need. And they don't see him as "No. 2."

"[It's] hard to imagine Mike Bloomberg ... who built a multibillion-dollar corporation of great success, as the VP of anything," Democratic strategist Hank Scheinkopf said.

A Cabinet position such as Treasury secretary could be an option, observers say, but he'd have to support someone first.

"I have not endorsed a candidate, but I've been very clear it's my hope that all the candidates will explain in detail how they will handle the great challenges facing our country," Bloomberg said.

A Bloomberg spokesman says Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton have also reached out to Bloomberg after he said he wouldn't run and might endorse someone.

Observers say a Bloomberg stamp of approval would help any of them on economic issues. And the attention keeps the issues he cares about on the table. "Guns, economy, urban politics ... he wants to continue to generate interest in those issues, so it's a cost-free way for him to do it," New York magazine's Chris Smith said.

Another point Bloomberg stresses is the need to reach across the aisle and eliminate partisan bickering to get things done, a central theme of Obama's campaign.

Al Gore compromise candidate?

Al Gore compromise candidate?

One of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard. I can see Al Gore as someone's VP, but what sense would it make to overturn the votes and efforts by Hillary and Obama throughout the primaries only to select someone who wasn't running at the convention out of the blue. Gore also failed to become President in 2000 when he ran previously. I think this would be a total slap in the face to democracy. There are also rumors about an Obama/Bloomberg ticket. I guess time will tell.
-Darryl

Tibet Monks speak to Foreign Press in China

Tibet Monks speak to Foreign Press in China

Ontario in recession, Tory says

Conservative leader suggests chops to civil service

Mar 27, 2008 05:32 PM

Chinta Puxley
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario is already in a recession and needs to look at slashing spending by cutting civil servants who just sit around reading reports and “breathing each other’s exhaust,” Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said today.

Tory said the Liberal government has intimidated manufacturers, school boards and other agencies to keep them from speaking out against Tuesday’s budget, but said Ontario’s deteriorating economy cries out for some bold action.

While the western economy is booming, national growth remains low — likely because Ontario’s economy is shrinking and dragging the average down, he said.

“Reports that will come out in the coming months will show that we’re in a recession in Ontario right now,” Tory said following a speech to a Toronto business audience.

“And I say that with no joy, but it really supports the case I was making this morning, that we’re on the wrong track. Mr. McGuinty’s policies are contributing to negative growth in Ontario, to job losses, to companies closing down. We need to take bold action and change the course.”

Hours after his breakfast speech and following a contradicting assessment from one of the province’s chief economists, Tory’s staff scrambled to clarify his comments, saying he misspoke in French and meant to say Ontario “may” be in a recession now.

Don Drummond, chief economist at TD Bank, said it’s not clear yet whether Ontario is in a recession since provincial numbers are only released annually.

“The employment numbers for Ontario have actually been quite robust in the last little while,” Drummond said, adding exports were “horrifically weak.”

“There is nothing very definitive that would say that Ontario was in a negative in the fourth quarter.”

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan refused to say whether the province is going through a recession at the moment, but said he was surprised it has taken Tory this long to realize some sectors are suffering.

But Tory is not doing anyone any favours when he “parrots” the negative musings of federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who called Ontario the last place in Canada to start a business, Duncan said.

“Mr. Tory does damage to himself,” Duncan said when asked whether Tory’s gloomy predictions harm Ontario’s economic prospects. ``Mr. Tory does damage to himself when he suggests that the first response to slow growth in the economy is to lay more people off. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

But Tory said it doesn’t make sense to maintain Ontario’s high business tax rate or “out-of-control” spending while ignoring the bloated civil service. As the government prepares to release its ``sunshine list” of civil servants who earn more than $100,000 annually, Tory said no business can afford to operate like the Ontario government.

Ontario’s employment growth has been largely supported by the public sector, Tory said, adding there are more than 20 vacancies for policy analyst jobs in the province being advertised right now.

“These kinds of jobs are people who are breathing each other’s exhaust and sitting around, analyzing each other’s papers,” Tory said. “There hasn’t been enough attention paid to looking at whether those people are really making a productive contribution to the effective delivery of public services in Ontario.”

The Ontario public service hasn’t taken advantage of technology which would allow work to be done by fewer people, he said. It doesn’t mean massive layoffs — just cutting the civil service through attrition, Tory said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty dismissed the suggestion in the legislature, saying Ontario has one of the leanest bureaucracies in the country and nothing good will come of cutting corporate taxes or public servants.

Cutting either would mean fewer nurses, teachers, water inspectors, public health workers and police officers, McGuinty said.

“What he’s really saying and he should say to Ontarians (is) he wants these people to be fired,” he said.

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, head of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union who represents 45,000 civil servants, said Tory is mistaken if he thinks cutting bureaucrats saves money.

Under the last Conservative regime, Thomas said they slashed civil servants only to contract out work at twice the price. The Liberals are slowly rebuilding the public sector by hiring cheaper, competent workers as those pricey contracts run out, he said.

“All the guy knows how to do is attack,” Thomas said about Tory. “He’s just like Flaherty. I think it’s wearing thin.”

****

Ontario at risk of mild recession, TD report says

KAREN HOWLETT

From Friday's Globe and Mail

March 21, 2008 at 5:53 AM EDT

TORONTO — Ontario's weakening economic fortunes are leading to new calls to reform federal transfer programs used to divvy up riches among the provinces.

Canada's most populous province will rank at the bottom of the heap this year, with its economy growing just 0.5 per cent, says Toronto-Dominion Bank in a particularly gloomy report that for the first time raises the spectre of Ontario slipping into a mild recession.

Central Canada's anemic growth comes as some western provinces are faring much better. The growing regional divide has economists questioning the wisdom of transfer programs that require Ontario to contribute a disproportionate share of its wealth to prop up other provinces.

"We cannot continue to fund other parts of Canada to a level beyond the quality of services we have in Ontario," Len Crispino, president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday in an interview. "We need to rebalance this imbalance."

The TD report says the "lethal combination" of a high Canadian dollar and weak demand in the United States for goods manufactured in Ontario is hurting the province's ability to raise revenue. Ontario at one time enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in Canada. But that is no longer the case. Just four years ago, the average income of each Ontarian was $400 above the national average. By last year, income had fallen to just $84 above the national average and it threatens to keep falling.

Dale Orr of Global Insight Inc. was among the first economists to say Ontario is in jeopardy of becoming a "have-not" province in Confederation, which would make it eligible to receive payments under the national equalization program for the first time.

Those provinces whose fiscal capacity falls below the national average over a three-year period receive equalization. Those above the average do not. The topic became political this week when federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty weighed in, saying that Ontario is on track to become a have-not province within two to three years.

Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Hudak echoed that opinion yesterday.

"Please tell me that the lasting legacy of the Dalton McGuinty government is not going to be taking Ontario to 'have-not' status," he said during Question Period in the legislature.

"I see my honourable friend's lips moving, but I hear the federal Minister of Finance's voice," Mr. McGuinty quipped.

The Premier said the Tories are wrong to suggest Ontario will become a have-not province. But he reiterated that Ontario picks up more than its fair share of the tab for helping other provinces. Each taxpayer in the province will send $2,040 more to Ottawa this year than he or she will receive back, Mr. McGuinty said in Question Period. "What we don't have is fairness from the federal government," he said.

TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond said it is highly unlikely the Harper government will push for further changes to federal transfer programs, given its bitter feud with Mr. McGuinty over the economy. Last year, the federal government adopted a new formula to calculate equalization based on the revenue-generating capacity of 10 provinces, rather than the previous five-province standard.

"They seem to be bent on making Ontario's situation worse at the moment," Mr. Drummond said.

Sharing the wealth

The national equalization program is designed to give money to Canada's poorer provinces so they can provide social services comparable to the richer ones. This year, the federal government will distribute $13-billion in equalization payments to every province except Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Equalization, one of several programs Ottawa uses to distribute funding to the provinces, was introduced in 1951. The government adopted a new formula last year to calculate equalization based on the revenue-generating capacity of 10 provinces, rather than the previous five-province standard.

Equalization payments will climb to $13.6-billion in fiscal 2009, from $13-billion in this fiscal year, a 50-per-cent increase over the past five years. Ontario residents fund 40 per cent of the program through their income-tax payments to Ottawa.

- Karen Howlett

Glenn Beck: The $53 trillion asteroid

• Story Highlights
• Medicare trust fund will become insolvent in the year 2019, report says
  
• Paulson: "Rising costs will ... threaten America's future prosperity"
  
• Expert: Unfunded debt is "an IOU of around $455,000 per American household"
  
• Beck: Our financial deficit is only dwarfed by "deficit of trust" we have in our leaders

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Let's say a giant asteroid was headed toward Earth right now and experts say it has a good chance of ending civilization as we know it. Let's also say that we've known about this asteroid for years but even as it gets closer and closer our leaders do nothing.

"Don't worry," they tell us, "The next administration will figure something out."

With the future of our country at stake, would Americans really sit back and tolerate that kind of inaction? Of course not -- we'd be sharpening our pitchforks and demanding answers.

Well there may not be a space asteroid heading toward us, but there is an economic one -- and the threat to our future is just as severe.

You might think that I'm talking about the recession (sorry: potential recession) or credit crisis, but I'm thinking bigger. Much, much bigger.

Let me give you three numbers that will put this economic asteroid into perspective: $200 billion, $14.1 trillion, and $53 trillion.

# $200 billion is the approximate total amount of write-downs announced so far as a result of the current credit crisis.

# $14.1 trillion is the size of the entire U.S. economy

# And $53 trillion is (drum roll please) the approximate size of this country's bill for the Social Security and Medicare promises we've made.

While no one will ever mistake me for Alan Greenspan, it seems to me that the third number is quite a bit larger than the other two. It also seems very few people care.

According to the latest Social Security and Medicare Trustees report (and I use that term loosely since it has the word "trust" in it) released earlier this week, the economic asteroid will first make impact in the year 2019 when the Medicaid trust fund becomes insolvent.

Only an immediate 122 percent increase in Medicare taxes and a 26 percent increase in Social Security taxes can prevent (or more likely, delay) its impact.
Don't Miss

* Read Glenn's "Fusion" magazine
* Glenn Beck on Headline News
* Glenn's new book: 'An Inconvenient Book'

Realizing that Americans have become pretty much numb to these kinds of ridiculous sounding proposals, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to up the ante this week. "Without change," he said, "Rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues, and threaten America's future prosperity."

Now, I know we're all worried about important sounding things that none of us understand, like CDO's, SIV's, and Credit Default Swaps, but did you hear what our Treasury Secretary just said?

"Rising costs will ... consume nearly all projected federal revenues ..."

Translation: Every single tax dollar that is sent to Washington will be used to pay for just these two programs.

That means no money is left for anything else. Nothing. No Department of Defense or Homeland Security, no Department of Energy, no Department of Justice, no Environmental Protection Agency, no Internal Revenue Service. Actually, knowing our government, they'd probably keep the IRS going somehow.

Of course, none of this is exactly breaking news. Our leaders have known about this rapidly approaching asteroid for years now and they've done nothing but debate it. At the same time, I'm a realist. I understand that this stuff is "the third rail of politics," but our leaders' negligence on this issue is damn near criminal. No, correction, it is criminal.

Americans aren't afraid of the truth. In fact, we crave the truth only slightly more than we crave a leader who will actually give it to us. But part of the problem with this issue is that numbers followed by 12 zeroes aren't very relatable to the average American. Instead, try this on for size.

A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 32 years. A trillion seconds is 32,000 years. And 53 trillion seconds? 1.7 million years.

In an article that will appear in an upcoming issue of my magazine, Fusion, former Comptroller General of the United States David Walker tries a different tactic. He writes that our unfunded promises translate into "an IOU of around $455,000 per American household."

Wow. Does the size of our debt hit home now?

The America that I know doesn't sit around waiting for someone to rescue it from disaster. Besides, who do we expect to swoop in and save the day? Congress? The president? Please -- they're not only the ones who put the asteroid into space, they've also been making it bigger with irresponsible spending on everything from prescription drugs to billions in rebate checks and bailouts.

Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones? They're more likely to be on Social Security than to save it.

And that leaves only us: We the People. Like every other crisis we face, it's up to us to save ourselves.

But how?

Be honest, no matter what side of the political aisle you're on, it's obvious that our financial deficit is dwarfed only by the deficit of trust we have in our leaders.

I'm willing to do the right thing for our future, I'm willing to sacrifice, but not when I believe that our leaders will do nothing but make the asteroid even larger.

Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered...

This Barley Political channel on YouTube is a great for a laugh once in a while. The Hillary video is a classic and it is great to see the return of Obama Girl!
-Darryl


Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered...

BArelyPolitical has unearthed the following footage of Hillary Clinton visiting Bosnia in 1996.




Obama Girl returns to youtube!

Hillary! Stop the attacks! Love, Obama Girl



Obama Girl on Fox

Obama Girl AMber Lee Ettinger visits the set of Fox News



Original Obama Girl Video (7 million hits)

"I Got a Crush...On Obama" By Obama Girl

Obama asked difference in policy issues with Hillary Clinton

Obama asked difference in policy issues with Hillary Clinton

Obama asked difference in policy issues with Hillary Clinton, Salem

Newsmax: Ron Paul Won't Be President But He Just May Change the GOP Forever!

Newsmax: Ron Paul Won't Be President But He Just May Change the GOP Forever!

I just got back from business in New York City, but on the plane I picked up an issue of Newsmax at the airport and there was a great article entitled "Ron Paul Won't Be President..but He Just May Change the GOP Forever!". The article was a great read and well worth checking out.
-Darryl



*****

Ron Paul Won't Be President
But He Just May Change the GOP Forever!

Republican candidate Ron Paul won't be elected president in November, but his campaign is sparking an incredible movement of libertarian conservatives in the Republican Party.

Newsmax explores the question: Will Paul's campaign, like Barry Goldwater's a half century before, change the GOP?

Paul has become the first successful campaign of the Internet age — as his “open source" online network has raised tens of millions — outstripping the other Republican candidates and even Hillary Clinton's latest tallies.

Adding to the Web magic is the fact that the Texas congressman has been arguing old conservative themes: small government, limited taxation, and reduced intervention abroad.

It's a libertarian message that resonates with millions of Americans.

Newsmax magazine's special report, “Paul Won't Be President, But ..." offers an in-depth look at the Paul campaign, which raked in $20 million in contributions in the last quarter of 2007, surpassing even Hillary Clinton's fourth quarter total.

The new edition of Newsmax magazine is hitting newsstands across the country, including many Barnes & Noble, Hastings, Follett, B.Dalton, Books-A-Million, Joseph Beth and other major bookstores, as well as Publix, Meijer, Kroger's, Wegman's, and Harris Teeter supermarkets, Hudson News and Host airport newsstands, and Sam's Club stores.

You can also check out our FREE offer — the Emergency Radio — a $35 value and something every home must have. Go Here Now.

This exclusive Newsmax report explores:

• Why young voters are ignoring Obama and flocking to Paul's campaign
• How conservatives' dissatisfaction fuels Paul's run
• The Ron Paul interview — he doesn't mince words
• Why Paul could be the next Goldwater
• Why some conservatives fear Paul's isolationism could harm America
• How Paul's Net-savvy campaign is exploiting the online world
• Libertarians and conservatives — where do they differ?
• The Internet wizard who has mushroomed Paul's campaign
• Why Paul would abolish the Dept. of Education
• Why Paul calls 9/11 a “failure of government"
• Paul's “white blimp" campaigning
• What energizes Paul's powerful base
• Why GOP activist Grover Norquist applauds Paul's campaign
• How Paul's less-than-fortunate upbringing shaped his character
• Paul's surprising support from military members
• The two primal forces in campaigns: money and votes
• Libertarian stars — Clint Eastwood, Drew Cary, and other surprises
• Why Dick Morris calls Paul a “total fraud"
• Paul's lasting impact on the Republican Party
• How Paul could be the “Republican Ralph Nader"
• Why other candidates are emulating Paul's methods
• Libertarians through the ages
• How Paul could eventually decide the general election
• And much more

Ron Paul Speech Highlights:




The Ron Paul "Hope" Anthem:



Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

Ron has never voted for the Iraq War
Ron has never voted for an unbalanced budget
Ron has never voted to increase power to the executive branch
Ron has never voted to restrict our freedoms
Ron voted against the Patriot Act
Ron votes against regulating the internet
Ron votes against reinstating the military draft
Ron votes to preserve the constitution
Ron votes to lower healthcare costs
Ron votes to end the war on drugs
Ron votes to protect civil liberties

For ending the draft / Against war with Iran
For capturing Bin Laden / Against war in Iraq
For individual rights / Against the "Patriot" Act
For health freedom and alternative medicines
For industrial hemp / Against war on drugs
For clean environment / Against corporate welfare

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.

****

Chelsea Clinton says "None of your business." to a Monica Lewinsky question

Chelsea Clinton Bristles at Lewinsky Question

Chelsea Clinton had a quick answer today to a question about the Monica Lewinsky scandal: "None of your business." Clinton was campaigning for her mother, Hillary Clinton, at Butler University in Indiana. (March 25)

Chelsea Clinton says "None of your business." to a Monica Lewinsky question:

Chelsea Clinton Bristles at Lewinsky Question

Chelsea Clinton had a quick answer today to a question about the Monica Lewinsky scandal: "None of your business." Clinton was campaigning for her mother, Hillary Clinton, at Butler University in Indiana. (March 25)

McCain Receives Reagan Endorsement

McCain Receives Reagan Endorsement

Here is a local news report on the endorsement Sen. John McCain received from former First Lady Nancy Reagan on March 25, 2008. The report also gives a good recap of McCain's 3-day California trip, and mentions a major Foreign Policy Speech he is set to give in Los Angeles March 26, 2008.

John F. Kennedy In Ottawa, May 18 1961

John F. Kennedy In Ottawa, May 18 1961

I saw this on YouTube and thought it was interesting. Being born in 1980, I never got to experience personalities like JFK, Martin Luther King or John Lennon in person. Barack Obama has been compared to many of these people. In the video below, JFK meets with Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and speaks to parliament. The speech is especially interesting given Obama's current message.
-Darryl



President John F. Kennedy meets Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in Ottawa Canada.



President John F.Kennedy speech in the House Of Commons in Ottawa Canada.



President John F. Kennedy visit Rideau Hall in Ottawa Canada.



Recent JFK/Barack Obama "Caroline" Ad:

Dalton McGuinty is on the wrong track

Dalton McGuinty is on the wrong track

John Tory, National Post Published: Monday, March 24, 2008

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government have had almost five years in office and yet, on the eve of their fifth budget, the province's fortunes are sinking.

Ontario's decline is evident in every financial and economic indicator. It's losing ground to virtually every province in Canada and many countries worldwide.

Over the month of January, the standing committee on finance and economic affairs toured the province listening to ordinary Ontarians. Afterwards, Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party assembled its own report on Ontario's economic standing based on those meetings and the economic indicators.

According to Statistics Canada, Ontario has lost 194,000 high-paying jobs since 2004, 64,000 of those jobs in 2007 alone. Compared to other provinces, Ontario has suffered the greatest loss of manufacturing jobs in Canada since January, 2005, both in real terms and as a percentage of manufacturing employment. TD Bank estimates that Ontario could experience further losses of 250,000 jobs over the next five years.

In 2007, Ontario's unemployment rate was above the national average. All five major chartered banks in Canada ranked Ontario ninth of 10 provinces in terms of economic growth. Since 2003, Ontario has lost a total of 71,804 people to other provinces and recorded consistently negative inter-provincial migration.

Yet this reality has made little impact on Mr. McGuinty. He simply doesn't understand that jobs will go where taxes are low, regulations are not oppressive, spending is disciplined and there is proper future planning in critical areas such as energy supply.

Instead of implementing policies that turn back the province's downward trends, Mr. McGuinty blames external factors for Ontario's economic situation: previous governments, other levels of government --and even the weather!

Certainly, some of these factors play a role. But, why is it that other provinces seem to be doing better, while Ontario is getting weaker? The reality is that Mr. McGuinty, with his high taxing, big government approach is pushing investment and jobs out of Ontario and discouraging new investment.

Mr. McGuinty boasts that he has created new jobs in Ontario, but he fails to mention that almost half of the new jobs created are public sector jobs, paid for by taxpayers' dollars. Ontario is the only province in Canada where over the past five years the growth of public sector jobs has exceeded the growth of private sector jobs. Mr. McGuinty wrongly believes this is sustainable. It's not. We need private sector jobs to pay for those in the public sector.

Other governments in Canada, regardless of political stripe, are taking significant steps to reduce business taxes and put out the welcome mat for investment. Rather than learn from their success, Mr. McGuinty is following the failed playbook of Liberal and NDP governments of the past. Ontario has the least competitive business tax structure in all of Canada today. That can be seen in the jobs Ontario is losing every month.

***

Flaherty challenges McGuinty to cut taxes

Federal Finance Minister takes one more shot at Ontario's Liberal government in unusual press conference a day before provincial budget

BRODIE FENLON

Globe and Mail Update

March 24, 2008 at 3:16 PM EDT

TORONTO — Federal Finance Minster Jim Flaherty stuck his nose into Ontario politics once again Monday, challenging the McGuinty government to cut corporate taxes in Tuesday's provincial budget.

“While provinces such as British Columbia are taking steps to lower business taxes, Ontario is falling further and further behind,” Mr. Flaherty said at a press conference he called in Toronto.

“Our government has provided relief in every way we collect taxes ... Dalton McGuinty has a golden opportunity to begin turning the situation around.”

Mr. Flaherty's provincial counterpart, Dwight Duncan, dismissed Mr. Flaherty's press conference as a “stunt.”

• Ontario lagging in growth of business, say PCs, NDP

“I'd ask him to have a chance to talk about our differences, and they're real, but we're proceeding based on what we believe to be the right response,” Mr. Duncan said. “We think our balanced, pragmatic approach is the right one.”

A reporter asked Mr. Flaherty to explain the purpose of his unusual intervention in Ontario's affairs on the eve of a budget, considering former finance minister Paul Martin had never intervened in a similar way when Mr. Flaherty held the same provincial portfolio.

“The need to reduce business tax in Ontario,” the Finance Minister replied. “Ontario has the highest business taxes in the country.”

Mr. Flaherty said he “expects” Mr. McGuinty to do three things in Tuesday's budget: reduce the provincial business income tax rate with a goal of meeting a combined 25 per cent business tax rate in Canada by 2012; promise to fully eliminate capital taxes for all businesses in all sectors, and take steps to harmonize Ontario's retail sales tax with the GST.

A spokesman for Mr. McGuinty's office said Monday that it wouldn't matter what Mr. Flaherty had to say because the budget's contents were “locked in,” something they assumed Mr. Flaherty was fully aware of before he scheduled the news conference.

The comments are the latest volley in a nasty battle with Mr. McGuinty that has exposed sharp differences between the two governments over how best to address Ontario's battered manufacturing sector.

Kathy Brock, a professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen's University, said it's a matter of “duelling economic ideologies,” each legitimate in its own right. But the highly partisan, political nature of the debate will do nothing to solve Ontario's economic woes, which she said are a “serious worry” facing the country.

“There's a real serious danger when a battle becomes this nasty and this public, then it's very hard to find a basis for moving forward in a collaborative way,” Dr. Brock said.

“With this approach by Flaherty becoming so aggressive, with it becoming very, very partisan on his side, it doesn't appear to be creating a basis for collaborative federalism and it doesn't appear to be respecting provincial autonomy in the way that they have with Alberta or Quebec.”

Dr. Brock said some Ontario Liberals are also to blame for making their attacks on Mr. Flaherty personal, including snide remarks about his stature.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said Monday that both levels of government are using the blame game to avoid taking real action to stem the loss of almost 200,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs in the province in the past four years.

“The problem is this: Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Harper are worried, Mr. McGuinty says he's worried, [but] none of them are doing anything to address the issues,” said Mr. Hampton.

“Harper blames McGuinty while McGuinty blames Harper, and neither of them have done anything to help sustain manufacturing jobs, to address issues like long-term care and the tough spot that municipalities are in. Neither of them do anything to address issues like poverty.”

Mr. Flaherty told a Sun Media editorial board last week that Canada's most populous province is on track to become a 'have-not' province in two or three years if its weakening economy is not turned around, and he placed the blame solely on the Premier.

“If this continues – this is not hyperbole, this is a fact – Ontario will become a have-not province in Confederation,” Mr. Flaherty said.

“And it will be Premier McGuinty's legacy that he in two terms took Ontario from being the strongest economic province in the federation to a have-not province.”

Mr. Flaherty told the Sun Media editorial board that the federal government would have to “rethink” the equalization formula because it was never envisioned that Ontario would one day become a recipient of payments.

Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Duncan have angrily countered that direct investments to help manufacturers with loans and grants is a better course of action, not tax cuts.

However, private-sector economists tend to back Mr. Flaherty's pessimistic prognosis, noting Ontario's problems are tied directly to those in the U.S.

Toronto-Dominion Bank has slashed its gross domestic product growth forecast for Ontario to just 0.5 per cent this year, the lowest for any province and its worst showing since the recession of the early 1990s. The national rate is 1.1 per cent.

Ontario's general corporate income tax rate of 14 per cent is higher than that of every province, with the exceptions of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Mr. McGuinty recently sent an angry letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper accusing the federal government of “undermining” Ontario, but he has yet to hear back from Ottawa.

While praising British Columbia and Alberta for moving to lower corporate taxes, Mr. Flaherty had strong critical words for his home province, saying Mr. McGuinty doesn't get the fact that the province must reduce taxes.

“It discourages investment in the province of Ontario,” he said. “If you're going to make a new business investment in Canada, and you're concerned about taxes, the last place you will go is the province of Ontario.”

With reports from Karen Howlett and Canadian Press

***

Harper preaches cuts to taxes for Ontario

Other ways to help province's economy, McGuinty counters

Mar 20, 2008 04:30 AM

Richard Brennan
in ottawa
Robert Benzie
in toronto

Ontario's economy can thrive again if it lets Ottawa lead the way to the promised land of tax cuts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday.

Speaking in London, Ont., Harper said Ontario can't be allowed to lag behind the rest of the country, but rather must remain the country's economic powerhouse.

More measured in his criticism of Ontario taxes than Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been, Harper still made the point that Canada's most populous province has to be tax competitive.

"I've got to say that Ontario is still the engine, still the heart of the Canadian economy and it is in our interest that Ontario be a good place to invest," Harper told a news conference. "And we want to work with the government of Ontario to get the policies right, to get the kind of policies that we need right across the country to have success, and there is no reason that the Ontario economy can't be as strong as any other part of this country," he said.

Among his many attacks, Flaherty has warned off potential investors from Ontario, accusing the province of having the highest taxes in the country, if not the developed world, something provincial leaders have vehemently denied.

Premier Dalton McGuinty mocked suggestions that cutting taxes is the only way to aid the economy.

"I'm always open to advice from any quarter. I just don't think it's helpful to panic," McGuinty told reporters, suggesting Harper and Flaherty were jittery about the province's prospects.

"The federal government has a different view from ours. I respect their view, but I strongly disagree with it," he said.

"They believe that the single most important thing that we could and should do at this point in our history is to further cut corporate income taxes. They're asking that we reduce taxation levels on profitable corporations. We've got a different approach."

McGuinty said Ottawa is taking its cues from the previous Ontario Progressive Conservative government that closed hospitals, fired nurses and made cuts to education.

He rejected the attacks on him directed from Ottawa, including claims he is weakening the fabric of Confederation.

"I'm a proud Ontarian, but I always see myself as a proud Canadian first," the premier said.

The Conservatives have cut the GST by two percentage points since coming to power, and have cut corporate and personal taxes.

"Our government is taking across the country the actions we believe are necessary to sustain the strength of the Canadian economy, not just during this period of uncertainty but into the future," Harper said.

With files from The Canadian Press

***

Rex Murphy: Boycott Beijing?

Rex Murphy: Boycott Beijing?

The Olympics will be great television, but in light of the crisis in Tibet, our participation will help cover up China's poor human rights record, says Rex

CBS Exposes Hillary Clinton Bosnia Trip

CBS Exposes Hillary Clinton Bosnia Trip

CBS news exposes the real story of Hillary Clintons 1996 trip to Bosnia. This is unbelievable.
-Darryl

Tibet Protests follow China to Greece

Tibet Protests follow China to Greece

Reporters Without Borders protest against Chinese imperialism and ethnic-cleansing at the Olympic torch lighting ceremony 24 March 2008

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 4,000

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 4,000

The roadside bombing deaths of four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad Sunday have brought the American death toll in Iraq to at least 4,000 since the war began in 2003. (March 24)

CBC: Canada's Next Great Prime Minister on Tonight

CBC: Canada's Next Great Prime Minister on Tonight

Some previews of tonight's show that airs tonight at 7pm Eastern on CBC...
-Darryl

Show Promo






2007 Next Great Prime Minister Full:

Happy Easter!!!!

Sarkozy to pledge 1,000 more French troops for Afghanistan: report

13 hours ago

LONDON (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy will tell British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a state visit next week that he plans to send an extra 1,000 French soldiers to Afghanistan, the Times reported Saturday.

One anonymous senior minister told the paper that Britain's Ministry of Defence is working on the assumption that Sarkozy will reveal a deployment of "slightly more than 1,000 troops to the eastern region" to fight the Taliban.

Sarkozy wants to underline his commitment to NATO during the visit but a formal announcement may not be made until a NATO summit in Bucharest next month, the paper said.

The United States has strongly and consistently urged other NATO countries to bolster their troop contributions in Afghanistan, charging that some nations are not pulling their weight.

And Paris has already suggested that it might respond by increasing its current 1,600-strong deployment to the NATO-led force.

Sarkozy said in August last year that he wanted to renew the NATO military alliance, prompting some experts to speculate he could end the French boycott of NATO's integrated military command started by president Charles de Gaulle in 1966.

Anonymous French diplomatic sources quoted by the Times said that no final decision had been made and the paper added Sarkozy was still considering whether he wanted the troops to go to the south or the east of Afghanistan.

Sarkozy is visiting Britain for a two-day state visit from Wednesday next week.

On the day of his arrival, he will make a speech to both houses of parliament, a rare honour for a foreign leader.

Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will be the guests of Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle outside London on Wednesday night at a banquet in his honour.

The president will have talks with Brown at Downing Street on Thursday, ahead of a summit at Arsenal football club's Emirates stadium in north London, while their respective wives are expected to lunch together the same day.

It will be the first full-scale state visit by a French president in 12 years.

Has Reverend Wright changed your opinion about Barack Obama?

Has Reverend Wright changed your opinion about Barack Obama?

March 20, 2008 CNN Jack Cafferty

Easter Celebrated in Holy Land

Easter Celebrated in Holy Land

Thousands of Christian pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem on the weekend to celebrate the Christian festival of Easter. (March 22)

Opposition wins Taiwan presidential vote

Opposition wins Taiwan presidential vote

This opposition victory is expected to lead to better relations between Taiwan and China based on economics. This was a major blow to the independence platform of the current leader. This election comes at a crucial time given the current unrest in Tibet and the impact it could have on a successful Beijing Olympic games later this summer.
-Darryl



***

Taiwan

The China card

Mar 20th 2008 | TAIPEI
From Economist.com

Taiwan's presidential elections

AFP

THE last thing China wants in the presidential election in Taiwan on March 22nd is another victory for the independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). It still looks unlikely. But the military crackdown in Tibet and a warning from Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, that independence for either Tibet or Taiwan would be intolerable has helped the DPP candidate, Frank Hsieh. He has narrowed a double-digit deficit in unpublished opinion polls and pulled to within five percentage points of Ma Ying-jeou, the candidate of the opposition Nationalists, the Kuomintang or KMT.

Mr Ma tried to shore up his flagging support by taking a tough stance against China’s action. He threatened to boycott the Beijing Olympics should the bloodshed continue. Even that may have backfired, however. Rather against the odds, Taiwan’s baseball team this month qualified for the games—a triumph relished by the island’s many baseball fans.

Sabre-rattling by Beijing might be counterproductive in another way, too, improving the chances that two referendums to be held along with the presidential election, both of which China hopes will be roundly defeated, might actually be approved. One asks whether Taiwan should apply to rejoin the United Nations using the name “Taiwan”; the other asks if it should apply using “the Republic of China” (its formal nomenclature), “Taiwan” or something else. Parts of the KMT had been calling for a boycott of the referendums, which require a 50% turnout for the result to be valid.

After a landslide victory in January’s parliamentary election, the KMT’s bid to regain the presidency—which it held for five decades until 2000—enjoyed massive momentum. After eight years of lacklustre DPP rule, voters seemed ready for a change. But the KMT’s ambitions for closer ties with China, including even a peace treaty and a “Great China” common market, now look less like votewinners.

The KMT may have been hurt by overconfidence. Three weeks before election day, some senior party officials went so far as to claim that the DPP had no chance.

The DPP, however, has been aggressively ramming away at KMT policies and behaviour. It managed to portray a provocative visit by four KMT legislators to Mr Hsieh’s campaign headquarters on March 12th as evidence of an attempt at “one-party dominance”. This linked it to the authoritarianism that marked the KMT’s rule. Mr Hsieh has also taken every opportunity to label the “Great China” market a “One China” market, insisting the policy is tantamount to surrender to the communists.

He has spread fears that under the plan, Chinese workers and products would flood Taiwan, even though Mr Ma has repeatedly insisted that this would not be allowed to happen. The DPP has also attacked Mr Ma’s planned peace treaty, claiming it would lead Taiwan to a destiny no different from that of Tibet, which signed an agreement with China in 1951 promising it great autonomy.

In self-defence, Mr Ma has reiterated his “three noes” policy towards China—“no independence, no unification, and no military conflict”. He has emphasised his identity as a Taiwanese (despite his mainland-Chinese heritage) who would defend the island’s interests, by using local songs to accompany his television commercials.

In the previous presidential election in 2004, the DPP won by a mere 0.22%. Political analysts expect the KMT to win by a bigger margin of 2-4%, or some 250,000 to 500,000 votes. But if the DPP fares well in its stronghold in the south and wins a slight edge in central Taiwan it might just scrape home.

In the past two elections, China has tried and failed to intimidate Taiwanese voters. In 1996 it fired missiles in an attempt to scare voters away from the KMT’s independence-minded Lee Teng-hui—who this week endorsed the DPP’s Mr Hsieh. Again, in 2000, China gave warning of the danger of voting for pro-independence candidates. This year, it seemed to have learned its lesson and has been conspicuously silent. But events in Tibet have spoken louder than words.

New Obama ads for PA

New Obama ads for PA

Airing in Pennsylvania right now
-Darryl

"Toughest" TV ad



"Opportunity" TV ad



"Carry" TV ad

Hillary's "3 A.M. ad" Girl Doesn't Approve of that Message

Hillary's "3 A.M. ad" Girl Doesn't Approve of that Message

Casey Knowles, the young girl from Hillary Clinton's "3 a.m. Ad", rejects the politics of fear.

Bill Richardson Endorses Obama

Bill Richardson Endorses Obama


Richardson annouces today that will endorse Barack Obama for president even though he has had a long history with the Clintons.

Talks between Dalai Lama and China?

Talks between Dalai Lama and China?

Let's hope this happens. There seems to be a lot of mixed signals. The world will be watching as China handles these Tibet protests and a major Taiwan referendum in a few weeks on applying for UN Membership under the name "Taiwan". Hong Kong has also been protesting for democracy. The world mostly subscribes to a one China policy, but with the Olympics only a few months away, pressure may increase on the Chinese to improve human rights, democracy and other issues associated with Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Beijing 2008 is coming soon...will there be any boycotts? The timing of these protests couldn't be worse for China and the protesters know it. Hopefully this will not turn out like the monk protest videos from Burma where the international community remained silent after the story fell from the headlines. Talks between the Dalai Lama and government of China would be a major breakthrough.
-Darryl

Conditions for talks:

Canada urges Beijing to talk with Dalai Lama

CAMPBELL CLARK AND BRIAN LAGHI

From Friday's Globe and Mail

March 20, 2008 at 10:26 PM EDT

OTTAWA — Canada yesterday urged the Chinese government to start talks on Tibet with the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist leader-in-exile who Beijing has long viewed as a subversive force.

Despite its strongly worded calls for China to stop its crackdown on Tibet, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government was mum on whether the Prime Minister or his ministers would attend the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August.

Mr. Harper issued a statement in which he called upon China to "fully respect human rights and peaceful protest."

His Foreign Affairs Minister, Maxime Bernier, followed with a call for Beijing to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama — in effect a message to China that the only acceptable way out of the Tibetan showdown is through talks.

"The most constructive option at the present time, I believe, would be for the government of China to enter into direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his designated representatives," Mr. Bernier said in a statement. "Such dialogue may help ensure an already tense situation does not deteriorate into further violence."

The message is part of an international effort to press China into talks with the Dalai Lama — officials in some other countries made similar statements yesterday, notably U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

About 600 people demonstrated in Ottawa yesterday against China's crackdown in Tibet, stopping on Parliament Hill where Conservative backbencher Pierre Poilievre read Mr. Harper's statement, which called on China to "show restraint."

"As his holiness the Dalai Lama told me when I met him, and as he has been saying recently, his message is one of non-violence and reconciliation and I join him in that call," Mr. Harper said in the statement. Mr. Harper's meeting with the Dalai Lama in Ottawa in November angered China.

However, Mr. Harper's government has not broached the issue most dear to China: the Beijing Olympics.

The Chinese government has accused a "clique" around the Dalai Lama of organizing violence in Tibet in a bid to sabotage the Olympics. Groups around the world, including the Canada Tibet Committee, have called for political leaders to skip the Olympics to show disapproval.

The White House said yesterday that U.S. President George W. Bush will not cancel his visit to the Olympics because of the Tibet crisis, arguing the event should be more about athletics than politics, and that the event would draw attention to China and its record.

Unlike other people, "he's able to speak very frankly to the Chinese president or the Russian president or whoever it might be," spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters, recalling that Mr. Bush has said previously he wants to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Mr. Harper's spokesman, Sandra Buckler, said the Prime Minister has not yet decided whether he will attend.

"We're looking at the situation closely," said another spokesman for Mr. Harper, Dimitri Soudas.

Wayne Marston, the NDP human-rights critic, said his party's caucus will meet in about two weeks to decide if its MPs should avoid the Games. The Liberals said the question was "premature" and foreign-affairs critic Bob Rae also called for dialogue.

Adam van Koeverden, a Canadian Olympic gold and bronze medalist in the kayak singles, said athletes are caught in the middle of a tug-of-war when politicians and activists bandy about the idea of boycotts.

"The Olympics are supposed to be an apolitical arena, when people get together for sport alone," said the 16-time world champion from Oakville, Ont.

France's human-rights minister Rama Yade said yesterday there should be no hasty international decision to boycott the opening ceremony of the Games over a crackdown in Tibet.

And Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has branded the boycott idea "unrealistic" but said the European Union may discuss the idea of staying away from the ceremony in Beijing.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Slovenia next week are expected to discuss the situation, with Mr. Kouchner saying some action should be taken but nothing that would antagonize China.

With a report from Agence France-Presse

***

Canada subtly signalling change of policy toward China

CAMPBELL CLARK

March 18, 2008

OTTAWA -- The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has begun using what experts are calling "subtle but meaningful" shifts in diplomatic language in an effort to improve relations with China - changes that have drawn approval from Beijing.

Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier delivered a speech to Asian ambassadors behind closed doors in Ottawa last Wednesday, where he asserted, in unusually unqualified terms, Canada's support for a "one-China policy."

"We recognize the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China," Mr. Bernier said, according to a text of his speech.

"This remains the core of our China policy. It guides our bilateral relationship with the PRC. It informs our position on Tibet. And it provides a framework that supports peace and security in the Taiwan Strait."

Mr. Bernier also said Canada was concerned that the March 22 referendum on Taiwan joining the United Nations "needlessly escalates tensions across the Strait."

On Thursday, when a backbench Conservative MP asked a planted question in the House of Commons about protests in Tibet, Mr. Bernier prefaced his expression of concern with an unusual preamble: "Canada has a one-China policy."

Charles Burton, a Brock University professor and former Canadian diplomat in China, said the preamble was unnecessary and intended to send a message.

While in the eyes of many Canada has had a "one-China policy" since it established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1970, the use of the phrase by government ministers has always come with qualifications or caveats.

Usually, ministers add that Canada merely "takes note" of China's claim to Taiwan.

"Mr. Bernier is suggesting a subtle but meaningful change in Conservative government rhetoric on China that would be very well received by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa," Mr. Burton said. "It would suggest that Canada supports Chinese government claims to legitimate sovereignty over Taiwan and over Tibet."

Government sources in Ottawa say the new language is intentional and is aimed at breaking a diplomatic logjam that worsened when Mr. Harper agreed to meet the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiritual leader who also heads Tibet's "government-in-exile," in November.

Mr. Bernier's statements were well-received in Beijing, where the Chinese Foreign Ministry's official spokesman, Qin Gang, went out of his way to applaud Wednesday's speech.

The government news agency Xinhua reported that Mr. Qin said: "China applauds [Mr. Bernier] saying that the Canadian government values relations with China, adheres to the one-China policy, regards the People's Republic of China government as the sole legal government of China, and opposes Taiwan authorities' proposed 'referendum on UN membership.' ''

He also expressed hope for improving China-Canada relations - a hope that will sit well with Canadian diplomats who have been frozen out, and business people who have complained that trade ties have been affected.

The deputy minister of foreign affairs, Leonard Edwards, spent three days in China last November without being able to get a single meeting with Chinese counterparts.

And Chinese officials boycotted meetings of a Canada-China working group of bureaucrats.

The Conservatives had previously allied themselves with supporters of Taiwan's positions and Tibetan autonomy - and Mr. Harper said in 2006 that he would pointedly press human-rights concerns with Beijing and not sell out to the "almighty dollar."

Bruce Gilley, a Queen's University professor who has advocated a tough line on rights and democracy, said the Conservatives started out planning to shake things up, but have fallen back in confusion.

Canada PM dismisses Quebec, Kosovo parallels

1 day ago

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday sternly dismissed parallels between Kosovo's new independence from Serbia and the aspirations of Quebec nationalists.

"In the case of Kosovo, the situation that evolved there was a situation of war, terrible suffering from the Kosovars, the intervention of the international community to essentially set up a trusteeship under the United Nations which led to a de facto separate state," Harper told reporters.

"The situation there is very unique, and I would remind you when you talk about Quebec, I think Quebecers have been very clear, they're not interested in more referendums and more debate about separation," he said when pressed.

"They want to get on with building a strong Quebec within a strong Canada."

Quebec nationalists, however, were said to be encouraged by Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence last month and Canada's formal recognition on Tuesday of the new nation.

The mostly French-speaking province of Quebec twice voted in referendums to separate from the rest of Canada, in 1980 and 1995. Federalists narrowly won the last ballot.

Last month, the head of the Quebec separatist movement, Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois, stepped back from her party's pledge to immediately hold a third referendum if the party regains power.

Rather, a decision on the next plebiscite should be made when winning conditions exist. The party ratified Marois's plan over the weekend.

Tuesday, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier stressed the difference between Quebec and Kosovo, saying: "The unique circumstances which have led to Kosovo's independence mean it does not constitute any kind of precedent."

"You cannot compare (Kosovo) with Quebec," he also told public broadcaster CBC.

Kosovo is overwhelmingly Albanian but Serbs consider it a cradle of their civilization. It has been under UN administration since 1999 when NATO intervened to stop Belgrade's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Last month, Kosovo's parliament declared its independence from Serbia.

Quebecers' ties with Canada's Anglophone majority go back to 1763 when France ceded its North American possessions to Great Britain, including New France, which was renamed Quebec.

***

Serbia recalls envoy as Ottawa recognizes Kosovo

DANIEL LEBLANC

March 19, 2008

OTTAWA -- Canada recognized Kosovo yesterday after a month on the sidelines of the internationally divisive debate, eliciting the anger of Serbia, which warned that a precedent has been set for a unilateral declaration of independence in Quebec.

The Harper government, however, said its decision was well thought out and in no way opens the door to Canada's breakup.

"You cannot compare this with Quebec," said Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, pointing to the war and the ethnic cleansing that followed Yugoslavia's disintegration in the early 1990s.

Serbia's ambassador to Canada, who learned of the recognition before it was made public, broke the news and angrily accused Canada of violating international law. In an interview, Dusan Batakovic said he has been recalled to Serbia in order to signal his country's disappointment with Canada.

"I will convey the strong protest note by my government [today] and will be recalled for consultation afterward," he said.

Mr. Batakovic said Canada's recognition of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence a month ago, sets a "dangerous precedent" for secessionist movements such as the one in Quebec.

"Many other separatist groups are now striving to raise their issue in a similar way as it was done in Kosovo," he said.

The independence of Kosovo was proclaimed by its Albanian-speaking parliament despite the strong opposition of the Serbian minority and other countries that have autonomist movements within their borders.

MNA Daniel Turp of the separatist Parti Québécois said the case of Kosovo, which is the seventh country to emerge out of Yugoslavia, sets a precedent because it was achieved "despite the objections of the country which it left."

"That's the interesting lesson in this," Mr. Turp added.

But Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae agreed with the Harper government that it's an "insult to the intelligence" to tout Kosovo as a precedent-setting case.

"There is absolutely no parallel between the situation in Kosovo and the situation in Canada," he said.

The Canadian government waited much longer to recognize Kosovo than did many of its allies, such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Australia. In a statement, Mr. Bernier insisted the Balkan state's situation is unique.

"We note that a significant number of countries, including our G7 partners and many of Canada's close allies, have already recognized Kosovo," Mr. Bernier said.

"As the declaration issued by Kosovo's parliament also makes clear, the unique circumstances which have led to Kosovo's independence mean it does not constitute any kind of precedent," he said.

Mr. Batakovic said Canada's Serbian community of about 200,000 is planning a large protest in Montreal on March 30.

"The declaration of independence of Kosovo, proclaimed solely by the Kosovo Albanians, is not a triumph of human rights and freedom, but rather a triumph of postwar persecution, terror and ethnic cleansing," he said in a presentation at the University of Ottawa this month.

Kosovo has been a de facto separate state since the 1999 NATO bombings of Serbia. Many of the countries that resisted recognizing its independence are those that face their own secessionist movements: Spain, which has Basque separatists; Indonesia, which has independence movements in Aceh and Papua; and China, which has long fought nationalist movements in Tibet and Taiwan.

Going after Bin Laden should be top priority

Going after Bin Laden should be top priority

"We have a security gap when candidates say they will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but refuse to follow him where he actually goes,"
-Obama

It is time to get serious about going after the person responsible for 9/11 Osama bin Laden. For 7 years he has been allowed to release tapes, plan terror attacks and threaten violence against states all around the world. It is time for Pakistan to get serious about going after Bin Laden if he is in their sovereign territory as a top priority. NATO forces should also make every attempt to capture him if he is along the Afghan side of the border. All candidates should have a plan on how to make a serious attempt to capture or kill Bin Laden. It is unacceptable that he is allowed to release tapes like the one today after killing thousands of innocent people. For Bush it should be the number one priority in the war on terror and also his legacy. The media should keep the spotlight on going after this guy. His time should have came along time ago and for the past 7 years it hasn't seemed like getting Bin Laden was high on the agenda. America got Saddam, but Bin Laden is still alive and planning attacks against the United States and its allies. The time for action is now.

-Darryl

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/world/europe/21pope.html?ref=europe
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/19/binladen.message/index.html



McCain Gates of Hell



Obama Would go after Bin Laden



Bush on Bin Laden

American Public Perception of Iraq War

American Public Perception of Iraq War

Bush approval rating: 31%
66% oppose war while 32% support
62% of Republicans support war while 11% of Democrats support it
61% want the next President to remove troops within a few months
71% believe the Iraq war is contributing to problems with the economy


Obviously an uphill battle for John McCain in November if he is going to campaign on "victory" in Iraq
-Darryl

Harper urges China to use 'restraint' in Tibet

4 hours ago

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is urging China to show restraint in dealing with the uprising in Tibet.

Harper relayed that message Thursday to hundreds of protesters on Parliament Hill through one of his MPs. But he isn't saying if Canada will consider calls to boycott the Beijing Olympics over China's violent crackdown in the Himalayan region.

"The prime minister is calling on China to respect human rights in Tibet and to show restraint in dealing with this difficult situation," MP Pierre Poilievre told a colourful crowd of flag-waving protesters, wearing orange and red sashes, robes and headbands.

He said Harper was viewing the demonstration from his office window a stone's throw away, but didn't have time to personally address the gathering.

Some of the activists demanded a Canadian boycott of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing as a response to China's crackdown. But others in the crowd carried banners reading "Have Your Olympics, Give Us Tibet."

When asked whether Canada would boycott the Beijing Games, Poilievre was non-commital.

"We're following the situation very closely," Poilievre said. "That's all I can say right now."

No country has so far threatened such a measure and the Canadian Olympic Committee says a boycott hasn't been raised by any of its members.

The White House announced Thursday that U.S. President George W. Bush will not cancel his visit to the Beijing Olympics, saying he is going to the games for the sport and not for political purposes.

The European Union also spoke out Thursday against a Olympics boycott, saying it would be counterproductive to efforts to improve human rights in China.

In his message to the protesters, Harper urged China to follow the path suggested by the Dalai Lama, who has called for "non-violent reconciliation" between Chinese authorities and Tibetan leaders.

"I join with him in that call. Canada calls upon China to fully respect human rights and peaceful protest."

A day after China's Foreign Ministry spokesman accused him of trying to split China under the camouflage of religion, the Dalai Lama offered Thursday to meet with Chinese leaders, although not in Beijing unless there was "a real concrete development."

China responded by sending hundreds of additional paramilitary police to Tibet and restive neighbouring provinces with large Tibetan populations.

Protests against Chinese rule started peacefully in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, early last week. But by last Friday riots had erupted, drawing a harsh response from Chinese authorities.

Tibetan exile groups claim more than 80 people have been killed. China says 16 have died.

Foreign journalists and tour groups have been banned from Tibet and areas with large Tibetan populations.

That hasn't prevented Senator Consiglio Di Nino, chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, from again requesting passage to the region for two dozen senators and MPs, along with staff members.

Di Nino sent a letter to China's ambassador to Canada, Lu Shumin, on Thursday, requesting issuance of visas to enter Tibet, and also denounced the crackdown.

"The recent show of force, loss of life, and detention of peaceful protesters has been shocking," the senator wrote.

"The expulsion of journalists from the region who could ensure impartial reporting is also deeply troubling."

It was Di Nino's fourth request for visas to enter Tibet since January 2007.

"If authorities in Tibet are abiding by international standards they should have nothing to hide, and we and other international observers should be welcomed in," said Di Nino.

"The fear is that hundreds, if not thousands, of Tibetans are being rounded up beyond the prying eyes of the world and may face lengthy imprisonment and torture as acts of retribution."

*****

Tourist films Tibet riots

An Australian tourist, Michael Smith, captures video of protest riots during a visit to Lhasa, Tibet.



New photos of Tibet unrest prove troops fired on protesters

New photos of Tibet unrest prove troops fired on protesters
New photos of Tibet unrest. Human rights groups have released new pictures they say prove that Chinese authorities opened fire on protesters in Tibet.
This report contains graphic images

******

China blasts Dalai Lama

China's premier blames the Dalai Lama for the ongoing violence in Tibet

Brenda Martin speaks from a Mexican jail

Brenda Martin speaks from a Mexican jail




*****

Harper calls Mexican president to discuss case of jailed Brenda Martin

4 days ago

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a personal intervention on behalf of a suicidally depressed woman locked up in a Mexican prison.

The prime minister called his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon to discuss the case of Brenda Martin. He informed the Mexican president that he will send his minister responsible for multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, to visit the Ontario woman in a Guadalajara prison.

Kenney and Ontario MP Rick Norlock will be the first members of the Harper government to meet with Martin. Former prime minister Paul Martin and Liberal MP Dan McTeague have already visited her.

"They intend to check up on her health, let her know that officials at the highest level are focused on her case, and ensure that any immediate needs are being taken care of," said one government source.

"They also intend to continue the process of raising her case with Mexican officials to underscore how serious Canada takes it."

Kenney is expected to leave for a two-day visit to Mexico on Tuesday, a government source told The Canadian Press.

A spokesman for Harper refused to discuss the prime minister's phone call with Calderon, although he did not deny that the conversation took place.

"In two years we have had over 100 contacts with Ms. Martin and continue to raise her case up to and including the president of Mexico," said Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas.

He noted that Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier also discussed the case Monday with his Mexican counterpart during a trip to Washington.

Bernier said he received assurances that Martin's lawyers will be able to talk with the country's deputy attorney general.

Mexican officials, meantime, said the case "is to be concluded shortly," according to official reports.

Martin has been in prison for more than two years without a trial on allegations involving a massive investment scam, says she's innocent and has threatened to kill herself if she's not released.

But Mexico is blaming Martin's own lawyers for her lengthy stay, saying they didn't separate her case from others accused of fraud despite having the legal ability to do it.

"In not doing so, she remained linked to them and included in the global file comprising 25,000 pages," said the embassy statement.

It noted Martin was working illegally in Mexico when she was arrested but was never charged for that.

Martin, 51, denies any involvement in a $60-million pyramid investment scheme that scammed about 15,000 people in dozens of countries.

Her former boss Alyn Waage, who was convicted in the case, also says Martin wasn't involved.

She was employed as a chef for Waage in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months in 2001. Waage was operating the Internet fraud scheme at the time.

Martin wasn't charged until five years after the arrest of Waage, who has provided a sworn affidavit saying she didn't know anything about what he was doing.

She is facing counts of money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy.

Financials push TSX higher, dollar down

Financials push TSX higher, dollar down

Mar 20, 2008 11:46 AM

Malcolm Morrison
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Toronto stock market was solidly higher late Thursday morning as the financial sector continued to improve while early losses in energy and base metal stocks moderated after plunging Wednesday on fears of slowing economic conditions.

However, the trend lower in commodities continued to punish the Canadian dollar, which was down 0.98 of a cent to 97.51 cents US – its lowest level since mid-January – after tumbling 2.19 cents Wednesday.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index moved up 76.11 points to 12,785.49, after plunging 427 points Wednesday on sharply lower energy and metals stocks.

The TSX Venture Exchange was down 34.7 points to 2,450.29.

New York's Dow Jones industrial average was 137.18 points higher to 12,236.84, following a 293-point drop the day before, after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said manufacturing activity is dropping less than it did in February, and by less than many economists anticipated.

However, the U.S. Labour Department said applications for jobless benefits totalled 378,000 last week, rising 22,000 from the previous week in a far bigger jump than had been expected.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 20.56 points to 2,230.52 while the S&P 500 index was up 14.79 at 1,313.21.

The Toronto financial sector rose over 1.1 per cent with Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO) ahead $1.90 to $44 after it restructured the troubled Apex and Sitka commercial paper trusts. The move will insulate BMO from further writedowns connected to the trusts as well as potential lawsuits.

Royal Bank (TSX: RY) was up 64 cents to $46.20.

The financial sector has been improving for most of the week in the wake of the Bear Stearns buyout by JPMorgan Chase and a trio of better-than-expected earnings reports from three other U.S. investment banks.

The TSX energy sector was off early lows, up a slight 0.1 per cent as crude prices came off lows of the day where it fell below US$100 a barrel.

Late in the morning, the May contract for crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down $1.30 to US$101.24 after sliding almost $5 Thursday on signs of lower U.S. demand. EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA) moved down $1.34 to $71.96 and Suncor Energy (TSX: SU) fell $2.70 to $93.97.

Gold prices carried on declining after losing US$59 Thursday. The April bullion contract on the Nymex fell $20.90 to US$924.40 after going as low as US$904.70. The TSX gold sector retreated 1.85 per cent with Barrick Gold down $1.57 to $44.39.

Base metals stocks were also off early lows but HudBay Minerals (TSX: HBM) was still down 15 cents to $15.71.

U.S. investors took some heart from a quarterly profit for Nike Inc. that ran up 30 per cent, seen as an indication that some companies continue to do well.

But FedEx Corp. quarterly earnings fell six per cent on high oil prices and a slow U.S. economy. And Borders Group, America's second-largest book retailer, suspended its dividend and disclosed it is open to takeover bids.

Overseas, the Tokyo Stock Exchange was closed for a holiday, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.5 per cent.

The Shanghai composite closed with a gain of 1.1 per cent after an early plunge of 6.5 per cent which took China's main index to its lowest level in nine months, provoked by worries about a U.S. recession.

The London FTSE 100 slipped 18.9 points to 5,526.7. Germany's DAX index was down 7.95 to 6,353.27 while the French CAC-40 declined 17.91 to 4,538.04.

Gold, oil rout trips Wall St.

Gold, oil rout trips Wall St.

Mar 18 - Wall Street experienced a sharp sell-off one day after posting its best gains in 5 years after a steep slide in commodity prices sent basic material stocks lower.Blue chips tumbled 293 points, a drop of 2.3 percent, to 12,099. The S&P 500 fell 32 points, or 2.4 percent, to 1,298. The Nasdaq fell 58 points, or 2.6 percent, to 2,209. Crude oil dropped $5 to settle at $104.48.

Conway Gittens reports from New York.

Barack Obama: On Iraq and National Security

Barack Obama: On Iraq and National Security

Barack Obama gave an address in Fayetville, North Carolina on Iraq and America's national security.

Obama blames Bush, Cheney, McCain, Clinton for Iraq War

Obama blames Bush, Cheney, McCain, Clinton for Iraq War

McCain's Foreign Policy Gaffe

McCain's Foreign Policy Gaffe


"CBS News RAW": Speaking to reporters in Jordan, John McCain mistakenly referred to Iranian extremists as al Qaeda terrorists. McCain recanted his remarks after being corrected by Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union'

Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union'

Barack Obama speaks in Philadelphia, PA at Constitution Center, on matters not just of race and recent remarks but of the fundamental path by which America can work together to pursue a better future.

Clarke wins in Saskatchewan, Rae and Findlay elected in Toronto, close race in Vancouver

Canadian by-election results

Final Update:

*This will not be in the morning newspapers, but final results in Vancouver were Murray 36.1% to Meredith 35.5% with all polls in. Liberals only won Vancouver by less than 1% of the vote.

-Liberals look likely to win Vancouver Quadra but results still fairly close and will raise serious questions about Dion's leadership. Combined with Outremont, it looks like Liberals are in trouble in their very own big city strong holds outside of Toronto.

-Dion sounded weak making excuses for Saskatchewan such as the size of the riding, turnout and weather. He doesn't see the fact he lost another seat that he once held in a by-election. There will also be questions about the appointment of Joan Beatty over the objections of local Liberal members.

-Dion standing behind Rae's speech seemed to be a sign of things to come. Dion will return to Ottawa and there will be questions remaining about his leadership. Rae and Ignatieff will be there in the caucus and in question period to overshadow him each day the House is in session

-It is unclear what this means for an election this spring. Going early may be Dion's only chance to fight an election but he will lose. Going later may mean internal problems force him out before he has a chance to fight an election as leader. Avoiding an election also means abstaining. That strategy combined with results tonight only confirm his image of a weak indecisive leader and is now hurting the Liberal brand in the safest of ridings.

-NDP should be very concerned about the Greens and growth potential following tonight's results.

-Harper has now picked up 2 seats in a by-election, Layton 1 and Dion has lost 2. There could be many more by-elections with at least 15 Liberal MPs already announcing their intention not to run in the next election.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

***

Update:

-CTV has officially projected Conservative candidate Rob Clarke the winner in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River

-Average turnout is 19%, a sad commentary on the interest in these by-elections

-Dion looks gloom in Toronto Center during Bob Rae's speech. Martha Hall Findlay has just made her victory speech.

-Race in Vancouver is too close to call. Right now it is Liberal Joyce Murray leading Conservative Deborah Meredith 36-33% with 110/237 polls reporting

-Green in tight battles with NDP for second in Toronto Center, third in Willowdale and third in Vancouver.

-Liberal party of Toronto? That could be the final stand for Dion. He lost Outremont in Montreal to the NDP and these results have to be too close for comfort in Vancouver Quadra.


****

Early Thoughts:

-Terrible night for the NDP. Losing to the Greens in both Toronto ridings and in a tight race in BC with Green Party as well. Jack Layton's anti-war, anti-NAFTA message is not connecting with voters.

-Greens should be happy with their performance. They are in second in Toronto Center at this time and beating the NDP in Toronto. They are doing the same thing in BC. Wins over the NDP mean credibility. A second place finish might get them in the debates. In no riding however is the Green Party close to winning a seat tonight.

-Martha Hall Findlay and Bob Rae will strengthen the Liberal team but also highlight the shortcomings of Dion's leadership. If results hold in BC and Saskatchewan; it may not be long before they start pulling out the knives.

-Would Mark Warner have done any better in Toronto Center? Conservatives are currently behind the NDP and Greens in that riding.

-At the end of the day, Harper has a net gain of one seat while Liberals have a net loss of one should Clarke win tonight. That is a win for the Conservatives. The showing in Vancouver is also huge news if it holds. This use to be John Turner's riding. It is in Vancouver. A Conservative win or even a close showing would be a huge breakthrough into a Liberal strong hold and a major urban center. 2/4 victories would be a huge night for Conservatives no matter how it is spun. Current results if they hold will not be a sign of Liberal momentum in anyone's eyes.

-Turnout seems very low right now.

Update:

First polls in Vancouver are coming in. Tight race with 13 polls reporting. Conservatives and Liberals tied at 37%. Greens and NDP battling for third.

Race is getting closer in Sask: 47-33% Conservative lead with 115/182 polls reporting. NDP 16%

More to come...

***

Update:

-No results from Vancouver yet

-Conservative Rob Clarke is leading in Saskatchewan. Currently with 57/182 polls in, results have Clarke leading Joan Beatty 50-30%. The NDP sits around 20%. No Green factor here. This is a much wider margin than expected. If these results hold it will be good news for Harper as he will now hold every seat in the province with the exception of Ralph Goodale's. Will there be backlash from the David Orchard decision should Dion's hand picked candidate Joan Beatty goes down in defeat. The riding looks like it will go Conservative but it's still to early to project.

-Bob Rae has a large lead over all candidates in Toronto-Center with 60/275 polls. That seat can likely be projected Liberal with Bob Rae going to Ottawa. Rae is currently at just under 58% of the vote. The Green Party, Conservatives and NDP are all in tight battles for second place with the NDP currently in last place.

-With 50/270 polls reporting, Martha Hall Findlay is currently just under 60% of the vote. Harquail is in second with 30% of the vote. This is also a safe Liberal projection for Martha Hall Findlay. Again the Green Party and NDP party are in a tight battle for third place with the Green party leading in both Willowdale and Toronto Center.



***

Update:

-Polls are now closed in the Toronto ridings. Live results can be found below:

http://www.bloggingtories.ca

or

http://enr.elections.ca/

-Elections Canada will not start reporting results until 10pm when the last polls in BC close

***

Update:

-Initial reports are that turnout is very low compared to the January 2006 election.

***

-Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

-My first thoughts tonight is just how much different Canadian political coverage is from American news coverage on elections. In America, there would be exit polls, early projections and analysts covering every detail on election night. While this is only a by-election, I scanned CTV Newsnet, CBC Newsworld, CPAC and could not find any coverage. Where is Mike Duffy? Andrew Coyne? Chantel Hebert? Where is the excitement in the media? If you watch the CNN Ballot Bowl, they are doing all they can to promote and cover the election race like a sporting event. Hopefully there will be better coverage once polls close in a half an hour.

-All eyes are on Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River. In the 2006 election that riding had a margin of 67 votes. Will the David Orchard situation have any impact there? First polls close at 9:30pm tonight

-http://www.bloggingtories.ca/ is doing a fantastic job with their results coverage on the main page

-Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay are widely expected to win in Toronto. Both will be interesting speeches and early indications on what impact they will have on the Liberal front benches during question period. Vancouver could be closer than expected but odds are it will go Liberal. 2 losses could spell the end of Stephane Dion. A sweep may give him momentum to bring the government down in the next session of parliament. If Rob Clarke pulls off a win tonight in Saskatchewan over Dion's hand picked candidate Joan Beatty, I think it could be a good night for Conservatives. Winning 3 out of 4 will neither silence the critics of Dion's leadership or build any confidence among Liberals in fighting an election right now. Conservatives, NDP and Greens have no real expectations set and as a result don't have much to gain or lose from tonight's contests.

-How will the NDP do and will there be any backlash against Beatty or Rae for leaving the provincial NDP and joining the federal Liberals in their respective ridings? Has the NDP been able to capitalize on the Liberal abstain strategy?

-Are there any indications that Conservatives have been successful in their outreach efforts towards new Canadians. Vancouver Quadra could be the best indicator of the results of that strategy up until this point.

-Results likely to come in around 10pm

DNC-Chairman Howard Dean on Michigan Vote

DNC-Chairman Howard Dean on Michigan Vote

In some way, Michigan and Florida deserve to have their voices heard. The only logical solution is to have a re-vote due to the fact that Democratic candidates were not suppose to campaign in either primary. In the case of Michigan, Obama and the other candidates at the time were not even on the ballot. Who should pay for the vote is another question altogether. If Michigan votes June 3, it would not surprise me to see Florida vote on the same day as well based on a similar solution.
-Darryl

Poll: Majority of Democrats prefer Obama

• CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll finds enthusiasm for Obama's candidacy
  
• 52% of registered Democrats say they'd like to see Obama get the nomination
  
• About a quarter of Democrats say they would be dissatisfied if Clinton won
  
• Poll also examines superdelegates, Michigan and Florida primaries

(CNN) -- A majority of Democrats would like to see Barack Obama rather than Hillary Clinton win their party's presidential nomination, according to a national poll out Monday.

Fifty-two percent of registered Democrats questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say the senator from Illinois is their choice for president, with 45 percent supporting Clinton.

The poll also suggests Democrats are more enthusiastic about an Obama victory (45 percent) than for a victory by the senator from New York (38 percent).

The two remaining major candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination are locked in a fierce battle for their party's presidential nomination, with Obama holding a slight lead both in delegates and the overall popular vote in the primaries and caucuses to date.

"The same patterns that we have been seeing in recent exit polls are holding true for Democrats nationwide as well. Obama's biggest support comes from men, younger voters and independents who lean Democratic," CNN polling director Keating Holland said. "Clinton does best among women, older voters and whites. One interesting difference, unlike the exit polls in many states, there is no difference in the national poll between college-educated Democrats and those who never attended college."

The nomination could hinge on two major matters: superdelegates and the possibility of do-over primaries for Florida and Michigan.

The two states broke national Democratic Party rules by moving up the dates of their primaries to January. None of the major Democratic candidates campaigned in the two states, and Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan.

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• Plan would schedule Michigan revote for June
• Election Center 2008

The national Democratic Party also banned Florida and Michigan's delegates from attending the party's national convention this summer. But with the fight for the nomination nearly deadlocked and the reality that winning both Florida and Michigan is crucial for the Democrats to take back the White House in November, there's now a movement toward letting both states vote again. Watch more on the Florida, Michigan primaries »

Sixty-three percent of Democrats said the two states should hold new primaries, with 19 percent saying delegates from Florida and Michigan should be seated at the national convention based on the results of the January primaries, and 15 percent saying no delegates should be seated at all.

If Clinton and Obama finish the primary season with close to an equal number of pledged delegates, then superdelegates could decide which candidate wins the nomination.

There are nearly 800 superdelegates, mostly Democratic members of Congress, top elected state officials and leading members of the Democratic Party. Fifty percent of those polled say that it's a bad idea for the party to have superdelegates, with 42 percent supporting the system.

Since the party is not going to scrap the superdelegates, the big question is how they should base their vote for the nomination.

Democrats appear split on this question -- 49 percent say that superdelegates should base their votes on their view of who would be the best candidate; 46 percent say that superdelegates should base their votes on the results of the primaries and caucuses.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll was conducted by telephone March 14-16, with 1, 019 Americans questioned, including 463 registered voters who identify themselves as Democrats or independents who lean Democratic.

The survey has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Who is going to pay for the deficits that George W Bush is running up?

Who is going to pay for the deficits that George W Bush is running up?


Great ad about George Bush's fiscal record. It is clear tomorrow's generation is going to pay for today's Iraq war. The ad won a contest organized by moveon.org called the "Bush in 30 seconds" contest. Very appropriate given the current state of the US economy.

Bear Stearns fallout takes 300 off TSX

Bear Stearns fallout takes 300 off TSX

Malcolm Morrison
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Toronto stock market plunged over 300 points mid-Monday afternoon as financial stocks retreated following the fire-sale buyout of U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns.

But the Toronto market was also sent reeling by sharply lower commodity stocks as the deal heightened fears about the U.S. economy.

"Every time this credit situation rears its ugly head, everybody worries about the U.S. economy," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index was down 348.86 points to 12,903.98 with the Toronto financial sector down 2.7 per cent on worries about exposure to toxic securities linked to the collapsing American housing sector.

Losses also picked up on U.S. markets. New York's Dow Jones industrials fell 40.63 points to 11,910.46 after the fifth-largest Wall Street investment bank was snapped up by rival JP Morgan Chase for US$236.2 million, or $2 per share, with support from the U.S. central bank.

Investors had valued Bear Stearns at $70 per share just a week ago.

JPMorgan is acquiring Bear Stearns, including its Manhattan headquarters, for about one per cent of what the investment bank was worth little more than two weeks ago.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is underwriting the deal and also announced extra help for the financial system Sunday.

The central bank cut its discount rate by a quarter-point to 3.25 per cent, and relaxed the terms and expanded the collateral it accepts from financial institutions needing urgent loans.

The move came ahead of the Fed's next scheduled announcement on interest rates Tuesday. It is expected to lower its key funds rate by at least three-quarters of a point, and some analysts are looking for a cut of 1.25 per cent.

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 84.43 points to 2,557.61 while the Canadian dollar came under pressure despite the continuing slide in the U.S. dollar against other currencies. The loonie gave back 1.47 cent to 99.93 cents US.

The U.S. dollar plunged as low as 95.72 yen – its weakest level against the Japanese currency since August 1995, while the euro hit another record high of US$1.5904.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq composite index moved 43.14 points lower to 2,169.35 while the S&P 500 index lost 18.8 points to 1,269.34.

Losers in the TSX financial sector included Royal Bank (TSX: RY), which fell 1.23 to $44.29 while CIBC (TSX: CM) fell $3.23 to $56.67.

TSX energy and metals stocks retreated on worries that a steep U.S. economic downturn would send commodity prices down.

"Eighty per cent or so of our trade is with the U.S. so it's a very important factor there for economic well being," said Kinsey.

"(On) the other side people are saying, it's not as important as it used to be because now the world economies are all tied together and if the U.S. goes down it's going to be balanced by China and India and we have these wealth funds with all this money – but nobody has really been there before."

The Toronto market's energy sector fell 3.25 per cent with the April contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down $5.60 to US$104.61 a barrel.

It's been an extremely volatile morning for oil, which ran up to a new high just short of US$112. The TSX energy sector moved down 3.4 per cent with EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA) down $2.34 to $76.17 and Canadian Natural Resources (TSX: CNQ) dropped $3.44 to $69.28.

The base metals sector fell four per cent as Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX: TCK.B) moved down $1.80 to $40.74 and HudBay Minerals (TSX: HBM) lost 82 cents to $16.44.

Gold offered a haven and the April bullion contract on the Nymex rose $3.10 to US$1,002.60 an ounce, after an overnight record high of US$1,033.90.

However, that didn't translate into gains on the TSX. The gold sector was down 1.1 per cent as Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX: K) gave back 65 cents to $25.86.

Asian and European stocks plunged. Japan's Nikkei stock average closed with a loss of 3.7 per cent to 11,787.51, its lowest level in more than 2 1/2 years, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 5.2 per cent.

The FTSE 100 index was down 174.1 points or 3.1 per cent to 5,457.6, Germany's DAX 30 fell 242.09 points or 3.75 per cent to 6,209.81 and the Paris CAC 40 lost 147.82 points or 3.22 per cent to 4,444.33.

In Canadian corporate news, Mega Brands Inc. (TSX: MB) announced a new global recall of toys that pose a potentially fatal hazard to children who swallow magnets that can detach from the products. Its shares were 71 cents lower to $4.40

Cardiome Pharma Corp. (TSX: COM) announced positive interim results from a Phase 2b study of vernakalant, its drug for abnormal heart rhythm. Cardiome also disclosed "detailed expressions of interest from global and regional pharmaceutical companies" on a partnership for the drug. Its shares soared $2.10 or 33.6 per cent to $8.35.

Shares in media conglomerate Quebecor Inc. (TSX: QBR.B) dropped $1.10 to $25.78 after it said Monday it was delaying the release of its 2007 financial results due to its insolvent printing subsidiary's inability to provide its own financial statements.

By-elections tomorrow a test for Dion & My predictions

By-elections tomorrow a test for Dion & My predictions

Tomorrow there will be four by-elections in Canada that could play a major role in determining if Canadians will go to the polls in a general election this spring. In Toronto Center and Willowdale, former Liberal leadership candidates Martha Hall Findlay and Bob Rae will likely be going to Ottawa representing the safest of Liberal seats in Toronto. Vancouver Quadra is also considered a safe Liberal seat and will likely be won by former cabinet minister Joyce Murray. The riding has elected Liberals since 1984. The race everyone will be watching will be in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River in Saskatchewan. Stephane Dion appointed former provincial NDP cabinet minister Joan Beatty who is female and a Native Canadian. The appointment was controversial because former Progressive Conservative David Orchard was campaigning to run for the Liberals in the riding. Orchard backed Dion's leadership bid, and the appointment of Beatty has caused some tension and backlash among local Liberals and residents in the riding. The fact that the provincial election in Saskatchewan was a few months ago also does not sit will with some constituents. Liberals won this riding by 67 votes in 2006. With the exception of Ralph Goodale's seat, every other seat in Saskatchewan is Conservative. I think tomorrow Conservative Rob Clarke is going to win this seat giving the Liberals 3 out of 4 wins tomorrow.

Things Conservatives should watch for tomorrow:

1, Is the NDP any stronger? Has Jack Layton been able to translate his position of strong and consistent opposition to Harper and the Liberal record of supporting Conservatives on key votes into votes for his party. Will there be any NDP backlash against Bob Rae or Joan Beatty for joining the federal Liberals as oppose to the federal NDP? Will the NDP cut into the Liberal vote on the left in all four by-elections? A strong NDP is good for Conservatives in a lot of swing ridings.

2, Did Conservatives increase or decrease their vote from 2006 in Toronto and Vancouver. We do not do exit polls in Canada, but Conservative strategists will be looking for signs of success with their outreach program led by Jason Kenney among new Canadians.

3, Is the Green vote for real and will it have any impact on splitting the left in the Urban ridings?

4, What is the overall turnout?

5, Will the Liberals lose a seat to Conservative Rob Clarke in Saskatchewan and what will the impact be should Dion's hand picked candidate lose a Liberal riding to the Conservatives within the Liberal party. Will avoiding a sweep kill any Liberal momentum resulting from these by-elections and will it reduce the chances of an opposition triggered election in the spring?

Tomorrow will be a test of Dion's leadership. A win in all four by-elections may give Liberals confidence and encourage them to pull the trigger and go for a general election in May or June. A loss in Saskatchewan and certainly in any of the Toronto or Vancouver ridings would raise more questions about his leadership in the media and also within his own party. The by-election is on St. Patrick's Day so turnout will be interesting as well. Following these elections, MPs return to the house on March 31.

Riding spotlight:

Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River (Saskatchewan)

Results last election:

Liberal 10191
Conservative 10124
NDP 3787
Green 534

*Riding was Conservative from 2004 to 2006. It became vacant after Gary Merasty resigned his seat.

Candidates:

Conservative - Rob Clarke
Liberal - Joan Beatty
NDP - Brian Morin
Green - Robin Orr

Prediction: Rob Clarke (Conservative)

***

Toronto Center

Results in Last election:

Liberal 30874
NDP 14036
Conservative 10763
Green 3080

*Liberals have held the riding since 1993 but voted PC for all but 24 years between 1935 and 1993. It is also the riding where Mark Warner was removed by national party as a Conservative candidate for not staying on party message. Warner recently endorsed Bob Rae on CTV Question Period. Bill Graham resigned his seat leading to this by-election.

Candidates:

Liberal - Bob Rae
NDP - El Farouk Khaki
Conservative - Donald Meredith
Green - Chris Tindal

Prediction: Bob Rae (Liberal)

***

Willowdale:

Results in Last Election:

Liberal 30623
Conservative 16254
NDP 6297
Green 2268

*Maureen Harquail is the cousin of finance minister Jim Flaherty. Martha Hall Findlay ran against Belinda Stronach in Newmarket-Aurora and came within 1000 votes. She later stepped aside from the riding after Belinda crossed the floor and joined the Liberals. She would later run in the Liberal leadership race and is now hoping to make her debut in the House of Commons following Jim Peterson's retirement in the riding of Willowdale. Conservatives finished second in this riding in 2006, but the riding has been Liberal for all but four years since 1980.

Candidates:

Liberal - Martha Hall Findlay
Conservative - Maureen Harquail
NDP - Rini Ghosh
Green - Lou Carcasole

Prediction: Martha Hall Findlay (Liberal)

***

Vancouver Quadra:

Results in the last election:

Liberal 28655
Conservative 16844
NDP 9379
Green 2974

*Riding was vacated by Stephen Owen. 21% of the riding is made up of Chinese Canadians and over 25% is made up of Asian Canadians. Joyce Murray is a former provincial cabinet minister. Deborah Meredith is a UBC professor. The NDP are running philosophy student Rebecca Coad. The riding has been held by the Liberals since 1984 when it was represented by John Turner. Prior to that, it had a history of going PC.

Candidates:

Liberal - Joyce Murray
Conservative - Deborah Meredith
NDP - Rebecca Coad
Green - Dan Grice

Prediction: Joyce Murray (Liberal)

***

Current party standings:

Conservative 126
Liberal 94
BQ 48
NDP 30
Independent 4
Green 0
*Vacant 6

***

Click here for live results to all four by-elections:

***

I will make another post as the results start coming in. Tomorrow should be an interesting day in Canadian politics. It will also be interesting to see if any other by-elections end up being called if the general election is not called in the spring. Several Liberal MPs have announced that they will not be seeking re-election next time.



Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Dollar in Danger- The Greatest Threat to America

Dollar in Danger- The Greatest Threat to America

Ron Paul's solutions for the economy and declining US Dollar...

Iraq War Cost = 3 Trillion Dollars

Iraq War Cost = 3 Trillion Dollars

In a House Budget Committee hearing on Iraq War spending, the Department of Defense admitted that the cost of the Iraq War has been revised upward to $12 billion per month. Congressman Doggett further noted that -- based on estimates by General David Petraeus of a possible nine to ten-year war -- House Budget projections of a $1 trillion cost for the duration of the war are not unreasonable.

Journey to Freedom: McCain speaks on being a POW

Journey to Freedom: McCain speaks on being a POW

On March 15, 1973, John McCain was released as a POW from the "Hanoi Hilton"

Hillier to lead Reform Party of Ontario?

Rumblings from the Valley

The Ontario Landowners Association is said to be eyeing a jump from the Tories to the provincial Reform party, Lee Greenberg writes.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=86b948da-d642-422f-8183-145b91b3304d&k=81332

Lee Greenberg , Ottawa Citizen

Published: Thursday, March 13, 2008

A small but influential faction of Ontario's Conservative party will meet with the leader of an upstart right-wing party this weekend to discuss a possible shift of allegiances - an encounter that could have troubling consequences for John Tory.

The leadership of the Ontario Landowners Association, a rural libertarian group that opposes excessive government interference, organized the sit-down with Brad Harness, leader of the provincial Reform party.

The two sides will converge on the second floor of a Belleville tractor dealership Saturday afternoon.

The meeting was organized following a failed bid to unseat Conservative leader John Tory at a party convention in late February. An estimated 130 landowners association delegates attended that showdown - about 10 per cent of eligible voters - and opposed Mr. Tory's continued leadership.

Less than one year ago, Mr. Tory struck a deal with the group and accepted its controversial leader, Randy Hillier, as a candidate. The Ottawa-born electrician gained attention through a series of high-profile confrontations with authorities in Eastern Ontario.

Despite what some saw as impolitic tactics, Mr. Hillier gained significant support in rural Eastern Ontario, eventually winning his riding of Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington.

Insiders say the meeting with Mr. Harness is a sign that the landowners group wants to end its short-lived association with the Conservatives - that, in a sense, it is shopping for a new home for Mr. Hillier. It is a possibility acknowledged by Mr. Harness.

"I think, in general, they wouldn't be meeting with us if they really felt they could go somewhere with the PC party," he said in a telephone interview.

One former associate says Mr. Hillier, who still wields considerable influence with the landowners group, is dissatisfied with a secondary role as a Conservative MPP.

John Vanderspank, a co-founder of the Lanark Landowners' Association - which later became the Ontario Landowners Association - says he believes Mr. Hillier is ready "to jump ship."

"Randy's not going to be second to anybody," says Mr. Vanderspank, a cash crop farmer who left the organization after wrangling with Mr. Hillier. "He wants to be top dog. He doesn't like sharing the limelight. So it didn't surprise me that he went after Tory's job - (except) maybe that he did it so quick."

Mr. Hillier was intentionally left off the list of 22 senior landowners association members invited to the meeting, say friends, so as not to be accused of double-crossing his current leader. He was unavailable to comment, an aide said.

Mr. Harness says he hasn't raised the issue of landing the populist rural politician as a Reform MPP, but acknowledges it would be a big political score.

"I think this would be on par with Reform getting Deb Grey in the Commons back in '89," said Mr. Harness, a community newspaper publisher from southwestern Ontario. "I mean, that gave the party a lot more visibility, the opportunity to ask questions in the house."

It is unclear how the defection of the landowners group - and possibly Mr. Hillier - would hurt Mr. Tory. In the short term, however, it would have implications for his bid to gain a seat at Queen's Park.

The bulk of the landowners' organizational strength is in Eastern Ontario and that would complicate his bid to win a seat in this part of the province. (Insiders say Bob Runciman, who is standing in for Mr. Tory as leader in the House, has offered to step down to make way for his re-entry.).

Some in the party privately scoff at the impact of the potential defection.

Veteran Conservative MPP Norm Sterling last week called the landowners group's influence "limited" and gloatingly pointed to his own comprehensive victory in Carleton-Mississippi Mills despite the landowners' endorsement of Green candidate John Ogilvie.

More importantly, the Reform party has virtually no organization to speak of. Its two candidates in the fall election, including Mr. Harness, garnered a mere 354 votes - so statistically insignificant, they registered 0.0 per cent of the popular vote. The Green party garnered a historic eight per cent of the popular vote.

"I'm not saying there's not a concern," said one senior Conservative. "There's always a concern about everybody in the party. But a bunch of guys who throw a party together in a basement? Good luck to you."

University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman says Mr. Tory, if he manages to hold on to the leadership, would likely absorb the group's departure in the next election.

"I have a feeling they will take some Conservative votes away," he said. "But more likely, and you just can't tell, if there's an appetite for change in 2011, they'll overcome the fact that some of their vote was chipped away."

Clinton Describes Impromptu Meeting With Obama

Clinton Describes Impromptu Meeting With Obama

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton desribes her discussion with rival Barack Obama when they met on the Senate floor Thursday. (March 15





Barack Obama in Indiana: Unifying America

After denouncing controversial remarks at an event in Plainsfield, Indiana, Barack speaks further on the matter of bringing America together to actually address fundamental problems that face us all.




Hillary in the Keystone State

One look at the huge crowds for Hillary in Pennsylvania, and you can see the excitement. We are just getting started in the Keystone State, and we need your help to keep our momentum going through April 22!

Prevent-it.ca Ad Campaign

Prevent-it.ca Ad Campaign

I have been catching a few of these ads on television and without question they grab my attention. The one in the kitchen especially because I worked in the food and beverage industry for 7 years through high school and University. Overall I think this is a good ad campaign with an important message. Here are all 5 www.prevent-it.ca ads. Viewer discretion is advised.
-Darryl

Protests Turn Violent in Tibetan Capital

Protests Turn Violent in Tibetan Capital

Protests led by Buddhist monks against Chinese rule in Tibet turned violent Friday, with shops and vehicles torched and gunshots echoing through the streets of the ancient capital, Lhasa. (March 14)

McCain and Obama running from a mix of religion and politics

McCain and Obama running from a mix of religion and politics

It seems that all three candidates have ties to people who have made outrageous statements in the past. Below are comments from Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright that are in no way helpful to his campaign. Hillary has spent the week trying to distance herself from Ferraro's comments about Obama. Finally McCain is deal with some controversial endorsements of his own. This is the ugly side of US politics and a sad indication of what happens when politics is mixed with religion.
-Darryl



Wright: "Hillary has never been called a..."

Barack Obama's spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright giving a sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ. In it he describes how a black Jesus was oppressed by white people and he goes on to say about Democratic presidential nominee contender Hillary Clinton, "Hillary ain't never been called a..."

Courtesy of http://www.foxnews.com

According to a December 2007 press release Rev. Wright is a member of the Obama campaign's "African American Religious Leadership Committee".




Wright: "God bless America...no Good damn America"



Obama responds to Wright's comments:

Obama speaks about Jeremiah Wright



McCain gets into endorsement trouble of his own:

Rod Parsley



John Hagee

Canada welcomes record number of newcomers

Canada welcomes record number of newcomers
Natalie Armstrong , Reuters
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada welcomed a record number of temporary and permanent residents last year, the federal government said on Friday.

The surge was fueled by a 12 percent increase in temporary foreign workers coming to help counter a growing labor shortage, caused by aging baby boomers leaving the workforce and a growing economy, especially the energy sector.

Last year, Canada admitted 429,649 permanent residents, temporary foreign workers and foreign students.


That is about 60,000 more than the number admitted in 2003.

"That's the highest ever for those three categories," said Doug Kellam, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

"You've got a booming economy out west and employers are stating they have a need for employees that is not being able to be met by Canadians, so there are labor shortages that are emerging," Kellam said, adding that Ottawa has been trying to work with employers to expedite immigration processing.

Newcomers arrived from all over the world, he said. And, while official details of where they came from won't be released until June, trends are likely to follow those from 2006.

Kellam said in 2006, most permanent residents came to Canada from China and India, while most temporary foreign workers arrived from the United States and Mexico. He added that foreign students, meanwhile, moved from Korea and China.

In 2007, the number of foreign students increased by 4.6 percent.

The federal government said that more than 251,000 permanent resident visas were issued, within its target range of 240,000 to 265,000. However, 236,689 visa holders had arrived by the end of 2007.

Ottawa said it does not have control over when permanent residents use their visas as long as they are valid.

Over the past five years, Canada's population grew by 1.6 million to 31,612,897, with 1.1 million immigrants, according to the most recent census.

The government says that by 2012, immigration is expected to account for all net growth of the labor force.

Keith Olbermann rips Hillary Clinton

Keith Olbermann rips Hillary Clinton


After days of tacitly condoning Geraldine Ferraro's controversial comments, Hillary Clinton becomes the focus of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's Special Comment




Obama's response to Ferraro's comments



Geraldine Ferraro Defends Her Statements

The 'Free Tibet' Movement

The 'Free Tibet' Movement

Loud protests in Tibet ahead of the 2008 summer Olympic games in Beijing.
-Darryl

Jay-Z Makes a Call for Obama

Jay-Z Makes a Call for Obama

On March 3, 2008, some voters in Ohio received this call from Jay-Z encouraging them to vote for Barack Obama.

Alleged Spitzer call girl revealed

Alleged Spitzer call girl revealed


Mar. 13 - The woman who reportedly forced the resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer now has a face. The New York Times story about the woman who reportedly forced the resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was the among the most popular articles on the newspaper's website Thursday reflecting the public's interest in the woman's identity. Jon Decker reports.

Rolling Stone magazine endorses Obama

Rolling Stone Endorses Obama

The Machinery of Hope

Inside the grass-roots field operation of Barack Obama, who is transforming the way political campaigns are run

By TIM DICKINSONPosted Mar 20, 2008 3:00 PM

Click here for Rolling Stone's endorsement of Barack Obama and here for a photo timeline of Obama's life.

It's Presidents day, two weeks before the Texas primary, and Adam Ukman has come to the small city of San Marcos to train precinct captains for Barack Obama. A soft-spoken native of Houston, Ukman has served on the campaign's front lines in Iowa and Utah, organizing grass-roots supporters to secure decisive victories in both states. This evening, more than eighty residents of San Marcos have crammed into a yellow clapboard recreation center on a street dotted with shacks that date from the Jim Crow era. "Our job is not to run in here to tell you how it's going to be," Ukman tells them. "This is your campaign. Not our campaign."

Anyone who has spent time around Democratic politics has heard this kind of rhetoric before. Most often, it's pure horseshit. But Ukman is not here to break in a batch of untrained organizers. He knows that there is literally hundreds of years of organizing experience in the room — all he needs to do is set it loose. There's Michael Collins, an old-school politico in a tan Stetson who chaired John F. Kennedy's campaign in West Texas in 1960. A few seats over is Sandra Tenorio, who oversaw immigration issues for Gov. Ann Richards in the 1990s. And there's "Big Bob" Barton, a fixture of local party races since he worked as a volunteer for Gene McCarthy in '68. "I first voted for a Democrat more than fifty years ago," he barks out in his dry baritone. "I try not to fall in love with too many men, but this is the best damn one we've had since John Kennedy."

What Ukman is doing here in the rec center in the Hill Country of Texas is something new in American politics. Over the past year, the Obama campaign has quietly worked to integrate the online technologies that fueled the rise of Howard Dean —as well as social-networking and video tools that didn't even exist in 2004 — with the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor movement-building that Obama learned as a young organizer on the streets of Chicago. "That's the magic of what they've done," says Simon Rosenberg, president of the Democratic think tank NDN. "They've married the incredibly powerful online community they built with real on-the-ground field operations. We've never seen anything like this before in American political history."

In the process, the Obama campaign has shattered the top-down, command-and-control, broadcast-TV model that has dominated American politics since the early 1960s. "They have taken the bottom-up campaign and absolutely perfected it," says Joe Trippi, who masterminded Dean's Internet campaign in 2004. "It's light-years ahead of where we were four years ago. They'll have 100,000 people in a state who have signed up on their Web site and put in their zip code. Now, paid organizers can get in touch with people at the precinct level and help them build the organization bottom up. That's never happened before. It never was possible before."

The meeting in San Marcos wasn't advertised in any traditional sense. Instead, the campaign posted the event on my.barackobama.com — its social-networking site affectionately known as "MyBo" — and e-mailed local residents who had donated to the campaign or surrendered their addresses as the price of admission to an Obama rally. And the volunteers who showed up won't be micromanaged by Ukman or anyone else from the campaign. They'll be able to call their own shots, from organizing local rallies to recruiting and training a crew of fellow Obama supporters to man their precincts on election day. To identify and mobilize Obama backers, they'll log on to the password-protected texasprecinctcaptains.com, download the phone numbers of targeted voters, make calls from their homes and upload the results to Austin headquarters. They'll also organize early-voting open houses — which will be publicized on MyBo — to boost turnout among core supporters. "Instead of hoping that your neighbors vote," Ukman tells them in an unintentional twist on the campaign's central theme, "you're going to take them to the polls."

This scene in the rec center is being repeated in neighborhood coffee shops, high school cafeterias and public libraries across Texas. Over the course of the three-day weekend, the Obama campaign trained 4,000 precinct captains in more than twenty communities, from El Paso to Corpus Christi. This is the same grass-roots effort that has trounced the Clinton campaign — a classic top-down operation run by high-paid consultants — in ten straight contests by an average of more than thirty points. It has evolved into the mother of all get-out-the-vote campaigns, one that has enabled Obama to collect more votes in Virginia and Wisconsin than all of the GOP candidates combined.

In Texas, Tenorio is hearing from fellow Richards veterans who are backing Hillary Clinton, and they're worried. "They don't have precinct captains," she says. "They don't have a local organization, and they're still trying to get names. They're really scrambling to put it together — and here we all are."

The Obama campaign has actually worked to tamp down media coverage of its technological advances in organizing, avoiding anything that would cast the candidate as "the next Howard Dean." In Democratic political circles, Dean's short-lived campaign still carries heavy baggage: Howard Dean was the Internet. Howard Dean lost.

"They've been guarded," says Peter Leyden, director of the New Politics Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank that promotes technology in politics. "It's been beautiful to watch them blending these new tools into the old-fashioned shoe-leather, door-knocking politics. But they don't talk about it. People like myself have to piece it together from its outer effects."

In recent weeks, however, the campaign has granted Rolling Stone rare access to its top strategists and organizers, who discussed in detail the mechanics of Obama's meteoric ascendancy. According to David Axelrod, the campaign's chief strategist, the bottom-up ethos of the campaign comes straight from the top. "When we started this race, Barack told us that he wanted the campaign to be a vehicle for involving people and giving them a stake in the kind of organizing he believed in," Axelrod says. "He is still the same guy who came to Chicago as a community organizer twenty-three years ago. The idea that we can organize together and improve our country — I mean, he really believes that."

To execute this vision, Obama hired as his deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, a folksy veteran of South Dakota politics regarded as one of the top field strategists in the game. "We wanted to make sure we learned from Howard Dean's campaign," Hildebrand says. The most valuable lesson? "We didn't make the assumption that people signing up on our Web site meant that they were going to help the candidate or even vote for him. From the beginning, we had an initiative to take our online force offline."

Hildebrand actually flipped the equation, using the physical crowds Obama could draw to his rallies to bolster the campaign's e-mail list. In February and March of 2007, just after Obama announced his candidacy, the campaign set up huge rallies in cities from Los Angeles to Austin to Cleveland. In return for a ticket, supporters were asked only to provide their e-mail, zip code and telephone number — a practice that continues at every Obama megarally, where it has become routine for him to draw crowds in excess of 20,000.

"Events are not just an opportunity for us to put Barack in front of voters," says Hildebrand. "It's a chance for voters to be in a captive environment where we ask them to sign up and do more for Barack — to make phone calls, canvas, get out the vote. We don't want people to just come to an event — we want them to become part of this movement."

The turnout at the early rallies emboldened Obama's strategists to start imagining a truly different kind of campaign. At first, Hildebrand and Temo Figueroa, the campaign's field director, wrestled with how to harness the nationwide groundswell of support without taking their eyes off Iowa, which they considered a win-or-go-home state. But then the campaign's first-quarter fund-raising numbers rolled in — $25 million. Suddenly, Hildebrand and Figueroa could afford to build the kind of fully participatory field campaign Obama had envisioned — one that set its horizons beyond Iowa and Super Tuesday. According to Hans Riemer, the campaign's youth-vote director, "The mantra was, 'If the same people show up that always show up — we're gonna lose.' We needed to build a new coalition of voters."

Riemer is no stranger to turning out young voters; he's the former political director of Rock the Vote. In most Democratic campaigns, the youth-vote coordinator is a symbolic post, not staffed until the general election, and often by one of the candidate's kids. Riemer, by contrast, has two deputy directors, has youth-vote staff in every state, and answers to the campaign's top brass.

"Steve Hildebrand, in shaping the campaign strategy from the outset, saw that there was an amazing opportunity here with Barack and young people," says Riemer. Turnout has been astonishing: In Iowa, as many people under thirty caucused as did senior citizens. In every contest, the youth vote has at least doubled and often tripled previous records. Riemer is quick to point out that these successes aren't just the result of the campaign organizing young people but of young people organizing themselves. "When I arrived at the Obama campaign," he says, "there were 175 Students for Barack Obama chapters already in existence" — a group that had started on Facebook in 2006 before morphing into a sophisticated grass-roots organization. "My responsibility was to nurture it and work with them on their political strategy."

As summer approached, Hildebrand and Figueroa gave the campaign's unorthodox field operation a test run. While John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were busy barnstorming Iowa and New Hampshire, the Obama campaign sent out an e-mail asking its supporters to sign up for a day of old-fashioned door-knocking and precinct-walking across the entire country. The result: On a Saturday in early June — six months before anyone would cast a ballot or attend a caucus — more than 10,000 Obama supporters hit the pavement in all fifty states to persuade their neighbors to back Barack.

"That was a very important test for us," says Hildebrand. "Can we make this work offline? We said to our online supporters, 'We love you, but we need you to actually go to work in your neighborhood.' Their online support was only great if we could translate it into activity within their community."

At the same time, the campaign was developing a new high-tech toolbox to enable its supporters to keep the momentum going — both online and off. With the help of one of the founders of Facebook, the Obama campaign created, MyBo, its own social-networking tool, through which supporters could organize themselves however they saw fit. Today, the network claims more than half a million members and more than 8,000 affinity groups. Some are organized by state (Ohioans for Obama), others by profession (Texas Business Women for Obama) and still others by groove thing (Soul Music Lovers for Obama).

"We put these tools online as a public utility," says Joe Rospars, the campaign's twenty-six-year-old director of new media, who served as one of Howard Dean's chief online organizers. "We said to our supporters, 'Have at it.' "

That move unleashed supporters to mobilize on their own — and they did, in unprecedented numbers. Before long, the campaign had transformed hundreds of thousands of online donors into street-level activists. "Obama didn't just take their money," says Donna Brazile, Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000. "He gave them seats at the table and allowed them to become players."

Equally important, Obama didn't build his machine by sucking up to the online activists who had been courted by Howard Dean — he built it from scratch. "I kind of admire that he hasn't wasted a lot of time kissing ass to make a bunch of bloggers happy," says Markos Moulitsas, founder of the influential blog Daily Kos. "I can't blame the guy. He's got other ways to reach people."

For Axelrod, a veteran of old-school politics, tapping the potential of the Internet meant changing the established notion of how a campaign runs. "Part of this new era of politics has been learning how to surrender command-and-control aspects of the campaign," he says. "If you really want grass-roots participation, then you have to give folks at the grass roots some autonomy to do this in their own way. We had hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to do things. The challenge was: How do you marshal them in an organized fashion?"

Cuauhtémoc "Temo" Figueroa hardly looks like the kind of guy who would lead an army of grass-roots supporters. A compact forty-three-year-old with a shaved head and a stockbroker's wardrobe — gray-pinstriped dress shirt, impeccably knotted silver silk tie — Figueroa still speaks in the foulmouthed vernacular of the kickass union organizer he used to be. These days, as national field director for Obama, he serves as Gen. Patton for the campaign's growing legions of activists.

This afternoon, Figueroa is in San Antonio, where he has been working all day recruiting Hispanic politicians who support Obama to get down to Texas. Their endorsements, he tells them straight off, don't mean shit to him. He wants them to come to the Rio Grande Valley and go to work: speaking at Elks clubs, attending church picnics and baptisms, reaching out to Spanish-language weeklies that never get any love.

"I always give people at least ten things to do," he tells me, sitting in a tamales-and-margaritas joint along the river, where he has set up a makeshift field office for the day. "Because either it'll scare them off, or they'll start doin' a handful of 'em. Right?"

Figueroa's goal is not to put supporters to work but to enable them to put themselves to work, without having to depend on the campaign for constant guidance. "We decided that we didn't want to train volunteers," he says. "We want to train organizers — folks who can fend for themselves."

To turn well-meaning students and nurses and social workers into self-sufficient organizers, the campaign has put nearly 7,000 supporters through an intensive, four-day seminar known as "Camp Obama." Starting last March, the campaign solicited applications from its most dedicated supporters and asked them to travel to Chicago on their own dime. In exchange, these "campers" would learn the art of organizing from master teachers, including Mike Kruglik, who, a quarter-century ago, helped train a fresh-faced community organizer named Barack Obama.

"Early on, there was some question as to whether this was a good investment," says Figueroa. "But all of those questions went away very quickly; you just saw how fired up people were after finishing that." Responding to demand among activists, the campaign quickly took Camp Obama on the road to Super Tuesday states: New York, Georgia, Idaho, California, Missouri, Arizona.

To staff the seminars, the campaign brought in Harvard professors, union organizers, religious leaders — each of whom was free to tweak the curriculum. "You had the best, most brilliant folks from faith-based organizing, online organizing, community-based organizing and union organizing all collectively coming together to work on Camp Obamas," says Figueroa.

The result was a network of trained organizers who became what Figueroa calls the campaign's "secret weapon." Early on, the volunteers essentially served as Obama's staff in key states where he didn't have employees. "It quadrupled the size of our operation in states that were going to be voting not only on February 5th, but February 9th, February 12th and here on March 4th," Figueroa says. "We had an anchor in those states for a long, long, long time."

Using the social-networking tools of MyBo, the volunteers began to create city- and statewide networks with names like IdahObama, groups that could be tapped later by the professional staff to organize down to the precinct level. In Maryland, the campaign was able to mobilize 3,000 volunteers in only three weeks, thanks to the months of groundwork by groups like Baltimore for Barack Obama.

A strategy that leans so heavily on the grass roots is not without risk. In February, right-wing blogs had a field day when a Fox News affiliate ran footage of a volunteer office in Houston decorated with a Che Guevara flag. But the unique structure of the Obama campaign blunts the PR fallout of such off-message moments because it offers plausible deniability: "This is a volunteer office," the campaign wrote in a press release that forced a clarification from Fox, "that is not in any way controlled by the Obama campaign."

"There's no doubt that there's a downside to the Internet," Axelrod says. "Ugly, unfiltered things circulate virally, and we've had to deal with that. But it's a great democratizing force as well."

Obama's army of organizers has enabled him to repeatedly outman and outwit his opponents — especially in states that vote by caucus. "The Clinton campaign is the last, antiquated vestige of the top-down model," says Trippi. "The top cannot organize caucus states; the bottom can."

As Super Tuesday approached, the Obama campaign understood that the Clinton strategy was to try to deliver a deathblow by winning big states like California, New York and New Jersey through a traditional campaign driven by thirty-second TV spots and tarmac-to-tarmac appearances by the candidate and her surrogates. The Obama team was confident that it had both the ad budget and the precinct-by-precinct support to capture delegates in states like California, whether or not they won the popular vote. They also recognized that, even with her paid staff of 700, Clinton didn't have the manpower to compete against Obama's grass-roots organizers in the caucus states. "

So in the lead-up to Super Tuesday, Obama spent only a day and a half in California. "The decision was made to pull Obama out and send him to those caucus states and run up the score," says Figueroa. In Idaho, the Obama campaign ramped up its staff to twenty paid organizers split among five field offices. It also brought in the candidate to pack the Taco Bell Arena in Boise with more than 13,000 supporters — each of whom was added to the campaign's get-out-the-caucus list. The Clinton campaign, apparently, failed to hire a single staffer in the state. The result: Obama won with eighty percent of the vote, netting fifteen of the state's eighteen delegates. While Clinton was spending lavishly to win New Jersey with 600,000 votes, Obama more than offset his delegate loss there simply by mobilizing 17,000 Idahoans to caucus for him. "The Clinton campaign made a fundamental mistake by writing states off," says Hildebrand.

Having wrestled the Clinton campaign to a draw through Super Tuesday, the Obama campaign suddenly found itself in a dominant position. Thanks to the field campaign set in motion by Hildebrand and Figueroa, Obama had effective grass-roots organizations in place in each of the next ten states. Clinton, by contrast, had no plan, no money and no real grass-roots organization. Even worse for Clinton, the only state whose demographics truly favored her was Maine, a caucus. "Both campaigns thought it was better territory for her, and we were pretty nervous about it," admits Hildebrand. "She was spending a lot of time there, she had staff there." But demographics proved no match for Obama's field organization. Clinton lost Maine — by nineteen points.

"We saw early that, because of the energy that we were evoking, the caucuses would be a great opportunity for us," says Axelrod. "And not just in Iowa. So for months out, we had organizers in these caucus states, and the Clinton campaign had . . . nothing." By contrast, says Figueroa, "the philosophy of our campaign from the beginning was to compete for every vote. Not cede any precinct, any county, anywhere. And it got us to where we are now." Clinton has since complained that caucuses are "dominated by activists" who "don't represent the electorate." But that bellyaching, says Trippi, "is pure cover for 'We blew it.' If you can win a precinct just by getting ten people there — and that's true — then why the hell didn't she get ten people there?"

Adds Moulitsas of Daily Kos, "I don't know how a candidate can say she'll be ready to lead on Day One, when she can't even organize a simple caucus."

In the days leading up to the Texas primary, Clinton appeared equally unprepared for the contest there. Leaks from exasperated donors made clear that the campaign, drooling over the state's large trove of Hispanic voters, was largely clueless about the complex, hybrid nature of the election in Texas. Of the state's 193 delegates, only 126 are awarded on the basis of the primary vote. But since those are apportioned on the basis of turnout in past elections, few of the delegates are available in low-voting Hispanic districts that favor Clinton.

The rest of the delegates will be decided by caucus, which begins immediately after the primary polls close on Election Night. Since the caucus is open only to those who vote in the primary, the Obama campaign is urging its supporters to cast their ballots in the state's ten-day window for early voting. "I'll tell you what we're doing — inside campaign information," Ukman tells his new precinct captains at the training in San Marcos. "The elections officials publish a list of those who voted early. With that list, we can follow up and get our people to the caucus."

As it did in Super Tuesday states, Obama's field organization in Texas has enabled his campaign staff to mobilize an army of supporters in a matter of weeks. When Figueroa arrived in San Antonio to organize volunteers, he found a group called AlamObama already up and running. "We show up last week with our organizers," Figueroa tells me, "and the AlamObama people are all like, 'Great. Welcome to the party. Here's what we're doing, here's what we need to do.' They're telling us. They're incredibly structured. And you know why? They went to Camp Obama."

No group represents the campaign machine that Obama has built better than AlamObama. A year ago, the group was nothing more than eight people who attended an informal get-together at a Borders bookstore. Today, it's a 600-member grass-roots outfit — an all-volunteer field operation that hums with the energy and efficiency of a fully staffed campaign office. "In Iowa, the campaign was on the ground for six months," says Judy Hall, a college professor who co-founded the group. "They come here, and it's like they've already been on the ground for six months. Those of us in the grass roots, we simply minded the store.

"Well," she says, reconsidering her words, "I guess we actually built the store — but that's what this campaign is all about."

As Hall's well-honed operation makes clear, the Obama campaign has succeeded not by attracting starry-eyed followers who place their faith in hope but by motivating committed activists who are answering a call to national service. They're pouring their lifeblood into this campaign, not because they are in thrall to a cult of personality but because they're invested in the idea that politics matter, and that their participation can turn the current political system on its ear.

In reality, it already has. "We're seeing the last time a top-down campaign has a chance to win it," says Trippi. "There won't be another campaign that makes the same mistake the Clintons made of being dependent on big donors and insiders. It's not going to work ever again."

******

A New Hope

JANN S. WENNERPosted Mar 20, 2008 3:00 PM

The tides of history are rising higher and faster these days. Read them right and ride them, or be crushed. And then along comes Barack Obama, with the kinds of gifts that appear in politics but once every few generations. There is a sense of dignity, even majesty, about him, and underneath that ease lies a resolute discipline. It's not just that he is eloquent — with that ability to speak both to you and to speak for you — it's that he has a quality of thinking and intellectual and emotional honesty that is extraordinary.

I first learned of Barack Obama from a man who was at the highest level of George W. Bush's political organization through two presidential campaigns. He described the first-term senator from Illinois as "a walking hope machine" and told me that he would not work for any Republican candidate in 2008 if Obama was nominated. He challenged me to read Obama's autobiography, Dreams From My Father.

The book was a revelation. Here was a man whose honesty about himself and understanding of the human condition are both deep and compassionate. Born to a white mother and an African father, he was raised in multiracial Hawaii and for several years in Indonesia. He drifted through some druggy teenage years — no apologies! — before emerging as a star at Harvard Law School. He chose to work as a community organizer in the projects of Chicago rather than join the wealthy insider world of corporate law. And as a young adult, he searched, in the distant villages of Kenya, for the father and family he never knew.

As I read all this, so elegantly written, my mind kept rolling over: Might it be possible? Is there some fate by which we could have this man as president of the United States?

Throughout the primaries, and during a visit he paid to our offices, we have come to know Barack Obama, his toughness and his grace. He would not be intimidated, and he declined to back down, when Senator Clinton called him "frankly, naive" for his willingness to meet leaders of hostile nations. When one of her top campaign officials tried to smear him for his earlier drug use, he did not equivocate or backtrack. On the matter of experience and capability, he has run an impressive, nearly flawless campaign — one that whupped America's most hard-boiled political infighters. Indeed, Obama was far more prepared to run a presidential campaign — from Day One — than Senator Clinton. And at no point did he go negative with personal attacks or character assassination; as much as they might have been justified, they didn't even seem tempting to him.

Obama has emerged by displaying precisely the kind of character and judgment we need in a president: renouncing the politics of fear, speaking frankly on the most pressing issues facing the country and sticking to his principles. He recognizes that running for president is an opportunity to inspire an entire nation.

All this was made clearer by the contrast with Hillary Clinton, a capable and personable senator who has run the kind of campaign that reminds us of what makes us so discouraged about our politics. Her campaign certainly proved her experience didn't count for much: She was a bad manager and a bad strategist who naturally and easily engaged in the politics of distraction, trivialization and personal attack. She never convinced us that her vote for the war in Iraq was anything other than a strategic political calculation that placed her presidential ambitions above the horrifying consequences of a war. Her calibrated course corrections over the past three years were painful. Like John Kerry — who also voted for the war while planning a presidential run — it helped cost her that goal.

Although Obama declined to attack her personally for her vote for the war in Iraq, he did call it, devastatingly enough, a clear demonstration of her so-called experience and "judgment." He has also spoken forcefully about the need to break the grip of lobbyists — at a time when Clinton is the largest recipient of drug-company donations of anyone in Congress. Clinton could not address this issue at all, and neither will John McCain, who is equally a player in Washington's lobbyist culture.

Obama also denounced the Republican campaign of fear. Early in the campaign, John Edwards took the lead, calling the War on Terror a campaign slogan, not a policy. Obama rejected the subtle imagery of false patriotism by not wearing a flag pin in his lapel, and he dismissed the broader notion that the Democratic Party had to find a way to buy into this entire load of fear-mongering War on Terror bullshit — to out-Republican the Republicans — and thus become, in his description of Hillary Clinton's macho posturing on foreign policy, little more than "Bush-Cheney lite."

The similarities between John Kennedy and Barack Obama come to mind easily: the youth, the magnetism, the natural grace, the eloquence, the wit, the intelligence, the hope of a new generation.

But it might be more to the point to view Obama as Lincolnesque in his own origins, his sobriety and what history now demands.

We have a deeply divided nation, driven apart by economic policies that have deliberately created the largest income disparities in our history, with stunning tax breaks for the wealthiest and subsidies for giant industries. The income of the average citizen is stagnant, and his quality of life continues to slowly erode from inflation.

We are embittered and hobbled by the unnecessary and failed war in Iraq. We have been worn down by long years of fear- and hate-filled political strategies, assaults on constitutional freedoms, and levels of greed and cynicism, that — once seen for what they are — no people of moral values or ethics can tolerate.

A new president must heal these divides, must at long last face the hypocrisy and inequity of unprecedented government handouts to oil giants, hedge-fund barons, agriculture combines and drug companies. At the same time, the new president must transform our lethal energy economy — replacing oil and coal and the ethanol fraud with green alternatives and strict rain-forest preservation and tough international standards — before the planet becomes inhospitable for most human life. Although Obama has been slow to address global warming, I feel confident that his intelligence and morality will lead him clearly on this issue.

We need to recover the spiritual and moral direction that should describe our country and ourselves. We see this in Obama, and we see the promise he represents to bring factions together, to achieve again the unity that drives great change and faces difficult, and inconvenient, truths and peril.

We need to send a message to ourselves and to the world that we truly do stand for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And in electing an African-American, we also profoundly renounce an ugliness and violence in our national character that have been further stoked by our president in these last eight years.

Like Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama challenges America to rise up, to do what so many of us long to do: to summon "the better angels of our nature."

Conservatives, Liberals extend Afghanistan mission

Conservatives, Liberals extend Afghanistan mission
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/346019

OTTAWA–Canada's mission in Afghanistan will be extended by two years, to 2011, after a House of Commons vote that endorsed the will of the Conservative government and most – but not all – of the Liberal opposition.

The passage of the motion, by a vote of 198-77, means the Canadian effort must shift focus in February 2009 away from offensive combat operations toward training Afghan security forces, securing reconstruction work and delivering aid.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the vote results send a "strong signal" of support to Canadian soldiers, diplomats and aid workers operating in Afghanistan.

"I think it's a bipartisan consensus that comes out of this vote," he said. "I know that it will be well received by our NATO allies and demonstrates that our democracy works."

Several dozen protesters were escorted out of the Commons' public gallery after trying to interrupt the vote, shouting, "End it. Don't extend it." The chant is the rallying cry of activists who are planning demonstrations across the country this weekend.

The Bloc Québécois and the NDP voted against the motion.

All eyes, however, were on the Liberal benches as 20 MPs were absent from what both the government and the Liberals labelled an "historic" decision.

Toronto-area MPs who skipped the vote included Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence), Mario Silva (Davenport), Bonnie Brown (Oakville), Ruby Dhalla (Brampton-Springdale), who was sick, and Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Erindale), who had an engagement in his riding.

Dhalla and Alghabra told the Star last night they would have supported the government motion. Party officials could not account for the other missing MPs.

Newfoundland Liberal Bill Matthews was the only one in the caucus to stand against the extension, saying that he wanted to be consistent with his 2006 opposition to an extended mission and felt there were too many unanswered questions about costs of the campaign.

"I didn't support it last time, I don't support it this time," he said.

Liberal spokesperson Leslie Swartman said Liberal whip Karen Redman (Kitchener Centre) will "make whatever decision needs to be made" about those who missed the vote, or opposed the motion.

Critics say the Liberals backed down from what had been a fiercely held position that Canada would end combat operations, leaving behind a grey area in which the military can continue to operate as it has been doing since 2002.

Aid groups say the new mandate moves in the direction of a mission that has a better balance of security, aid and reconstruction.

But questions remain about how quickly diplomats and soldiers will respond to Parliament's new direction.

"It is impossible to answer in advance," said Gerry Barr, head of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation.

The extension is still conditional on another NATO ally sending 1,000 more troops to Kandahar and the government securing six transport helicopters and a fleet of drones to track insurgents, conditions that appear likely to be met.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Prime Minister Stephen Harper will have a stronger mandate to push allied countries at a NATO meeting in Bucharest, Romania, early next month.

Still, some groups warn that MPs who backed the extension can expect to be held accountable for their vote in the next federal election.

The Council of Canadians, which boasts 100,000 members, said it plans to launch a campaign targeted at those who backed the war in yesterday's vote.

"We do believe that members of Parliament who vote in favour of the war and against the public interest should pay an electoral price," said Brent Patterson, director of organizing for the group. "The issue is that serious."

Mohamed Boudjenane, executive director of the Canadian Arab Federation, said the extension of the Afghan war would likely factor highly in the way his organization's members vote.

"People in this country are free to say those things," said Richmond Hill Liberal Bryon Wilfert.

"At the end of the day I think the mission changes, the mission ends and it's about more than military. I think that is very clear in the motion."

PM's suit seeks $2.5M from Liberals

PM's suit seeks $2.5M from Liberals

Mar 13, 2008 01:28 PM

bruce campion-smith
Ottawa bureau chief

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper is following through on his threat to sue the federal Liberals for $2.5 million because of accusations, posted on the Liberal party's website, that he knew of "Conservative bribery."

The lawsuit — a statement of claim was served today — is a response to the "defamatory" statements made by the Liberals, Harper spokesperson Sandra Buckler said.

"He's doing what any other person with integrity would do to defend himself and his family," she said.

Harper served formal notice earlier this month on Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and several other Liberal MPs that he would sue for libel unless they retracted their claims.

At the centre of the lawsuit is the controversy over allegations that Conservative party officials used financial incentives to win the support of Independent MP Chuck Cadman before a May 19, 2005, confidence vote.

In the earlier notice, Harper lawyer Richard Dearden had demanded that the Liberals remove two articles from the website that implied the prime minister knew about the alleged offers to Cadman.

He also sought an apology from Dion, to be posted in French and English, "that the Prime Minister acted ethically, morally, and legally and retract the statements we made to the contrary."

"These malicious and reckless defamatory statements impugn the reputation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper," Dearden wrote.

The Liberals refused to back down and accused Harper of trying to "bully" them into silence.

Today, the prime minister followed up on his threat to sue with the statement of claim, seeking $2.5 million in damages.

If he's successful, any financial award would go toward payingthelegal costs of the suit, now being financed by the Conservative Party.

Any money left over would be donated to charity, Buckler said.

Dion dogged by campaign debt

Dion dogged by campaign debt

Liberal Leader retains lawyer to raise funds

JANE TABER

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

March 13, 2008 at 4:21 AM EDT

More than a year after he won the Liberal leadership, Stéphane Dion is still struggling to pay off his considerable campaign debts, while Bob Rae, who placed third in the race, is expected to be all paid up by the end of the month.

And Michael Ignatieff, who was the runner-up in the December, 2006, contest, expects to have his $300,000 debt retired by the June deadline imposed by Elections Canada.

Only recently, say insiders, has Mr. Dion started to seriously focus on the issue of paying off the $850,000 in loans and unpaid bills he still owes from the campaign. He spent $1.68-million to win the leadership.

Mr. Dion has engaged top Toronto lawyer Ben Huxtel, a long-time Liberal and savvy fundraiser, to help him on a volunteer basis to raise funds to reduce his debt.

Some Liberals believe that it is unacceptable and humiliating for the leader to still be wrestling with a debt so long after the convention. Still, a veteran Liberal says that in two events held in January, Mr. Dion raised about $90,000. This is significant, given that as leader he is being pulled in several different fundraising directions.

The Liberal Party is having difficulty raising money because of the prohibitive changes to political-financing laws first brought in by former prime minister Jean Chrétien. Mr. Dion is not only expected to help raise money for the party but also to help his MPs.

"Sometimes he is in competition with himself," a veteran Liberal said.

Although the other candidates have been forthcoming about what they have left to pay, Mr. Dion's spokeswoman, Leslie Swartman, would not divulge how much of the $850,000 is still outstanding.

"Those details aren't available," she said.

There is a persistent rumour that Mr. Dion has done little since taking over as leader to reduce his debt and now he is putting off defeating the government until he pays up in full. The view is that if he lost the election and was forced out as leader, he would have considerably more trouble paying his debts.

"They [some Liberals] wonder if there's other motivation to not going to an election," one Liberal insider said. "He needs that [leadership] platform."

Ms. Swartman dismissed the rumour: "It [election timing] has everything to do with picking the right moment, when the conditions are favourable, so that we win the election," she said. "There are still many issues that we want to see progress on, and which we want to hold government's feet to the fire on. ..."

However, several of Mr. Dion's leadership opponents, including Mr. Ignatieff, Mr. Rae, Gerard Kennedy and Scott Brison, are on their way to paying off their debts and meeting the June deadline.

The candidates have been helped by a recent court ruling allowing the $50,000 deposit fee that candidates paid to get into the race be refunded to each one of them. It is expected that the contenders will receive their deposit at the end of the month if the ruling is not appealed.

Once his deposit is returned, Mr. Rae, for example, will be out of debt. He owed about $10,000. His initial debt was $220,000; he spent $2.2-million on his bid and was helped by his brother, Power Corp. executive John Rae, who lent him $720,000.

Mr. Ignatieff, however, still has about $300,000 remaining to pay off, but his fundraising team says it will meet the June deadline. He originally owed $770,000, according to a financial statement filed with Elections Canada last summer. He spent about $2.1-million on his campaign.

Mr. Kennedy also owes $300,000 but says he is on target to meet the June deadline.

Mr. Brison will owe just under $100,000 after the deposit is returned. He is chipping away at the debt with the help of fundraisers featuring Liberal luminaries, such as Paul Martin, Belinda Stronach and Brian Tobin.

But adding to the fundraising strain for at least two of the former contestants, Mr. Rae and Martha Hall Findlay, is that they also have to raise funds to fight by-election bids in Toronto ridings. The by-elections are to be held on Monday.

Candidates can spend close to $90,000 and have had to raise money for that as well.

Obama Chats With Gore

Obama Chats With Gore

By Jeff Zeleny

Barack Obama spoke to reporters on the plane traveling from Chicago to Washington. (Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

DULLES, Va. – With a six-week interval between primaries, the Democratic presidential candidates have a little more time on their hands after a chaotic string of week-to-week primaries and caucuses.

It leaves a little more time for telephone calls. To superdelegates.

“The last time I talked to Al Gore was last week,” Senator Barack Obama said today, speaking to reporters as he flew from Chicago to Washington.

That morsel of information was buried near the end of a question-and-answer session. Asked if he would divulge what they talked about, Mr. Obama smiled and simply said, “No.”

It’s been awhile since Mr. Gore’s name has come up in the context of the prolonged Democratic presidential contest. While people close to the former vice president say he has been following the race closely, he has given no signals that he is willing to step into the battle between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And how about John Edwards?

Mr. Obama said he had spoken to him “within the last two weeks.” Asked if he was expecting anything from Mr. Edwards, Mr. Obama replied, “Some good advice.”

(Mr. Edwards is not a superdelegate, of course, but could still influence the race if he decided to endorse one of his former rivals.)

But back to the phone call between Mr. Obama and Mr. Gore. Does it hold greater meaning or was it just a routine course of business?

That question was not resolved as Mr. Obama walked to the front of his plane