Still on the topic of Federal Politics

Reading the pundits this morning nothing has changed, all seem to think that the coalition is shaky and most can't wait for Harper to get his majority in the election after the confidence vote in January 09. However the only original commentary, I can find, comes from Richard Gwyn of the Toronto Star, where he posits that the G-G did have a greater role than just being a rubber stamp for Stevie. Here is the aricle where Gwyn states that perhaps the PM was being rude to the G-G by treating the chat as a mere formality to getting what he wanted. It didn't work out to be such a formality and Stevie had to miss the big photo-op in Woodstock where he would have got to rub shoulders with non-union workers and Dalton M.

One thing I would like to see

In Parliamentary tradition members are not allowed to call each other liars or place misleading statements before the House. Now we know that the PM lied, prevaricated, was irregular with the the truth etc, etc, etc. He told the House that the Coalition was unpatriotic because they signed the bad deed in the absence of a Canadian flag. This was untrue. In this case any member who pointed out the truth would be expelled for explaining that the truth was in fact a lie perpetrated by the PM.

How do we settle this? I think that the Speaker of the House should discipline the PM for lying to the House. But how many of the House will demand this?

None alas.

On another point, here is an open invitation to attend a rally:

Hi Folks

Reminder that you can meet and hear the Ontario (NDP) leadership candidates tonight in Peterborough. An all party rally for democracy has been organized for Peterborough on Saturday at 11:30am at Confederation square (that is right downtown).I will be forwarding more details as soon as I receive the press release.Thanks for coming out yesterday.

Be prepared for a six week election period

Now the G-G has suspended Parliament be prepared for the biggest ad campaigns we have ever seen in electoral history. The Cons have oodles of money, and the others will be playing catchup. It will be interesting to see if there is any thing other than picking up where we left off today. We will be waiting for that but be prepared for lots of nasty ads.

Back to real issues

Cobourg Council, on Monday recommended that water and sewage rates be escalated to reflect market costs. Has anybody asked if we are getting value for the assets we own? If the County Growth Study is to be believed we have far more capacity than we can use for the foreseeable future. We also have to pick up the slack for the loss of water sales to Kraft.
“If we don’t do it, we know we’re going to be hit with millions of dollars of infrastructure cost someday,” said Deputy Mayor Gil Brocanier. “I don’t want to be in that position or put another council in that position.” How does this statement square with the overcapacity problem.

Overcapacity, and having to pay for it, brings into question the dividend we receive from OUR utility and how we use it. It is now absolutely necessary to wrap that dividend into the bottom line to reduce the tax increase. It must not be used for any other purpose, least of all to be Council's playmoney.

Now is the time to aggressively market the water across the Town borders.

The morning after

Early talk radio shows aren't quite so bullish in their support of the PM. It seems that PM-SH didn't have much to say in his four minutes of an allotted ten minutes. People were expecting a positive plan for the economic crisis not a repetition of the ad hominem attack on the Separatists. They didn't get it So hosts are not quite so supportive, how will that go down in the rightwing corporate office? Wait until the afternoon shows the tone may have changed. But it does appear that the Libs haven't helped their cause by the use of an amateurish tape; DVD minicam doesn't broadcast well. "If these guys can't produce a good tape on time how can they run a country?" said one caller.
Meanwhile the shows are just waiting for the G-G's message.

A possible glimpse into the future: "Isn't this exciting with a coalition we can get rid of vote splitting." a local lib told me yesterday. "All we have to do is get an agreement to run only one candidate in close ridings" What a tired liberal idea, I can just imagine the local dippers handing over their 10,000 votes - what's in it for them? Let's see what seats the libs are willing to give up before we can discuss this for real.

The local Coalition speaks

At 4pm 3rd December the three defeated candidates in the recent Federal Election got together to endorse the national Coalition Agreement. These folks spoke eloquently to defend the agreement.

Paul Macklin (Lib) spoke first: "Everybody was looking for change and stimulus, in the recent Economic Statement but we got a "poison pill and incorrect facts." Holding up an impressive prop - the House rules of Rules, he told of all new MPs having to learn the rules from the big book. Reading this book is is obvious that the Governor General will find guidance in it. The main thrust of retaining power, according to th e book Government has to have the confidence of the House. This Government has lost the confidence of the House and must therefore hand over to people who do have the confidence or take it to the people if the others cannot govern. By signing the accord there is now a demonstrable alternative and the G-G must consider it. "A true majority in Parliament will nourishing"

Russ Christianson (NDP) "There are not just elected people in this coalition but unelected candidates! We are here for Canada we don't support bullying tactics and a PM who lies and he knows he lied." Expressing his support for the Coalition he said "I hear Mr. Norlock is crying, however I haven't been happier in thirty years!" He asked all in the room to go back to their friends and explain the situation and how we can have a brighter future for Canada. This coalition will work because it is supported by the 62% of the voters who didn't support the government"

Ralph Torrie (Greens) After thanking everybody for turning out he explained that even in the last election he had fears that the economy was tanking. "We have not changed gears fast enough. Mr. Harper had been told by the electorate make Parliament work. I waited and waited - it never happened" Saying that the economic stimulus did not give Canadians what they wanted. "This situation (the parliamentary crisis) didn't happen overnight, this system is not working. We learnt this in grade five civics. Being optimistic he told the audience that this coalition is one that we should expect if we ever implement Proportional voting. "Coalitions are the norm in the world today, we have to learn to work together." Turning back to the economic crisis Mr Torrie said, "We don't have time to waste, if we don't act now we will have wasted two months."

Moving to questions from the audience, the first question was from Martin Partridge who was worried by the exuberance of Conservative supporters who are accused of setting fire to a constituency office in BC and the threat of violence to MPs asked "Are you worried by these actions which appear to going over the top?" Macklin answered by saying, "Yes but perhaps prorogation may allow statesmanship and rationality may prevail."

Dylis Robertson asked if the PMs public rallies will pressure the G-G? Storrie said he was concerned about the misconstruing of the constitutionally of the situation, "But if any body who had Pat Carr in school (in Cobourg) would understand what is going on - you never got out of his class if you didn't!"

Rod Anderson asked the question, "Can I ask our legal expert - Does the G-G have the right not to grant prorogation? Paul M, a longtime local lawyer, answered, "These are uncharted waters but generally accepted practice is that the Government can only govern if they have the confidence of the House."

Finally the last question came from the back of the room, "What happens if the G-G resigns, who will make the decision?" No answer came back but the suggestion was that as the Queen is the Canadian Head of State perhaps she may intervene.

So there you have it folks God Save the Queen

Read this before you watch TV tonight

When Stevie tells us what dastardly people the Separatists are just remember the Neo-Cons have had at least two tries to form a coalition with the Bloc. This recollection comes from Jack Layton from an episode in 2005. Now Stockwell Day has a lapse of memory but others haven't read it here. All this proves is that the Neo-Cons (Alliance & the Conservatives) have been dealing with the Bloc for years. Funny how they have turned out to be the bad guys this week!

News at noon

The PM is going on the air, we don't know which channel but he (the top guy in the Nation) owns the CBC (our own station) so it looks like Coronation St. will be bumped, Boy will that go down well with "Corrie" fans!!

It will not be one-sided as the Coalition is supposed to get equal time, but how many viewers will be staying to watch. The article announcing this, in the Globe here is a long and detailed account of the roles all the players had in the last TV event, same situation different components but the the roles of all today were reversed then.

Quikquips:

• Perhaps we should have a pool to estimate how many times SH sneers "Separatists".
• Don Martin of the National Post speculates on the Cabinet here
• website for the coalition here
• website against the coalition here
  

Now for some REAL local content

This just in:

"Christianson, Macklin and Torrie will hold a COALITION press conference at 4pm today in the Citizen's Forum at Victoria Hall"

an organiser for the Coalition

Stay tuned!

Another email came in at 2.35pm

Are you or any of our Liberal friends that you have contact with available to come to the press conference today at 4 p.m. in the Citizens Forum at Victoria Hall today? It would be good to have half a dozen people or so to be present who are supportive of the coalition.

Best regards
Paul

What has changed overnight?

In the Parliamentary Crisis only positions have hardened overnight. The Tories tactic of isolating the Bloc as the bad guys appears to have stuck. Despite telling lies in the House, the Weasel PM is getting away his diversionary tactics, Geobbels would have been proud of the man who stood in the House and told it that there was not a Canadian flag in the room when the accord was signed. Even when journos pointed out this was untrue no apology was forthcoming. Apologists did look stupid here is one of them - Chuck Strahl answering a question outside of the House:

Question: Why did you lie about the flag because there were flags behind them?

Hon. Chuck Strahl: The picture that I saw and the picture that I had — actually saw, somebody gave it off the Liberal Party website, shows that there is no flags there.

So now we know - it's still the Libs fault.

Pundits are still confused about the PMs next move, will he proroge and then force another election on a new budget, in January, or will he go to a vote on Monday? Either way he cannot avoid a vote in the House and then the GG has to make a choice - new government or new election.