You tell me who is effective!!!!

By the numbers.....

Taking on Harper; NDP opposed 41 of 43 Confidence votes, Liberals propped up Harper on all 43

Showing up for work; NDP attendance 87% Liberal attendance 65%

Private Members Bills; NDP bills 43% Liberal bills 29%

Standing up for you; NDP 57% - 291 motions Liberals 28% 145 motions

Each of the NDP Members of Parliament did the work of % Liberal MP's

Who do you want working for you???

Liberals' gas tank is heading for empty

This comes as no surprise to me. The NDP are growing in both memberships and donations across Canada.

clipped from network.nationalpost.com The figures are bleak. According to filings with Elections Canada, the Liberal party raised $912,000 in the quarter that ended in June. That’s just ahead of the New Democrats, who have almost 70 fewer seats in the House of Commons but raised $711,000. Overall this year, the NDP has raised $1.83 million, about $100,000 ahead of the Liberals. The number of donors to each party is also telling. The Liberals have had the fewest donors in both quarters of the year, just 9,556 this quarter compared to 33,000 for the Conservatives. Not to overdo the auto industry analogy, but if the parties were cars, the NDP would be a hybrid (popular with true believers but not yet mainstream); the Tories would be Corollas (which sell well even if not that attractive), and the Liberals would be as popular as a Hummer with a hemi.

Pricing carbon: cap & trade vs. carbon tax

My apologies for my lack of postings. For the first time in three years, I actually broke down and took two weeks vacation..but I am back and rested and ready to go again!!!

The Dion Liberals have recently mused about developing a policy for “Carbon Taxes.”

To date there are few specifics, but Dion has suggested that increases in consumption taxes would be “offset” by reductions in personal income taxes. Dion has said he will announce details of his plan by mid-June.

There is no greater crisis facing the planet then climate change and we welcome the debate.

Jack Layton and the NDP believes the most effective step in reducing greenhouse gasses is to place a price on carbon by establishing a “cap-and-trade” system, not a carbon tax.

The NDP’s plan will set caps on the amount of carbon a big polluter can emit, then establishes a carbon auction system where credits can be traded.

The NDP’s plan ensures that the big polluters start paying their fair share, while Dion’s plan ensures that average Canadians pay more.

The NDP’s plan ensures that all revenue raised from the big polluters will be invested in green solutions, while the Dion plan claims to be revenue neutral and therefore will have no new money for green solutions.

After years of inaction on climate change, it’s time to take on the big polluters. The NDP’s plan will ensure:

1. big polluters start paying their fair share;
2. effective and measurable targets to reduce pollution are established; and
3. revenues from the big polluters are invested in green solutions.

The two most urgent steps in fighting climate change are to curb the big polluters and invest in green solutions. The NDP’s plan accomplishes both; Mr. Dion’s is not likely to effectively accomplish either.

• Cap-and-trade is the international backbone of pollution reduction.
• A flat consumption tax is regressive because it treats all consumers the same, regardless of their ability to pay.

When you compare Dion's plan to Jack Layton's Plan, you need to do a side by side comparison. You can see the main differences in the two plans and can clearly see that where the NDP wish to go, would be a much better plan for all of Canada:

Top 5 worst things about Dion’s carbon tax

1. Equity
   • Low-income and rural Canadians are likely to be disproportionately impacted. A corresponding cut to income tax would not be a progressive answer to this problem.
   • Treats corporations and individuals equally in paying for pollution, when the largest responsibility should be on the shoulders of big polluters.
2. Efficacy
   • There is very little evidence to illustrate how much carbon taxes reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
3. No new revenue for green solutions
   • The Dion carbon tax claims to be revenue neutral.
4. Open to government interference
5. No details
   • To date, there have been no models designed for Canada and the absence of details from Dion are a concern to many working Canadians
   
   

Top 5 best features of NDP plan:

1. Targets the big polluters
• They are the ones with the power to drive the changes we need towards energy efficiency and cleaner energy.
2. Effective and proven
• Provides greater certainty of results in lowering emissions because the cap is fixed.
• Is a proven method that has already shown real results in reducing greenhouse gas emissions both domestically (used by Canada and the U.S. to combat acid rain) and internationally (European Union).
3. Generates revenue for green solutions
4. Free from government interference
• As a market-based system, it cannot be influenced by the Harper agenda.
5. Solid validators
• The UN Kyoto Protocol
• John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
• Green Budget Coalition
• European Union
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Vetting releases won't fly with Auditor

Globe and Mail this morning. Harper's arrogance never wanes for a minute:

OTTAWA -- Auditor-General Sheila Fraser says she and the other officers of Parliament have been ignoring sections of government policies that would undermine their independence - but it is time the exemptions were clarified in writing.

"I wanted to have it clear which parts of the policies are problematic, that it be expressly indicated that these things did not apply to us, and what compensating control or activity we would do to replace that," Ms. Fraser said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.

The issue came to the fore during a Commons public accounts committee meeting this week when Ms. Fraser told MPs that, on paper, she and the seven other independent officers of Parliament will soon be required to vet their communications strategies through the Privy Council Office.

"Well, I can tell you there is no way that my press releases about my report are going to go to Privy Council Office, or our communications strategies are going to be vetted by Privy Council Office," Ms. Fraser told the committee.

"There's no way that Canada's going to be living in a world where the government tells officers of Parliament what they're going to do," New Democratic MP Dave Christopherson told reporters. "This will be resolved. It's just a question of how much dust do we have to kick up and how far do we have to drag the Prime Minister kicking and screaming to acknowledge there are people in this country that he doesn't control."

New Dems cashing in on Liberals indecisiveness

please see the the following articles!!!!

New Democrats cashing in on Liberal's indecisiveness
Conservatives lose support

clipped from www.thestar.com OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are losing voters' support – a trend accelerated by the RCMP raid last week on Tory headquarters, according to a Toronto Star/Angus Reid poll released today. The Conservatives stand at 33 per cent support across Canada, a loss of three percentage points since a similar poll in March. The Liberals have been the prime beneficiaries of that slide, up four percentage points to 30 per cent, according to the online poll of 1,007 Canadians. clipped from www.thestar.com OTTAWA–Federal New Democrats are enjoying a bump in membership, a rise in fundraising and a spring in their step these days. And they're quietly giving thanks to Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. "It's so clear when you sit in the House. The moment the Liberals don't vote, Mr. Harper has a majority. ... Meanwhile, month after month passes with terrible Conservative policies being adopted," NDP Leader Jack Layton said in a recent interview.

Conservatives tumble, NDP breaks 20 percent support

Checkout my good friend at Blogging a Dead Horse:

Jack Layton and the NDP are starting to see dividends from their strategy of taking on Harper over issues that impact ordinary people's lives like high gas prices and cell phone charges, and consistently being the country’s number one Harper fighter.

Today’s Toronto Star contains two examples.

The first is an Angus Reid poll commissioned by the Star which shows Conservative support tumbling three points in the last month, while NDP support has soared to the historic level of 20 percent – matching the 1988 election result which saw the party net 43 seats under Ed Broadbent.

Some of the regional breaks are also remarkable, including a strong showing of 19 in Ontario, 17 in Quebec, and in Manitoba and Saskatchewan where Layton leads with an incredible 46 percent of the vote. Even factoring the margin of error for the small prairie sample, the NDP still leads the Conservatives in the heart of the country.

But because polls are just polls, the other piece of good news for New Democrats is this story showing that Layton's pragmatic and principled opposition is being seen as the real force to beat Harper’s agenda -- resulting in tangible benefits in terms of increased NDP memberships, fundraising and momentum.

Political scientist Paul Nesbitt-Larking said Liberal decisions to abstain on high-profile issues has given the NDP room to present themselves "as the true opposition."

New Democrats cashing in on Liberals' indecisiveness

clipped from www.thestar.com OTTAWA–Federal New Democrats are enjoying a bump in membership, a rise in fundraising and a spring in their step these days. And they're quietly giving thanks to Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. Dion's decisions to abstain on key Commons votes on immigration changes, climate change and the Tory's big tax cuts have given New Democrats political room to declare they are Parliament's "progressive" party. "It's so clear when you sit in the House. The moment the Liberals don't vote, Mr. Harper has a majority. ... Meanwhile, month after month passes with terrible Conservative policies being adopted," NDP Leader Jack Layton said in a recent interview. The Liberals have been careful in recent months not to oppose the government on key issues, which could force an election they don't want. And while the evidence is anecdotal, the New Democrats seem to be reaping the fallout.

Corrupt Conservatives ignore own Accountability

So here we are with a Conservative Government hell bent on accountability. It's too bad that they demand it for everyone but themselves.

The stories are amazing:

Tories accused of election advertising misspending
Opposition blasts Tories over campaign finance controversy

Yesterday, the Tories once again tried to manipulate the media by inviting only a select few to a media conference about the Elections Canada warrant. Much to their dismay the other outlets found out and when they tried to get in, the Tories left down the back hall in haste. Now that's accountability!!!!

Not only is it disgusting that the Tories broke Elections Canada laws and are claiming that it is a "publicity stunt" on behalf of Elections Canada, they are now wasting our money on mail outs into selected ridings across Canada.

Each MP is allowed to send out what is called a 10%'er. These are mailouts designed to keep their constituents informed of what is going on in the House of Commons and to keep us up to date on the issues. These mailouts are delivered free by Canada Post at the expense of the taxpayers.

The Harper Conservatives are using your tax dollars to attack Jack Layton. As the Dion and the Liberals are in bed with Conservatives and are needed to keep propping up the Government, Harper's only true opposition is Jack Layton.

What is even of more interest, is that they cannot attack the individual candidates, so they have to attack Layton directly. Jack must be doing something right if he has the entire Tory Caucus going after him!!!!

MP's voting record should hold them accountable

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.

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.

Liberals aren't showing up for votes, and when they do vote, they vote with the Conservatives 60% of the time, compared to only 26% of the time for the NDP.

There is 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, however it is lacking in current stats as it is hard to keep up updating the site.

If MP's knew their constituents were likely to be presented with this information during an election, it causes them to think twice - in a positive sense. Hopefully, the voters would use the information to help decide whom they really want representing them in Ottawa.

We should all keep these facts in mind the next time the Liberals try to tell voters that only a 'Liberal' vote can stop Stephen Harper in Saskatchewan: 'Why vote for Liberals who--even if they show up--are more likely than not to vote with Stephen Harper?'

Jack Layton Appears on Lou Dobbs (NAFTA)

There's always another option...

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/Harris_Michael/2008/02/29/4883668.html
Fri, February 29, 2008
There's always another option
Stephane Dion, recently U-Boated on YouTube, can be trusted on one point: To secure victory he is always ready to retreat.

Rick Mercer notwithstanding, what is the average non-comedian to make of Captain Collapse's latest battle whimper? -- "We'll find a way to not defeat the government and to express our disagreement with this budget."

So just how does one suck while also attempting to blow? By having a handful of Liberals vote against the budget while the rest abstain or stay in bed.

If a confidence vote is at one level the invitation to step outside and settle it in the parking lot, the Grits have signalled time after time that there is nothing on the political landscape worth fighting for, including the Afghanistan mission, the environment, the omnibus crime bill or the economic direction of the country.

I have a suggestion for giving the gutless Grits what they deserve. Who says they are the only government in waiting? There has been another party around since 1961 that has never been trusted to be the government of this country or even the Opposition, though in 1988 the NDP did win 43 seats. My proposal is this: Those hordes of urban voters who just can't stand the Conservatives should try a new option -- the NDP.

I have to laugh when callers to my program inveigh against the very possibility of giving the NDP some real power in Parliament. Most of them want to talk about the disastrous economic consequences of what the "socialists" would do. Without noting the party's commitment to balanced budgets, they talk about the mountains of debt that would pile up.

But wait? Wasn't it the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau who spent the numbers off the national credit card and attempted to breast-feed the nation from cradle to grave? Wasn't it the Conservatives under Brian Mulroney who pushed Canada toward fiscal meltdown in two terms of drop-dead financial profligacy? Never mind what the NDP might do. Think about what the traditional parties have done. By the latest calculations, Canadians are coughing up $18 million a day, every day, to pay the interest on the mountains of debt the so-called "responsible" parties have racked up.

Then there is the "Remember Ontario" refrain, a dour reference to Bob Rae's dubious stewardship of Confederation's former Big Kahuna. Surely because of what Bob Rae did to Ontario, surely the NDP must never be trusted to govern again. People who argue like that almost never want to talk about Roy Romanow, living proof that an NDP government can be every bit as fiscally responsible as anyone else, while still promoting the party's policies and values.

It bears remembering: Those enemies of the Common Sense Revolution may not have liked Mike Harris, but no one suggests that a Conservative must never again run the show at Queen's Park. Quebecers booted out Robert Bourassa with great gusto, then brought him back, and now have another Liberal calling the shots in Quebec City. A poor job rating does not bring eternal banishment to the traditional parties, so why should it to the NDP?

The list of NDP politicians that didn't ruin their provinces by winning power is long and not without some distinction: Dave Barrett, Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark, Alan Blakeney, Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert. Gazooks, even Albertans once voted in the NDP as the official Opposition!

I ask you, is it really that scary to think of Jack

Cadman Controversy goes to RCMP

With the release of a transcript between Steven Harper and reporter Tom Zytaruk in 2005, the ammunition was more than enough for a serious call to the RCMP to investigate possible corruption with the Conservatives.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/02/28/pf-4883305.html

February 28, 2008 Scratchy tape begins with Harper request: 'This is not for publication' By Alexander Panetta, THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - The voice on the scratchy tape is unmistakably Stephen Harper's. It was as unmistakable as his concern that the tape's contents might one day be made public. Harper interrupted a local reporter in 2005 when asked about allegations his party had offered financial enticements to a dying MP to win his support on a critical vote. "This is not for publication?" Harper asked Tom Zytaruk. He was told that the interview was intended as fodder for a biography of Chuck Cadman, the late MP from Surrey, B.C. But the ensuing two minutes, 21 seconds of audio raise questions about apparent discrepancies between what the prime minister said Thursday and what Harper himself said on the tinny tape more than two years ago. The prime minister said Thursday he looked into claims Cadman was offered financial considerations and determined they were untrue. The tape suggests Harper was not only aware of a financial offer to Cadman, but that he gave it the go-ahead, while urging party emissaries not to "press" Cadman too hard. Harper's conversation with B.C. journalist Tom Zytaruk took place outside the Cadman residence just after Harper paid a courtesy visit to the former MP's widow shortly after his death. "The offer to Chuck was that it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election," Harper says. And Harper says of the people who made the offer: "They were legitimately representing the party." Here's how Harper summarizes his instructions to those party operatives: "I said, 'Don't press (Cadman), I mean, you have this theory that it's, you know, financial insecurity, and you know, just, you know, if that's what you're saying make that case,' but I said, 'Don't press it."' The Liberals have already sent a letter to the RCMP asking for an investigation into whether the entire incident could violate the bribery provisions in Section 119 of the Criminal Code. The Mounties said Thursday they're examining the request. Harper is clear on the tape that he never expected the overtures to succeed. Cadman did in fact vote to rescue the Martin government. "I don't know the details. I can tell you that I had told the individuals, I mean, they wanted to do it. But I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind." - Transcript of author's tape of Harper sheds light on Cadman case OTTAWA - Transcript of a portion of author Tom Zytaruk's tape of a 2005 interview with Stephen Harper, then leader of the Opposition, for his biography of the late Chuck Cadman: Zytaruk: "I mean, there was an insurance policy for a million dollars. Do you know anything about that?" Harper: "I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions, uh, this is not for publication?" Zytaruk: "This (inaudible) for the book. Not for the newspaper. This is for the book." Harper: "Um, I don't know the details. I can tell you that I had told the individuals, I mean, they wanted to do it. But I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind, he was going to vote with the Liberals and I knew why and I respected the decision. But they were just, they were convinced there was, there were financial issues. There may or may not have been, but I said that's not, you know, I mean, I, that's not going to change." Zytaruk: "You said (inaudible) beforehand and stuff? It wasn't even a party guy, or maybe some friends, if it was people actually in the party?" Harper: "No, no, they were legitimately representing the party. I said don't press him. I mean, you have this theory that it's, you know, financial insecurity and, you know, just, you know, if that's what you're saying, make that case but don't press it. I don't think, my view was, my view had been for two or three weeks preceding it, was that Chuck was not going to force an election. I just, we had all kinds of our guys were calling him, and trying to persuade him, I mean, but I just had concluded that's where he stood and respected that." Zytaruk: "Thank you for that. And when (inaudible)." Harper: "But the, uh, the offer to Chuck was that it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election." Zytaruk: "Oh, OK." Harper: "OK? That's my understanding of what they were talking about." Zytaruk: "But, the thing is, though, you made it clear you weren't big on the idea in the first place?" Harper: "Well, I just thought Chuck had made up his mind, in my own view ..." Zytaruk: "Oh, okay. So, it's not like, he's like, (inaudible)." Harper: "I talked to Chuck myself. I talked to (inaudible). You know, I talked to him, oh, two or three weeks before that, and then several weeks before that. I mean, you know, I kind of had a sense of where he was going." Zytaruk: "Well, thank you very much."

Rick Mercer Liberal Song

Harper's budget makes wrong choices and ignore families

Stephen Harper's budget fails to address the concerns of local families.

In the Federal election of 2006, Canadians sent a clear message to both the Liberals and the Conservatives that they were tired of corruption and mis-governance. They did this by first turfing the Liberals out of power and by second; giving the Conservatives a minority government.

The Liberals have consistently propped up this Conservative minority government by refusing to vote or by failing to challenge Harper. They are in effect...giving Harper a majority government!

Canadians are paying Liberal MP's a $141,000.00 salary to stand up and be the Official Opposition. These MP's are doing nothing to make our voices heard or to earn that salary. If it was you or I who was taking money and not performing, we would be fired immediately. THe Liberal corruption continues.

Someone has to say no to Harper!

With Stephan Dion's Liberals siding with Harper's Conservatives, the NDP is the only national party in the House of Commons that is standing up to Harper and making fairness a top priority.

This budget, I call it Lib Lite, continues to place corporate tax giveaways ahead of investing in hard-working families. A tax free saving account is nice IF working families were in a position to save the $5,000.00 per year. Take a look around you and tell me who, in your family or circle of friends can sock away 5K.

The Harper budget fails to address the concerns of all Canadians. There is no money for child care, no new money for housing, no new financing instruments for combating climate change and nothing for skill development.

For all those Liberals out there who are as equally fed up as I am of Dion's lack of action, I know of at least one Party that would welcome you with open arms.

Canadians lose, Dion buckles and Harper wins

Have you been watching this?

Stephen Harper just unveiled a budget where profitable banks and big oil companies win, and average Canadians are clear losers.

Harper’s message to today’s families: “You’re on your own.”

And that’s why only one Party, Jack Layton and the NDP, called on all opposition parties to finally put the brakes on Harper’s failed agenda.

And yet this Conservative budget is going to pass. Yes, you read that right. Once again Harper will push his agenda through Parliament with the help of Stéphane Dion.

This is getting to be a dirty habit for Mr. Dion. Just recently,

• Harper rewarded his corporate friends with massive tax giveaways while Dion sat on his hands during a key vote;
• Harper yesterday received Dion’s approval to extend his failed war in Afghanistan (one of the biggest flip-flops in Canadian history);
• And now Harper has Dion’s consent to pass a budget that puts the priorities of big banks and big polluters ahead of hard-working Canadians.

It’s time that you and I send a message. Mr. Dion, after 3 strikes - you’re out. Average Canadians are looking for leadership that will take on Stephen Harper, not enable him.

I urge each and every one of you to re-examine your voting patterns. Some of you support the NDP Provincially yet vote Liberal Federally. It is time that we all sent a clear message to Dion and Harper!!!

The only option for a voice for Working Families is with Jack Layton. Harper doesn't care and Dion and his team refuse to what they were elected to do. They are completely ineffective and are supporters of Harper's Conservatives.

Confidence votes begin two days after budget

From the Ottawa Sun:

OTTAWA–Election speculation continues in Ottawa with news that the first vote on the budget will be on Feb. 28, just 48 hours after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers it.

"The next cornerstone priority that the government will focus on is Budget 2008, which will be tabled Feb. 26, 2008," Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan told the Commons.

"The first day of debate on the budget will be Wednesday, Feb. 27 – the day after the budget – and the second day of debate (and the first vote) will be Thursday, Feb. 28," Van Loan said.

The first confidence test will be a vote on a Bloc Québécois sub-amendment to the budget, followed by a confidence vote on a Liberal amendment and on the final budget vote itself.

The government hasn't said when it will schedule those votes.

Budget votes will be watched very closely because they are a matter of confidence. If the Liberals, NDP and Bloc decide they can't support the minority Conservative government's budget, Canadians could be going to the polls as early as April 7.

While it has been reported by party sources that Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is ready to pull the plug on the government, some veterans are telling him to hold his fire.

"(Dion) has always maintained that he's got to see the budget, for one thing. He's not going to say he is taking the government down on a budget he hasn't seen," said Liberal spokesperson Mark Dunn.

"That would be totally irresponsible.

"After he sees the budget, he is going to have to consult with people," Dunn said, adding the party will hold its regular caucus meeting the day after the budget.

Van Loan said beside the various budget votes, Parliament could be looking at two other confidence tests around that time.

Van Loan announced that debate on a motion to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan will begin Feb. 25. The Conservatives have made it a confidence vote so it, too, could trigger an election.

"Before the budget, we will continue to work on the common ground that has been built on the Afghanistan mission," Van Loan told MPs.

The Tories refused to say when they will vote on the Afghanistan mission – although they have set the stage for one following two days of debate on Feb. 25 and 26.

Dion is still holding his cards close to his chest regarding the timing of precipitating a possible election.

"I want to say to the Canadian people – I always say the same in public and in private – two things. ... The first thing is that we will choose our time. The second thing is that we need to be ready at any time," he told reporters.

"For the ones (in my party) that insist on the first (part) of my sentence, I insist on the second part."

NDP Leader Jack Layton urged the government to hold the vote on Afghanistan before the one on the budget.

Layton wants to see the Liberals voting alongside the Conservatives so he can wage an election campaign presenting his NDP as the only anti-war national party.

Dion defaults on debt to Orchard

Randy Burton from the Star Phoenix sums the entire Orchard, Beatty debacle up very well.

...."No one should know that better than Saskatchewan Liberals. Theirs is a history rife with deposed leaders and backroom deals that put personal gain above party loyalty. As a result, they remain mired in the political cellar, living at 10 per cent in the provincial polls and unable to regain much of a foothold on the federal scene."


...."People in the North are going to remember this appointment long after Joan Beatty is a footnote in Canadian political history. For proof, you need look no further than the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt, where Jean Chretien appointed Georgette Sheridan as the Liberal nominee in 1993.

She won that year, but the internal divisions it created have never fully healed. Sheridan was defeated by Jim Pankiw in 1997 and the Reform-Alliance-Conservative metamorphosis has owned the riding every since."

the saga continues.....Beatty and the Beast: II

As the announcement of Stephan Dion's appointment of Joan Beatty in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill Rivers spreads across Canada, outcry from all areas is been seeing, not only in the mainstream media but on Liberal Blogs.

Here are only a few of the many comments:

From our beloved friends at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation;
"We're not sure if Irish eyes will smile on her on St. Patrick's Day. Voters, some of which were in her old provincial riding, may not take kindly to someone who backed out on them so quickly before."

Premier Brad Wall states: "But we're just over a month from when the returns came in. It's hard to fathom that this wasn't a possibility known to others long before the decision she made here in the new year.

Lorne Calvert had this to say; ...calls Beatty's move a mistake saying if she wins the federal by-election she'll be a small voice in a large Opposition caucus. He instead thinks she should have gone with Layton's NDP. He goes as far as to refer to her as a "turncoat"

A BCer in Toronto Blog: "....If they had an appointment in mind for this riding they should have waved off Orchard long ago..."

Metis leader Jim Durocher says in an angry letter to Dion; "If this travesty occurs in Desnethe, if you sir lose sight of the basic proposition that the people of the north, be they my people, white or First Nation, have the basic right to select their own candidate, unless some emergency, I personally will not vote Liberal ... I suspect many others will in fact vote Conservative or stay home."

Murray Mandryck from the Leader Post: "At best, it appears Beatty likely got this appointment for the wrong reasons. At worst, it provides another example of what's wrong in politics today."

NewsTalk 650 Radio: "Beatty has some explaining to do. But – given this level of respect for voters -- don’t hold your breath. "

James Curran, over at "What do I know Grit" has a list of letters sent to both Dion and himself over the appointment.

"People in the Liberal Party of Canada have a national convention coming up at the end of this year. If that does not become a leadership convention, it would be an excellent opportunity to make specific changes to the constitution of the Liberal Party of Canada to limit the power of the leader to appoint candidates." writes blogger Jason Morris in Gauntlet.ca

The Canadian Sentinel is reporting: "Irate supporters of David Orchard are warning that Liberals will lose a coming by election in Saskatchewan now that Leader Stephane Dion has chosen to appoint an NDP defector as the party's candidate."

And then finally, you have the idiot comment of the week by Sask Party MLA, Dustin Duncan: ...:the NDP party should be paying for a byelection in the Cumberland constituency now that MLA Joan Beatty is quitting provincial politics and running for the federal Liberal party in an upcoming byelection." I have to thank Buckdog for letting me know that one!!

So as you see, Dion and his cronies, have lost a huge amount of support over his actions. Joan Beatty needs to seek counselling to try to figure out how she can represent First Nations and Metis from her basement and David Orchard should seek out a new membership card. There are still another couple parties out there.

Dion's First of Many 2008 Blunders to Come

I invite you all to go over to Peterborough Politics and check out Cameron's comments. Couldn't of said it better......

Beatty and the Beast

So the Federal Liberals have anointed Joan Beatty, former Sask NDP Cabinet Minister as their candidate of choice in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill Rivers over David Orchard.

It's not so much that Dion has found a candidate, as it is amazing that he and the Liberal Party would stifle the democratic process of a nomination race, preventing the grassroots members from deciding whom their candidate should be.

News that the nomination process might be circumvented was a direct blow to Liberal members in DMCR and has been a topic of discussion in Liberal blogs for weeks with some card carrying Liberals pondering their allegiance to the Party. Now that is has become official, it is going to be interested how much of the traditional Liberal vote will still hold.

When you look at the history of Orchard and the fact that if it hadn't been for him, and his work for Dion in the 2006 Leadership contest, Dion would not necessarily become Leader, it is completely amazing that Ralph Goodale was able to amplify his whining and convince Dion that he needed to step into the nomination.

What is even more amazing, is that Orchard had declared his candidacy in the Riding back in Oct and yet Goodale and Dion still found a way to shut him out 4 months later. I am curious as to how devote Orchard will remain to a second Party that continues to push him out of the way and tries to bury him. There's always Souris-Moose-Mountain I guess.

When you look at the Federal Liberals, it is no wonder that they flounder as the Official Opposition and are a completely ineffective in that role. Propping up Harper and the Conservatives is the only thing they can do until Dion actually figures out who is running the show in his own Party.

Joan Beatty is a wonderful lady and is committed to First Nations and Metis issues. What is most interesting here, is that she was just re-elected as the NDP MLA for Cumberland a mere 3 months ago with full knowledge of a pending Federal by-election and possible General election call.

Garnering 65.96% of the popular vote (3,124) over the Liberals measly 4.86% (230), and the Sask Party's 22.97% (1,088), the voters gave her a clear mandate to be and take their voice forward to the SASKATCHEWAN Legislature. These voters include the First Nation, Metis persons that she is so, supposedly, committed too.

Apparently, such commitment to voters is a rare thing. When you look back through history, it is not too surprising that the optics of "being in it for yourself" is presented. There are numerous examples of politicians who have jumped from federal to provincial, or provincial to federal politics under a different party's banner. Although in all fairness, not saying it was done, but it is entirely possible that a "promise of a Ministry" would and could, buy off the position of an Opposition MLA

So now the voters in DMCR, are presented with a rather interesting dilemma;

Do they vote for the Harper and the Conservatives, whom have done nothing for Saskatchewan with their current 12 MPs?

Do they vote for Dion and the Liberals, who are clearly an ineffective opposition, a prop for the Conservatives and whose candidate clearly has no allegiance to them?

Or do they put their voices with Jack Layton and the NDP, where they will be actually heard in Ottawa?