Canada Election 2008 blog watch: II
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- On Monday we ran an item excerpting from various blogs centering on the upcoming elections.
Here’s another installment, with new blogs added:
»»» rabble.ca`s election coverage – http://election.rabble.ca/
Labour and social movements have made a difference
There is one very strong conclusion to draw from Canada`s five election campaign. Don`t draw any conclusions yet.
The trend is now negative for Harper, and positive for Liberals and the NDP. How far that trend goes by Tuesday is simply unpredictable, but this in itself is the excitement of these last days.
»»» Paul Wells – http://blog.macleans.ca/category/blog-central/national/inkless-wells/
No! Not the dreaded Operation Hey, Pull My Finger!
Secret Conservative memo somehow finds its way into reporters` hands blah blah blahzzzzzsssnarf
The letter promptly leaked, and accounts of it appeared in newspapers across the country on the last day of the year. Which was the point. The Conservatives had learned early that if they sent something to every one of their riding organizations, it would leak. The letter was designed to be read by ordinary voters, not by its nominal insider audience. Putting it out this way was just cheaper than buying ads.
â Right Side Up, p. 207
»»» David Akin`s On the Hill – http://davidakin.blogware.com/blog
Advance poll turnout drops
Well, here’s my best shot: there is some evidence to suggest that the Conservatives are the best party at this point for GOTV — Get Out The Vote — with sophisticated database tracking tools and so on. A key component of a good GOTV effort is to get people to vote for your guy as soon as possible…. So looking again at our busiest ridings — I’d say the common denominator would be an active and mobilized Tory vote — whether it’s to re-elect a heavily favoured incumbent like O’Connor or to put a challenger — like former senator Michael Fortier in Vaudreuil-Soulanges or Peter Kent in Thornhill — over the top.
»»» Warren Kinsella – http://www.warrenkinsella.com
DAY 33: Kinsella’s clear Canadian Campaign Coverage
I just got back from NOFX’s jam-packed show here in Tee Dot. There’s another show tomorrow night, I’m interviewing Fat Mike, and all of SFH will be in attendance. At tonight’s gig, a couple thousand punks were shoe-horned in there, and an impressive brawl broke out right beside me. Fists and bodies were flying, and when I ascertained that no one was seriously hurt I had to laugh. It’s a little like the election: things are getting crowded, and the verbal fisticuffs are flying. So who’s scoring hits, and who ain’t?
⢠WINNER: Stéphane Dion. Before yesterday’s speech at a joint Canadian Club/Empire Club luncheon, I had found the Liberal leader’s willingness to call Stephen Harper a liar off-putting, as well as bad strategy. First off, aspiring Prime Ministers aren’t supposed to say stuff like that. Secondly, it gets him nowhere: when the effect of liar wears off, what are you going to call him? A criminal? A pedophile? (Oops! Harper did that to Paul Martin, didn’t he?) Anyway yesterday, Dion was very effective. He was tough, and he came out swinging at Harper’s economic weak flank but he didn’t get penalized for hitting below the belt. A knock-out (yesterday, at least) ………………
»»» Stephen Taylor – http://www.stephentaylor.ca
The Economist endorses a Harper minority
Just published by the Economist,
And yet, in a sinking world, Canada is something of a cork. Its well-regulated banks are solid. Growth has slowed but not stopped. The big worry is the fear that an American recession will drag Canada down with it.
Mr Harper says, rightly enough, that his government has taken prudent measures to help Canada weather a storm it cannot duck: he has offered tax cuts and selective aid to help vulnerable manufacturing towns. But it is his seeming non-reaction to what is so far a non-crisis that looks likely to deny him the majority he was seeking, and could even let in the opposition. In what is the first credit-crunch election in a big Western country, Mr Harper`s ejection would set a dispiriting precedent that panic plays better politically than prudence.
»»» ottlib – http://ottlib.blogspot.com/
I have to disagree with Jason Cherniak
In this post Jason Cherniak argues that if Mr. Harper only wins a minority government on October 14 he will be gone as leader of the Conservative Party. I have to respectfully disagree.
Jason presents a reasonable argument. However, I believe he is missing one key element. The party in power does not have the luxury of voluntarily replacing its leaders when that party only has a minority government. As soon as they do so they make the current leader a lame duck completely unable to govern. That in and of itself would be bad enough for the prospects of the Conservatives winning another election. However, there is also the consideration that the government may fall as a result of a no-confidence motion during the chaos of a leadership selection process. Such a threat would make it even more difficult for the party to govern.
So the only way that the Conservatives get rid of Mr. Harper is if he loses the election and even then he may be able to hang on if the Liberals only win a very slim minority.
»»» Liblogs – Directory of Liberal blogs – http://www.liblogs.ca/
From the government which promised us transparency and accountability, and instead gave us stealth, smoke, mirrors and obfuscation, we learn that not only is the Afghanistan war effort way over budget, we really can’t tell by how much.
A lack of federal government “fiscal transparency” has masked the true cost of Canada’s Afghanistan mission, but it could cost taxpayers at least $18.1 billion by 2011, the Parliamentary Budget Officer revealed Thursday.
»»» Blogging Dippers – NDP Bloggers – http://www.newdemocratsonline.ca/
Shorter Canadian Banks: ‘Thanks for the gift and no, we won’t be passing it on to our customers.’
The Bank of Canada slashed its key lending rate to 2.5 per cent Wednesday, one of many central banks making the move around the world. However, Canadian banks only cut their rate by a quarter of a point.
»»» Excited Delirium – http://www.exciteddelirium.ca/
Muzzled: A Full Record of Conservative Candidates that do NOT Speak
Stephen Harper talks about leadership all the time.
What leader is there that actually does everything? Stephen Harper.
What leader fears delegation more than anything? Stephen Harper.
This site has been keeping track of all of the Conservative candidates that have been muzzled during the course of this election. There are far too many on the list.
[...]Here`s my most ridiculous rhetorical question of the day: why is mainstream media not picking up on this?
»»» Tyee`s coverage of the Canadian Election – http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/
Will Canadians vote to save their homes?
In a September 24 report, little noticed outside the business press, analysts working for Merrill Lynch Canada warned that we’re just about where the Americans were in 2006:
“What worries us is that Canadian households have been running a larger financial deficit than households in either the US or the UK …
»»» Bourque Newswatch – http://www.bourque.org
Dime-a-dozen polls:
cp: Con 31%
Libs 27%
Ndp 20%
Grn 12%
Bloc 8%
cpac:
Con 33%
Libs 29%
Ndp 20% Bloc 11%
Grn 7%
Ang/Rd:
Con 35%
Libs 27%
Ndp 18%
Grn 10%
Bloc 9%
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April 5th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
why is the memory so short with Canadians.
Does everyone forget the betrayal by the Liberal party of Canada when they did away with the right of Canadians to have a domestic oil price. The liberals sided with the oil companies against the public so that big bucks would continue to flow to oil companies.
How can Canadians enjoy more jobs? well why not make the oil companies build a pipeline across Canada so that every Canadian can have cheaper gas and heating oil? And what about the NDP idea of raising the old age pension so that the elderly would be above the poverty line. Old age pensioners have never had a fail brake from government. Then there’s medi-care. why not bring the troops home and use that money to look after our own before engaging in more American wars.
We really need a system where Canadians can chose their leader separate from the political parties.
Pity we have to go through this system to do it.
Guess only a revolution will bring true democracy to Canada. With the apathy of the people it may never happen.
Ken Flecknell, NB