….as PEI can welcome another Grit government for 4 more years!

Congrats!

And, as a sidebar, the Cons kept true to form in using personal attacks during the campaign to try to gain political advantage.

The premier used most of his victory speech to condemn the personal attacks he says he suffered at the hands of Progressive Conservative Leader Olive Crane.

“To my family — my mother, my in-laws — you didn’t sign onto this. I apologize that you had to go through some difficult times,” he said.

“But, remember this, Islanders sent a clear message that the Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island is the honest and forthright party and thank you to Islanders for delivering a clear message.”

Crane and others accused Ghiz’s friends and family of benefiting from the controversial Provincial Nominee Program.

Midway through the campaign three former provincial government workers came forward with accusations of government officials accepting bribes from potential immigrants.

They passed the allegations on to federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who referred them to the RCMP and Canadian Border Services.

Ghiz’s mom, Rose Ellen, has been in politics her whole life, and she says she’s never seen anything like it.

“This was probably the dirtiest campaign. I have no problem attacking someone on policy. It doesn’t both me one bit,” she said. “But when you get personal and, when the personals are lies, that is what really is upsetting.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

OMFG! WTF!! IMA MP!! And I was jk!!! GF’s BFF was ROTFL!!!

G2G & chng FB status!

C u in YOW! Woot!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

And afraid about what the next several years will bring.

But now that the initial anger is wearing off, I am more determined than ever to work with like-minded progressives in ensuring that the Harper government does NOT destroy my country over the next four years and does NOT receive a mandate beyond that time.

I won’t sugar-coat it, the next few years will be messy. Public health care will be eroded. The public service will be gutted. And social con measures will be quietly integrated into policy. The evangelical Christians and the like have been Harper’s biggest supporters – and it is payback time.

How to work toward minimising the damage? The first step is to merge the Liberals and the NDP. The divided progressive vote handed the Cons their majority. Just look at the seats they gained in T.O. And this has to be done soon. Inside a year.

And Liberal and Dipper poobahs? If you do this, I will be there with my support, my time and my cheque book.

don’t do it and this country is looking at successive Con majorities.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Please vote!

But not for the Harper Conservatives.

And here’s why:

1)    They have demonstrated nothing but contempt for Parliament and for the two-thirds of Canadians who do not necessarily share their point of view. This must NOT be rewarded!

2)    They lie. About everything. About doctored docs. About the budget. About the cost of the jets and the G 20. About mega-prisons for phantom criminals. They only tell the truth if there is a political advantage to it, speaking of which…

3)    Unless there is political advantage to be gained, they are not interested in your ideas.  Or the ideas of experts, the provincial governments, the Opposition parties or the guy on the corner asking for change. They implement no policy, utter no statement or take no position unless they see a spin that works in their favour. This is not sound policy-making. This is propaganda-making.

4)    They have also scorned the valuable advice of our impartial public servants. This is because they a) thing the public service is out to get them and b) despise fact-based decision-making if the facts don’t support their dogma. Information is the enemy to them.

5)    They govern through fear. Fear of socialist hordes descending upon Ottawa if the NDP does well today. Fear of terrorists. Fear of economic meltdown. Fear works. Fear keeps the populace submissive.

6)    Wasted money. Our money. The G 8 and Tony’s gazebo and the jackbooted security at the G 20 photo-op. Fake lakes. Untendered contracts. Media control centres. He won’t even listen to the very same Parliamentary Budget Officer that he himself appointed! A fiscal conservative like me is appalled by this!

7)    They have ruined Canada’s reputation abroad. We were once thought of as the dependable power-broker. No more. We are seen as a bully on the block much like our neighbours to the south. A bully with the worst environmental record in the Western hemisphere! Speaking of which…

8)    They have done absolutely nothing for the environment. Brian Mulroney was perhaps the greenish PM in history. Too bad the Harperites didn’t follow suit.

9)    They want to cut a valuable tool for our police – the gun registry. Even the cops say that it should stay! I have to register my car, why not my guns?

10)    The Cons have played politics down to the lowest common denominator. It can get no lower. I as a Canadian, expect a high level of discourse and debate from those who govern me. There is no debate. Only hate, paranoia and dogma.

11)    The total control exercised by the PMO over the Ministers renders to the level of lapdogs some very fine members of the CPC caucus. They are muzzled under threat of retribution. This is not a way to run a government. This is not a way to run a party.

12)    This control has resulted in a lack of transparency unparalleled in western democracies. Decisions are taken by a handful of staff at the beck of the PMO.  And the media is being spoon fed only what the PMO chooses.

13)    Finally, this government has divided this country is such a way that I wonder if the schisms thus created can ever be closed. East vs. West. Rural vs. Urban. Tim Horton’s patrons vs. Starbucks. Divide and conquer has been the ReformCons mantra. Divide them. Scare them. Rule them.

So vote, my friends. Please vote. But don’t forget the past…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

IT’S FINALLY E-DAY!!

And, unbelievably, I may switch my vote at the last moment. I truly do admire and respect my Grit MP, but can I support the party that he represents?

For a pacifist like me, it is difficult. The Grits did support sending young Canadian men and women into that cesspool called Afghanistan. And only one federalist party opposed this.

Tough decision.

But I do know my vote will not be for the Harper Party. Lose your leader, CPC. You’ll get a lot more support.

I’ll put up a few more posts as the day goes on. One to remind one and all why a vote for Harper is a vote for the politics of fear and exclusion. One on some high level observations on the campaign, and finally, I will dust off the dartboard and make some fearless predictions.

Hang on, folks, it’s gonna be a helluva ride!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

I’m sure to be posting more than a few things from now through E-Day, so, today, I am focussing on:

KITTENS!

Awwwwwwww…..

*SLAP*

Whew. Thanks. I needed a bit of slap upside the head just there!

1) A windy day in O Dot yesterday. I swear I saw Dorothy AND Winnie the Pooh AND my recycling bins flying east over St. Laurent! Were these the political winds of change that I’ve been hearing so much about?

Speaking of my recycling bins, has anyone seen them? One is black and one is blue.  They could be anywhere east of Canterbury HS. Please contact me if you spot them.

2) Warren Kinsella posted this link to the world’s first zombie-proof house! And it’s about time!

Guess we know where the Harperites will scatter to if the polls hold to the 2nd and the socialist hordes take power!

3) Barack Obama caved to the lunatic fringe (aka, the GOP) and produced his “long form” birth certificate to prove that he is indeed, an American.

Two questions:

• Does Canada have a “long form” birth certificate? And if we do, has Harper done away with it and replaced it with a voluntary birth certificate?
• Will Harper follow suit and produce his birth certificate? That would put away all of those nasty rumours about being a robot and all. Just sayin’..

4)  Here’s what Iggy said to the CPC the other day:

5) Finally, on a completely non-political note, I wanted to wish the best of luck to the son of a friend and colleague of mine on an adventure he has been on since last year.

Shayne Orok has made into the final 5 of what can be best described as Korea’s version of American Idol. This achieved in spite of the fact that he doesn’t speak Korean AND that he has been away from his (very close) family for months now AND that there were about a gazillion entrants to start with!

This kid has a talent, man! I hope he remembers the nice bald man who said hi to him at the office Xmas party 6 years ago!

Given him a listen.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Canada Trendline [PDF]

Conservative	36.6%	-1.2
NDP	30.4%	+2.6
Liberal	21.9%	-1.0
BQ	6.0%	+0.2
Green	4.1%	-0.6

(3 days ending April 27)

And from ThreeHundredEight.com

Interesting how things have changed since the debates, eh?

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

And a Huriphoonado will be sure to come if the NDP – gasp - ever gains power or even a sniff of it!

Here’s Steve:

The alternative that the opposition offers, symbolized most dramatically by the NDP, are enormous increases in government expenses, the raising of taxes, the raising of prices which we know will have a devastating effect on consumers’ pockets and ultimately on our economy and the destruction of jobs.

Run away! Run away! Jack and his evil band of granola-munching socialists will find you and take away your kittens if you don’t do what they say!

Stephen LOVES kittens!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

There has been some talk in the mainstream media and the Twittersphere and Blogosphere (and a whole mess of other spheres I am sure) lately about how some candidates – notably those representing the Harper Party of Harper© – are saying thanks but no thanks – or just not bothering to show up – at local all-candidate meetings.

The excuse put out there most often is that they think that connecting with voters by canvassing is more useful than attending a debate.

Poppycock. And it’s not fair to the voters.

First, voters want to be able to compare and contrast the candidates – in person and in the presence of the other choices. They want to pose questions to all of them and observe and compare the answers, the body language, the character of the candidate in the presence of the others in the race. So by blowing off the meetings, the candiates are doing the voters and their communities a great disservice. Pure and simple.

Second, canvassing door to door is essential, of course. But, as a former candidate and holder of public office myself, I find it impossible to buy into the excuse that it is better to canvass than to attend a group at an all-candidates meeting. Having a group in a room is a very efficient use of “face-time” in that you are making direct contact with as many voters in a short time span as you would in about 6 hours of door stops (making certain assumptions, of course). And these folks are VOTERS! They will VOTE! So the time is not wasted. If there had been more opportunities to address groups of voters during last fall’s municipal election, I – and the other candidates – would have surely availed ourselves of the opportunities.

So, my take is that the decisions are almost certainly not coming from the campaign offices themselves but from further up the food chain. You see, all-candidate meetings can be risky propositions. Candidates can slip up and say something damaging to the campaign as a whole. The press cover these events and disasters can, and have happened. This is especially pertinent to new and unseasoned candidates… more of a chance of an “oops”.

It is even MORE important to the front-runner in a campaign… manage the risk to the greatest extent possible. And the CPC is all about risk management – they have shown that time and time again.

Bottom line – the main decision-makers are calling the shots here… and from a campaign strategy point of view, they are probably right to tell some of their local candidates to stay away.

But that doesn’t make it A-OK because they are denying voters an opportunity to gather more information to help them make informed choices about who they will support on E-Day.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…is what I call these words:

Conservatives are reacting with fury to a Liberal attack ad that accuses them of harbouring a secret agenda to cut health care funding if they obtain a majority government.

“The Liberal ad uses some of the dirtiest tricks in the book — including twisting words out of context and deliberately altering dates to make old words appear recent,” Tory campaign manager Jenni Byrne wrote to party supporters in reaction to the new attack ad.

I hate attack ads no matter who the source and who the target, but I had a bit of a belly laugh when I read the bolded text above. The Cons perfected the art. And isn’t imitation the highest form of flattery?

Remember this ad that was pulled from the Con website after they were spanked by everyone for so blatantly taking words out of context?

Cons – if you’re gonna give crap like that, ya gotta be prepared to take it too.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario