Yet another classy move by the Liberal Party of Canada. It turns out that the name of their "Green Shift" plan was stolen from an existing organization, which wants nothing to do with Liberal politics.

The fact that the Liberal Party of Canada has used our name for their environmental plan is, to say the least, extremely upsetting, and damaging to the reputation that we uphold. We sincerely apologize to all of the businesses, institutions and individuals who are a part of the real Green Shift and sincerely hope that you will not suffer from anyone accidently thinking that you have ties to a political agenda.
[...]
For the record, we were notified by the Liberal Party the evening before they launched their campaign. They presented it to us in a fashion that implied that we should be happy by all of the extra traffic that we would receive as a result. We immediately notified them that we would take action to protect the name and the integrity that we have associated with it, and that we were not interested in receiving misdirected traffic. We began by politely asking. After receiving calls from the media, we contacted the Liberal party to ask again that they please stop using a name that we have clearly associated with our environmental program, to prevent confusion. Only after they refused to stop, did we decide to send a legal notice. We never did call the media – we simply received a flood of calls, thanked all of the concerned businesses/individuals/institutions etc., and gave honest answers to any media that reached us with questions.

(h/t).

Labels: Environment, Liberal Party, politics

The rampant abuse of Canadas Human Rights Commissions has finally come to a head. The case against Mark Steyn and Macleans, along with the complaint against Ezra Levant have raised the public profile of this issue. Finally the Commissions are getting the daily grilling that they rightfully deserve.

On the federal level, Richard Warman has single handedly demolished any credibility that section 13 might have once had. Section 13 is the one which makes it illegal to offend another person. Warman makes a handsome living vicariously taking offense for groups who are not offended enough to complain. Warman's the rich middle-aged white guy who's complaining on behalf of every single Canadian Muslim about Mark Steyn's article "The Future Belongs to Islam".

Then there's the case against Ezra Levant, former publisher of the Western Standard. Some radical Muslim from Ontario is filing a grievance against him in Alberta for re-publishing some of the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

This case is a bit of a personal concern because I too posted one of the 'toons on this very website way back in the day. Thankfully none of my 3.4 readers/month found it offensive enough to file a complaint against me, but the precedent is being set in the Ezra case as I write this. If this complaint against Ezra is successful, there is no reason why I too couldn't be found guilty in the future of being a bigot - for something as simple as posting a picture that was very relevant to the news of the day.

I suspect that both Levant and Steyn's motivations behind their publications were very similar to my own: simply to inform a rightfully curious public about a very serious news matter. After reading various news articles about riots around the world, I found myself curious to see what the fuss was all about. I also found it equally odd that so few legitimate news sources would show the source of the outrage, much less link to it. And like Ezra, after some Googling, I found them - and posted one for others to see. Not to spread hate, and not to offend Islam, but to satisfy the curiosity of ones self and others.

Likewise, Steyn's article "The Future Belongs to Islam", which is in fact an excerpt from his book America Alone, was most offensive to Muslims because of the quotes it contained from various Imam's. In the Steyn-Macleans case, the complaint is against speaking truth - not 'cause it's untrue, but because it's unbecoming.

The differences between the two cases are subtle. In the Ezra case, it's a simple case of freedom of speech vs. the illogical individual human desire to be loved by everybody. The Steyn case, on the other hand, is a little more sinister. In his case a radical Islamic anti-semite is very simply trying to stifle a free Canadian press from saying ANYTHING negative about Islam. Mohammed Elmasry and Richard Warman want to Islamify that old Las Vegas adage: What happens in the Mosque, stays in the Mosque.

These assaults on the freedoms of Canadians should not be allowed to continue. The Steyn and Levant cases are media-magnified examples of what has always been a truly bizarre aspect of Canadian "justice". But the the general public is starting to take notice at the HRCs attacks on mainstream journalism. This is in turn shining light on many of their more lazy and unscrupulous tactics (the light shining on the lazy and unscrupulous tactics of the HRC's not - in this case - those of the media).

The Liberal Party of Canada was the first to grab the ball here. MP Keith Martin is seeking a review of Section 13. While his fellow party members have been far from vocal on the issue, it seems that if it became an issue of debate within the Liberal party, the party would land on the side of Mr. Martin.

Meanwhile the governing Conservatives have been worse than silent on the issue. The Justice Department is so far supporting the status quo. Meanwhile, many Conservative MP's have made statements in favor of the Free Speechers, but Stephen Harper will not clearly state his position in this matter.

The Conservative's may be underestimating the extent to which we Canadians value our freedoms. This is not only a concern of the libertarian sect of their party, but of a whole segment of Canada. Canadians of all cultures value our freedoms, be they Muslim, Arab, Christian, Black, White, Gay, Mormon, Alcoholic, Christian, Cyborg, Agnostic, Pot Heads, Igloo-dwellers, Jews, Old Bastards, Young Assholes, Arachnophobics, People With Bushy Eye Brows, Plasma-fans, LCD-fans, Those Weird Freaks That Can't Twist Their Tongue's, General Racists (of all races), People With Piercings, Tattoos, Hookers, Garbage-Men, Strippers, Italian Plumbers, Deaf Folk, Geeks, Freaks, and I'm spent.... we all enjoy the freedoms Canada represents, and we should endevoure to expand those freedoms, not constrict them.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Ezra Levant, Human Rights, Liberal Party, politics

I have a brief history of taking money from old people by kicking their asses around golf courses, it paid for a years worth of tuition for me. It's not my fault if people make stupid bets!

Stephen Taylor has a post up about an upcoming Liberal fund raiser, where they're auctioning off the right to play in a foursome with Paul Martin.

How much fun would it be to beat the ever living crap out of that old man on 18 holes of golf? And not to mention having approximately 4 hours to unload on him. Then again, they did call him Mr. Dithers while he was in power, so it could very well be a 9 hour round of golf. I can just imagine him deciding weather he wants to shank a 9-iron into the bush or rope-hook the 8-iron into his caddie's throat.

Tennis with Bob Rae may be a bit of a challenge, I don't think he's the kinda guy who would get into something like that if he sucked. But I'm saving my money for when they offer up a five-round mixed martial arts fight with Stephane Dion. How do you say roundhouse in French?

Labels: Liberal Party, Stephane Dion

The most insightful quote I've read from Stephan Dion in a long time:

"The Conservatives, they have difficulty in seeing social programs otherwise than as a burden on the economy. We Liberals, we think that social programs that are well-designed will help people be better trained, better-educated, healthier, more confident in life and because of that, they will be better equipped to be competitive in the market... And then the market economy will be stronger and provide more room for social programs."

It's all about social programs leading to bigger, stronger, faster social programs. Stephan Dion's ideal world is one where everybody is taken care of by some form of government program. And that is a sad vision for Canada.

Labels: Liberal Party, politics, Stephane Dion, Winnipeg Free Press

It's a very simple proposition: if someone commits a crime with a gun, that person should spend a period of time in jail.

Most of the Canadian population would agree with the Conservatives gun bill. After all, it was one of their key platforms during the last election, and the Conservatives won.

Unfortunately, Manitoba Liberal MP's don't agree.

Neville said the bill was poor legislation because it stripped the judiciary of its sentencing powers and refused to support it.

"It flew against the advice of many people in the justice system," said Neville, adding sentencing is often best left to judges after they've heard all the evidence in a case and not legislators.

"You have to leave the discretion to the judiciary."

She said her main concern with the bill was an escalating clause that would send criminals to prison for longer sentences with subsequent offences.

Except that judges have been saying for years that new legislation is needed if Canada is to get tough on gun crimes. They've claimed that there are precedents that prevent them from handing down "tough" sentences. The only solution to this problem is new legislation.

The "escalating clause" of the bill which Neville is so opposed to, is one that would have criminals serve longer sentences the second time they commit an offense. As the bill currently stands, for a first conviction of a gun crime, the minimum sentence handed down would be a five year jail term. On that persons second offense, the minimum sentence would lengthen to a seven year jail term. If you keep doing the crime, you keep getting more time. It seems fair.

Not to Anita Neville however. Neville would rather leave that up to the judges discretion, to let the criminals justify there behavior, and get a slap on the wrist. We're not talking about punk auto-thieves, or shoplifters here; we're talking about criminals that point a gun at their victims and threaten their lives. They have absolutely no place on our streets.

The truth of the matter is that for three consecutive Liberal governments, the laws of this land were watered down in favor of criminals. If Liberal MP's were to vote in favor of these "tough on crime" laws, it'd be an admission that their reign was a failure. You need to look no further than the Youth Criminal Justice Act for evidence.

The Liberals would rather spend billions of dollars on a gun registry, which has proven to be a failure, while letting the criminals off without taking any responsibility.

In fact all of Manitoba's Liberal MP's voted against the legislation. That includes Tina Keeper, MP for Churchill; and Ray Simard, MP for St. Boniface. For the Liberal MP's from Manitoba it was a free vote, they had no instructions as to how to vote. They voted how they thought their constituents would have wanted them to vote. But even the typically soft-on-crime NDP voted for the bill.

To those folks living in Winnipeg South-Center, contact Anita Neville and let her know how you feel about her "stand" to keep as many gun criminals on the streets as possible. She can be e-mailed at Neville.A@parl.gc.ca or at email@anitaneville.ca.

Update: Right in Manitoba raises another point:

Even more ironic is that just this week we heard Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty demanding that the federal Conservatives toughen up gun laws. Rather than call on the Conservatives Dalton, you may do better talking to you brother David [Liberal MP for Ottawa South] and his cronies!

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Guns, Liberal Party, Manitoba, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Crime

The Conservatives have launched a new website detailing Stephane Dion's weakness as a leader. The website can be found at www.NotALeader.ca (h/t Stephen Taylor).

The site has a few more attack ads on it, along with some eCards that can be sent to friends. But the best part of the site is Kyoto the dog's blog. Thats right, the Conservatives have put up a blog for Stephane Dion's dog.

Kyoto's Dog Blog:

May 29, 2007

On days like today, I wish we were in France!

Spent the morning lying on the couch in Stéphane’s office listening to him pleading with Liberal Senators to pass the Government’s term limits. He said the Tory ads were making him look weak and powerless. Again. "Eight years and out? No way!" they said. He moped around all day muttering about how unfair life is.

Yesterday I was taking the master for a walk when I spotted the Prime Minister’s cat strutting down Sussex like she owned the place. Can you imagine? She’s not even purebred. I gave chase, dragging Stéphane down the street. He kept shouting "No Kyoto! Stop it!" Madame Elizabeth May happened by and almost had a coronary. She thought he was talking about the Accord.

Ignatieff came by the other day. He grimaced at me and told Stéphane he preferred big bald eagles to dogs. When I barked in protest he lectured me about the appropriateness of torture in "certain" situations. So I showed him my fangs. "Yikes," he said, "when are you going to get this dog trained?" Stéphane barked back: "You don't know what you speak about!" and asked Ignatieff: "Do you think it’s easy to make priorities?"

Tonight Stéphane tried to get me to listen to that stupid joke he told on TV last year about the world’s shortest bedtime story. "You know Bam the dog?" he said. "The car goes by, and bam, the dog. Now go to sleep." Then he laughs, like it’s funny. Gives me nightmares. I whined and cowered until he apologized. It’s a trick I learned from him. Now that’s funny.

Time for bed. I'll dream about France. Stéphane tells me we will move back one day but I've heard him flip flop too many times before so I'll just keep dreaming for now.

Thats one funny dog!

Labels: Canadian Senate, Conservative Party, France, Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion, Y2Kyoto

Today Jason Cherniak is trying to convince us that Stephane Dion and the Liberal party care about Israel. Jason says it's a Liberal party priority. He cites the fact that Stephane Dion, Gerrard Kennedy, Michael Ignatieff amongst other prominent Liberals attended the United Jewish Appeal's Walk with Israel. Thats interesting.

Sure they support Israel when it comes to a nice walk in the park. But when it comes down to brass tacks, the Liberals would sell Israel down the river in a heart beat.

At the Liberal leadership convention, which Dion won, Bob Rae was attacked "because his wife is Jewish". It is alleged that the attack came from Gerrard Kennedy supporters. Gerrard Kennedy ended up supporting Stephane Dion, a move which ultimately ended Bob Rae's leadership bid.

Of course there's also Michael Ignatieff's infamous accusation of Israeli war crimes being committed in Lebanon during last summer's war. Iggy never did retract those comments, he simply revised his comments to accuse Israel AND Hezbollah of committing war crimes. Clever.

Thirdly, during last summer's conflict between Lebanon and Israel, the Liberal party under Bill Graham denounced Prime Minister Stephen Harper because of his strong support for Israel. The Liberals thought that Canada should remain neutral in a conflict between the sovereign state of Israel and the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Then there's dear Stephie. When Stephen Harper took the initiative to cut off funding to Hamas, another terrorist organization that stages almost daily rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, Stephane Dion was the Liberal foreign affairs critic. His response was to slam Harper, saying "The social problems [in the territories] are awful and, in fact, Canada should do more not less. So to cut $7-million would be a mistake."

So to sum it up Stephane Dion, the leader of the Liberal party has suggested Canada should fund an anti-Israeli terror group. His second in command, Michael Ignatieff, accused Israel of war crimes, when in fact they were defending themselves against a terrorist organization. The man who's support won the leadership for Dion helped him along the way by slandering his political opponent for marrying a Jew. Former Liberal leader Bill Graham, from whom Dion took the reigns of the party, explicitly said that Canada should not support Israel.

But Jason Chernaik says the Liberals support Israel, because they showed up for a walk in the park. It seems the Liberals can walk the pro-Israeli walk, but they won't talk the talk. I think Stephen Harper was correct when he accused the Liberals of being "anti-Israel".

Update: Rene reminded me about Denis Coderre's story. Denis Coderre, is the Liberal National Defense critic, and another person I'd call a "higher-up" in the Liberal party. Coderre marched in support of Hezbollah last summer. Thats the same Hezbollah that started the conflict by kidnapping an Israeli soldier and firing rockets at civilian targets in Israel. But seriously, Liberals support Israel. Seriously.

Labels: Bill Graham, Gerrard Kennedy, Hezbollah, Israel, Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper

I've been spending a lot of time the last week driving around the riding of La Verendrye. It's going to be one of the "close" ridings on Tuesday evening.

My impressions from the last week is that PC challenger Bob Stefaniuk will win this riding quite handily. Stefaniuk signs outnumber signs for the NDP incumbant Ron Lemieux 2 to 1. If it's any indicator of how the candidates have fund-raised, it's a significant hurdle for Lemieux to clear.

On Saturday night I was out in La Broquerie for a friends wedding social. Most of the folks I spoke with expressed disappointment with the last four years of Gary Doer's reign. One local small-business person claimed that Lemieux has all but stopped showing his face in the riding.

Lemieux also has his to explain his record as Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation. The abysmal job Lemieux has done on this file is highlighted by the emergency closure of the Portage la Prarie overpass which had become too unsafe to be used. Furthermore, the NDP proudly announced $4 billion for infrastructure which should have been done four years ago. Why didn't Lemieux push for this extra spending when he became the Minister in charge of this file?

History is working against Lemieux as well. La Verendrye went to the PC's for 26 years from 1973-1999 when Lemieux was elected. Before that, it had gone to the Liberals from 1932-1973. Will voters decide that this experiment has gone on long enough?

Change is in the air, all over rural Manitoba, and Ron Lemieux is going to be just one of several NDP casualties on Tuesday.

---

D.J. McGuire over at The Shotgun points out some significant flaws in the most recent Probe poll. The first thing that jumps out is that the Liberals have 16% support provincially. If the Liberals could pull down 16% on Tuesday, Jon Gerrard would be extremely pleased, but it just ain't gonna happen.

Probe is way out of line with this poll. Tuesday night will probably come down to the wire. With the long weekend on the horizon, people will have one last chance to get away and see what's happened to Manitoba's roads, lakes and parks under the reign of Gary Doer and the NDP. Hopefully they remember that on election day.

Labels: Bob Stefaniuk, Fun With Polls, Gary Doer, Jon Gerrard, Liberal Party, Manitoba, NDP

Justin Trudeau gave a speech yesterday to several hundred Windsor, ON high school students. Following in his father's footsteps, the theme presented to those young minds was of course: the evils of capitalism (h/t Uncommon Truths).

Justin Trudeau called on hundreds of high school students in Windsor Wednesday to rethink the capitalist system and reconsider Canada's reputation as a model nation. [...]

Trudeau suggested to the students the capitalist "machine" that sustains modern existence may also become modern civilization's downfall.

The system promotes exploitation of natural resources without accounting for future consequences of consumption, he said.

"Our capitalist model has given us tremendous things," Trudeau said. "But the time has come for us to look at it critically and try to improve on it, given the accelerated pace of change and the fact that we have limited space."

Well, at least we know that he's cut from the same cloth as his father. On the other hand, if I were an inquisitive reporter type, I'd ask Stephane Dion if "rethinking" the capitalist system is official Liberal Party policy.

I'd bet that half the kids in that room have a better understanding of ecenomics than Trudeau does. As Colby Cosh points out:

The prize quote from the Windsor Star's account of his anti-capitalist speech has to be this highlight reel of the chief social and environmental injustices of our time: "We consume more water per capita than anyone else on the planet. We produce more solid waste than just about anyone else on the planet. In terms of social justice, our treatment of our aboriginal communities are an absolute disgrace."

Notice anything about these crimes of "capitalism"? Right — none of them have anything to do with the free market. Water is a resource that has long been allocated by government utilities as a public trust, is generally not covered by classical property rights and is still unpriced for many users; commoditizing it would be an excellent first step toward conservation in places like Alberta, where water is essentially commandeered without limit or unit cost by industry.

Disposal of solid waste is another government-provided service that almost no one is forced to pay a market price for. As for our aboriginal communities, you can go to any reserve and ask the locals whether they consider the Department of Indian Affairs a benign paternal institution that has done an excellent job of protecting them from the tender mercies of capitalism.

Trudeau has his father's rabid socialist streak, and apparently has picked up Al Gore's fanatacism for all things green. Combine these two former leaders and you have a Communists wet-dream come true.

Labels: Capitalism, Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party, Ontario, politics, Stephane Dion

Gary Doer must think that Manitobans are complete idiots. Today, he announced that he plans to open a new Mental Health Emergency Room at the Health Sciences Center, along with promises of more doctors.

The only problem is, Manitoba is already short of doctors, and it's not because of a lack of funding either.

Ask yourself this, if Gary Doer is serious about opening a new ER, why is it that the ER at Miseracordia was converted into a walk-in clinic? Why is the Emergency Room at Grace on the brink of closing down? Why will the ER in Roblin be closed this weekend?

Also a good question, is where the hell are we going to find all of these new doctors Gary Doer keeps promising us? We're already short dozens of doctors, yet Gary Doer keeps promising us more, even though he can't fill the current spaces... what the hell is going to change? Gary Doer's been making the same empty promises for eight years now, and he has been unable to come up with a single new idea.

Healthcare funding has almost doubled since the NDP took office, and all they have to show for it is fewer ER's, and a massively bloated Winnipeg Health Authority. Gary Doer has failed on the healthcare front, and he should keep his idiotic promises to himself, because Manitobans aren't as dumb as he thinks we are.

Read what Liberal leader Dr. Jon Gerrard has to say on the subject. See, he's an actual doctor who's worked in the profession, whereas Gary Doer is just another college dropout with union thugs to keep him propped up.

Labels: Gary Doer, Jon Gerrard, Liberal Party, Manitoba, NDP

Current prince and heir to the Liberal throne Justin Trudeau (h/t SDA).

His [Trudeau] two-month campaign to win grassroots support might have been the hardest work he has done in his 35 years. And of the three candidates' organizations, his did the best job of getting his supporters to the nominating meeting and keeping them there through a wait in line of up to two hours to vote.

In contrast we have Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne.

The head of the British army said yesterday he has personally decided that Prince Harry will serve with a combat unit in Iraq, where 100 American troops and 12 British soldiers were killed in April.

Prince Harry's bravery and determination should be remembered for a long long time. The Royal family have a deep and proud military history. Pierre Trudeau will be remembered most for his economic ineptness.

Labels: Britain, Iraq, Liberal Party

From the Canadian Press:

Liberal foreign affairs critic Ujjal Dosanjh said he wonders whether the Conservative government ever sought advice or asked the human rights group any questions about the wisdom of transferring detainees to the Afghan intelligence service.

Mr. Dosanjh has good reason to wonder. When the Liberals were in power, they asked all the time (h/t).

The old liberal government had been prevented by Canadian diplomats in station in Kabul, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, that torture was a current practice in the Afghan prisons.

In spite of these warnings, the Martin government decided to sign an agreement with the Karzai government, in December 2005, in order to deliver to the Afghan authorities all the prisoners captured by the Canadian soldiers, reveal documents of the Ministries for Foreign Affairs obtained by the Press.

The Liberals are using unfounded rumors to score political points from a mess their own government left behind.

Labels: Afghanistan, Liberal Party, politics

Any Manitoban knows that Hugh McFadyen is a right of left of center leader. He's hardly a true blue Conservative. But this musing from prominent and respected (even by me) Liberal, and blogger Warren Kinsella just tore up any chance Hugh had of getting this bloggers vote.

Now that the Manitoba election has been called, I can disclose that Hugh McFadyen is a friend. We used to work together at Brokeback Consultants. When he told me, in confidence, that he was leaving to return home to Manitoba, I told him he was crazy. If he stayed, I told him, he'd be Ontario's Premier in no time.

Now, of course, I see that I had the right church, but the wrong pew.

After seeing that comment, I wish Hugh was the Premier of Ontario. And I wish Manitobans had a choice that wasn't on the left side of the political spectrum. I'm gonna spend E-day getting drunk and cursing the world.

Labels: Liberal Party, Manitoba

After previously bashing the Green Party's economic platform, I was glad to see the headline Growth trumps environment in China report.

Even Communist China understands human nature better than Manitoba's Green party. But an even bigger concern is the fact that the world's biggest polluter is putting environmental concerns on the back burner for economic growth. Meanwhile back in Canada, the Greens, Liberals, NDP, and Conservatives battle over who can appear to be the Greenest of them all. It would be nice if we could get the same kind of brutal honesty from our own government.

It appears that the Liberals/Greens and the NDP have pushed the Harper government too far while tinkering with the Conservatives Clean Air Act, and the government will be forced to abandon the legislation. Frankly, this will be a good thing in the long run. The Clean Air Act was thrown together in haste for purely political purposes. It would be fair to say that something like Kyoto, which has the potential to devesate our economy, should be an election issue.

Labels: China, Communism, Conservative Party, Green Party, Liberal Party, NDP, Y2Kyoto

When you see the words "Liberal" and "tough on crime" in the same headline, you know it'll be funny.

Getting tougher on car thieves is the main plank in the Manitoba Liberals' justice platform.

Jon Gerrard, on the first day of the provincial election campaign, says his government would impose an automatic lifetime ban on holding a driver's licence for anyone convicted of two auto thefts.

Here's an idea for Doctor Jon: Throw the bastards in jail!

The fact that the Liberal's actually believe that the absence of a drivers license would deter a serial car thief makes me wonder if Mr. Gerrard wasn't smoking on the Legislative Buildings front lawn with all the potheads on April 20th.

Come to think of it, he does seem a little confused:

Gerrard says poverty and mental-health issues are the root causes of many of Manitoba's crime problems. He would fund support for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and provide adequate community centre facilities to keep kids off the streets.

Jon also doesn't buy into Anita Neville's head-in-sand approach to crime:

The Liberal leader says Winnipeg is no longer a safe city. Winnipeg has a national reputation as the car-theft capital of Canada.

Will Anita Neville demand an apology from Jon Gerrard for sullying Winnipeg's good name? Not likely, they're good friends. Anita Neville actually chaired Jon Gerrard's 1999 campaign. They also both like to blame crime on so-called root causes.

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Manitoba, Winnipeg Crime

The Liberals have released their latest ad promoting Stephane Dion (h/t).

First, watch the video.
Now a little perspective from The Manitoban.

That would be the same 2005 climate change conference at which Dion received the insulting "fossil award" from the Climate Action Network, the same award given to Rona Ambrose in 2006. Of course when Ambrose, a Conservative, received the award it was front-page news and there was outrage that she dare go against Kyoto. When Dion received the same award, there was barely a mention. No media bias there.

But doesn't Stephane Dion look cute playing with his gavel?
Update: Jason Cherniak points out in the comments that Stephane Dion did not win the "fossil of the day" award in 2005 - he finished second to Japan. But he did win it in 2004. Stephen Taylor also points out that the previous Liberal environmental Minister David Anderson won the fossil award three times. The Liberals record on the environment is not something they should be promoting.

Labels: Liberal Party, politics, Stephane Dion, United Nations, Y2Kyoto, YouTube

National Newswatch is reporting that Belinda Stronach will not run for re-election.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, as her political career has been bleak, to say the least. She entered politics with the Conservative Party of Canada, and made a run for the party leadership, but failed. Consequently, she later crossed the floor to prop up the Liberal minority government in exchange for a cabinet posting under Paul Martin.

Her political fortunes continued to flounder after that, with the Liberal Party losing the 2006 election to the Conservative party.

After Paul Martin's retirement in 2006, Belinda expressed an interest in seeking the Liberal leadership. Quickly realizing she had no chance of winning, she announced that should not seek the party leadership. Seeking the leadership of two different parties, within two years would have taken a toll on her credibility.

Stronach also made big news with her high-profile, home-wrecking affair with former NHL tough-guy, and current TSN loud-mouth Tie Domi.

Not surprisingly, Stronach also announced she will be taking the cushy position of Executive Vice-Chairman at her fathers auto parts company Magna International, effective immediately.

It should also be noted that she did not resign her seat, and seems to be attempting to collect two paychecks at the same time. I sincerely hope this was an omission in the press release. But it would be the "Liberal way" to keep collecting checks and providing nothing in return.
Update: Steve Janke posts about how Magna had a press release out about the situation, before the Liberals even knew what was going on. Not good news for Stephane Dion.
Update 2: Right in Manitoba translated an article from Le Presse claiming that Stephen Harper is planning on a Spring 2008 election. How the hell can Belinda fake being an MP for an entire year? She's obviously got to resign her seat, which will cost the Liberals yet another vote in the House.

Labels: Dirty Liberals, Liberal Party, Ontario, politics, Stephane Dion

Jon Gerrard is starting to get close to understanding Winnipeg's auto-theft pandemic. But with most problems in our society, the politically correct bullshit gets in the way of the truth.

Doc Jon is getting close to understanding the problem. He's a doctor, he should know:

"People with FASD have brains that are wired differently from birth and they have real difficulty understanding consequences," Gerrard said.

"Diagnosed early and given support, they stay out of trouble."

What Doc Jon misses is that serial car-thieves and FASD kids have something else in common: bad parents.

To suggest that theres a link between parents who are pounding hooch at the local tavern when their 8-months pregnant, and parents who don't care that their son just got convicted for their 200th auto-theft is not a stretch. A mother who drinks while she's pregnant does not care for the welfare of her child. If a family cares so little for the health of their child, why would they care anymore about the child's safety fifteen years later when he's involved in high-speed police chases?

While many parents of FASD kids genuinely care about the kids' future and well-being, there are also those who don't. Parents who are letting their kids criminally run rampant on the streets should be held responsible for their childs actions.

What Doctor Jon needs to realize, is that this problem will not be solved with social programming or bribery. And while the Manitoba courts have been sad and pathetic in dealing with the problem, the federal government has done nothing to improve the YCJA. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Police, who do everything they can to stop these bastards, are losing the motivation to keep up the fight.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

Shockingly, Stephane Dion is demanding an apology from Stephen Harper (h/t Dust My Broom). What was the comment that was so offensive to Stephie Dion? Well, apparently the truth:

I can understand the passion that the Leader of the Opposition and members of his party feel for Taliban prisoners. I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers.

A heavy accusation, but Dion's comments clearly lead to that response:

Mr. Speaker, there are few things that are more important for the honour of a country than its duty to protect human lives, including war detainees. It is clear that the Minister of National Defence failed in his duty, even though he has often been briefed on this.

I have no other choice than to ask the Prime Minister to ask his Minister of National Defence to do the honourable thing and resign. [....]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has to see that his minister was negligent and incompetent with respect to a very serious issue for a country like Canada: the protection of the human lives we are responsible for.

The Prime Minister cannot keep his Minister of National Defence, not unless the Prime Minister is telling us that it is not important for Canada to protect the human lives we are responsible for.

Stephane Dion doesn't seem to understand the fact that the Government of Canada is responsible for Canadians and Canadian soldiers first and foremost, not murderous Taliban thugs. But Dion shows his spine in his response to the Prime Minister. Instead of denying the accusation and throwing it right back in Harpers face, Dion whimpered and whined.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister made two shocking statements. First, he said that the government does not care about human rights and, second, that the official opposition does not care about Canadian soldiers.

The Prime Minister must understand that he has insulted the entire Parliament with his statement and he should apologize.

Stephie, say these four words after me: "WE SUPPORT THE TROOPS". He should have screamed those four words back at Harper as loud as possible. But he can't say it, or he won't say it, because it would be a lie. The Liberal Party under Stephanie Dion does not support the troops. By concentrating all of their efforts to ensure the safety of Taliban fighters, they undermine the safety of Canadian soldiers.

There's also the fact that - as the US has demonstrated with Gitmo, and again pointed out at Jack's Newswatch - insurgent fighters do not qualify for treatment under the Geneva Conventions because they are not soldiers.

Dion's spinelessness brings back memories of a Charles Adler rant, put to video by Officially Screwed.

Labels: Afghanistan, Liberal Party, politics, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper

The Conservative budget has claimed it's first victim.... and it's a Liberal!

Joe Comuzzi, has been a Liberal MP since 1988, won six consecutive elections for the Liberals, and served in Cabinet as Secretary of State until 2005. On Tuesday Comuzzi threatened he would break ranks with the Liberals, and support the Conservative government. His decision is based on pretty clear principals.

"It's for a single issue that's of absolute critical importance to all the people in Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario, and that's the cancer research centre ... and hopefully it's going to be funded in this budget," he told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Tuesday.

The centre would bring 300 jobs to the struggling city on the shores of Lake Superior. "To vote against it, every citizen in Thunder Bay would be tremendously upset with me," Comuzzi said.

If the Conservative Caucus is defined by it's culture of secrecy, then certainly the new Liberal caucus should be defined by it's culture of fear; specifically the fear of crossing Dear Leader Stephane Dion.

In late February, Stephane Dion threatened his caucus, declaring that if Liberal MPs did not vote against the anti-Terror provisions, Dion would not sign their nomination papers for the next election.

In Joe Comuzzi's case, Stephi's delivering some tough love. Stephi kicked Joe out of the caucus today, just for publicly praising the Conservative budget, he didn't even get a chance to vote on it. This isn't the first time Comuzzi has butted heads with the party leadership. In 2005 he resigned his cabinet position so that he could vote against gay-marriage.

As far as the next election goes, Dion may have just handed a seat to the NDP. In the last federal election, Comuzzi won his seat over NDP candidate Bruce Hyer by just over 400 votes, out of nearly 40,000 votes cast. Oh, and Comuzzi was expected to retire before the next election. Instead of letting a veteran Liberal MP retire with dignity, (and presumably help the party re-build in his riding, and advice the incoming Liberal candidate) they kicked him out on his ass. With this display of callousness by the Liberal party, the NDP candidate is almost sure to win the Thunder Bay-Superior North seat.

Labels: Liberal Party, politics, Stephane Dion

The crime:

Police have caught three teens who they accuse of playing what Safioles called "some kind of sick game" where they tried to clip the runners with the car's mirrors.

Oh, and the car was stolen. Another example how the YCJA has failed the kid who was the ringleader, and failed society.

The 16-year-old driver is considered a Level 4 offender -- the highest rating under the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy. He has done jail time at the Manitoba Youth Centre and was on probation for auto theft offences, but had been missing for at least two weeks before his arrest Monday.

In Manitoba, you don't need to be a genius to find a young offender, who is a renowned car thief and should be charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter (link).

Police say in the early morning hours on Sunday, one of the 16 year olds allegedly stole a Jeep Cherokee in the Island Lakes area, dumped it and stole another vehicle.

He later allegedly stole a third vehicle, then police observed two cars speeding. They pursued the vehicles until a crash with a light standard near Nairn Avenue and Watt Street.

Because of the YCJA, the courts no longer have any control over out of control kids, and the general public knows it.

"It's good news that they've been arrested but I'm not sure the justice system will do anything to keep these kids off the streets," said Dennis Pickerl, who found one of the injured runners bleeding and staggering on Thursday. "The one fellow is already as prolific a car thief as they come and they still can't keep him behind bars. I'm not sure the police have all the tools they need."

Even the cops are sick and tired of the catch-and-release treatment, and have given up.

Three teenage boys face numerous charges in connection with a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent. The most serious charges laid are driving dangerously causing bodily harm.

Police said Tuesday that charges of attempted murder weren't laid because it was "pretty clear" that the suspects were not trying to kill the victims.

"It looks more like it was some sort of sick game where you might just want to hit them with the mirrors," Sgt. Doug Safioles said.

One jogger states the obvious.

Leilani Kagan, who was among several other joggers who dodged the stolen car, said she can't understand why more serious charges weren't laid.

"People are vulnerable in that they've got no weapons. They've got no form of defense. You've got them cornered between two high snow banks on a road and you're driving a vehicle toward them," she said.

"I find that hard to believe, that by doing that four times to us, and to all the other people out there that morning, that you weren't trying to kill them. I don't know what else could really result."

And the great news from Manitoba Justice is that this isn't over yet!

"Having it down to five kids is pretty significant in some ways," said Carolyn Brock, executive director of youth corrections for Manitoba Justice.

Brock said there are times when as many as a dozen such thieves are on the run.

And so the escalation continues. The kids steal more cars, and do more dangerous things with them. Meanwhile, the police and courts punish them less, and sometimes not at all.

It fails the kids most of all, which is sad because it creates more victims in the future. These kids don't understand how to function normally or productively in a civilized society. The courts do nothing to help them change.

The kid has committed a very serious crime here, and is old enough to do hard jail time. Because it will keep him from steal our cars for one, but it will also give him a good hard look at where a life of crime will get him.

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In a somewhat related note, this is more of a question for people out there. Wellington Crescent, where this mayhem took place, has a sidewalk between the split-lanes. And it's very wide. But for some reason all the folks who run there seem to need to run on the road, and the dog-walkers are the only ones who use the sidewalk. Why in the hell is that?

I just want to know why they insist on running on the road. Why don't the joggers on Wellington run on the sidewalk?! I drive that road every damn day, and the street always has joggers on it, and I need to know why!

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime

First Anita Neville got angry because Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said Winnipeg streets "are ruled by guns, gangs and drugs". Neville was quick to demand an apology (link).

Now Councilor Harry Lazarenko, and NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (aka Judy Alphabet) are demanding an apology from Justice Donald Fraser for his comments about Winnipeg. At a sentencing in Kenora, Justice Fraser said "I am determined we are not going to allow Kenora to drift into the kind of thing we see in the North End of Winnipeg or in the downtown area of Regina."

Though the sentence is fair, the comments surrounding it aren't, said NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North).

"We suffer from a mythology, usually by people who don't know better. This is by someone who should know better.

"It's very hurtful to the people living in the area," she said, adding the judge should apologize.

Veteran city Coun. Harry Lazarenko agrees, calling the comments "baloney" and unfair.

"It gives you a black eye. It's like you're condemned because you're living in the North End. To be lambasted, especially by a judge," said Lazarenko, who's lived in the area for over 50 years.

Well, here's a little FACTUAL information for anybody who's interested, courtesy of the City of Winnipeg's CrimeStat program.

From January 1, to February 20 this year, there had been two homicides in Winnipeg. Where? One in the North End, the other Downtown. Between these two districts, they makeup 100% of homicides in Winnipeg in the year 2007.

For the same time period, there have been 44 sexual assaults in Winnipeg's six districts. Of those 44, 9 were committed in the North End, and 16 Downtown, combining for 56% of sexual assaults in Winnipeg. The two districts also account for 55% of the robberies year-to-date in Winnipeg. Not to mention that Winnipeg is known as the murder capital of Canada (aka Killerpeg).

When two districts that make up approx. 33% of Winnipeg's population, but account for almost 60% of violent crime, it's time to acknowledge a problem exists.

What Anita Neville, Judy Alphabet, and Harry Lazarenko need to understand is that pointing out a problem, although it might be "hurtful to the people living in the area", it's still a fact. And the facts won't change just because you don't walk to talk about it. What's more "hurtful to the people living in the area" than saying mean things about their neighbourhood, is the violent crime that runs rampant in these neighborhoods.

People don't move out of these neighborhoods because some politician said bad things about it, they move because their sick of all the crime that they witness happening around them.

But Judy Alphabet and Anita Neville aren't able to acknowledge the crime problem exists, because they both voted against tough-on-crime measures proposed by the Conservative government. Which is a perfect example of why the NDP and Liberals are unfit to govern in this country. It's time to stop lying.

Labels: Anita Neville, Liberal Party, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Police

First Stephane Dion demanded that Canada "rebalance" the mission in Afghanistan

Earlier this week, Canada delivered $1,000,000 in cash to farmers who had been displaced by fighting. Now we get the announcement of "hundreds of millions of dollars" in aid for Afghanistan. One would think that the mission has been "re-balanced", and would regain the support of the Liberal party, right?

WRONG! Apparently Dion misspoke when he said the mission needed to be re-balanced, what he to say was it needs to be ended. The Liberals released a statement about their "plan" for Afghanistan today:

* Committing to ending Canada’s mission in Kandahar in 2009 and immediately informing NATO of this deadline so that a replacement nation can be found;
* Better integrating military, aid and diplomacy efforts;
* Developing an effective strategy to combat the problems stemming from the local economy’s dependence on the illegal opium trade; and
* Addressing the chronic fresh water shortage.

Basically what Dion and the Libs are saying is that the current strategy will do just fine, until 2009; at which time control of Kandahar should be given to whomever fills the power vacuum left behind by the Canadians.

As a Liberal cabinet minister when Canada committed itself to the Afghan mission, one can only assume that Dion supported the war. When it comes to winning the war, he's not so supportive.

Labels: Afghanistan, Liberal Party, Stephane Dion

Much has been made about the comments PM Harper almost made in the House yesterday. The comments were about this article in the Vancouver Sun, revealing a link between a Liberal MP and a former terrorist group.

The Liberals are crying foul, because they think its cheap politics to bring up an MPs family. Normally, I'd agree with them.

However, this has nothing to do with an individual MP and his family, but has everything to do with the depths to which the Liberal Party of Canada will stoop to receive support - from anybody.

Darshan Singh Saini, who's the father of Liberal MP for Mississauga-Brampton South Navdeep Singh Bains, is listed as a potential witness in the Air India bombing investigation.

Mr. Saini also has ties to Liberal Gerrard Kennedy. Saini was even supposed to attend the Liberal leadership convention in support of Kennedy, but apparently fell ill. It's a good thing that his son-in-law, Liberal MP Bains, was there to deliver the Sikh vote to Kennedy, which then went to Stephane Dion. It's no secret that Kennedy delivered the leadership to Dion, and Mr. Bains played an influential role.

Mr. Saini was also the spokesman for the Ontario wing of Babbar Khalsa Panthak. The Babbar Khalsa has since been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Britian for engaging in activities such as torture, rape, targeted assasinations, and suicide bombings worldwide. Which leaves a casual observer asking "Why not in Canada"?

So the question isn't about Mr. Bains, it's about how much influence terrorist groups have in the Liberal party, and how they are exerting that influence. It's a fair question, and it deserves not only a response from the Liberal party, but probably a little soul-searching as well.

Labels: Dirty Liberals, Gerrard Kennedy, Liberal Party, politics, Stephane Dion