The Dan Report

The Globe and Mail's Perspective

2008-06-23T22:02:00.004-05:00

Apparently the announcement by Stéphane Dion of his Green Shift plan merited no headline coverage on the Globe's website last Thursday. But in their opinion the fact that the plan shares a name with a Canadian small business as well as a million other things is worthy of top of the page headline stuff! This is need to know!

The National Implicates Ian Brodie

2008-03-05T21:22:00.004-06:00

According to this evening's The National, the origins of the Naftagate began when Ian Brodie blabbed about the meeting of Obama's economic advisor and Canadian consulate officials with members of the press at the budget lockup a few weeks ago. I wonder if Mr.Brodie recalls that?

UPDATE: The Globe and Mail's got the details, and what's even better is that the original slip of the tongue was about Clinton assuring Canada over NAFTA, not Obama.

And let me play Obama partisan for a second here. Obama actually won more delegates last night than Hillary in Texas, the next two states of Wyoming and Mississippi favour Obama, and while Pennsylvania has a ton of delegates, North Carolina which is Obama territory, has quite a few as well.

Whither Orchard?

2008-01-29T23:19:00.000-06:00

John Dorion is now supporting Joan Beatty's appointment and is taking shots at Orchard. Seems like Mr.Orchard is reaching the point of no return if he hasn't already crossed it. Orchard may want to look at what's happenening with John McCain in the United States. McCain was savaged by Bush in the 2000 Primaries and many could not believe that all these years since McCain could keep silent and support the men that slandered his name. And yet here he is today on top of the Republican heap not far from a certain nomination.

He who guards his mouth preserves his life,
But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 13:3

Conservative MP Kickback Controversy

2008-01-14T18:56:00.000-06:00

No not the in-and-out issue, but Global is reporting that Conservative MP Gary Goodyear from Cambridge is in a little hot water for handling of election expenses in 2004. Global National reports that Goodyear's campain manager expensed $3,875,76 to rent their campaign office with an agreement with the landlord saying he'd then make a campaign contribution in return for half the amount.

In response the Conservatives have said it's only a clerical error.

There's no article on the subject yet, but the video is accessible at canada.com. Under the heading, "Did MP flout finance laws?" Kady O'Malley had some details on the story yesterday on her blog.

What The Other Guy Thinks

2008-01-13T11:58:00.000-06:00

Dorion Upset With Media Attention On Orchard
Friday, January 11, 2008 at 13:30

One of two men hoping to become the Liberal nominee in a northern Saskatchewan by-election says he can't believe the attention being paid to his competitor.

Cumberland House native John Dorion says it was his campaign that sparked hundreds of constituents to buy Liberal party memberships, and not David Orchard.

Dorion feels Orchard has been given credit by the media for much of his work, and Dorion believes he would beat Orchard if a nomination vote were held today.

He says he's disappointed with how things have turned out, but acknowledges his people heard months ago that Liberal Leader Stephane Dion might appoint a woman to represent the Liberals in the North.

LINK

Correction

2008-01-09T19:08:00.000-06:00

Well I'm obviously not as pleased with the situation in Northern Saskatchewan as I was. I think I was just being hopeful. Talk about a lot of bad decisions being made by a lot of people. Amazingly enough the byelection is so far away there's still a possibility things could get straightened out. Or it could get subsumed into a general election. Doubt it though. When you're dealing with accusations of racism, people claiming they have a right to nominate their own candidate, and David Orchard it seems unlikely.

Longing for the days of Jean Chretien...

Ownage All Around

2008-01-08T22:38:00.000-06:00

Hillary owns the pollsters, every pundit around, Obama, and me. Experienced bureaucrat totally owns Gary Lunn. Joy Smith, oddly enough, owns Vic Toews.

That's My Boy!

2008-01-03T22:41:00.000-06:00

Barack has won the all too important Iowa caucus. That's great news. I don't think it's over for Hillary but I still feel for her. Sometimes no matter how deserving a person is, the right situation just doesn't materialize.

Also pleased to see that Joan Beatty has joined the Liberals in Northern Saskatchewan. It's obviously a tough situation but when you are able to take one of the most popular provincial dippers and put them on your team it would be hard to resist. This should make it very tough for the Conservatives to win this seat especially if David Orchard can put the party and his leader first. We'll see.

Tip For David Orchard

2007-12-19T21:33:00.000-06:00

I'm overstepping here, as I don't know much about Saskatchewan politics or David Orchard. But I'm going to say it anyways. If Joan Beatty really wants to run, and David Orchard really wants to become a fixture and not a distraction within the Liberal Party in Saskatchewan he should step aside and throw his full support behind Beatty in Northern Saskatchewan.

As I understand it there is another candidate in the running for the nomination so this could make what I wrote above totally irrelevant.

Story

Make No Mistake About Harper Foreign Policy

2007-11-28T14:55:00.000-06:00

In March of this year a world poll indicated that of all the leading countries in the world Canada is viewed most positively. This is one poll in a long line of polls indicating how well Canada is perceived globally. You wouldn't be stupid to assume that this is a great thing, and an endorsement of the way successive governments have run the country at home and abroad. But make no mistake, our current government does not think this is a good thing. Harper Conservatives believe this is an indication of weakness, and somehow a lack of principles. There is no other way to explain the Harper Government's complete break from Canada's foreign policy conventions. Whether it's becoming a block to multilateral action, ending support for the human rights of Canadians, or consistently repeating that their way of foreign policy is a positive break from past policy.

This may seem like one of my post partisan posts ever, but it's pretty much how I feel.

***

Also what's with the NDP moving to the right these days? Supporting a pretty useless bill on veiled voters? Or how about this article that went by pretty much unnoticed by everyone. Obviously looking to grasp any publicity of his own in the story of Kevin Rudd's Labour Party in Australia. Jack Layton says he's encouraged by Rudd's success and plans to model his next campaign on Rudd's. Of course it might upset your average Dipper to understand that the Labour Party of Australia is actually probably even further to the right than the Liberal Party of Canada. Kevin Rudd himself is somewhat of a social conservative, opposing gay marriage, and despite media claims otherwise, Rudd's position on the environment is not far from that of the Harper government. I wonder how your average NDP voter would feel if they realized that the leadership of their party dislikes centrist Liberals more than Conservatives, all the while acting more like centrists than at any other time in their recent history.

***

And I guess I was right about Van Loan's bizarre logic, and I'm pleased PVL's had to pay a price for it. The story still doesn't seem to quite dead yet.

Harper in Kampala

2007-11-24T15:50:00.000-06:00

I don't understand what was going on in Kampala, I really don't. Maybe Harper's right, or maybe he's just not very interested in cutting emissions. But I do know that if he's using the excuse that "developing countries or the United States aren't willing to cut emissions so neither should we," it's very disappointing. I certainly don't understand how altering this communiqué will help get the U.S. and China on board. It's also very distressing that some 50 world leaders go back to their countries today with less incentive and obligation to reduce emissions. I really hope the Harper Government can move heaven and earth at the Bali Conference, but I doubt they can, and I'm not sure they want to.

I wish the media could cover this story better. I also hope that if Canada is really being a roadblock to global emissions cuts then other countries will stop with their diplomatic niceties, and get vocal about it.

PVL Logic?

2007-11-15T15:56:00.000-06:00

Does this make any sense?

The federal government sent Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty a scathing letter Tuesday in defence of its plan to add 22 seats to the House of Commons.

...

In one final dig at the premier, Van Loan accuses McGuinty of moving away from representation by population in his own province.
He says McGuinty's decision in 2005 to add just four ridings in Southern Ontario while keeping the same number in the sparsely populated north shortchanged many voters.

He says McGuinty's democratic reform bill left the average size of a Northern Ontario riding at 76,256 votes - 44 per cent fewer than the Southern Ontario average of 110,123.

Doesn't make much sense to me. I would think that adding seats to Southern Ontario where there are more voters to riding than in Northern Ontario would increase parity. Either I'm not getting it, Peter Van Loan is using some bizarre partisan logic, or the Canadian Press article is wrong. All that being said I hope for the Liberals sake that the Harper Government gets in a fight with Dalton McGuinty.

More detailed article here. It's not clear what Van Loan meant, but it's probably more a case of Canadian Press having too much trouble explaining the situation in one article.

Mulroney Now Tangling with Harper?

2007-11-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

Top news tonight is that Brian Mulroney is now calling for a full independent inquiry into his dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber and Air Bus. This is far and away more than Stephen Harper has said he was willing to do.

So... opening to the opposition? "Why won't the Prime Minister at least go as far as Mr.Mulroney and start a full judicial inquiry?"

That, or Mulroney's setting up Stephen Harper to do just that, call a judicial inquiry, albeit in an unorthodox way. I seem to think that Brian Mulroney is just going over Harper's head protecting his own arse, notwithstanding the impacts on Stephen Harper. Even purposefully hurting Harper.

Nonetheless this all seems like bad news for Stephen Harper. He's now stuck doing everything he and his party isn't very good at. Admitting mistakes and backtracking, maybe now even double backtracking. He's also going to have to do a lot of improvisation. And we've seen how well that's gone in the past with Afghan torture allegations. Harper's agenda is totally thrown out the window for now if anything.

Oh, and if you're wondering the effect on the polls? Well that's still unclear. Last week there was a poll showing the Conservatives led by 14 points, now Strategic Counsel says the Liberals and Conservatives are tied at 32 with the Liberals leading the Conservatives in Ontario by 18 points (perphaps capitalizing on Harper's writing off of Toronto). That same poll also had the Greens actually ahead of the NDP. At the same time Dion's leadership numbers are still bad. Can't help but think this mess with Mulroney will help Dion and the Liberals though.

What Goes Around Comes Around

2007-11-09T16:54:00.001-06:00

I know most Conservative supporters won't be able to resist their most basic human emotion to decry the "Liberal/liberal/socialist/anti-Conservative media" that this headline they'll claim demonstrates. Of course it won't matter to them that it came from the Toronto Star, Canada's most prominent, and perhaps only, progressive newspaper. Or that politicians of other stripes get similar treatment by other media outlets.

But does anyone really think that after booting city friendly candidate Mark Warner for no reason, calling for Dalton McGuinty to be ousted in favour of John Tory, and generally having no platform for city issues like environment, poverty and immigration that city newspapers would put up with it forever?

Of course the article headline is not accurate, and would have made more sense saying Harper writes off cities, Toronto, or something like that. I don't think I'd even use something like that as a blog headline.

But of course Harper, the principled evangelical knows a thing or two about accuracy, claiming yesterday that Stéphane Dion has opposed every tax cut that he has ever proposed...

Oh, and I'm surprised how quickly Stephen Harper left Brian Mulroney out to dry. We'll have to see what kind of independent inquiry he's actually proposing. And this looks like good stuff, bring that message to all the cities.

Bernier Contradicts New Death Penalty Position

2007-11-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

Le ministre des Affaires étrangères assure que le Canada n'a pas de nouvelle politique pour ne plus intervenir lorsqu'un Canadien va être exécuté aux �?tats-Unis.

Le ministre Maxime Bernier contredit ainsi le premier ministre Stephen Harper et tous ses collègues conservateurs qui se sont exprimés sur le sujet.

...

Intercepté à sa sortie du parlement par des journalistes, vendredi après-midi, le ministre Bernier a maintenu que le Canada n'a pas de nouvelle politique en cette matière.

LINK

Backtrack? Off-message? Who knows?

Canada's Back... to 1962!

2007-11-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

The Canadian Government will no longer protest the death penalty for Canadians in countries it considers are democratic that support the rule of law.

Hmmm, I wonder what kind of confusion those qualifiers present.

I doubt the maneuver has much impact in reality but it has deep symbolic meaning. Canada now condones the death penalty.

Canada has always dealt with violence differently than the United States and it's a source of pride for many Canadians, and an important aspect of what makes many of us Canadian. The Harper Government obviously doesn't agree.

Canada's back!

Better to be Feared than Loved?

2007-10-31T22:14:00.000-05:00

Senate schmenate, if these practices are considered reasonable by Stephen Harper and Conservative Party headquarters it's very disconcerting. Bring on the by-elections already.

Well-spoken, pragmatic, minority candidate? Unacceptable.

Stephen Harper, So Brave

2007-10-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

All federal parties denounce Quebec immigration bill except Tories
-The Canadian Press

2 hours later...

All federal parties denounce Quebec immigration bill
-The Canadian Press

***

Federal Conservatives at first appeared reluctant to get involved in the debate and initially refused requests for comment.

Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn refused to discuss the bill - saying it was not Ottawa's issue. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office also declined to say anything.

But late in the day a senior cabinet minister denounced the PQ legislation.

Tory House leader Peter Van Loan said he was pleased to see that the bill had limited support in the Quebec legislature - both the minority Liberal government and the Official Opposition Action democratique du Quebec made it clear Tuesday that they wouldn't support it.

"It's heartening to see this bill's not going to go anywhere," Van Loan said in an interview.

"Every Canadian has democratic rights. And those rights - to vote, to run for office - are fundamental. . . I don't think those rights can be taken away."

The Conservatives have been reluctant to wade into the debate on so-called reasonable accommodation in Quebec.

Last spring, after several girls were kicked out of a Quebec tae-kwon-do tournament for wearing Islamic headscarves, federal ministers ran down staircases, claimed ignorance of the story, or simply refused to return phone calls when asked about it.
...

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called it a scheme to transform the immigration debate into the kind of English-French spat that has traditionally fuelled the sovereignty movement.

He urged PQ Leader Pauline Marois to immediately withdraw the controversial Bill 195.

"Thankfully we have a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which prevents certain politicians from going off the rails like she has," Dion said.

"This will never be welcome in Quebec. The Quebec that I know will never accept this kind of thing."

The NDP's newest MP, former Quebec cabinet minister Tom Mulcair, also denounced the bill

If You Weren't Sure Ezra Levant Was a Bozo...

2007-10-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

I've always just ignored Ezra Levant so I didn't have to deal with him, but I caught a panel on Paula Todd today, and boy, the guy really is nuts. He claimed that immigrants are trying to bring their cultures and impose it on Canadians using the veiled voting issue as proof when it was pretty clear that no immigrant groups were seeking for this to be legal at all, when in fact it was just Canadian law that was lacking. He then goes on to claim Winnipegger Shahina Siddiqui supports female genital mutilation which he claims appears online, but I can't find anywhere. And Levant basically infers that she is less Canadian then the rest of us (as she drinks a Tim Horton's might I add). Immigrants overwhelmingly accept Canadian laws and are a lifeblood, shut up Ezra. Levant should be called on his crap if his allegation about Siddiqui is false. Thank heavens, we have the Charter.

You can see it here for the next day or so if you can stomach it. It's a couple minutes in.

Apparently this is the article Ezra Levant was referring to. However it seems that Siddiqui was merely giving the historical basis for female genital mutilation. There's no evidence she endorses the practice.

Endureth

2007-10-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

I really wish that Dion could have brought the government down right away but it probably just wasn't possible. It seems like a large majority of the caucus was for making parliament work, and while it sucks that Dion couldn't get them behind him, you can't go into an election without your caucus behind you. A democratic exercise within caucus isn't the worse way to go. Oddly enough that's sort of how parliament is supposed to work.

"Victory goes not to the swift nor to the strong but to he who endureth until the end", a phrase I heard last night on Frontline, which I think Dion and Liberals should take very much to heart. For if the Liberal Party of Canada can't be led to eventual victory by Stéphane Dion, the Liberal Party of Canada is no longer what is has always been.

More Ivison Nonsense

2007-10-04T16:51:00.000-05:00

John Ivison the other day:

The Liberals hope that shifting Mr. Carroll to a new position and implementing a mini-shuffle of the shadow Cabinet will mean the worst is over for leader Stephane Dion, who remains remarkably competitive in most polls, despite weeks of unrelentingly negative headlines.

These hopes may be forlorn. If only half the whispers on Ottawa's Sparks Street are true (about average), the Liberals who supported Gerard Kennedy in the leadership contest are united as never before-- that is, 100% in favour of getting rid of Mr. Dion.

I don't have to tell you how silly it would be for the people who were responsible for Dion becoming leader would, so soon, be ALL in favour of getting rid of him. Certainly they know that to a large extent they rise and fall with Dion. I'm not immersed with the Kennedy people to any extent, but Ivison's claim still seems totally ridiculous.

***

And because I forgot to say it yesterday Antonio DiDomizio should be ashamed of himself for saying,

"At the end of the day, in terms of the Liberal Party, Dion showed which side he was on and as usual, Dion was against Quebec"

and

"Could it be because the National Director and his staff have such little respect for the province? Could it be because every time since he became leader, Dion has chosen his staff over Quebec."

Perceived grievances real or not, are no excuse to be making divisive comments like the ones above. And despite what the consensus opinion might be among some, repeating it doesn't make it true. This fellow makes the same point albeit in a more detailed way.

We're Still Coca-Cola Classic Somehow

2007-10-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

Con 33 (+1)
Lib 31 (+2)
NDP 16 (-1)

This poll was a little bit reassuring. Of course I wouldn't rule out another polling company coming out tommorow and saying that we're down 10 points. Nonetheless, it sure does seem like there is a core group of Canadians who generally think the Liberals have been good for Canada, that they can be again, and nothing Dion has done has shaken that perception. Of course the numbers here are still no reason for us to underestimate our difficulties in Quebec, where one would hope the worst is over, but I doubt it.

As for Bryon Wilfert's comments about avoiding an election I tend to agree with him. Sure it would make us look weak, and the NDP would jump all over that, but we already look pretty weak these days. I'm not sure it's a story that would haunt Liberals, afterall Canadians aren't looking for an election now anyways. Of course it would be nicer if the Bloc propped up the Government so we'll see. Ultimately you have to try to have the election come in circumstances that give you the best chances. Of course there's this idea that the longer we wait for an election the more time there is for internal dissent to take root. Perhaps, but at some point the dissenters overplay their hand.

Big Booboo at CTV Homepage

2007-10-02T17:28:00.000-05:00

Bias! Bias!

Pierre-Luc Bellerose is not a Quebec Liberal MP for the riding of Joliette. Hell, as far as I can tell a Liberal hasn't really represented this area since Lester Pearson was Prime Minister.

A Quebec Liberal MP announced his resignation from the party Monday citing poor leadership by Stephane Dion, while the Liberal national director is expected to lose his post.

Pierre-Luc Bellerose, who represents the Joliette riding, decided to leave the party

English media continuing to prove it has no idea what's going on in Quebec.

Gerard Kennedy in Ukraine?

2007-09-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

I had no idea he was even over there. Pretty surprising news.

Kennedy said the police tried to hinder the observers from ensuring that the process was fair leading up to Sunday's parliamentary poll.
"Police came, one carrying weapons into the area, which is not supposed to happen, and then a kind of humorous thing happened where local TV stations came and there was what we considered mock interviews, where the party's regional representatives denounced us one after another in front of the TV cameras," Kennedy said.

Quebec Wasteland

2007-09-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

I still don't even know what to say. Other than Stéphane Dion, Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and whoever the hell else have got to get their arms around this thing somehow, immediately. Unfuckingbelievable. It's not so much that I fear a Harper victory, even a majority, it's just what it means for our federation, for federalism. I'm at a total lack of faith right now.

I'm shutting the comments to avoid the obvious. E-mail me if you must.