RANDOM FIRE

The Conservatives under Stephen Harper have mastered the buckshot approach to governing, with their omnibus bills and continuous fire at their rivals on the horizon. When it comes to cementing misinformation and dishonest stories, they've spread the news, and good.
As we head into the key debate portion of the Liberal leadership race, it would be cool if more members of our blogosphere teammates would keep an open mind when it comes to what candidates have to say and propose.
I'm a proponent of the current supply management policy that has been Canadian government operations for many, many years. That doesn't mean I'm going to hector Martha Hall Finlay when she speaks her piece. I don't necessarily agree that Canada's telecommunication industry should be opened further to foreign investors; but I've got lots of time to listen to Marc Garneau.
When I hear a revered blogger like C4SR continue to catcall Justin Trudeau because the MP for Papineau has said that the long gun registry is dead and was a failure, I'm wondering exactly what C4SR is trying to achieve.
Does he want the long gun registry re-deployed? If so, which party and which leader is standing up for that exact thing? While it was through massive lies and falsified facts, the CONs under Stephen Harper have convinced Canadians that the registry was a waste of money and was poor policy. A majority of Canadians want stronger gun control but when push comes to shove, it is an issue that does not mobilize voters. Admittedly, a successful registry produces fewer victims, thus fewer tragic headlines, which are things that are hard to quantify. No one is running newspaper stories about "Jane Doe is alive today because her husband didn't have ready access to a long gun"... The CONs lied -- Sheila Fraser demonstrated that. We can agree that Canadian police chiefs, first responders, victim services and women's support groups all wanted the long gun registry saved -- but Canadians are not marching in the streets in solidarity, unfortunately.
If Trudeau was talking about how the past and current governments failed to demonstrate how the gun registry was working, and how it failed to galvanize support over the years under the barrage of CON lies, he was correct. Marc Garneau also says there will be no returning to a long gun registry if he was to be elected Liberal leader -- because he knows that would be a sure-fire vote loser. Even the NDP straddled the line between support and apathy towards the registry, because it saved lives -- their own.
In suburban centres and ridings, I believe we can find something towards an agreement about gun control -- but that is not Canada. Certainly as someone who talks from the Prairies, C4SR understands the divisiveness that this issue has played in the past -- especially when it is manipulated by those with less than honourable intentions. Trudeau, and to a lesser extent, Garneau don't want to get caught up in that game with the CONs. So at this stage, take it off the table. Let the party membership put together a cohesive policy. It's something that requires finesse and debate -- but healthy debate, not namecalling or catcalling.
With that in mind, I challenge C4SR to open up the debate on his blog. Let comments flow -- he or she will find there are those who agree and those who disagree. But through discussion and engagement -- of the kind Trudeau, Garneau, Hall Findlay, Joyce Murray and their fellow leadership rivals are trying to create.

Return of Rockfish!

Welcome back!
This blog has been in a self-induced slumber, but is, like that ol' SCTV intro, back on the air.
Life, it seems, continues whether we blog or not.
And unfortunately, Stephen Harper's madness -- the angriest white man in faux-biz -- continues unabated. His omnibus bills continue to flood parliament with thousands of cuts and significant program attacks, showing him to have told the truth when he said: "After I'm finished with Canada, you won't recognize the place."

We've got 3 byelections on Monday, which hopefully will produced some surprising results. It is exciting to hear that Calgary could be a horse race, and Victoria is heating up. I have heard little about who will be buying the orange juice for Durham -- and considering that is the only one of the ridings where someone quit amidst controversy, that is disappointing.
In the meantime, here are a few interesting links:

Harper confidante tells social conservatives they just need to change their message to get what they want.

Harper's heavy-handed tone and the Conservatives' boldness in being bullies needs some pushback - Michael Harris, iPolitics.

Special interest groups (ie. anyone who has nothing to do with the crooked Conservative party) need to be ready for more cuts ahead - G&M.

WHOPPER THURSDAY...

... with their majority freshly minted, the Harper government doesn't even need to use Friday for its 'bad news' dump -- unless there's something worse than admitting deception on fiscal responsibility for the sake of votes?
Who's suppose to have it their way, anyways?

SELECTIVE MESSAGING...

Steady Eddie and blustery Brad weigh in for the home team:


“If it isn’t, then I do think we need a time of stability. I think the government that wins the most seats needs to be able to bring down a budget and get the country moving forward,” said Wall.

These blue tories didn't even listen apparently to the Mansbridge interview before stepping into the cowfield -- perhaps they were using the 'selectively edited' CON talking points edition? They also don't like Westminster parliamentary rules, coalition governments (boo Britain, Australia and Finland!) or Canadian history.
Of course, their blinding support of Stephen Harper's Power At All Costs Tour kind of steps around Harper's own dalliance with 'fewer seats, more power' and Jack and Gilles in 2004.

What's good for the goose is not ducky with the hens, apparently.

DEAD HORSE, MEET STUNNED PARROT...

The Harper CONbots are up in arms twisting in circles and trying to create a controversy over Michael Ignatieff's response to Peter Mansbridge's question on what happens if a minority government is elected on May 2nd.
This is what Ignatieff said...

“[I'd] talk to Mr. Layton, or Mr. Duceppe, or even Mr. Harper, and say, ‘We have an issue, and here’s the plan that I want to put before Parliament, this is the budget I would bring in,’ and then we take it from there.”

... and this is different from this in what way?

If ignorance is what Canadians are when it comes to their own governance, then Stephen Harper has provided the perfect platform. However, it is also obvious that there is someone on the hustings who is only in it for himself, and that person is Stephen Harper.

Which leads us to something completely different...

SOMETHING TO SAY...

Of all the things that I wish had been brought up during last night's english language debate, one specific theme should have had its 2-minutes of talk: Honesty and integrity.
But how would that be massaged into a four-circle bickering match, while making a salient point about the choices Canadians are facing? Well, let's imagine...

IGNATIEFF - Mr. Harper, you continue to talk about the necessity of having a steady hand helping guide the Canadian economy, protecting jobs and creating opportunities.
All these things are part of the Liberal Party platform, and have been accomplished by past Liberal governments.
But when it comes to leadership, I think what you've delivered falls far short of what Canadians deserve. Just yesterday, one of your senior members had to humbly apologize for your government's deliberate choice to take words the auditor general applied to a report on fiscal management -- a report she wrote in 2004 -- and pasted it onto the preliminary discussion on the G-8 summit.
As someone who spoke fervently at one time about accountability, you continue to relegate responsibility to others when you've been found with your fingers in the cookie jar.
So I ask you, sir, will you apologize for this secretive, undemocratic and trust-breaking act you have done?

HARPER: Mr. Ignatieff, the auditor general's report on the G-8 summit remains unreleased, the documents being leaked to the press, as she has suggested, are not representative of her final report ...

IGNATIEFF: I'm sorry sir but you're misleading the Canadian people here. I'm not talking about the auditor general's final report, of which members in your own caucus continue to suggest are known to you.
I'm talking about the report, tabled to a Commons committee, in the final week of Parliament. You stole quotes from Ms. Fraser and made a mockery of integrity, sir. You sent out Stockwell Day to apologize for it, when Mr. Day had nothing to do with it. I can understand, how you -- having been caught already for plagarizing a speech, and avoiding responsibility on that -- would prefer to sweep this under the rug and avoid talking about it. However, you are talking to the Canadian people, or are you just talking to that camera? Here is your chance to show some leadership Mr. Harper, to say what all Canadians understand to be true -- that plagarizing and misleading people about what someone else has said, are wrong? Will you do that?

HARPER: Again, our government has directed its efforts on guiding the economy during tough times and mistakes have been made, when Mr. Ignatieff distracts Canadians with expensive problems, an unnecessary election...

IGNATIEFF: I'm sorry sir, but that doesn't sound like accountability, Mr. Harper, it sounds like denial, that you having something to hide. Great leaders, and Canada has had many, have taken responsibility for their mistakes. They've not a stable of ministers and assistants take the blame for them, like you have. If you refuse to take accountibility for this one act, which sends a seriously wrong message to young and old alike, how can Canadians trust you with the keys to their economy? I must compliment you on your game-playing skills, Mr. Harper. If we were playing a game, I would admire it, however we are talking about leading a country. The Canadian people are not part of a game who you can mislead and misapropriate from, Mr. Harper.

... and I'm sure it would translate into french...

READ BETWEEN THE LINES...

Stephen Harper has been known to say one thing and do another.
He's also tried to dance like Toller Cranston around the intentions of his actions and words of the past.
While I think Canadians are eager to have a new debate on how their health care system has to adapt to meet the changing demands and rising costs, Harper is happy to skirt the issue and just pledge what the other guys are pledging (not to let the other leaders off on a technicality, however they are in opposition and not the current government).

Just in case you've forgotten, here is what so-called leader Stephen Harper has said about Canada's health care system in the past:


"We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system."

- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.



"It's past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act."

- Stephen Harper, then Vice-President of the National Citizens Coalition, 1997.



"What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care]."

- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.



"I know this is a dangerous subject. My advisors say don't talk about it, but the fact is sometimes provinces have allowed in the past few years, they've brought in private services covered by public health insurance... Why do I care and why do we care as a federal government how they're managed? What we care about is whether people can access them. This is just an ideological agenda."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper at the leadership debate, June 15th 2004, conceding that he shouldn't talk about his positive view of privatization of health care.