Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Title was seen on a cardboard sign held by a former judge on the street corner. The economic crisis is affecting everyone equally, right? Yeah, I did not really see that.

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This was sent along to me, and it’s certainly an interesting and active part of Canadian politics. And with many things political, it’s more concerned about saving face, than doing anything to help people wronged. And there’s something about including the worth “truth” in a formal government title, that just sends shivers of despair down my spine, as I know that the truth will only come out accidentally from a commission with that kind of redundant title. What would you expect a “Department of Truth” to do if the Government of Canada opened one? Yeah, scary, isn’t it?

Mike has more thoughts on the “truth” commission.

CANADA - November 2, 2008

The 2008 Canadian Blog Awards (CBAs) are underway, and you can go nominate your favourite Canadian blogs starting today. Nominations are only open through November 22, so don’t put it off.

This year there have been some category changes as promised, in response to requests last year, and also participation levels. Some categories did not get enough nominations last time to justify their own category. The good news for those blogs that lost a category title is that there will still be a category or two where they will be applicable. For instance, Education and Military Blogs have been incorporated into Professional/Career Blogs.

I’m fortunate to again co-Operate the CBAs with Dani and NBCD, along with several other volunteers. We’re still looking for more motivated people interested in promoting Canada’s best blogs. You can email us at canadianblogawards AT gmail.com

The Copyservatives are really without imagination, aren’t they?

On October 14th, don’t vote for a John Howard Copyservative candidate. I mean, don’t vote for a Stephen Harper Conservative candidate.

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And now, a not so modest proposal for progressive parties (that includes no baby eating!):

This morning, after Elizabeth May got more national coverage smacking down Mike Duffy’s biased questions, the NDP and Conservatives are hard at work trying to convince us that May is in 3rd in the riding. Nonsense. She’s got national as well as local news coverage, and the NDP who tout previous election results as a guide, are neglecting to mention that’s with a different (and “star”) candidate who isn’t running this time.

A better, and non-partisan, solution to the pickle the progressive parties find themselves in is to admit that none of them are going to win a majority this time, so they should start playing nice with each other and lay the groundwork for a coalition that wants to achieve certain key objectives like controlling climate change, and Reeforrrrming the electoral system. Once those objectives are met, they are free to tear each others’ eyes out for a majority in a fair system that doesn’t favour the Conservatives’ 35% block of voters.

I guess we probably won’t know until November for sure, but it’s starting to look more like Bush won’t go quietly, at least according to Naiomi Wolf.

- My fingers are crossed that she’s wrong (at the very least about the timeframe). Could there be fewer than 30 days to prevent an official dictatorship south of Canada? That it’s come this close to one, I think lends credence to Wolf’s claim.

I think I get spam from this guy:

, but what he says, if accurate, is terrifying.

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The Ottawa Citizen / Star Phoenix lays a smack down on Conservatives who are skipping debates across the country. It’s a troubling sign for our Canadian democracy. I’m glad the pro-media is catching up to me.

While it’s understandable that scheduling problems and other commitments mean not all candidates from all parties can make it to all the events to which they are invited, the sheer number Conservative no-shows is an anomaly.

For a party that got into trouble with Elections Canada for funnelling money to local candidates’ campaigns to purchase advertising deemed to be national ads for regulatory purposes, it’s damaging to send a message to voters that their candidate is but a mere pawn in a game far removed from local control or accountability.

It’s bad enough when a party’s candidate does no more than spew out packaged pablum prepared by the national office, that has little to do with local issues.

But it undermines the entire democratic process when candidates refuse to participate during an election campaign in public events that give voters a chance to assess their ideas in the context of what’s being offered by other parties, especially when the party in question has not yet released a full platform that can be useful for comparison purposes.
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“Democracy cannot be maintained without its foundation: free public opinion and free discussion throughout the nation of all matters affecting the state within the limits set by the criminal code and the common law.”

-The Supreme Court of Canada, 1938

Peter MacKay is a disgrace. He’s a mouthpiece in the Conservative Party that is attempting to advance anti-democratic ideas. How dare he threaten the people of Newfoundland and Labrador with no consideration from a Conservative government if they don’t elect Conservatives! Whichever party is elected into power must listen to the representatives of a region no matter the MP’s political affiliation.

Instead, MacKay is showing his Conservative anti-democratic stripes. Just as in B.C. where the Conservatives tried to appoint a “liaison to Parliament”, again they are saying they will ignore the democratically elected representatives of Canadians — if they aren’t Conservative MPs. This is out right blackmail from the former PC Party leader!

I think MacKay should stick to his knitting in Nova Scotia, and stop threatening the people of Newfoundland.

“”I’m the regional minister for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island — you don’t want a mainlander representing you here [in] Newfoundland and Labrador,” MacKay said.
“You got to have a member sitting at the caucus table, in cabinet.”"

Or what, MacKay? Or what?! More intimidation perhaps?

I think Elizabeth May’s job to get elected in Central Nova, just got a bit easier today.

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Nottawa noticed something amusing that I did too.
Stageleft also thinks this threat will backfire on the Conservatives.

Say what you want about Stephen Harper, no one can say he isn’t an honest man. Oh, wait.

3 strikes and you’re out Mr. Prime Minister.
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UPDATE: The author of Harper’s speech turned out to be the very person who was being quoted without attribution. You don’t have to quote yourself, so Harper is off the hook for this apparent case of cheating.
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Others are accusing Dion of something similar, yet I see he at least attributed where the ideas came from, even if he didn’t use quotes on the website text. The question to ask is, did Harper attribute his speech to “Craig Docksteader of The Prairie Policy Centre, a rightwing think tank”?

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Blogs are doing the work of the paid-media this election. I think this is attributable to the ease of using Google, but more so to the under staffed pro-media. They have tight deadlines, and not enough resources and it leads to cutting corners. You’d almost think that Stephen Harper and his staff were experiencing the same sort of problem when they cut corners and stole words and ideas from think tanks, and Australian and Ontarian conservative first ministers.

I was talking yesterday with a shred political analyst, and he observed that Harper has starved the media of so much information, that when Conservatives (or blogs) feed journalists tidbits of news, they cover them like they are top stories. Remember puffin poop? Or the MASSIVE proposed 2¢/L diesel cut that has made up the bulk of Harper’s plan to stimulate his failing economy? Well, neither is very significant, yet they got nearly a full day of coverage while more important news items have gone unmentioned or under-covered.

Our perspectives are shot to heck by 24 hour insipid news coverage, and not enough people at newspapers to even track down elusive Conservative candidates. A news cycle of 60 minutes has lead people to have a thought process that reboots in an hour. Blogs certainly don’t help with this attention span or patience level either, and has led me to post more information in one day than most normal people care to read about politics in a week. We’re overloaded in information, and underloaded in time. But I still don’t copy from a right wing think tank (or any tank) in order to get my ideas across.

I got a few minutes to chat with the Green candidate in my riding of Wascana. Here’s the unedited footage of the interview. He gives some of his background, thoughts on Heather Mallick and the media, progressives, as well as Conservative opponent Michelle Hunter who didn’t show up to the All Candidates forum at the UofR on Oct. 1, 2008.

Link to video.

I talked about Political Darwinism before, but it’s worth noting that several bloggers are staking their claim to blog fame this election by pouring through candidates’ blogs, and posting embarrassing, or spun snippets of their thought. I suspect Monte Solberg of the Conservatives stopped his popular blog because he saw this coming, and unlike Garth Turner didn’t have a plan to manage the potential damage. Or Stephen Harper simply wouldn’t let him speak his own mind. Harper doesn’t even let himself speak his own mind.

But do candidates and parties even need platforms at all? Or do they have to even speak publicly? What’s the big deal if you are open enough to have a blog? Well, the media and bloggers
who are less scrupulous than people who value the truth over partisan gain, will take bloggers’ thoughts and turn them into scandal. The ironic thing is that their free speech helps to discourage open and honest debate, both in the blogosphere, and in our world. I’m not condoning hateful things that some bloggers/candidates have been caught saying, but I do think context is important, and people shouldn’t be so quick to judge a candidate based on what an out of context photo, video clip, or sentence claims they believe.