Who knew?

Howard Dean's speech was solid and his French is better than Frank McKenna's. He even did the self-deprecating "SCREAM" joke in French so Fox news couldn't use it.

"Nation" fallout begins

Separatist turned federalist turned separatist lawyer and windbag Guy Bertrand is unleashing the first test of the motion passed by the House of Commons. Pandora's box is open now and I am sure it will be a long time before there is Constitutional peace in our land.

Sometimes I wish that scholars who had been away from Canada for a quarter century would have bothered to pick up a newspaper, even once in a while, to see what Constitutional grief and anguish had done to our country over the late 1980s and early 1990s before opening big mouths and inserting feet.

I know, when reached for comment, Ignatieff said his comments were taken out of context, and besides "I lived there".

Experts confirm Conservatives fleecing seniors on Income Trusts and Income Splitting

The Caledon Institute of Social Policy released a scathing report assessing the fairness of Canada's New Government's recent income splitting decision. The report authored by world-reknowned social policy experts Ken Battle and Ed Tamagno concludes that the Harper Government's proposal is Robin Hood in reverse, with Jim Flaherty effectively taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

Here is the conclusion of the report:

The Conservative government has opted for tax breaks that will provide windfall benefits to some of the wealthiest seniors, only modest benefits to middle-income seniors, and nothing at all to the poorest of Canada’s elderly who are
most in need of assistance. As this commentary has shown, using data from the Finance
department, a well-to-do couple with $100,000 in income from private pensions and RRSPs would get a tax break of as much as $7,280 from the proposed splitting of pension income. This is 23 times more than the tax break of $310 for a couple with a modest pension income of $20,000 – which is close to the average pension income of
all senior couples in Canada with such income.
The federal government has characterized its proposed changes as ‘tax fairness’. Tax
unfairness is the real result. The cost of this manifest unfairness is very high – by the Finance department’s own estimates, $6 billion over the next six years. Not one cent of this $6 billion will go to seniors with the lowest incomes – those who already do not pay income tax because their income is so low. In addition, there will be significant costs for the provinces and territories.
There is an alternative which would cost the same or a bit less than the government’s
proposals and which we believe would be truly fair. That alternative, which Caledon has described in this commentary, would provide tax relief to middle-income seniors and allow them to keep a little more of their retirement savings for themselves. At the same time, it would give muchneeded additional financial assistance to the
poorest of seniors who are, at best, just getting by and who need all the help they can get.
Canadians need to have a discussion about what tax fairness really means.

So not only did the Conservatives break their promise and steal over $30 billion in Canadians' retirement savings with their income trust decision, but they have made matters worse for average seniors.

Parliament passes law to recognize famine-genocide

Ukraine's Parliament adopted a bill on Tuesday recognizing the Soviet-era forced famine as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in a victory for pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko and a kick in the head to apologists for Josef Stalin. See the AP story
here.

Big BC Momentum for Bob Rae

Today, Bob Rae picked up a second major endorsement, from Trudeau era and Paul Martin Minister Jack Austin. Austin is the fourth former BC Cabmin to publicly endorse Rae after Hedy Fry, Herb Dhaliwal and Ujjal Dossanjh. Given that David Emerson has crossed over to the dark side, that leaves only David Anderson and Ray Chan in the race as Liberal Cabmins from BC over the last 12 years not supporting Rae. Oops, almost forgot about that political powerhouse Steve Owen from Quadra.

In any event, with big endorsements from Saskatchewan and BC, the big endorsement that all the final 4 must be striving for is that of the former Deputy PM (no not Sheila Copps) Anne McLellan, the cornerstone of the Liberal Party in Alberta. It will be interesting to see if she comes out for Stephane Dion or Bob Rae...

So who's got the big Mo?

Today's Globe has a poll that highlights Stephane Dion being the second choice of the largest number of people surveyed and his team says that he has the big Mo.

Gerrard Kennedy came out against the Nation motion and his folks say that with Justin Trudeau he's got the big Mo.

I just received a release from the Bob Rae campaign indicating that Regina kingpin and Opposition House Leader Ralph Goodale is endorsing Bob Rae:

Ralph Goodale to Support Bob Rae
November 28, 2006 - Ottawa - Bob Rae today welcomed the endorsement of Ralph Goodale, MP for Wascana and former federal cabinet minister, in his campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

"Bob Rae has demonstrated throughout his career a commitment to finding the right public policy solutions to the priority issues we face as a country," said Mr. Goodale. "He brings experience, an ability to bring people together for the common good and is committed to seeing an inclusive, united Liberal party. Bob has also demonstrated a concern for issues of importance to Western Canadians. Whether it is trade, agriculture, transportation or innovation and skills training, Bob brings expertise, insight and a desire to work with Canadians to ensure all provinces can reach their potential, in partnership with the federal government."

"I am honoured to have Ralph Goodale's support," said Bob Rae. "He has served as a Cabinet minister and Member of Parliament with distinction and dedication on behalf of his constituents and all Canadians. He has a powerful reputation for integrity and for fiscal responsibility. Ralph and I both believe in a party that is united, and that unified we can and will defeat Stephen Harper. I am pleased that we will be working together to that end."

Goodale is a big catch and can deliver in Saskatchewan and elsewhere for Rae. So who's got the big Mo, it seems that it is everybody but Iggy.

Citizens force delay of Parc avenue Vote

CBC Montreal reports that Montreal city council has postponed the vote on the propsed name change of Parc Avenue to Robert Bourassa here.

Why doesn't the mayor's office just admit that they blew it like the federal Liberals did with the proposed renaming of Mount Logan after Pierre Elliott Trudeau and name something more appropriate after him...like a Metro station or something that "neo-Montrealers" won't complain about?

2 stories I'm following

Byelections

Steve Harper called 2 byelections that were held today and the results were the same as voters in London-North returned a Liberal and those in Repentigny sent a BQ MP to Ottawa. Just goes to show that the public still don't like Steve's too cute by half political machinations - trying to squeek a win out of the beyelection the week the Liberal Party is choosing a new leader. Quiz question: So who is the ex-officio for London: Joe Fontana or Glen Pearson?

Montreal City Council Vote

Montreal city council will vote Monday night on the mayor's unpopular idea to rename Parc Avenue after the late Quebec premier Robert Bourassa. I
still want to know what Parc Extention will be re-named.

Michael Chong: Looking for Cheech

I was in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill today when suddenly there was a frenzy. Garth Turner had passed the Liberals some information - Stephen Harper was about to lose his Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs over a motion fundamental to that Minister's (Michael Chong's) portfolio.

Next thing you know, questions in the House - a nervous Harper looking like he had a bit of indigestion after last week's cat who swallowed the canary grin - had he turfed his minister, or had Chong been "was quit" to use a Martinism? Not only are Liberal leadership candidates Dryden and Kennedy deep sixing Harper's plan, but his own Unity Minister, that is to say the Stephane Dion of Stephen Harper's government quit over worries about the Nation motion encouraging ethnic nationalism.

At Chong's newser, he indicated that he will be abstaining because he would be fired from Caucus for voting against the government on a three line whip item. So much for voting your conscience. To hell with constituents. In Steve Harper's Ottawa - resistance is futile and dissention is not tolerated. Kinda leaves a guy wanting to rent some 1980's movies to mellow out and relax...

Gerard Kennedy may have pushed himself into 3rd place on the first ballot

The following wire story seems to be good news for Gerard Kennedy at the convention - if it is true and if he is the only one willing to go after the folly of the nation notion. As someone whose family immigrated to Quebec over 75 years ago and who will never be pur laine, we need to put a stop to this motion that in the end supports ethnic nationalism at the expense of Canada.

Grit leadership hopeful Kennedy bucks tide, opposes Quebec nation resolution
By JOAN BRYDEN

OTTAWA (CP) - Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy has decided to buck the tide of political opinion, coming out against a parliamentary motion recognizing Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada.

The Canadian Press has learned that Kennedy will issue a statement Monday opposing the motion, just as the House of Commons prepares to debate the surprise resolution introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week.

In so doing, Kennedy will become the only Liberal leadership contender to reject the motion, which has been embraced with varying degrees of unease by his seven rival candidates, Harper's Conservatives, most Liberal MPs and the New Democrats. Even the separatist Bloc Quebecois has come on side.

A senior Kennedy source said the third-place contender believes the motion is irresponsible and wrong for Canada.

Kennedy believes the motion raises expectations of eventual constitutional entrenchment of Quebec nationhood without defining what is meant by the word nation. Moreover, he is worried that the motion will deepen divisions in the country, the source said.

Kennedy, a former Ontario education minister, does not have a seat in the Commons but is issuing his statement in advance of the vote on Harper's motion, expected late Monday.

As Calgary Grit notes here, the Harper Cabinet is using ethnic nationalism to defend this motion. By Lawrence Cannon's way of thinking, my family is excluded from the Quebecois nation and I guess we are just the "ethnics" Jacques Parizeau complained about after the 1995 referendum.

This tragedy needs to be recognized

My friend Willard, who never updates his blog, told me about the movement to have the famine officially recognized as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.

There were millions of deaths attributable to starvation in a man-made, artificial famine - and the Communists are opposing to save Stalin's reputation, I wonder if Alp Apps is advising them too.

Cartoon from today's Halifax Daily News

Fox has announced that the made for TV special with Kramer, Mel Gibson and OJ being dropped in a tank without oxygen in shark infested waters is going pay-per-view.

I'll see your Executive director for Canada at the World Bank and Raise you...

I was delighted to see earlier this week two intellectual heavyweights joining the fray of the Liberal Leadership race.

Donald Johnston, who was in charge of the OECD for the last decade, and is a former president of the Liberal Party of Canada and 1980's Cabinet Minister has endorsed Bob Rae.

Not to be outdone, Stephane Dion published on his website his endorsement by former Rhodes scholar, Clerk of the Privy Council, and Chretien era Minister and architect of the plan to balance Canada's books Marcel Masse straight back from his gig at the World Bank in Washington.

These two guys are smart, problem-solvers whose intellectual capacity would cause some rookie candidates to soil their pants.

All that to say that Dion and Rae have done very well this week, with the exception of the Dion campaign's exhuming of Pearson-era policy wonk Tom Kent...talk about someone whose ideas haven't changed since the war era. Well, at least Masse will lend Dion some credibility on economic issues.

Barbara Yaffe's excellent editorial

I don't often agree with Barbara Yaffe, but I think she has done a good job today of pointing out exactly what the dynamics of the Liberal Leadership race are in her Vancouver Sun column today:

Destiny in December narrows to two: Dion or Rae

As Liberal leadership delegates prepare to head to Montreal to pick the chap they hope will become Canada's next prime minister, the contest has narrowed and suspense is heightening.

The next Liberal leader, to be announced Dec. 2, almost surely will be either Stephane Dion or Bob Rae.

Both draw their main strengths neither from superb past political performance nor terrific charisma, but rather from the fact they've managed to preserve their positioning as good compromise candidates.

Neither has done anything through many months of campaigning to actively annoy delegates or their fellow competitors. They've also been careful not to insult past Liberal PMs, who more than deserved a few digs, or pick at the deteriorating party's scabs.

Both Rae, a Rhodes scholar, and Dion, a one-time university professor, are intellectuals and experienced politicos. They've played it cool on party hustings, issuing, in methodical fashion, a host of low-key policies that alienated few and took the party in no seriously divergent or controversial directions.

So now, barring unforeseen events, the duo are being viewed as favoured second choices for the many delegates committed to Michael Ignatieff on the first ballot.

The Etobicoke-Lakeshore Liberal newcomer is forecast to capture the most support on the first ballot, but his numbers will be insufficient to give him an absolute majority.

Ignatieff's Achilles' heel is that has nowhere to grow thereafter. Many delegates will be relieved to vacate his tent, nervous about the inappropriate commentary the lead contender has been giving for months.

As a Liberal newcomer who had been decades out of the country, Ignatieff's key task was to reassure and build inroads into the party, not to go off on controversial verbal tangents that made him appear an inexperienced rookie unfamiliar with domestic sensibilities.

Dion and Rae for the most part stood back and allowed Ignatieff to self-destruct, instead directing most of their invective toward Stephen Harper.

The two men philosophically are solidly on the left of the party, more interested in social than economic policy, although Dion has made more of a point than Rae of the absolute need for Canada to keep its fiscal house in order.

Both have a fair following in, and an excellent understanding of, the province Liberals always worry about most -- Quebec. (Lack of Quebec delegates support is a reason why many view Gerard Kennedy as a total long shot next week.)

Oddly, Dion has been criticized for his weak English. But personally, I've never found his second language wanting.

Rae is said to be the candidate privately favoured by Jean Chretien, while Dion hasn't any big-name party veterans champion his candidacy. Maybe not a bad thing.

Dion is in fact as much a Liberal outsider as Rae, Ontario's former New Democratic Party premier. Dion entered politics in 1996 and Paul Martin was apparently prepared a few years ago to send him packing, as ambassador to Spain.

Dion, an author and academic, is 51, born in Quebec City. Rae, trained as a lawyer, is 58, born in Ottawa. The two are well pedigreed, with Rae's dad, Saul, having had a distinguished career as a diplomat and Dion's father -- interestingly, a one-time separatist -- being a highly respected figure in Quebec academia.

Rae and Dion are eminently qualified for the job but probably wouldn't have got anywhere near the big prize had someone like former New Brunswick Liberal premier Frank McKenna opted to run.

The pertinent point to ponder is, no matter who prevails, he will preserve the Liberals as a party of the centre-left.

And this is a positive in that it inevitably will present Canadians with a clear choice between the right-of-centre Harperites and Liberals who will focus more on environmental concerns, post-secondary education financing, day-care funding and keeping a safe distance from U.S. military ventures.

The most intriguing aspect of this soon-to-conclude leadership race? From the start, this contest was golden boy-frontrunner Michael Ignatieff's to lose. When all voting is complete and ballots are counted on Dec. 2, party members will be shaking their heads at what an excellent job Iggy did of achieving just that.

Bouquets and Brickbats

Well, I don't often do this but I have kudos to pass out to the NDP and the Conservatives today:

1) To Immigration Minister Monte Solberg and HRSDC Minister Dianne Finlay for bringing forward a smart and badly needed enhancement to Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Policy here.

2) To NDP MP Peter Stoffer who initiated a motion passed unanymously by the House of Commons to have a state funeral for the last surviving WWI veteran as was championed by pumpernickel and the Dominion Institute.

After that non-partisan display, here is the brickbat for another mortifying stupid series of bizzarre acts by Rona the fossilizer.

1) Greg Weston shows just how far Canada's new and exalted government has gone in its propaganda and censorship war with Canadians here.

Morning smiles

The Toronto Star and Globe both nearly made me spit up coffee this morning. The Star for this editorial cartoon and the Globe for the picture of PM Steve as Geigha as first first mentioned by
Prairie Fire.

Cough, hack, uh, uh, choke...

Well, Anthony Calvillo will go down in history as being the greatest big game choker to ever play quarterback in the CFL, rivalling only Dan Fouts of the San Diego Chargers for the all time number one ranking.

Calvillo is great during the regular season, but does not have what it takes to win the big game. The Als head office should ditch Calvillo and find someone who can lead the team to victory. Until they do, Anthony Calvillo is dead to me and should try starting a career selling used cars...maybe not - you need to be able to close a deal in that line of work as well. I want to start a petition to send Calvillo back to Texas and get Doug Flutie out of retirement.

Congratulations Lions...

Do as I say...

The NY Times has an interesting story on how the moral majority's morallity police foisted Rev Ted Haggard on his own petard here.

Four ministers were assembled to decide the fate of Rev. Ted Haggard dismissed the Rev. Ted Haggard, the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

Mr. Haggard created outside oversight for his independent church and when it came time to decide whether the allegations by a male prostitute that Mr. Haggard, one of the nation’s most prominent evangelical ministers, had engaged in a three-year affair with him and of using drugs, Haggard confessed to his handpicked board of overseers that he had engaged in sexual immorality.

What actually did Haggard in was neither the sodomy or the drug use, but an interview Haggard had given to TV crews as he pulled out of his driveway where he denied having sex with the male prostitute, and said he had bought methamphetamine but never used it.

I used to refer glibly to the moral majority as neither. This morning I am pleased that at least the board of overseers had the cajones to do the right thing and take out this hypocrite - for lying...

Time to take the old beater in to the shop

So I am taking my car in to the shop for its 125,000 km check up this week and I am frankly petrified about what the bill will be. On top of that, I have to get it emissions tested as all vehicles above 4 years old in Ontario are (rightly) required to be tested. I was hoping to drive it for another couple years so it could qualify for Old Cars Monthly, but now it appears that I will have to start shopping for new car. I may be better off just getting a subscription to Consumer Reports rather than shelling out for the car. First I'll need to decide between an SAV and the Honda Accord hybrid...decisions, decisions...

Sacrifice for global peace

Are you willing to help build world peace on December 22 as part of Global Orgasm Day?

Sacrifice, I say why not...

Gold Medal Plates

I attended this fundraiser for Canada's Olympic athletes last night at the Hilton Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau (Hull sector) last night.

It was put on by Robert Zed and chaired by Gary Zed. The premise of the event was to get 350 to 400 people out to a fundraising event for Canada's Olympic athletes where we would be able to sample from among 8 of Ottawa's finest restaurants. The participating restaurants were:

Juniper - Chef Reichard Nigro served an oyster cocoanut broth with angus beef.
Social - Chef Stephen Mitton served duck confit with fois gras nougat.
Les Fougeres - Chef Charles Part served seared Scallop on kedgeree risotto.
NAC Restaurant - Chef Kurt Waldel served sea bass and pickerel.
Domus - Chef John Taylor served an Atlantic Lobster roll box lunch.
The Urban Pear - Chef Ben Baird seared scallops with a cranberry coulis.
The Hilton - Chef Hectopr Diaz served a wild game trio of dear, rabbit and morels.
Brookstreet - Chef Michael Blackie served lamb with apple ice wine, lobster claw and bay scallop with tuna foam.

The winner of the judging for best plate was Michael Blackie from Brookstreet whose dish was my favorite of all these phenomenal dishes.

There was also a live auction which raised over $120k and silent auctions and raffles to make for an extremely successful and great night out for all concerned. From a motivational point of view Katriona Lemay Doan and fellow Gold medalist athlete Paul Rosen were nothing short of spectacular.

All said, I think we are on the right track to have some of the most successful Olympic performances ever!

The ring of Jackboots...

Well, it was with some surprise to me that the good folks at Google who had been hassling me to sign up for their Ad service as a way to make some cash off the traffic on my site suspended my account. I had passed the fifty dollar mark in 3 months and was informed that my PIN number was being mailed to me.

At this rate I could expect my first cheque 10 months from now and was nowhere close to receiving any money. Anyways, a friend asks me why I posted ads for political candidates and parties that I am not endorsing, so I explained to her that I had signed on to googgle's ads program and that I had not seen any cash and how it works in theory is that you are supposed to get money for clicks on your ads. Needless to say she went through my sight and enjoyed the ads. Without warning (add Strauss music here) the mothership disqualified me and placed an ominous "You are not authorized to view this page" banner on the top of my blog.

Can anyone recommend another blog hosting operation that is less heavy handed in its pursuit of $500 per share stock valuations?

Democrats elect new House Leadership

Democrats have come togther to unanimously nominate Rep. Nancy Pelosi as their candidate for Speaker. I for one am glad that they left Rep. Murtha of Abscam fame behind in trying to set a new agenda of integrity for Congress. Congratulations to Rahm Emmanuel who will be the number 4 of the Majority House leadership. You can read more here.

Leaderless Liberals surge ahead of Tories

So, for the first time since the election the Liberal Party of Canada is ahead of the Cons according to a new
Decima Research poll conducted last week.

Despite not having a leader (sorry - Go Bill Graham!!!) the Liberals have taken a lead nationally. Well, the honeymoon is over, and Canadians are pissed at Stevie over his broken promises and the lies from Canada's new and exalted government.

Kyoto - Promise broken, promise broken
Kelowna - Promise broken, promise broken
Reduce Wait times - Promise broken, promise broken
We won't screw seniors on income trusts - Promise broken, promise broken
Integrity in government - Promise broken, promise broken

I think the Liberals should borrow a broom from Howard Dean when he speaks at the Convention at the end of the month because it looks like Steve has soiled the bed and Canadians may want to do a little spring cleaning.

How's that Ostrich Foreign Policy working out for ya Steve?

PM Steve is facing the consequences of his bury your head in the sand approach to foreign policy, having been snubbed by the world's largest country when he requested a meeting with China's president here and previously mentioned here by your humble narrator.

This is in addition to Canada getting pilloried for its position on climate change and the possibility of a Carbon tax being added to trade with Canada by the Europeans here.

After striking out at the World AIDS Conference in Toronto and now these global embarrassments, when will Stephen Harper learn that Canada's International Policy has always been a 3D approach that includes diplomacy and development as well as defense?

Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Belinda

Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Belinda Stronach have all drawn attention to development issues recently, with the latter 2 making a positive contribution. Too bad about Madonna

Madonna has reportedly outraged Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie by criticising their charity work.

The couple - who are currently in India filming 'A Mighty Heart' - have allegedly been left "shocked" after Madonna blasted their involvement in the building of an Indian orphanage.

A source told Britain's Star magazine: "Angelina is shocked. Madonna's remarks just sound nasty. Angelina thinks the worst part of it all is that Madonna could have used the opportunity to say something that could actually be of benefit to someone."

As well as reportedly criticising Brad and Angelina's work with orphanages, Madonna - who has sparked controversy after adopting a Malawian baby called David - also seemed to trivialise Angelina's role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

The 48-year-old pop superstar said: "I'm not interested in going in there like an idiot and going, 'OK, I'm going to build ten orphanages and I'll see you guys later'. I could've joined the UN and become an ambassador, visited various countries and just showed up and smiled and looked concerned. But that's not getting to the root of the problem. And neither is building orphan care centres."

But she didn't build orphan care centres and is not a UN ambassador. For every 10 people talking about doing development assistance work it is impressive to see one person actually doing something about it. So whether it's Angelina and Brad or Belinda Stronach I wish there was more of their doing and less of Madonna's whining.

Steve's Thought police are in da House

The amount of control that the current PMO exercises is in sharp contrast to the previous Paul Martin PMO. However, there are signs that it is bordering on the extreme.

This afternoon, according to canadian Press, ex-Tory MP Garth Turner promises to provide 'disturbing insights' into the workings of Steve's PMO.

Independent MP Garth Turner is threatening to expose what he terms "disturbing insights" into the workings of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
Conservative government.

The former Tory member of Parliament has scheduled a news conference for today, promising to reveal what's contained in correspondence between his staff and the Prime Minister's Office since he was ousted from caucus.

"The big issue right now is not me, but rather some disturbing insights into how the 'new' government is actually working," Mr. Turner wrote. "I think we should talk about it. This matters a lot more than the fate of one homeless MP."

This follows the decision of the Harper government to make the words "innovate", "competitiveness" and "Innovation" forbidden in government documents as reported in the Toronto Star.

Outlawing the word innovation hardly inspires confidence in Canada's new and exalted Conservative government.*

* Somehow my word processor replaced Tory with "new and exalted Conservative"...I'll have to look into that...

The Habs have gotta be worth more than the Maple Loafs

According to Forbes magazine's annual approximations of NHL franchise values, the values of Canadian NHL franchises has surged since the league penned a new deal with its players and the Canadian dollar strengthened.

Two of Canada's "Original Six" franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, each went up in value 18 per cent.

Here is what I don'y understand, how is it that a city that has not won a Stanley Cup in my lifetime has seen its franchise value go from $280 million to $332 million -- making it the league's most valuable -- while the Habs who have won Stanley Cups like the Liberal Party used to win elections is only valued at $230 million?

I mean, the Leafs didn't even make the playoffs last year (again) while the Habs were eliminated in the playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Ottawa Mayoral Race

Well, there's a new poll in that bastion of truth the Ottawa Citizen this morning. It places Larry O'Brien in a commanding lead with Alex Munter second and incumbent mayor Bob Chiarelli a distant third.

Here's a bit about the candidates:

Larry O'Brien: Former businessman from Silicon Valley North. He is running on a platform to freeze taxes, spend $450 million on new incinerators, spend more on roads, social services and child care. Generally seen as the fiscally conservative candidate.

Alex Munter is a former city councillor, NDP candidate, and U of O lecturer. Munter is campaigning on raising taxes at the rate of inflation, expand wi-fi access, close the Carp and Navan dumps and cut fees for parks and recs. He is calling for borough councils which have been a disaster in Montreal since it went to one city. Clearly, based on his record and campaign promises is the tax and spend candidate.

Bob Chiarelli: Incumbent mayor and former MPP. Chiarelli is running on his record, claiming that Ottawa is acknowledged as one of the best cities in the world in which to live. He points to decraesed crime, a strong economy, the vibrant arts community. He has the baggage of an incumbent and is running on the expanded light rail project. Chiarelli has the most functional LRT plan of all three candidates and I like the way he stood up to John Baird's meddling.

The Ottawa Citizen Editorial Board Endorsed Bob Chiarelli

While I have not followed this campaign as closely as I had the US mid-terms, I will defer in my analysis to Friday's Citizen editorial.

It attested to Chiarelli's leadership in moments of crisis: "Mr. Chiarelli rose to the occasion for the 1998 ice storm and the 2003 blackout.”

As for the other candidates, the Editorial Board stated: “former Kanata councillor has long been known as a powerful voice for the political left. The labour unions adore him, so much so that some in the PSAC had raised the idea of paying its members to work on his campaign.”

On Munter's policy platform, the Citizen wrote; “[w]e are wary of his instinctive attraction to big government. He's calling for borough councils, which seems a step backward from the whole premise of amalgamation, which was to reduce government.” On light rail, they say: "irrespective if you are for or against, Mr. Munter's program does not take the train downtown, which is where people want to go. And Mr. Munter backs a tunnel, which would be prohibitively expensive.”

The editorial board is critical of Larry O’Brien who they state lacks even a cursory knowledge of the key issues at the City. They sayMr. O’Brien refused to answer the Editorial Board's policy questions “…what city services would he eliminate to keep tax increases at zero? He wouldn't tell us. Why is there little business development in the east end? He wouldn't speculate. His position on light rail? Impossible to discern.”

Having seen all this, despite his low ranking in the polls, I will be casting my vote for incumbent mayor Bob Chiarelli.

Finally...Sheva's back

Andrei Shevchenko scored with a beautiful header as he returned from four games out through injury against Aston Villa the other night. Though the goal was largely helped by Villa's defensive weakness, it was nice to see the Ukrainian striker finally shifting into gear, as his play to date for Chelsea has bordered on very weak thus far since joining the team.

This is an effective Leader of the Opposition...

Canadians are sometimes regarded in international circles as being overly smug. We are international boyscouts (and girl scouts?) who like to occupy a helper/fixer role on the world stage. Sometimes we can learn from others.

Ukrainian Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko recently took the wood to Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko on live TV here as pointed out by LEvko from Foreign Notes.

Frankly, the Liberals could learn a thing or two from Tymoshenko and administer a "thumpin" (as Dubbya would say) to the Conservatives with this type of tenacity.

Steve's chickens are coming home to roost

People made a lot during the last election campaign of the fact that Stephen Harper wasn't scary and that he had in fact changed his spots from the driven idealogue who had previously worked for the controversial National Citizens Coalition to become a small c fiscal conservative. Well, this morning's Globe and Mail highlights the latest attack by Steve on the independence of the judiciary. None less than Beverley McLachlin, Canada's Chief Justice, along with a group of the country's top judges issued an unprecedented rebuke yesterday to Justice Minister Vic Toews for hatching a plan to arbitrarily change the way judges are chosen.

On the very same page, after the federal government has spent time and effort cultivating relations with China for the last fifteen years, the Chinese are not returning Steve's calls because he has ignored and insulted China and not sent over any high level delegations in his year in office. When he discovered that they are the economic powerhouse of the next decade, with no forward planning, they politely told him they would get back to him to see if there was time in the Chinese President's schedule at the next APEC meeting. No forward planning and ideologically driven policy - worked for Bush didn't it.

Imagine if he had a majority...scary.

We're number 6!

The United Nations Human Development index (HDI) today ranked Norway as the best place in the world in which to live. The UN HDI is based on criteria such as life expectancy, education and income.

Canada placed sixth on the index, after Iceland, Australia, Ireland and Sweden.

More striking than the differences among the top countries were the comparisons of those at the bottom of the index. As my friend DC Grit says
here, it seems strange that by mere happenstance and place of birth some people, say Norwegians can earn 40 times more than the study's lowest-ranked country, Niger, live almost twice as long, and have nearly five times the literacy rate.

Hmmn.

Will MacKay be forced to step down?

Well that classy MacKay clan is at it again, giving a whole new meaning to the expression "pimp my ride". Elmer was notorious for his support for the business dealings of accused fraudster Karlheinz Schreiber who is facing extradition over allegations and chargesd of bribery, fraud, breach of trust and tax evasion. Elmer MacKay has even acted as a surety for the disgraced businessman's bail applications.


But this is the type of integrity we can expect from MPs who sit in Steve's Cabinet. Both Peter MacKay and his father Elmer think nothing of using federal government resources to send faxes to defend the honour of Karlheinz Schreiber. Maybe he should have taken some cash out of one of the envelopes earmarked for Mulroney and gone to Staples/Business Depot to send the fax. Just a thought.

In other news, MacKay denied that he had lent a government thesaurus to former Mulroney Chief of Staff Norman Spector with the "dog" page highlighted. Spector still refuses to apologize for the completely inappropriate language. How about we all pitch in for a bar of soap to wash Normie's mouth out.

Well it's official, sort of

World News Australia has called the Senate race in Virginia for the Democrats. AP confirms that it is impossible for Allen to catch up. All this and Rumsfeld's resignation, now where do they sell lotto 6/49 tickets?

It's almost official

Tester has been declared the winner in the US Senate race in Montana here.

That leaves only Webb vs. Allen in Virginia. Gentlemen, start your attorneys.

The results are in, almost

Well, it looks like my fearless projections for seat counts for the Senate race will be 100% accurate. That is, if the good folks in Meagher County Montana prefer Democrat candidate Jon Tester to Republican incumbent Conrad Burns. Tester has a 1% lead (1800 votes) with 99% of precincts in. The holdout, Meagher county, has no returns in at all yet.

As well, in Viginia, with 99% of polls in, 3 precincts remain to be completed:

Fairfax City - 86% reported breaks 56-43 for Webb
Isle of Wight - 92% reported breaks 57-42 for Senator Allen
Loudon County - 99% reported breaks 50-49 for Webb

Jim Webb leads at present by approximately 10,000 votes. Given the above data, it looks like Webb will win this one although it will surely go to recount.

With 13 seats still up for grabs, the Democrats have been declared in 227 House races, with the GOP losing 27 seats (so far) at 195.

It will be interesting to see how the lame duck President responds at 1:00pm. This could be great for bi-partisanship or complete gridlock - think Toronto at rush hour.

UPDATE: Here is the most thorough explanation of Montana recount rules that I have found.

Too boring to visit?

The National Post this morning quotes a UN report as saying that international travellers find Canada too boring to visit.

UNITED NATIONS - More people around the world are visiting other countries -- but passing on Canada, according to a United Nations study released yesterday.

While the number of tourists travelling abroad is up 4.5% over the past year worldwide, Canada saw a 4.1% decline. Officials say we're seen as unexciting, increasingly expensive and a hassle to enter when arriving at the U.S. border.

Personally, I would think that the South Park movie and high loonie have something to do with it as well.

Lest we forget...

Two weeks ago I attended an event here in Ottawa sponsored by the Dominion Institute as part of Citizenship Week in support of a program that they have to valorize the contribution of immigrants to building Canada.

Today, I support the Dominion Institute in its latest campaign to ensure that Canada's last World War I Veteran receives a state funeral. I urge you all to sign the attached petition to honour our WWI veterans.

Fearless Mid-term predictions

Here are my predictions for tomorrow's mid-term elections. The democrats will control both Houses. My seat projections are as follows:

US SENATE

Democrats 49
Republicans 49
Independents: 2

I have previously indicated that I think Democrats will pick-up seats in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, with Connecticut and Vermont electing independents who I believe will Caucus with Democrats.

US House

Democrats 230
Republicans 205

My favorite races to watch are Texas 22, New Hampshire 2 and Florida 16. These will be good barometers of the publics tolerance for GOP scandal.

Best Slogans for the mid-terms

In a race that has seen plenty of Republican scandal, it is heartening to see that at least 2 candidates have not lost their sense of humour.

Independent Texas Gubernatorial candiate Kinky Friedman is running under the slogan "How hard can it be?", while Seattle area Democrat Deb Eddy has my absolute favorite slogan, "Debbie does Democracy" in Washington State (Hat tip to Sidorenko).

Readers feel free to send in other favorite slogans.

Bush more dangerous than Kim Jong il

A story appearing in today'sGuardian indicates that US president George Bush is thought by Britons to be more dangerous to world peace than Kim Jong-Il.

The story goes on to say that 62% of Canadians think that the world is less safe because of US policies under Bush. Not surprisingly, three quarters of Canadians believe that the invasion of Iraq was unjustified.

In other news, Michael Ignatieff claims that he was misquoted when he supported the Iraq war...wash, rinse, repeat.

Canada's Ambassador to US predicts Democrats to take congress

Canada's Ambassador to Washington, Michael Wilson, was speaking at the Association of Former Parliamentarians annual fundraising dinner at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa last night. In his speech he indicated that: a) the softwood deal he negotaited is great; b)Canada-US relations are better now that we understand Dubbya; and c) that the world's largest border is getting "thicker".

He also predicted Democrats will win the House, but the Senate will stay Rebublican. And he said that this would lead to...no, not gridlock, but a new era of bi-partisanship for the lame-duck President. On this one, I hope he is right, but something tells me he's not.

I am calling the Senate Race - the last 3

Three weeks ago I said that I thought that it would come down to these three Senate races to see if the Democrats could take back the Senate. With just a few days to go until folks head to the polls, I would like to make my fearless predeictions in the last 3 races which I thought were too close to call at the time.

Rhode Island: The primary battle combined with the implosion of the GOP on IRAQ and sex scandals will see this state flip from Chafee Red to Whitehouse Blue with the last 5 polls increasing the average margin to 6%. Democratiic pick-up.

Tennessee: The Republican Party's negative campaign ads are among the most racist and disgusting I have seen. Republican Bob Corker's support has been eroding, but I do not believe that the backlash will be enough to put this seat back in the hands of Harold Ford Jr. "Call me." I consider this one a Republican hold.

Virginia: Racist incumbent Senator, George "Macaca" Allen, whose exploits have been published previously by your humble narrator here and here, has now taken to having members of the public who ask tough questions roughed up and beaten. The Democrats pick this one up and Senator Allen can go back to shouting racist slurs from his pick-up truck. James Webb is ahead by 3 points in the last 3 polls.

This results in a 49-49 Senate and I predict that both independents Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders will caucus with the Democrats.