Month: August 2013

A reader writes: Inky Mark on Merv Tweed and Stephen Harper

Inky Mark
Inky Mark on Parliament Hill in 2005 (REUTERS/Jim Young)

Inky Mark, first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 to represent Dauphin-Swan River in Manitoba, never did like Stephen Harper much and didn’t much care for the way the Reform Party he first joined morphed into the modern Conservative Party. He quit federal politics in 2010, after Harper had won his second minority.

This week, upon learning that Merv Tweed would resign his seat in Brandon-Souris — Tweed’s riding lies directly south of Mark’s old riding , Mark sends along this note:

Now that Merv Tweed has taken a plush job with Hudson Bay Rail, what will happen to the vacancy in Brandon Souris?
Will Stephen Harper appoint his replacement as he has done in Dauphin Swan River after I retired from Ottawa in 2010? Will the CPC members in Brandon Souris demand that an open democratic nomination process be followed? Hopefully the new MP won’t be just another rubber stamp for Harper.

Yours sincerely,

Inky Mark,
former Member of Parliament.

The PM looks for his 8th communication director in 8 years

Andrew MacDougall
I snapped this pic of soon-to-be former PMO Communications Director Andrew MacDougall at the Sikh Temple in Anandpur Sahib, the Punjab, India during PM Harper’s visit there in 2012.

It was just over a year on the job for Andrew MacDougall.

 

Now, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his chief of staff Ray Novak will need to find Harper’s 8th director of communications in 8 years. Continue reading The PM looks for his 8th communication director in 8 years

Atlantic Canada's Employment Insurance haul: $12.5 billion in a decade

Don Mills, Chairman and CEO of Halifax-based Corporate Research Associates, Inc., put out the following series of tweets this afternoon:

Readers write taking issue with my piece on Putin-Harper

Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok in the fall of 2012.

In our papers on Saturday and here on this blog, I wrote about Russian President Vladimir Putin, who I believe to be an anti-democratic despot with little concern for respecting the rule of law or upholding universal human rights. Many readers agreed but some did not. Here’s a lightly edited pair of responses which were typical of those who disagreed:

We’ll start with this rant from a computer sciences professor at London’s Western University: Continue reading Readers write taking issue with my piece on Putin-Harper

The frosty Harper-Putin relationship: Tales from Vladivostok

Putin waits for Harper
Waiting for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to show up, Russian President “was fidgeting, tapping his foot, and sent verbal daggers at his minions over the delay,” I write. See below (AFP PHOTO/RIA NOVOSTI/POOL/MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV)

OTTAWA – In less than a month, Russian bad boy Vladimir Putin will host Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other world leaders at the G20 summit in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg.
It’s shaping up to be a heck of a summit, if only because every leader who steps off the plane at St. Petersburg’s drab grey airport will have a giant chip on their shoulder because of their host’s recent behaviour on the world stage.

With Syria and gay rights and fugitive Edward Snowden, Putin has been offside with most of the Western world.

U.S. President Barack Obama just cancelled a one-on-one summit with Putin out of pique over Snowden, a sign of rapidly cooling Russia-U.S. relations.

But Harper and Putin haven’t exactly been getting along either. Continue reading The frosty Harper-Putin relationship: Tales from Vladivostok

The good news and bad news about federal Liberal fundraising

The federal Liberals are circulating the following to their membership.  The leader Justin Trudeau says the lastest fundraising numbers have some good news and bad news:

The Conservatives just posted their 2nd quarter fundraising numbers – and despite one of our strongest showings ever, we got out-raised by nearly $2-million.Take a look and see for yourself:

NDP Liberals Conservatives
Amount Fundraised: $1.37M $2.99M $4.88M
No. of Contributors: 18,846  38,014  30,437

That means that between April and June, every minute of every day a Conservative supporter donated 37 dollars and 27 cents. In the 10 seconds it’s taken you to read this, Conservatives donated $5 more – the same amount you could give right now to even the playing field.

But while the Conservatives out-raised us last quarter, we’ve got one number on our side – 38,014. That’s how many Canadians donated to be part of the change, and it’s 7,577 more than gave to the Conservatives.

This is exactly the spirit of the movement we’re building together – thousands on thousands of Canadians, each pitching in what they can, working together to build a better Canada through hope and hard work.

The Conservatives aren’t letting up. Neither can we. And I can’t do this without you.

Please donate now to help us keep up the momentum – and keep working harder:

https://www.liberal.ca/help-us-close-the-gap/

Thank you for being part of the change.

Justin

 

Very special guest shows up in Nova Scotia Liberal pre-election TV ad

A couple of TV ads — I assume they’ll be on TV, do let me know if you see one — from both the Nova Scotia NDP, led by incumbent Premier Darrel Dexter and from the Nova Scotia Liberals and their leader Stephen McNeil. Let’s start with the NDP. This ad debuted last December but is being pushed around again today by the Nova Scotia NDP:

And now, the Liberals. This is new today. And when you watch this one, see if you can spot a very special guest:

Continue reading Very special guest shows up in Nova Scotia Liberal pre-election TV ad

Losses could put Hudak in 'deep hole:' Prof

The top story this morning in the Niagara Falls Review and the St. Catharines Standard …

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak’s job may be safe, but he could face a demoralized party after Thursday’s byelections, says a McMaster University political science professor.

Henry Jacek said Friday that Hudak went into five byelections Aug. 1 with his Progressive Conservatives leading the polls in three ridings. They won one, falling short in Ottawa South and London West — losses he said are just the latest instances of the Hudak-led PCs failing to seal the deal at the polls.

“At this point he’s dug himself, probably, a very deep hole,” Jacek said.

[Read the rest at: Losses could put Hudak in ‘deep hole:’ Prof | Niagara Falls Review]

Journalist McQuaig wants to be an MP

Toronto Star columnist Linda McQuaig will announce today she is seeking the NDP nomination in Toronto Centre. The Star‘s Susan Delacourt reports:

[McQuaig] recognizes that the prevailing winds in Toronto Centre and beyond may favour new Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, but McQuaig said that NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is her clear choice.“When it comes to issues, performance, brains, just sheer effectiveness, [Mulcair] just has (Trudeau) totally beat,” she said. “What’s important to me is that Mulcair and the NDP is more progressive.”

Read the rest: Columnist Linda McQuaig enters NDP race in Toronto | Toronto Star.