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The home of a former MP was vandalized in Guelph earlier this week, as was the home of several others in Frank Maine's neighborhood who had signs on their front lawn supporting the local Liberal candidate.

In addition to spray-painting homes and garages, the vandals cut the brake lines on several vehicles, an act which could have resulted in serious injury or death.

The Guelph Mercury reports that the vandals spray-painted anti-Liberal and pro-NDP graffitti. Both the local Liberal and NDP candidate have denounced the vandalism.

Let's find the idiots who did this. This ain't the way we do politics in this country.

Technorati Tags: elections

It's hot down here at the east end of Sussex Drive – 30 C, according to my car-mometer, without a cloud in the sky.
I and a gaggle of reporters, producers, and broadcast technicians are gathered here at 3:20 pm for a 4 p.m. meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his chief opponent Stephane Dion.
Satellite trucks from CTV and CBC are here so, if you're bored watching golf, this afternoon you can watch all the action here live.

David Akin
Canwest News Service
http://www.davidakin.com
Cell: +1 613 355 5347

Apparently, the Conservatives are not the only ones with money for TV ads:

Green Party releases its first ever television commercials in Quebec

MONTREAL – The Green Party of Canada has released the first television election commercials in Quebec during the by-elections in Westmount – Ville-Marie. Deputy leader Claude William Genest, Green Party candidate in the riding, is featured in the commercials.

The commercials highlight Mr. Genest discussing issues that matter to voters, such as the need for action on climate change and for a fresh Green voice in Parliament. He also focuses on the continued leaching of PCBs into the St. Lawrence river.

“I am proud to be the ambassador bringing the Green vision to every household in Quebec”, said Mr Genest. “This upcoming election is a historic opportunity for the voters of Westmount – Ville-Marie by electing me as the first Green Member of Parliament in North America.”

“The Green Party is the only federal party to have grown since the last election. Our new television presence reflects our continued growth and our commitment to spread the Green message.”

The three advertisements will air regularly until the day of the election and will be available on the campaign website as well as YouTube. [Ed note: Couldn't find them there at time of the party's release or this posting …]

It's odd what trivia will stick in your mind — but watching the DNC tonight, I wondered how a guy can commute two hours each day to work for years and years. Well, Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden does it but he does it on a train in a travel corridor where, I assume, high-speed wireless network is available and he can get some work done.

Still it ain't cheap to commute back and forth between Wilmington, DE and Washington DC.

Amtrak will charge you $1,062 a month for unlimited travel between Wilmington and Washington or Biden could buy a 10-trip ticket — a workweek's worth of back-and-forth rides costs $472 (monthly cost of $1,888 that way).

I suspect Biden buys one of those bulk options but if he just paid one way, he could pay between $236 or $88 for a round-trip.

The higher price is for the express although it's an express with one stop in Baltimore. That express leaves Wilmington at 7:34 am and pulls into Washington's Union Station at 08:55. I assume Biden would be on the 7 pm train outbound from Washington, which gets him back to Delaware by 8:12 pm.

If he's delayed, he can take a train leaving Washington as late as 10 pm, which gets him to Delaware at 11:36 pm.

I grew up watching Merry Melodies cartoons and my favourite bits included the battle between Sam, the sheepdog and Ralph, the coyote (a coyote that looked a lot like Wile E. Coyote). You remember the opening scene? Sheepdog with lunchpail shows up to punch the clock; sees Coyote with lunchpail. Sheepdog: “Morning, Ralph.” Coyote: “Morning, Sam”. It was a friendly exchange common among a couple of co-workers. They would then proceed to the day's work of Coyote trying to steal the sheep and being caught each time by the sheepdog who would then proceed to beat the heck out of Coyote. At the end of the day, whistle would blow, and the pair would punch out for the day. “Night, Sam”. “Night Ralph”.

These were professional opponents, sworn enemies that literally tried to kill each other during the workday but could exhibit some congeniality outside the work day.

Something like that happens everyday here in Ottawa between the “dirty tricks gang” of both the Conservatives and the Liberals. These folks, officially known as the Conservative Research Group (CRG) and the Liberal Caucus Research Bureau (LRB), are sworn enemies of each other and yet, every day, they show up for work in the same building — a brand new office tower just a block off the Parliament Hill — use the same coffee stand, share the same elevator and then, after polite small talk, head into their offices two floors apart to start figuring out what ways to metaphorically bash the other guy's political leaders.

Today, a CRG staffer came to work and instead of saying “Hi Sam” to his LRB counterpart, ran to grab his digital camera (standard outfit issue for the dirty tricks gang) to take some pictures of the LRB folks. The Liberals were sitting in the lobby with golf gear and golf bags at the ready, about to head off for a day on the links. Apparently, it was a pre-planned tournament type-of-thing involving most members of the LRB and they were determined to proceed even though, just hours earlier, the PMO had ordered the Governor General to cancel a planned trip to China which most inside the bubble here in Ottawa took as virtual confirmation that the Prime Minister will call a general election next Thursday or Friday. “We think its prudent the GG stay at home,” PMO spokesperson Dimitri Soudas said with a straight face when asked about it.

A Conservative who will remain unidentified sent along this picture of the LRB folks ready for golf this morning. “The Liberal grassroots is out there fighting byelections or getting ready for a fall election, and these guys, who are responsible for election readiness, are going golfing?”

I am also informed by another source that there were at least two, and may have been more, last-minute cancellations by Liberal staffers who stayed in the office.

So there you go. Make of this what you will. Will grassroots Liberals be outraged? Will any Conservatives be allowed to golf before Stephen Harper is returned to Parliament with a majority? Stay tuned. In the meantime, Sam and Ralph will soon take their bash-each-other show on the road for a national audience.

A few minutes of mid-day browsing through the “new books” shelf in the Library of Parliament (LOP) in the Centre Block, I note the following titles on the “Fiction” shelf:
Austin Clarke's “The Polished Hoe”
J.M. Coetzee's “Elizabeth Costello”
Douglas Coupland's “The Gum Thief”
And …
Jean Chretien's “My Years as Prime Minister”

It was fascinating to watch the first night of the Democratic National Convention. I watched the proceedings on CNN. One of CNN's more thoughtful analysts is Jeffrey Toobin. At the conclusion of both Ted Kennedy's (left) and Michelle Obama's speeches, Toobin complained that the Democrats had not spent enough time attacking their Republican opponent, John McCain. Democrat (and Clinton) pit bull was more vocal in criticizing campaign organizer for not enough “red meat” in their opening evening.

I disagree — and my disagreement is based on my experience watching the 2006 Canadian election unfold.

In late 2005, my Canadian readers will recall, the Liberal government was on its last legs and its chief opponent, the Conservatives had, in the Gomery Commission's conclusions, one of the biggest bats a challenger to a government has ever had and most pundits on Parliament Hill expected the Conservatives to be merciless in beating the Liberals with that bat during the campaign that ran from December, 2005 and January, 2006.

But, lo and behold, when Stephen Harper began campaigning, he hardly mentioned the Liberals. Instead, he laid out his party's platform and gave voters a reason to vote for him and his party. I remember speaking to some Conservative strategists at the time and they felt that most Canadian voters already knew about all the perceived defects of the Liberals. Their job was to sell their guy, to make sure that Canadians not only felt good about throwing out the Liberals but also good about voting in the Conservative pretender.

The Democrats who organized tonight's program in Denver seemed to understand the same point that Conservatives in Canada understood about their opponents, the Liberals, in late 2005. Democratic Party organizers must, at this point in the election cycle, know that many of their potential voters in America already understand that George Bush's presidency has been a disaster and that John McCain is Bush's heir. Just as Stephen Harper felt he didn't need to tell Canadians about the sins of his opponent, the Democrats don't always need to be bashing McCain. Instead, Democrats, like the Conservatives three years ago, need to build a positive narrative, telling voters, 'Ok: We know why you want to vote against our opponent. Now let us tell you why  you should vote for our guy.” Democrats, particularly those who backed Hilary Clinton and have yet to endorse Obama, needed to hear that narrative. (Indeed, George Stephanopoulos, on ABC's Sunday morning talkie This Week with George S. yesterday, said Obama's upside is all within the Democratic Party. George S. noted that just 79 per cent of registered Democrats support Obama. Those registered Democrats, not Independents or dissatisfied Republicans, are Obama's low-hanging electoral fruit. “If he does one thing in this convention, if he unifies the Democratic Party, he'll have a twelve-point lead!). My point is that Democrats and Independents already have lots of reasons not to vote Republican. Now they need to get comfortable voting for the Democratic nomineee and his family. CNN reporter John King (the best political report on television, for my money) was the lone CNN voice to get that idea. As he said, Democrats “came into tonight with one simple goal: For Americans to wake up tomorrow morning and say, 'You know what? They're a lot more like us than I thought they were.'” That was what tonight's Democratic evening was all about. There will be plenty of time and plenty of opportunities to take shots at John McCain. This was the only night to get to know the Obamas.

Advisors to Prime Minister are convinced — and, as a result, are trying to convince us — that Canada will head to the polls in October. Here's some of the key dates affecting this potential timetable to an election: [Updated: Aug 26 @ 2140 Ottawa time]

• Aug. 26 – Prime Minister Stephen Harper holds morning press conference in Ottawa. Election talk expected to top the charts. Harper then jets north to the Arctic.
• Aug. 26 – Commons Heritage Committee scheduled to meet about funding cuts to the arts in Canada.
• Aug. 27 – Harper in the Arctic; Layton in Denver with the Dems
• Aug. 27 – Commons subcommittee on Oil and Gas and other energy prices scheduled to meet.
• Aug. 28 – Harper in the Arctic; Layton in Denver with the Dems
• Aug. 29 – Harper and Layton return to Ottawa.
• Sept. 1 – Labour Day
• Sept. 2 – Liberal national caucus meets in Winnipeg
• Sept. 3 – Liberal national caucus meeting in Winnipeg
• Sept. 3 – NDP national caucus meets in Hamilton.
• Sept. 4 – Earliest date Governor General Michaelle Jean heads to Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 4 – Ont. Lieutenant Governor David Onley heads to Beijing for Paralympics
• Sept. 4 – Liberal national caucus ends meetings in Winnipeg.
• Sept. 4 – NDP national caucus continues meetings in Hamilton.
• Sept. 5 – Earliest date BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe is available to meet with Harper.
• Sept. 5 – Earliest date floated by PMO for a general election campaign to being.
• Sept. 5 – Latest date Governor General Michaelle Jean heads to Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 5 – NDP national caucus ends meetings in Hamilton.
• Sept. 6 – Governor General Michaelle Jean in Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 7 – Latest date Duceppe is available for a meeting with Harper.
• Sept. 7 – Governor General Michaelle Jean in Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 8 – Byelections to be held in Guelph, Westmount, and St. Lambert.
• Sept. 8 – Governor General Michaelle Jean in Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 9 – Governor General Michaelle Jean in Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 9 – First date proposed by Dion for meeting with Harper.
  
• Sept. 10 – Governor General Michaelle Jean in Beijing for Paralympics.
• Sept. 11 – Governor General Michaelle Jean back in Ottawa (and ready to dissolve Parliament, if need be.)
• Sept. 15 – House of Commons resumes sitting.
• Oct. 13 – Thanksgiving
• Oct. 14 – Tentative release date for Julie Couillard's autobiography, a potential danger zone for Conservatives depending on what new things she has to say about Maxime Bernier and others.
• Oct. 14 – Possible general election date.
• Oct. 20 – Possible general election date.