Tag: conservatives

Conservative David Wilks: "One MP is not going to make a difference"

Like all MPs, Conservative David Wilks is back in his riding this week, attending to constituency work and meeting with voters.

On Tuesday morning, in a coffee shop in Revelstoke, B.C., in his riding of Kootenay-Columbia in the province’s southeast corner he met some constituents who told him they didn’t much like Bill C-38, the government’s controversial 425-page omnibus budget bill. The budget bill, you’ll recall, introduces changes to everything from the age at which Canadians will qualify for old age security payments to the process for environmental assessments of resource projects.

One constituents filmed a 12-minute exchange between Wilks and these voters and put it on YouTube. It’s remarkable viewing. Continue reading Conservative David Wilks: "One MP is not going to make a difference"

Has Canada moved left during the Harper decade?

In my column across our chain today, I suggest that the answer to that question may be yes!

Harper has convinced fewer than a million Canadians to move right in the last decade, while Jack Layton convinced a whopping 3.4 million Canadians to move left to vote NDP in same period.

Moreover, a New Democrat looks a good bet to win the premiership in B.C. next year.

A New Democrat is premier in Manitoba and Nova Scotia. New Democrats are the official opposition in Saskatchewan and hold the balance of power in Ontario

Please, if you would, read the rest of my argument at the Ottawa Sun’s site...

Was CNN's John King right to lead off debate with question on Newt's "open marriage"?

Many critics of the “MSM” (mainstream media), including Newt Gingrich himself, believe John King was offside in leading off Thursday’s debate with a question to Newt Gingrich about his ex-wife’s allegation that he asked her for an “open marriage.” As a journalist who thinks you ought to do your best to ask what voters are talking about rather than blindly take the spin from campaigns, I’m 100% behind King (left). Good question. Asked in a respectful manner. Continue reading Was CNN's John King right to lead off debate with question on Newt's "open marriage"?

Where you vote could influence how you vote

Here’s a rather odd and, if you buy it, remarkable suggestion: Those who cast their ballots in a church may tend to vote more conservatively, even if they identify themselves any other day, as progressive or independent voters, a new study says. Continue reading Where you vote could influence how you vote

Harper to his caucus: "Dear Colleague: It's been quite a year …"

The Prime Minister’s Office just distributed the following letter that Stephen Harper has just released to his caucus colleagues:
Prime Minister Harper’s Letter to Caucus – Jan 2012 Continue reading Harper to his caucus: "Dear Colleague: It's been quite a year …"

The Public Intellectual: A good or a bad thing?

The last two individuals that the Liberal Party of Canada put up as candidates to be the country’s prime minister were both, by most definitions of the phrase, public intellectuals. And both were savaged by their chief opponents, the Conservative Party of Canada, precisely because they were public intellectuals.

In their French-language attack ads leading up to and during the 2008 federal election, the Conservatives sneered at “professor” Stéphane Dion. Again, in 2011, Michael Ignatieff’s academic credentials and long career as a public intellectual was not, so far as the Conservatives were concerned, an asset for someone hoping to be prime minister but instead was something to be laughed at and derided. Continue reading The Public Intellectual: A good or a bad thing?

More "reprehensible" tactics from the Conservatives?

[There is an important update at the bottom of this post]

A few weeks ago, Andrew Scheer, the Speaker of the House of Commons who, it happens, is also a Conservative MP, ruled on a point of privilege raised by Liberal MP Irwin Cotler. Cotler had been upset that the Conservative Party of Canada, in a telephone-based voter-identification drive, was, in his view, spreading the rumour in his riding that he was either retired or about to retire. While Scheer found that Cotler’s privilege had not been breached, Scheer scolded his own party, saying (my emphasis): “I am sure that all reasonable people would agree that attempting to sow confusion in the minds of voters as to whether or not their Member is about to resign is a reprehensible tactic.”

Speaker Scheer went on to say he was sympathetic to Cotler and almost sorry that he could not find the parliamentary jurisprudence to find in favour of Cotler, saying, “I can understand how [Cotler] and others are seeking relief from the climate of cynicism – not to say contempt – about parliamentary institutions and practice that seems to prevail.”

Well, if the Conservative Party of Canada engaged in “a reprehensible tactic” by “attempting to sow confusion in the minds of voters” when it comes to an MP’s employment status,  I wonder what Speaker Scheer will say about this, Continue reading More "reprehensible" tactics from the Conservatives?

Daily Brief Video: Conservative MP John Williamson defends the "reprehensible" Cotler calls

The Speaker of the House of Commons — and Conservative MP — Andrew Scheer says what his party was doing to Liberal MP Irwin Cotler was “reprensible.” Conservative MP John Williamson tells the Daily Brief he believes Scheer’s language was “over-the-top” and defends a controversial polling practice. Continue reading Daily Brief Video: Conservative MP John Williamson defends the "reprehensible" Cotler calls

Speaker's ruling on the Cotler privilege motion/Conservative dirty tricks

Hot off the presses, the ruling from the Speaker of the House of Commons on the complain from the member for Mount Royal, Irwin Cotler, that his privileges were breached after the Conservative Party blanketed his riding with a push poll that suggested he had retired or was retiring. This was read into the record in the Commons a few minutes ago: Continue reading Speaker's ruling on the Cotler privilege motion/Conservative dirty tricks