CanPol: Gomery and a Looming Federal Election

[KrazyHorse]

i gotf nervous causaew i thought he;s be tuougher

but 3-4 good shots sent him downm

lucky ihis friend let it be when it was done

no way i could have atken the 3 of htem

[KrazyHorse]

he was drfedssed in prettty bluei with 3 red srtupes on his arms

bu t he was an ashotle

[notyoueither]

There's a story you can tell the grandkids.

[KrazyHorse]

sjhoukfdn't hav e fought. fesel bad about that. but he shouldn;t hadve opushed me.

[notyoueither]

Heh. I am getting quite the interesting pictures in my mind. What kind of marine gets his ass handed to him by a physics grad student?

Must be one sad sack.

[KrazyHorse]

was tasllet than him. but he probalt outwiehgheed me

[notyoueither]

It's getting to WWF proportions with the masked bad guy pleading with his opponent not to hit him again... just before breaking a chair over the opponents head.

http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=c3b29f3f-c985-4d72-9c26-7109010712c5

Opposition threatens to bring down Liberals; Martin asks them to hold fire

Alexander Panetta
Canadian Press


Saturday, April 09, 2005


OTTAWA (CP) - Emboldened opposition parties are threatening to topple the minority Liberals, brushing off Paul Martin's request to let his fragile government survive until all the sponsorship facts are in.

The first strike could occur Thursday, with Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe saying he might table a non-confidence motion then. Other opposition sources doubted Friday that the move will happen next week, but all indicated the Liberal government might be just a few bad polls away from extinction.

A flurry of political speculation was touched off by new corruption allegations heard at the sponsorship inquiry and plastered in giant headlines across the front pages of the country's newspapers Friday. The allegations by ad man Jean Brault include descriptions of secret envelope exchanges and kickback schemes with Liberal officials.

A chastened Liberal government asked opponents to guarantee there would be no election until Justice John Gomery tables his sponsorship report in the fall.

It took the Conservatives, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois mere hours to deliver a unanimous and blunt reply: No.

But before pulling the electoral trigger, opposition parties will be polling frantically over the coming days to see how they might fare in an election. They will also be listening to call-in shows, attending local events and gauging whether the country is in the mood for an election.

"Over the next few weeks, Canadians are going to tell us if they want more information (at the inquiry) first," said NDP Leader Jack Layton.

"Or (they'll tell us) whether they feel they want to render a judgment right now."

The main decision appears to rest with the Tories, who will be paying particular attention to voter reaction in Ontario.

If Ontario starts moving toward the Tories, Canadians can expect to be heading to the polls within weeks.

"The Canadian people will decide when the next election takes place," said Dimitri Soudas, spokesman for Tory Leader Stephen Harper.

"And I think when people will want to have an election, that's what they're going to be telling us."

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe added that he'll announce Tuesday if he will table a non-confidence motion later in the week.

"There's no more moral legitimacy (for Liberals to govern)," Duceppe said. "We're looking. . . . We're considering and analysing the situation."

But officials in the other two opposition parties said they doubted there would be a non-confidence vote next week.

One source said the Tories, in particular, fear voters may punish them if the government gets toppled in an initiative led by the separatist Bloc.

Martin had asked his chief rivals to promise there won't be an election until fall.

"Will the leader of the Opposition give Canadians a guarantee that he will let Justice Gomery report his findings?" Martin spokesman Scott Reid asked earlier Friday.

"(Can he promise) that he will not force voters into an election until they have the answers that this prime minister has said that they deserve?"

The most recent Gomery testimony has already led many to draw their own conclusions over what happened to the $250-million sponsorship program.

"A Smoking Gun" was the headline in the Globe and Mail.

"Bombshell" read the National Post.

"Disgrace" said the Ottawa Sun.

The Calgary Herald summed up ad man Jean Brault's testimony in six words: "Extortion. Kickbacks. Fraud. Shady Deals. Forgery."

But the Prime Minister's Office insisted Paul Martin is the best man to deal with Liberal corruption.

Martin has already cancelled the sponsorship program, appointed the Gomery commission and taken legal steps to recover $41 million in taxpayers' money, Reid said.

"Paul Martin is the wire brush that will scrub clean this stain on Canadian politics," he said.

"Stephen Harper is afraid of this and therefore, it is he who is now talking about an election to pre-empt Justice Gomery. It is Stephen Harper who is calculating whether to put his personal political interest ahead of the wider public interest."

Both Martin and Harper were in Rome for the Pope's funeral and refused to comment on the Gomery testimony out of respect for the pontiff.

Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said the Liberal Party today is "strong and highly ethical."

"What went on in a previous time with people on the fringes was obviously unacceptable," he told reporters in Regina following a business luncheon.

He also said the party need support from the entire nation and he didn't see any signs of gearing up for an election.

"When you are in a minority government you don't put the signs too far away or bury the list too far in the filing cabinet because in a minority you never know. But there has been no acceleration of the effort in the last number of days."

The Liberals' Quebec lieutenant, Jean Lapierre, addressed the situation in a conference call this week with grassroots officials.

"Let's stick together. The storm is coming, and let's not falter," was how one Quebec Liberal summed up Lapierre's pep talk.

© The Canadian Press 2005

And I am close to certifying Harper as a moron. He is handing the Liberals the bullets to the only weapon they have left. Who the **** needs Gallant when the leader has all the political instincts of an mentally deficient trout?

http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=2625e965-b249-4ab4-a808-8e4a905f78f1

Harper touts values, links sponsorship scandal with same-sex marriage bill

Jim Bronskill
Canadian Press


Saturday, April 09, 2005


OTTAWA (CP) - Stephen Harper used a rally against same-sex marriage Saturday to take some pointed jabs at the scandal-plagued Liberal government.

The Conservative leader later sidestepped questions about whether his party would support a possible Bloc Quebecois motion to bring down the Grits.

But in a speech to thousands of demonstrators, he denounced the federal plan to enshrine same-sex marriage with a thinly veiled reference to allegations of Liberal nest-feathering in the sponsorship debacle.

"Corruption is not a Canadian value. Marriage is a real Canadian value," Harper said to enthusiastic applause.

Protesters, including many from Montreal and Toronto, filled a large swath of the Parliament Hill lawn to oppose Bill C-38, federal legislation that would officially extend civil marriage to same-sex couples.

The government drafted the bill after courts in several provinces ruled that excluding gay couples from marriage violated equality guarantees in the Charter of Rights.

Some demonstrators carried placards bearing the image of the late Pope John Paul, while others toted signs with slogans including Defend Marriage and God Defined Marriage, The Government Defies God.

On Sunday, clergy and religious officials from a range of faith groups planned rallies in several cities to express support for civil same-sex marriage.

Harper told the crowd Saturday that 95 of 99 Conservative MPs back the traditional concept of marriage.

He promised a Tory government would bring in legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

"Liberals may talk about minorities," Harper said. "But undermining the traditional definition of marriage is an assault on the beliefs of all cultural and religious communities who have come to this country."

MPs are slated to vote Tuesday on a motion by Harper that Parliament refuse to give second reading to the bill.

"And if just a few more Liberals are persuaded to vote their conscience instead of their party line, we can kill Bill C-38 dead in its tracks," Harper said Saturday.

On Monday, two constitutional law experts will hold a news conference to argue the Conservative leader's motion is based on the false assertion that Parliament can take away civil marriage from same-sex couples without using the Constitution's notwithstanding clause.

The University of Ottawa's Martha Jackman and Hugo Cyr of the University of Quebec at Montreal contend Harper's position is "deceitful and disingenuous."

The Conservative leader and his aides brushed by a small crowd of reporters following the speech Saturday, striding up the front steps below the Peace Tower without commenting directly on the brewing sponsorship scandal.

At least one cameraman was jostled in the brief melee.

Emotions have been running high on the Hill following eye-opening allegations at commission of inquiry hearings of an organized scheme to funnel federal sponsorship program cash to the Liberals.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe plans to announce Tuesday whether his party will table a parliamentary motion expressing lack of confidence in Paul Martin's government - a move that could lead to the collapse of the minority Liberal administration.

An opinion poll published Saturday indicated slipping support for the Liberals and Conservative gains that narrowed the gap between the parties to just four percentage points.

Maria Michalopulos, who attended the protest Saturday, said Harper has her backing on the strength of his opposition to same-sex marriage.

"If he goes for election, I will be right there in line voting for him."

© The Canadian Press 2005

I'm glad Maria will be right there for him. Now if only Maria were the mainstream in urban Ontario and most of Quebec. But she's not. What a stupid thing to do.

[Bosh]

Oh, once this gets going put me down for an avatar vote on results against Ben Kenobi. With his record I can't lose!

[Seeker]

Any chance of the "Conservative" party splitting, and then allying with the NDP?

The Bloc needs to be crushed at the national level. That will bring some kind of sense to CanPol.

Of course, it won't happen, but a sudden, well-publized lurch to the economic right by the NDP might shake things up. They've got to admit that, in the long run, NAFTA was philosophically a good idea, and maybe through in some 'streamlining the bureaucracy' crap to keep the business community happy.

[joncha]

Hurray! Then we can have three right wing parties!

[JimmyCracksCorn]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Uh....you really don't understand what 21 ridings in Quebec those are. They're where I grew up. They're not going Bloc and it would take a miracle for them to go conservative.

You're probably right, and I didn't mean they were going to vote conservative.

I just think that given the extreme nature of whats going on in Quebec right now, nothing is really that certain anymore. I know you've been out of Canada for a while so I'm not sure if you understand the hatred people have towards the liberals there... I live in Ottawa/Gatineau, about 10 mins from Gatineau, QC and people are INSANE about this Gomery stuff. I know people that tape it every day and watch it... over and over again. And this is in a part of QC where the federal government is probably the top employer.

Again, you're probably right and they will go liberal (those 21 ridings that is), but things have changed alot since last June. Its worth considering.

[Ben Kenobi]

More likely they go Conservative than to the Bloc.

Oh, once this gets going put me down for an avatar vote on results against Ben Kenobi. With his record I can't lose!

What's your prediction?

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
More likely they go Conservative than to the Bloc.

Much. But only in the sense that 1% is much larger than 0.001%

[notyoueither]

If they are furious with the Liberals, and they are strongly federalist by and large, they are rapidly running out of choices.

[KrazyHorse]

They don't have any choice as it stands. The conservatives have fallen so low in anglo quebec that liberal votes get siphoned off as much to the NDP as they do to the conservatives.