We, the undersigned citizens from C.R.A.P.,

have received our talking points from Con Party headquarters :

• On October 14, Canadians gave our Conservative government a fresh mandate ...
• the Opposition parties are interested only in power and entitlements ...
• They want to replace the elected government with a backroom deal ...
• Liberals want to seize power with only an endorsement from only the socialists and the separatists.

And via Elizabeth Thompson at The Gazette : a handy C.R.A.P. list of outraged opinions listed in bullet points plus the phone numbers of appropriate talk radio call-in shows :

When you make your call :

• Think about what you want to say ahead of time.
• You may have trouble getting through your first try, so if the line is busy
  - don't give up!

Ye gods, I can hear them blowing their brains out in crayon on national radio from here.

Update from the PMO : "Use every tool at your disposal". Heh.

The Con Con Con Res '08

Conservative Convention Constitution Resolutions '08 :
Pillaged from the much more colourful live-blogging of Dr. Dawg and Kady O'Malley :

P-106 - "encourage the provinces and territories to further experiment with different means of delivering universal health care utilizing both the public and private health sectors" - DEFEATED
Although "This motion will bring fodder to our enemies when it’s not necessary" is not a very reassuring reason for its defeat.
Ditto : relying on "the invisible hand of Adam Smith".

P-202 - Reaffirm support for the Charter, including the Notwithstanding Clause - PASSED
Despite being referred to as "a deeply flawed document"

P-203 - stripping Canadian Human Rights Commission of the power to investigate complaints under Section 13 (hate speech) -PASSED
No surprise here as the CHRC is usually investigating ReformaCon supporters

P-207 - legislation to make assault causing harm to fetus a separate crime - PASSED
"Separate crime" being the operative words here = anti-abortion

P-213 - removal of support for full gender equality, also equal pay for equal work - PASSED
Despite one dude's complaint that it didn't address full gender equality for men!

P-223 - audit of aboriginal programs - PASSED
More hassling of the already audited-to-death FNs

P-308 - anti-union/right to work/support for workers who don’t want to take part in a strike - PASSED
Yeah - right to choose lower wages! Go children of the tar sands!

P-105 - offshore oil and resource exploration (drill baby drill) - PASSED
h/t to Gary Lunn for all his outstanding work in promoting another Exxon Valdez

So although Mr Comfy Sweater will be along later to tell them all to stuff it if they ever expect to see a majority government, this is face the CRAP party chooses to turn on Canada today.

The friends of Gary Lunn

Minister of Natural [Oil] Resources Gary Lunn had some interesting third party advertising help in keeping his seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Of the 52 third parties registered with Elections Canada to advertise for special interest groups, Andrew MacLeod at The Hook reports that four of them share the same address and phone number at the law offices of former Alliance Party candidate Bruce Hallsor who, along with the four, was working to re-elect Lunn.

The office receptionist had never heard of them.
Well, we have.
Patricia Trottier, Elections Canada contact person for one of the four, the "Economic Advisory Council of Saanich", is an oil and gas consultant married to Gwyn Morgan, former CEO of EnCana Corp. where he is still a director.

Hallsor, a former member of the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer's Advisory Committee, is also named in Election Canada documents in the alleged Con in-an-out scheme, in which moneys were transferred to local candidates, who then transferred the funds back to the federal party to spend on more advertising for the national campaign. Elections Canada maintains that in this way the Cons exceeded their spending limit by more than $1 million in the previous election.

More Saanich-Gulf Islands shenanigans.
Mike Watkins writes about the automated phone calls allegedly impersonating the NDP and urging voters to vote for an NDP candidate who had already stepped down, thus further splitting the vote.
The removed NDP candidate received 3, 667 votes ; second place Liberal Briony Penn lost to Lunn by 2,621 votes.