40 - 40 - 20 revisited

Con MP and anti-abortion crusader Brad Trost, who lists being a member of the cross-party Pro-Life Caucus as one of his duties as an MP on his website, addressed the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association’s annual convention on Saturday and thanked its members for their help in killing off federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

“Let me just tell you, and I cannot tell you specifically how we used it, but those petitions were very, very useful and they were part of what we used to defund Planned Parenthood because it has been absolute disgrace that that organization and several others like it have been receiving one penny of Canadian taxpayers dollars."

Planned Parenthood has been waiting over a year to find out whether the Con's official program defunder, Bev Oda, would renew PP's decades old funding and now Trost has let the cat out of the bag.
Harper spokesy Dimitri Soudas hastily convened a 1am presser to distance Harper from Trost, blowing Trost off as a mere uninformed "backbencher", but as Cathie points out : Trost has been right before.
 
Soudas :

Asked repeatedly whether allowing access to abortion was part of the government’s funding criteria, Soudas replied: “No, it does not.”
He also repeated the Harper government’s often stated position that it would not re-open the debate on abortion."

Well of course with Harper seeking a majority, he doesn't want to reopen the debate but he doesn't need to, does he? Defunding it, with the repeated help of the Blue Dog Libs, is working just fine as an alternative.

A year ago the Libs tried to smoke out the Cons on contraception and abortion by introducing a Liberal motion in the House to include a broader range of family planning programs in a maternal health initiative for developing countries. It was defeated 144-138 when four Libs voted against it, two abstained, and 12 missed the vote altogether.

So it's a bit much that it's the Liberal party who broke the news about Trost's shenanigans at the annual Pro-Life bunfest, just because the Liberals having 25% 17% anti-abortion MPs is better than the Cons 69%  66%
Let's have another look at the 40 - 40 - 20 support for pro-choice in our current government.
[Update : See corrected chart for the election below this one]

From Choice Joyce, updated December 2010 :



while Sixth Estate has a 2009  list of suspected Pro-life Caucus members, based on their voting records and public statements. Suspected. Because membership in the Pro-Life Caucus is a government secret.

At least they're more upfront about it in the US, where bills to defund Planned Parenthood are currently pending in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Indiana, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia.

More : Dammit Janet, Dr. Dawg. Dammit Janet again
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Update : Courtesy of Choice Joyce at ARCC : an updated list of anti-choice MPs for this election.

Good news is :  that 40 - 40 - 20 is now updated to all-party totals of 48.5% Prochoice - 36% Antichoice - 16% Unknown,
with 17% of the Libs and 66% of Cons identifying as anti-choice.

Well that's better but 66% is still a horrific percentage for the governing party of Canada.

Joyce reminds the 36% of antichoicers from both parties is a 'conservative' estimate, and her research bears this out.
For instance, voting for some version of fetus rights doesn't automatically get an MP onto the chart because maybe the candidate is pro-choice but it was a whipped vote, or they are anti-choice personally but have stated they would not vote against reproductive rights.

Check out her list of MPs and their voting record before you vote.

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Stephen Harper's "Here For Canada"

In an old science fiction story by Damon Knight, aliens arrive on Earth and provide us with some of the advanced tech and cheap unlimited power they enjoy on their home planet - which we are encouraged to visit as part of a ten year exchange program. As people trundle happily off into the spaceships, the narrator steals an alien book, along with an alien/earth dictionary, and manages to translate the title : "To Serve Man". That sounds pretty nice but further translation reveals it to be a cookbook.

Stephen Harper's "Here For Canada" campaign pitch strikes me very much the same way.
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Does this poll make my bias look fat?

Back in November, Three HundredEight . com published this chart illustrating what he called "the house effect" Note that the chart does not measure accuracy compared to actual election results nor does Éric claim his methodology is immune from its own 'house effects':

"The numbers are the amount of percentage points a particular pollster favours or disfavours that particular party compared to other pollsters over a similar period of time.

This does not necessarily equate to a deliberate bias, but instead is more reflective of the polling methods used - the "house effects".

OK, so bearing all that in mind ... Toronto Star : NDP moves into tie with Liberals: Poll
and are polling second place behind the Bloc in Quebec.

That would be Angus Reid, but if their poll is born out even to a lesser extent by other pollsters - and depending on the kind of skewed media coverage it gets : holy shit, TorStar! - it's certainly going to throw a fuck into the perennial "Vote Liberal so the Cons don't get in" meme, isn't it?

Which, btw, is a silly meme anyhow. We don't vote federally, we vote locally. If you're going to attempt to vote strategically, vote for the party most likely to beat the Cons in your own riding. If you're absolutely sure the second party back has no hope of beating them, vote your heart.

Update : Pundits' Guide : Why the Conservatives Love the “Strategic” Voting Sites

Dr. Dawg : A vote for the Liberals is ...
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Surprise! We Are Voting! No You Aren't!

(updated below)
You really have to wonder what was going through the head of Michael Sona, communications director for Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke, when he barged into the special advance ballot arranged by Elections Canada for students at Guelph University, "making a huge scene stating that this polling station was illegal and tried to grab for the ballot box."

Maybe he thought the two previously successful federal election polls held at U of G were quite enough. Maybe he saw another party's ads too close to the polling station. Maybe, like John Baird, he found all this 'get out the youth vote' flash mob stuff to be "disconcerting".

Or just maybe he realized there was no friggin way there was anything like a majority of Con votes among those 700 sealed votes in those ballot boxes. In which case - interesting he would cop to that.

Guelph was also where the original non-partisan vote mob was held on April 4th in response to Rick Mercer's challenge to young people to "do the unexpected" and get out and vote.

The Cons didn't much care for that one either :

Several students who were participants in the non-partisan "Surprise! Youth are voting!" flash mob outside the Con rally in Guelph were refused entry into the Con rally afterwards by the RCMP despite having registered for it :

"A Conservative Party of Canada official approached them and indicated they were not welcome because of their involvement in an action that was perceived as a protest by party insiders".

Now the Conservative Party of Canada has written to Elections Canada yesterday to disqualify the Guelph students' votes :

"request that none of the votes collected during the U of G session be included in the final tally of votes in the Guelph riding. The letter was sent by lawyer Arthur Hamilton, of Toronto-based law firm, Cassels Brock."

[Say, aren't you the same Con lawyer who dished the dirt on Helena Guergis? ]

"Elections Canada media advisor James Hale said this was the third election during which the university of Guelph held a special ballot on campus. And this is the first time it’s ever been challenged, Hale said."

Well you know the Cons aren't overly fond of Elections Canada either at the moment.

Meanwhile the Vote Mobs : Youth are voting this election! rolls on across the country. Watch their vids. Pretty inspiring stuff.

More : Dr. Dawg.

Friday Night Update : Elections Canada rejects Tory effort to annul votes at University of Guelph 

The Guelph ballot collection was not technically an advance poll but rather a way to collect a batch of 'special' ballots which are put in sealed envelopes and then the students' names will then be checked against the voters list on May 2. So to answer Con lawyer's complaint - proximity of election ads to collection box presumably even not an issue.  Former DRO James Bow explains it at Dr. Dawg's.

Elections Canada News Release via Dammit Janet :

"A special ballot coordinator, appointed by the local returning officer, oversaw the activities at the University of Guelph. All information at our disposal indicates that the votes were cast in a manner that respects the Canada Elections Act and are valid."

So the Guelph campus vote has been validated by Elections Canada, however EC has ruled against future ballot collection sessions on campus instead of at the local EC office.

Score one for the Cons here. Remember this was the third election that such a ballot collection session was held on Guelph campus to enable students in the middle of exams to vote. Con operative makes a grab for the ballot box, Con Party sends off lawyery letter, and now EC has clarified against any other campus doing this for students in future in this election.

They really are the Contempt party, aren't they?
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Saturday Night Update : Elections Canada Senior General Counsel issues what appears to be a mild rebuke of the Con spin :

"In his letter, Mr. Hamilton refers to calls that were placed yesterday to the Public Inquiries unit regarding the situation at Guelph University and the statements made by Mr. Boutet who tried to assist him. I have spoken to Mr. Boutet and he indicated that he had not understood the situation as described in Mr. Hamilton's letter."

Lead Now : Tell Elections Canada: Let Students Vote on Campus 
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Canada's Funny Animals Election 2011

My very first video. Somehow I don't think the gang at A Creative Revolution will be quaking in their boots.

A huge tip o the hat to Martin Clark for doing the voiceovers, and to the BBC who let you rip their clips.
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Steve's G8 Slush Fund

[updated below]

When the G8 leaders stayed for one night at the Deerhurst Resort as part of the G8/G20 $1.2-billion bunfest, their one-night stay probably didn't afford them the opportunity to fully appreciate all the benefits of the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Slush Fund spent in Industry Minister Tony Clement's riding.

"32 projects that received funding, many of which appear to have no connection to the needs of the G8 summit, chosen by Industry Minister Tony Clement, the mayor of Hunstville, and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort"

And "reducing congestion" at the border by putting up gazebos 50k away is a neat trick

The (Jan. 13th) draft report says that in November 2009, the government tabled supplementary spending estimates which requested $83 million for a Border Infrastructure Fund aimed at reducing congestion at border crossings. But the government did not reveal that it intended to devote $50 million of that money to a G8 legacy fund, even though Huntsville is nowhere near the Canada-U.S. border.

Also ... Auditor general Sheila Fraser is not pleased the Cons misquoted her about the G8 slush fund the day Parliament dissolved last month. Their dissenting opinion to the committee report to the House read :

All witnesses brought forwarded testimony demonstrating strong endorsement of the government's unprecedented transparency to summit costs. [lols]

The Auditor General, Sheila Fraser commented in this regard the following: "We found that the processes and controls around that were very good, and that the monies were spent as they were intended to be spent."

Well actually :

Fraser said the quote had nothing to do with the summits. Instead, the Conservatives falsely recycled an old comment she made on security spending by a previous Liberal government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks a decade ago. (emphasis mine)

Ouch.

Oh well, at least we still have all those nice Economic Action Plan signs.

Tuesday Update : More shenanigans. It would seem the dissenting Con report from the committee hearings into the G8/20 bunfest expenses that misquoted AG Sheila Fraser also managed to misquote Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page as well :

"The document suggests Mr. Page gave security costs for the summits a passing grade after they were held, when in fact the quotation the Conservatives attribute to him was plucked from a report on government estimates he prepared before the meetings."

Yeah. Steve the Economist wants this election to be all about the economy and the Cons' supposed record for solid fiscal management. Yet their best rebuttal to a committee report critical of that record at the G8/20 is to appropriate a ten year old positive assessment that was actually about the Libs and a quote the PBO issued before the summits even began. .

Bruce Carson : "stickhandling" the Afghan file

Five times convicted fraudster Bruce Carson - currently under RCMP investigation for influence peddling and illegal lobbying of Indian Affairs to obtain a water filtration contract that would have netted his 22-year old fiancee 20% of sales - was granted a secret security clearance in 2006 by some "low level staffer", just so he could be Harper's "main player "and "point man" on the top secret and sensitive Afghanistan file.

"... starting in 2007, Carson was a regular participant in daily telephone briefings on Afghanistan involving senior officials from departments such as foreign affairs, defence, RCMP, justice and corrections. “It was evident to all the departments that he was the main player, Harper’s point man on the file,” said one source familiar with the briefings. “He was given the most sensitive file to work on."

So while Stockwell Day was braying in the House in 2007 that even to question the treatment of detainees was tantamount to treason, a convicted felon was briefing his Correction Services Canada inspections team in Afghanistan "on a daily basis" and possibly figuring out what to do about Corrections Canada requests for boots suitable for "walking through blood and fecal matter on patrol or in the prison".

While Harper has a national security adviser, it was left to Carson, chief policy analyst, to stickhandle the Afghan file on a daily basis. His focus was usually on how the mission was being communicated here in Canada rather than on developments in the field, the source said."

Ah yes, putting the happy face on war crimes :

Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan were ordered in 2007 to hold back information in their reports to Ottawa about the handling of the prisoners, say defence and foreign affairs sources. The instruction — issued soon after allegations of torture by Afghan authorities began appearing in public — was aimed at defusing the explosive human-rights controversy, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The controversy was seen as “detracting from the narrative” the Harper government was trying to weave around the mission, said one official. “It was meant to put on a happy face,” he added.

The instruction was passed over the telephone by senior officials in the Privy Council Office."

Impolitical says : "Incompetent leadership that left the highest, most sensitive affairs of Canada in Bruce Carson's hands without the proper security clearance"

but I think Harper knew exactly why he wanted the felon they called 'The Mechanic'.

By the way, how is the more recent stickhandling of the Afghan detainee documents progressing, 16 months after they were demanded by Parliament?

March 3, 2011 : Secret Afghan documents could be ready in two weeks, say Liberals a month ago.

The Cons have been stonewalling on handing over the Afghan detainee documents to our duly elected members of Parliament, while some unelected convicted felon buddy of Harper's was the Afghan file "point man" doing the "stickhandling" during the time in question. Unbelievable.

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Harper's Tea Party ad

Just over a year ago we were all surprised to learn that Stephen Harper had hired former Bush WH press secretary and Freedom's Watch leader Ari Fleischer not once but twice -first to promote Harper to the US media, the second time for unspecified duties.

Fleischer's facebook page continues to describes him as "an international media consultant to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper", although as noted by Emily, Harper is not exactly lacking in alternative tea party support.
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UPDATE : Here ya go, Steve - I fixed your ad up for ya.
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Known country for old men

EKOS, April 1, 2011 dual landline/cell phone sampling of 2929 Canadians over 18. Margin of error +/- 1.8% point 19 times out of 20.

According to Elections Canada, only 37% of eligible voters under 25 voted in the 2008 election, compared to 59% among all age groups. In 1988, 75.3 % of all eligible voters voted.

Update : "Surprise. We are voting" Good on you, Canadian youth.

Meanwhile Steve's handlers throw a couple of 19 year old first time voters out of a Con rally after they discovered one of them had a picture of herself with Iggy posted on her facebook page. Because it would obviously be a really really bad thing if she were to check out all the parties first before voting.

Another student is arrested for walking across a parking lot to his car while not being one of the many other Con supporters in the parking lot and yet another student is reportedly "barred because she had participated with the Sierra youth coalition on climate change at the Cancun conference last December".

Can't have that.

Several students who were participants in the non-partisan "Surprise. Youth are voting" flash mob outside the Con rally in Guelph were refused entry into the Con rally afterwards by the RCMP despite having registered for it :

"A Conservative Party of Canada official approached them and indicated they were not welcome because of their involvement in an action that was perceived as a protest by party insiders".

Flash mob to promote youth participation in voting = protest - to Con "party insiders".

Well done, dickheads.

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Stephen Harper : Election 1997 2008 2011

In every election now, Stephen Harper's June 1997 speech to a right-wing U.S. think tank in Montreal comes up. You know the one :

"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term"

"the NDP is simply the left-wing agenda to basically disintegrate our society"

"the PC party were in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion on demand. Officially for the entrenchment of our universal, collectivized, health-care system and multicultural policies in the constitution of the country."

"the Liberal party ... enacted comprehensive gun control ... believes in gay rights, put sexual orientation in the Human Rights Act"

"a constitutional package which ... included distinct society status for Quebec and some other changes, including some that would just horrify you, putting universal Medicare in our constitution, and feminist rights, and a whole bunch of other things"

And every election, Steve's supporters make the same two objections to bringing it up : . 1) Harper says he was only speaking in jest, and 2) it's an old speech and he's 'evolved' since then.

Let's deal with Steve the funny guy first.

A couple of months after making this supposedly jokey speech, he co-authored a policy paper with Tom Flanagan in which he repeats many of the same points. Celebrating Conrad Black's purchase of the Southam newspaper chain, Steve looked forward to the end of its previously "monolithically liberal and feminist" stance.

"Public policy reflects the growing conservatism of public opinion. Canada is not the same country it was 10 years ago. Almost everyone in public life now takes ... free trade, privatization of public enterprise and targeting of social welfare programs for granted."

And as for 1997 being a long time ago ... well here's Steve on the campaign trail 18 months ago, stumping for a majority with the same old complaints about feminism and gun control and social programs :

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Excellent column from Antonia Zerbisias yesterday on how Harper is 'targeting' women : both in the sense of wooing their votes with an income-splitting "family tax cut" that will only benefit the wealthiest 13% of Canadian families sometime after 2016 if he gets a majority in the next two elections, while in the meantime cutting programs that benefit the rest of Canadian women and enacting policies that don't. A solid read.

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