Bobbing for votes

Bobbing for votes

Liberals you want to play this way! Bob Rae just called New Democrat voters stupid.

"In the last 10 days, we've really got to focus on what are the real choices. And I honestly believe the NDP is not a viable choice anymore," Rae said after rallying about 40 supporters.

That kind of stuff will ensure that Bob Rae's Liberals will not become government. The Liberals have done this almost every election since 1968. The best part is that Rae said it to a huge crowd of 40 supporters.

Bob Rae you should know better.

Conservative MP repays secret bonus

Secret Bonus repaid by Conservative MP
The cheque is in the mail...

"It just slipped my mind. I mean, I'm like everyone else. I'm only human, too," he said. "It wasn't something that was appearing on my desk every 30 days, like other bills that come in every month."

Those are the words of Conservative MP Fabian Manning, the only incumbent Conservative running for re-election in Newfoundland and Labrador, interviewed by CBC. He is referring to his failure to repay a secret bonus of $2,875 he accepted in 2004 while a member of the provincial legislature.

The Auditor General wrote to the House Speaker on July 16, 2007 to see who had repaid the secret allowance. (See page 49 of the Report on a Review of Constituency Allowance Claims from 1989-90 through to 2005-06.) Manning was one that had not made arrangements to repay the amount nor had he made any attempts to repay the secret allowance. Only after the a provincial newspaper was digging into his previous expenses as a member of the the provincial legislature did he repay the secret allowance.

Manning has told CBC News on today that he sent a cheque on Thursday to the house of assembly.

The cheque is in the mail...

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Queer questions for Candidates

Don't leave Queers out

Need some help looking for questions to ask? Here are a few and you can find more by following the links.

Here are some questions for candidates at all candidates forums for queer Canadians. You can find more questions at Xtra.ca and Egale.

Would you support amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to explicitly add "gender identity" and "gender expression" to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination?

Would you support adding "gender identity" and "gender expression" as protected categories under the hate provisions of the Criminal Code?
Egale statement Bill Siksay's Private Member's Bill

Would you support reinstating the Court Challenges Program?
Background

How will you protect Canada's sexual minorities from religious figures who seek to impose sexual morality laws?
Background

Would you support lifting the ban which prohibits men who have sex with men from donating blood, organs, sperm, and bone marrow?
Background

Do you support increasing the funding for AIDS service organizations to the levels promised to ACAP through public health?
Background

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Wall St fall due to Gays

Michael Savage, one of the darlings of right wing radio stated that "the spiritual side of the downturn on Wall Street was directly related to the moral downturn"

Savage went onto say:

"[Y]ou may say, 'Why should we care about homosexuals trying to destroy families through the mock marriage that they perform in order to mock God, the church, the family, children, the fetus, the DNA of the human species? Why should we care about it while we have a financial meltdown?' Because the spiritual side of the downturn on Wall Street is directly related to the moral downturn in the United States of America."

Savage does more here: "[T]he government has no right to force people to accept homosexual marriage. It is why the West is dying. It is why we're melting down as a nation. It is why there is no -- why we have almost negative childbirth rate except amongst illegal aliens."

Who needs Jerry Falwell when we can count on hate mongering lunatics to go even further. It seems no matter how ridicules the things these talk radio folks get, many average Americans believe them. He has over 8.25 million regular listeners each week.

No radio station in Canada would allow this man to host a show. Not that they don't want too, they are afraid of being accused with spreading hate. And its good they are scared. And that brings me to why you should be concerned as well.

Its no secret right wing conservatives and their religious friends want to eliminate or drastically restrain the powers of the provincial and federal human rights tribunals. By in large they see these tribunals as interfering in the expression of views like those of Michael Savage.

A majority Harper government will make changes to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Those changes will not be for the better, they will be sold as making the Tribunal more accountable. The changes will in fact be to make the Tribunal less effective in addressing alleged wrongs, freeing the far right to continue, less burdened in their effort, to demonize immigrants, gays, aboriginals and the disabled.

Combine this with Harper's attempt to change the face of the Courts through a new Conservative appointed review committee for nominations, recent changes to legislation that gives government the right to refuse to fund film projects that may be critical of the government, tell stories of gay relationships or struggles faced by immigrants to this country, and you can see we are headed toward an American style Human rights system and the perennial battles faced there.

These are but a few examples of Harper's actions and or likely steps his majority government will take. It is vital that Canadians understand just how far Stephen Harper and the Conservatives will go to change this country.

see this Stephen Harper and the rising clout of Canada's religious right

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You are a target!

Freaking awesome....


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Torontonians rely on others to stop Harper

They are at it again. The Conservative hordes are at the gates. They are about to cross over into the 416 area code. Rumour has it they already possess some 416 phone numbers.

How many times have people in Toronto heard this nonsense? How many times have people in Toronto demonstrated their allegiance to the Natural Governing Party and been let down? The Liberal party hasn't won an election based on who the heck they are since Trudeau did it in 1968. Their fall back is always vote for us or the Conservative monster will strike us on the spot.

Today's NOW magazine has a great article on why you should consider tuning out the Liberal cries this election. You can do it safely as their isn't a hope on this not quite green earth that the Harper team will win in Toronto. The seats in Toronto are safely in non-Tory country.

The Liberals should have to earn your support this time out. If you like the green-shift and trust them to implement it, vote for them. Just be aware that Ontario and Quebec provincial governments do not support it and the Liberals dismal track record of delivering after they are elected. Do you recall the big photo-ops on the Toronto waterfront in 1997 and 2000. Its still looks the same too me, the Liberals must have forgot that promise.

If you are in the 905 belt then you may want to consider some strategic voting, get informed because the Liberals incumbents are not necessarily the 'progressive' candidates that are leading.

If the Tories are to be kept from office this time then we need to have a coalition government. That government will likely be a Liberal and NDP government with support from the Bloc and if a Green is elected, i suspect they too will pitch in.

It does not matter that the coalition has 90 Liberal and 65 NDP or Or 80 NDP and 75 Liberal. What matters is that the coalition get enough seats to form a government. In the end it clear to me that if you live in Toronto, you will have to rely on others outside our city to stop Harper. We have already done it for years, this year is no different.

Vote Orange, Green or Red with no fear. Won't it feel good to vote for your beliefs rather than with the proverbial gun to your head.

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(S)Harper Index

(S)Harper Index

number of Conservative campaign staff resignations from the start of the campaign - 2

theoretical rolls of duct tape purchased by the conservative party campaign to keep candidates from saying anything - 1200 blue (for boys), 7 pink

percentage of Canadians that are scared of a Harper majority government - 52

range of the percentages of Canadians that say they will vote conservative - 36 to 40

minimum number of plagiarized speeches made by Stephen Harper on Iraq - 1

age at which a young Canadian can be sent to prison for life if Conservatives win a majority - 14

age that same young person can consent to have sex - 16

age at which a Canadian can consent to being a soldier in Afghanistan - 18

number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan- 101

number of political parties that voted to keep Canadian troops in a combat role in Afghanistan until at least 2011 - 2 Conservatives and Liberals

number of political parties opposed to staying in a combat role in Afghanistan - 2 NDP and BLOC

number of Canadians killed as a result of Listeriosis this summer - 20

Number of Canadian food inspectors laid off since 1996 - 1300

best political party use of web 2 - NDP

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