harper's brilliant ontario strategy

Stephen Harper says, "We have to make gains in Ontario to make gains nationally"

Apparently, according to the Conservative handbook the way to accomplish such gains is to...

• Fire Conservative candidates in Ontario who are trying to connect with local values instead of following national party lines.
• Ignore cities
• Shortchange the province on the number of seats in House of Commons.
• Call the premier, who has every right to stick up for his province, a "small man of confederation"

Yes Steph, that's the way to go about it.

urquhart mulls about mcguinty replacing dion

Ian Urquhart from the Toronto Star brings up the idea of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty replacing Dion after the next election (if it results in the more than likely Conservative minority). This, to me, has come out of the blue as this was never a likely scenario in my mind. I personally highly doubt this will happen for several reasons:

• Dalton has just won a landslide majority and still needs a lot more time leave his legacy as Ontario premier. He has at least 2.5 to 3 more years to go.
  
• Highly unlikely to step down as the second most powerful man in the country to take on the thankless job as federal leader of the opposition (I think McGuinty feels he's had enough time in opposition)
  
• This is reminiscent of newly formed Conservative Party of Canada courting then freshly re-elected New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord to head the party at the height of federal Liberal popularity (at around the time when a lot of people had high hopes for Paul Martin). Benard Lord wasn't so stupid as to take the bait to sit in seemingly eternal opposition (at the time), and neither would Dalton.
  
• Dalton (or Dion) doesn't have the aggressiveness or the pitbull-like qualities to take on the ruthless and extremely partisan Stephen Harper. Ernie Eves and John Tory are lightweights in comparison
  
• Contrary to Ian Urquhart's opinion, I believe either Rae, Ignatieff, or Kennedy would have a better chance at taking back government from Stephen Harper in the future than Dalton can despite their baggage in the past.
  
• Federal politics is his brother David's territory?? (I know this is a flimsy reason...) Can Canada handle two McGuinty's on the Hill?

ly'in brian and his substanceless regrets

The Rt. Hon. Ly'in Brian says his first biggest mistake in life "was ever agreeing to be introduced to Karlheinz Schreiber in the first place."

Substanceless statements like that are easy to make AFTER shit hits the fan. They seem to be very typical of our suave former PM.

Come on Brian, give Karlheinz a break! It's not like he destroyed the Meech Lake Accord or anything.

growing up in canada turns deadly... blurring the canadian identity

Growing up in one of the most multicultural cities in the world, we are used to sharing classrooms, working in offices, and going on with our daily lives with individuals from all over the world. It is second nature for Torontians and we don't think twice about it. However, unlike the melting pot society in the U.S., we take pride in the fact that people from all over the world can move to our great country, become Canadian citizens, and at the same time maintain the culture, heritage and religious practices from their native countries. But, by living in the same environment, we are exposed to the same external influences such as peer pressures, North American popular culture, and media. So should immigrant parents force these native practices on their children who are growing up and who are being educated in our multicultural society?

When children from immigrant families attend Candadian public schools, I believe parents should expect their children to be affected by these external influences and make friends from all over the world, from various religions, but who watch same TV shows, read the same books, etc... So naturally, parents should expect their children to start to develop their own unique identity that may differ from what is expected of from their native countries.

Which brings me to the sad story of 16 year old Aqsa Parvez. The Mississauga teenager was murdered by her own father when she rebelled against her family's religious practices, such as wearing the hijab. She payed the highest price for wanting to have her own identity. Aqsa's case is an extreme example to make the point, but it definitely spurs some interesting and thought provoking questions about what it means to be Canadian.

Is the Canadian identity about having the freedom to choose, who and what you want to be? There is definitely a blur when finding a balance between maintaining your family ethinc heritage, culture and religious practices, and growing up with multicultural and North American influences.

(on a side note, I find it unsettling that social conservative nut case Jason Kenney is the man in charge of Canadian idenity and multiculturalism at the cabinet table)

this time, the ndp accuses tories of viewing, not subsidizing, "big ass"

James Moore is one of the only Conservative MP's I actually have shred of respect for. This man had the guts to depart from typical conservative voter values, along with Belinda Stronach at the time, and vote in favour of same-sex marriage. I have faith that Moore, being a veteran MP and with hundreds of collegues surrounding him while parliament is sitting, wouldn't be so stupid as to look at porn.

Instead of approaching Moore privately in a civilized manner , London area MP Irene Mathyssen felt compelled to make this "viewing scantily glad women on laptop" accusation a media spectacle by announcing it to the entire country without getting her facts straight first. As this is a matter of parliamentary conduct/behaviour, it should have been dealt with privately and not strewn out in question period. This is reminescent of the accusation against Peter McKay for calling Belinda Stronach a dog. It was totally blown out of proportions. I would truly hope our parliamentarians have bigger issues to deal with and would leave such matters for another time.

As the NDP Status of Women Critic, Mathyssen could have attacked the Harper government on many OTHER things (e.g. the HUGE cuts to the department). But alas, like typical NDP behaviour, Jack and his team has once again decided that they have nothing to lose and will do or say anything to ATTEMPT to show that they are a "good opposition" (eye roll). This incident is a PERFECT example of why the NDP will forever remain in opposition.