Politics in 2013

[Colin Parkinson]

To be fair to the MSM (gag), the CPC did eventually brand themselves as the "Harper government". So they can wear their own mistakes.

 

[Edward Campbell]

There is an immediate term political price to be paid for l'affaire Duffy according to this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the National Post:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/23/trudeaus-liberals-hit-historic-highs-as-senate-scandal-has-drastic-effect-on-tories-poll/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
My emphasis added

Trudeau’s Liberals hit historic highs as senate scandal has ‘drastic effect’ on Tories: poll

Josh Visser | 13/05/23

With the Conservatives ensnarled in the biggest political scandal in their seven years in government, a new poll suggests Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are en route to winning a massive majority in the next election.

More than four in 10 Canadians, 44%, said they would vote Liberal in the next federal election, according to latest Forum Poll for the National Post, compared to 27% support for the ruling Conservatives and 20% for the opposition NDP.

The Liberals would claim 192 seats in the 308-seat House of Commons with that support, leaving the Tories with 77 and dropping the NDP all the way back to 37.

The poll comes after Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, Nigel Wright, resigned when it was revealed he gave Senator Mike Duffy a $90,000 personal cheque to cover the senator’s housing expenses. The terms of the deal remain unknown, although the controversy does not appear to be dying as new documents show a Tory-dominated Senate committee whitewashed a report into Duffy’s expenses.

Harper has denied any knowledge of the deal and said he was “frustrated and sorry and angry” over what occurred.

But the repeated controversies within the senate — three Conservative senators have quit the caucus amid expense audits — have hurt the prime minister, pollsters say.

“Mr. Harper’s very bad week has had a drastic effect on his approval and his party’s. It doesn’t help, when the Liberals are surging as they have been, to be stonewalling a controversy. Justin Trudeau needs only to listen to ['Art of war' author] Sun Tzu, and stay out of the way. Meanwhile, the NDP appear to have functionally ceded the role of the opposition to the Liberals in the public’s mind,” Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement.

The poll comes not long after the Liberals easily bested a former Conservative cabinet minister in a byelection. Yvonne Jones defeated incumbent Peter Penashue by 16 percentage points in the Labrador byelection, earlier this May.

Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is proving to be massively popular on a personal level, with his approval rating as high as Harper’s is low.

Trudeau’s net favourable rating [approval minus disapproval] is an impressive +23, with his 49% approval the highest ever registered for a party leader in a Forum poll.

Meanwhile, Harper’s net favourable rating is a dismal -35 and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is a mediocre +3.

Trudeau’s Liberals are drawing their support from women (48%), the least-wealthy Canadians (56%), Atlantic Canadians (57%) and both those who have seen the Conservative attack ads on Trudeau (48%) and the Liberals’ response ads (50%).

The public’s response to the Conservative attack ads — which show Trudeau performing a mock strip tease at a charity event and declare the new leader “in over his head” — suggest that the Tories have not been able to define their Liberal opponent the way they did with former leaders Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion.

The poll of 1,779 randomly-chosen Canadians was conducted by Forum Research between May 21 and May 22, 2013. Results based on the total sample are considered accurate +/- 2%, 19 times out of 20.

First: we are, at least, two full years from a general election - it is scheduled for the fall of 2015 but, as discussed before,  a spring 2015 election is also possible.

Second: it is instructive to look at where M. Trudeau appears to have not scored all that well: middle class suburbanites in Ontario and the West.

 

[Remius]

The problem now is that the Prime Minister seems, and I say seems, to have lost control of this entire mess.  Add to that a recent but minor uprising by backbenchers and we have a bit of a storm within the party itself. 

The Conservatives have always been good at controlling whatever message they've wanted to.  This time though it seems their tried and true tactics are working against them and this mess is spiralling out of control as they keep trying to shoot a tank with 5.56 

More bullets aren't helping.  Time to switch weapons.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I'm afraid I can't get overly excited about this. The PM has been in tougher positions and pulled through just fine. I have confidence he'll do the same again.

As well, the Opposition and the Liberals should have learned long ago that poking a sleeping bear doesn't end well.

 

[Remius]

I'm afraid I can't get overly excited about this. The PM has been in tougher positions and pulled through just fine. I have confidence he'll do the same again.

As well, the Opposition and the Liberals should have learned long ago that poking a sleeping bear doesn't end well.

I'm not so sure recceguy.  I firmly believe the PM had no knowledge of this.  I also think he's been blindsided and really has no idea how to react.  For someone who is used to controlling everything this can be a bit overwhelming.  This is likely the toughest position he has been in. 

Complacency is likely not the right way to go about this.  People should be concerned.  Conservatives I think are.  How the PM deals with those concerns will be telling.

 

[dapaterson]

I'm afraid I can't get overly excited about this. The PM has been in tougher positions and pulled through just fine. I have confidence he'll do the same again.

As well, the Opposition and the Liberals should have learned long ago that poking a sleeping bear doesn't end well.

How about poking an overweight self-entitled Senator from Kanata PEI?

 

[Remius]

Who might have quite a bit to say if he feels he's being thrown under the bus...

I wouldn't put it past him if he has nothing to lose.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I'm not so sure recceguy.  I firmly believe the PM had no knowledge of this.  I also think he's been blindsided and really has no idea how to react.  For someone who is used to controlling everything this can be a bit overwhelming.  This is likely the toughest position he has been in. 

Complacency is likely not the right way to go about this.  People should be concerned.  Conservatives I think are.  How the PM deals with those concerns will be telling.

I believe this also. So he needs a little extra time to regroup, but regroup he will.

He's only as controlling as any other PM has been. There has been lots of worse control freaks in that office.

However, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

 

[Fishbone Jones]

How about poking an overweight self-entitled Senator from Kanata PEI?

Sorry. Not playing.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Well, I guess there's another COS resume entering the mix today.

 

[jollyjacktar]

The Bank of Canada needs to get a life.  This is funny.  Shared under provisions of Sec 29 of the copyright act photos and links at story link below.

Bank of Canada cries fraud on $90K 'Duffy buck' cartoon
by John Bowman Posted: May 29, 2013 2:54 PM Last Updated: May 29, 2013 3:00 PM

The Bank of Canada says an editorial cartoon depicting a $90,000 bill bearing the likeness of Senator Mike Duffy runs afoul of its copyright on Canadian bank notes and has ordered it taken off the web.  Cartoonist Dan Murphy published the cartoon May 17 and it has been published in several newspapers and websites, and circulated on social media ever since.

In the cartoon, the $90,000 "Duffy buck" features security features such as a winking holographic Nigel Wright and a faint smell of pork.  Murphy created an animated version of the cartoon for the satire show Deep Rogue Ram, adding an additional security feature, activated when the bill is squeezed. (Warning: naughty language from Snakes on a Plane inexplicably added at the end of the video.)

Deep Rogue Ram

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/05/bank-of-canada-cries-fraud-on-90k-duffy-buck-cartoon.html

 

[DBA]

People care most about government actions and policies that effect them or the causes they support. The school yard fights inside parliament don't resonate with all Canadians nearly as much as they do with political junkies or the parliamentarians themselves. This is the trap the Liberals and NDP fell into last time which gave the Harper Conservatives a majority.

 

[jpjohnsn]

People care most about government actions and policies that effect them or the causes they support. The school yard fights inside parliament don't resonate with all Canadians nearly as much as they do with political junkies or the parliamentarians themselves. This is the trap the Liberals and NDP fell into last time which gave the Harper Conservatives a majority.

I'm not so sure about that.  The vast majority of the people I work with (who mostly tend to conservative) or are within my social circles (who are all over the political map) are neither parliamentarians nor are the political junkies but this particular "school yard fight" has definitely caught their collective attention.  I've seen some pretty heated discussions lately, that have included people who never, ever talk politics. 

 

[Remius]

The story that just won't go away.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/05/30/pol-senate-mike-duffy-email-.html

The irony is that he was warned 4 years ago not to do the things he's now accused of doing.  Are people really that dense?  That's rhetorical btw.  But it just adds on to what Mike Duffy has been revealed to be.

This would likely go a lot easier on him if he just stepped down.

What else is to come?

 

[RangerRay]

I have always found it unseemly when journalists are awarded political appointments.  You know it's not for their unbiased reporting skills!

 

[Remius]

I have always found it unseemly when journalists are awarded political appointments.  You know it's not for their unbiased reporting skills!

Well when he was appointed it made me raise an eyebrow.  I was at an event a few years before his appointment where he spoke about who would be the best political choice for the military. I won't get into too many details but like I said, my eyebrow was raised when he was appointed...

 

[Jed]

I have always found it unseemly when journalists are awarded political appointments.  You know it's not for their unbiased reporting skills!

I guess you were not a fan of Adrienne Clarkson for Governor General.

 

[Remius]

I guess you were not a fan of Adrienne Clarkson for Governor General.

Well at least the current one was one of Prime Minister Harper's better appointment recommendations.

 

[The Bread Guy]

The story that just won't go away.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/05/30/pol-senate-mike-duffy-email-.html

Interesting - wonder who got the e-mail to CBC? 

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I don't know if they knew what they were doing or if it is just a coincidence:

I find it ironic that the subject line of the email is "Duff".

In the Navy, "duff" is the name of the sweets you get at the end of your meal: desserts.