I picked up these stats in the comments section of the CBC site. I have no idea if they are accurate but they are interesting if they are.
Change in Productivity While in Office
Diefendaker 9.7%
Pearson 18.6%
Trudeau(1) 30.4%
Clark 0.4%
Trudeau(2) 11.8%
Mulroney 6.4%
Chretien 18.3%
Martin 4.1%
Harper -0.6%
Source: CCPA calculations from Statistics Canada quarterly data
Some of the pundits are saying "stay on" and others are saying "this might cost Harper a majority." We can only keep our fingers crossed on that front.
I liked the Leader Post's Murray Mandryk's piece today. Murray remembered a Ritz quote from 2003. In responding to a memo about George Bush written by an NDP staffer old Gerry said ?These guys have to realize that every time you pee into the wind, you are only getting yourself wet.? Truer words were never spoken.
I can't find what the final tally was but on the CBC site yesterday about 70% of respondents said Gerry Ritz should resign for his cold cuts remark.
About the same time of day on the CTV site, with almost the same question the majority of people voting in the on line poll said he should stay on.
Regina City Councillor, Louis Browne, in a letter to the editor in the LP today asks voters to challenge candidates on the issue of funding for infrastructure. It is a very good point, our cities are struggling to keep up with crumbling and outdated infrastructure. Massive amounts of money are need by municipalities. The question I think is ?Where is Pat Fiacco on this issue during the campaign?? There has been no press conference on the issue and no attempt that I can see to make it an election issue.
Pat did have his picture in the paper today pretending to wipe some graffiti off a phone booth. Our Pat is never one to miss a photo op. Standing up to higher levels of government, now that is another matter.
I also note that Phil Fontaine is appalled that we are spending $22 billion in Afghanistan while Harper scrapped the Kelowna Accord which would have put a fraction of that sum into improving the lives of First Nations Peoples.
Phil is encouraging First nations People to get their issues on the table and into the minds of the leaders.
Thursday the Harper team had to apologize for of an aide to Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon who told an Aboriginal protestor in Quebec that they could meet with Cannon -- provided they were sober. It makes you wonder how many other Conservative knuckle draggers will be outed before this campaign is over.
The NDP candidate for West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast had to step down, after The Globe and Mail questioned him about his Vancouver Seed Bank. The company sells marijuana, poppy and hemp seeds. I thought the video of him trying to light about 15 joints at the same time shown on the CBC was pretty good but his driving while stoned video probably put the icing on the cake.
Meanwhile our largest trading partner's economy is crumbling and Harper says "Don't worry. Be happy. Vote Conservative and everything will be alright."
No one is talking about what this economic meltdown will do to pension plans in this country.
The travesty we are into in Afghanistan continues. The CBC reports that Canadian soldiers fired on a civilian truck, killing another Afghan civilian, after the vehicle came too close to their convoy The military says they tried to warn the truck. "Neither the warning signals nor the warning shot were heeded," military spokesman Lt. Al Blondin said in a statement Friday. "Two additional shots were required to finally stop the truck. Our soldiers are trained to take all appropriate steps to minimize civilian casualties," he said. "However, they must take action to protect themselves when they believe they are being threatened.
An army spokesperson went on to say "Either the signals perhaps were not seen or maybe this was an attempt to attack the Canadians," I am not sure what they were going to attack with, the truck was carrying fruit.
Saskatchewan's own Gerry Ritz is in the hotseat over a few comments made on a conference call dealing with the listeriosis crisis he quipped "This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts," then And when he was told about a new death from listeriosis on PEI, Gerry joked: "Please tell me it's Wayne Easter." Easter is a Liberal MP and a strong critic.
The New Democratic Party has nearly doubled its support in British Columbia battleground ridings in less than a week at the expense of both the Liberals and the Conservatives, a poll shows.
The NDP has the support of 30 per cent of voters in those key ridings, according to a poll conducted Sept. 7 to 9 for The Globe and Mail and CTV News. That's up from 17 per cent in a poll conducted Sept. 4 to 6.
"If [he] is prepared to slash program spending when he has large surpluses and break his written word as the leader of a minority government, the future of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians — and indeed all Canadians — will be very bleak under a Conservative majority,"
Read the full story at www.cbc.ca
The Tory web page, which was active until Tuesday morning, featured an image of "Professor" Dion at a school blackboard, followed by puffin flying over his head and dropping excrement on Dion's shoulder.
The group of about 60 business people, academics and environmentalists calling themselves Canadians for Climate Leadership is set to release a document Tuesday entitled Time To Get Serious on Climate Change.
The report calls for a $30-a-tonne price tag on emissions, and says a "staggering" investment in green technologies is required.
The document has been signed by four former prime ministers, Joe Clark and Kim Campbell, both Progressive Conservatives, and Liberals Paul Martin and John Turner.
"We simply can't afford another round of posturing and denial in this next election," said Clark in a news release Monday.
"Climate change shouldn't be dealt with as a political football," Nova Scotia businessman John Roy, who helped draft the report, told CBC news.
The report stops short of endorsing the Liberals' Green Shift carbon plan, which would offset a tax on emissions with income tax cuts, but Roy said funds generated by an emissions tax must be redistributed to those who would be hit the hardest.
With files from the Canadian PressHarper now talks about a "Canada First" policy but for thirty years he and the pro-American think tank at the University of Calgarypromoted "Alberta First." In a letter to the National Post in 2000, Harper wrote:
In another letter to the Post, Harper stated:
He also recommended Alberta:
I have recently become intrigued by the flavours used in Moroccan cooking. I bought a tagine which , according to Wikipedia, is formed entirely of a heavy clay which is sometimes painted or glazed. It consists of two parts; a base unit which is flat and circular with low sides, and a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking. The cover is so designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom. With the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving.
