Poilievre is the new Anders

Poilievre calls Ignatieff the father of the carbon tax 'tar baby,' will redneck Rob Anders come to his rescue? Better yet, the PMO will.

The term, whether you find it racist or not, is nevertheless derogatory and certainly unparliamentary. But then again, what are we to expect from a government on its heels?

Ignatieff's rope-a-dope strategy seems to be working. Let the CPC come at him with all the punches they can muster. All the political mud slinging in question period. All the name-calling and spinning. Not only will the CPC get tired from hammering away at the LPC but the public will start to see through the games. It will be at that point that Ignatieff will not need much energy to deliver a knockout punch. Just honest politics.

On the issue of our ballooning deficit and our incompetent minister of finance, the Prime Minister suggests that the government is actually saving the country from further deficit since they will not budge on their opposition to the Liberal's suggested spending initiatives.

But what Canadians ought to be aware of is the fact that Deficit Jim is hiding the truth from the public. If we're going to go into deficit, I at least want to know where our money is going. I want to know if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm alright with a deficit - it is inevitable in our global political climate - but what I want to know is where we are going and how we are going to get there. The CPC government does not have an answer to this question, or if they do, they're certainly not going to make such a statement public.

We're going to have to spend money to climb out of this recession and I am not opposed to new spending should it create or protect jobs. I am not opposed to making EI eligibility easier, or protecting pensions. Nor am I opposed to the spending that comes with it.

I am opposed to irresponsible spending or a blind spiral into deficit. So, to answer the question posed to me by Peter Braid's (CPC) constituency office: who is on the right track with the economy? The Liberal plan, whatever it may be, cannot be any worse than the Conservatives plan, whatever it is.

EI Reform...what? EI Reform, please, Mr. Prime Minister.

Is Harper really willing to go into a summer election over EI Reform? I'm not so sure.

"We're not adverse to further improvements, but we will not be pressured, and we don't think it's responsible that the opposition constantly threatens an election at a time when the country is facing economic peril," Conservative House Leader Jay Hill told CTV's Question Period Sunday.

So, the Opposition should be asking for EI reform nicely then? Maybe, maybe not. Hill seems happy with the 5 week extension that the government has already given EI beneficiaries. Anything more than that would cost taxpayers too much, approximately 1.5 billion a year, and going into more debt is not an option for this government. Or is it? Just a few days ago the PM had this to say on deficit spending during the recession:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is suggesting the federal deficit, pegged at $85 billion over the next five years, could get bigger to fight the recession.

Harper told Quebec mayors Thursday that negative balance sheets will grow "as large as they have to" while the economy struggles to recover.

And again, he reiterated his belief that Canada is in the best of positions in the global recession and that we have a kind of leg up on other countries in the sense that we can afford spending now and paying debt down later.

"Our deficits will be large, but they will be temporary," Harper said. "In fact, in the short term they will be as large as they have to be, to help us weather the recession.

"As a country we can afford it. But only if these deficits are temporary and our stimulus spending ends when the recession ends."

He said Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio is the envy of developed countries, and that the country can afford a flurry of spending.

So what is the issue over another 1.5 billion to save 1.4 million jobless Canadians? It must be the Opposition's approach, which is to be sure, ballsy bordering on confrontational. But what leg does Harper have to stand on to dissolve parliament and send the public into an election over more deficit spending that he himself has been trying to justify to Canadians for the last week?

Ignatieff has played his ball well. He knows that the NDP and Bloc would not bring down the government for the hell of it and by backing EI reform, he's put the NDP and the Bloc into awkward position: they don't want an election right now but they do want to change the rules of EI. If they support the Liberals they could go into an election that they don't want, yet, keeping true to their principles. If they side with the government they avoid an unwanted election yet go back on their promises. Harper either engages in a Conservative-Socialist-Separatist alliance to avoid an election (this detante rings a bell) or sends the public to the polls with little justification beyond not liking the tone in which the Opposition request EI reform.

Furthermore, I find it rather ironic that Jay Hill has the balls to complain about the Opposition threatening an election over every piece of legislation that they put forward since this was one of Harper's favourite tactics to push Dion around in the last parliamentary session. Maybe Harper should take a page out of Dion's book and abstain from the EI vote. Wouldn't that be something.

I'm one of those election hawks that would love to see Harper go down in the summer. Speaking with Conservative voters here in Alberta and Ontario, I'm getting the sense that Stephen's iron grip on the PMO and the party has some of the grass roots and base-voters perturbed and would almost prefer to see a Liberal, rather than Conservative, minority government come out of the next election to push the party to replace Harper. Some have even admitted to me that they believe that Harper would be a terrible majority Prime Minister.

With the CPC broadcasting attack ads, being down in the polls to the LPC, sitting on their hands in parliament to reforming EI, and fighting within their caucus over Mulroney - it feels like they're the Opposition trying to claw their way into the government. Ignatieff over the last month seems more like the Prime Minister than Harper and this is exactly the image he wants to project to Canadians - and I think it's taking.

I dare Harper to send us into an election. It will be his, not Michael's, swan song.

Obama eats Dijon and Republicans lose their shit

Dijongate is in full force, with Fox News and a conservative blogger leading the charge against the president for his choice of the apparently un-American mustard atop his cheeseburger during a recent impromptu lunch stop with Vice-President Joe Biden.

Fox's Sean Hannity has been telling his viewers that MSNBC - and reporter Andrea Mitchell in particular - are trying to hide Obama's Dijon-loving ways from the public.

Hannity has been referring to the president's lunch as his "fancy burger."

"It was Grey Poupon, which is equally snotty," alleged one commenter on Hannity's website.

"Now, I have nothing against Dijon mustard, but the image didn't fit with the image being spun by the White House and MSNBC. Dijon mustard on a Hell Burger had a very John Kerry-ish quality about it."

[William] Jacobson blogged about other incidents in which Obama has revealed his weakness for the spicy French condiment.

It's a key ingredient, for example, in the president's favourite tuna salad, and he also had the gall to request it during his first trip on Air Force One.

"And the mainstream media didn't cover it," Jacobson wrote.

That liberal media is constantly covering up the truth about Obama's choice of mustard and I for one am sickened by their unabashed bias! America does not need any more partisan condiment toppings in the White House people! It's time, for both sides of the mustard aisle, to come together and finally work to solve this financial crisis in the US of A.

Actually, check that: does anybody seriously care if Obama eats a burger with Dijon? There are bigger fish to fry Sean Hannity. And after that fish fry should Obama want to relax with a glass of Cab-Sav we should be so grateful that it didn't cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and trillions indebted to foreign creditors.

But let's continue on this "Obama is an overspending elitist who the liberal media is protecting at the expense of the principles and morals the country was founded on," rant.

More "leadership" from our Commander and Chief

Harper, taking his queues from American politics, follows in the footsteps of Bush and Obama by making a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

With headlines like these, is it any wonder why Canadians have our electoral system confused with the Americans? And of course, Harper and his caucus is happy to play the part of the government the people elected.

US media tours. Surprise visits to Afghanistan. Stimulus packages and the intentional misleading of Canadians against constitutionally acceptable coalition governments. This is Harper's leadership. This is the Harper government. For a moment, I forget which country I'm living in. Is this Canada? No, this is Governor Harper's 51st state.

Liberals unveil elegant new logo

Simply put, I like it. It's elegant and sophisticated. It signals a new era for the party and a decisive change of leadership and vision. Smart move, great look.

(H/T CalgaryGrit & LPC.)

Bill Casey resigns. Elizabeth May runs?

This news is a touch late to reach RCI, but it is definitely worth talking about.

Long time Progressive Conservative, turn CPC, turn Independent MP Bill Casey has resigned his seat to be a senior representative with Nova Scotia's Department of Intergovernmental Affairs. Casey's riding, Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley (C-C-MV), is right next door to Central Nova; the riding in which Elizabeth May battled Peter MacKay for representation in the 08 election.

Elizabeth May has made it clear that she is going to run again in Central Nova in the next general election. Ignatieff has made it clear that there will be a Liberal candidate to face both her and MacKay. And MacKay knows that he won't lose.

Cumberland-Clochester-Musquodoboit Valley could be the next Green riding in Canada, except it will be hard to determine if May can swing the Casey faithful to her camp. Every candidate was beaten handily by the Independent Casey in the last election. Any Conservative candidate in a by-election will have a hard time winning-over the C-C-MV electorate and the last Liberal candidate, former Progressive Canadian party leader Tracy Parsons, was totally ignored. The New Democrat candidate came in a distant second (by the tune of 22,000 votes). The GPC didn't run a candidate as they endorsed Casey's candidacy.

Which brings me to the dynamics of a by-election, should the government live to see it's e-day. Both Harper and Ignatieff will try to parachute big-name candidates to prove to the rest of the country that they have the momentum going into a general election. Add Elizabeth May to the fold and we've got an election worth watching.

I don't imagine it would be difficult for May to mobilize her 08 volunteer team to swarm C-C-MV and put together a decent campaign. After all, Casey won on his personality and values to the community and May has all of those things should voters be able to get past the Green stigma. That being said, it could swing Conservative if voters primarily see themselves as conservative people and the CPC candidate is a local moderate who is well-known.

I'd call a C-C-MV by-election as a toss up between any party with the Greens being a real threat should May run. The NDP was the runner-up in the last election, but the Liberals historically come in second with a secure 20-25% of the vote.

Every party in C-C-MV lost votes to Casey (save for the Greens and fellow Independent Rick Simpson) especially the CPC and LPC. That leaves a lot of support up for grabs that may or may not go back to their historical parties. Which, in my opinion, bodes well for E-May and the Greens.

Here at RCI, we'll keep on top of the candidate's list and by-election day as soon as Harper drops the writ.

Ignatieff the "torturer/American/Harvard-phony/Bushite/Russian-Prince/foreigner/Harper-lite" takes LPC helm

It's official. Conservatives and New Democrats gather up your sticks and stones! I've heard and read a long list of things that Liberal opponents call Michael Ignatieff. Among them are strange anti-American and anti-academic slurs hurled at a man who studied in abroad and worked in the US for an Ivy League school. Apparently, that's a bad thing. It's also a bad thing that he has a political philosophy and has met with the Obama Administration. It's even worse that he is of Russian background and still speaks his native tongue. In sum: Ignatieff isn't a Canadian to New Democrats or Conservatives.

Forget the fact that my own CPC MP, Diane Ablonczy, was born in the United States. And remember that former NDP leader, David Lewis, was also born in Russia. And the last time I checked, being educated at Oxford and Harvard was generally accepted is an admirable accomplishment. But instead if you've studied abroad, live an academic life, and embrace your culture (being true to your narrative), then you must be some sort of latte-sipping liberal who looks down upon the rest of society. And the rest of society, in turn, ought to look smugly upon you.

I guess if you're not the son of a mill worker or an economist who rode the coat-tails of a populist Western party representing a Calgary EDA, you must be one of those ignorant Bay Street Starbucks elitists.

And they say Canadian politics isn't interesting.

From RCI to you: Welcome, Mr. Ignatieff, to party leadership in Canadian politics.