04.13.2010 06:38 AM

Poll: why do the Harper Conservatives deserve defeat?

It’s highly scientific, and its results are binding. Β Vote now, Canada, and vote often!

39 Comments

  1. Sandra says:

    You don’t have “all of the above”.

  2. David Galbraith says:

    No all of the above?

  3. Greg says:

    Can I choose “All of the above”?

  4. Paul R. Martin says:

    f) They are not Canada’s natural ruling party.

  5. Kevin says:

    Warren: You left out “All of the above”.

  6. Bob says:

    WK – there are nowhere near the reasons for booting out the Conservatives are there are for NOT returning the Lieberals to power.

  7. Riff says:

    If Mr. Ignatieff can’t get any traction given the bust up in the Harper Cabinet and caucus then the once dominant Liberal Party of Canada is really are in a nose dive that it can’t seem to pull out of!
    Mr. Ignatieff has to hit hard and hit often to break through the wall of indifference in the electorate.
    The emerging ‘tea party’ movement in Quebec illustrates that at least some Canadians are mad as hell and won’t stand for it any more.
    The Liberal Party leader, MPs, and militants have to grab on to one or two issues that concern and irk a majority of Canadians.
    They have tried very hard but can’t seem to find the right issue.
    I think it will come down to increasing taxes and a decline in public services. This is what Harper is promising and the Liberals have to get out in front of the reaction that is sure to come.

  8. Mark McLaughlin says:

    What is the relative success of Nickleback compared to say, I don’t know, S.F.H.

    Don’t rag on success. I’m not much of a fan of those guys either, but you can thank Canada for hating Nickleback so much. If we weren’t forced to hear them on every bloody station due to pointless Canadian content laws we wouldn’t get sick of them so easily. I feel the same about The Hip that you do about Nickelback.

  9. joshua says:

    LOL, World’s shittiest band? Is SFH not in the running πŸ˜›

    ba da ba ching!

    • Warren says:

      Yes, and we have written a song called “Joshua Is A Goof for Using Emoticons.”

    • Iris Mclean says:

      Barney Rubble (Is My Double) is the best song what was ever wrote!

      • Warren says:

        Immodestly, I agree. And we kick Nickelback’s ass.

        We also don’t drive drunk. Not sure I would’ve met with Nickelback’s Chad the same week the Jaffer thing was unspooling, but what do I know.

    • joshua says:

      I know your “we kick nickelback’s ass” is tounge in cheek. However, to just put in in perspective. Nickelback has sold 35+ million records. Many of his records went mutli platnium. He was rated the top group of the decade by billboard magazine (#7th overall since 1-6 were solo artists). His tours continue to do well and sell out. He performed at the closing ceremony at the winter olympics and is Canadian so he can’t be that bad. While everybody makes mistakes his past and present success shows that he is indeed a talented artist. It is also nice to note that Nickelback has given a lot to charity. 500,000$ to Obakki foundation, and partial proceeds from their video sales of “If everybody cared” to Amnesty International and International Children’s Awareness Canada (how much in total I don’t know). So to say he’s the world’s shittiest band is pretty ludicrous.

      • smelter rat says:

        No it isn’t.

      • Brian says:

        I applaud Nickelback’s efforts to redirect some of their musical blood money to charity.

      • Michael Watkins says:

        I can see how Nickleback would have got the Olympic gig, given our Premier’s history with drunk driving. That’s another story.

        Now why is our Prime Minister grinning beside a guy who was not even man enough to show up for his court appearance? Is “Chad” emblematic of some heretofore secret Conservative set of family values that includes drunk driving and street racing, and failing to shoulder the burden of responsibility having been caught?

        No, I would not pose with a drunk driver in front of my home or office, which prevents me from getting a photo op with our Premier Gordon “Does drinking and driving while on holiday in Hawaii count?” Campbell.

        Apparently Stephen Harper believes that being one of the “regular guys” means idolizing an overly paid musician whose idea of aw-shucks I’m a regular guy kicks is drag racing his 175,000 dollar Lamborghini in Surrey, B.C. while having a blood-alcohol level of twice the legal limit.

        Drag/street racing here in B.C. has led to an all-too-frequent number of deaths of participants and innocent bystanders including one poor lady who was mowed down – killed – a stones throw from my front porch.

        That driver was eventually deported from the country. “Chad” got a fine and a visit with the Prime Minister.

        Nice role model Stephen! Who will you invite to 24 Sussex next?

        • joshua says:

          Obama admitted to doing cocaine and pot in his book Dream’s of My Father. So do you think Stephen Harper should never be seen in Obama’s presence for a photo op? Give me a break. You’re drawing a lot of conclusions regarding Stephen idolizing him and promoting drinking and driving, I don’t think a photo op means that. If so what about the pictures of Him and Gordon at the Olympics? Is that Stephen promoting drinking and Driving. Of course not. Has Chad’s DUI affected his public image, sure. Did he pay the fine, yes. Does that mean some people won’t buy his cd’s, sure. Does Nickelback still still enjoy a wide base of support, yup.

          • Michael Watkins says:

            joshua, one question back at ya: did Obama drive while he was doing it?

            (if so then a solid round of criticism can be thrown at him too)

            Of course you are missing the larger point here. Harper’s persona is carefully managed by Harper himself and we know from ample precedence that Harper doesn’t allow so much as a photo to be taken casually.

            Thus this photo was planned and permitted to be released as a concious act and is as contrived as any other of his long line of photo ops, designed to help cultivate an image that he lacks – a real person of the people. Harper is no such animal.

            More to the point he has chosen a pop culture icon of some notoriety to hitch his wagon to, apparently without considering that he sets a bad example in doing so. Or perhaps in the calculating mind of Stephen Harper that just doesn’t matter.

            Now if it were me, and I had the opportunity to get a snap of Chad and I, or Chad and one of my sons, would I?

            No, and I would explain to my kids that the man broke the law. Chad did something wrong, wholly irresponsible, potentially grievously injurious to others, and when caught by the police essentially ran away from taking responsibility for his act. He did something that any thinking father would counsel his kids not to do, and then, religious or not, would pray afterwards that they heeded his counsel.

            Harper goes on about “responsibility” all the time yet here he is all chummy with someone, one of the moneyed “elite”, who did something very wrong and ran away from responsibility.

            Harper tacitly endorsing a drunk street racer is rather like sitting on the board of a tobacco company while asking for grants from a philanthropic organization engaged in fighting the spread of addictions like tobacco.

            Oh wait, I’ve just described another Conservative, Barbara McDougall, who until *very* recently sat on the board of Imperial Tobacco yet is the chair of the Canada International Development Research Centre, a federally funded organization which had received a U.S. $5.2 million dollar grant to support an anti-smoking research project in Africa.

            Declining tobacco sales in the developed world are causing big and little tobacco, including Canada’s vested interests in this area, to find new markets in the less developed world, and Ms. McDougall has been a willing participant in that area.

            No doubt there are photos of her together with Harper grinning too.

            All three individuals referenced in this missive are bad examples for Canadian children.

          • joshua says:

            I think everyone can agree that hard drugs support criminal activities. If we were to legalize them, then maybe that would change. However, at the present time buying cocaine gives money to people who are criminals. Supporting them financially like Obama probably caused more real world harm than Chad’s DUI that in actuality hurt…nobody. Albeit luckily I might add. I don’t know how Harper manages his public relations but as a PM, I wouldn’t be suprised if he tried to control his public image. I could see not wanting to get a picture taken with Kim Jong Il or somebody, but a picture with Chad isn’t worth a thousand words. If Chad was actively out campaigning for drinking and driving rights, I could understand how that would be a bad political move. If Harper was asked, what do you think about Chad’s DUI I’m sure he would then speak for himself/ his party’s stance. I don’t think you have to actively condemn everything bad that somebody’s done in their past to prove you don’t agree with what he’s done. I think you have a high standard with regards to your children. Which, don’t get me wrong, is an awesome thing. However, for those that wanted to get a picture, I don’t think they are morally in the wrong for wanting a picture. I don’t know much about Barbara and the tobacco thing, but from what you said and from my rapid google search it was a very stupid thing for the government to do, and certainly not the last I’m sure. I’m glad she’s no longer on the board of Imperial Tobacco. I would think it would be more of an oversight or not properly checking a candidate as opposed to a clandestine move by Harper to promote smoking. Just out of curiosity do you screen the movies you let your kids watch..and if Iron Man for example is age appropriate say to them..no you can’t watch it because Robert Downey Jr, has been involved with drugs DUI probabion violation etc. And if you do/would let them watch it, if you had the oppotunity to meet Mr. Iron man himself with your kids would you not take let them take a picture?

  10. Don says:

    Heh, did you get Darryl Bricker to write this? Looks like one of their products…

  11. Cathy says:

    Did you ever find a replacement for Bart – Canada’s Most Political Fish Warren? I sure miss him at times like this.

  12. Jim says:

    I’m no Liberal, but I’d rather listen to SFH than Nickelback!

  13. Danny says:

    The fact that ‘they think its cool … ‘ is leading the poll, suggests that none of the other choices are getting any traction.
    He is the father of a young boy. Young boys like Monster trucks, video games, X-Games, and unfortunately, Nickelback. Most parents get it. Most liberals… not so much.

  14. Catherine says:

    All of the above.

  15. Bill says:

    Why do they?

    More like why don’t they!!!

  16. Riff says:

    Is PMSH guilty of using his Office and 24 Sussex to ensure that his kids get to meet personally with Canadian ‘rock stars?’

    And, all this smoooshing with Canadian Rock Stars while PMSH’s government is getting ready to end Canadian content rules despite the best advice of the CRTC!

  17. jon evan says:

    Again, Liberal angst (out of control) compelling them into mischief which is unworthy of even Trudeau. Look, forget the Guergis affair for now!

    Your own Charter declares:

    “Any person charged with an offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal”.

    Facts: the RCMP have been called to investigate to see if there are even grounds to lay a charge. Then comes due process.

    The woman has yet even to be charged! C’mon is there no decency left in the LPC?

  18. CQ says:

    All of the five choices would be better than either the hissy prissy War Criminals with Guns version two and the Rae Daze weaks-weeks only Prologue Protest from European Villa 2010 strategies currently in place.

  19. Winnipegger says:

    Ah shucks, the poll is not allowing me to “vote often.”

  20. Michael Watkins says:

    “Most parents get it”

    Not being a Liberal, nor being a Nickleback fan, I beg to differ. My 10 and 12 year old boys self-censor Nickleback and until this little discussion started I’d never once shared my opinion on the band with them. Truth be told, one likes worse bands (my opinion). The other rather likes my collection. The former has no interest in politics, the latter does.

    Whether this portends anything or not who can tell but my youngest son, the one who has Prime Ministerial ambitions, more or less on his own adopted alt-rock / punk. Probably American Idiot turned the corner for him, and sure, he must have found it pleasing to be on the same side as his dad when it comes to morons like George W. Bush and to hear a band take them on, well, I find that magical and I think he does too.

    So older son listens to his music on an ipod, while we crank on the house-wide system old Clash and various Green Day and 54/50 (yeah, more pop but they are local boys) and other such stuff in our database and when that grows old there’s plenty of internet streams that please.

    Most of the time I can listen to any sort of rock and roll and alt music but try as I might I just can not find myself enjoying, even for a moment, Nickleback.

  21. Ian says:

    Can I say it too please…ALL OF THE ABOVE

    And because Harper is dishonest, creepy and a Liar

  22. campbell says:

    …and still no one is mentioning the dichotomy of Harper’s stance on pot compared with Chad’s? They couldn’t be further apart on the issue, to the point where it is absolutely hypocritical of Harper to talk the way he does about marijuana users while proclaiming himself a fan of Chad and shitty band Nickleback!

  23. Kalford says:

    All of the above. (They’ve become Liberals).

    πŸ™‚

  24. Holt says:

    Who the hell is Greg the Tribble? (I really DO want to know… Thanks!)

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