From the new Against Me! album, out in a week or so:

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A much, much younger me; a bit of Ras Pierre Schenk’s head; and then-girlfriend Paula Christison, at a party somewhere in Calgary circa 1979. Photo by Fee, sent via Virginia on FB.

I need a drink, now.

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Meanwhile, characterizations of Marin’s “oppressive” workplace continued to flow into the Toronto Star, with 11 current and former employees calling to question his suitability for the watchdog job.

…a Star investigation found that three former employees and one current staffer say Marin and his trusted managers are petty tyrants with bizarre and strict rules on office etiquette. In letters to government officials and in two complaints to the Human Rights Tribunal, workers allege racial discrimination by the Ombudsman’s Office, which has denied discrimination against employees.

After the story appeared, the Star received calls from people identifying themselves as current or former employees, all requesting anonymity for fear of being fired or other reprisals. A former manager said he could not be identified due to terms of a separation agreement.

“There was an oppressive atmosphere,” said the former manager said, who said unwritten but understood rules discouraged employees from walking the hallway in front of Marin’s office, or placing personal effects on their desks.

Personally, I’m all for the NDP and the Conservatives endorsing this guy. He’ll have about as much credibility as John Gomery, by the time this thing is over.

Maybe less.

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Holy smokes.

And just wait until the Reformatories announce that part of their platform will be an elimination of the election subsidy. That’s coming, too.

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The Reformatories are getting silly, again.  They don’t mind demanding committee appearances by backroomers (like me) when they were in Opposition – but now that they are in government, it’s a different story.

Jane calls them on it, here.

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Youngest son, just now: “Daddy, have you asked Dalton McGuinty if I can be home-schooled, yet?”

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There are thoughtful Conservatives! It’s true!

One of them – a guy/gal who is a good friend and is indeed what the media call a “senior” Harper Conservative – has written to me to critique the notion of a Liberal/NDP coalition/merger/arrangement.

His/her critique is fair and well-constructed.  But what interested me wasn’t so much the substance of the analysis – it was the fact that it was offered, gratis.

I showed it to a former Ignatieff staffer yesterday afternoon.  Reaction: “The Harper guys are watching the coalition speculation because they are concerned that this might actually happen. They know it’s a threat.”

Yep.  And it’s therefore dumb to rule it out.

***

Some free political analysis and advice from a Tory…

Never assume that 1 + 1 = 2 in the world of political mergers/coalitions.

Following the merger of the CA and PC Party in 2003 the new CPC’s popular support was lower than the combined support of the two legacy parties.  In fact, the CPC’s vote share in both the 2004 and 2006 elections was lower than the combined vote share of the CA and PC Party in the 2000 election.  It wasn’t until the 2008 election that the CPC won a vote share that (approximately) equaled the 2000 CA-PC Party combined total (albeit with a very different electoral coalition).

Following the merger many former PC Party voters (Red Tories) went to the Liberals and many former Reform Party/Canadian Alliance voters went to the NDP (anti-establishment protest voters).  Similarly you should expect that a new Liberal-NDP coalition/merger/arrangement would lose the support of many “Business Liberals” as well as large numbers of current, anti-establishment NDP voters who previously voted for Preston Manning and Stockwell Day.  I also suspect that most NDP voters in QC would vote for the Bloc rather than a Liberal-NDP ticket and many radicalized, anti-establishment New Democrats in English Canada would move to the Greens.

As you can see it’s not as simple as there are “3 million” extra NDP votes on the table.  You would still need the Bloc.  (In fact you would be even more reliant on the Bloc if the new “Liberal Democrats” were less popular than the two centre-left legacy parties standing on their own).

In the end the merger gamble worked out for us.  But that doesn’t mean it will work out for you guys – particularly if there is a formalized role/process for the Bloc as there was in 2008.  And the brand legacy of Laurier, Mackenzie King, Trudeau and Chretien hangs in the balance.  Have fun.

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Ontario PC John Yakabuski, the “law and order” guy who has spent time in jail for assaulting a police officer, was upset with me last week, because I had the temerity to criticize Andre Marin’s penchant for expensing hair care products on the public dime.

Let’s see if John speedily steps up to the plate over this latest revelation!

(Don’t hit me, John!)

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At the Against Me!/Cancer Bats show in Kingston at the end of March, my buddy Richard – and, yes sir, I am PROUD AND HAPPY to call him my friend – told me he was starting a web site.  Right on, said I.

Here it be. Yay Richard!

(I, like BCL, fervently hope this statement made some far-right heads explode.)

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Here.

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