76 Search Results for wildrose

There is an excellent chance that nobody cares, but — for fun, if nothing else — let’s handicap the rumoured candidates for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, shall we?

I know, I know. They’re in a distant third place, and have been for a year. You need a magnifying glass to locate their caucus in the House of Commons. Even against a dud like interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel, they couldn’t improve their circumstances. Why, you not unreasonably ask, should anyone care about the Grits anymore?

Well, because politics is unpredictable, that’s why. Weird things happen.

Everyone (except Your Humble Narrator, naturally) thought Wildrose would form a big, honkin’ majority government in Alberta, and they didn’t.
Everyone (except, er, me) didn’t foresee Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty climbing back from a double-digit polling deficit to win big last fall. Everyone (except, um, you know who) failed to prognosticate the NDP becoming Her Majesty’s official opposition in last year’s general election.

And so on, and so on. Every pundit and pollster else gets it wrong, all the time. Immodestly, I think you folks should listen only to ME.

Herewith, my Grit Hit List:

Comments (48)

For the past while, I’ve been pretty open about my enthusiasm for Alison Redford.  I’ve also been pretty critical of her main opponent, Wildrose’s Danielle Smith.  I haven’t hidden it.

As such, I’ve gotten a few tweets sent my way, some of which I would like to share for your amusement.  I wanted to put them on this web site before they end up down the memory hole, like quite a few pundits’ prognostications.

Here’s a sampling from your garden variety Wildrose supporters.

 

Those were fun.  Now, I also heard from some well-known people.  Here’s what three conservative pundits (whom I like a great deal) told me when I suggested that Danielle Smith would pay a price for not condemning extremists in her midst:

 

Those were fun, too.  I also heard from pollsters, however.  Here’s what some of them had to say about my suggestion (in a column) that Smith would pay a price and (in a posting) that Redford would win:

 

“Pay attention”! Ha! I like that. Best of all, however, was National Post reporter Jen Gerson.  She was assigned to cover the Alberta election. I had thought Jen was pretty smart, but I’m not so sure about that anymore.  For instance, I suggested on Facebook, Twitter and on this web site, that Wildrose extremism – like the lunatic who called for David Suzuki to be assassinated – was newsworthy, and would hurt Wildrose.  Jen disagreed.  Jen, who knows better, had this to say:

 

Get that? “Actual stories.”  Like, saying gays will burn in Hell, or saying that whites are better, or calling for political adversaries to be murdered aren’t, you know, such a big deal.  But I’m a bit slow, so I pressed Jen on the issue.  I disagreed with her; I expressed puzzlement with her disinterest.  This is what she came back with:

 

Isn’t that nice? What a nice person.

Anyway, you get the point, I suspect.  Last night wasn’t just a big political deal. It was a big deal for four “Ps” – partisans, pundits, pollsters and press people.

Most of them were wrong, wrong, wrong. In politics, as in life, you should always ask this question: “What if I’m wrong?” I certainly am, often. In the past few days, however, so were quite a few other people.  And, thanks to the wonder that is Twitter, the proof is there for us all to behold.

Have a good one, tweeters!

Comments (70)

Harper didn’t just win by uniting the right, however. He did something else, too. For a decade, Chretien defeated conservatives by highlighting every boneheaded, xenophobic utterance by (mostly) Reform Party MPs and candidates. Harper watched this and learned, too.
As soon as he won his new party’s leadership in 2004, Harper started moving out the Reform troglodytes who had become associated with anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-aboriginal and anti-abortion themes.

Quietly, and sometimes not-so-quietly, Harper expelled the extremists who had been a proverbial albatross around the neck of the federal conservative movement for a decade.

Once he’d cleaned house, Canadians gave him the keys to 24 Sussex. Simple.
Danielle Smith, the former TV talking head now propped atop the Alberta Wildrose Alliance Party, should have heeded Harper’s lesson. When she had a chance to do so, Smith could have expelled the far-right lunatics who now make up a sizeable segment of her candidates.  

She didn’t. As a result, she had a week filled with stories about Wildrose craziness:
– Edmonton Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsberger declared public education is “godless,” and that gays will burn in “a lake of fire” in hell.

– Calgary Wildrose candidate Ron Leech said he’s a better candidate than non-white candidates because he’s “Caucasian.”

– Barrhead Wildrose candidate Link Byfield achieved fame by publishing a magazine that published anti-Semitic articles about “Jewish-owned” businesses and a fictional Jew tax (leading to a complaint by Sun News host Ezra Levant).

– Wildrose’s platform wants to kill a section of the Alberta Human Rights Act that prohibits posting of signs like “no blacks” and “no Jews” for employment or lodging or service.

Unlike Harper, when asked about each of these things, Danielle Smith has shrugged. Instead of condemning the nuttiness in her party, she has defended it.

Comments (15)

Right here.

(But, whatever you do, National Post’s Jen Gerson, don’t cover that!)

Comments (7)

That is, Danielle Smith:

Why have you recruited Richard Evans, who promotes NAMBLA and the neo-Nazi Stormfront, and who mocks Holocaust victims?

Wildrose organizer Richard Evan wrote a motorcycle registration number on his arm,

pretending to be a Holocaust survivor. He thought that was funny. Does Danielle Smith?

Comments (9)

Care to disclose your chummy relationship with the guys behind the “Jew tax” story and the clannish Jewish businessmen story? You know, how one of them is now a Wildrose candidate? No? Well, carry on, then. Keep doing what you do.

Comments (2)

A National Post reporter – one I like – just sent me a Facebook message to ask me if I am “working for the PCs.” I presume she means the Alberta PCs.

I messaged back: “You’re kidding, right?”

But then I thought about it. She’s a good egg, and she deserves a straight answer. So I decided to give it here, right out in the open.

“My family came to Alberta in 1975. We came from Montreal, where the political climate had made it impossible for my Dad – a doctor and a medical researcher – to work. We didn’t know what to expect.

What we got – we, Liberal ex-pat Montrealers – was a home. Alberta, we discovered, was diverse and progressive and welcoming. We didn’t ever vote Progressive Conservative, but we had to acknowledge that the PC-led Alberta was a far better place to live than Montreal had been.

My Dad’s research was generously funded by the government. My brothers and I got great publicly-funded educations.

The first political party I joined – wearing a black bikers jacket – was the Alberta Liberals. I opposed the PCs as a political choice. I never voted for them, not once. But I never regarded them as extremists or evil, either. Instead, they were the people who created the things that attracted us to Alberta in the first place. If we were honest about it, we had to admit that much.

I grew up in, and was educated in, Alberta. I love Alberta, and would have relocated there in a minute. And I’d be there, right now, if they hadn’t insisted l do the bar admission course over again to practice law.

I don’t know Alison Redford or anyone in her cabinet or caucus. I have never voted for their party, or taken a nickel from them, or worked for them in any way.

But I do know this: if Wildrose wins, all of the things that persuaded us to move to Alberta, and make it our home, will be gone. They’re going to wreck the place, and that’s no exaggeration. The homophobia and the racism are just the tip of the iceberg.

I also know this, and I say it with no enthusiasm: in this election, a vote for the Liberals or the NDs is a vote for Wildrose. The only party that can stop them is the PCs.

So, if I were there right now, I’d be working my ass off for the Alberta PCs. Never thought I’d see the day, but that day has surely arrived.

There you go. There’s your answer.”

Comments (29)

“As a third generation Albertan and a born again Christian, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that there is a potential government coming that will heed the Word of God. Ontario and Quebec, both ultra-liberal provinces, love to hate God and His Word and His law. The Wildrose party will seemingly follow in the footsteps of a previous government, that of William Aberhart and Earnest Manning, both of which were godly born again believers and preachers for the Lord. God has blessed Alberta… hmmm, I wonder why?!?

The best thing for Alberta would be to separate, especially from the ungodly and humanistic-driven provinces of Ontario and Quebec. You represent your province well. And you should keep your wicked opinions to yourself instead of spreading your malice and guile! The biggest problem we have in Alberta is Ontarions that come here and bring there liberal and ungodly beliefs with them!

Oh, and concerning your comments about gays burning in the eternal lake of fire…yes, Mr. Hunsperger, is certainly right, they will burn forever in a lake of fire. And so will all others that refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and obey God’s authority!

As I was commenting on your article, a article headline caught my eye: “Bunny Ranch brothel owner wants to set up shop in Toronto”. The adamant positive approval of this by the author and probably majority of Ontarions; now THAT would be a side-effect of an ungodly and liberal government.”

Comments (29)

The things that the Charter, and the Constitution, were designed to prevent are still a threat.  And that is why today is a day to remember, and be vigilant, and celebrate this great achievement.

(And, while we’re on the subject, let me say: my God, I miss this man.)

Comments (5)

How important is the last week in a campaign?

Really, really important. Important enough to make the difference — in Alberta, and anywhere else.

Lots of Canadians are now watching the dramatic Alberta contest, now entering the home stretch. Non-Albertans can’t vote in the election, but they, too, have a stake in the outcome. That’s because the far-right Wildrose Alliance has been leading in the polls, and has an excellent shot at forming the government.

If they do so, Wildrose will be the most socially conservative government Canada has seen since the days of Social Credit in Alberta and the Union Nationale in Quebec. A Wildrose government will shatter decades of social and economic peace like the Socreds did. Canada doesn’t need that.

Over the weekend, the ugly face of Wildrose — an ugliness leader Danielle Smith has frantically attempted to hide from voters — revealed itself. Edmonton Southwest Wild-rose candidate Allan Hunsperger wrote on his website that public education is “Godless.” He also wrote that gays and lesbians are going to burn in Hell.

Said Hunsperger: “(If gays don’t change their ways, they) will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, Hell, a place of eternal suffering.”

Comments (22)