Chantal Hebert is way, way smarter than me.  But this column has me befuddled.  To wit:

“Notwithstanding the party’s victories in Ontario and Prince Edward Island, the decline of the Liberal brand in Canada has continued unabated this fall.”

Well, no.

Grits were written off as dead in Ontario – and we did a 20-point turnaround to win a minor majority.  Grits were supposedly in big trouble in PEI, and came back with a big majority.  Quebec Grits were supposedly beyond hope just a few months ago, and now it is their main opponent that is dead or dying.  Newfoundland Libs, with a new leader, were supposedly going to be replaced as Official Opposition by the NDP – but they weren’t. B.C. Liberals had joined the ranks of the walking dead, too, until Christy Clark made them competitive again, and the NDP aren’t looking nearly as smug anymore.  And so on.

I’m not one to be complacent – we won the Ontario election because we weren’t, and because we took our opponents very, very seriously.  But these periodic obituaries being penned by the commentariat are really starting to piss me off.  They’re just wrong.

Anyway, I shouldn’t let the crepe-hangers irritate me, I guess.  As Chretien once said to me, when some of his opponents were (again) spreading rumours that he was dying:  “The best way to disprove these rumours about me dying,” he shrugged, “is to keep on living.”

And so he did.

And so will we.

Comments (47)

Discuss.

The solution, IMHO:

Comments (31)

Here.

And you probably wonder how I can be in so many places at different times.  So do I, frankly.

Comments (2)

As some of you may recall, the CBC and I were in court in Ottawa in 2009 to fight a libel lawsuit by Ian Verner Macdonald and his lawyer, Douglas Christie.

We won that case, which was a very challenging case, on every count. Shortly afterwards, however, Macdonald and Christie filed an appeal.  A few days ago, that appeal was heard.

Without boring you with a lot of details, I can tell you that the Court of Appeal summarily dismissed the appeal.  In fact, the appellate judges didn’t even call on our very capable lawyers (Scott Hutchinson and Brennagh Smith)  to respond to Christe’s arguments.  If you know the law, you know what that means.  So, the Court of Appeal left the costs award of $180,000 untouched, and they ordered the additional costs in the Court of Appeal of $25,000.  That means the total now owing is $212,000 – and counting.

The panel was the Chief Justice, Justice Sharpe (who I am told is widely touted for the Supreme Court of Canada) and ACJ of the court, Justice Cunningham (who presided over the Larry O’Brien trial).  The short oral reasons of the court should be available soon.

Can the case, which started in 1996 or so, drag on any longer?  Sure.  Macdonald and Christie can seek leave to go to the Supreme Court of Canada – which is something only rarely granted, in fewer than 10 per cent of cases.  They have 60 days to file their leave materials.

In the meantime, forgive me for feeling good about this one.  It feels really, really good.

(Oh, and since we’re talking about the far right and the law, let me simply say that Kathy Shaidle’s life is about to get rather complicated.  Stay tuned.)

Comments (10)

Is it racist to be critical of a liberalized immigration and refugee policy?

No, it’s not. People of good faith can disapprove of policies which are aimed at boosting the numbers of immigrants and refugees.

In fact, it’s well known among political veterans that one of the demographics often most hostile to increased numbers of immigrants is immigrants themselves. As one seasoned campaign pro — a Liberal — once said to me: “Lots of immigrants get here, and then they want to slam the door behind them on other immigrants.

Bit of a surprise, isn’t it?”

Comments (6)

I – and I suspect many, many Ontario Liberals – agree with my friend Tim Powers. Stay, Tim Hudak, stay!

Comments (11)

On the surface, the federal Conservative Party, the Manitoba New Democratic Party and the Liberal parties in Ontario and Prince Edward Island don’t have very much in common.

The federal Tories are a bunch of angry white guys led by an angry white guy.

The Ontario and P.E.I. Liberal leaders are inoffensive fellows who Conservatives hate with startling intensity.

The Manitoba NDP are led by a guy who 99% of Canadians couldn’t name, let alone pick out in a police lineup.

All four parties are populated by people who couldn’t be more different, and with approaches that are as dissimilar as you can get.

But they all have something in common.

Comments (27)

I should be sleeping more, but I made the mistake of reading some the articles in the paper containing quotes from people pretending to know what happened in the Ontario Liberal campaign, and pretending that they were big-deal strategists and all that.

Here’s what you should know:

1. The people quoted are making it up. Most of them never set foot in HQ once – not once. Two of them were leakers to the Tories.

2. They are trying to get their names in the paper for business, or glory, or both. They deserve neither.

3. If they keep this up, they will be very sorry.

4. Along with the leader, caucus and candidates, here’s the names of the folks who turned around a 20-point deficit: Don Guy. Laura Miller. Dave Gene. Johnny Z. Jane Almeida. Chris Morley. Brendan McGuinty. Charlie Angelakos. Alicia Johnston. John Brodhead. Brian Clow. Jorge Gomez. Fahim Kaderdina. Jamison Steeve. Lloyd Rang. Sean O’Connor. Gordon Ashworth. Bob Lopinski. Aaron Lazarus. Greg Sorbara. Alex Johnston. And the War Room, and the Policy Shop, and Tour, and Media Monitoring, and many, many others – too many to name.

Not the names you are reading in the paper.

Got it? Okay. Sorry, but there’s only so much bullshit I can take.

Now, back to sleep.

Comments (30)

Media summary: Red short leash, blue blew big lead, orange she’s no Jack Layton.

Now go back to your families and happy Thanksgiving.

Comments (23)