For the right-wingers who claim that Tim Hudak can’t halt access to abortion: you’re wrong.  By killing LHINs, he kills Planned Parenthood.  He’s doing through the back door what he can’t do through the front door.

Here are the facts, from GritChik and others:

FACT: Planned Parenthood is funded, in part, through LHINs and the Government of Ontario.

FACT: Tim Hudak is pro-life and has signed a pledge to defund abortion.

FACT: Tim Hudak believes that it’s the government’s role to promote “the choice of life.”

FACT: Tim Hudak will scrap LHINs if elected premier.

Would Tim Hudak deny funding to pro-choice organizations like Planned Parenthood if he’s premier? And can someone please ask him this question?

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…but, at least, McGuinty’s approach is working:

Ontario will set temperature records today but won’t break any power use records (Heat-Wave)
Source: The Canadian Press
Jul 21, 2011 9:35

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TORONTO – Ontario may be set to break some temperature records today, but it won’t be breaking any power demand records, despite all the air conditioners being cranked up.

The Independent Electricity System Operator predicts peak demand will hit 26,651 megawatts today, which won’t even be enough to crack the top ten peak demand days.

The all-time high was Aug. 1, 2006, when Ontario needed 27,005 megawatts of electricity.

IESO spokesman Terry Young says lower industrial demand is one of the reasons we won’t set any power records today despite the soaring heat and humidity.

And Young says conservation efforts are paying off, along with time-of-use pricing which does have people trying to move some of their electricity use to off-peak hours after 7 o’clock each evening.

The agency recommends people set their air conditioners to 26 degrees during the day today to conserve energy and save money.

INDEX: UTILITIES WEATHER ENVIRONMENT NATIONAL POLITICS

 

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Meanwhile, here’s what he says about my guy:

“I’m offering an endorsement of what Mr. McGuinty has done, absolutely. This is a great plan. Any party would be foolish to talk about abandoning it,” he said.

“I’m very, very admiring of what he’s done,” said the man who finished fifth in CBC’s 2004 nationwide search for The Greatest Canadian, behind Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox, Pierre Trudeau and Sir Frederick Banting.

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How can anyone say such a thing? Good golly!

Oh, wait:

“In other words, despite only having support of roughly a third of Canadian citizens, 92% of editorial opinion in the press in Canada were stumping for Harper.“

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…and he’s still a gutless, misleading, waffler:

“There’s nothing wrong with being pro-choice or pro-life, both are honourable positions. What is wrong is a potential premier dodging the issue. That’s gutless and misleading to voters. Hudak hasn’t gone all the way to making his position clear…The PC leader should state his position, get the discussion over, or abortion will come back to bite him on the butt. Premier Dalton McGuinty has been forthright in saying he is pro-choice. Hudak should be just as clear about his position.

While in Ottawa, Hudak said he wants to put ankle bracelets not just on sexual offenders but dangerous criminals as well. All this will cost $50 million at a time when crime rates are plummeting.

Stop spending our tax money on unnecessary measures.

Hudak’s campaign slogan should be “Tough on crime, tough on logic, tough on your wallet, easy on votes.”

 

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Talk about burying the lede:

“In Ottawa to announce a new anti-crime initiative, Hudak clarified comments he made Monday on an abortion pledge he “may have” signed. He told reporters he did sign the pledge, but stressed the issue would not become part of the government agenda if he wins the Oct. 6 election.

“It was a petition that came from my church in my riding back in 1998 that I brought forward as an individual member,” Hudak said.”

This is actually news. The PC’s leader has been repeatedly saying only that he “may have” pledged defund abortion. Oh, but only as a private citizen, don’t you know.

Well, he isn’t a private citizen. He’s someone who has a shot at becoming the most powerful lawmaker in the province. So, when he says he’ll stop funding abortion, it now means something.

Not “may have” meant something.

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I was on my pal Jim Richards’ show on Newstalk 1010 earlier today.  It was a lot of fun, as always.  At one point, I told Jim that Tim Hudak’s slithery, slippery performance on HST (“stop it in its tracks,” now for it), FDK (a “shiny toy,” now for it), human rights tribunals (scrap them, now for ’em), health taxes (kill them, now hug them), and now abortion (“defund,” now “nothing to see here, move along,”etc.) reminds me of something.  A living thing. “What is it?” said Jim.

So I said it.

Below, a visual rendering, sent along by an appreciative listener who wishes to remain anonymous.  It’s rather accurate, wouldn’t you say?  Also, cute.

The one on the left, that is.

 

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Voters deserve clarity from Hudak, party leaders on abortion: McGuinty (Hudak-Abortion)
Source: The Canadian Press
Jul 19, 2011 14:56

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OAKVILLE, Ont. – Premier Dalton McGuinty is urging Opposition Leader Tim Hudak to come clean about his stance on abortion.

In Oakville today, the Liberal premier said voters are looking for clarity on the important issue ahead of the fall election.

McGuinty says he supports a woman’s right to choose and all party leaders owe it to voters to be clear about their position on the issue.

Hudak appears to be shying away from his previous anti-abortion stance, saying he doesn’t plan to re-open the issue if he wins the Oct. 6 vote.

But he has refused to say if he still opposes abortion, walking away from the microphone Monday when reporters asked repeatedly if he still considered himself pro-life.

 

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My God, I love this tune.  Also: most violent vid you’ll see, um, today.

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