In fact, if you aren’t a Liberal, you should read him, too.

Our former Daisy colleague has some very wise words for you to ponder, and debate.  They can be found right here.

 

Comments (13)

Comments (28)

Since I am the only person in this newspaper — and, possibly, the world — who has been a member of a punk rock band while simultaneously advising a prime minister, my editors believe I am uniquely qualified to columnize about the latest controversy to batter the sterling reputation of the Harper Government.

“You’re in that ridiculous punk band which has a name we can’t even publish in our family-friendly newspaper,” said my editors, wearing Sun standard-issue sleeveless tops and six-inch pumps. “And you were a willing accomplice to the socialistic, secular humanist tyranny of the Chretien dynasty.

So we order you to write about this evil Vancouver punk band that has upset poor James Moore. Failure will result in being subjected to continuous exposure to Theo Caldwell interviews of Jeb Bush.”

Aye aye, said I. One opinion column coming up.

Comments (34)

The bombshell came on Wednesday around noon, right after Prime Minister Stephen Harper had finished taking questions from reporters.

The media were already cranky. Earlier, they had plucked names out of a hat to determine who among them would be offered up to ask a few questions of the PM in his first post-cabinet shuffle press conference. Typically, Harper’s staff ignored the media list, and came up with one of their own.

But that wasn’t the bombshell, or even remotely surprising — in Harper’s Ottawa, that kind of stuff is standard operating procedure. No, the bombshell came after Harper and his minions had scurried out of the line of fire: “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed three defeated Conservative candidates to the Senate,” The Canadian Press reported in a news bulletin, as jaws dropped across Parliament Hill (and the country). The Sun’s top guy on the Hill, David Akin, immediately tweeted: “Harper puts Larry Smith, Fabian Manning back in Senate. Also appoints Josee Verner.”

Comments (66)

It’s all well and fine for Progressive Conservative boss Tim Hudak to promise, if elected premier on Oct. 6, removal of the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax (HST) from hydro and heating bills.

Hudak would also remove the debt retirement charge from home hydro bills, if elected.

The question is, where will Hudak get the $1.2 billion in lost HST revenues?

And how will the $14.8 billion in hydro debt be paid off?

Comments (7)

It’s worth a read. I disagree that the interim leader should be permitted to use that advantage (staff, money, profile) to turn around and run for the full-time post. But, otherwise, not a bad read:

“We need to settle on a strong interim leader so that the Liberal party can focus its considerable talents and energies on a more crucial task: genuine renewal that will allow us to engage and grow our membership, revamp our party structures and modernize our fund-raising mechanisms. To lead the process, the party should elect co-chairs drawn from both the Liberal caucus and party members -with a mandate to dig deep and consult widely. Ultimately, the group should report to the council of presidents, which is the broadest and most representative grassroots institution within the party.“

Comments (5)

When wee Timmy Hudak can’t even get a good review from my friend and Sun colleague Chris Blizzard, he’s in deep caca. Chris has closely examined Hudak’s pocketbook “plan” of yesterday – and found it rather lacking in detail.

Oh well. At least Timmy was clear about one thing. Two years ago, he promised to “stop the HST in its tracks.”

As of yesterday, he has finally admitted he plans to keep it.

Here’s Chris:

“I went to bed Wednesday night thinking things were quite normal around here.

By Thursday I thought I’d fallen down a rabbit hole and woken up in Wonderland.

The Tories are stealing their election platform from the NDP.

Strange but true.

…the next tricky question for Hudak is how do you pay for it?

The NDP have this in their platform, but say they’ll pay for it by hiking corporate taxes.

Hudak can’t do that. His is the party of business and raising corporate taxes when we’re emerging from a recession would be devastating to the economy…

The Tories had better firm up some numbers by the time they release their platform because that’s too wobbly to take to the bank.“

Comments (6)

September 11, 2009:
“My plan is to stop this tax dead in its tracks.”

May 19, 2011:
Sun reporter: “This means that you accept that the general HST structure is beneficial to Ontario, that it does help business, that was the argument that the Liberals put forward.”

Hudak: “Yeah.”

Comments (16)

“Coming up: Stephen Harper’s really offensive Senate appointments. And, also, how did this man with the bad hair get in here, and why is he now asleep on our bench?”

Comments (15)

“OTTAWA – Bob Rae has decided he won’t take a third shot at becoming permanent leader of the federal Liberal party.

Instead, sources have told The Canadian Press the Toronto MP is about to announce his interest in becoming interim leader until a permanent successor to Michael Ignatieff is chosen some 18 months from now.“

 

Comments (34)