In today’s Sun: the crusade against the colonel

Imagine, for a minute or two, that you are Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi. What are you going to do?

You are hunkered in your family’s compound, in Tripoli’s Bab al-Azizia barracks, with nowhere to flee. You are trapped. For weeks, your mercenaries had been beating back disorganized pro-democracy insurgents, mercilessly wiping them out with superior military might.

And then, early Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama and his western allies — including Canada, whose former prime minister, Paul Martin, had just a few years ago come to Libya to sing your praises — did what you never thought they’d do. They attacked Libya.

They declared war on Libya, in effect, and declared they would not stop until you were dead, or deposed, or both.


Contemptuous

As expected, the Opposition found the Harper regime in contempt of Parliament.

Now what?

It’s a big decision.  If the historic (and unprecedented) contempt finding is to mean anything, and if they are to avoid looking like rank hypocrites, the Opposition now must move non-confidence in the government.  They have no choice.  And, if everyone shows up to vote, the minority government will fall.

But is it a good idea, politically?  From my secure position in an armchair, pretty much everyone has a good reason to avoid an election right now:

  • The Conservatives aren’t likely to get a majority – they’d likely only get what they have now.  And, with the sleaze and scandal now emanating regularly from their cabinet and backrooms, they might even lose some seats. They’ve got a leader many trust to be PM, but few like as a person.
  • The NDP have recently taken a pounding in public opinion, and Jack Layton is still courageously fighting some serious health issues.  They’ve got a leader many like as a person, but who they don’t trust to be PM.
  • The Liberals are likely to lose seats, based on recent polls – and they lack a ballot question, and have a dearth of nominated candidates.  Meanwhile, they’ve got a leader who is neither liked nor trusted.
  • The Bloc?  They can’t be seen to be holding up some big federal transfer payments heading to Quebec – and terminating this Parliament would do just that.  They’ve got a leader, and they don’t give a rat’s ass if you like him or trust him.

My guess? Someone will get a case of Parliamentary flu.  No election.

Unless a bunch of them have gone batshit crazy, that is, which – it being Ottawa and all – you can never really eliminate as a factor.


Neo-Nazis in Calgary

As I said to the reporter: where the Hell is Mayor Nenshi?  Why hasn’t he resourced the Calgary Police Service to deal with what is clearly a growing problem?

The largest factor in keeping the numbers down may not have been who was there, but who was wasn’t. Kyle McKee, who Calgary police call the “micro-fuhrer” and leads Blood and Honour here, is in jail, leaving white nationalists in Calgary without their chief organizer.

The reduced numbers shouldn’t be taken as a sign that such groups are waning, according Warren Kinsella, who wrote Web of Hate, a book about organized racism.

“They don’t need a whole bunch of people. They actually prefer to have smaller numbers because it makes detection and infiltration easier to avoid,” Mr. Kinsella said in an interview. “They operate on the basis that small numbers can do large harm.”

Calgary was alone among Canadian cities in hosting a neo-Nazi demonstration on Saturday. But Mr. Kinsella, a former Calgarian, argued this is no reason to believe white supremacists have abandoned those cities.

“There is a danger into being lulled into a false sense of security by minimal numbers,” he said.

While noting it is unfair to associate white supremacy with only Calgary, Mr. Kinsella slammed the way police have approached the matter. The Calgary police service employs a hate-crimes co-ordinator, rather than a dedicated unit.

Paul Stacey, a duty inspector with Calgary Police Service, said that the hate-crimes co-ordinator works with CPS’ diversity resources unit. “This is not something we’ve ignored,” he said, arguing that the city has a low rate of hate-crimes. The city’s hate-crimes co-ordinator was at the rallies Saturday, “taking names and… figuring out who’s who,” Mr. Stacey said.

White supremacy “is not a real strong movement,” in the city, he added.

 


Great David Olive column (updated)

He’s off the mark on a few things – the true state of the numbers, the competence of senior staff – but it’s a fun read because David Olive always is.

Thing is, I don’t recall voters ever itching to get to the polls. Yet the day of an election call, this great spectator sport of politics eclipses talk even of sports (!) in the nation’s farm-supply depots, yoga classes, university lecture halls, Canadian Tire check-out lines and donut emporia.

And why not? Our opinion is about to be solicited – our verdict – and leaders of five national parties will show us the stuff they’re made of. Few things are more testing of a pol than an inevitably gruelling coast-to-coast campaign, studded with gaffes, transparent pandering, horserace-like daily poll monitoring (did that speech make a difference; did that crazy song she sang yesterday at a country fair go viral?) and, yes, occasional moments of eloquence and passion, even anger. (“You had an option, sir!”, Brian Mulroney told a hapless John Turner in the 1984 leadership debates. And a Tory landslide of record size for any party was secured that moment.

Oh, we do like elections, so enough of that nonsense.

UPDATE: And more fun reading bits from Senator Olive, here.


In today’s Sun: the connection election selection

Connection. You have it or you don’t.

Oh, sure, the Cons have laboured mightily to craft an Everyman persona for Stephen Harper. They’ve expended a few fortunes to convince you hockey rinks and Tim Hortons franchises are the summit of all Canuck wisdom — and it is Harper alone who loves it there.

Pardon me, but that’s horseshit. If anyone can produce a single undoctored photograph of Stephen Harper lined up for a double-double at a Tim Hortons prior to the 2004 election campaign, we’ll happily post it in this space and issue the requisite mea culpa. But they can’t.

The Tim Hortons thing, like every other political affectation that preceded it, is the invention of boys in the backroom. It’s BS. Ipso facto, he doesn’t connect.


Why Harper is crazy to campaign now

Check this out:

“Almost a year after that, Carson was charged by Ottawa police with the misappropriation of funds. At that time, he was living on Colonel By Drive. The charges included two counts of theft, two counts of forgery and one count of uttering a forged cheque. In December, he pleaded guilty to the charges, and in February 1983, Carson was sentenced to 18 months in jail.”

I met this guy at the 2006 Liberal leadership convention. To the Cons present, he was clearly a big deal. They flitted around him like flies.

And Harper had hired him to work in PMO – after the results of his security check were known. After.

He had a Top Secret security clearance.

Why is Harper certifiable to hit the hustings now? Because almost every day will bring a shiny new Carson cruise missile. Right now, investigative reporters are digging away. They won’t stop.

Remember Jaffer? That one had sex and sleaze, too. It went on and on for months.

This one is different. It leads directly into the Office of the Prime Minister.

And, officially, these Reformatories have become what they said they’d destroy. They are the biggest hypocrites in Canadian history, full stop.

They make me sick.


No Plan Man, No Audience

From a sharp-eyed reader in London area:

Warren:

Check out this video (from the fine London Free Press). Wait for it: about midpoint through the report, we see that Hudak – who has been shifting his gaze from left to right, as though scanning his audience – is actually standing in front of nobody except the camera man. Classic.

Click on the image to get the link.