Off to NS

Off to Halifax, will be back next week.

Happy Canada Day all!

Good news for Quebec Liberals

Warren posted a pic of today's front page of "Le Journal de Montreal". The headline, roughly translated:

"For the first time in 3 years, Charest passes in front of the PQ"

I'm with Warren... this IS good news. Read all about it, en francais, here. (Google translation here)
(link showing front page here)

If, somehow, Charest can hang on and stay in front of the PQ, and somehow pull off a win in the 2008 provincial election, (even a minority, maybe even propped up by the ADQ) it could deliver a crushing blow to the seperatists for years to come.

And it could set up the Gilles Duceppe and the BQ for their worst showing since 1993 in the next Federal election.

I'll go out on a limb here... could Prime Minister Stephen Harper have had anything to do with it? I tend to think so.

Tories leading in Atlantic Provinces

A new poll, put together by Atlantic Quarterly, shows the federal Tories have taken the lead in Atlantic Canada for the first time in 17 years.

From The Chronicle Herald.

Canadian Tire... "don't start with me"

My starter just died today. Just replaced it, about 121 days ago!

Canadian Tire, from whom I got the starter, wants me to pay $40 for the inspection fee to determine for sure that's the source of the problem, (I'm 99.9% sure it is) and then, because the part it over 100 days old, for the labour to install a new one. (which will be provided at no charge under the warrenty)

Don't even get me started, CanTire. I accept that your staff ought to be duely paid for their work, but you shouldn't be passing it on to me because a part that was supplied to you was defective. Pass the bill onto the company you got the part from.

I'll be going to pick up the car in about an hour. Stay tuned for the update.

(Notice to any Canadian Tire employees: This post will remain up in its present form until this matter is deal with in a satisfactory manner. Once resolved, I will post my feedback on this blog, which on average, due to my association with various blogging communities, is viewed by over 50,000 people a day. Here's your chance to do some good PR...)

UPDATE: Well, it appears there was nothing wrong with the car. It was sitting in their lot, they had a couple of guys push it in the bay, checked it out, and the thing started up just fine. Problem is, that's EXACTLY the kind of symptoms my car displayed right before I had to change the starter the last time.

So, the only thing wrong now is the $41.83 missing from my bank account for the "inspection". Grrrr...

Yikes... they picked the wrong house

Looks like Warren Kinsella had his garage broken into last night. Boy, did those guys ever pick the wrong house...

June 26, 2006 – When it rains it pours, etc. First the counterfeit fiver – thanks for the dozens of suggestions, by the way, folks – and now our garage was broken into, sometime last night. Bikes, bags of hockey equipment, CDs, and they seemed to be trying to get my old ’74 Super Beetle out the door, too, but abandoned it for some reason.

Stuck at home, waiting for the cops. Have had security cameras for a few years, but now we're going full Defcon One. Stealing kids' bikes and my punk CDs? That's war. Next time these bastards show up, they're in for an unpleasant surprise.

Warren isn't known for being gentle when it comes to legal matters. If they manage to lift any prints, or match the video images to the punks, the charges and litigation that will be thrown their way (and the speed at which is will come) will likely make their heads swim.

Note to thieves: You're likely screwed.

A Government of Action

Remember Zahra Kazemi's murder in Iran for taking photos? Remember the previous Liberal government's virtual inaction on the file?

How's this for action? Canada (under the new Conservative government) has officially asked the German government to detain an Iranian official presently in their country who may have had something to do with it. Our request is that he be held in order to be tried for crimes against humanity.

That request took some guts. It may well start a diplomatic incident... stand your ground Mr. Harper, stand firm. Stand up and tell the world that we don't take kindly to our citizens being tortured and murdered.

Will keep you posted. If the Germans comply with our request, look for the sparks to fly.

h/t to seanblog.

UPDATE: The sparks are already flying... but not before Iran gave us the finger...

"The Iranians left Geneva on Friday, demonstrating that the world's opinion doesn't really matter much to them."

PM using office for personal gain

This is an outrage! The Prime Minister is using the office of the PMO for his own personal gain! Using the influence of his position, he arranged to get a private meeting that no average Canadian could arrange for himself... with Lord Stanley himself! Appaling!

We now return you to your regular blog reading...

(NOTICE: It's really sad when I have to put a disclaimer on a satirical post... but here it is anyway...)

CTV's Age of Consent Poll

Wow... I was actually surprised by the results. CTV is asking the question, "Should the age of sexual consent be raised to 16?", in reference to the Tories new bill. The results?

Even though it's an unscientific poll, 17,106 out of 20,000 agree. Add your voice to the poll if you also think it should be raised. If not... then get lost. ;-)

For the sake of our children, here's hoping it passes.

A revolting farce of "Justice"

Kill a man, and you go to jail... FOR A DAY.

And then the Supreme Court of Canda refuses to overturn the sentence. Unacceptable. (NOTE: there were two cases before the court, I'm referring to the one where murder was involved)

How's this for a quote:

The top court on Thursday ruled 7-0 that general deterrence has no place in sentencing youths under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but backed the lower court sentences in both cases.

You guys ever stop to wonder WHY we have so much youth crime? THERE IS NO FEAR OF THE REPROCUSSIONS.

I know. I remember the discussions in my OAC Law classes, and the recognition by the students that until age 18, you've got it made... there is little or no fear of the Law by today's youth.

Do the crime... hey, relax man, no worries... you won't have to do any time.

Disgusting. I vote that we bring back one of Mike Harris' ideas... BOOT CAMP.

h/t to Steve Janke

Desperate Liberals

A new show, now playing in a House of Commons near you...

Several people have made the same observations in the last few days... some have noticed the NDP continually attacking the Liberals during Question Period, rather than the governing Conservatives. It now seems that the Liberals are spending more and more time returning the favour.

You'd think they're gearing up for the next election or something...

"Liberal Troops in a foul mood"

That's the headline from today's story in The Toronto Star.

Yes, the "Red Star" printed that article. How's this for a quote?

"What is increasingly worrisome are early warning signs for some Liberals that the party faces a far more serious problem at the grassroots than fatigue. Volunteers across the country, they suggest, are angry, frustrated and primed to sit on their hands in the next federal election, as they began to do during the campaign for last January's vote."

h/t to Russ (in "Freddy Beach")

A Hold-up of the FAA?

I wonder if there's any truth to this...

Canada.com is reporting that Liberal Senators may be threaten to delay the passing of the Federal Accountability Act due to its $1000 limit on donations, as it would directly impact the upcoming Liberal Leadership convention.

The problem isn't the legislation, it's due to the very high fees being charged by the Liberal Party for members to attend the convention. Simple solution... lower your fees. Oops, I forgot... they can't do that, because the point of the high fees is to help the Party pay off their debts. So instead, they'll just delay things in the Senate.

The NDP's Pat Martin is saying the same thing...

For his part, Mr. Martin predicted "the wrath of Canadians" will come down on the Liberals, who have a majority in the Senate, if they do hold up the legislation in the upper chamber after the House "rolled up its sleeves and worked some extraordinary long days" on the bill.

"These senators come from an era of unbridled patronage ... politics. They are no friends of open government, and transparency and accountability run opposite to what they are all about," Mr. Martin added.

Game 7 - IT'S OVER

The Canes just put one into the empty net... 3-1. Game Over.

Way to go Oilers... their star goalie out in Game 1, and hang on all the way to Game 7. Way to go guys.

Well, now I can turn my full attention to England tomorrow...

Slowness in the Bloggosphere

Well, at least on my part. No, I haven't decided to pack it in, just have been busy, or haven't had much to say lately. Finishing up "Grits" by Christina Newman, keeping tabs on local happenings, etc.

I'm heading out to Halifax next week for a couple of days, a friend's wedding, so look out Nova Scotia! Will spend Canada Day driving my buddy's U-Haul through Quebec, so there won't be much blogging for a bit after next weekend.

Stay tuned, I'm sure something earth-shattering will occur between now and then.

Oh yea, and there is, of course, Game 7 tonight... GO OILERS!

Oilers... what a team

Everyone, including me, figured that Edmonton was going to go out in four games. Their star goalie, who had been keeping them alive through the playoffs, was down and out for the season.

Hanging on by a tread, they took Game 5 into overtime. When watching the replays of Edmonton's overtime goal, I said, "That's the kind of motivation a team needs to turn a series around and go all the way to the Cup."

Then tonight happened. Edmonton wins, FOUR to NOTHING.

I may well be right... this team has been fired up, and they are firing on all cylinders. Look out Carolina...

I support Iggy

For the record, at least on this issue, I support Iggy:

"There is a mounting fear that, if the international community fails here, Afghanistan will fall back into the hands of the Taliban," Mr. Ignatieff said. "We cannot let that happen."

He said Canadians want to defend the rights the Taliban would take away, including democratic votes and women's rights, and should not back out because of an offensive.
"Leadership means standing firm. It means remembering who we are. The question of this extension really comes down to whether we were prepared, as a nation, to withdraw in eight months from now, leaving the job undone."

Hear hear!

On this issue, I think Ignatieff is right on the money. I don't think this is a Conservative vs. Liberal issue, as his opponents are trying to paint this. Like Iggy reminded people, "This is a Liberal mission".

h/t to Siscoe.ca.

UPDATE: My first visit to the G&M let me read the story, but now it's asking to register. Grrr...

The PM of Hockey

If I were the PM, you could bet your buttons on where I'd be tonight...

From the Prime Minister's Web Site (http://www.pm.gc.ca/)
---------------------------------------------------------

Public events for Prime Minister Stephen Harper for Saturday, June 17th are:

6:00 pm – Prime Minister Stephen Harper will attend the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Rexall Place
7424 – 118 Avenue
Edmonton, AB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prime Minister’s Office - Communications

The Man who destroyed a Party

The National Post's Adam Radwanski has an eye opening article on the Liberal Party of Canada.

It's his belief that Paul Martin's legacy will likely be that of the man who single-handedly destroyed the most dominant political party in Canadian history.

In stark contrast, Martin inherited the country's dominant party -- one with more swagger than it knew what to do with. And by the time he was done with it, little more than two years later, it had been reduced to a snivelling side-show.

Light blogging today because...

... I'm spending my time doing way geekier stuff today... the public Beta has arrived...

World Cup 2006 - CBC has nice setup

I had CBC's World Cup "Live Tracker" page minimized on my desktop, so I could check the score of the USA vs. Czech gane from time to time. I'm working away on imaging a new PC image at the bench behind my desk, when all of a sudden, I hear this cheering noise coming from somewhere...

It was the CBC Live Tracker... it plays the sound of a cheering crowd every time a goal is scored. Totally cool if you ask me. I can be working on anything in my office, and I'll always know when a goal's been scored!

But maybe not so cool if you're watching the score at work and you're trying to do it on the QT... you know, those pesky I.T. type guys watching your every move and such. (Mua ha ha ha...)

One employee here commented on it the other week when she caught my boss showing people a video on his PC... "So you mean there's two sets of rules? One for I.T. and one for the rest of us?"

Yea... so?

Anyway, copy the link above, and create a new shortcut on your desktop with it, so you can jump direct to it, instead of having to go through the CBC main page.

Grrr... Italy's up 1-0...

Dalton Goes Nuclear

No, I'm not refering to his recent reaction (pun, ha ha) regarding Caledonia... but I guess the title works for both these two news items!

The McGuinty government has just announced that to deal with Ontario's future energy needs, the province will pursue the referb of several existing nuclear reactors, and prepeare for the construction of a new plant.

I, for one, agree. Solar and wind power are not going to be enough to meet our needs anytime soon, but I do agree with enviornmentalists that we can still conserve more power than we are at present.

Good move by Dalton & Co.

But it still won't change my vote... ;-)

Caledonia - Is it all about blackmail?

Steve Janke has done some digging, and thanks to the arrest warrents now out for several of the native protesters, some interesting connections are surfacing. Ken Hill is one of those for whom a warrent has been issued... an interesting fellow this one. Seems he's a well established business man connected to the reserve. So what on earth was he doing on the blockade? Steve has a few questions... did this Ken have plans for the land that Douglas Creek Estates messed up by getting authorization to start developing it? Could this be the source of all these protests?

"Is Ken Hill still trying to make it into the lucrative world of reserve gaming, the bricks-and-mortar kind? Is he looking at the Douglas Creek Estates land as a potential site for a casino?

For a businessman with significant responsibilities, it seems strange for Ken Hill to be engaging in riots and assaulting people -- unless there was something in it for him.

Something big."

UPDATE: There seem to be even more connections.

Caledonia - Camera crew assulted

UPDATED: Bad move by protesters. Global News in Toronto is reporting, and showing footage, of a group of native protesters in Caledonia attacking a camera crew and stealing their equipment.

A camera crew from CH news was assaulted today when they refused to turn over their video tapes to protesters. The camera crew had been filming several protesters who had surrounded an elderly couple's car. When the protesters realized they were on film, they accosted the crew and demanded the tapes. The protesters then attacked the camera crew, and stole the cameras and tapes. (it does not appear they have been returned)

Unbeknown-est to the protesters, their attack on the camera crew was caught on armature video from across the street.

The WORST part of this is that there were several OPP officers RIGHT THERE, and they refused to intervene. THESE MEN OUGHT TO BE SUSPENDED WITHOUT PAY IMMEDIATELY for not stopping an assault occurring immediately in front of them.

Attacking the media crew was the dumbest thing they could possibly do.

More details as they come out...

UPDATE: This just in from a commenter. If anyone connected to the protests, the OPP, or the Government of Ontario is reading this, THIS KIND OF ACTIVITY IS DISPICABLE... GET THIS SITUATION DEALT WITH IMMEDIATELY.

The tide is going to turn if this keeps up. Now that stories are coming out about members of the media being assaulted, there will even MORE reporters going in to get the scoop. This is all going to turn public tide against the protests... and the responsibility for any fallout or incidents that occur will rest solely on the shoulders of the protesters.

Got what they deserved

Grandparents of murdered Jeffrey Baldwin get life in prison.

Elva Bottineau must stay in prison at least 22 years while her husband Norman Kidman cannot apply for his freedom for at least 20 years.

That'll put them into their seventies before they can seek parole.

Good. Thank you Mr. Justice.

Now, if we can just get judges to deal with pedophiles in a similar fashion...

"Hand in my pocket, hand in my pocket..."

PARTISAN POSTING WARNING!!! ;-)

Some Liberals never learn...

OTTAWA (CP) - A number of Liberals are using taxpayer-funded parliamentary offices to promote party leadership bids and would be breaking federal election laws if they fail to refund the public purse.

Supporters of at least eight of the 11 leadership candidates have used MPs' offices on Parliament Hill to distribute partisan campaign material, according to e-mails obtained by The Canadian Press.

Funny, there are three running that aren't currently MP's... 11 - 3 = EIGHT.

During parliamentary business hours, offices have churned out invitations on campaign letterhead to meet candidates, attend leadership launches, or get together with campaign staff.

One Liberal MP called the practice unethical and said it runs deeper than just e-mails.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There are interns being used to do (campaign) work, there's the odd phone call to twist a colleague's arm.

"But that's not traceable."

(not traceable as a "campaign expense")

A spokeswoman for Elections Canada said MPs' staffers are ineligible to work on campaigns while being paid for their time from the public purse.

"These rules are very similar to those applicable to MPs during an election period," said spokeswoman Diane Benson.

She said any work done during business hours should be paid by the individual leadership campaign - not by the taxpayer.

"If a member of an MP's staff engages in leadership campaign work for the MP or for any other leadership contestants during normal working hours, then a proportionate share of that person's salary . . . must be included as a leadership campaign expense," she said.

"The same applies to the use of the member's office facilities or supplies."

One Liberal leadership campaign forwarded at least 17 e-mails to The Canadian Press from different parliamentary accounts that suggest campaign work is being done during business hours.

The e-mails were sent from supporters of Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Gerard Kennedy, Stephane Dion, Hedy Fry, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Ken Dryden and Carolyn Bennett.

At the very least, those e-mails indicate that the leadership campaigns have used a few hundred dollars' worth of office time and equipment.

However, any campaign using office hours on more time-consuming pursuits - writing leadership speeches, lobbying supporters, updating websites, producing press releases - could be using tens of thousands of dollars in public resources.

The e-mails forwarded to CP were mainly brief, poster-style invitations for Liberals to attend campaign events.

The latest leak of memos from MPs' offices will not help Liberals attain another precious objective for the coming months: party unity.

Most candidates have repeatedly said the party must move on from years of infighting between its Jean Chretien and Paul Martin factions.

The internal leaks, and the complaints about Volpe, suggest the party has slipped back into full-on, back-stabbing mode.

Excuse me while I grab some beer and popcorn...

Now, just to be clear, we all know that SOME partisan things go on within MP's offices... most of that is because sometimes, it's hard to draw the line between what's official business and what should be left to the local riding association to deal with. I have no problem with that, as long as it's within reason. But running (or clearly working on) a leadership campaign? Come on...

Awwww...

Okay, I'm a sucker for cats... so you gotta love this one from the PM...


(Photo from PM's website story about fostering pets... I might post some of my two little guys later...)

"Ditzy Chicks" not selling well

It appears that many Americans don't want to hear the anti-Bush Dixie Chicks anymore... but we lefty Canucks just love'em...

"Basically, they're having to rethink the entire tour at this point," Bongiovanni told Reuters. "Clearly their problems seem to be strongest in the red states," he said, referring to those areas carried by Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

Still, ticket sales were strong in cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Toronto, where a second October show was added to the schedule after the first concert quickly sold out, he said.

Interesting... areas that have stong lefty contingents are selling well, while right leaning locals are getting canned due to low numbers. Weird how that happens...

But you gotta love that statement about our good old nutty and ravenously anti-Bush city of Toronto... sold out show, with a second concert booked. Forget "Toronto the Good", try "Toronto the Red". (or "Toronto the Blue", for those of you living in the U.S. of A.)

Christianity and the "Bush Doctrine"

I really don't know how to entitle this one. I'll agree with the author of the article below on one point, and only one... the Lord Jesus Christ would have all of us "Love one another". If we could get the world to do that, we'd be just fine.

But other than that point, this guy is totally NUTS.

A few excerpts...

The ignoring of Global Warming by professed devout Christians in the Stephen Harper minority government, is not only an apparent breach in Biblical Covenant, but it also constitutes a looming unparallel 'Crime Against Humanity', in international law. The Bush Doctrine that manifests a context for perpetual war, for sought perpetuated commercial profit in a military-industrial-political complex, is a recipe for the pursuit of a holocaust on a catastrophic planetary scale.

Members of a group who exalt the Bible, as self-professed "Christians" while executing pre-emptive war that destroys innocent lives, and that defiles the environment; followed by a military occupation that inflicts oppression against a sovereign people who are all "children of G-d", is furthermore a great mischief against apparent Biblical Covenant.

Amm, I guess he things Sadaam and the Taliban were just all warm and fuzzy, teddy-bear kinda leaders...

Mr. Harper's Party is an apparent branch plant of the American neo-conservative movement founded by Leo Strauss, who himself had been inspired by Nazism, and also by a book by Frederich Nietzche entitled The Anti-Christ.

Wow, he blew the cover off of our secret agenda... I'll have to alert my local commander that the gig is up...

The rottening of Iraq and Afghanistan into a worsening culture of violence, retribution, and sadism, came from the correspondingly rotten base that pursued war instead of peace, of the sort that is advocated in Biblical wisdom and in the scriptures of other religions. 'Evil' outcomes emanate from similarly-minded instigators, as peaceful outcomes come from the minds of those who seek peace.

A democraticly elected (by the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq) government is "rottening"?

However, I will say that the images that he includes in his article (and the captions) take the cake. Go take a peek for yourself... (blogger photo upload not working right now, will post them later)

UPDATE: Was taking a look at some of the other articles posted there... the fact that they often refer to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a "psudo-Christian who uses his faith as a euphamism for his capitalistic, pro-Corporate Globalization agenda" and as the "leader of the neo-conservative 'Republican Party of the North'" kinda sums things up...

Al Qaeda CONFIRMS Zarqawi DEAD

From CNN...

Al Qaeda in Iraq confirms on its Web site that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed, and vows to continue its "holy war."

Warren's "I am not afraid" campaign

I saw Warren Kinsella's idea for an "I Am Not Afraid" campaign, to respond to the averted terror plot on T.O on his blog yesterday. He was overwhelmed by the positive feedback (of which I was amongst) and it looks like something big may be in the works. Canadian Jedi also commented on it, and I got to thinking about it...

How about a nice big show of support from the local Blogging Tories? Hey, why not, let's get ALL the local political bloggers in on this one?!?! Turn it into the biggest blogstravaganza ever held, anywhere! All supporting a good cause... sticking it to those who want us to cower in fear! Come on all you Progressive Bloggers, you Blogging Dippers, and you Liblogers! Right there, in the T.O. area, we could likely comprise a couple of hundred people... what say you?

Stay tuned to Warren or www.IAmNotAfraid.ca for details as they emerge.

Ps - good old Zerb thought it was a dumb idea... LOL

Another media guy says "Harper winning media war"

From Larry Zolf, regular (but officialy "retired") contributor to the CBC. He says that Stephen Harper is winning the "war on the media".

In this war with the media, no one is talking about the excellent use Harper is making of television. In his dealings on TV, Harper looks calm, cool and collected. He looks good on the House staircase facing the media, like Brian Mulroney used to do, and excels on TV when he uses the podium to deliver messages to the public.

On TV, Harper is the lone gunslinger, and the opposition critics and the media are mere bit players.

On CBC and on CTV, just about every word Harper says goes on air. He serves the TV networks wisely and well.

Harper is winning his war with the media because the media is hated by the public. Harper is loved by the public, so he is on top of the fold.

The media war has been a total Harper victory. The media will have to learn to play by Harper’s rules or they won’t be in the great game at all.

Comments? Thoughts?

I don't know if I 100% agree with the analysis, but I think it's fairly accurate. When the "war" was declared, I was expecting to hear fewer sound bytes and see less in print. I've seen just as much coverage as before. But the main problem I see is, come election time, all the print reporters, who have been burned by Mr. Harper, won't be printing much pro Tory news. So, in that aspect, I don't know if the war can be considered as "having been won".

Often, something that appears on the front page in print in the morning can spur the 6 o'clock news cycle... in essence, the media making the news. Thus, if you're seeing tons of negative headlines on the front pages during the campaign, guess what the evening news will be commenting on? Often, they'll end up covering peoples reactions to what appeared in the morning paper. So, we may end up having negative news stories on both the front and back-end of the news. And during an election campaign, that's not a good thing.

If that's the case, history may judge Mr. Harper as having won the first battle, but ultimately losing the war... and 24 Sussex in the process. I certainly hope that this is an occasion where I'm wrong.

Our PM... funny guy

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was asked yesterday, "How do you feel about the alleged terror plot to have you beheaded?" His reply?

"I can live with all these threats, as long as they’re not from my caucus."

I heard the audio clip this morning on the CBC... that even had the reporters he's "at war" with laughing.

Tory MP called into question

This does not look good. In a Calgary courtroom, a former staffer has accused Conservative MP Rob Anders of fraud. If there's any truth to it, he needs to be tossed from caucus.

MP Rob Anders has said the charges are false, and he intends to "vigorusly" defend himself. We'll have to wait and see.

But to me, something sounds fishy... and if it was a Liberal, I'd say the same thing. Why would a former staffer, Liberal, NDP, or Tory, make such a claim when it serves to implicate himself? Is he already going down for something, and cut some sort of deal? I'd like to see a report of the expenses in question. Anyone have any other sources of info we can start looking into?

Anders has been under the gun for years by his detractors. He's on the far right of the party, so he's got enemies without and within. Is this a smear, or is there truth to it?

How does one deal with an issue like this? Mr. Harper is in a tight spot. Think about it... an allegation has been made, but has yet to be proven. The Tories are in the midst of trying to pass their Accountability Act, so this looks really bad. The Liberals are calling for the RCMP to step in. Is it right to suspend the MP from caucus before he's even had a chance to defend himself? If not, when would be an appropriate time? Would Mr. Harper, in the interest of protecting the party image, hang Anders out to dry by suspending him until he can prove his innocence? If Mr. Harper stands up to defend him, the Liberals will turn around and call him a hypocrite. If he leaves Anders to fend for himself, and he's proven to be innocent, it will look like he over-reacted.

Can he be suspended, but not be ejected from cacus like Mr. Martin did to Ms. Parrish? I don't know the answer to that one. Tight spot indeed.

Oops... Budget 2006 Passed

Why do I say "Oops", you ask? Because it seems the Opposition forgot to oppose the Tories Federal budget, and it was officially passed at 3rd Reading, with the "unanimous consent" of the House.

From the CBC:

Even though two federal parties had promised to vote against the Conservative government's budget, it passed Tuesday without opposition because of an apparent mix-up.

When the May 2 budget came up for its third and final reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday morning, no one stood to speak. Because there were no apparent speakers, the budget was declared passed by unanimous consent with no recorded vote.

NDP MP Libby Davies told CBC News the mix-up happened because a Conservative MP who had been scheduled to speak first was not in the chamber.

In the ensuing confusion, Davies said the opposition legislators were waiting for the Tory MP to show up and speak before they stood up. They later learned that the budget had been dealt with, at least as far as the House of Commons was concerned.

...

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who wasn't even in the House when his budget was passed, seemed to be enjoying the appearance of "unanimity" for the budget.

In the afternoon question period, he thanked the opposition for supporting the government during the budget's third reading. Earlier, he joked to reporters that the budget was "even more popular than I thought."

Oops!

Anyway, we all knew it was going to pass due to the BQ's support, but I had to post this because I thought it was pretty funny... it's likely the first Federal Budget ever that was passed with the unanimous support of the House!

Local Lib Leadership Debate

Apparently, there is a rumor that there will be a leadership debate in KW on June 20th. Anyone locally feel like crashing it? (or showing up in "Vote for Volpe" shirts?) ;-)

FIFA World Cup 2006 - GO ENGLAND!

Okay, I'm sure to get flamed for this, but I'm posting anyway... GO ENGLAND!

If you don't have a team to cheer for, as a Canadian, I think you should cheer for England. Why? Not only is it the home of our soverign monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, but because the England team has a good-old Alberta born boy in its ranks... Owen Hargreaves.

A versatile midfield player born in Canada of English stock and based for his entire professional career in Germany, Hargreaves first came to prominence during Bayern Munich’s successful 2000/2001 UEFA Champions League campaign.

Hey, an Alberta boy is playing in the World Cup, and an Alberta team is in the Stanley Cup... let's hope things go well for Canada!

ps - Why do I support England, you ask? Did I mention I was born there? Born right in the heart of Manchester United country, no less! (and my dad was a semi-pro footballer back home too)

"Canada... this is OUR war"

Rosie DiManno has an amazing article on the foiled terror plot in Toronto.

In it, she basically says "Canada, WAKE UP... this is OUR WAR now. They came here to kill us, to KILL YOU."

I don't care what you think about George W. Bush, the War on Terror, Iraq, Afghanistan... but don't you dare forget that they brought this war to YOUR doorstep. They went about gathering together the means TO KILL YOU. Now, what do you intend to do about it? What would you like your government to do about it?

Better question... life or death? Your choice.

RCMP News Conference on Terror Plot in TO

12 men, 5 boys have been arrested in joint raids throughout the GTA. They may have been connected to Al-Quiada. They were running a local training camp north of the city.

3 TONS of Ammonium Nitrate was seized... ONLY ONE TON WAS USED BY TIMOTHY MCVEIGH IN THE OAKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING. I've been to that memorial... glad I won't have one in my hometown to visit.

Hats off to our RCMP, OPP, municipal forces, and CSIS.

More throughout the day...

UPDATE: It's become front page news on CNN and BBC.

UPDATE II: The Toronto Star has released the names of those arrested.

1. Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto;
2. Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.;
3. Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga;
4. Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga;
5. Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga;
6. Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.;
7. Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston;
8. Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto;
9. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto;
10. Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, Toronto;
11. Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga;
12. Saad Khalid, 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga.

And don't forget to add the 5 young offenders, who can't be named.

Volpe - What if he was PM?

Stephen Taylor is reporting that Joe Volpe's staff had the "Youth For Volpe" site TAKEN DOWN.

If this is how he deals with critizim while he's a leadership candidate, can you imagine what he might try to pull as PM?

And the Press Gallery thought Harper was bad...

UPDATE: It appears the rumors that Volpe had something to do with it being pulled may have been untrue. It has returned...

It's official... SSM vote for the fall

A vote on SSM is to be held this fall.

I'm torn on this one... while I'm glad it's coming to another vote, I'm worried we may not have enough to carry this one. I'm of the mind that it would be better to wait until after the next election, to tip the odds a little more evenly.

We'll see.

June 2nd... Happy Anniversary!

Blogging with be lite today... because it's my 5th wedding anniversary!

For those who haven't met her, I'm married to one of the most wonderful women in the world, Meghan. How she puts up with me sometimes, I don't know... but I love her dearly, and I am ever so grateful that the Lord brought her into my life!

God has used her as an instrument to make me who I am today... and I've grown and changed in so many ways over these last few years, directly due to her influence. To my regular commenters, jDave, Dirk and Blake... she's said many of the same things to me that you have. ;-) Isn't she great?

(it's an older photo, but the only one I could find while posting... but it's one of my favs, none the less...)

You know you're a geek when...

...hacking into and reseting the "admin" account on a 3Com switch at work is a thrill. ;-)

That's mean... BUT IT'S SO FUNNY!

Oh the hilarity! A new website went up in the campaign for Joe Volpe... "www.YouthForVolpe.ca".

Oh, sorry, I should clarify... it's for Joe Volpe alright... for the new grassroots campaign FOR HIM TO STEP DOWN in his Liberal leadership bid.

More thoughtful analysis from James Tavers, of the Toronto Star.