Politics-Federal

Smackdown – Minister of Defence Lays Into NDP MP Dawn Black

Mulder

This is from Thursday November 9th, 2006 – Oral Questions.

“Ms. Dawn Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam, NDP): Mr. Speaker, when it came to support for his war in Iraq, George Bush told fellow Americans, “You are either with me or against me”. After last night’s mid-term election results, it looks like the Americans are against him, with Republican after Republican getting booted from office for their support for this unpopular war.

When it comes to Afghanistan, will the government learn any lessons from last night, or will it stay the course and meet the same fate as its American cousins?

Hon. Gordon O’Connor (Minister of National Defence, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I consider that basically a silly question.

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

The Speaker: Order, please. The Minister of National Defence has the floor.
Hon. Gordon O’Connor: Mr. Speaker, it is the equivalent of me asking the NDP if the election of Daniel Ortega will have changed its policies.”

Simply priceless Minister O’Connor, simply priceless.

H/T to DBT

Let's Help London North Centre Go Conservative!!

Mulder

The Blogging Tories are trying to help raise money for the by-election in London North Centre. I have decided to make the plunge and put a link to the donation page up at the top right corner of my page until the by-election at the end of November.

If you are interested in helping out, it is easy to make a small donation of $25 or $50 to their election fund via PayPal.

Just click the small link that says “Make A Donation” to help out.

And remember, when you make a political donation, you get a tax CREDIT worth 3/4 of the donation. i.e. if you donate $50, you will get $37.50 back so please take this into consideration when donating.

Ex-London Mayor Has A Rocking Website

Mulder

Matt over at A Step To The Right has a post pointing people to go view the new advertisement released on Dianne Haskett’s website as part of her campaign to take the London North Centre seat that is up for grabs in the November 27th By-election.

As much as the ad is great, I just had to point out that even better than the ad is the opening flash sequence on Haskett’s website. The music is rocking, the news headlines are crisp and positive and the message is great.

Haskett should turn that into an advertisement!!!

Take a look/listen for yourself.

This riding has special meaning to me as I lived in it for three years while going to the Unversity of Western Ontario. First in a townhouse on Limberlost, then in a small apartment off of Sarnia Rd. and then in a house just North of Oxford on the west side of Wharncliffe Rd. near the railroad tracks.

I hope Haskett can pull a rabbit out of the hat and steal this seat. She certainly has the background and history in London.

Income Trust Teaches Us The Meaning Of Diversification

Mulder

Every investment advisor teaches new investors the meaning of having a “diversified” portfolio. This is a way we hedge against a particular sector being hit too hard and wiping out our savings. It involved looking at how risky you are willing to get and then balancing your portfolio to ensure a proper distribution between growth funds, income funds, sector funds, bond funds and any others you may want to be invested in.

I myself started my RRSP when I got my first full time job because I read a great book called The Wealthy Barber which taught me a lot about investing. It taught me the value of life insurance. It taught me the value of dollar cost averaging and it taught me the value of diversification so that when a particular sector gets hit for ANY reason, the savings don’t get completely wiped out.

If you held a big percentage of your savings in Income Trusts or if your financial advisor had you do so, then shame on you and shame on him or her. You should have been better diversified.

Smackdown – Minister Ambrose Teaches John Godfrey A Lesson About Bob Rae

Mulder

The following took place during the Oral Questions in Parliament on October 31st, 2006:

Hon. John Godfrey (Don Valley West, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, the government’s cop-out plan on global warming has no short term targets, no medium targets and no action on greenhouse gases for 50 years. While the Conservatives talk, greenhouse gas emissions are increasing.

This dead air act is a sham. It is a smokescreen designed to avoid doing anything real on global warming. No amendments to the bill could ever change that fact. When will the minister withdraw this embarrassing mistake?

Hon. Rona Ambrose (Minister of the Environment, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, I would point out to the hon. member that I believe the Liberal leadership candidate he is supporting has the same target that this government has adopted and that was recommended by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

I will also suggest to him that we will not do what the former government did and set arbitrary targets. We have given our word to the provinces and territories that we will work with them over the coming months and we will set short term targets in the very near future. I hope his party will work with us to make sure we can implement them.

(bold text emphasis is mine)

It’s nice to see that the Conservative Party knows more about the views of the Liberal leadership candidates than the supporters of said candidates.

CTV Wrongly Goes Ambiguous In Defence Of A Canuck

Mulder

This morning on Canada AM, the crew I enjoy watching threw a curve ball out there when discussing the stem cell research position Michael J. Fox holds and the criticism Rush Limbaugh gave Mr. Fox. The conversation appeared to make Rush Limbaugh out to be a monster for criticizing Michael J. Fox’s promotion of candidates who support stem cell research.

I am one who thinks Rush may have crossed a line and I was glad to hear he apologized, but I must point out that CTV made Michael J. Fox sound like a hero without giving the story due diligence.

There are many types of stem cell research, as I have reported in the past. And for Michael J. Fox and the CTV to not differentiate which ones are being discussed is wrong. From Mr. Fox’s perspective, he has a vested interest in any research which may cure his Parkinson’s so he is biased. From the CTV’s perspective, they should report the differences.

These include the fact that Adult stem cell research has cured many things, as has umbilical cord stem cell research, whereas embryonic has not cured anything. The first two are legal in most western nations. It is the embryonic stem cell research that is in question.

I think both Mr. Fox and the CTV need to do a bit more homework.

"Pull The Troops Rally" Gets 500 In Toronto. Support The Troops Rally Gets Thousands In Kingston.

Mulder

I watched on and off this weekend as various news agencies reported on the numerous rallys across the country which were to raise awareness by moonbats to pull the troops out of Afghanistan. But one thing I noticed is that Toronto, the nation’s most populous city, could only muster about 500 protesters. Considering Toronto has a population of 4 Million or so and with the surrounding areas you can bump that up to 6 or 7 Million, I would have to say that the rally was a failure.

Meanwhile, there was a rally in Kingston where the Kingston Battalion marched into the city after being granted the key to the city. In the rain, there were thousands there watching.

I think when you compare the two rallys, it is quite obvious that there is a big difference in the amount of support.

I realize one was a rally against a mission and the other was one in support of troops. But the ratio of support was ridiculous. 1 in 8000 showed up for the Afghanistan pullout rally and at least 1 in 60 showed up to support the troops in Kingston. Considering Red Friday in Ottawa had 30,000 out of a million you can say that 1 in 35 or so showed up to support the troops in Ottawa.

I think the leftoid protesters need to toss in the towel.

ADDENDUM: I guess Toronto isn’t the only city with a crappy turnout for the leftoid protesters. Kate at SDA has a CBC post (yes I was shocked the CBC reported it too) that indicates in Edmonton only 100 or so protesters turned out.

ADDENDUM:  As BBS points out in the comments, the anti war rally in Windsor had a meager 50 or 60 people.  That had to take the wind from their sails!!  A city of over 210,000 people and they could only drag out 1 in 3500.  I wonder how many of those were Americans who made the trip across the river.

I Can't Sing

Mulder

I can carry a tune, I just don’t have the voice for it. In grade school, when the teachers walked around the gym listening for good singers for the school choir, I was inevitably tapped on the shoulder to go sit down. Some years I purposely made my voice go south when a listening teacher (or Mrs. Pilkey, the singing Librarian) walked by, but most years it was just my terrible voice that got me dumped.

But last night, for some reason that will probably befuddle me for decades, I was asked to kick off the singing of the national anthem at a dinner hosted by our EDA for our MP and Minister of Defence, the Hon. Gordon O’Connor.

My nerves were pretty shot. I found myself simply focussing on the words while I stared at the ground for most of it. I would hate to goof up and look like one of those singers at a baseball game who doesn’t do their homework on the lyrics.

Surprisingly, once I got going the whole room joined in and I think (or hope) that I was just another voice out of the 125 who sang along.

I do remember looking up at one point and seeing Minister O’Connor turn to face the flag that was behind me and I remember thinking “do I keep singing while I face the room or should I turn my back on everyone and face the flag two feet behind me?”. I probably made the wrong choice and just kept singing into the mic while I faced the room.

I am still not sure what the official protocol is for someone at the podium, but if I was wrong I sure picked a good time to be wrong. Sitting beside the Minister of Defence was Laureen Harper, the Minister’s wife Carol, the Minister of Finance (Jim Flaherty), the Minister of Heritage and Status for Women (Bev Oda), the Parliamentary Secretary for HRSDC (Lynne Yelich) and my ridings MPP (Norm Sterling).