Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Around the Globe

Several things caught my eye this morning in the Globe & Mail - among the highlights:

1. Everyone is talking about Paul Martin's big "vision" speech he gave yesterday. I may post a bit more on it later but my initial reaction is positive. Martin's biggest problem is that he looks like a guy who has wanted to be Prime Minister his entire life...for the sake of being Prime Minister. He hasn't shown any vision whatsoever and the only time his government ever performs well is when they're in damage control. So it was extremely refreshing to see the beginnings of a coherent plan about where he wants to take the country. Was it a perfect speech? Of course not. But it's a big step in the right direction. And I was very pleased to see the talk of immigration - there's no reason we shouldn't have hit the 1% immigration target a long time ago. As for his immigration minister...

2. It looks like Pierre Pettigrew isn't the only Liberal taking full advantage of his expense account. Joe Volpe is in hot water for spending taxpayer dollars on expensive meals. I don't want to come out and say he's using government dollars to woe people to his leadership campaign, but I wouldn't argue with anyone else who jumped to that conclusion.

3. PQ golden boy Andre Boisclair is in hot water over his admitted use of cocaine while he was a Cabinet Minister. While it's true that being on drugs is likely the only way to see the economic benefits of Quebec's session, it's not generally something you want in a Premier. It's also likely not a good idea for Boisclair to answer questions about his cocaine use with "I am under a great deal of stress." He's really opening the door for smart ass comments on that one.

4. Speaking of Premiers with addiction problems, Ralph Klein has announced every Albertan will get a 400$ rebate cheque this Christmas! I'd be very curious to see if anyone out there could think up a less inspiring way to spend Alberta's surplus. I'm open to any suggestions.

5. The Liberals will not meet their deadline on proposed electoral reforms. Obviously the solution is to appoint another Minister in charge of democratic reform.

12 Comments:

  • I guess they haven't found the formula that gives Paul Martin, err, David Herle his majority.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:43 p.m.  

  • Hey maybe they are crossing their fingers and hoping for another Tory defection.

    Wouldn't bother me any.

    By Blogger Progressive Maritimer, at 6:06 p.m.  

  • I'd be very curious to see if anyone out there could think up a less inspiring way to spend Alberta's surplus.

    Give it to Ottawa.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:30 p.m.  

  • The Invisible Hand said...

    I'd be very curious to see if anyone out there could think up a less inspiring way to spend Alberta's surplus.

    Give it to Ottawa.


    You stole mine!

    By Blogger Nastyboy, at 10:30 p.m.  

  • It's great to see Belanger and Stronach doing such a suberb job on their given file(s?) as we knew they would.

    Are two heads always better than one?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:41 a.m.  

  • Sorry,

    That was meant to read "superb".

    Hearing about all these incompetent ministers scrambling around to do nothing has been paying its toll. :oP

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:43 a.m.  

  • I don't want to come out and say [Volpe's] using government dollars to woe people to his leadership campaign ...

    Freudian slip there, CG?

    By Blogger Jason Hickman, at 10:34 a.m.  

  • The Liberals aren't going to bring in electoral reform - if they did that, they'd never get a majority again. Frankly, I think the opposition parties deserve to end up with a Liberal majority, because THEY should be taking the initiative with electoral reform; in 1993, the LDP in Japan (had ruled the country since 1950's) was reduced to a minority. The opposition parties formed a HUGE coalition government (6 parties in it, I believe) with the sole purpose of reforming the electoral system. The opposition here should have done that; that they didn't proves to me that they deserve to lose.

    By Blogger Ryan Ringer, at 10:36 a.m.  

  • "The Liberals will not meet their deadline on proposed electoral reforms. Obviously the solution is to appoint another Minister in charge of democratic reform."

    We hear Maurizio Bevalaqua has done amazing things.

    They should appoint him. Minister in Charge of Delaying Electoral Reform Initiatives.

    By Blogger daveberta, at 4:19 p.m.  

  • Quebec Harpermaniac answers Blue Grit:

    Notice, of course, that LDP has been back in charge of Japan for most of the time since...

    so, a better example would be wise.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:55 p.m.  

  • blue grit - I'm sure the NDP would be up for your plan of the opposition parties combining for electoral reform, but what about the others?

    The Bloc would have it's # of MP's cut in half by any scheme in which total seats corresponded to total votes (i.e. PR), so I can't imagine them supporting any reform.

    The Conservatives are still holding on to the dream of having a majority government of their own. With PR, that dream would die. Also the main beneficiaries of reform would be the NDP and the Green Party, hardly Conservative allies. PR could easily lead to a stable long-term Liberal-NDP-Green (if necessary) alliance which would hardly be an ideal scenario (from the Conservative perspective).

    Finally, with PR, the Conservative party could easily split back into two parts again since there would no longer be the same heavy electoral penalty for being split in two.

    By Blogger Declan, at 1:44 p.m.  

  • By Blogger Unknown, at 9:56 p.m.  

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