Shut up Ross!!!

Canada's gold medalist snowborder Ross Rebagliati and world famous pot smoker (having tested positive for marijuana directly after winning his gold medal) is apparently under orders from Mr. Ignatieff's office (i.e. my former main man Peter Donolo) to shut the f$ck up, along with the rest of the liberals.

So the Liberals now have a dress code and a code of silence? I'm not sure where Donolo and his staff are trying to go with this, but for some reason I don't think this bodes well for the grits. Rebagliati is running in a riding against Stockwell Day, which will already be a tough riding for him to win, but it'll make it even harder if he's not allowed to talk to the press. How are his constituents supposed to get to know him if all he's allowed to talk about is "his experience as an Olympian, and how it relates to his choice of becoming a Liberal candidate – pride of representing his country, desire to serve needed commitment, etc.”

At first I figured Ignatieff would grow on me, that he wouldn't annoy me so much if I just gave him time. But so far it's been quite the opposite. To me Iggy is just as annoying if not more so than the day he won the leadership.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/liberals-impose-code-of-silence-on-ross-rebagliati/article1435267/

This Week In Politics (according to me)

My friends, in my 29 years on this earth and this country the stupidity that goes on in government has never ceased to amaze me. Political intrigue in Canada? Please, all we have in Canada is political bickering.

Take for example of yesterday: The federal Liberals we finally able to say that they were over the sponsorship scandal because they had retaken the lead in polls in Quebec for the first time since 2004. On the tail of that announcement the PQ announced that they had discovered a new “sponsorship scandal” at the provincial level claiming that the provincial Liberals had used funds that were supposed to be distributed in the Saguenay for economic development and funneled it down to companies in Montreal owned by Liberal party members. This isn’t even a political game or an attempt at character assassination, this is just good detective work by the PQ and a big let down by the Charest government.

If the PQ is indeed right, this would be devastating for Jean Charest and his federalist party. If the PQ is right, it might be exactly what the separatists have been waiting for to be able to tip the scales in their favor. Even if it’s only 8million dollars and it basically means nothing on a provincial budgetary level, it’s 8million TAXPAYER dollars that weren’t allocated where they should have been... and that ladies and gentlemen will be enough to sink the Liberals.

On a federal level, the Conservatives are saying that Canada has measures in place to counter the possible pandemic of swine flu. This is the same government that told us late last year (when the whole world was panicking about money) that the economy was fine and would be fine for a long time. Sure, now they’ve revised their stance and have taken action, but as with the economy, I fear that we are going to have to wait until imminent infection is upon us before the government revises its “everything will be okay, trust us okay?” stance that they’ve so far taken.

Then there's crazy Elizabeth May, whom I used to be a fan of, but now is more like a soap box carrying crazy cat-lady (no offense to cat-ladies) who preaches to whomever is willing to hear it that Harper is trying to buy votes in Quebec.

And what about "Jumping" Jack Layton? Where has my favorite sandal wearing MP been recently? I haven’t seen him on the news or read about him or his party in a long long time. Maybe he’s taking time off to grow a goatee or buy new sandals? If anyone knows I’d love to hear it.

Forget Iggy and Jack and Steve and Lizzy, I’ve got bigger fish to fry... I’m still trying to figure out what I can do to have the utterly racist book “Anglaid” removed from the shelves and banned from sales anywhere in Canada. If a book like this had been written about any other race or culture the entire country would be up in arms about it. But since it’s only about English folks in Quebec no one seems to give a damn.

Muchacho Enfermo

Could NHL coach lead us out of recession?

Last week the Montreal Canadiens, the winningest franchise in all of pro sports, was in a slump having lost game after game, nothing was going right. The goaltending was dodgy at best, the scoring was abysmal and the defense was virtually invisible. Then the coach, Guy "Carbo" Carbonneau, decides that he's forcing his big star Alexei Kovalev to take a few days off to rest and reflect on his poor play. Since Kovalev's return from his "time off" Carbo has reunited his old top line, placed the number two goaltender in net and GM Bob Gainey has added a veteran defenseman to the lineup. And up until tonight, the Canadiens had been unstoppable.

Which leads me to my question: could we do the same thing with our government? And would it work? Seriously... think about it.

Ask Harper (playing the role of Kovalev) to take a few days off to contemplate how he's screwing the country with his slush fund and his pompous attitude. Then ask Ignatieff what he would do differently (he'd play the role of backup goaltender) and ask him how he would stop the hemorrhage. Then, just to add a veteran to the mix, bring on an oldie like Tobin or Jean Chretien to advise on how to handle the crisis.

I'm not saying this is the ultimate answer, but the slush fund seems to be something that is foolish at best. The opposition seem, for the most part, to be against it and right now, the opposition represents the majority of Canadians. And an old warhorse should be brought in to advise both the current leadership and the opposition leadership. To bridge the gap in policy and to prevent the now imminent fighting that will ensue after the Tories start their attack adds.

In my opinion, a government that seems to put a lot more planning into attacking the opposition than it does in planning a 3 billion dollar emergency fund should take a serious step back, take a long hard look at themselves and say: what is our priority in leading this country? Is it staying in power through slander or through earning the trust and respect of Canadians.

Kovalev did just that. He looked at himself in the mirror and decided that he would step up and play the way he should. He admitted that this was the best thing for him even if, at first, he was unhappy with it.

Maybe if the Conservatives did the same, they'd come to similar conclusions.

Muchacho Enfermo

Harper getting ready to attack Ignatieff

As an average Canadian, living in an regular in a blue collar neighborhood I was feeling pretty good about the way our government had been conducting itself lately. I was happy to see that our two major parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, seemed to be working if not hand in hand at least in tandem in this time of economic turmoil that has so many Canadians scared about the future. It was nice, for a change, to have a government that seemed to be focused on actually governing the country and doing what we elected them to do, instead of focusing on vilifying the opposition to solidify their grip on power.

All that is about to change... According to the Glove and Mail the Tories are getting ready to air attack adds against Michael Ignatieff. The are apparently going through every bit of paper, footage and literature that Mr. Ignatieff has written, been quoted or featured in with a fine toothed comb in order to find something embarrassing he may have said in order to brand him, the same way they did Dion.

“The failure to brand him in the way we did Stéphane Dion is actually worrying some people — that maybe we've missed our opportunity to brand him negatively in the eyes of Canadians, and that an impression of competence is now sticking.

“So the pendulum is shifting back — that we should attack a bit more.” (A government insider quoted on the G&M)

Why must politics always be about vilifying the other guy? Are the Tories going to complain about his time spent as a Harvard professor when he was at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy? Or when he was lecturing at Oxford and hosting shows for the BBC? Or his many books that demonstrate a deep understanding of how the world works? I'm not saying that Mr Ignatieff is flawless, I'm simply stating that trying to attack his intellect may very well backfire... because in the intellectual resume category he clearly has Harper beat.

Overall, I'm interested on seeing how the Tories will brand him, but what I'm even more interested in, is how the Liberals will counter these adds. Will they fight back in the same way or will they counter with messages putting a positive spin on Ignatieff's career? Will the negative adds hurt the Tories image more then it will hurt Ignatieff's numbers in the polls? All that remains to be seen.

If there is an election in the near future I'd like the challenge the candidates to run a campaign focused on the issues: on health, education, the environment and the economy. I don't want to see a campaign that is run on negative press and attempts to dismantle the credibility of the opposition. Sadly, I'm pretty sure that this challenge will go unanswered and that next time there is an election, like most Canadians, I will leave my polling station with am uneasy feeling in my stomach because so little time will have been spent talking actual issues during the campaign that I won't be exactly sure what I voted for.

Muchacho Enfermo

Screw you Bob Rae

Bob Rae has dropped out of leadership race for the Liberal Party of Canada. This guy was one of the main backers of the opposition party coalition I was complaining about a few days ago. I don't mind that he has dropped out, believe me. What I do mind however is WHEN he dropped out. He stayed long enough to help push this ridiculous idea into a reality and he leaves just in time to leave Ignatieff run for party leadership unopposed. Good job Bob Rae. You've just screwed Canada the same way you once screwed Ontario.

Muchacho Enfermo