Story: Provinces urge Clement to help plot a pharmaceutical strategy
OTTAWA -- Provincial health ministers who will meet today to approve a progress report on a national pharmaceutical strategy say a pan-Canadian program to cover the burdensome costs of some drugs cannot fly without the financial help of the federal government.
Snark: I can see why they'd want Clement's help with this, after all, not only is the the minister responsible for the pharmaceutical industry, he also owns a bunch of stock in a pharmaceutical company.
Story: Cloutier deal caps salary concerns
Canucks general manager Dave Nonis sent Cloutier to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round draft choice in 2007 and another pick in 2009 if the netminder re-signs next summer with Marc Crawford's Kings.
Snark: I guess Nonnis couldn't get them to throw-in a bag of pucks.
Story: Despite fraud, Guité 'an exemplary citizen,' lawyer says
MONTREAL -- Aside from the fraud case against him, Chuck Guité is "an exemplary citizen," his lawyer said yesterday as she argued for the release of the former sponsorship bureaucrat, pending an appeal of his conviction.
Snark: No snark needed here, the headline writer beat me to it.
Story: Tory agent tossed over nasty e-mail
A former spokeswoman for the Conservative Party of Canada has been fired from an Alberta MP's office after issuing a blistering personal e-mail to a woman who wrote to several federal politicians.
Snark: She should just get elected, as a Conservative MP she could tell people to f***-off or give them the finger with impunity.
Story: Volpe gains ground in recruiting drive
OTTAWA -- The now-completed membership drive by Liberal leadership candidates has allowed Toronto MP Joe Volpe to claim membership in the top tier of contenders, although Michael Ignatieff retains front-runner status.
Snark: Looks like we may be forming a new party on Dec. 4. We should start thinking about names now to avoid any CCRAP issues with the acronym.
Story: Bush applauds PM's leadership on softwood
U.S. President George Bush heralded Prime Minister Stephen Harper's leadership on resolving the longstanding softwood lumber dispute after their meeting in Washington on Thursday.
Snark: It's great Bush is happy. Now if only Harper's constituents, you know, Canadians, and our forest industry, shared Bush's pleasure.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Short, snarky comments on recent news stories
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11 comments:
TL, reading that I might advise you to follow your own advice re: sense. And we're dealing in extreme hypotheticals here, but let's go into hypothetical land for a few minutes.
If Joe Volpe were fairly and squarely elected leader of the Liberal Party, would I respect the democratic process that elected him? Sure I would, IF he wins fairly then he's the leader, and the people will have spoken.
But what, or who, I don't respect is Joe Volpe. I don't think I need to get into the many reasons why.
I do call myself a Liberal. And, contrary to what may be tought in the Joe Volpe school of politics, and recent history, being a Liberal doesn't mean blind loyalty to our leaders. Or at least is shouldn't.
I believe in certain principles, and finding those principles to be shared by the Liberal Party I became a member. I'm a long-time Liberal too, relativelty speaking. And while I could live with nearly any of the candidates, I could not live with a Liberal Party led by Joe Volpe. He doesn't share those principles, and I wouldn't feel at home or comfortable in his party.
So, should he be elected (and holding my breath I'm definitely not) I would respect the democratic process that elected him and I'd take my energies elsewhere. And I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one.
you won't respect the democratic process that might result in a longtime Liberal like Joe Volpe becoming leader?
I'll certainly respect it, but from a distance.
I'm not surprised that Crawford wants Cloutier that bad. He seems to be his biggest fan, don't know why.
The Canucks could have traded him for a half-eaten breakfast and still gotten a good deal.
I don't want to accuse anyone...
You don't want to, but then you go right ahead and imply I'm racist. I'm not going to respond any further until that's withdrawn.
Zac, I like Cloutier, his problem was consistency. Don't get me wrong, I'm happier with Luongo, but I think Cloutier is a very talented goalie and if he can every find his form consistently and stay healthy he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
Jeff, I think he's a good goalie too but he has to overcome the problems that you mentioned. He needs to stay healthy and he needs to be consistent. I also think that he's a bit of choke artist in the playoffs.
I think the Canucks got an awesome deal. Too bad about Bertuzzi though, but I think he needed a change of scenery.
Negative press for Joe Volpe has anything to do with his ethnicity, it has everything to do with his actions. Don't ask me to explain what the media covers, but i think Rae is a media darling right now because they know him,he's a name, and as far as Ignatieff's campaign manager, I don't know of any specifics around promises, but generally speaking, while not good making promises for support has been part of politics since ancient rome and I doubt it's isolated. (I'm going to be Ambassador to England when Dion's PM...just kidding)
On loans, that's a red herring and a weak one at that. It's common practice for candidates, in the general election or a leadership campaign, to take out a loan at for start-up expenses and repay it with donations over the course of the campaign. Nothing unusual at all.
Now as for Joe, you specifically mentioned the kiddie donations so I'll specifically address that, as it was also the straw that broke the back for me with him. Up until then I didn't care for him and he was at or near the bottom of my list, but I could probbly have stomached him if I had to.
First of all, the problem isn't with youth donating to his campaign, it's that it was a very obvious attempt to skirt individual donation limits by their parents. I highly doubt the parents just decided to do this on their own and no one on the campaign was aware. Donations of $20k don't just come in the mail.
When called on it yes, he returned the donations. If he had just admitted a mistake was made and apologized, that might have been OK. But he refused to accept any responsibility, and offered up the lame story of the kids seeing a speech of his and being inspired to raid their piggy banks. It insults our intelligence. When Liberals asked Joe for an explination, as happened at a BC Federal Council meeting, his campaign manager Jimmy K berates and intimidates them while Joe says nothing.
Now he's crusading to ban youth donations, as you mentioned. But that's not the problem, parents funelling donations through their kids is. Such a ban would prevent Young Liberals from attending conventions and fundraising dinners. It's a bad idea, and transparent politicking. If you can join the party at 14, you should be allowed to make a donation at 14.
There's other reasons I don't like Joe, but they're more minor. But taken together Joe has come to empitomize all that I dislike about politics, and, at a time we as a party are trying to move forward, all that the public dislikes about the Liberals: the win at any cost, break the rules, intimidation, old-style politics.
We couldn't move forward with him as our leader, it would be a huge step backward and handing a majority to Harper. But more than that, as I said before, I don't share his values and wouldn't be comfortable in a Volpe Liberal Party. I'd wish him luck, but I'd have to move on.
Cloutier was a salary dump and Nonis had no leverage, still, he's an asset and it would have been nice to get a little more for him. I guess it was the best he could do though.
I liked Todd but he was never going to regain his form here, so he had to go. Now Jovo, he'll really be missed. Looks like Anson probably won't be back either. I like the Willie Mitchell pickup, a good BC boy.
Our problem wasn't so much in D down the stretch last year though, the D was good and Auld was solid in goal. It was scoring goals. We missed Jovo as the PP quarterback when he was hurt, now that he's gone he'll need to be replaced. If Carter goes, replacing him on the Sedin line is hugely important, as is who will play with Naslund and Morrison. We need to acquire some scoring strength.
I missed what happened with Jovo. Where did he go?? I thought he was one of THE backbone players on the team. We'll miss Anson Carter too.
Was it all about money, or do you suppose they were less interested in staying with the Canucks when Marc Crawford was let go?
Is Nonis the right GM for the team?
Jovo signed as a free-agent with Phoenix, and Carter is still a free agent but seems likely to sign with Toronto or LA. I don't think it's anything to do with Nonis or Crow, it's purely the salary cap. Luongo has a big salary, the Sedins had to be given raises. Jovo and Carter were/are both unrestricted and due large raises, and the Canucks just don't have the cap room to give them the raises they're looking for.
Get to work slacker! :p
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