Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Thoughts provincial and federal, international and animated

An increasingly busy work schedule has prevented me from blogging as much as I’d like, so just a few quick thoughts on matters provincial and federal to share.

*The centerpiece of John Tory’s election campaign, focusing not on the Conservative brand but rather The John Tory Team™, has been that Leadership Matters. That theme hammered in on every lawnsign, every nasty attack ad, and every speech Tory gives.

What does it say about Tory’s leadership skills, then, when he can’t even lead his own caucus during an election campaign?

Opposition to Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory's contentious policy on faith-based schools hit close to home yesterday when the first member of his caucus broke ranks by announcing he would vote against it.
How long before the ‘John Tory is Not a Leader’ ads are posted to YouTube, I wonder?

*Speaking of YouTube, the folks at ToryTube have another video posted. Somehow they’ve gotten a hold of a copy of John Tory’s diary. OMG, when I watched it I was ROTFL.



*On a more serious note, the issues page on the Working Families Coalition Web site is worth checking-out. It’s a forum for people to discuss issues of interest in the election campaign. They also have some interesting tv spots.

*New poll numbers out today from SES show the provincial race relatively unchanged. The Liberals maintain a strong lead, 41 to 33. Tory has gained popularity to tie McGuinty for Best Premier and six in 10 said they don’t know who won the debate or that no one won.

Interesting, though, was the gender gap, which SES calls a significant hurdles for the Conservatives. The ladies aren’t keen on the Tory Cons. Among women its Liberals 42%, PC 28, NDP 23, Greens 7.

*Moving onto federal matters, I plan to write more in depth on this when I have the time but I’m increasingly of the view that the Liberals, barring something shocking being in it, will have to vote against the Throne Speech. The fall isn’t perfect but it’s looking better than spring, and I don’t think we can be seen backing-down and keeping this government in power any longer. But more on that later.

As for throne speech ultimatums go though, the BQ isn’t the first to the table here. The LPC put its demands on the table two weeks ago:

  1. Immediately inform NATO that Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan will end in 2009
  2. Table the Clean Air and Climate Change Act in the next Parliamentary session
  3. Put forward a "real" economic plan
  4. Put forward a credible plan to address poverty




*I don’t know, this seems like a natural progression for the Giuliani campaign, given their strategy to date:
A spokeswoman for Rudy Giuliani says it is unfortunate that a supporter throwing a party that aims to raise $9.11 per person for the Republican's presidential campaign is asking for that amount.
*The fall tv season is beginning, tres fun. The Simpsons premier was good, I liked the continuity from the movie in the opening credits. And seeing Colbert have a cameo was fun. But The Simpsons was overshadowed by the one-hour Family Guy premiere parodying Star Wars. One of the most hilarious things I’ve seen in years. Particularly the Robot Chicken thing at the end.



*Lastly, has anyone noticed Firefox crashing a lot more lately, probably since they pushed the last update? It’s starting to really piss me off. I’d hate to go back to IE, but I may have no choice…

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2 comments:

Oxford County Liberals said...

No problems with Firefox here.. stable and reliable as ever.

Nancy Leblanc said...

Firefox crashes for me more than Valujet...:) I wish Safari was more compatible with Blogger and I'd use it for sure. I'm a Mac user, don't know if that makes a diff.

I echo your thoughts on a fall election. It's not going to get any better all around. If people don't like Harper now, they're not going to like him better in the spring. Whereas Dion has nowhere to go but up.