In other green shift news, the Liberal Party added yet another high-profile candidate Wednesday:
Stephane Dion fine tuned his carbon-tax plan to make it more palatable to farmers, loggers, truckers and fishers Wednesday as he snagged Canada's highest-profile farmer as a Liberal election candidate.Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers
Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Bob Friesen is the Liberal candidate for Charleswood-St. James, the Grits third attempt to wrest the riding from Tory control.
The announcement came this afternoon as Liberal Leader Stephane Dion rallied his caucus in Winnipeg with two huge tweaks to his Green Shift plan to help farmers and truckers cope with extra taxes on fuel.
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Friesen, who has sold his farm near Wawanesa and is planning to buy a home in Winnipeg’s western suburb, said farmers will embrace the changes to the Green Shift plan.
Friesen will take on Steven Fletcher, who has bested former Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray and former MLA John Loewen in the riding.
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Friesen, who has sold his farm near Wawanesa and is planning to buy a home in Winnipeg’s western suburb, said farmers will embrace the changes to the Green Shift plan.
A top farmer in the land is so confident that farmers will embrace the Green Shift, that he'll be running in an urban (non-farming) riding, far away from the farmer vote.
If farmers are so embracing of the Green Shift, why not run in a rural, mostly-farming community? Actions seem to be speaking louder than words in this case.
Humm... Friesen, a known advocate of the Canadian Wheat Board, running for the Liberals.
Guess he wasn't really a non-partisan voice when he spoke on the CWB.
A farmer that was, not just an advocate of the wheatboard, but a KNOWN advocate? Yes, you're right CC. He's not a non-partisan. He's biased in favour of FARMERS. For shame!
Mike, with his selling the farm I suppose he wanted to run in the riding where he actually plans to live. Why did he want to live in the outskirts of Winnipeg? I don't know. I hear its cold there, but that it has its charms. Maybe he has family there. Maybe he's a Bombers fan. Nevertheless, you might do better to challenge him on policy that on postal code.
A farmer in favour of telling other farmers what they can do with the product of their own labour, but only in certain provinces. Funny how that sounds an awful lot like a collective farm. How many of those farmers don't want to be "collectivised"? But he's a Liberal and Liberals know what's best for Western farmers, therefore "He's biased in favour of FARMERS". Run on that in the West, please.
You lost me at collectivised. Joe Stalin called, he wants his cogars back.
Ok, Geoff, wanna be obtuse? How about I make it simple for you:
Imagine as a writer you couldn't choose who you write for and you couldn't choose how much to sell your writing for. Then imagine that if you moved from Ontario to BC you could sell as you like and for what you like. But it's better for all writers in that region to be forced into this writing "pool" for reasons that the government tells you are very good and if you disgree, well, you're probably un-Canadian.
I know, it's just an imaginary example and it probably has some flaws but I have to hope that down deep inside, Jeff, you can find just a small spark of empathy and begin to dimly understand why the CWB is just wrong.
Let's accept (and I don't, but for argument's sake) that this system was so horrible rat. Why was this guy that's a farmer himself defending it? How did he get elected, by farmers, to the head of this powerful farm lobby group, if he's supporting this really, really bad system? Do farmers hate themselves? Are they masochists? Or is your interpretation maybe off base?
No, he's the head of the CFA, not the Wheat Growers of Alberta. He could be elected by a majority of chicken farmers in Quebec for all I know. His position by no means indicates he has the support of all farmers. Kinda like how Harper doesn't have the support of all Canadians, but maybe would should apply your logic there, too?
But that so misses the point. The fact is the system may not be horrible in that it may provide a relatively fair price for wheat, but that doesn't hide the fact that it forces ALL grain growers in one region to sell to a government body. Not Ontarians, no, just Westerners.
Again, think about it from a personal point of view instead of as the benevolant dictator. If government created the Canadian Condo Board how happy would you be if all your neighbours got together and a majority decided to sell EVERYONE'S condo for a set price despite the fact that you felt you could get a better price on your own? Would you be as blase and say, "gee it's good for the majority, I like to get screwed for the greater good"? Or would you be a little cheesed that the government has decided to deny you personal benefit in order to benefit the majority? Remember, this ain't medicare we're talking here, this is personal property.
Honestly Jeff, if you can say your happy oppressing someone else for the greater good but not yourself then you're a hypocrite. And if you're OK with getting reamed you're an ideological fool. Either way, that's why your so very alien to me.
It should be an interesting election to follow. Contrary to some believe in Canada the conservatives are not quite as bad as our right wing nuts at the republican party.
One thing that baffled me with the liberal party is that they chose Dion as the leader as if choosing a French Canadian would get the French Canadians to vote in block for the liberals.
What was missed is that this man is one of the most hated politicians in Québec since the one nicknamed "La main de Dieu".
Those who are tired with the Bloc Québécois may not vote or vote green unless the conservatives manage to make a few converts. Without Ontario voting heavily for the liberals you are likely to have a conservative government which might even be a majority government. This doesn't imply that they would get more than 50% of the vote. The funny thing about Canadian elections is that you can get a majority with perhaps 30% of the vote.
One thing that we do envy from the Canadians though is the fact that a fundy is not likely to ever get elected in Canada. Just look at what happened to Claude Ryan when he declared that the hand of god was what put him at the leadership of the liberal party. People in Québec quickly turned against him and he was so ridiculed that he lost in a landslide.
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