Tuesday, September 9, 2008

alberta passes the torch to danny williams.

And here I was thinking there would be nothing to blog about on the second day of the election campaign...

- Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach sheepishly waded in to the Federal Election campaign yesterday, officially marking the passing of the torch to Canada's new provincial maverick: Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams. Williams and 43 of his 44 Conservative MHAs have signed on to defeat Stephen Harper's Conserative candidates in Newfoundland, a caucus loyalty somewhat reminicent of that held by former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed.

- Speaking of Newfoundlanders, NDP leader Jack Layton landed in New-Newfoundland (aka: Fort McMurray) the North West Territories and took his message to Alberta's Tar Sands this week, citing the Harper Cabinet's decision to overturn a court ruling blocking Imperial Oil's Kearl Lake development. The development of Kearl Lake only increases the devastating problems created by current oil sands extraction techniques and the resulting tailing ponds left behind.

- On an fairly embarrassing note, Stephen Harper apologized today for a Conservative Party negative ad that showed an Atlantic Puffin pooping on Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's shoulder. Yes, contrary to the evidence before you, these are the grown men who want to govern our country.

- Shifting mediums from television to the internet, the Liberals have launched Scandalpedia -- an online wiki of Conservative scandals (I was excited to first read out about this on the DailyKos). The Conservatives hit back with Dionbook, which takes aim at Dion as well as media and bloggers who have been critical of Harper's government.
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6 comments:

  1. janfromthebruceSeptember 9, 2008 at 5:01 PM

    thanks for the surmise of the day. Good quick hits and soundbites.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AWGBSeptember 9, 2008 at 7:32 PM

    Did Layton really land in Fort McMurray, or did he just fly over it and land in Fort Smith?

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  3. davebertaSeptember 10, 2008 at 8:34 AM

    Thank, Aaron -- a good point that I missed. He made the statement from the NWT (Dennis Bevington is the NDP MP up there).

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 10, 2008 at 10:28 AM

    "sheepishly waded in"?

    Do you really think so? I disagree. He said investment would be easier to attract if we had a majority government... he did not indicate which party.

    He also criticized the use of negative ads used by the federal Conservatives. Considering that comment was posted in the morning before the infamous "puffin", it was rather adroit.

    What you want to avoid is pulling a Ralph Klein. He did that.

    So while I certainly disagree with the "sheepish" adverb, maybe the title of your post was a hidden commendation? As in, we now have a Premier who doesn't run off his mouth at the slightest opportunity (I am sure reporters were digging for any quote they could from Alberta and Saskatchewan that would be interpreted in an "Eastern Bastards" theme). If it was a commendation, maybe there is hope for you yet Dave.

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 10, 2008 at 1:18 PM

    Can Ed Stelmach sincerely preach against negative campaigning? Last March he accused Kevin Taft of being the spirit of Pierre Trudeau and wanting to bring back the NEP. Which is and was complete nonsense.

    The Conservative negative ads in this campaign are disrespectful and disgraceful to the entire democratic process.

    ReplyDelete
  6. tkjSeptember 10, 2008 at 1:51 PM

    Puffins... ha.

    ReplyDelete

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