Politics: Win Some, Lose More
Well, you knew this was going to happen, didn't you? A Team Blue (Conservative Party of Canada) member wasn't considered "conservative" enough for one particular group, so they backed a challenge to his seat.
Now, part of the idea behind the Team Blue platform of not guaranteeing MPs the party nomination between elections was so if a group of concerned citizens got riled up enough, then they could be tossed from office without worrying about that annoying "election" thing. I am not, in case you couldn't guess, a big fan of recalls.
So Mr. Turner found himself challenged by the fellow who lost the party nomination last time, D'Arcy Keene. Mr. Keene was backed by a Charles McVety, who has vowed to unseat any Conservative member who supported same-sex marriage. Because, after all, that's what being a Conservative means, right?
Apparently not, as despite the Canadian Family Action Coalition's best efforts, Mr. Keene couldn't come up with enough support to win the leadership of the riding.
My favorite part of McVety's bio:
"He holds several degrees and has authored a book, Victory Guaranteed."
Oops.
While I'm not a Team Blue fan, nor one of Garth Turner, I've long held that the Right in Canada are generally saner than their couterparts down south. Nice to have that confirmed.
And there was a few recent reminders WHY I'm not a Team Blue fan: Harper avoiding the huge AIDS conference in Toronto by playing "Arctic Cowboy", while whining that trying to stop people from dying was "too political" (gee, I guess he's not like President George after all); and the second was the lack of announcement regarding the exemption of Vancouver's safe injection site (Insite).
Insite can only operate if it has an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, plus it has been granted $1.5 million over three years in federal funding to operate, and the provinical government gave $1.2 million to develop the site. The PMs office hasn't said whether they will continue to fund the program, despite its mandate being scheduled to expire on September 13th.
The excuse?
"Unfortunately, the issue has been so politicized this week that this is probably not the time for us to make additional announcements."
Of course not, dear. Lord knows, politicians who are responsible for their government's actions shouldn't have to deal with political issues, should they? Old Plastic Man said recently in an interview with Reader's Digest (Motto: The World's Most Flavourless Magazine) that he was "offended" by comparisons to President George. And you know, he's right! He doesn't want to be George Bush.
He'd much rather be Karl Rove.
The third thing has been around a bit longer, and it's called "the enviroment". Heard of it? Well, Canada actually has a pretty piss-poor record as far as protecting it is concerned, and when the Conservatives not only bailed on the Kyoto Accord but also cancelled the incentives to improve the efficiency of Canadians' homes.
Agree or disagree with the Kyoto accord if you want, but even the staunchest opponents have to acknowledge that the EnerGuide program was working exactly as planned. Harper says he wants to replace Kyoto with a "made in Canada solution" (hello? Where the hell do you think we were during negotiations?), then he cancels a made in Canada solution.
You know you may be lying when...
***
I know I've been pimping this site a bunch lately, but it's worth it:
At the AIDS conference
Harper avoiding the AIDS conference
Now, part of the idea behind the Team Blue platform of not guaranteeing MPs the party nomination between elections was so if a group of concerned citizens got riled up enough, then they could be tossed from office without worrying about that annoying "election" thing. I am not, in case you couldn't guess, a big fan of recalls.
So Mr. Turner found himself challenged by the fellow who lost the party nomination last time, D'Arcy Keene. Mr. Keene was backed by a Charles McVety, who has vowed to unseat any Conservative member who supported same-sex marriage. Because, after all, that's what being a Conservative means, right?
Apparently not, as despite the Canadian Family Action Coalition's best efforts, Mr. Keene couldn't come up with enough support to win the leadership of the riding.
My favorite part of McVety's bio:
"He holds several degrees and has authored a book, Victory Guaranteed."
Oops.
While I'm not a Team Blue fan, nor one of Garth Turner, I've long held that the Right in Canada are generally saner than their couterparts down south. Nice to have that confirmed.
And there was a few recent reminders WHY I'm not a Team Blue fan: Harper avoiding the huge AIDS conference in Toronto by playing "Arctic Cowboy", while whining that trying to stop people from dying was "too political" (gee, I guess he's not like President George after all); and the second was the lack of announcement regarding the exemption of Vancouver's safe injection site (Insite).
Insite can only operate if it has an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, plus it has been granted $1.5 million over three years in federal funding to operate, and the provinical government gave $1.2 million to develop the site. The PMs office hasn't said whether they will continue to fund the program, despite its mandate being scheduled to expire on September 13th.
The excuse?
"Unfortunately, the issue has been so politicized this week that this is probably not the time for us to make additional announcements."
Of course not, dear. Lord knows, politicians who are responsible for their government's actions shouldn't have to deal with political issues, should they? Old Plastic Man said recently in an interview with Reader's Digest (Motto: The World's Most Flavourless Magazine) that he was "offended" by comparisons to President George. And you know, he's right! He doesn't want to be George Bush.
He'd much rather be Karl Rove.
The third thing has been around a bit longer, and it's called "the enviroment". Heard of it? Well, Canada actually has a pretty piss-poor record as far as protecting it is concerned, and when the Conservatives not only bailed on the Kyoto Accord but also cancelled the incentives to improve the efficiency of Canadians' homes.
Agree or disagree with the Kyoto accord if you want, but even the staunchest opponents have to acknowledge that the EnerGuide program was working exactly as planned. Harper says he wants to replace Kyoto with a "made in Canada solution" (hello? Where the hell do you think we were during negotiations?), then he cancels a made in Canada solution.
You know you may be lying when...
***
I know I've been pimping this site a bunch lately, but it's worth it:
At the AIDS conference
Harper avoiding the AIDS conference
Labels: Politics
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home