Follow Up: Jack makes good

As a follow up to my previous post calling Jack Layton out on his stance on civility in the House of Commons and the episode of former Senate page Brigitte DePape's disrespect to the Governor General, the House of Commons and Parliament in general...

...I have to commend him on doing what none of my left-wing friends are doing and stating that what she did was in fact wrong.

I guess he realized the gulf that would exist between a call for civility and keeping silent after the first shot taken is from his side of the political spectrum. Of course, while nobody is acting out, it's just as expected seeing how the smugness and insincerity hasn't taken a bow yet.

But it's a start.

I guess it helps when the natural egotist party isn't the one taking the lead and guiding the House of Commons' civility into a nosedive on the first chance to speak.

Calling Out Jack Layton On Civility

So, Jack... you're the one who was so fired up about civility in this session of Parliament. Not that you've really kept your word so far.

I have yet to hear word one from you about Brigette DePape, the young Senate page who disrupted the Governor General during the throne speech with a dramatic and churlish demonstration.

It doesn't surprise me that the media seems to be going out of its way to avoid having to ask you your opinion on this. It's much easier for them to build this unprofessional imbecile up as some martyr of civil disobedience without exposing her to the yardstick that you set for Parliament.

But if you're so dedicated to transforming Parliament into a place where the people charged by Canadians to keep the wheels of government turning productively and politely, let's hear what you have to say about one of those people turning her back on her responsibilities and in fact disrespecting the institution and mechanisms (the throne speech) of Parliament.

The definition of civility is quite clear. And this page certainly was neither courteous nor polite.

So let's hear it.

We'll wait.

Globe & Mail Engages In A Blistering Attack

Let's get this straight.

According to the Globe & Mail, the Conservative Party is testing the NDP's pledge to seek more civility and respect between members of Parliament" by launching a "blistering attack" on the NDP.

What was that blistering attack? International Trade Minister Ed Fast said that the policies the NDP have said they want to put forward would be bad for business.

Now, let's compare.

Mr. Fast called Jack Layton's party “reflexively and ideologically anti-trade,” accusing it of acting contrary to the interests of “hard-working Canadians."

So, according to the Globe & Mail this is what one could consider to be a "blistering attack". Never mind that article author Steven Chase was reduced to cutting and pasting one or two word fragments as quotes to make his point that this was some kind of "blistering attack".

Now, let's compare that to what Jack Layton said a couple of days ago about the Harper Government's response to the flooding in Quebec:

"His policy is to not help people. He said he's not there to do the cleanup or something to that effect. That is an attitude that does not respect the population."

And...

"And the idea that they don't want to interfere with the private sector . what is this? You want to promote the private sector to make money off the misery of people.

"What kind of an attitude is that? Is that the beginning of the attitude we're going to see on the privatization of health care and the privatization of all kinds of things which should be done by the government?

And those were just straight up, full sentence quotes of Jack Layton. Didn't even have to cut it down to one or two word fragments to frame what he said.

Geez... I don't know. I can't figure out which is more of a "blistering attack". Mind you it's not like we expect such incivility from Mr. Layton, the least civil MP in the House of Commons.

There really is only one clear element to this entire brouhaha involved in a blistering attack.

That would be the editorial staff of the Globe & Mail.

Blue Liberals: are you scared yet? It's time to choose...

One has to wonder whether the blue Liberals are starting to get scared. After all, with the possibility of the Liberal party facing extinction and the NDP taking a shot at the big chair, the fiscally conservative arm of the Liberal party certainly will need to take stock.

As much as they don't like Harper, are they willing to risk Jack Layton being the one to fuel the economic engines of Canada?

As much as they don't like the moderately conservative social policies of the present Conservative Party, are they willing to watch the NDP drag all those wonderful social programs that Liberals love down the toilet with disastrous corporate tax raises and Bob Rae-esque spending promises, neither of which can be afforded as we recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression?

It really is far past time they start to ask whether a vote for the Liberal party is in fact a vote for Jack Layton. The extreme left elements of the Liberal party are already leaving the deflating big red tent in droves to bolster the wind in Jack Layton's sails. All those blue Liberals out there really need to look in the mirror and ask whether they can afford sticking around to see an NDP led coalition.

The blue Liberals can't kid themselves any longer. While Ignatieff has been deceptive on this front, Jack Layton has made no secret of his goal of a coalition since day one of the campaign. If the polls turn true to the NDP, the economy of Canada and everything connected to it -- and if you can't do the math that means literally everything -- is in jeopardy.

So, blue Liberals... what say you?

Are you going to go down with the sinking ship?

Or are you going to be the bigger man/woman and responsibly vote for a party that will keep the NDP's hands off the economy and out of our pockets?

You know the Liberal party is not going to pull out of this nosedive. Are you really willing to let the country go down with your party?

A vote for Iggy is a vote for... Jack?

How often have we heard the Liberals cry that a vote for the NDP is a vote for the Conservatives? That scare tactic is most certainly about to die a horrific death.

Polls are showing NDP support clearly blazing upwards. We have two polls (LaPresse and Ekos) both stating the NDP have taken first place in Quebec with Nanos' latest numbers showing the NDP surging not only in Quebec but also in a three-way dead heat in Atlantic Canada and overtaking the Liberals in both the Prairies and BC.

Nobody can downplay or understate the significance of this turn of events.

I cannot see the Liberals old-school scare tactic used against NDP supporters working this time around. Only die-hard Liberals (and not even all of them) are impressed by Michael Ignatieff. NDP supporters certainly aren't impressed with Ignatieff's support of the invasion of Iraq and his right-winger in a left-winger cloak fakery.

With the Liberal Party's numbers clearly shifting downwards right across the country (with the exception of Ontario so far) there is no chance regionally speaking that NDP supporters are going to switch over to the Liberals now to "stop Harper" as it were. They most certainly are going to be buoyed at the prospect of Jack Layton finally getting the traction they have all longed to see for years.

The NDP need only rise 4.6% in the national polling to overtake the Liberals. And considering that there are ten days to the election and the NDP have clearly risen more than that amount in the past five days, all bets are off.

Jack Layton has had no qualms discussing his desire for a coalition government. If the NDP are able to sap away enough Liberal seats, that would put the NDP in the power position as the official Opposition party. In a coalition government, that would mean one thing: Prime Minister Jack Layton.

Can you think of any other title in the world that would be as likely to scare the pants off of every blue Liberal in Canada? I think not.

It's still a long shot. And we all know that with ten days left in this election anything can happen. But if the NDP continues it's upwards trajectory across the map, the Liberals are most certainly going to become the also-ran in the coalition dream. And blue Liberals don't hate Stephen Harper enough to risk a socialist government with a separatist party holding the strings.

Could it be that we'll soon be hearing the phrase, "A vote for Ignatieff is a vote for Layton?"

Play With Fire, Get Burned

By now, we are all aware of the leaking of the Auditor General's report on G8/G20 spending. We of course have the blowhards on both sides crying foul.

The lefties are convinced this report is a damning picture of what the Harper government is about and just another scandal proving so. Not that they ever needed proof of this; they've swallowed every faux scandal that has been thrown out since Harper took power, practically all of which proved to be false.

The righties are saying this report is completely worthless. As a draft report, it is not the final findings of the Auditor General and thus cannot be taken at face value. Mind you, even the Auditor General Sheila Fraser herself has cautioned the public against accepting this report and should wait until the real report is presented in Parliament.

Now, this whole brouhaha doesn't change my opinion of who to vote for. The timing and means of this release (along with the AG's warnings) tells me this is at best dirty politics by the Opposition and at worst outrightly criminal. That kind of move just affirms my opinion of Ignatieff as nothing more than an opportunist and Layton as the pompous hypocrite he is. After all, while the Contempt of Parliament finding by the Opposition causing this election is questionable, the releasing of an AG report outside of Parliament is by legislation a reason for a charge of Contempt.

But the truth of the matter is actually much more simple: if you play with fire, you're going to get burned.

Many Canadians -- including a slew of bloggers in the Blogging Tories blogroll -- were unimpressed at the scope of spending for the G8/G20 summit. The largesse was unfathomable and quite simply reckless. If you don't think so, just look at how many Blogging Tories are screaming from their roofs over Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton's spending promises.

As any true fiscal conservative knows, the bigger the government initiative, the greater chance for waste and/or error. And also the bigger the chance for pork-belly spending. Whether or not this erroneously leaked report -- I won't call it the AG's report since it was not released by and is not being endorsed by her -- turns out to be a true representation of her findings, the simple fact is that this is simply a matter of the chickens coming home to roost.

Maybe Harper should use this as a lesson and take a long look in the mirror asking himself what he really believes in regarding government spending.

But I -- and I'm sure many people who warned about the G8/G20 spending -- also can't help but say... I told you so.