The Book of Awesome

The Plan has landed. And I, for one think it was worth waiting for.

Let us enumerate Changebook's positive attributes.

It's short.

It looks great.

It plays to our strengths as a party.

There is a LOT of tax relief.

There is a LOT of spending cuts.

It was designed with considerable input by the party rank and file.

There is very little in it for the opposition to attack us with. (That nonsense about chain gangs? Gone in a couple of days.)

It is pro-business and especially pro-small business. It is pro-patient, pro-consumer, pro-families, pro-personal choice, pro-rural, pro-infrastructure, pro-Northern Ontario (with a separate document for the North to be released later) pro-transparency, and even pro-environment.

It is anti-red tape, anti-big government, anti-union corruption, anti-sex offender, anti-sense of entitlement, anti-waste, anti-health and welfare fraud, anti-crime, anti-traffic, anti-energy price gouging, and most importantly, anti-Dalton.

Is it perfect? No. Is it everything? No. But it is very, very good. And considering that the current Premier is unlikely to change any of what he's done going forward, and that he called the last 8 disastrous years "a good start" at a rally today, (where the staffers padding the crowd were very unwelcoming towards outsiders, let me tell you) it is quite clear that we have a definitive choice at hand. By the way, "a good start" is also the answer to the question, "What do you call 71 out of work Liberal MPP's?"

The Liberals, meanwhile, are reacting to this by making dick jokes. And drawing stick figures. And making fun of typos. Blink and you'll miss their side-splitting attempt to light a bag full of poop on fire and leave it outside PC Party Headquarters. Or maybe they'll say that female PCPO MPP's should be at home baking cookies. Or call someone a reptilian kitten eater. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what your government has been reduced to. Keep in mind they are trying to present themselves as the stable option. Hmmm.

Here on my unglamorous blogger.com account, I hack out missives talking about what a doofus Dalton is in the interests of cheap lulz. These chuckleheads, who style themselves the best strategic minds in Ontario, are doing the exact same thing as me with a budget of Lord only knows how much, and it isn't even half as funny!

On Oct. 6, we are going to kick Dalton's tushy. Because we have a plan, and he has a bunch of grown men acting like 6 year olds thinking that they are going to change the outcome.

Idiots!

The Dalton McGuinty Travelling Roadshow of Fail continued apace today with not one, not two, but THREE colossal blunders.

First and foremost, I have to tell you that Tim Hudak thinks Boston is going to win the Stanley Cup. Yes, I realize that someone can support whatever team they want, and the Bruins actually have more Canadian players than the Canucks, and um....THIS IS ONTARIO, NOT BRITISH COLUMBIA....but of course, the Liberals took this in exactly the kind of direction you'd expect them to.

Look, I made fun of a stupid video Dalton made right before the World Juniors , and blamed Dalton for the loss. The difference is that I'm smart enough not to pay Bourque for a headline about it! Nobody cared about that then, so why should anyone care about this now?

Then, the Stoney Creek News published a letter written by Niagara West Glanbrook MP Dean Allison announcing his intention to run for Speaker of the Federal House of Commons. The writer of the letter makes reference to himself as being part of Stephen Harper's government. It should also be noted that the MPP for Niagara West Glanbrook is, naturally, Tim Hudak. Because he is an MPP and not an MP, Hudak cannot run for Speaker of the Federal House of Commons. This is obvious to everyone with a brain.

Unfortunately, the News published the letter with Tim Hudak as the signatory and quickly corrected the error. I have no picture of the letter with the wrong name as it appeared on the News website, so I have to take the Liberals at their word that the paper got it wrong, and that their Twittergasm implying that Hudak was, in actual fact, running for a  position that HE CANNOT HOLD was, in fact, a joke, and not proof that Liberals are so stupid that they cannot tell the difference between an MP and an MPP.

As of now, the misleading headline is still up on Bourque:

Look! Even Bob Rae disapproves of these tactics! Shaaaaame on you, Dalton!

Ridiculous. But that was just the warm up act.

You might not have known that Thornhill Liberal candidate Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress and champion of Human Rights Commissions and faith-based schools, recently had a press conference where he was endorsed by former York Region Police Chief Armand La Barge. And, it so happened that the issue of Farber's support for those wonderful faith based schools was raised by the media. A perfect opportunity for Farber to put the faith based monster to rest. Farber thought long and hard, weighed his options carefully, and told the media the following:

“I think the people of Ontario have spoken quite loudly on this issue but I still remain a firm believer in it. It’s probably something the premier and I don’t agree on but on virtually everything else, we are in agreement. I will try to march on those issues where we are in full agreement and continue to advocate on those issues I still feel strongly about,” he said, adding he believes he should be in a better position to do so from within the legislature.

Fantastic! He believes he will be in a better position to advocate on issues he feels strongly about- namely, FAITH BASED SCHOOLS, - from within the Legislature.

Dalton Beclowns Himself

I'm pleased to announce that the Clown Uprising will be postponed due to Dalton's backtrack on the issue. The day will come when we take to the streets on our tiny bicycles, though. I promise you that.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says it's up to parents to make sure their kids are safe around entertainers such as clowns.

His comments are in response to calls from a Brampton, Ont., woman who is urging legislation be brought in for such performers.


Linda Beaudoin says anyone working as a children's entertainer should have a criminal-background check and a licence.

She has been pushing for the legislation for more than a decade after she began working as a clown herself and realized nobody checked her background.

The Ottawa-born woman says she was abused as a child. She said she left home at 15 before taking on a variety of jobs, including exotic dancing.

Children's entertainers -- clowns, magicians, Santas and other characters -- can go into family homes and have access to kids, while parents often know very little about them, says Beaudoin.

But McGuinty, who has been accused by government critics as having a "father knows best" outlook, said he had no plans to licence the performers.

"It's not something that we're looking at at the present time but I would encourage parents to use their good judgment when it comes to these kinds of things," McGuinty said.

Can't Break Our Stride

As we move ever closer to the PC Party of Ontario Convention this upcoming weekend, I feel a surge of optimism and the sense of momentum that comes along with every successful campaign.

Gazing out over the Twittersphere and the commentariat as Tim Hudak's announcement percolates through the province- specifically, that he will refocus health spending away from useless feel-good measures and towards frontline healthcare- I find it hard to dispute the notion that Tim Hudak has his foes exactly where he wants them.

The Ontario Liberals are invoking, surprise surprise, Mike Harris, who was Premier almost a decade ago and as such is an odd choice of topic for a party who claims to be "forward-looking". Where is their defence of their record on health care? Where are the references to their "plan"? More to the point, where is the press release saying the Liberals would do the same thing if elected? You mean to tell me that we can't even count on Dalton stealing our ideas anymore?

Well, guess what: If an election were to be held today, Tim Hudak would preside over a majority government. And we also have frontline healthcare workers applauding our stance. That means that we're connecting with people.

So tell me: Why should I listen to the doom and gloom coming from some quarters? Do the Liberals have a nuclear talking point that they're not sharing with us? 

Is there any reason why Hudak should change tack?

Does he stand to gain something better than a majority if he had done anything differently? Because if so, I'm just dying to know.

Go ahead. Try to spoil my good mood. :)

Summer Lovin'....Happens So Fast....

What men call gallantry, and gods adultery, is much more common when the climate's sultry. -Lord Byron

With the Toronto Sun blaring the news that Dalton plans to give to union goons with one hand and take away from the civil service with the other, all indications are that it's going to be a long, hot, sweaty summer for the Ontario Liberals as they selectively feed the various and multipliying interest groups that have attached themselves to the government the way barnacles attach themselves to a ship. Guess there isn't enough of Dalton's love to go around.

Fig. 1: Ontario Union.

There are two possible ends to this public sector sausagefest. One is that Dalton spends every single dollar right down to the last penny and the province descends into Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

The other is that Dalton plans to use the unions until he doesn't need them anymore-which experts have estimated to be exactly 0.0000063 milliseconds after the election- and then embark on a magical hack-and-slash Adventure Quest through the union ranks so that they can cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. 

Wicked, tricksy Dalton doesn't have any friends! Nobody likes him!

Ohhhh, I'm sorry Leslie.... you didn't think Dalton appreciated you for your sparkling intellect and writing skills, did you? No, with Dalton, it's all about the body, or rather the bodies you can scrounge up to get him and his people re-elected.

What's that? You don't think he'll tell you and your union sisters to take a long walk off a short pier? This is the man who has been thumbing his nose at the electorate since the Biggest Tax Increase Ever way back in 2003. This past week alone has seen him introduce a wage freeze that lasted about as long as a snowball would outside today. And just in case you didn't know, he will be appointing this province's biggest supporter of faith based education as his candidate in Thornhill so that he can fund faith-based schools that are faith-based on October 7th, 2011.

And whom does Dalton plan to gain as his new beaux as he covers the walls with union blood? Why, the same people who decided that *we* are the unprincipled ones. 

Of course, 15 years ago the same people were busy falling in wuvv with Paul Martin because he cut transfers to the provinces, and continued to love him even though he eventually revealed himself to be the exemplar of the unscrupulous, unprincipled political operators. Guess lots of people are easy this summer.

I have a better idea: Let's elect a Tim Hudak government and perform the cuts ourselves. That way we can all- PC, Liberal, and union- maintain some semblance of fidelity to whatever it is we're supposed to be faithful to.

Round, Round We Go

So here we have proof positive that Dalton McGuinty's wage freeze is a colossal fraud. Like anyone needed proof, but there it is. If you're part of a union- any union- it's raining cash. Bonuses for the eHealth cronies. Vegas vacations for OPSEUs who want to follow Ruth Ellen Brosseau's lead. A wage hike for the OPP so that the Toronto Police Services Chair will stop his inconvenient complaining about costs going through the roof right before an important election.

Finance Minister Barney the Duncan-saur pulled himself away from the buffet table long enough to comment and blamed Rob Ford for the problem. Rob Ford is not up for re-election in October. DOESN'T MATTER. As I pointed out in my previous post, that if any Conservative anywhere does something that vaguely resembles whatever a Liberal is doing, then that completely absolves the Liberal of any criticism.

Here is Kelly McParland's definitive word on the matter:

The McGuinty Liberals seem to have decided that their own survival ranks above all other issues in the order of priorities. If they have to bankrupt the province to ensure that, they’re willing. And if they lose the election, it won’t be their problem anyway.

Got that? Dalton and his flock of fumblebums are going to spend money until there is nothing left. So along comes Tim Hudak with some gas price relief, saying he'll take the HST off of heating bills and cancel the festering debt that the Liberals have refused to deal with. It isn't the full story, but it's an excellent start. And here are two bloggers who were critical of the PC's (as is their right), but are now agreeing that Hudak is doing the right thing. Not only that, but the way forward for our party on the HST is clear: We will take the HST off items that should never had been subject to it in the first place and give people a break on skyrocketing hydro bills. That is to say, we will stop the HST dead in its tracks.

Ohhh, but that's not good enough. Because now we have to listen to anonymous sources who are unhappy about a "reign of terror". Last week it was complaining about the HRCs. Next week, it'll be lectures about conservative principles. By the time we form government, we'll have comfortably settled into a holding pattern halfway over "We need a new Reform party." Plus ca change.

I don't put much stock in rants about "real conservatism" because everybody and their brother is an expert on what makes a real conservative. Sometimes, I like to compare "real conservative" rants to NDP "We will not adjust" rants and see how similar the two are. Try it yourself sometime.

I find these rants entertaining and sometimes mildly annoying, mostly because I'm surprised how many times people fall for the same tactics over and over again. Everyone knows the answer to "Why did the chicken cross the road?", but nobody ever seems prepared to answer the question, "Why did the politician tell people what they want to hear?" In both cases, the punch line is the same: "To get to the other side". It is done because it works. Instead of getting mad, try asking yourself why it works and what it says about people.

Of course, I have the benefit of realizing that this is all part of a Liberal plan to divide the PC Party of Ontario so that they can get away with what they've done. Andrew Coyne having a meltdown on Twitter is OK, and is getting to be pretty routine, but when Liberal partisans pull out the popcorn, it's time to start asking why they are so interested. Likewise for this post where a Liberal operative shows up in the comments and starts egging on the debate. And then there's this guy, directing it all. But let's remember that this is part of a government, who, as Mr. McParland says, has decided their own survival ranks above all else.

Again: complaining about our party is part of life as a conservative, but PLEASE don't let the Liberals make tools out of you, with which they will build their third majority. That's all I ask.

The Front

Today, while reading Christina Blizzard, I finally got confirmation of something I'd been suspecting for a long time:
 
Liberal insiders tell me they intend to steal from Harper’s playbook. They will present themselves as a mature government that has steered the provincial ship through choppy economic waters — and come out the other end in better shape than other jurisdictions.

So there you have it. Everything we've seen from Dalton over the past few months has been a deliberate, if third-rate, attempt to copy Harper, and we won't see much of a change as we get closer to election day.

I'm sure that when you look at this from the Liberal perspective, it makes perfect sense. You sign a secretive deal costing I-don't-know-how-much to produce I-don't-know-what-kind-of-benefits to I-don't-know-who, and when the Opposition complains and says they'll get rid of it, you accuse them of trying to sabotage the economic recovery. I mean, as far as the Liberals are concerned, that's what was done in the federal election, and it worked out great for the guys running the government, right?

"Tim Hudak will enter into a coalition with separatists and socialists! Um, wait..."

The trouble is that the deal in question federally had to do with stuff people could relate to. Our fleet of jets are old and we need new ones. Crime is a problem and criminals need to be put in jail. Simple enough.

McGuinty's deal has to do with the nebulous concept of "green jobs" that I don't think anyone has been able to successfully explain, and it was done with a Korean superconglomerate whose approach to doing business makes them look like the bad guys in a James Bond movie.

Furthermore, it's an energy deal, a file on which McGuinty has repeatedly crapped the bed. Harper was, and is, trusted on defence and on crime. McGuinty is not trusted on energy. He's not trusted on the economy, either. So when Tim puts this deal to bed, I don't think anyone will miss it. And when McGuinty tries to make himself out to be an economic leader when every other province in Canada is ahead of us, it'll make for a great joke but it won't do much for his government's prospects.

And that brings me to the other half of this alleged strategy: the attempt to "define" Tim Hudak the way Ignatieff was "defined." We had a ridiculous campaign that lasted for months (and got annoying very quickly, in the same way that this is annoying) where Liberals on Twitter and elsewhere tried to assert that the PC's had "no plan." It should be remembered that the federal Liberals tried the same thing, and, well, look what happened to them. Anyway, The Plan exists and it will be rolled out at the end of the month, so goodbye to that nonsense.

So now Liberal friendly journalists, including the 0-for-2 Toronto Star, are conceding that yes, Hudak does have a plan, but, well, they don`t like it very much. This is part of the Liberal strategy to- unbelievably- make Hudak look like Ignatieff, who railed against Harper but couldn`t touch him.

The fact is though- as everyone but the Liberals realize- Hudak is not Ignatieff. Hudak has held public office here. He didn`t spend most of his career in another country. He doesn`t have to painstakingly learn how to communicate with regular people. But most importantly, Tim Hudak is a regular guy who likes to play basketball, grill ribs, and walk his dog. He`s not trying to be flashy or smarter than you, or turn the province into a playground for foreign multinational electronics empires.

When the Liberals look at Tim Hudak and see a quiet, normal guy, they feel the need to attack him for being that way. So what credibility do they have when they claim to stand up for the interests of the rest of us?

Holy Canolis!

Tony Genco to run in Vaughan! For the PC Party! He's got some bocce balls, that Genco!

Chutzpah!

Can you guess who said the following- addressing Dalton McGuinty, no less- during the 2007 Ontario provincial election?

"It's not fair -- it's offensive -- to link our day school system and [other] faith-based schools with segregation. It's fear mongering. It's time for him to step up to the plate and to retract this."

John Tory, perhaps? In a parallel universe where we might have won that election, yes, but that quote belongs to the Liberals new "star candidate", Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber.

Yes, that Bernie Farber. The High Priest of Official Jewry. The one Ezra has been railing against for years. The one who is good buddies with Capital H-I-M.

Running. In Thornhill. Heavily Jewish Thornhill. Heavily Conservative Thornhill. For the Liberals. The same Liberals who rained on the faith based schools parade. A parade that Farber himself led four years ago.

Oh, but it isn't just simple hypocrisy this time. No. Getting Farber to run is a direct challenge to us. Because Bernie Farber- and I don't imagine that I am saying anything very new or controversial here, or anything Farber himself would disagree with- is on the very short list of people that make Dalton look positively libertarian.

Dalton is clearly rubbing our noses in it. He's going to plunk this guy into one of the two ridings we won last time and say, "I think I can win this one back. What do you think about that?"

And all so that when the Liberal campaign issues the inevitable press release asking why the PC Party is "soft on hate"- and you know that one is in the pipeline- Bernie Farber can give it the thumbs-up.

Of course, this is all connected to that other issue nobody wants to talk about. Those Tribunals. (Hey, that's another issue Farber is known for going to the wall to defend.)  And what do we want to do with those Tribunals? Well, last I checked, we want to do reasonable things like allowing them to dismiss the kind of frivolous complaints Ezra has documented in his book, or by reforming their rules of evidence to make them more consistent with rules of law.

But even these preliminary steps will be too much for Farber to handle, won't they? If we were to so much as change the colour of the tablecloths in the Tribunal lunchrooms, Farber would decry it as "an attack on human rights."

So either way, we go to war over the appropriateness of speech this fall. If Farber and McGuinty win, the Ontario government will continue trying to legislate hurt feelings and rude behaviour out of existence. I know which side I'm on.

By the way....has anyone asked Farber whether his views on whether the government should fund private religious schools have changed? No? Well then, how about we ask this question at every single media event from now until E-day.....

What is Dalton McGuinty's secret, hidden, faith-based agenda to fund faith-based schools that are faith-based?  

Gimme Shelter

When the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies......what then?

Well, if you're Dalton McGuinty, and you're the last line of defence for Liberal-ism in Ontario, you throw yourself into the arms of the unions, hatching a secret plan to hike public sector wages while publicly campaigning for a wage freeze.

This is not the action of a man who commands a broad base of support within a province that, as Monday's election proved, values stability above all else. Unions are little more than mercenaries, working hard on behalf those who pay them but willing to desert at a moment's notice. Bob Rae and David Miller also fed the union crocodile, hoping it would eat them last. Now Dalton has been reduced to the same level.

How does a Premier with a majority get into a situation like this? It's because he tries ever so hard to be liked. To govern in everyone's interest.

The Liberals like to bash us for being "divisive" and for "pitting Canadians against each other." But we know the truth, don't we? We understand that if you give people everything they want, they're not going to love you for it in return. They'll just ask for more. Giving people only what they need is harder. And the Liberals don't want things to be hard. They want a world where money is not an object and love is all that matters. When we try to point out that their dream world isn't likely to happen, they get angry.

At the federal level, the Liberals are showing no signs of realizing that their inability to take off their rose coloured glasses is what led to their defeat. What the federal Liberals need is a totally new message, one that doesn't aim to please everyone or fix every problem at once. But instead, all I hear is, "We just need to pick the right leader" or "The NDP split the vote and we just have to wait for them to fall apart." Getting back to fundamentals is out of the question. Never mind that Harper is where he is today because he and his people looked hard at the fundamentals and absolutely committed themselves to winning, whatever the cost, even if it meant that people loved them less for doing it.

Dalton tries to get everyone to love him. That's why he's trying to cut public sector jobs on the one hand while raising wages on the other. But, just like the song says, his friends are treating him like a guest. A guest that will soon be shown the door, because he doesn't own the house.

The Centre Cannot Hold

Whooooo! That was quite a wild ride. In case you didn't hear yet, we won! Yaaaaaaay!!!! :D :D :D :D

Oh, right. Him.

Now, while Dalton wisely stayed away from the Liberal collapse that was #elxn41 (possibly because the sheer amount of fail generated by Dalton and Ignatieff had they been present in the same room may have broken reality itself), that doesn't mean Dalton won't be damaged by the fallout.

First of all, all the signature Liberal lines of attack were deployed during the election. The line about secret cuts that would close every hospital in Canada. The accusation that Conservatives really aren't tough on crime. The abortion scaremongering. General nonsense about hidden agendas. Screams about racism. All of the above were used. All of the above failed miserably.  

As I've written previously, Liberals operate under the delusion that they control the boundaries on what is and what is not appropriate political speech in this country, and that all they have to do is remind people of What Stephen Harper/Tim Hudak/Rob Ford/Insert Conservative Here Said and the polls will respond accordingly in their favour.

By comparison, if they say something bizarre, such as how their (former) leader called America "his country", well.....in their minds nobody cares about that, because they are the centre, and everyone else are just weirdos with ideology. Do they really believe half the stuff they say about Conservatives? Probably not. Doing this is a learned response, taught to them by spinmasters who haven't updated their tactics since 1993. But there he is, at it again, talking about "shutting down 30 hospitals." With all the "soul-searching" Liberals are doing on this grey Wednesday morn, you would think maybe they could get the hint that they need to change their game up a little. Nope. Won't happen.

And let's say the Liberals are right. Let's say there really was a plan afoot to "reverse our progress" here in Ontario. What could they do to stop it?

The Liberal era of Try To Please Everyone And End Up Pleasing No One, But Call It A Success Anyway is coming to an end. People are done with Liberal assurances.