The Clown At Midnight

The Power of Drummond

2012-02-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll be dipped in beer. Dalton's going to privatize stuff, which is something he said he wouldn't do. And he's going to, um, not lower corporate taxes like he promised.

Now, here's what's going to happen:

-Dalton can never- never again- accuse us of wanting to "sell off assets".

-Dalton's going to annoy corporate investors. Again.

-Dalton's going to make people worried that he'll actually sell the LCBO and other assets.

-Dalton's going to annoy conservatives who want the LCBO sold lock stock and barrel. (Hey, Hudak! Now's your chance!)

-People are worried about more ORNGEs. (The problem with ORNGE was the public tax dollars, not the privatization, but let's let Dalton make that case for a change.)

-The NDP will complain, as they do, thus squeezing Dalton in the middle.

What next, Dalton? This is what tackling the deficit looks like. Don't be shy.

The Next Campaign Starts Now

2012-02-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Tim Hudak on receiving the confidence of the party membership. Congratulations to Richard Ciano on his victory. Congratulations to the PC Party of Ontario executive.

Our convention in Niagara Falls was a mature affair where we confronted the hard reality of our loss and our mistakes, and vowed to do better next time. I was legitimately worried that we were going to have a repeat of the AGM following the 2007 loss, where anger overwhelmed everything and the party was left traumatized for months. But we didn't go down that road again. We vowed to move on and not repeat our mistakes anymore, and for my part, I felt very proud of Tim for sharing his real feelings with the assembled members. Now, he has to do the same for the rest of Ontario.

Richard Ciano and his people effectively masterminded a Party President election that had the potential to turn ugly. The candidates and their supporters were all respectful, and in stark contrast to the dirt-kicking federal Liberal effort of last month that saw Mike Crawley win by a whopping 26 votes, Ciano captured a large mandate from the floor and channeled the grassroots' desire for change effectively. By doing that, we conclusively proved that we are not the federal Liberals, and I give Ciano credit for helping us make that distinction. He has a tough task ahead of him, and I'm willing to help if he'll let me.

Kevin Gaudet, who I supported and who I will continue to support in his efforts to become an MPP in this party, provided us all with a demonstration of how the real Tim Hudak might come through better to voters. Without the resources of the Ciano campaign or the name recognition of John Snobelen, he managed to sway many more voters to him than would have been otherwise expected. He did this by projecting complete authenticity and acting on his desire to shake things up in the PC Party of Ontario instead of just talking about it. He criticized Hudak for making mistakes, but made it clear that his criticism was meant to help Tim do better, not to tear him down. By doing this, he won the support of almost 1 out of every 5 PC Party voters. All conservatives who are concerned about how to connect with voters would do well to follow Kevin's example.

John Snobelen deserves credit for the positive campaign he ran and for introducing a motion to have regular meetings of the President's Council. He impressed me the most by speaking to the crowd on the morning of the vote alone on stage, without notes. He's got a lot to teach us about our party and how to resolutely defend conservatism, and I hope he will keep on doing just that.

But I'm not going to pretend that everything is sunshine and roses.

20% of the people who came down to Niagara Falls voted for a leadership review despite the real contrition shown by Tim Hudak and the vocal support given to him by all three candidates for President. Nothing anyone did or said could dissuade those voters. And despite my criticism of the anti-Hudak forces within the party over the past few months, I've got to give that 20% credit for having the guts to vocalize their discontent appropriately and letting the party know that they have to work even harder to earn back their confidence. Now, those 20% must accept that Hudak is going to lead the party into the next election. And they must accept that a Hudak-led PC Party of Ontario is the only choice to defeat McGuinty next time around.

We've also got to do something to shake the perception that we are obsessed with the short term fix that will boot McGuinty out and boot us in. The Drummond report will be released shortly, and just like I predicted weeks ago, it's looking like Dalton's going to take a big ol' pass on most of what's going to be on offer. That's taking the path of least resistance, something Dalton does well. We'd better not do the same.

Finally, it is time to develop an organized information-collection strategy to get the dirt on Dalton, his caucus, his advisors, his union friends, and the chessmasters who think they can't be touched because they're so, so smooth. I know those chessmasters dislike the federal Conservative Resource Group, because they tell us so. We need a group like the CRG if we are ever going to form government. I haven't bagged any big-name Liberals just yet, because all I have is my blog, but I do OK for myself. I've had discussions with those people in the PC Party who share this interest. I hope they will make use of my skills.

Get down to business. Everyone. Now.

Game On!

2012-02-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

All right, everybody. This is it. After months of wailing and breast beating, it is finally time for us to get down to Niagara Falls and get serious about fixing this party and this province.

We all know what the stakes are here. Either the PC Party of Ontario continues to do what they've always done, and get what they've always got, or we can start doing what needs to be done.

What we need to do is elect an executive of ruthlessly competent men and women who are absolutely committed to victory, regardless of the personal cost. People who don't care about whether they're hated for doing the conservative thing. If someone running for party executive strikes you as someone who will blink when attacked by Liberals, don't vote for them. I know that Kevin Gaudet won't blink.

What we need to do is restore confidence in Tim Hudak by giving him a strong mandate to continue as leader, but at the same time he must not leave the convention without understanding that the time for playing nice is over. It's time for Tim Hudak to declare war on greedy public sector unions and shine a very big spotlight on McGuinty's obfuscation of how public money is misspent in the health sector. When Liberals ask him why he wants to "gut healthcare", he needs to say, "We can't afford to do what we've been doing."

What we need to do is get our riding associations active, to start nominating candidates now, and to ensure that our platform is a conservative platform next time around. There should not be one person in all of Ontario who does not feel that our platform next around is not conservative enough, whatever other criticisms are made of it. Anyone who is derelict in getting these tasks accomplished has no right to call themselves a conservative.

But most importantly, what we need to do is to understand that the conservative way of doing things is the correct way of doing things. Those who do not accept that the conservative way of doing things is the correct way of doing things must not be ignored. They must be fought, until they are made to see that we are in the right.

We saw this week what happens when conservatives assume they've won and stop fighting, when Rob Ford gave an inch and lost a mile. I want to blame the unions and the special interests and the traitorous city councillors like everyone else, but I can't help but feel that part of this is Ford's fault for letting these people carry on, for allowing them to assume, even for a second, that they were allowed to continue as they had been during the Miller administration.

Our supposed claim to fame as conservatives is that we love freedom, and that even those we disagree with are free to do as they choose. But those on the left are only too willing to use our benevolence against us. They do not afford us the same courtesy that we would afford them. They believe that their feigned concern for humanity's best interests justifies their own hatred and contempt towards us. So we must deal with them mercilessly. We win no points for good sportsmanship.

And that is why, more so than any changing of the guard on our executive, more so than pointless debates about the leader, and more so than any policy debate, Niagara Falls has got to be about a change in attitude. It is no longer enough to pretend that we will win elections just by showing up. It is no longer enough to pretend that the party lives and dies with the leader or the executive or the logo. And it is no longer enough to pretend that just because Dalton McGuinty is not liked by people, people are going to vote against him.

If we allow the people a single reason to vote Liberal, they will return Dalton McGuinty to government. Because Dalton won't force them to make hard choices, and we must force them to make those choices. That is what it comes down to, after all is said and done.

Whatever you must do to get yourself in that state of mind, do it in Niagara Falls, and then keep on doing it between now and the next election.

Physicians, Heal Thyselves

2012-02-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

Guess what, everybody: In Ontario, unions are worth more than doctors. I know that thought might not exactly sit well with some of you but it's really the only way you can interpret the fact that unions get secret pay raises from Dalton, but doctors have to take a pay cut.

Look at how much those doctors make. What have they done for us lately? Just saving people's lives? With Ontario being hit the hard by the recession, we can't just continue to pay those doctors what they've been getting for sitting around all day helping people get well. It's an embarassment of riches! Doctors save lives, but unions save McGuinty's bacon during elections! And which do you think is more important to the future of this province?

Poor, defenceless striking unions are getting their bluff called down in London while these doctors, such as ex-ORNGE CEO Chris Mazza, are laughing all the way to the bank! It's an absolutely terrible situation that was allowed to continue for years until Deb Matthews decided today that it was inexcusable and couldn't be allowed to continue!

Wait, wait. I'm forgetting that in Dalton's Ontario, None of Us Is As Strong As All Of Us. Remember that just because doctors have specialized skills and do work that nobody else wants to do, they shouldn't be making more than union leaders like John Mandarino , who "breached contract tendering rules, lost government training grants, broke cheque-signing policies and charged unauthorized personal expenses without proper accounting" and made $255,000 a year for his trouble. That's equity for you.

Selective Memory

2012-02-07T04:57:00.000-08:00

Sure, Dalton McGuinty is really concerned about out of control corporations like Caterpillar that abscond with jobs in Ontario. Just read this article from 2008:

As a shortage of skilled labour threatens to engulf Ontario's economy, the McGuinty government is facing pointed questions about why it has given call centre workers apprenticeship status along with millions of dollars in training support.

Controversy is growing now because of Dell Computer Corp.'s decision to close its Ottawa call centre. Dell collected tax incentives of up to 25 per cent of the salaries it was paying to its 1,700 Ottawa workers -- worth more than $11 million.

I'm sorry, Dalton.......what were you saying about protecting Ontario jobs?

Kevin Gaudet: Early Nomination Deadline!

2012-02-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Hey, here's an interesting idea. Instead of just saying that we want early nominations for candidates for the next go-round, how about we set an actual deadline for them? Like March 1, 2013, perhaps?

Kevin Gaudet wants to ensure that we have our team of candidates in place and ready to go long before the next election. Having the deadline a year from now will give ridingsassociations enough time to get their acts together, and make sure that our candidates can get their names out there early. No dormant riding associations allowed!

A Good Day, Despite Everything

2012-02-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

Dalton McGuinty knew about the problems at ORNGE years ago and didn't do anything about it. (And this story is going to get much, much worse.)

An investigation has revealed millions of dollars in fraud at an LCBO. By a concerned citizen who could have been any one of you, by the way.

The Ontario Liberals got called out on their deficit foot-dragging by the Conference Board of Canada.

And, the Ontario Young Liberals got their butts kicked at Ontario Model Parliament. (Way to go, young Tories!)

How about we talk about some of the above instead of some ridiculous Sun News spat, huh?

One Out Of Two Ain't Bad, For This Government Anyway

2012-02-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Good Idea: Selling off a money-losing theme park, several years too late but whatever.

The drain on provincial coffers amounts to about $20 million a year, roughly split between an operating deficit and capital costs. In another era, that was small change for the province, but times have changed. In 1971, then-premier Bill Davis opened Ontario Place when money was growing on trees and health care didn’t consume 42 per cent of the budget.

Bad Idea: Having one of Dalton's provincial proxies, Stewardship Ontario, jerk municipalities around by changing the pricing structure for how hazardous waste is hauled away. Remember the eco-fee mess? Same deal here.

Gord Miller, the environmental commissioner of Ontario, said the Stewardship Ontario situation “is part and parcel of the problem” stemming from much-needed amendments to waste-diversion legislation that was shelved after the eco-fees debacle in July, 2010, when Stewardship Ontario began levying fees on consumers on a range of products, including rechargeable batteries and fire extinguishers. In the face of public outcry, then environment minister John Wilkinson directed Stewardship Ontario to shelve the fees.

“We’re left with a whole bunch of policy problems,” Mr. Miller added. “The model needs to be refined,” including a clarification of roles and responsibilities between the Ministry of the Environment and Stewardship Ontario’s overseer, Waste Diversion Ontario. “Diversion from landfill is not going well; we’re not meeting our targets.”

Hard Bargaining

2012-02-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

To no one's surprise, Dalton gave his union pals a raise and didn't tell anybody.

Somehow, Dr. Stewart Kennedy, head of the Ontario Medical Association, doesn't think that the government is "posturing" in advance of contract negotiations with doctors. He may want to rethink that opinion.

I'd just love to see how Ontarians feel about living in a province where unions get a better deal from the government than doctors do.

Not Free To Choose

2012-01-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

So after weeks and weeks of anticipation, after Dalton built up his new and exciting plan for health care in a great big honking speech, after we were told that things were really going to be different this time, promise, pinky swear, with sugar on top.....Deb Matthews got in front of a room and basically said that they were going to give the LHINs more authority. Surgery clinics will be doing more procedures but she won't say which procedures. Money will go to home care services instead of nursing homes.

These are, of course, the same LHINs that have been accused of being less than frugal by provincial auditors and other such people.

Now, I'm not going to write another post about how McGuinty has no clue what he's doing and that he's completely stranded himself. That much is obvious. The fact that he's killing his credibility with this shilly-shallying is also obvious.

No, instead I'm going to point out how McGuinty's predicament proves that if we let people to their own devices, they will never, ever, turn against the government like Principled Conservatives expect them to.

Deb Matthews isn't going to take one red cent out of health care because she knows that people will never accept the taking of one red cent out of the health care budget. Matthews is a Liberal. She's supposed to keep on blandly reassuring people that things are OK when they really aren't, because that's what keeps you elected. Sure the system is eventually going to collapse on itself, but that'll happen a long time from now. And thinking about what's going to happen a long time from now is hard. And McGuinty isn't going to pull a Paul Martin and start chopping away at the deficit even if he'd like to, because Paul Martin ended up going from Mr. Deficit Slayer to Mr. Dithers once he got control of the Liberals, and then he lost to Harper. And McGuinty won't make the same mistake.

The idea amongst Principled Conservatives is that if they were in charge, they'd privatize and slash and burn until the deficit was dead. Wouldn't that be beautiful. But it never happens. Those silly moderates keep getting to run the show, and they never can be counted on to do what needs to be done. When Conservatives get into government, they cut a tax or two, but when it comes to cutting spending, well....Mike Harris got called a murderer this week by kids at Ryerson who were probably 10 years old when Harris was Premier. The rest of them are quite happy to continue spending, and...well, then they end up on the Liberal War Room Boss's "Tory Times Are Tough Times" chart. Never mind that they wanted to cut spending, but didn't want to be called murderers for doing it.

So the last guy who got serious about cutting Ontario's deficit is a murderer in the minds of university students who never felt the pinch from those cuts, nobody likes the last Liberal Prime Minister who got serious about the deficit, and we've got everyone from Rob Ford to the leaders of the nations of Europe trying to keep from being ripped apart by restive citizens who don't want to let go of what they've gotten used to.

And that's the key. That's the real problem. Blaming the government is only part of the problem, because all governments are doing is trying to shield themselves from angry people who will turf any government that tries to make the kind of changes that are necessary to get through this crisis. They elected Rob Ford, then they devoted themselves to ensuring that not one dollar of city services would be cut.

I don't care how much Canada has supposedly shifted to the right over the last couple of decades. Until a politician can announce without hesitation that health care spending, or education spending, or city services spending needs to be cut significantly, it's all just a drop in the bucket. When Mike Harris is not called a murderer for doing what was necessary to dig Ontario out of the hole it was in after Bob Rae got done with it, then I might listen to what people have to say about "rationality" and "free choice."

Until then, any government, Liberal, Conservative or otherwise, that wants to get serious about cutting the deficit needs to force the cuts (or the tax increases, as the case may be) down the throats of the people that elected it. There's no other way, because people have shown that they are incapable of accepting that the party is over on their own. People want womb-to-tomb government care. They took to the streets a few months ago and Occupied various spaces around the country because they thought the government wasn't doing enough to help the 99%. They feel aggrieved. They feel hard done by. And God help you if you try to tell them differently, because they ain't listening.

The people of Ontario would rather blame Mike Harris for their troubles than accept that Dalton has anything to do with the current state of affairs. They will give all sorts of reasons for not voting PC, but they all stem from the fact that once upon a time, Mike Harris cut spending and that was unacceptable.

But Mike Harris had something going for him, and that was that he didn't care one whit for what people said about him. He doesn't even care to this day that people hate him. (Look, he says so himself.) And the instant that the PC Party started caring about what their haters had to say, the bottom fell out from under them and it hasn't been restored since.

I believe that the day that the PC Party of Ontario has the courage to get up in front of Ontarians and say, "We're going to kill the deficit, and we're going to cut a whole lot of services to do it, and we're going to impose Conservative principles on you, and we don't particularly care if you don't like it" is the day that they will start looking like the party that governed the province of Ontario for the better part of its existence.

Because if nothing else, doing that will get people to understand that they had better know what's best for them and that they had better be rational and make their own choices, because the government sure isn't going to be doing those things for them anymore.

Put Up Or Shut Up

2012-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

This looks exactly like a government that has hoisted itself on its own petard.
Backing off any plan to curb caesarean sections to save money, Health Minister Deb Matthews says new birthing centres outside hospitals may be a better way to accomplish the same goal.

I want to make this very clear: we are not delisting caesarean sections,” Matthews told reporters Thursday at the opening of a new family health team in Toronto’s Liberty Village.

Her comments came one day after she suggested reducing the number of C-section births would ease costs for the Ontario Health Insurance Plan costs as the province struggles to erase $16 billion deficit.

Don Drummond said he wanted C-sections delisted. Don Drummond's an Expert. Experts are supposed to promote "evidence based policy." Liberals like to wag their fingers at us about "evidence based policy." But when push comes to shove, and union queen bees get angry, Liberals change their tune:

Don Drummond, the former TD Bank chief economist who is advising Premier Dalton McGuinty on plans to slash spending, has warned that C-section births are “off the charts” and cost too much money because women spend more time in hospital.

The remark earned a rebuke from Sharleen Stewart, head of the Service Employees International Union representing more than 50,000 health-care workers.

“Women do not need a Bay Street banker telling them how or when to give birth. Don Drummond seems to have developed a god complex that has gotten out of control. He should get his hands off women’s bodies and out of our health care,” Stewart said in a statement.

If Liberals aren't prepared to do what we supposedly won't do, they should shut their mouths.

There, I Said It

2012-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

If it's between Option A, spending $5 million on a museum that's not even in Ontario and Option B, saying it's a waste of money and, as a result, being "against human rights", then I'm going with Option B.

Made a few Liberals' days there, I'll bet.

The cash-strapped Ontario government says it stands by a decision to send $5 million to a Winnipeg museum whose costs are spiralling skywards.

The province will send $500,000 annually for 10 years.

The Winnipeg Sun has reported that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is wildly overbudget with the project’s tab — initially set at $270 million — now pegged at $351 million.

That newest tally does not include an estimated $5 million to complete the museum’s theatre.

Kevin Gaudet: Let's Get It Right Next Time

2012-01-24T20:01:00.000-08:00

Like I said before, real Principled Conservatives act.

Time For Another Thoughtful Post

2012-01-22T16:46:00.000-08:00

Do we want to fix Ontario, or do we just want to get back into government?

I pay a lot of attention to the federal Liberals and their trials and tribulations. Because, in case you haven't noticed, the PC Party of Ontario and the federal Liberals have a lot of the same problems.

-Preoccupation with past victories
-Base that is split into different camps
-Lot of complaining about the government while not offering as many solutions
-Fruitless complaining about leadership
-Resistance to change and input from the party rank-and-file
-Party rank-and-file assuming that the people in charge know better than they do and not speaking out against things that they feel are wrong

How do the Liberals approach these problems?

Past victories: The Liberals still don't get that they aren't the preferred choice of most Canadians. More people voted for other parties than they did for the Liberals. The "60% of Canadians didn't vote for Harper" argument that they like to toss around ignores the fact that the Liberal share of the vote has been declining for a long time now.

Split base: When people are writing books about your intra-party warfare, it's not a good sign.

Complaining about government: They've been doing this for years. Everything the Conservatives do is the worst thing ever, but the Liberals don't ever tell us how they'd fix things or do things differently. They want legislation banning attack ads by third parties (as noted by the War Room Boss here) but they ignore the fact that Dalton does the same thing. They complain about conditions in Attawapiskat, but ignore that they didn't fix the problem when they were in government. They try to scare people into thinking Harper wants to destroy gay marriage, but ignore the fact that they didn't close the loophole that led to that whole kerfuffle.

Leadership: Bob Rae was supposed to be interim leader, and now it looks like he's permanent leader, and the Liberals say they're OK with this. Despite the fact that David McGuinty announced that he wanted to complete the Daltonian takeover of everything at their biennial.

Party rank-and-file not speaking out: See above.

Resistance to change: The Liberals decided they wanted to replace the current voting system with some form of ranked ballot. I can't find a single person outside ther LPC who thinks that there's a serious problem with the way we elect politicians in this country. The federal Liberals think it's a problem because they suddenly can't get elected anymore under the old system. When the old system gave them Trudeau, Laurier, Chretien, Pearson, King, etc., it was fine. Now that it gave them Harper, it's gotta go. I bring up this example because it shows how the Liberals are so stuck on defeating Harper that issues like this take precedence over issues that actually affect Canadians.

How do we approach these problems?

Preoccupation with past victories: Sadly, there are still people who think bringing Harris or Tory back would fix everything, and many people still think the same things that worked in the Bill Davis days will work now. However, we didn't get relegated to third place like the federal Liberals did, so we must be doing something right.

Base split into different camps: You could say that we have that problem. I don't think people in the PCPO want to fight the battles of the past the way the Chretienites and Martinites have done for decades, though.

Complaining about leadership: Yep. "Time for a really conservative leader!" "Like who?" "Um...." Fortunately, we don't have every other elected official in our party trying to do an end-run around the leader, and we are less preoccupied with who leads us than the federal Liberals.

Not offering solutions: Pretty much the #1 complaint people had about changebook. Recent moves by Hudak are suggesting he's gotten the message, though.

Rank-and-file not doing enough: On this one, I think we're worse than the federal Liberals. We complain a lot, and do so publicly, but nothing changes. Remember: when changebook was announced, a room full of people gave it several standing ovations.

Resistance to change and input: If the central party doesn't change, it's because the rank and file doesn't give them any reason to change. The Liberals' marijuana resolution is useless, but at least they're trying to put resolutions forward. Are we going to have any resolutions at our AGM?

Now, the Liberals have basically decided that they don't need to address their past mistakes, and that coming out of their biennial, all is well and the natural order of things (permanent Liberal majority governments) will soon be restored. We'd better not do that. Our AGM had better be a loud, raucous, breast-beating, mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore affair where we address the following questions:

a) What are the problems facing Ontario that are not being addressed by McGuinty?
b) How are we going to address these problems?
c) Do our solutions make sense? Do voters agree with them?
d) What are we doing that is preventing these problems from being solved?
e) What are each of us going to do to solve these problems?

Notice that I advocate a relative absence of complaining about the leader and the central campaign. That's been done. Our job now is to ensure that the leader and the central campaign gets the message from us that if something's going wrong, we will TELL THEM, loudly, right away.

The difference between us and the federal Liberals must be that we are willing to take a hard look at what we're doing wrong and fix it, while they aren't. Or else we will share their fate.

Hudak On Caledonia

2012-01-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not the *particular* miscarriage of justice we all think about when the word "Caledonia" comes to mind....but it's something.

Also, the LCBO likes to waste money and energy producers are leaving for the U.S., citing over-regulation in Dalton's Ontario.

Isn't it amazing what we can accomplish when we point out actual examples of Dalton's incompetence?

ORNGE You Glad?

2012-01-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll be jiggered. A few bad headlines for Dalton and Co. and things start looking up for the PC's. Now the same media won't talk about Tim Hudak's plan to slash out of control public sector spending and horrific examples thereof because the media is notoriously unreliable, so that's where I and this blog come in. Do ye the same.

Stratford firefighters: In December 2011, an arbitrator awarded city firefighters and dispatchers retroactive pay hikes of three per cent in each of 2007, 2008 and 2009, and pay increases of 3.6 per cent for 2010 and 3.8 for 2011 and 2012. Total estimated cost: $1.5 million – which has delayed approval of the City’s 2012 budget and raised the threat of a tax increase to finance it all.

University professors and librarians: In October 2010, arbitrator Martin Teplitsky rejected the Liberals’ plea for wage freeze, saying he refused to be “a minion of the government.” He awarded U of T employees a 4.5 per cent salary increase over two years, explicitly saying he did not take the university’s negative financial situation into account.

Hydro workers: In March 2010, arbitrator Kevin Burkett awarded 3,400 unionized OPG employees increases of six per cent over two years. Burkett said that without legislation backing it, there was “no binding force or effect” to the government’s plea for a wage freeze.

And, um, this ORNGE story is going to get a whole lot worse. And then, there's still this.

I wouldn't start celebrating yet because the media, as I said before, is notoriously unreliable. And we don't want to be the federal Liberals, who broke out the champagne this week because they are still in third place, but not by as much.

People are mad at Dalton. That doesn't mean they love us.

Just So We're Clear.....

2012-01-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

If the National Citizens Coalition has ties to the CPC, that's terrible.

But if the Working Families Coalition has ties to Dalton, that's OK.

Got it?

UPDATE: You tell 'em, Lorrie.

Fuss Budget

2012-01-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

We want cuts, says Mayor Ford of Toronto and his alies. You can't have them, say the left wing and centrist city councillors. Yay, say protesters.

Now while Dalton is probably having a good chuckle at Ford's expense right now, he should remember that in a few months, he's going to have to do the same thing. Bring down an unpopular budget, likely Drummond Lite, and have to justify it to Ontarians. Maybe even a few juicy concessions to us, or more likely to the NDP, to ensure it passes.

But it won't matter. Because the elected representatives of city council voted yesterday for effectively no spending cuts. And who are we to say that their constituents wouldn't have lost their collective minds if there had been the tiniest of tiny, inadequate reductions in the amount of money available? What indications have people given that they are prepared to accept any kind of spending cuts?

We sure aren't getting that message from the Premiers (of which Dalton is one) complaining about Harper's health accord. We didn't get that message from mayors across the province who quailed at the notion that a PC government under Tim Hudak would take a look at the balance sheet before uploading more than a billion dollars from municipalities. And we certainly aren't getting that message from any country, anywhere, who has tried to get spending under control.

So how is Dalton- one of the Premiers who at the moment is fighting Harper for more health care money, remember- going to extricate himself from this mess? How is he going to avoid sharing Ford's fate as he tries to cut his own spending while simultaneously demanding more from Harper and being squeezed by the PC's and the NDP?

I actually can't wait to see how and if he pulls this off.

Conventional Wisdom

2012-01-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

And so ends the latest chapter in the federal Liberals' wandering in the wilderness.

A convention where the Liberals took the unconventional step of approving a policy to legalize marijuana, but took the conventional step of shooting down a proposal to remove the leader's veto over policies like, um, legalizing marijuana.

A convention where Bob Rae's handpicked favourite for President and Chretienite stalwart Sheila Copps, went down to defeat at the hands of wind turbine kingpin Mike Crawley.

A convention where the youth of the party call for renewal, but where 20 year-old Zach Paikin loses his bid for Policy Chair.

A convention where the party members vote for the creation of a new class of supporter, but not for the full U.S. primary experience, and in the process alienate their I'm-better-than-you Laurier Club class of donors who dislike having their status reduced to the same as a lowly "supporter."

If I didn't know better, I'd suggest these were the actions of a group of people who still haven't gotten over having their tushies kicked some months back and who want change but are slowly realizing that change is hard and requires actually taking some risks.

Why, things are so bad that it is starting to look like the McGuinty Brothers are thinking of taking over the federal Liberals for themselves. And after all, isn't Dalton McGuinty the real opposition to the federal Tories already?

And of course, David McGuinty's announcement and Dalton's speech drew lots of attention to the overwhelming preoccupation the Liberals have with who leads them. What they want is a saviour to save them from having to do all that dreary work of trying to become relevant again. Which, when you consider how the last saviour worked out for them, shows that they have learned nothing.

When we, the PC Party of Ontario, have our convention next month, we must absolutely not be acting like these chuckleheads. No, getting 3000 + people out to a convention centre in Ottawa when you are a national party, one who aspires to form the Government of Canada is not an accomplishment. No, getting a D.O.A. policy resolution to make a substance legal is not an accomplishment. No, getting a former Paul Martin water-carrier to be your party President and is not an accomplishment. Because, if I understand things correctly, the Liberals want to form government, not just talk about it. And all they basically did was talk this weekend.

Now if we want to differentiate ourselves from the Liberals here in Ontario, we could start by showing that we are not concerned about who leads the PC Party of Ontario, because we already know that the answer to that question is Tim Hudak. Then we could try electing ourselves a Party President, such as Kevin Gaudet, who would like to take things in a completely different direction from the one that cost us three straight elections. Following that, we could try something radical and revolutionary like having regular EDA meetings where we work out a plan riding by riding for how we take this province back. And we might- if we're feeling really adventurous- also try figuring out where the Ontario Liberals' weak points actually are in addition to our own, and figuring out what the voters in Ontario actually want in addition to what we want, and doing something with that knowledge.

It sounds crazy, but it just might work. At the very least, it isn't what the federal Liberals are doing.

Unbelievable

2012-01-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

Did anyone else notice this?

Ms. McCarthy, who played an instrumental role in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage, said Ontario has tried to duck the volatile test case by deferring to the federal government.

“It is appalling and outrageous that two levels of government would be taking this position without ever having raised it before, telling anybody it was an issue or doing anything pro-active about it,” she said.

Of course, it's an article about the federal government. That quote above is the only reference to McGuinty, and he's not even mentioned by name.

I didn't even know there was a test case here in Ontario.

Unbelievable. What the hell are we dealing with here?

Kevin Gaudet: Call Me Anytime

2012-01-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Kevin Gaudet wants to hear from you. That's why he's launching the Building Together for Victory phone line. Don't wait for a DSM, or for the convention. Give him a ring at 1-855-872-3202, and share your thoughts with him.

We're doing this because we don't want our members to feel like they're being ignored by the party. Kevin wants to face both his critics and his supporters, and get an in-depth understanding of what's really going on out there.

And don't miss the first installment of our PCPO Presidental Debates, happening January 18th, where you can see Kevin make his case.

Primary School

2012-01-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

I don't pay much attention to American politics. I am not an American and can't do much about American problems. There are enough problems here in Ontario that I might be able to do something about.

Right now, it looks like Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee. People have a problem with Mitt Romney because he's not conservative enough for them. So every other week these people start talking up one of the other nominees as the alternative to Romney. And every other week, another one of these nominees flames out spectacularly.

I don't like Ron Paul. I wouldn't vote for him. But Ron Paul is sticking to his guns despite all the terrible things people are saying about him. He doesn't care that people think he's crazy. And so far, he hasn't blown his brains out the way all the others have.

Now, it seems to me that the people who don't like Romney and would like to see him lose would do well to get behind Paul. That would give Paul more of a chance at the nomination. But they aren't doing that. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but the people supporting Paul don't seem to really want the support of other, less libertarian conservatives. And as a result, Romney will definitely continue to lead the way.

But if Romney wins the nomination, it's going to be very hard for him to attract all the voters from the other camps. And if the Republicans do the Principled thing and sit at home, then Obama is going to be re-elected. And then after that, none of the Republicans will be happy. Hmmmm. This is starting to sound awfully familiar.....

So basically we have a bunch of Principled Conservatives who don't like a front runner, and a bunch of front-runner supporters who don't care much for the Principled Conservatives, and within the Principled Conservatives there are lots of little divisions and OH HEY, I GET IT, IT'S THE SAME THING AS THE PC PARTY OF ONTARIO. WOW HOW DID I MISS THAT??????

So what can we learn from this whole primary business? You know, because people would rather watch these primaries than do stuff about what's going on in Ontario?

1) Complaining about the guy leading the pack but not doing anything doesn't fix the problem

2) Complaining about the guy leading the pack but also complaining about everyone else trying not to be the guy leading the pack doesn't fix the problem

3) Running a campaign based on "I'm not the guy leading the pack" tends to cause problems once people start asking questions about who you really are

4) If people ask questions about who you really are, it's best to have an answer prepared or make it look like you really don't give a damn, like Ron Paul is doing, and you won't fall over when someone pokes you

5) If the guy leading the pack wins, then you sabotaging the campaign isn't going to make anyone happy, least of all YOU

On second thought, maybe I will start paying attention to American politics. Somewhat.

Kevin Gaudet: Outreach is Priority #1

2012-01-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

Kevin Gaudet says that it's time to grow our voter base and volunteer base and make outreach a permanent priority of the party, and I agree with him.

As we all know, the federal party has reaped the rewards of reaching out to non-traditional bases of support and making the case for how conservative values are universal. There is no reason why Dalton McGuinty should be garnering the support of Bollywood superstars while we assume that female or minority candidates will be enough. The Liberals are winning this battle because we aren't showing up, and it's time for that to stop. This battle can be won, and it has been won.

Look for more Kevin Gaudet policy initiatives in the coming weeks, on this space.

Intangibles

2012-01-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

In Adam Radwanski's absolute gem of a column today, he makes a very important point: When Conservatives do something that experts don't like, that's bad because it's "not supported by evidence". But when Liberals do something that experts don't like, that's good because of "intangibles".

Back when Dalton McGuinty took power in 2003, some of his own bureaucrats and advisers cautioned that lowering class sizes wouldn’t be worth the cost. In 2010, long after Mr. McGuinty’s Liberals had charged ahead anyway, Malcolm Gladwell used a keynote speech at their policy conference to call the investment a “ludicrous” waste of money. Now, previewing his government-commissioned report on public-service reform, economist Don Drummond has said there “isn’t really solid evidence” that it’s had value.

For all that, the Liberals continue to insist that it was the right policy. The argument they make, which is more about intangibles than hard evidence, is quite reasonable.

[whitewash whitewash whitewash]

When Mr. McGuinty took office in 2003, they argue, the turmoil of the Mike Harris era had left a toxic atmosphere in schools. Teachers, feeling undervalued, were miserable. As a result, students were under-served. A growing number of parents were considering putting their kids into private schools.

The Liberals felt they needed a big gesture to restore faith in the system. And smaller class sizes, popular with teachers and easy for everyone else to grasp, fit the bill.

So if I understand Radwanski correctly, the important thing about McGuinty's money-wasting initiative to cut class sizes is not that it made any sense, but that it made people happy. Effectively, he just admitted that McGuinty bought the goodwill of the public without any regard for whether it would help them. Intangibles.

Well, you know what? From now on, everything that Stephen Harper and Rob Ford and Tim Hudak and every other conservative does is the right thing to do because of intangibles. Because while experts may not like it, it makes some people feel better about themselves.

Here, let's try an example. I'm sure that being tough on crime makes people feel safer. So the next time someone says "There's no evidence being tough on crime works", I'll just say, "Well, it makes people feel safer, so it's a good idea as far as I'm concerned. Intangibles." End of argument! Absolutely brilliant.

All kidding aside, do you see what's going on here? Evidence has become just another tool in the Liberal tool kit. If it moves their agenda forward, it's great. If science can be used selectively to make conservatives look dumb, then it's fantastic. But if evidence based policy causes problems for people, or if the evidence doesn't support well intentioned policy, then all of a sudden it's not so important anymore. What's more important is that it meant well.

The end justifies the means.

OMP? Womp Womp!

2012-01-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

Around this time of year, young PC's, NDP's, and Liberals gather for the Ontario Model Parliament (OMP), where they debate and negotiate a bill through Queen's Park. But there's only one problem: According to my friends at the Ontario PC Youth Association, the Young Liberals have been MIA when it comes to OMP! WTF? LOL!

It could be that the Ontario Young Liberals, keeners that they are with their bright shiny website, are busily beavering away trying to elect Mike Crawley the next President of the Federal Liberals at something called a biennial convention.

Just in case you're confused as to who's trying to copy who, the original is on top. Crawley's on the bottom.

It could be that they are trying to elect 20-year old Zach Paikin as the federal Liberal policy chair. Though some anonymous Liberals feel differently about that. And some not so anonymous Liberals too.

Or it could be that current Young Liberal exec, described by some people who I talked to as "zombie do-nothings", are worried about holding the PC's and NDP off in a minority OMP situation!

Now I've got to ask the OYL: What message does it send when you guys are too busy planning for some political insider get-together in Ottawa to make time for the next generation of young people who are passionate about politics? What does this say about whether Dalton really cares about university students? Is OMP on the chopping block in advance of the Drummond Report???? We demand answers!

UPDATE: TCAM gets results! According to an OYL newsletter rushed out today, OMP will be held Feb 3rd.

Is This Going To Be On The Exam?

2012-01-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Two days ago, I predicted that Dalton McGuinty's approach to curbing the deficit in Ontario would be scattershot, inadequate, and would cause more problems than it solved. And shortly after I did that, Dalton McGuinty announced that he would be announcing a tuition grant that would cost a lot of money while making a cut to research grants that wouldn't save enough money. Maybe I should start a new career as a soothsayer, or maybe Ontarians should get the message already that these Liberals are without Clue #1.

It's getting very tedious pointing out the flaws in Dalton's bad ideas, but let's do it anyway. Enrollment in universities in Ontario has climbed steadily over the past decade. Students get that going to university can help them get a job. They don't need Dalton's help to understand that fact. Furthermore, as that article points out, the grant itself will be paid for by taking money away from other student grants. Oh noez! The Liberals are gutting our education system!

And is this grant going to be based on things like educational achievement, or financial need? Nope. It seems to be based on who can go to the Liberals' shiny new website and meet their criteria. Now, I know the Liberals' tech guys worked really hard on that website and they want to see their Web 2.0 skills appreciated, but offering students a 30% tuition grant just for logging on and meeting their criteria seems a little too generous. But of course the Canadian Federation of Students feel like they've been screwed over because the tuition cut doesn't apply to absolutely everyone. So look forward to more student unions blowing student money to get more government funding so that they can blow even more of that too. Maybe there'll be a T.A. strike or two like there was at York a few years ago and then students will have paid 30% less tuition to sit on their behinds and learn nothing except that Dalton's a loser!

Meanwhile, the Liberals are quietly axing relatively little in university research grants. Because, you know, once students go to university and pay 30% less tuition for the pleasure, you don't want them to do research or anything. But if you are going to axe university research grants, you don't want to be too obvious about it or make any significant cuts, because then important people will get angry instead of the unimportant people who did get angry about this cut and wrote Liberal MPP Brad Duguid a four-page letter.

So what is this really about? I happen to believe, and I'm not the only one, that Dalton is ignoring other avenues for job creation, like the trades and jobs for which you need a college diploma. The PC Party has been talking a lot about promoting these sectors, but then again the PC Party wants Ontarians to vote PC. The Liberals don't want Ontarians to vote PC, which is why they are trying to breed a generation of overeducated, cash-strapped supplicants who view the Liberal government as the only thing that can ease their suffering.

No Way Out

2012-01-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

Don Drummond is on track to becoming my new favourite person. Not just because he has the Liberals in a bind with his upcoming report, which we got a sneak preview of today, but also because his weighing in signals that a time of change is at hand for the entire province of Ontario.

Nothing and no one will be spared, the former federal bureaucrat and retired bank economist says. Despite the temptation to go easy in certain areas and avoid political controversy, his commission has pulled no punches in its attempt to transform the way Ontario operates — and spends.

“There are going to be a ton of things in our recommendations that the government is not going to be pleased with,” he muses.

And the public should also brace for bitter medicine: “There will be lots of negative reaction, lots of anger.”

You had better believe it. The era of non-ideological Bill Davis blandness is at an end. Instead, the people of Ontario will be forced to confront the hard truths that we on the right have been talking about for years.

Oh, but don't worry. Dalton is going to delay as long as he can. Drummond, like the Auditor General and the Ombusdman, doesn't run the show. And if Dalton says that Drummond's recommendations don't fit with his plans to Move Ontario Forward, well, then he'll just direct his people to publish an embarassing list of Don Drummond's personal expenses and that will be that.

For Dalton is not going to do this:

And health care faces radical surgery to bend the cost curves even harder — down to less than half of what hospitals have counted on for annual increases. That means yearly increments must be scaled back — not just down to 3 per cent as the government had planned, but pushed even further to 2.5 per cent, or less than half of the annual rises until now (about $1.2 billion less than hospitals had been counting on).

Or this:

Universities and colleges also face new cost pressures — and performance obligations — to reduce waste if they want to continue receiving government funding. The blank cheques of the past should be phased out because rapidly rising post-secondary costs are a major budget hotspot that is ripe for reform.

And especially not this:

Unions would be invited to bid (along with everyone else) for their old jobs — not at the lowest price, but with minimum government standards and value for money in mind.

Instead, we're going to get the same kind of toeing the line we've gotten from Dalton for the past 8 years. A few dollars here. A few dollars there. Barely enough to make a dent in the deficit that's been created.

Except- and this is the hilarious part- Dalton and company have done such a good job sweeping the problems under the carpet and telling Ontarians they've never had it so good that any sort of cuts, no matter how superficial, will provoke a tsunami of fury from Ontarians. Lord help them if they actually implement Drummond's suggestions to the fullest.

And the moment that happens, the PC Party of Ontario will have been given the moral authority to seize power in Ontario and to make the cuts that are necessary. Why? Because when the most respected economist in the province told Dalton to fix things or else, Dalton told him, "Eh....we'll get there eventually. No hurry."

And because Dalton will drag his feet when the most respected economist in the province tells him to fix things or else, and because Dalton's foot dragging will lead to things getting worse for everybody, it will very quickly become time for the PC Party of Ontario to re-attach their scrotums and start doing what Dalton won't do.

The Liberals will default to Walkerton and Ipperwash and Closing Hospitals And Schools and all that scary stuff. That's fine. Their inaction will lead to circumstances that are worse than Walkerton, Ipperwash, etc. etc. Maybe there'll be widespread strikes by unions who aren't satisfied that Dalton has abased himself sufficiently. Maybe doctors walking off the job. Maybe corporations packing up and leaving en masse, leaving scores of jobless Ontarians. And after that happens for a while, the mood will start shifting rapidly. It's happened before.

Dalton likes to say, "None of us is as strong as all of us."

I have one for him: "Either some of us suffer or all of us suffer."

Right On The Money

2012-01-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

I predicted that unions would be doing some major strutting this year, and, wouldn't you know it....

LONDON, ONT. — Locomotive maker Electro-Motive began the new year by locking out CAW members at its plant in London, Ont.

Contract talks collapsed last week after the company issued a final offer that would cut the wages of union members in half, eliminate pensions and gut other benefits.

[blah blah blah]

CAW president Ken Lewenza issued a statement blaming corporate greed for the lockout, calling it a serious attack on working people, their families and the greater London area.

“Caterpillar may be one of the richest corporations to ask for the deepest of cuts,” he said.

[yak yak yak]

Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan says Ontario's labour movement is ready to mobilize to help the CAW stop scabs from crossing picket lines at the London plant.

“Workers across the province are angry and feel betrayed by their government and they are ready to fight together to defend good jobs,” he said.

Sid Ryan, eh? Not this Sid Ryan? Not the Sid Ryan quoted prominently on Liberal campaign literature? That Sid Ryan?

Speaking of union problems, how's that York Region Transit strike being resolved? Not at all, you say? OK then.

Boy, I'm sure glad Dalton didn't do something stupid like bank his re-election on the efforts of these exact same unions, huh?

......And A Happy New Year, Unions

2011-12-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

So it's come to this, has it? A proposed pay freeze for doctors. Cancelling corporate tax cuts. Warnings about belt tightening. In a word: austerity.

But if unions have been worried about the coming cash crush, I haven't heard a word from them. Oh sure, they've thrown out a few warnings through the usual channels, but if I were them, I wouldn't worry. Dalton's going to take good care of his union pals. He needs them. He doesn't need us.

It is about to become clear as crystal for all Ontarians where the power lies in this province. We're going to see union bosses strutting about, protected by the Liberal spin machine and Liberal-friendly media. And remember; these people have no love for Harper and Ford. So wouldn't it be a coincidence if Dalton, the biggest thorn in Harper's side right now, provided covering fire as they mounted their opposition to the relentless forward grind of the right in Canada.

And don't imagine that they are going to be in any way subtle about it. No. Their demands, like those they made on Bob Rae and David Miller, will get longer and louder until Dalton is mortgaged up to his eyeballs. But since Dalton is such a saint who hasn't aged a day since he got into office, he won't let the unions go hungry for too long. Doctors, corporations, even his own staffers will feel the pinch, but not Dalton's union pals.

I actually watched a documentary on Joseph Atkinson, publisher of the Star, recently. Back in the day, Atkinson took on the Toronto Tory elites and punctured their senses of invincibility as the Liberal political machine under Laurier looked on approvingly. But when I look at Toronto today, I see Atkinson's true legacy revealed; the creation of a union-backed Liberal aristocracy tossing crumbs, if they have crumbs to spare, to the people. Like all so-called reformers, all he ended up doing was transferring power from one gang to another.

Yeah, 2012 is going to be a great time for unions in Ontario. Unless we ruin their party.

Those of you out there who have recently discovered this here web space need to take a cue from, um, recent events and start putting the pieces together. These union mouthbreathers are lots of things, but political professionals they are not. Tie these people to the Liberals and expose the money flow. It exists. We know it exists.

But until we prove it, it doesn't exist.

The System Works

2011-12-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

My post of December 23rd, ``Merry Christmas Canadian Cynic``, generated more interest than anything I had written in the past year and a half of blogging. A few things got lost in all the noise. Let's review.

One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, that the PC Party lost the election is because they did not stand up to Liberal pressure tactics. When the Liberals tried to foster dissent between groups of PCs by saying that Bill Davis was being backstabbed when he wasn't, or when the Liberals whipped up fear amongst various mayors that Hudak was going to download costs onto the municipalities, the PCs clammed up instead of fighting back.

When there is evidence that the Liberals are engaging in spin on these or other issues, the PCs do not make this evidence publicly known. This is what happened to Brian Lilley when he went up against the War Room Boss.

By systematically researching the people and issues involved and by providing evidence to substantiate claims made- whatever evidence there is, because, remember, the media must cover both sides of the story- a lot more damage can be done than trying to create anger at the Liberals where there is none. I analyzed Canadian Cynic`s blog and went to a public talk given by him to compile this evidence, as an example of how this research must be done before the fact, and before trying to drive the wedge, so it can hold up better than it would otherwise.

Because Canadian Cynic hasn`t been able to show how anything I have written is defamatory to him (so far), I have to conclude that I did a good enough job researching him and there are enough facts in ``Merry Christmas, Canadian Cynic`` for it to stay up. And that`s all he is to me- a research object. I have no interest in silencing him or his little group. Nothing I do will change their minds. But I can show them that they are not as invincible as they think they are.

If Canadian Cynic can somehow show that parts of what I have written is defamatory enough to him to actually make it all the way to a courtroom and have a judge seriously consider it, then I`ll happily delete those parts. It`s not my intention to defame the man. As it is, I wasn`t *sure* if the comments that were deleted yesterday contained false information. There were competing claims about their validity. The lawyer I spoke to told me to delete the comments because I couldn`t prove they were true or false. When I approved the comment initially, I gave the person who commented the benefit of the doubt.

I am OK with deleting part of my post, no matter how much Cynic and his pals tell themselves they`ve won by making me do that, because they will declare victory anyway. All I care about is that the portions of ``Merry Christmas, Canadian Cynic`` that are true- which is, so far as I know, all of it- remain.

If the PC Party of Ontario identifies the Liberals` weak spots and attacks those weak spots using real and verifiable information, they will win the next election. And then everything Canadian Cynic says about the PC Party of Ontario will matter as much as everything he says about Harper and Ford. That is to say, not at all.

Now, I hope Cynic will continue to pursue this with me. I hope he will draft some BS statement of claim that won`t hold up in court. I hope he will make me one of his objects of hatred. And I hope that the Ontario Liberals do so as well.

In the meantime, I am going to keep on finding out everything I can about the Ontario Liberals, using the same procedure as I did for Cynic. And I am going to continue advocating that the PC Party of Ontario use the same procedure.

Because, as I have shown with this Canadian Cynic example, it works.

UPDATE: Canadian Cynic has managed to figure out my real name after three days of searching (and I *only* had it in a really obvious place, so bravo on him, I suppose) and it looks like he wants to go all the way with this. He also has made no attempt to tell me what is supposedly so defamatory about my post. I can't imagine what it could be, so I'd love to see what a judge has to say about it.

FYI Cynic: You have pissed off a lot of people over the years, some of whom happen to be lawyers. And you know how we righties love to rally around one of our own who's getting law-fared. But, hey, if you WANT to make me into a right wing cause-celebre, then go right ahead.

Merry Christmas, Canadian Cynic

2011-12-23T21:26:00.000-08:00

Now, because I try to make a practice of not asking people to do things I wouldn't do myself, I am going to demonstrate what I believe is the correct way to smack down someone on the left following my critique of Brian Lilley yesterday. (And yes, good on Lilley for clearing up the mess, but he shouldn't have had to clear anything up in the first place, which was my point.)

Our subject today is one Robert PJ Day, aka Canadian Cynic. Some of you who've been in this game for a while remember Cynic from his now-defunct blog. More recently, he's begun tweeting at us Blogging Tories, trying valiantly but *always* failing to make a dent in our onslaught. For those who don't know Cynic's M.O., let me refer you to his most infamous post, where he told the grieving mother of a dead Canadian soldier to.....well, I'll let you read it for yourselves. At the time that he wrote that, and for a long time afterwards, Cynic blogged only under his pseudonym. So he wrote what he wrote with the full knowledge that he could do so under cover of anonymity.

I read what Cynic had written, and the other filthy things he wrote about conservatives. I began to wonder. How is it that this guy could get away with what he did? What was it that made him believe that he could go on forever without getting caught? Other than the fact that none of his targets, at that time, knew who he was? The answer, of course, is nothing. So long as he kept some of his real self out of the public eye, he could go on being as mean as he wanted.

So, I thought, why didn't conservatives try to find out who he was? Because they were too busy working themselves up into fits about what he wrote to try and figure out who was writing it. And, I reasoned, that was just the way he wanted it. So, seeing as how nobody else was doing what I wanted to do, I analyzed the Canadian Cynic blog. He had several years worth of drivel on it, and every so often he'd drop some weird hint about who he actually was. A reference to his height and weight here. A reference to Chapel Hill, North Carolina there. Boasts about his academic acheivements over here. Over there, a reveal that he was a Manitoba native. Slowly, slowly, the complete picture emerged.

I even began to notice some interesting patterns. Like how he adorned his blog with a picture of Brian Griffin from Family Guy. Brian is a white dog. And Cynic? Well, what's the Latin root of the word "dog"? Also, Brian likes to drink, and well, so does Cynic. Very very clever, sir! But, as it turned out, not clever enough to hide forever.

(No, Cynic, I wasn't the one who outed you. But me compiling your little hints sure helped narrow it down. And since you offered them willingly, you can't really blame me for being determined enough to find them, can you?)

Oh, but that's not all. Not by a long shot. For I have actually seen and met Robert PJ Day. (Not Canadian Cynic, you understand. Slight difference between the two.) He probably doesn't remember me, but I remember him.

Some time after he was outed, he advertised his presence, and I went with friends. Yes, that's right: I ponied up my own cash to sit and see who this guy really was.

And what did I find?

That "Canadian Cynic" is a persona made up by Robert PJ Day to scare us conservatives into hiding. This persona, such as it is, was created after Robert PJ Day, an ardent anti-creationist, got tired of watching scientists lose debates with creationists because the scientists were nice and conceded points, and the creationists put on a show and bent the rules. And so, when it came time for Robert PJ Day to debate a creationist by the name of Ian Taylor, then-Vice President of the Christian Scientist Association of Ontario, Robert PJ Day decided to do things a little differently. Instead of debating the merits of evolution vs. creationism, Day spent his time during the debate mocking his opponent's beliefs. And it was devastatingly effective. (Hmmm, mocking people's religious beliefs to win. Where have we seen that before?)

So, as Day explained to the audience that summer evening, it was a short leap from mocking Taylor's beliefs to mocking conservatives in general. Everything we believed was to be scrutinized for flaws and mocked, and we were supposed to flounder around hilariously trying to defend ourselves while Day/Cynic and his pals high-fived each other and laughed.

The experience was, to say the least, eye-opening. When I saw what a massive joke on us the whole thing was.....that Cynic was distracting us the way you distract a two-year old while the doctor gives them a needle.....well, the way forward became clear. If Cynic was laughing at us and trying to get a reaction, then we had to do the exact same thing. His teasing could not make us sputter or make us uncomfortable. As soon as we sputtered, we lost.

Hence, the blog you are reading right now. :)

Now, Cynic is free to challenge me on my version of events. That's just fine, because there *was* a video recording made of the proceedings that evening which could have resolved any discrepancy. I have proof that it was made. But because of a certain....how should I put this....intervention, it never saw the light of day.

Do you understand now, Cynic? Do you see what effect your intellectual masturbation is having? You're not driving us underground. You are creating more people like me. You're making the problem, such as you see it, worse. While Harper and Ford take the reins of power and Hudak breathes down McGuinty's neck, you are so obsessed with proving your superiority over us that you sit there all day long tweeting at us, trying to recapture that shining moment when you reduced Ian Taylor to a snivelling wreck.

Cynic. War Room Boss. "Nadine Lumley", whomever that really is. McGuinty. Justin Trudeau. Bob Rae. The people behind QP Comments. I look at each of these left-wing icons as puzzles to be solved. What drives them? How did they get to be the way they are? Why can't they see what we see? I do this because once they can be understood, they can be beaten. Their moves can be predicted. There will be no heroic last minute rescues like there was for McGuinty. There will just be Conservative dominance everywhere.

Harper understands this. When a weak spot opens up, he closes it immediately while always being on the lookout for his opponents' weak spots. He will wait and wait until the opportunity knocks, and then he will grab it. And his opponents, so far, are beaten every time.

And they must be beaten. For if any of them are allowed to be confident that their own weak spots will never be found and exploited, then they will keep on winning. And as long as they keep on winning, the Liberals will keep on hoping. Hoping that someday they will be able to rule this country unopposed again, accountable to no one, pushing past the objections of those who would oppose them on the grounds that their march to power is one and the same as the march of progress.

But even if there was no Harper, the outcome would be the same. Because our rise is the price that is always paid for a minority- them- forcing their agenda on the majority, us. When people get sick of being pulled forward against their will, there is a backlash.

I must confess that after all these years, I am not sure what drives Cynic/Day to be so over the top. I know he hates us conservatives. I get that. But few if any of the people who hate us will go to such lengths. I do know it has something to do with how we supposedly lie all the time. Maybe he thinks he is being truthful when he says what he says about us. Maybe other progressives wish they could be as truthful. :)

Well, Cynic and everyone else, you don't have to worry about me lying anytime soon. All my cards are on the table. They always have been. My motive is clear. It is to show you, and all your fellow travellers on the left, that your attempts to save everyone are in vain. That this is beyond you. This is a democracy, and you can't win the numbers game.

But more importantly, I'm doing this to show everyone on my side that once you and the people like you- McGuinty included- can be exposed for the tough-guy pretenders that you are and that you would have no power if not for the fear you inspire, then there is nothing stopping us from taking everything we want.

Stop being afraid, conservatives. Start making them afraid.

UPDATE: Uh oh. Canadian Cynic is maaaaaaad at me.

Don't worry, pal. I'm not going to tell people where to find you, because I don't know and I don't care. I wouldn't want to have to issue a retraction and apology like you did for getting an address wrong. Oops!

All I care about is that you and your pals don't think that you can say whatever you want without fear of an effective reprisal, as above. Once we have that understood, you can tweet till your fingers fall off.

By the way, moron, figuring out who I am is a lot easier than figuring out who you were. But hey, now *you* know what it feels like, huh?

UPDATE #2: I have deleted several comments that appeared here yesterday after consulting with a lawyer friend of mine on the grounds that they may have been defamatory.

Silly Lilley, Tricks Are For Kids

2011-12-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Bra-vo, Mr. Lilley. *Very* well done. You are a credit to Principled Conservatives everywhere. You sure learned from the last time you stepped into the ring with the War Room Boss, didn't you?

Watching this, I can pinpoint the exact moment Lilley drops the ball. Lilley is asked for a quote from one of McGuinty's ministers that proves they're telling two different stories about the sex ed curriculum to different media outlets. Lilley can't provide a quote.

Let me repeat that because it bears repeating. He brought the War Room Boss into a Sun News studio, questioned him about the McGuinty government's policy, acted surprised (surprised!) when the War Room Boss provided a different version of events, and, while all of this was happening, he thought to himself, "I can say McGuinty's ministers said something different to two different media outlets. He'll never call me on it!"

You know what? Lilley's mike is the one that should have been cut. (And if you watch the video, that doesn't even happen, because War Room Boss can speak just fine a short while after Lilley issues the order.) Because Lilley threw rocks at a man with a machine gun, and he got shot down. Of course.

The quote in question is easy to find. It's right here. But I must warn you, that link will take you to Xtra, "Canada's Gay And Lesbian News". Why didn't Lilley have it? Why didn't some Sun News intern take 5 seconds, like I did, and look it up? Why didn't he have a video clip handy and 10 others like it?

Because Lilley, like every other Principled Conservative out there, is so angry-ed up about his Real Conservative Principles that he couldn't be bothered to do his homework. The War Room Boss is a lawyer. Finding the weak spot in people's arguments is what he does. I know that and I'm not even close to being a lawyer. Brian Lilley didn't know that. So he ended up cutting off his guest's mike to reassert control of the situation, and promptly got called a hypocrite on free speech. And that's what people are going to remember.

But why am I singling Lilley out? Didn't we just conclude an election campaign where the Liberals exploited every single crack in our armour until they had turned around a 20 point lead? And when they started trying to exploit those cracks, did we go after their cracks? No way. We just kept saying the same things over and over again and wondering why it wasn't working. Well friends, it wasn't working because the Liberals had popped our balloon and we didn't try to pop theirs.

We don't want to show these people up for the enormous frauds that they are. We just take for granted that our Conservative Principles will carry us through.

Why didn't Lilley say, "There's no way you people can legislate homophobia out of existence"? I wrote a whole blogpost about that! And it's a perfectly conservative and sensible thing to say, and nobody is going to call you a homophobe for saying it! Maybe call on teachers to start doing their goddamned jobs! Maybe call McGuinty out for not being tough enough when it comes to disciplining bullies and the parents of bullies! Anything but "We have a poll and the poll is right" when the guy across from you is saying it isn't!

*Was* the poll factual? Who cares?! Nobody even remembers there WAS a poll anymore! Just like nobody remembers half of what McGuinty and Hudak said during the election anymore! It's not like Lilley could tell you whether the poll was factual or not. He didn't look too hard at it before he brought it to a debate with the War Room Boss, whose *job* it is to find his opponents' mistakes.

You know what's really hilarious about this? Sun News castigated Hudak for not doing a good enough job during the election.

But based on this, do you think *they* could have done a better job????

Run, Rivers, Run

2011-12-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, Graham (Grahame?) Rivers is the Ontario Liberal Twitter-Police Chief. Whenever you see a bunch of Liberals mass-tweeting Dalton's latest feel-good pablum, chances are this guy is behind it.

Well, my skepticism about The McPremier's ability to navigate the treacherous economic waters ahead irked Mr. Rivers somewhat, because he took the time to tweet at me thusly:

Who exactly is this "Drummon" person, Graham(e)? 140 characters. Make them count.

In addition to proving that your humble correspondent's words are read at the highest levels within the OLP, this tweet is noteworthy because it shows the utter lack of accountability within the McGuinty government. It's not up to Dalton anymore to fix the problem. If credit agencies are unhappy with Ontario, well, we'll all just have to wait for the Drummond report so that whenever Dalton releases "this plan", whatever it may be, he can point to Drummond or someone else and say, "He made me do it!"

Hey, didn't the Liberals blab incessantly about the need to release our platform a year early last year and because we didn't, we supposedly had "no plan"? Maybe Graham knows something about that.

Anyway, as I tweeted to Graham in response, there's absolutely no reason to believe Dalton's going to accept any accountability for whatever Drummond comes back with. (The lack of Liberal ideas was confirmed today by Dalton's new press secretary, who apparently speaks for Graham as well. At least Jane Almeida had some creativity, guys!)

The recent behaviour of Dalton's ministers in this respect is instructive. Leadership hopeful Chris "Smoove B" Bentley is righteously indignated about the fact that he can't replace incandescent light bulbs with those stylish twisty bulbs as quickly as he wanted because the feds aren't acting fast enough for him, and Barney the Duncan-saur is shocked by the news that there might be less federal cash for hospitals during a really bad recession. (But when Chretien/Martin cut funding for health care during the last recession, that was OK, because of, um, of stuff!)

If these two goofballs are blaming Harper for things going wrong now, what do you think will happen when the Drummond report lands on Dalton's doorstep? Either Dalton whines that his hands are tied, or he blows Drummond off in an attempt to appear all leaderly-like. And then where will we all be?

As we draw closer and closer to the Drummond report, I get more and more sure that Dalton and his people can't run forever. :)

The Justin Trudeau Defence

2011-12-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

It's been said that the princeling is the gift that keeps on giving to Conservatives. His intemperate outburst last week gave us something to laugh at, but the arguments used to defend him are an extra Christmas present in their own right. In short, Trudeau was right to swear at Peter Kent, because what Peter Kent was doing was bad enough to necessitate swearing, and he's Justin Trudeau, so therefore it's OK. (And look at all the Liberals who retweeted Canadian Cynic's tweet! Indicating agreement! Very amusing.)

I've also been seeing an upsurge of people referring to Harper as a fascist on my Facebook news feed. And when people are called out as going too far when they do this, what do they say? Usually some variant of "Fascism is fascism." I decide Harper is a fascist, so he is! And because I decide it, I am right! Because I'm a progressive, and progressives care about people and want to move people forward, so progressives are always right! Derp!

What is the Kyoto Protocol, and why does Harper saying he wants no part of it make the Liberals so purple with fury? The Kyoto Protocol is, and always has been, a document the Liberals signed onto with the full knowledge that it would fail, which is why Michael Ignatieff was forced to concede in a moment of uncharacteristic self-reflection that "We didn't get it done."

Which, if you recall, led to this fun moment.

So why sign the thing in the first place? Because the Liberals wanted to stop their consciences from nagging at them. Yes we're going to fail, but now we won't feel guilty about not having "tried"!

Guilt is a critical part of the Liberal mindset. Do you think, for example, as Dalton lines his pals' pockets and tries to sneakily implement his agenda over the objections of basically everybody, that he does it without any guilt whatsoever? Do you think a character like George Smitherman, or a massively arrogant human being like Trudeau Sr., or a carpetbagging snob like Bob Rae, or Chretien, or whomever tops your Most Hated Liberal list, did all the things they did without their conscience nagging at them? Absolutely not. So how can they do it? By acting as if they are God's own gifts to humanity.

Dalton is a master at this. Everything he does is spun by his War Room as the actions of a saint who cares about nothing else except helping the province along. That's what gives him his beatific calm. Look at all the great stuff he's done! He implemented full day kindergarten (and then privatized it)! Test scores are going up (marginally)! Labour unrest is down (because he paid the unions off)! And the more we point out how much things *aren't* getting better or how new problems are being created despite their best efforts, the angrier they get! Because our complaints bring them closer to the harsh reality of what Ontario has actually become under Dalton McGuinty.

I've written before about how the Liberals do this to their own supporters. Whenever Liberals are mad about how their favourite new MPP didn't make cabinet, or when they have to carry out some stupid directive from the War Room, or when they're not sure whether they'll be able to hang on to their cushy jobs after the latest revelation of misspent $$$, all Dalton has to do is remind them, "You're helping Move Ontario Forward!" And all is forgiven. Yeccch.

But luckily for us, this cuts both ways. Because if the Liberals *know* they are pissing Ontarians off, but are suppressing it, this gives us a psychological advantage IF we know how to use it. They too can be shamed. They too can be made to feel guilty. Their calm, their moral authority, can be made to disappear. And without that smugness, what do they have? Nothing.

So don't let the Liberals rain on your parade. Don't swallow their "Ontarians are mad at you for what you did! Shame on you!" nonsense. Be as mean as you want to them, and when they complain, use the Justin Trudeau defence to justify it! They'll be screaming shiddle-diddle before you know it!

We Have Met The Enemy, And He Is Us

2011-12-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

Liberal slapfest developing in public over Zach Paikin's candidacy for Liberal Policy Chair and what it means to be a Liberal. Go, read. Hurry, before it gets yanked. If it does, I've got pictures! :)

See? Liberals like to argue about picky stuff too! They're human! Stop being afraid of them!

But, um, they seem to be getting consumed by it, and that's not cool. Let's not do that, K?

Apocalypse Now

2011-12-18T11:12:00.000-08:00

Today we're going to tackle the issue that everyone's thinking about. The big one. The ticking debt clock. And if you're a regular reader of this webspace, you probably know what I'm going to say about it, but let's just get it out there anyway because that's how we do things here at TCAM.

The fact is that a lot of Principled Conservatives did not vote PCPO in October. Because, so they said at the time, the PC's were not serious about tackling the deficit. They were unwilling to make big cuts to health care and education, and because they didn't, any sort of cuts they were willing to make was just so much tinkering around the edges.

The problem with this argument is not *just* that no other conservative politician, or any politician of any stripe, has been willing to talk about seriously cutting healthcare and education. The problem is that any cuts of any sort are, as far as the Canadian public is concerned, completely unacceptable.

You probably heard the story about how Toronto city council was mulling cuts to after-school meals for kids as part of the battle to get the budget under control. The Toronto Star promptly wrote an article featuring pictures of worried-looking kids who may or may not have been hungry as a result of this cut. Doug Ford tried to defend the cuts, offered to pay for the meals out of his own pocket, was roundly condemned for it, eventually backed down, and the Toronto Star gloated. The Star gets results!

Because nobody wants to end up squashed by the Toronto Star like the Ford brothers have been recently, the past two or three election cycles can be boiled down to the Liberals accusing the Conservatives of secretly wanting to cut things, and the Conservatives accusing the Liberals of secretly wanting to tax things. It all becomes a lot like a game of There Ain't No Flies On Us, and as a result voter turnout goes through the floor because people don't want tax raises, and people don't want cuts either. Both of which, by the way, involve taking money away from people. And who wants to give up more money than they should?

The Ontario Liberals feel that they can stay in government forever by invoking memories of Mike Harris. But weren't the Harris cuts needed at the time, and aren't they needed again? The reason why the Harris boogeyman exists is because people have some vague sense that the cuts went "too far." Dalton says he's probably going to have to make cuts himself, but those cuts will be nice progressive moving-Ontario-forward Liberal cuts, so that makes them OK. Unfortunately for Dalton, if his cuts amount to tinkering around the edges (and I believe that they will), then he'll be right back to where he started except he'll have less people willing to vote for him.

So let's stop kidding ourselves. Nobody in this country and possibly nobody walking the planet has the stones to make the types of cuts the Principled Conservatives want. If each and every one of these Principled Conservatives were given the opportunity to make these cuts, and they were confronted with pictures of weepy-eyed kids with trembling lower lips who would be *hurt* (*sniffle sniffle*) as a result of these cuts, every single one of them would go "D'awwwwwwww!!!" and cough up the cash.

As such, the financial apocalypse is a stark inevitability. It's only a question of when, and whether what follows will be better, worse, or identical to the 1930's, and what came after the 1930's.

And it's going to happen because the Canadian public, like the Greeks, like the Italians, like the Spanish, and like the population of every single developed and developing nation who thought the party was going to go on forever, think the problem can be successfully blamed on someone else. Which is why, after the financial apocalypse has hit and its effects have wiped out a generation or two, people will blame free trade, or big corporations, or the Greeks, or whoever, and the cycle will start alllllll over again.

So why vote Conservative?

Because Hudak *wants* to make the cuts but he can't because of all of the above. The conditions have to be right for him to make the cuts. McGuinty doesn't want to make the cuts because he's afraid of the voters being mad at him, but he's being told by Drummond et al. that he has to. If the Liberals will not make the cuts themselves because they're afraid of the reaction of spoiled voters, then we will have the moral authority to force cuts upon these people, because at that point it will be either real cuts or total collapse.

I have begun to respect the way the Ontario Liberals manage to twist themselves out of one crisis after another. But they cannot win. They cannot succeed where every other government on the planet has so far failed. I don't believe it.

Merry Christmas.

The Sound Of Silence

2011-12-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

Let's see. Yesterday we had another looming credit downgrade, news that the auditor general is going to unpeel some curiously high salaries at ORNGE, a York Region transit strike that continues to fester, and news that perennial Liberal leadership candidate Chris "Smoove B" Bentley chillaxed approach to the Attorney-General's office caused more problems than it solved. CUPE is worried about potential austerity measures by the Liberals, while Tim Hudak is punching away at McGuinty and his union cronies.

And what do we hear from the usual sources? A whole lot of nothing.

If there was a spirited defence mounted by the McGuinty government over this spate of bad news, I have yet to see any evidence of it. I don't know why....maybe it's because it's the weekend before Christmas, maybe it's because Queen's Park isn't in session, or maybe it's because McGuinty's goons are burnt out from a record year of goonery.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what Ontario would look like if not for two things: spin from the Liberals, and complaining from anonymous pretenders to the title of "principled Conservatives." These are the two obstacles to a PC government, and both exist because of fear.

Ontario is a funny place. Once you have a title, you can basically do no wrong. People just sort of accept that you are the man, or woman. Really. There are elected officials at every level in this province who shouldn't be allowed to manage an ice cream truck, let alone a city or a riding. Yet year after year, there they are.

The Liberals have one MPP who, if what I hear is to be believed, is being sued by a close relative of his. There's another fellow who has been re-elected three times in a *very* conservative part of the province, but has yet to come close to a cabinet post because he's just that useless. Then there's a certain lady representing a riding in the GTA whose incompetence is so legendary that her staff have been known to cry with frustration.

What stops voters from pointing out the obvious? Fear. The Liberals have power, and they are not to be trifled with, because the one thing the Liberals are very good at is making their opponents look like dangerous people who will ruin the future. That's why so many of these MPPs disappear between elections, and then reappear with juicy spending announcements at election time. Voters are so used to no reply from their MPPs that when they suddenly roll out these promises, it's like winning the lottery. So they find any number of excuses not to do something about the problem.

Meanwhile, in the PC Party of Ontario, caution about not offending people and not speaking out too loudly has become so commonplace as to be routine. Nobody wants to go too far in attacking McGuinty because the Liberals will supposedly use it against us. That much has been obvious since 2003. What isn't obvious is that PC Party members are terrified of offending their party exec and leader's office.

I watched a room full of people give Changebook standing ovation after standing ovation when it was announced. A few months later, these same people had noticed all sorts of problems with Changebook that hadn't been there a few months before. Nobody spoke out against Changebook publicly, and nobody spoke out about the need to change our strategy when our strategy needed changing, because they were afraid of getting shunned by their friends. But let me tell you: Lots and lots of people spoke up about not giving the Liberals any ammunition. So out went the promise to eliminate the HRCs, out went the promise to eliminate the HST, and out went any hope of doing anything controversial, because of fear of the Liberal attack ad machine.

Dalton McGuinty is the Emperor With No Clothes. His caucus are a group of antiques, incompetents, and elevated municipal ward bosses with nobody driving party renewal. His advisers have been around for the better part of a decade, his War Room Boss hasn't had real teeth since the 1990's, and the chief Liberal egghead is a quiet little guy who you cannot pick out of a lineup. If we, the PC Party of Ontario, got over our hang-ups and neuroses, we could squash these guys like bugs.

I don't write these things because I claim to have some special intelligence, or ability to see what others don't. I'm just not afraid.

I can hear the sound of silence in Ontario, and what it really says about our province.

Derp!

2011-12-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm going to keep saying this, keep making this point, thousands of times if I have to, until it sinks in.

THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO WILL REMAIN STUCK IN A DITCH UNTIL THE VOTERS AND THE PARTY MEMBERS GET OFF THEIR ASSES AND START MAKING CHANGES INSTEAD OF CONSTANTLY PISSING AND MOANING AND DOING *NOTHING*, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY EXPECTING TIM HUDAK AND WHOMEVER WE ELECT PRESIDENT (WHICH I HOPE WILL BE KEVIN GAUDET) TO DO *EVERYTHING*.

Let's take a look at some recent examples that illustrate this problem.

Martin Regg Cohn has written that people are angry about parking fees at hospitals. His article has a whole 6 comments on thestar.ca! I have blogposts with more than 6 comments and I'm not even a fancy pants journalist! Derp!

He says parking fees are hidden user fees! They're the most egregious form of price gouging! They're highway robbery! Someone should do something! But wait! Regg Cohn titled his article "Why Hospital CEO's Can't Feel Your Parking Pain."And he says that the Ontario Hospital Association ain't having none of this "reduce the parking fees" silliness! So unless you're a hospital CEO, you can go take a flying leap! Derp!

At this precise moment, political spinmasters of all types are calculating how to use the widespread fury over parking fees at hospitals to their advantage. Tim Hudak needs to intervene immediately and call the government to account on out of control parking fees! It's a middle class tax grab! Wedge issue identified! Commence outrage! We need to *differentiate* ourselves from the McGuinty Liberals on parking fees, say the spinmasters. So in "Changebook II: Cruise Control", released six months before the next election, we'll call for....um...umm...ummmm.....removal of the HST on parking fees! Derp!

No, no, no. We need REAL CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES. Real conservatives are perfectly OK with hospital parking fees! We lost the election because we said we were going to spend money on health care and education. Heresy! We don't need no stinking money for health care! If I get sick I can do surgery on myself! Derp!

Tim Hudak has a piece in the National Post! And what do I see in the comments? Angry Real Conservatives who complain that Hudak lost the election and needs to resign. They came up with clever names like Taxtario, too, and they think the Liberals want to "hunt down children for gay adoption"! But Hudak isn't going to resign, and he shouldn't resign! Because he doesn't feel the need to listen to people (some of whom are likely Liberals) who write comments in a comment section under an article and call it a day! Derp!

You know what he *would* listen to? People showing up to Niagara Falls in February and voting! But that won't happen. Because that's hard. Derp!

In the Star today, it was reported that kids are meeting targets for reading, but don't like reading as much as they did! And then we hear from an Expert. The Expert says that we need targets for how much kids like reading! And then after that we can have targets for how many targets we have! McGuinty's going to introduce his plan for the Trillium Target Foundation in his next platform and commit $387 billion to the establishment of targets in every conceivable walk of life. And instead of refusing outright to implement these targets, people are instead going to complain about why Hudak isn't fixing the problem for them. Derp!

The more I watch the PC voter base tie itself into knots over Liberal distractions while doing nothing to remedy the situation, the more I start to believe that Don Guy really is a genius. How else could you explain the fact that all of these supposedly really conservative people are constantly crying for Hudak to do what they want but make no effort to get it done themselves?

Liberal statism has penetrated so deeply into people's DNA that even the people who want to live with no government money for health care and schools can find no other recourse than to complain about how Hudak won't listen to their golden ideas!

Oh hey, I know what will get people motivated enough to do something! The War Room Boss wrote an article about how conservatives are whiny! We don't want to prove the War Room Boss right, do we? DO WE?

Derp!

Even More Liberal-On-Liberal Violence

2011-12-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well....our anonymous friends over at QPComments had speculated that the race for PCPO President was going to be a brutal, backstabbing affair. But as is often the case, the Liberals ended up hoist on their own petard when their egos got the better of them.

First, a bit of background: The top two contenders for Liberal Party of Canada President (i.e. Alf Apps' replacement) are 1990's throwback Sheila Copps and ex-Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) President Mike Crawley. (Yes, the federal Liberals have a president for each province that has nothing to do with the provincial Liberal parties. It's very confusing, but what did you expect from Liberals?)

Both of these retreads have significant baggage: Sheila Copps is, well, Sheila Copps, and Crawley got himself entangled in one of those confusing green energy contract rigmaroles, as documented by the fine folks over at Wind Concerns Ontario. Crawley is running as the change candidate and Sheila is running as Bob Rae's handpicked favourite, setting the stage for a bloodless coup in which current interim leader Rae takes over the party for good until the next election.

The Liberals are quite divided and angry over yet another race where the establishment has staked out the high ground and threatened to make life very difficult for anyone who opposes them. Discontent bubbled over this weekend when an anonymous Twitter account popped up bashing Crawley asking difficult questions about whether Crawley could be trusted. I'd guess that this account is run by some communications person affiliated with the Copps campaign, but then again I am not a Liberal.

Meanwhile, Steve Paikin's son, Zach Paikin, is running for Policy chair of the federal Liberals. For reasons unknown to me, Paikin has come under attack from Max Naylor, son of University of Toronto President David Naylor. Naylor Jr., who is apparently affiliated with the Ontario Young Liberals (the Ontario Liberal Party's youth wing) posted a lengthy jeremiad on his blog recently. Supposedly Paikin is too pro-Israel for Naylor's liking.

Contrast this with the positive race for President we're having at the PCPO. We're exchanging ideas and having serious discussions about the future of our party, while the Liberals are fixated on the past. None of the three candidates have attacked each other publicly the way the Liberals are doing. And I for one intend to make sure things stay that way, despite Liberal attempts to stir the pot.

Remember, PCPO friends: whatever these losers do, we do the exact polar opposite. :)

The Day That Was

2011-12-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Lisa Macleod met with Allan Hubley and Rick Mercer. By all accounts, it was a wonderful meeting.

Religious groups who thought McGuinty respected their wishes last time found out the hard way that he doesn't think much of them.

The War Room Boss made a li'l oopsy-doodle.

Hmmm, that's a pretty strange mistake for two supposedly *separate people* to make. You don't think.....

The Liberals coalesced with the NDP while the PC's did not take the Michael Ignatieff route.

Environmental commissioner Gord Miller attacked the Liberals' politicking on energy use and questioned the intelligence of smart meters.

Kevin Gaudet's website is operational, and subsequently he became the first Presidential candidate to be singled out by the Liberal War Room! Quite an honour. Yay Kevin!

Pretty good day, I'd say! :)

You Got What You Paid For

2011-12-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

Ho-hum. Another Auditor General's report that proves basically everything the PCPO was saying during the election was right. Whatever. Who cares.

Green jobs are an expensive waste of money. People are *not* actually getting to see their doctors any easier. People flout the law without fear of being caught. Auto insurance is through the roof, and government agencies like the LCBO are raking in money hand over fist.

Oh, but don't worry. There's probably a typo on page 356 that the Liberals will point to as evidence that the report is meaningless. That and "there's definitely more work to do." Release a few ads with smiling babies and ukelele music and we're back on track.

What's that? You want to know why I'm not popping a forehead vein over this? Because I've seen this movie too many times. There will be some unfocused robble robble robble over the report for a few days and then people will move on. OR......we could take this report and say "This is why we need to cut a bunch of stuff" and then not take it back when the Liberals pull some expert out of mothballs to say why we can't.

We're going to be treated to silly articles about how Liberals you couldn't pick out of a lineup are actually political geniuses until we get serious about turning the anger into something tangible.

Kevin Gaudet for PC Party President

2011-12-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

I endorse Kevin Gaudet for PC Party President.

I worked on Kevin's campaign in Pickering Scarborough East, and got to know him very well. He is an utterly fearless individual. He is deeply committed to the cause. He is fiercely loyal to those who are loyal to him. He's a pleasure to be around.

But you could say that about all three people in the race. Where Kevin stands out is that he is the most willing to speak plainly about where we fell short during the election, and he is the most willing to re-examine the direction in which our party goes before the next go-round.

We can complain about the Working Families Coalition all we want. We can compare ourselves to Harper, Ford, and Harris all we want. Whether we win or lose the next election is up to us and us alone. Kevin exemplifies that mindset.

The Star featured an article today about the Liberal Wizard of Oz, Don Guy. Like everyone with even a passing familiarity with Queen's Park, I'd heard of Don Guy before. What I never understood was why everyone, PC's and Liberals alike, spoke of him in the most reverent of tones. Ironically enough, the only person who seems to want to criticize Don Guy in that article is Don Guy. Nobody else seems to want to question this man's apparent superpowers. He's a genius, they said.

Well, it seems to me that anyone can be a genius when the people you're competing against think that removing the P or C from PC Party of Ontario will catapult us into government and we need not go any further than that. That is the sort of solution I've been hearing from far too many people. It is the sort of solution the Liberals would come up with. A shift in thinking is what we need, and Kevin, a former president of the CTF and the king of the deficit hawks, represents that shift.

Kevin Gaudet does not feel that Don Guy, or any Liberal, is the wonderful Wizard of Oz because of the wonderful things he does and that we shouldn't look behind the curtain. Instead, Kevin Gaudet has the same unshakeable desire to win -despite everything- that Harper does. Kevin Gaudet is not going to flinch when the Liberal war room attacks him. There is not a single thought in Kevin Gaudet's head that resembles the tentative "what will the Liberals think" thinking that I hear from too many PC's, and which underlies campaigns where we try to tiptoe around Liberal attacks. That's running to avoid a loss. Kevin wants to run to win.

If you really want Change Ahead in the PC Party of Ontario, I suggest you vote for Kevin Gaudet for Party President.

Smoove B Hits A Rough Patch

2011-12-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to all the Liberals who have had enough of The Man.

The Toronto chessmasters are hard at work making life difficult for my pick for next Liberal leader, Chris "Smoove B" Bentley. Always trying to hold a brother down! As Marcus Gee reports in the Globe, Smoove B's been made into the whipping boy for Dalton's unpopular Green Energy Act. Don't like wind turbines? Think the whole thing's an expensive mess? Having problems getting your solar plant up and running? Go complain to Chris Bentley, because Dalton ain't hearing it.

Now isn't this so typical for Dalton McGuinty? The Green Energy Act was conceived in Toronto, for Toronto, by George Smitherman, yet another Liberal who got too big for his britches and got shown the door. Now it falls to Smoove B, the Working Liberal's Liberal, to defend the thing from his Liberal outpost in London, where the NDP took the neighbouring seat of London Fanshawe and the PC's grabbed a ton of land surrounding the city. If Bentley gets tumbled out of office because he can't make the thing work? Problem solved for Dalton! They bury Bentley and get on with finding the next patsy.

You would think that Dalton, having lost three cabinet ministers because of opposition to wind farms in this province, would be a little worried. And he probably is. But Dalton has never been one of the Toronto chessmasters, has he? And for the strategic geniuses, it is always about the next move, how they're going to *get* those yokel PC's. They don't care how many cabinet ministers and MPP's and staffers they have to bury in the process.

And what do those staffers have to say about all this, as their political careers come to early ends? How long can Bentley and the rest of the leadership hopefuls slog through the mud while Dalton basks in the glory? To say nothing of the talent that didn't get promoted to cabinet, and likely won't as Dalton girds for cuts to the cherished programs he spent time defending. I talk about how grassroots PCs would rather sit and complain than try to take ownership of their party, but they have nothing on the Liberals when it comes to willful blindness.

No matter. Let Bentley get whipped like a government mule, and let the staffers stew in their own juices. Let the resentment build. In time, it will boil over.

All Apologies

2011-12-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

Now, for my next trick, I will provide the reasons why Hudak does *not* need to apologize for those flyers that went out during the election. This is a very dangerous stunt and it just might land me on QPcomments (oh the horror!)....but you know, if we don't speak plainly about issues like this, then we can expect the Liberals to spin the narrative *again*, and then we will have to wait to form government until the year 20-Never, which would just suck.

First of all, I would like to make clear that I do not, will not, and have not defended the flyers themselves. I was curious about how they would affect the outcome and they clearly did. (More on that later.)

In any case, releasing them was a very stupid decision and doing so opened the party up to charges of homophobia. Those responsible for them should and (if what I'm hearing is correct) probably have been made persona non grata. So let's be clear. Hudak should *discipline*, to the harshest possible extent, those involved in the production of those flyers.

But he does not need to listen to Liberal demands for him to apologize.

Because the demand to apologize is part of the never-ending Liberal game of chess which delights them so. Everything these people do is part of some neverending strategy to force the PCPO into a position where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. That's why the Liberals constantly put out press releases admonishing Hudak for voting against their agenda, as if there's something else an Opposition leader should be doing.

Central to the Liberal game of chess that never ends is the idea that everything is just another pincer movement in which to trap Hudak. Including this bill the Liberals are putting forward to supposedly end homophobic bullying in schools. Stop and think about that: a situation where young people are killing themselves due to bullying in schools is something that the Liberals view as just another move in their sick little chess game.

The chief problem I have with both the PC and Liberal bills on this issue is that they are half measures. The Star says as much in their editorial. Ditto the Sun. The Globe went so far as to say in the headline that it's not tough enough on bullies. And look! Here's another article from the Star that suggests that gay-straight alliances won't have to be called gay-straight alliances under the new Liberal bill. (Homophobes!)

The problem is that any bill that is meant to eliminate bullying cannot possibly succeed in the coddling environment that the Liberals have created in our schools, where rubber balls and junk food apparently need to be banned. If a kid is a bully, that kid needs to be expelled, and if a parent's child is a bully, then they're not doing their jobs as parents. But the Liberals won't go *that* far, Lord knows, while the PC's at least tried to give teachers the power to discipline kids without having to be afraid of Momzilla.

But as our friend at QPComments shows, this is just another political football for the Liberals, another issue to be fashioned into a stick to beat the PCs with. It isn't good enough for the PCs to put forward their own bill, and it isn't good enough for Conservatives like me to point out how the bills don't go far enough. No, we all have to support the Liberal agenda or we are homophobes. Or racists. Or pawns of Big Coal. Or Big Pharma. The list is endless. And you know what that's called? It's called *bullying.*

It's bullying because the object of bullying is to get someone you don't like to accept something they don't want to accept. And the Liberals want Hudak (and everyone else too) to accept their superiority and just go along with whatever they're doing, because they're Moving Ontario Forward. They want to turn Hudak into their pawn. Into John Tory. Into someone who backs down in the face of their attacks.

When you apologize to a Liberal, you are apologizing to the bully for making him or her bully you. Don't you ever do it, for any reason.

Second Reading: November 29th, 2011

2011-11-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd kick off a new feature here at The Clown at Midnight, focusing on the PC Party's efforts to wear Dalton down through legislation at Queen's Park.

For you see, my loyal readers, it is my duty to annoy Liberals like the War Room Boss and his cadre of cronies, but it is also my duty to inform you about how our stalwart representatives fight the good fight on our behalf. Since the news media are caught up with other breaking news stories that you can't start your day without, it's up to me to help get the message out there.

Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith wants to make it harder for the Liberals to just plunk down wind farms wherever they want by giving municipal councils more of a say. Dalton plans to "listen" to the bill, which I suppose is an improvement over his current practice of staying away from QP whenever he can. Looks like losing three cabinet ministers over wind farm opposition can change a man.

And while Smith's bill leaves Dalton blowing in the wind, Rob Leone of Cambridge took it upon himself to author a PMB of his own that passed 54-50 yesterday which would hold the government to account over promises to build hospitals. We know the McGuinty Liberals have had some trouble getting hospitals completed when they said they would, so maybe this humiliating defeat will light a fire under them.

For his part, Hudak will continue to push for reform to the apprenticeship system and hopefully create a situation where the government stops looking down their nose at people who want a career in the trades.

Full steam ahead!

More Liberal-On-Liberal Violence

2011-11-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

Popcorn, anyone?

Should put to rest any persistent rumours that the platform leak was a trap.

Liberal Screwup Roundup, November 26th

2011-11-26T17:56:00.000-08:00

Since the Liberals are supplying 'em, and you demanded 'em, it's time for another Liberal Screwup Roundup!

We begin with the revelation that Ontario's financial woes are scaring immigrants away. And here I thought the Liberals could offer a pandering tax credit or two and we'd become a hub for skilled workers from other countries. Now we can't even find people to replace the ones who've decamped for the West thanks to Dalton's bungling.

Then we've got more bad press from Martin Regg Cohn in the Star, who lays out a scenario where Dalton isn't in the mood to listen to anybody. And people wonder why Hudak is so annoyed all the time! Here he is trying to keep Dalton from crashing into a brick wall, and the warnings are just not getting through. Maybe if Dalton wasn't surrounded by handlers pumping him full of talking points, he'd be more open to suggestions.

Then finally we have Liberal MPP Kim Craitor (rhymes with "traitor") up to his old tricks again. He's on record as being against the HST on home heating bills, but when it came time to vote on the recent symbolic PC/NDP stand against it, he couldn't be bothered to show up!

These Liberals pretend to be masters at playing all sides against each other, but they're the ones losing out here.

Can't Win For Losing

2011-11-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

Forget waiting for the release of the Drummond report, because the Liberals have started hacking and slashing away already!

We learn today courtesy of the inestimable Robert Benzie via Twitter that at least 200 Liberal staffers were given the boot and are complaining loudly to anyone who will listen. I think that number's quite a low estimate, myself. Pretty ironic that people who spent the last few months defending Dalton's supposed job-creation record got the pink slip from the man himself!

If you're a York Region Transit bus driver, though, you don't need to worry about working any time soon, because Dalton's got your back. He ganged up with the NDP to defeat a PC PMB which would have made life easier for a lot of 905 voters who likely won't be voting Liberal anytime soon. Who says the Liberals are promoters of clean, green transit? Not when there's a union to be paid off!

The NDP can be useful at times, though, as they embarassed the government with the support of the PC Party by passing a bill to remove the HST from home heating bills. The Liberals, of course, don't think much of the opinions of the majority of elected representatives in Queen's Park, so they decided to just pretend it never happened.

Sure looks like the PC's are playing for keeps here. Way to be, guys!

Who Is Responsible?

2011-11-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

The penny drops for Dan Gardner.

"As Conservative strategist Rod Love told author Lawrence Martin, Harper and other Reformers seethed — and rightly so — at the way the Chrétien-era Liberals framed them as the lunatic fringe."

Yep. And the Liberals are still doing that, aren't they? Here in Ontario and everywhere. No matter how progressive we try to be.

What role, I wonder, did the Liberals play in the development of today's Canada and Toronto, under Harper and Ford? How much of their current misery is self-caused?

Where do guys like Harper come from, they wonder? And how does he find people- similarly demonized as the lunatic fringe, no doubt- that will vote for him? And why do there seem to be more and more of them?

And when this realization finally hits home for the PC Party of Ontario, just how screwed will the Ontario Liberals be?

Trouble In Trinity Spadina!

2011-11-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

Run for the hills! There's a bit of a Liberal-on-Liberal tiff going on in downtown Toronto.

The fight seems to be between defeated Liberal candidate Sarah Thomson, and defeated (federal) Liberal candidate Christine Innes, wife of defeated Trin-Spa Liberal MP Tony Ianno. There are allegations of investments that disappeared, and nobody seems to know who's married to whom! Crazy!

With Liberal backbenchers "disaffected" according to the Toronto Star, can the kept-alive-with-prayers Ontario Liberal Party afford this kind of infighting? It threatens to destroy their fragile minority! Election imminent! Red alert! Oh noez!

We here at the PC Party will watch with BIIIIIIIIIIIG smiles on our faces as this fail parade continues to march along. :D :D :D

The First Day of Dalton's Last Stand

2011-11-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. While the Liberals are focused on a bunch of inside baseball and he-said she-said, as per usual, there were two major developments that hampered them right out of the gate. (The aforementioned inside baseball will be commented on tomorrow, because I *know* that's what all of you, Liberal and Tory alike, really want to hear about. :P)

First of all, the Speaker for the first minority Legislature since the 80's is, shockingly, Dimbulb Dave Levac. The guy who misspoke when he actually mistyped on whether a carbon tax was on the table. The guy who fiddled my time away while Caledonia burned. Truly the kind of inspiring, definitive leadership we're going to need in a one-seat minority! Look! He has to be dragged to the Speaker's chair. ;)

How did this lowlight of a Junior Energy Minister get to be the most one of the most powerful people in the Legislature? Maybe it's because the other three candidates were from GTA or Toronto ridings, which the Liberals likely think they will hold on to forever....except, um, that the former prospective front-runner, Donna Cansfield, admitted she wouldn't be running in the next election:

"I’m not going to run another time. I’m not here for future considerations at all,” said the former cabinet minister who was first elected in 2003.

By signalling she won’t be a candidate in the election expected in 2015 — though with a minority government it could come sooner — Cansfield underscores her autonomy in refereeing the Legislative Assembly."

Yikes! First day and already Liberals are getting while the getting's good.

Now, we know the Liberals like to talk a good game about how they respect women, but it seems that Christine Elliot and Lisa Macleod's endorsements of Cansfield may have provoked a massive stampede to Levac amongst the Liberals. Andrea Horwath was also on the record as saying she wanted to see more women in leadership roles. So we have two Tories and the NDP leader leaning towards Cansfield, which means that for Levac to have won, the Liberals must have backed him en masse. Yeah, we could have had the first female Speaker in Ontario's history, but that would have meant giving the Tories and NDP what they wanted. Can't have that!

You might have heard about how perennial Liberal leadership hopeful Chris "Smoove B" Bentley was about as smooth as chunky peanut butter during his announcement that the Liberals had finally halted construction on That Power Plant 58 days after they said construction had stopped. Why do you suppose Liberal leadership hopeful Chris Bentley is constantly made to look like a doofus and getting handed all these tough files? Hmmm. I wonder. I also wonder if work will begin again once people have moved onto another story.

We don't know how much this decision will cost taxpayers. So how about we ask and ask and ask until we get an answer? No, better yet....how about we answer every single one of their annoying questions about when we're going to apologize for something with a question about when they're going to tell us how much cancelling the plant will cost?

And we've only just begun!

Don't Be Like Mike

2011-11-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

The Legislature, and consequently, the PC Party of Ontario, gets back to business tomorrow. And I'm sure they remember this guy, right?

Yeah. Don't be like this guy.

Contrary to what your friendly neighbourhood Liberal War Room Boss would have you believe, minority Parliaments are all about rising and falling election threats. We went through years of this silliness at the federal level. He should know, having borne witness to a particularly spectacular failure of will by the federal Liberals on that score some years ago. And no, an election next year is not out of the realm of possibility.

There is a world of difference between "Get ready for an election" and "Mr. McGuinty, your time is up." The PC Party would do well to remember this. The first is OK and keeps your supporters watching. The second makes us look silly.

By all means, keep the heat on McGuinty. Make his life miserable. He deserves it. But there's something to be said for letting McGuinty dig his own grave.

His caucus is packed full of perennially re-elected municipal politicians who owe their success to everyone knowing their name and who are quickly turning their ridings into franchises where nobody's thinking about succession planning. The young up-and-comers were shut out of cabinet. Some of his MPP's are in their 70's and 80's. Others are radicals who will force him into more of those humiliating backtracks that were so common this year. And if that wasn't bad enough, he's got four of his MPP's butting heads over the Speaker position, a Fall Economic Update looming, and nervous staffers considering their career options as the public sector gets squeezed.

Something is going to give. And soon. So we don't need to huff and puff and threaten to blow the house down every week.

Remember: whatever the federal Liberals do, or did, we go in the opposite direction.

Occupy Your Local EDA?

2011-11-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

I blog about provincial politics in Ontario. I try not to blog about the Conservative Irritation Of The Day.

I try to focus on one goal, and that goal is getting rid of Dalton McGuinty's Liberals.

The reason why Dalton McGuinty is Premier of Ontario is that he is not distracted by Irritations Of The Day. He doesn't care about the Occupy Toronto movement getting a stay of execution or about a group of idiots at a Toronto school who decided that football and soccer are the latest thing to ban. So if I want Dalton out, I guess I can't be distracted by those things either. But I will have to, at least temporarily, to write this post.

If you think Dalton's Smartest Guys In The Room can't come up with an argument in support of the Occupy Toronto movement or in support of banning footballs that not only they agree with, but you will agree with, then you just don't understand why Dalton is Premier. Not that it matters because it turns out a lot of people think that the opinions of people in V for Vendetta masks are worth listening to. Why else would there be sympathetic stories in the newspapers day after day after day? Why else would prominent businesspeople and politicians be talking about the significance of this protest?

Here's why I think we have Mark Carney and whomever else doing the I-feel-your-pain act when it comes to the Occupy protests: because they are worried about being seen to be hard hearted. And this is the Governor of the Bank of Canada. We are in a pretty bad place economically, and there isn't enough of the good life to go around, but heaven forbid we start worrying about ourselves first! What will people think???

Hey, I have a crazy idea: How about somebody says, out loud, that the reason these people can't find jobs is because they, like most people, expected that they will be taken care of from womb to tomb? Oh no, that's cruel and mean-spirited. Nobody will ever vote for us if we say that. And besides, here's the Liberal War Room Boss suggesting that removing these people would produce another Ipperwash. Oh noez. Did it suddenly get cold in here or is it just me?

The strategy of the Principled Conservative movement for the past umpteen years has been to scream to the heavens about this or that affront to freedom for a day or two and then forget all about it when the next outrage comes down the pipe. I don't watch Sun News for this reason. I don't listen to talk radio for this reason. On rare occasions, when somebody like the Liberal War Room Boss enters our little echo chamber with counter-arguments, we're all suddenly out of ideas. I find it depressing that after trying and failing for years, this is all we have.

Did we boot the Liberals out of Ottawa by screaming about this or that outrage? No! We got better at doing what they did and we worked harder than they did. Now they're the ones doing the fruitless screaming. And oh, is it satisfying. But why is it so hard to make progress anywhere else? Because there is no focus. It's here, there, and everywhere.

At one point Stephen Harper thought he would make Paul Martin look dumb by accusing him of being soft on child porn. He thought it would trigger a firestorm of outrage and catapult him into the Prime Minister's chair. Now, seven years later, he's finally figured out that no, Canadians don't care about who's soft on child porn because they trust the government implicitly. He understands that Canadians really don't care about who's principled and who isn't. He understands that it's all a story we tell ourselves to keep the truth from being known. And so, he is pitiless. Utterly pitiless. And I admire him for it.

But as a movement, we haven't learned this lesson. We are content to read columns in the National Post and the Sun, watch Ezra and Michael Coren pontificate on TV, read Mark Steyn's blog, and let others do the heavy lifting. When Harper's term comes to an end (and it eventually will, because he is after all human), then we can pine for the days of the Harper majority, argue in pubs over whether he was really all that Principled or not, and run away from his legacy on the campaign trail. 'Twas ever thus.

The Occupy People and the helicopter moms who wanted footballs banned at that school wring their hands about the deplorable state of affairs, are overcome with empathy, and then do something that they think will remedy the situation. The Occupy people and the helicopter moms are consistent.

We aren't.

But here's the good news: As more and more people start to realize that all the empathy in the world won't fix what's causing the problems of today, then people are going to get less and less offended when Conservatives say awful things like, well, maybe it's too expensive to take care of people from birth to death. And then the Liberals are going to be in a world of trouble. We can wait until that point, or we can start WORKING.

The Young And The Restless

2011-11-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

A few short days ago, I wrote a post in which I described the pervasive deficit of doing and the surplus of talking amongst supposed Principled Conservatives who are aggrieved with the state of things in Ontario today.

It occured to me shortly afterwards that a demonstration of how this is done may be needed.
As I write this, the youth of the PC Party of Ontario are hard at work on merging the youth and campus wings of the party. For reference purposes, the youth wing is the Ontario Progressive Conservative Youth Association (OPCYA) and the campus wing is the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA). A letter from Grant Dingwall, the OPCYA President, can be read here.

Now, for those of you who have no idea how OPCYA and OPCCA affect your lives (and offhand, I'd guess that's a lot of people), I'll make it very, very simple. We currently have two organizations that draw on the same pool of youth volunteers. People in OPCYA can be in OPCCA and vice versa. Furthermore, in 5 other provinces, there is only one youth organization as opposed to two.

It should be noted that there is no intention to create a youth wing where one currently does not exist, as was the case during the federal convention early this year.

Now, if anyone can raise an objection from a conservative point of view to the idea that we should have one youth organization instead of two, I would like to hear it. Because I haven't heard one yet.

I am aware that merging two youth associations into one youth association is not going to put Ontario back on track. But, by cracky, it is one of the first instances I can recall in a long time where people in our party decided to reform things from within instead of complaining about problems external to the party.

I am also aware that people may not approve of this change, saying that it may go too far or that it may not go far enough. That's fine. That's what democracy is about. But if you feel quite strongly that this merger is the worst idea ever, please note that this idea was conceived of and is being implemented by the youth of our party, and it would be very difficult- in my opinion- to justify an attack on our party's future leaders for doing what they said they would do once elected to their current positions.

So I ask you once again, readers: if the youth wing can work to make this happen, what's stopping you?

Smoke And Mirrors

2011-11-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Three months remain until the PCPO AGM in Niagara Falls. Interesting developments are taking shape in the form of races for party exec, constitutional amendments, and realignment of strategy in preparation for the next go-round. All of which will be discussed in depth on this here blog in the weeks to come.

First and foremost, though, is the question of the leadership review.

For a month now, the media has been falling all over themselves to try and play up the narrative that Tim Hudak has to start working like he's never worked before to prove he should remain leader. This despite no evidence that any organized group of people are working against him. But hey, never let the truth get in the way of a good story, right? (Side note: Hey, Liberals? When the press tries to create rumours like this out of thin air about Bob Rae, then I'll believe you've hit rock bottom.)

Now. I understand there is anger at Hudak. But it is free-flowing anger, not channeled into anything. Like the HST, eHealth, the power plant in Mississauga, the cafeteria in Toronto where menstruating girls were separated from everyone else, and the rest of the 99 problems that have arisen during Dalton's reign that nobody seems to be able to find an acceptable solution to, there is a surplus of talking and a deficit of doing.

And this is why I cannot take so-called Principled Conservatives seriously. Real Principled Conservatives act.

If opposition to Hudak was based on Real Conservative Principles, then the people who have a problem with Tim would have identified themselves already, gotten together, and begun work to get their objective accomplished.

I know, because four years ago, I had a problem with John Tory's performance and I let people know it immediately afterwards, and I donated money to Draft A Leader. Fast forward to four years later and there is nothing for people who have a problem with Tim Hudak that I am aware of (and I am most certainly not one of those people who have a problem with Tim Hudak).

So who are these people?

Is it the Sun News crowd? Nope. They're lining up behind John Snobelen, who is behind Hudak.

Is it the architects of Ford's victory? Uh-uh. One of those architects is Richard Ciano, who is behind Hudak.

Is it the deficit hawks? Kevin Gaudet is setting himself up as their champion. And he's behind Hudak.

Who are these people? Who is leading them? What are their objectives and preferred choice post-leadership review?

I doubt we're ever going to get an answer.

So, people out there who want Hudak gone and read this blog, you don't have to answer. Instead, think. Think about what they keep saying about our party. That we complain about problems but offer no solutions. And ask yourself whether you are part of that problem.

A Drop In The Bucket

2011-11-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

And so ends the 2011 election season, an utterly disgraceful one for the Liberals by any measure. Not one result, coast-to-coast, that they can point to and say, "We have the momentum." The best they did was their wins in PEI and here in Ontario, where they held us off at some cost.

So what?

Does anyone out there think that these Liberals are going away any time soon? Did we win?

Absolutely not.

This country, all of it, still belongs to the Liberals. Nothing has changed that. Not the federal majority in both houses. Not our advances provincially, such as they were. Not our victories at the municipal level. Not the establishment of Sun News. Not the dominance in fundraising. Not even the fact that Conservatives seem to be on the rise worldwide. None of that matters.

For you see, I talk to Liberals. And they remain hopeful. Hopeful that good, as they put it, will triumph over evil in the end. All of their misfortune is just a setback. All of our gains are just a bad dream that will end soon.

When I can open a newspaper and see ridiculous, unfounded rumours about leadership challenges to Tim Hudak reported on as if they are fact (and remember, this is a guy who did just take a piece of Dalton's rear end, something nobody else has accomplished in recent memory)....

.....or when, a day before Brad Wall wipes the floor with the NDP, I read about how Harper's decision to dismantle the Wheat Board might hurt the Saskatchewan Party's hopes, and then, after Wall is done wiping the floor with the NDP, there is not even an acknowledgement of how wrong they were.....

....or when people -any people- refuse to take the CBC to task over this ridiculous, ridiculous situation with Rob Ford......

....or when Margaret Wente points out that the Occupy protesters are overeducated, irresponsible adult children who put the cart before the horse in a big way, expecting to graduate into a world that would shower them with neverending praise, and the next day there are letters taking her to task for being too harsh on single mothers.....

.....or when anyone gives a toss about what Bob Rae has to say on any subject, given that he is a carpetbagging, limelight-seeking opportunist of the first order (and that is something not even the Liberals I talk to try to deny).....then I have to conclude that the Liberals, deluded as they unquestionably are, still have reason to hope.

Compare their state of mind, if you will, to ours. I- we- are currently engaged in soul-searching, debating, deliberating, pondering, on what our next tack will be. We actively fear losing what we've gained while the Liberals look at their troubles as just a down period that they'll bounce back from. That's why we are so reluctant to criticize Conservative leaders who do the wrong thing. I don't like that tendency, but I understand it.

I understand it because the battle between us and them has never been a war between equals. Central to Liberal electoral success is the Heritage Moment illusion of the quiet northern nation, governed by the sane, sage practitioners of the golden mean, where we peacefully play hockey on frozen ponds, are kind to our neighbours, are proud of our healthcare system, dutifully watch the CBC and read Canadian novels, and settle our differences without getting emotional. And we Conservatives, who believe people are naturally selfish and self-interested, are an affront to that. We don't have anything as soothing as the Heritage Moment illusion. All we have are hard truths.

Aye, Mr. Liberal Voter. Why don't ye jes' REEEAD it, then?

Nobody likes having their illusions challenged. But challenge them we must. And if the economy craters, or the Liberal abuse of trust becomes so massive that it cannot be rationalized a la Adscam, then the illusion will disappear and we will have an opportunity to take this province back.

Two-Way Communication

2011-11-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

I went to one of these regional feedback townhalls the PC Party is currently holding yesterday. At that regional feedback townhall was a very high-ranking member of the PC Party. And he said something that I didn't quite grasp the import of at first.

He said that, for the longest time, he'd been trying to get party members to submit their e-mail addresses to the party so that they could be contacted more easily.

Now, for someone like me who spends a good chunk of the day trying to figure out how we're going to take this province back, something like this is obvious, not worthy of a second thought. Of course the party needs my e-mail. Of course the party needs the e-mail of every party member. Why is this an issue?

Then, a few hours later, trying to fall asleep, I asked myself the same question. Why is this an issue?

Then it hit me.

At the moment, people are blaming the central campaign for dropping the ball. They are saying the grassroots were ignored, the campaign gave them nothing to work with, there was too much control, whatever.

But, by and large, the same people who complain the party is ignoring them are the same people who won't submit their e-mails to the party. You know......so the party can contact them???

Then I remembered something else this highly placed individual said yesterday. He said that, by and large, most provincial EDAs were dormant for the majority of the time from 2007 till a few months before the election.

So- I reasoned later that evening- chances are that the same EDAs who complained of having candidates parachuted in are the same EDAs who hadn't done that much between one election and the next.

Then he said that there were unfilled positions on the party executive and there were executive positions that nobody knew existed.

So- continuing on this line of reasoning- despite an abundance of people complaining that the party's priorities are all wrong and that they have the answers, we have vacancies and a general lack of knowledge about who does what within the PC Party of Ontario.

Because, it seems, nobody took it upon themselves to learn about this state of affairs for themselves and do something about it.

So you guys tell me. Is the central campaign solely responsible for what happened?

The Easy Way? Or The Hard Way?

2011-11-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well now. As the old saying goes, ask and you shall receive. And we have received an interesting three way contest for PC Party President where previously there was silence.

The three men who have stepped forward are:

-Kevin Gaudet, former boss of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and PCPO candidate in Pickering Scarborough East

-Richard Ciano, of Campaign Research and former National Councillor for the CPC, good friend and business partner of Nick Kouvalis

-John Snobelen, former cabinet minister under Mike Harris, MPP for Mississauga Streetsville

All well known people in Conservative circles. All men I like personally. And all three could be great Party Presidents. And we could have a nice clean race here, the object of which would be to debate the future of our party politely and constructively.

And I want a nice clean race. I do. I don't want this to become about settling petty scores from years ago.

But if it does become about settling petty scores, then those who play it that way are going to be called out on this here blog. And that would suck. It'd be doing this the hard way when we could have done it the easy way.

So I guess we'll just see, won't we?

We Are Not The Federal Liberals (I Hope)

2011-11-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

There are, I think, few Conservatives in Ontario who look at the federal Liberals and say, "We need to be like those guys." And yet.....when it comes to the topic of the PCPO, I just get the feeling that things aren't so clear cut.

The Federal Liberals, I am told, are extremely preoccupied with who leads them. His Eminence Crown Prince Justin Trudeau is looked upon by many as the saviour of the Liberal brand. Others venerate Chretien. A good number of Liberals don't care if their Uncle Fred is running the party, so long as it's not Bob Rae. Rather than try to build with the guy they have now, however temporarily he may be there, it's all about who is going to fix everything for everyone.

We look at that with a mixture of disgust and amusement....and then someone pipes up with, "Wow, wouldn't it just be *dreamy* if Mike Harris came back?" And then someone else pipes up with, "No way, John Tory should have gotten another chance!" And then....well, we know what happens then.

Additionally, it should be noted that everything for the federal Liberals lies with the leader. The leader is expected to unite Liberals from coast to coast and address all 86523 of their priorities while nimbly avoiding attacks from the other parties, getting the media to eat out of their hand, and proposing a perfect plan to deal with the economy and the provinces that leaves out nary a single detail and leaves nobody inconvenienced in any way. And if the leader doesn't do all of this, then he or she is the worst person ever, the party's ignoring its grassroots, the priorities are all wrong, and what were we thinking when we went with this person who couldn't lead a one-man band.

Of course the people doing this complaining know exactly what they'd do if they had the chance, but it's not like they would ever step up and mount an actual challenge to the leadership that lasted more than a day. Goodness, no. Running for the party executive? Please. Who has that kind of time?

Luckily, nobody in the PC Party of Ontario thinks that way. *cough cough*

You may also have heard that some federal Liberals think a merger with the NDP is a fantastical idea. The brand, they say, is dead, and it is time to form a totally new progressive party. Let the blue Liberals go to the Conservatives, we don't need them anyway. And all of that bad blood between them and the Dippers? Never you mind.

What a bunch of losers, say we. We'd never think of forming a new party....like one where we drop the P from PC and boot the Red Tories, or drop the C from PC and boot the Blue Tories, or anything like that. That'd just be silly.

Yeah, I'm sure nobody would want the PC Party of Ontario to be like the broken federal Liberals.

So why do some Conservatives in Ontario act like federal Liberals?

The Art Of Winning An Unfair Election

2011-11-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

I went and saw Brad Pitt's latest movie, "Moneyball", this past weekend. It's about how Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland Athletics (played by Pitt) broke with traditional baseball wisdom and used an unconventional player selection strategy during the 2002 season in an attempt to defeat richer and more advantaged teams.

The film is remarkably even handed, showing the interplay between conventional baseball wisdom, analysis of player statistics, and simple luck and superstition as the experiment plays out. As the team bounces back and forth between success and failure, you are left wondering how it could have gone if this or that change had been made, or if what we're seeing is part of some larger phenomenon that nobody can really explain. It's clear the new thinking broke ground and that traditional thinking was an obstacle to success, but there was a steep price to be paid and without smart application of the new strategy, things could have been very, very different.

Importantly, the numbers-based approach doesn't always work. When the team does well, Beane and his Yale-educated economist assistant Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) are lauded on talk radio, by the fans, and by the players. When the team does poorly, the players are surly, fans are furious, and people call for Beane's head. Tense scenes between Beane and his family, his team's manager, his scouts, and his players abound as they try to get him to reconsider.

In the crucial 20th game of what could be a record-setting 20-game win streak, Beane- who never steps out on the field during a game- hears that his team is up 11-0 in the fourth inning and, ignoring his daughter's warnings not to jinx it, swerves off the highway and drives to the ballpark to watch the victory unfold. But as soon as he steps on the sidelines to watch, clouds roll in and the triumphant music stops. His team suddenly starts giving up runs, missing line drives. Before long they've blown the lead and head into extra innings with the game tied at 11-all.

Watching the (extremely well-done) scene, you feel the momentum break. Why is this happening to the team? Is it a sudden run of bad luck? Was the experiment doomed to fail from the start? Or did Beane actually jinx the team by walking out on the field? This question is never fully answered.

To great effect, you watch people offer explanation after explanation for what is happening only to be proven wrong, then right, then wrong again. And when the outcome is finally decided, a voice-over pipes in, giving you an I-told-you-so account from someone you never see, but who somehow knew all along what was going to happen. A voice we've all heard.

In the film's most affecting scene, Beane's daughter plays her guitar in the middle of a music store and sings a song to her father, a song which is repeated before the credits.

She sings the song about not knowing where to go, but he -the seasoned professional- could just as easily be singing the song to her. As could any of the self-professed experts in this film. She doesn't know. He doesn't know. They don't know.

I think you all see where I'm going with this.

Six months ago, things looked very different for the PCPO than they do now. And in six months, things may look different again. When they do, people will take credit for knowing all along how it was going to turn out, just like the Liberals are taking credit now. And when the moment comes that leads the Liberals to their downfall, they'll be just as much at a loss to explain why they didn't see it coming.

So, if we are smart, we will wait for that moment to happen while doing everything we can to make it happen faster than it would otherwise. Until then, enjoy the show like the song says.

Hepburn Gets Burned

2011-10-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

First thing you learn in fancy-pants Jurnalizm Skool: check your sources. Over to you, Ms. Elliott:

I want to set the record straight about Bob Hepburn’s inaccurate assertions. I am focused on representing the people of Whitby-Oshawa and, despite what Mr. Hepburn suggests, I have absolutely no intention of resigning my seat. The confidence placed in me by my constituents is something that I will continue to work every day to retain.

My husband, Jim Flaherty, is honoured by the responsibility given to him by Prime Minister Stephen Harper over the last five years to serve as Canada’s finance minister during these difficult times. He continues to play a pivotal role in helping Canada demonstrate international leadership on economic matters. He has no intention of leaving his role in Ottawa to seek the leadership of the Ontario PC Party. Jim and I are united behind Tim Hudak.

Take note, kids: this is what happens when you do the Liberals' dirty work.

Anybody else care to stand up and be counted as one of the so called "leadership candidates"?

Reasons Why We Lost: I Make The Rules/Who Cares?

2011-10-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Did you hear about how that power plant in Mississauga is still open??? Even after Dalton said he'd close it???? WTF? What is the matter with people? Don't they care?
No. No they don't.

That is the only possible explanation. Dalton said the power plant was going to close. The power plant is not closed, and not only is it not closed, work on it has not stopped. People are aware of this. They can see it for themselves.

Why don't people care?

Because Dalton didn't care. Neither did Chretien. Neither, it must be said, does Harper.

He Makes The Rules, people. Deal with it.

And what's more, people knew before the election that Dalton wouldn't close the plant, and that he would, if given the chance, raise taxes again. We weren't telling them anything they didn't already know. They just didn't care. Because Dalton didn't care.

Well....that's not entirely true. I think Dalton does care. That's why he got rattled at the debate when Hudak attacked him about the power plant. But he knew, or someone on his campaign team knew, that under no circumstances could he admit that he cared. Because caring about what people say about you puts them in control.

Total control.

If I could identify one thing that all Canada's political leaders have in common- the successful ones- it is that they, at all times, exercised total authority over their caucus, their electorate, and their opponents. So if Hudak cracked down on Klees this week and forced him to reconsider his incredibly stupid and self serving decision to run for Speaker, then good on him. He is learning.

Think about men like King, Laurier, Mulroney, Diefenbaker, Chretien, Harper. Think about the Big Blue Machine Premiers. Think about Danny Williams, Ralph Klein, Gary Doer, Hazel McCallion. Jack Layton- who never, ever let anyone in his caucus really undermine him, no matter how bad his party did- is no exception.

Now think about the losers. Paul Martin. John Tory. Kim Campbell. Stephane Dion. Michael Ignatieff. Joe Clark. Ed Stelmach. All of them tried really, really hard to care about people. The people didn't reciprocate.

Now think about those who have survived highs and lows. What drove Gordon Campbell out of office? Ceding control to the public for an HST referendum. Jean Charest? Looking pretty weak right now with corruption getting out of control. Looked pretty weak during that provincial election where the ADQ became the official opposition. Reasserted himself the one time, not sure about this time. Christy Clark looks pretty weak now with the caucus rebellion. Brad Wall looks very much in control, Lingenfelter doesn't. Redford's the unchallenged mistress of Alberta, while Danielle Smith struggles to control her people, but that could change.

Dalton? Well, think about during the summer when his caucus was deserting him. That, more so than anything Hudak said or did, made him look totally, totally weak. Not in control at all. Then he reversed that trend, and.....

Have you noticed that now that Ford appears to care about what people are saying about him, suddenly he looks a lot weaker than he did? And what triggered this slide? Why, a consultation with the public, of course. But now that he isn't admitting guilt over this ridiculous incident with Mary Walsh, it looks like he might get away with it.

A lot of politicos assume that people will rise up in anger once they hear about all the awful things their government has done, but the truth is that Canadians really don't give a toss about what their politicians do. This ain't America, and this ain't the Middle East. You're not going to have a Tea Party, an Arab Spring, or an Occupy Whatever movement worth speaking about up here, and trying to import those concepts wholesale into Canada is going to get you a lot of funny stares from people who really don't give a damn. So long as it looks like the guy running the show is in control, nobody's going to do anything, and they might actually react with anger if someone tries to change it.

If Tim Hudak wants to win, he needs to crack the whip and show that he is the boss. He can't get wrapped up in whether people like him or not, because they've shown that they really don't care.

And until they do care, it's going to be politics as usual.

Reasons Why We Lost: Scaredy-Cats

2011-10-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

There are few people who I hold in lower esteem than Bob Hepburn, editor of the Toronto Star.

Expecting journalists and editors to be unbiased is and always has been a fool's game. People in this profession who openly cheerlead is also risible, but not unexpected. But Hepburn is so far in the tank for the Liberals that he openly deigns to give them suggestions on how to lead. And not only that, but if you click those links and read what he had to say, you will find that his suggestions are usually quite wrong.

I don't know how Liberals feel about Hepburn's pronouncements. But in this morning's column about the supposed state of the PC Party, Hepburn decided he's going to give Tim Hudak advice on how to stay leader.

So now, in addition to everyone and their brother who's ever held a membership in the PC Party of Ontario, we now have the Star's editor chiming in about the future of the party. Hepburn's column is full of overheated gossip- Tom Long is planning to kneecap Hudak! Flaherty is waiting in the wings! Unnamed leadership rivals are "circling!"- and factual errors -the PC Party supposedly "dumps" leaders who lose, but all the leaders he names resigned- and while that's bad, it doesn't touch the real issue here.

See, I understand people are mad about the loss. Some people want Hudak gone. But right now, there is no doubt in my mind that Hudak is going to survive. Because of one reason, one reason that Hepburn and all the other tough talkers seem to not have considered. Are you ready? Here it is:

NO ORGANIZED GROUP OF PEOPLE TRYING TO DUMP HUDAK CURRENTLY EXISTS

Hepburn thinks that because he has control over a rapidly-declining broadsheet, he can use it as a platform to make his idiotic pronouncements. He won't go on TV or go head to head with anyone on the radio to defend what he says, because he knows in the back of his mind that he'll get clobbered.

But these noble Principled Conservatives who think they know better than the party have no such broadsheet to hide behind. They like to complain, but they won't back their talk up with action. More to the point, where were these Principled Conservatives when Hudak said he wouldn't scrap the HRC's? Or when the platform was announced? Or during the months after the platform was announced when we were coasting at 40%+? Nowhere, that's where. They shut their mouths and went along for the ride. Now, they think that because Hudak lost, he's done like dinner even though they have no organization, and the people they want to replace have at least some organization.

Do we have a party full of fighters, ready to pound Dalton into red Jell-O? Or do we have a bunch of scaredy-cats like Frank Klees who stab the leader in the back, then turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble? Who would rather complain about the other half of the party because it's easy to do that, and fighting the Liberals is difficult?

It goes back to what I said about not running tentative campaigns that are fraught with concern about What The Liberals Will Say. If you, Mr. or Mrs. Principled Conservative, want Spiro or Lietaer or Hudak or whoever gone, then you had damn well better stand behind your rhetoric. Then, you may not have the admiration of the party, but you will have their respect. Or you can do nothing, and have neither.

Klees Freezes

2011-10-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

Klees ponders dropping out of speaker's race.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Frank Klees was thought to be a Principled Conservative by lots of people who had a problem with The Party.

Oh, and FYI: I am not against Principled Conservatism. I'm just saying that the term has become so debased that it is impossible to believe anyone who says they are one. And this is why.

Reasons Why We Lost: Ego

2011-10-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

There are four other Liberals running for the Speaker position as of this writing.

So either he thinks he can beat four other Liberal MPP's in a government where Liberals are the first party, or he thinks Dalton will kibosh these four, aggravating tensions within the Liberal caucus and ruining Dalton's vision of a Legislature that Moves Forward Together, or he doesn't care if he wins. If he does win, every single bill passed by McGuinty will bear his greasy fingerprints. Whatever the justification, if there is a justification, the ultimate reason is the same: Ego.

Frank Klees has forgotten that the leader leads, and everyone else follows. Maybe he didn't ever accept that. It's clear he doesn't accept that he is not leader of the party and that he probably won't ever be leader. It's clear he isn't concerned about the feelings of the people who voted for him, voted with him in caucus, and supported him in his leadership bids. Dalton can't possibly relish the thought of having this guy decide whether he moves forward with his agenda or not.

But there's a bigger problem here: This man made it to the third round of voting in 2009. Were people not aware of what kind of an individual this man was and is, or did they just get swept up in their own vision of what a conservative looks like? And if enough people in our party can be fooled into voting for this guy to almost vault him into the leadership, then how do we all individually decide that we have the golden idea, and that our own Conservative Principles are enough to get Ontarians to vote for us?

Here's the thing people- none of us, myself included, have the answers for how to get back on top in this province yet, because if we did, we'd be there. That's what these posts are about- trying to find the answer. Frank Klees thought he had the answer, and now he's getting crap rained on him- and all for what?

Both Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath had maintained their members would not seek the prestigious $152,914-a-year post of speaker — which includes a lavish suite of offices and a private apartment at Queen’s Park — for fear of undercutting their own odds of defeating McGuinty when the time is right.

Mmm-hmm. But I don't want Klees to be kicked out of the party. That would be letting my ego run away with me. I want him to lose, and then sit without a critic post, for however long he decides to stay there, alone, without any support from the people he betrayed.

We need fewer Franks, and more people who will put their egos aside for the good of the party.

Reasons Why We Lost: Ask Not What The Party Can Do For You

2011-10-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

Boy, those unions really grind my gears. Who do they think they are, interfering in provincial elections like that? Obviously the federal government needs to pass the new law making unions open their books, and the provincial party needs to do more to expose the relationship between the Liberals and the Working Families Coalition.....and, um....

Um, wait a second, why are we sitting around waiting for the federal and provincial party to do something about this? We are supposed to be conservatives, right? You know...we do stuff ourselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it?

Right now, there is a family suing Dalton McGuinty's government because they feel that wind farms in rural Ontario made them sick. Mind you, these people are not Principled Conservatives who spend the bulk of their time whining about how Hudak would have won every seat in the province if only they'd been listened to. No, they are just a group of Ontario citizens- and remember that they have been sick- who took matters into their own hands.

Yet somehow, we seem to have lost the ability to do anything without the express consent of HQ, the people whom- if you listen to the Principled Conservatives- cannot be bothered to listen. Well, permit me to suggest that if these selfsame Principled Conservatives were to actually DO SOMETHING to show they could do a better job than the people they complain about, then maybe the party would start listening.

What could that something be, you may ask? Let me list a few things that would really, really help right about now for all Ontarians:

-Somewhere, there is proof of some understanding or agreement between Dalton and the Working Families Coalition. The WFC would not do all it does for free. Somebody out there knows a union member, or maybe is a union member, or knows someone who knows a union member, who is privy to this information. Find it.

-There was a report in the Star during the election about the Coalition for a Better Ontario, which created a bunch of ads during the 1999 election that got Harris re-elected. Would anyone be interested in forming such a group? Don't everyone jump forward at once.

-Is there a possibility of a legal challenge here, to have these unions or the government disclose their contributions? McGuinty says the rules were followed. What are these rules? How can we, the laypeople who don't have law degrees, find out if they were followed? Do we not have a group of lawyers that can explain this? Would a lawyer like to make him or herself famous by taking on this project?

-If you don't want to take on McGuinty's union machine, then maybe you know something about how one of his MPP's were involved in something they shouldn't have been. There is a distinct lack of people willing to step forward and be counted on this, so I will get the ball rolling:

On one of the Toronto campaigns I worked on, we received a bunch of calls saying that people were being intimidated into taking signs for the Liberal MPP. This Liberal MPP is connected quite closely to a local councillor, who - so I was told- is capable of making certain decisions about rezoning laws.

Stories like this abound, but nobody wants to come forward to substantiate any part of it. That makes knocking off these Liberal MPP's difficult.

Unless I missed something major and we actually live in some third-world country, there is nothing stopping anyone from trying to unearth these details. While I'm not blogging or working at my real job, I'm doing exactly that. What's your excuse?

Losing Ground

2011-10-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

Troubles continue apace for the Liberals, coast to coast.

In B.C., a caucus rebellion.

In Quebec, a looming inquiry and a new party.

Federally, the divisions are still exposed.

They might get away with it all, thanks to the misplaced goodwill of the public. But they know....they know, in the back of their minds as they toil away and rob Peter to pay Paul....that the moment when it all falls apart is coming.

Things are not getting better. The system, set up by the Liberals- a practical joke on all of us- does not work. We know this. The NDP knows this. More and more people know this. That's why the Liberals are always playing defence.

It can only last so long. They can only last so long.

Reasons Why We Lost: It's A Trap!

2011-10-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Has this ever happened to you? You're toiling away on a campaign and all of a sudden, you find out something damaging about your Liberal opponent. He or she said something stupid or did something unethical. Or maybe it's someone connected to your Liberal opponent, or to McGuinty himself. Sure, it won't turn the election on its own, but it will force the other guys into damage control. And you're the only one who knows about it.

Flushed with excitement, you run back to the campaign office or to central campaign clutching the proof in your hot little hand. Boy oh boy, you've really got the Liberals by the short hairs now.

But when you get there, the reaction's a bit more....muted. People find your story interesting, but they're not anywhere near as excited as you are. And then, as reality sets back in, you hear those three deadly words:

"It's a trap."

It's a trap. The Liberals wanted you to find that quote, or they intentionally said something ridiculously stupid to the media. It's not like they, you know, make mistakes or anything. So we're not going to do anything about it.

One of the main reasons that I cannot take Principled Conservatives seriously is because they complain about how the campaign was too nicey-nicey but spend a good chunk of time scaring each other about how the all-knowing, all-seeing Liberal eye in the sky is at this moment plotting to lure them into a trap. To hear these rational Conservatives talk you would think that we were up against Tzeentch, the Chaos God of ambition, planning, and change, not Dalton McGuinty, and that this guy has otherworldly powers that wouldn't be out of place in a DC comic book.

As I observed in my last post, we might be able to make more progress against the Liberals if we weren't so busy trying to screw over the other half of the party, and we might be able to run bold and less fearful campaigns if we stopped telling each other ridiculous ghost stories about the plotting, Machiavellian Liberals and started relating to Dalton and his coterie like they were people with lives like ours who are mortal, and who do make mistakes, and who we can look at without bursting into flames.

During the election, I heard people switch from, "Heheheheh, Dalton's really blown it on this tax credit, Hudak's really ripping him a new one" to "Yeah, that tax credit was an obvious trap and Hudak walked right into it, what a noob" so quickly I felt my head spin. Seriously? If you believe that the immigrant tax credit was a trap, then you might as well believe that Dave Levac misspoke when he actually mistyped that a carbon tax was on the table, or that McGuinty's possessed hands during the debate was a strategy aimed at engaging women. After the fact Liberal spin in all three cases.

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that it WAS a trap, and that not only was it a trap, it was leaked to us with the foreknowledge that we would attack and drop in the polls. Let's say that Jeff Leal, MPP for Peterborough, planned all along to comment about how the tax credit was intended to deal with a problem in Toronto, as if there are no immigrants anywhere else in the province. Let's say that the numerous clarifications the Liberals issued were also part of the plan, calculated down to the last detail months in advance in a marvel of forethought.

If all of that is true, then it means that nobody took the time to identify whether it was a leak, and ran with it without thinking. And if that is true- and I pray it isn't- then it means that all this supposed worry about "It's a trap" is even more useless than I thought it was, because all that caution did nothing to prevent us from being bilked by the supposed brilliant Liberal ploy.

Why stop there? When the Liberals were 20 points down in the summer and 16 Liberals quit, that was obviously a ploy too. All the polling companies were fooled by their play dead act, a nefarious Liberal trap to lure us into a false sense of security. No, wait....all the polling companies were told to underreport the Liberals, then overreport them at the end of the campaign. And the media? All on the payroll too. Including Sun News, and CFRB 1010, and the National Post. Liberal spy cameras in the drinking water! Liberals jamming radio broadcasts! Liberals beaming thoughts into people's minds! Of course nobody can ever prove that this skullduggery is happening.

And when we do prove that something is going on? Well, nobody ever follows up with it, so why bother? Except when we proved Nikki Holland was bribing voters with smokes, it destabilized the Liberals for a few days. And that's what the objective should be. It's not about sinking the Liberals with one well placed damaging revelation. It's about keeping them off balance so that we can make gains while they're running around putting the fires out. Obviously the media is not going to bother (because they're on the payroll, no doubt) so it's up to us to keep the Liberals off track, and that means a constant barrage of damaging information, no matter how petty it is.

What's that? You don't want the party to get involved with this stuff? Well hey, isn't that what we have ever-helpful bloggers for? *cough cough*

Now, I'm not in any position to make recommendations or expect they would be followed, but if I was, I would recommend that instead of arguing about whether we need to drop the P from Progressive Conservative or not, we bloggers and activists should be digging into the closet of every single one of the 53 Liberal MPPs at Queen's Park and making their lives unliveable instead of complaining about how the party won't. Just a crazy thought.

Just A Quick Observation On The New Cabinet

2011-10-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

No cabinet post for Mike Colle?!!?!?!?!

Bahahahahahahahaha!!!

Does loyalty mean nothing to the Liberals? ;) Maybe Mike Colle should switch parties (again!) after this insult. After all, better men than him have done it!

Reasons Why We Lost: Two Parties

2011-10-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

This one is not only a reason why we lost. It is a reason why we have lost before. And if we don't fix this, it'll keep happening.

Few people outside the Conservative family understand just how brutal the Red Tory-Blue Tory debate is. Whether we're in or out of government, the debate never stops. Everything- even the name "Progressive Conservative" and what that's supposed to mean - is a flashpoint.

Some people say that this is a good thing, in that it defines us from the Liberals. I beg to differ. The Liberals, as I've pointed out, care about exactly one thing, and that is social progress. Everything you see as being wrong with Ontario is something they see as being just another bump on the road as we move forward together. So, us investing countless hours fighting with each other over What Our Party Stands For may feel good, but it does nothing to help us defeat the Liberals.

HQ has to moderate between these warring factions and try to not get drawn in themselves, though they may wish to. These are the same people we rely upon to create the strategy that will win elections. They bear responsibility for the loss- that much is obvious- but maybe if they didn't have to deal with metric tons of emails and phone calls complaining about how our stance on the HST wasn't exactly what it should be, maybe they could have made a little more progress.

At times, this nonsense debate can divide our party for months. Think about the whole Carleton Mississippi Mills fiasco. The results are, as I maintained earlier in the year, meaningless. An MPP who thought he could barely represent his riding and still stay elected was challenged and lost. We are conservatives and we expect that sitting members should not be given a free ride. Even with the Liberal cheering section watching every move, it should have been a day at the office for our party. Instead, it mushroomed into a massive dirt-kicking match that had to be moved to Ottawa proper because they couldn't hold all the people who wanted to make their voice heard.

Now, I wonder: Just how many of the people who turned out for this demolition derby actually volunteered during the election? Is it possible that most of the people who self identify as Conservatives in this province are more interested in fighting the other side than they are fighting the Liberals?

At some point, both the Red Tories and the Blue Tories, Progressive Conservatives and Principled Conservatives, are going to have to understand that we can either focus on winning, or we can focus on trying to show everyone how Progressive/Principled we all are.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are having a ball watching us beat each other up. There came a point near the end of the election where the Liberal spin was both "Lowell Green is giving a What Went Wrong speech" and "John Tory is mad about for the sex-ed flyers" at the same time. The Liberals know both sides are one perceived slight away from walking away from the table, folks. They don't care if they have to speak out of both sides of their mouth on this.

I guess I can't stop people from making themselves unwitting tools of the Liberals, because they'd rather be right than have to put their own feelings aside. I can point out, as I've done innumerable times already, that people seem to have an easier time putting those feelings aside when it comes to Harper and Ford, because both of them are already in government.

And how, you may ask, did Harper and Ford get into government despite having to deal with the same problem? By enforcing the cone of silence. By telling both sides that if they can't settle this debate like grown-ups, that they are persona non grata within the party. By making those who would otherwise criticize them for being unprincipled afraid to speak out.

Hudak must learn the lesson that he cannot count on the conservative infrastructure to support him unless he makes it clear that he's in charge. It will be difficult for him to do this, being a low-key, nonconfrontational person by nature, so if he cannot do it himself the way Harper can then he must have people in his inner circle who can do it.

But right now, it isn't being done. A Sun News endorsement should be a no-brainer given a choice between McGuinty and Hudak. Candidates should not be going rogue or speaking off message, EVER. And anyone who attacks the leader personally, regardless of the election result, should not expect to have their ideas listened to.

Reasons Why We Lost: Stand Alone

2011-10-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

Now for one that we're all guilty of- municipal, federal, provincial, base, party brass, whatever.

After Ford's win and Harper's majority, we assumed the Liberals were dead. I assumed the Liberals were dead. I was wrong. We were wrong.

The Liberal talking points about the trifecta are well documented. Whether this affected people's voting decisions is a matter of debate.

What is not a matter of debate is that accepting so much open and- after Ford's troubles early in the campaign- covert help by municipal and federal conservatives made the PCPO look like it couldn't run a campaign by itself.

By contrast, the provincial Liberals made it clear they didn't want help from the feds. I didn't see Bob Rae once on the campaign trail. But the Liberals went even further than that and actively told defeated MP's like Mark Holland, Dan McTeague, and Gerard Kennedy that they didn't want them to run. I received reports of these former Liberal MP's working on various campaigns, but only in a volunteer capacity.

We saw quite clearly that Ford's troubles became our troubles early in the campaign. Not just because Hudak had gone to that barbecue at Ford's house, but because there were certain similarities between the two campaigns.

Recall that during Ford's campaign for mayor, the following happened:
-Ford repeated the same talking points over and over again. Subways, not streetcars. Stop the gravy train.
-Ford was accused of being a racist for making comments to the effect that Toronto couldn't handle any more immigrants.
-There were some radio ads, in a foreign language, that some tried to link to Ford and were criticized as homophobic.

So how come the two outcomes were so different? Because Hudak isn't Ford. Ford sounds a lot more sincere when he's saying the same things over and over again. With Hudak, it doesn't seem natural because you know he has other things he wants to say. Ford was also a city councillor for 10 years, and everyone knew who he was and what to expect from him. Hudak is still a rookie.

Then, when the NDP started surging, we dusted off the coalition line of attack Harper had used during the federal campaign. But too many people associated this with Harper, so when Hudak started using it, it was all the more obvious that we were just hoping for a replay of the federal election.

To counter the Liberal claims that we are just taking orders from Harper and Ford, we need to develop our own lines of attack, separate from any other party and unique to Ontario. We need to show we can fight and beat the Liberals on our own. It starts with letting Tim Hudak be himself and letting him and showcase his own ideas.

And we cannot ever- ever- assume that the Liberals are dead until they are.

Reasons Why We Lost: No Answers

2011-10-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

In my last post I discussed our tendency to try and make wedge issues our own, and why it's better to let these issues blossom on their own. I used the example of the HST. And while trying to force the issue of the HST was a problem, a bigger problem is our answers to the questions that people ask when we are trying to force the issue.

How many times have you seen some version of this in a newspaper article: "When asked for specifics on what he was going to do about [Insert Issue Here], Hudak didn't provide many."

Now, I have a very hard time believing that Hudak has no ideas about what he wants to do about Insert Issue Here. I have a very hard time believing that nobody on the campaign or in the party had any ideas about what they wanted done about Insert Issue Here.

No, what is happening here is that whatever Hudak says, he's likely to offend someone, who will then have a tantrum and refuse to vote for us, or provoke a devastating response from the Liberals which will cause nobody to vote for us. So he's being told to be short on specifics. That's why the platform was so tightly focus-grouped.

There are two problems here- worry on the part of the party brass that whatever we say will lead to catastrophe, and the tendency of people to take their ball and go home when they don't get what they want.

I fail to understand why this is such a big problem at the level of the provincial party. Ford didn't have this problem. Harper had this problem but faced down anyone who criticized him.

If the PCPO lost this election because they didn't listen to the grassroots, would someone please explain to me how it is that Harper outright ignored a resolution from what was ostensibly the grassroots about eliminating the HRC's and won a majority in the next election, but Hudak did the same thing- "ignoring the grassroots"-and lost? Maybe, just maybe, these people who complain about Hudak but give Harper a free pass are unwilling to rock the boat too hard so long as Harper is PM?

You may not like hearing this if you're not a Hudak fan anymore, but this problem is partly the base's fault. People bash Hudak for not having enough guts to implement Conservative Principles, then complain when he tries to draw a line in the sand, like he did over the foreign workers issue, and then they wonder why the party doesn't reply to their e-mails.

During the election, I tried to give people reasons to vote for Hudak. Some disagreed and said that they wouldn't, and my response was, and will be, "Go ahead." Because as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing for Tim Hudak to fear from these people, such as the ones complaining on his Facebook wall right now, because not one of these people will do anything to have Hudak removed in February. They wrote their comment on Facebook and called it a day. Of course, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. As was the case with our ground game on e-day, I will have to be proven wrong.

Pick a side, stick to it, and ignore the whiners. Then Hudak can give actual answers instead of vague statements. Don't try to please everyone and end up pleasing nobody.

Reasons Why We Lost: Stop Forcing The Issue

2011-10-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

It is time for an open and frank discussion about why the PCPO lost, because "We didn't adhere to conservative principles" isn't going to cut it.

I am tired of losses and setbacks, and also victories, being explained by this phrase, which has become so devalued as to become meaningless. If a conservative wins an election, they are principled conservatives. If that conservative loses, it's because they abandoned those principles. If there is a conservative government, that government may be behaving in a ridiculously unprincipled fashion, but so long as they appear to be making progress, nobody rocks the boat too much. I have lost count of the number of times people called Harper unprincipled. It didn't stop him from winning a majority.

At best, "lack of conservative principles" is only one factor. People talk about it as though it is the only factor, and this ends right now. Unless we identify and examine the specific reasons why we lost, we will learn nothing.

Reason number 1 why we lost: We tried to force the issue on people. This needs to stop.

Since the leadership, our party- and that includes all four leadership candidates, all MPP's, and a large percentage of our base- has been opposed to the HST. It's hard for me to remember a time when the HST and whether it is a good thing or a bad thing has not dominated any discussion I've had with any political person.

People don't like taxes. The PC Party of Ontario thinks that taxes are bad and wants to identify Dalton McGuinty as a tax hiker. Wedge issue identified! Commence outrage!

So we called it the Dalton Sales Tax, asked people to fill out anti-HST petitions, and drove a forklift into the Legislature bearing HST amendments.

Meanwhile, out in BC, people didn't like the HST either. But out there, they took a radically different approach: instead of an opposition party jumping in with both feet, former Premier Bill Van Der Zalm led the charge. Sure, the B.C. NDP stoked the fires, but instead of constantly reminding people that the tax was horrible, they let the people of B.C. draw that conclusion on their own. The resulting referendum claimed Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell. Here in Ontario, the two Liberals to have held the position of Revenue Minister- John Wilkinson and Sophia Aggelonitis- lost their seats, but Dalton McGuinty lives to fight another day.

I get why we did it. We needed to stop the John Tory practice of going along with whatever Dalton said. But in the process- by making it "our issue"- we prevented it from becoming something the people could be mad about without becoming attached to a political party.

Making it our issue also means we have to deal with Liberal counterattacks, such as them calling our bluff and asking why we didn't repeal the tax if we were opposed to it. We also had to deal with people like John Tory saying he supported the HST. The people don't have to deal with counterattacks. If the people are genuinely angry- like they were the first time Dalton's sex-ed program came to light, or when they discovered the eco-fees had been slipped in- then, more often than not, Dalton will back down in some way.

Other times, we would try to make some issue people never heard or didn't understand of into an issue they should be infuriated about. The Debt Retirement Charge. The LHINs. The Samsung deal. On their own, these are objectionable, but Dalton is smart enough to keep just enough details about these items under wraps.

If we really want to discover a wedge issue that's going to burn Dalton, we need to amplify the things people are already angry about. Everyone knows about the Mississauga power plant and how we tried to make it into an issue that would swing some seats our way. But instead of working quietly with the group that brought the issue up in the first place, we ignored them.

While frustration simmered with the Liberal Ontario government's approval of the Eastern Power plant in 2008, many seemed equally frustrated with the Conservatives.
Not one Conservative candidate invited to the meeting attended.

"I used to be a card-carrying member of the Conservative party," CHIP's Rohn said.

"I'm disgusted. Not one of them bothered to show up tonight. All the other parties did."

Brutal.

Oddly enough, we managed to win a bunch of seats down south when our candidates there vocalized their opposition to wind turbines after realizing that people didn't like them. They didn't force the issue, they recognized there was one and acted appropriately. You think there might be a connection?

There are people out there in Ontario who want to defeat Dalton McGuinty. It shouldn't be hard to find them.

You Can't Handle The Truth

2011-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

A funny thing happened while we were all standing around bemoaning the failure of the various provincial PC parties. In P.E.I., Manitoba, and Ontario, the Liberals lost seats. And in Newfoundland, the Liberals now barely cling to Official Opposition status.

In B.C., the Liberals are on the defensive after the HST revolt. Jean Charest in Quebec is facing a tough challenge in the next election and may also see his majority chiselled away.

The Liberals are non-entities in New Brunswick, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the North, and Nova Scotia. Federally, the situation for them is bleak.

It is too soon to count the Liberals out. But if the past year is any indication, we're getting there.

And if we are getting there, why are we getting there?

I think it is because people are finding it harder and harder to ignore the truth, the truth that we have understood for a long time. That the system, built and designed by them, is unsustainable and eventually will crumble.

I've long argued on this blog that the Liberals owe their success to fuzzy, happy memories of a past Canada, when everyone trusted the government to do the right thing. Now, as their leaders cling to power or watch it fall into the hands of the NDP or the Conservatives, the tide is slowly turning against them.

McGuinty used every trick in the book to stay Premier of Ontario. He copied Harper's campaign. He courted unions. He pushed the federal Liberals away. He conscripted what was left of the federal Liberal staffer corps. And it worked....for now.

When I was knocking on doors during this election, people wanted to vote against McGuinty. But, ultimately, they fell back on the fantasy of the calm, quiet province where we all move forward together. So they made excuses for themselves, or bought into McGuinty's excuses.

These people, the ones who voted for Harper and Ford but not for Hudak, still believe that the Liberal way is the right way in some corner of their minds. They are like the old woman who believed the earth stood on the back of a turtle, and when asked what the turtle was standing on, she said another turtle supported the first one, and so on, turtles all the way down.

Before the election, I thought we had reached the breaking point. It certainly looked that way. But when Dalton refused to go down without a fight, the cities rallied to him. They seized on our mistakes and ignored his. But now, with a reduced mandate, he seems to be going it alone. He's running out of room, and people will find it harder to ignore errors when he can't brush them off as easily.

We must find a way to get enough people in the province to this breaking point, where they cannot ignore Dalton's failures anymore. Then and only then will they vote for us.

Nobody, not even Dalton himself, can believe in his heart of hearts that this turning point will never occur. It will happen.

It will happen.

One Brick Short Of A Load

2011-10-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Geez, that's gotta suck for Dalton. One short of a majority.

Could it have been due to the bumbling of Sarah Thomson, the "star" candidate for Trinity Spadina who lost thanks to her hilariously terrible "dance-campaigning?"

This woman almost became an MPP, people!!!

Or perhaps due to the failure of Bernie Farber, close friend to the War Room Boss, who thought people would forget about his past commitment to faith-based schools?

Or maybe it was the Liberals down south who couldn't stand against the mighty wind generated by Wind Concerns Ontario?

With a possible second recession looming, Dalton's got less room to maneuver. Already, the media is starting to comment about how alienated the Liberals are from rural regions of the province. The people of Ontario, who turned out in record low numbers for last Thursday's election, are clearly not in the mood for more legislative games, or for a post-election kick to the gonads in the form of another tax hike. If Dalton takes the easy way out and induces one of the opposition MPP's to be the Speaker, or simply gets one of them to cross the floor, he could share the same fate as the last guy who tried something like that. Playing legislative games so that he can continue Moving Forward Together is not going to sit well with the people who just cut his lead.

So it's time for another one of those interesting experiments I like so much. Is Dalton going to tread carefully, or keep marching to his own drummer?

The "We Lost" Post

2011-10-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

So: the votes are in. And we didn't make it. There is no joy in Toryville.

The truth is, I've been composing this post in my head for a very long time. I hoped I wouldn't have to write it, but I do.

I want to congratulate everyone who busted their behinds day in and day out on this campaign, fighting Dalton and his associates. We gave them a hell of a hard time, and we hurt them badly. They can claim victory, but they are wounded and they know it. We proved we could stand up to the worst they could offer, and that's something to be proud of.

Now for my armchair theories on what we need to do going forward.

1. Getting rid of Hudak is out of the question. The federal Liberals tried this with different leaders after each election and got stomped worse and worse every time. There are no saviours here and the fact that McGuinty has blown it repeatedly will not elevate just anybody into the Premier's chair. We need to build on the gains we've made and keep on pushing. Hudak's problem is that he was a rookie leader trying to take down a two-term majority Premier in one election. Harper lost his first election. Harris lost his first election.
McGuinty is who he is, just like Ford is who he is and Harper is who he is. Yes he's a liar, but people know he's a liar. We didn't let Hudak be authentic. And he certainly didn't get exposed to enough people before the election started.

2. People have complained the platform wasn't conservative enough. That's funny, because the only people who complained about our platform were people who were going to vote for us or for another conservative party. The Liberals tried to attack our platform, and failed miserably. Remember when they were going to make chain gangs the focus of this election?

No, the problem was that we needed to make the case that our platform was good for Ontario, not just an alternative to Dalton McGuinty. Could we really not have an economist sign off on our platform, saying it would help reduce the deficit? Could we not get some endorsements by some well-known individuals who believe the platform would make things better, alongside quotes from hardworking Ontario families?

3. If McGuinty is going to use proxies to attack us, then we need to use proxies too. What was the problem with those sex ed flyers? That our name was on them. Same with the immigrant tax credit. Even the "We can't afford Dalton McGuinty" gave people the impression that we were more interested in running down McGuinty than offering ideas. So, other people need to handle our attacks. McGuinty seemed to be able to produce a range of people, from mayors who should have known that Dalton was no friend of theirs to the leaders of random movements that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared soon afterwards. Where are our allies?

4. Psychological warfare matters. People need to be following Dalton everywhere he goes, activists need to pop up at every single Liberal event and cause disruption, and if one of Dalton's handlers trips and falls, it needs to be on Youtube within the hour. McGuinty makes mistakes when he speaks but we never read about it in the paper. Let's amplify them and destabilize the Liberals. Not just during the campaign either.

5. Now for the one that is going to generate the most anger.

This election result has established as far as I am concerned that the Principled Conservative crowd are a bunch of complainers that forced us to tend to them repeatedly and assure them that, no, we hadn't abandoned our principles or forgotten the true meaning of Christmas or whatever.

So at the beginning of the election, we tossed them a bone and at the end of the election, we tossed them a bone. And while it made the Sun News crew take notice for about two seconds, the fact is that the Sun News crew is more interested in forcing us to keep them happy than they are in letting us take Dalton's votes which is what we need to do IN ORDER TO WIN. Not that it mattered, because they decided to not endorse anyone because they weren't satisfied with the concessions we did make. And in the end, did those concessions really win us votes? I sincerely doubt it, and I am very curious why the central campaign thought this would benefit us at all. But then again, they have to deal with armchair theories on How To Win from the base every day (and yes, I know that's what I'm doing here, but the difference is that I won't throw a tantrum if they disagree), and they did engineer some measure of progress for us, so between the two, I'm siding with them.

In which the Liberal War Room boss cuts Principled Conservative journalist Brian Lilley to ribbons over the Liberal immigrant tax credit.

Now consider, when you watch that embarassment of a video, that Lilley was speaking as a journalist without any restrictions imposed on him by handlers or message control people. He got to yell and scream all he wanted at one of the most hated Liberals walking to make the case that privileging one group of people at the expense of another is wrong. And he still got trounced. Could you do better?

Until the Principled Conservatives can prove- not assert loudly, I said PROVE- that we can WIN by releasing a platform that they will like, and not crap all over us when it isn't note-perfect, they should expect to be ignored the way Harper has ignored them.

Oh yes, I forgot. Rob Ford. Rob Ford won against Dalton's ex-attack dog minister, George Smitherman, who was hated by most of the Ontario Liberals, had never sat on Toronto city council, was dogged by the eHealth controversy, and put on a nice-guy act which everyone, including his own campaign volunteers, saw right through. Had David Miller run again, there is some data that suggests he would have won again.

But no- Ford won because of Principled Conservatism. Well, let me tell you that when a single union-funded poll sends you scrambling for a deal and you are forced to compromise, that ain't Principled Conservatism. That's the same kind of two-step we've seen with the federal Conservatives over and over again. It's certainly necessary, but it sure ain't Principled Conservatism. Oh- but Harper gets a pass from the Principled Conservatives because he has a majority and Ford gets a pass because he won a big mandate. Suddenly the problem is union pigs at the trough, not why didn't Ford stand up to those union pigs at the trough. As "Thucidydes" put it so memorably a few days ago in a comment:

"If Hudack loses, or even just squeaks in, there should be some serious housecleaning in the PC party, or movement ot one of the new parties which really does represent Classical Liberal thought."

That, right there, is the problem with so-called Principled Conservatism. If Hudak loses or just squeaks through, then let's burn the house down, but if he had won a majority? Ehhhh....we'll let it slide, apparently.

When these people display the type of wherewithal needed to influence our party by DOING SOMETHING, not just wrecking things by staying home, then I'll treat them with some respect. You think Hudak needs to go? Prove it at the leadership review.

People like Tracey Kent, and all the other red Tories who allowed themselves to become Liberal tools, are a problem too, but these people are so innocuous as to be unworthy of comment. I refer you to Norm Sterling, who was hilariously defeated in his own riding due to his own laziness, not due to any genius tactics employed by those who sought to defeat him.

Now, for most of Friday and Saturday, I will be taking a well deserved break. Comment as you will, if you will, and I'll be back on Sunday to respond. And after that, we shall proceed here at the Clown at Midnight with the Dalton watch.

Keep smiling. :)

Into the Unknown

2011-10-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what's going to happen. Nobody does.

I will merely repeat a few words before the electorate passes their judgement.

1. Based on my discussions with people on the ground and with the central campaign, if the PC Party gets out their vote, they will win.

2. Voting for the PC Party of Ontario is the only way to stop Dalton McGuinty. Doing anything other than voting PC says that you think Dalton McGuinty deserves another term in government, because that is what your vote or lack of vote is contributing to.

3. Polls, more so in this election than in any other, have been proven to be misleading garbage. Within the space of three days there have been polls suggesting a tie, a Liberal majority, and a PC lead. At least one and possibly all of these polling companies are going to end up looking very stupid tomorrow.

4. The PC Party is trying to defeat a two term incumbent Premier backed by a gang of unions. This is extremely difficult under the best of circumstances.

5. The NDP will likely split the vote in interesting ways. Mostly, in ways that benefit the PC Party.

6. John Tory led the PC Party to a frankly disgusting result four years ago, after a frankly disgusting campaign, and despite loud screams for his head (some of which, full disclosure, came from me), he was not removed from office after a leadership review.

7. Quick and easy answers for why we got the result that we will get are likely wrong.

8. Anything other than a massive majority for the Liberals constitutes a victory of some measure for us, given all of the above.

And that's it.

Just A Guess

2011-10-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

The Principled Conservatives at the Winnipeg Sun endorsed Hugh McFayden. They didn't endorse Tim Hudak.

How did that work out for Mr. McFayden? Oh.

Now let's just see if not receiving the Sun's endorsement matters for Hudak.

History Repeating?

2011-10-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well now. We're going to have ourselves a little social experiment.

In the story the Liberal War Room Boss (often) tells about the Chretien face ad, there's one detail that gets neglected. And that is that the federal PC Party pulled the ads in the face of Liberal pressure.

Now I have always wondered about this. Were the ads themselves- which didn't actually *say* anything about Chretien's face- what led to the federal PC Party collapse?

Or was it the climbdown by the PC Party afterwards?

I guess we'll never know. But now- 18 years later- comes an opportunity to test the theory. Hudak is not backing down on these flyers. The party has not backed down. What's going to happen, if anything? I can't wait to find out.

Oh, and message to the Principled Conservatives who wanted Hudak to "speak from the heart"? How this affects the results is going to prove you right or wrong in my book. Now let's just see if it makes the difference, one way or the other.

Surprise?

2011-10-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

From today's Globe:

But Mr. Hudak’s campaign manager, Mark Spiro, specializes in voter mobilization – probably more so than anyone else in the country. Having honed this craft with Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, he is trying to ensure a repeat of the federal phenomenon in which the Tories fare better on election day than the polls (or the pundits) predict.

As with most modern get-out-the-vote strategies, Mr. Spiro’s is enormously complex. But at its root is finding ways that don’t involve the mainstream media to connect with a disengaged electorate.

Meanwhile, rather than relying too heavily on traditional events like campaign rallies, the Tories are trying to find other ways to engage supporters in battleground ridings. One of their preferred methods in this election has been “telephone town halls,” in which Mr. Hudak can be connected with thousands of people at once.

In some cases, other high-profile Tories are brought in to help with this task. Last weekend, Jewish voters were invited to participate in a telephone town hall with federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. (How they managed to frame this as a discussion about the provincial election is unclear.)

The name of the game is supplementing traditional door-to-door and telephone efforts to identify would-be PC voters, who can then be cajoled into coming out on election day. While any party’s progress reports have to be taken with a grain of salt, senior Tories seem genuinely confident in how that effort is going. And given the number of ridings that could be settled by a few hundred votes, that could make all the difference – especially in the “905 belt” around Toronto, where it’s especially difficult to engage voters.

See, this is how Conservatives surprise people on e-day with better than expected results. And with the best available polls showing a literal deadlock, this is what makes the difference.

Listen well, Liberals: If you cannot outfight us on the ground, you lose. It makes no difference how many PC's you get to be your tools a la Sinclar Stevens on twitter IF you cannot get the bodies out. The party assures me that they will be getting their bodies out and until proven otherwise, I will believe them. Will you? Or is it all about how many people you can force into rallies in the GTA?

And with the best available polls showing a literal deadlock, are you willing to call our bluff and rule out a voting arrangement with the NDP? Do you really have the stones to go this alone? I don't think you do. You'll have to show me differently. Because your federal cousins sure didn't.
Enough talk. Put it on the line.

How It COULD Have Gone.....

2011-10-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Oddly similar, isn't it?

Just seven months ago, it seemed Manitoba New Democrats were headed to the end of 12 years in government.

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives had jumped well ahead in opinion polls. Premier Greg Selinger, who took over the premier’s office in the fall of 2009, was still working on his public-speaking skills, trying to connect with the voters and fending off attacks on the province’s high crime rate and health-care waits.

With a fixed election date of Oct. 4 looming, NDP members had reason to worry.

But things have turned around dramatically. Two polls in recent weeks suggest the NDP has the lead in the run-up to Tuesday’s provincial election and is on the verge of winning a fourth consecutive majority government – a rare feat in Canadian politics.

The reason, according to analysts, is a combination of a positive economy and negative advertising, the latter aimed squarely at Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen.

“During the winter, we saw the NDP launch … a whole series of advertisements called: ‘Who is Hugh McFadyen?’” said Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Winnipeg and vice-president of polling firm Probe Research.

“This has put McFadyen on his heels.”

The ads, which have become more frequent since the election campaign began, accused Mr. McFadyen of having a secret agenda to privatize Crown corporations such as Manitoba Hydro and parts of the health-care system. They pointed to his work as a policy adviser to former premier Gary Filmon, who sold off the province’s phone company, and portrayed Mr. McFadyen as a dangerous risk.

The NDP’s union supporters joined the fray as well. The Canadian Union of Public Employees took out ads demanding that the provincial utility be kept public. The Manitoba Nurses Union ran ads warning of a return to the 1990s – a time when the Tories were in power and cut health services.

The ads were so effective Mr. McFadyen spent much of the election campaign denying the accusations. He took out his own full-page newspaper ad saying he would not privatize Crown bodies or health-care services.

And I'm sure we'll have lots of Principled Conservatives out in Manitoba telling everyone that the real reason for the Manitoba PC troubles is lack of Conservative Principles, right?

Not Necessarily A Coalition.....

2011-10-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Today's Star, buried waaaaaaaaaaay at the bottom.......

"Liberal sources told the Star that even if the Tories win up to 10 more seats than the Grits, yet fall short of the majority threshold of 54, McGuinty would appeal to union leaders to “lean on” Horwath to back his party."

Say it with me now......OH NOEZ.

Quick! Hide!

2011-10-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Dalton's B-team in Brampton is in serious trouble this weekend. Not only did the Brampton Guardian endorse us, not only did Bill Davis endorse us, but Liberal MPP Linda Jeffrey has gone into hiding:

Isn't that weird? And with the vote-rich 905 up for grabs, can Dalton's stuffed shirts really afford to ignore their consituents this way?

Oh, and some weird flyers have the Liberals all bothered. Hee hee hee.

Hudak Declares War On Unions

2011-10-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Prepare to die, Working Families Coalition.

It is the first time he has said he would consider freezing the pay of the province's more than one million public sector workers. Wages take up 55% of the provincial budget, costing the Ontario government more than $50-billion a year.

A two-year wage freeze would save $2-billion a year.

"We're all in this together and I expect the unions to be responsible," Mr. Hudak said, referring to the province's deficit, which is projected to be $16-billion this year. "The problem is Dalton McGuinty always folds. Over and over again, Dalton McGuinty has thrown down his cards and handed over the chips. We can't afford that anymore."

I think a whole bunch of Principled Conservatives just found their reason to get off the bench.

And I think a whole bunch of Liberal-friendly unions are getting very. Very. FRIGHTENED.

Oh, and just remember, friends: McGuinty cannot be trusted to stand up to these vampires. He will most certainly be beholden to them if he wins.

Surge Protection

2011-09-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Looks like the media are starting to write about another NDP surge. OH NOEZ, say the Liberals! We all remember what happened last time.

I didn't make this, but I wish I had!

In other news the Toronto Star endorsed McGuinty a week early, possibly because they learned their lesson from last time when they waited until the Liberals were dead meat and ended up looking silly.

Liberal Screwup Roundup, Sept 29 2011

2011-09-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Premier Wacky-Waving-Inflatable-Arm-Flailing-Tube-Man had another one of those days today. Let's review the damage.
Our top story tonight concerns one Nikki Holland, senior Grit, contemporary of road-rage poster boy Michael Bryant, and supplier of cigarettes to people in shelters in exchange for Liberal votes.

"I have done crazy things," Holland says in the audio recording. "Like ... and if anyone repeats this I'll deny it (until) the cows come home ... I have gone to a shelter in the riding of St. Paul's with a carton of smokes and said, 'I'll give you them after you vote.' I have done that ... but they were already smokers."

In an e-mail sent to QMI Agency Thursday, Holland admitted she made the comments.
But the veteran political operative insisted she never actually handed out cigarettes to potential voters.

Instead, she said she merely "pretended" to have used tactics that in fact she heard other political parties use.

"During a presentation to a partisan audience I got carried away playing to the crowd," Holland said in the e-mail.

Wow. Hey, don't the Liberals pride themselves on their "tough" anti-smoking strategy? Doesn't the Liberal war room boss have a huge problem with tobacco lobbyists?

Oh, but that's not all. The Liberals, still reeling from the fallout over their power plant mess, panicked again and sped up the implementation of a tax credit for home renovations for seniors, which will somehow lead to more jobs. Hey, maybe McGuinty's hand jive during the debate was a manifestation of how nervous and jumpy the Liberals have to be about the election result? Or else why would they be flipping the script with a week to go?

Let's hear from Adam Radwanski on these recent Liberal own-goals:

Then last Sunday, two days before the leaders’ debate and just as Ontarians were starting to pay closer attention to their provincial election, the Liberals handed the other two parties a gift. Promising to scrap a gas-fired power plant being built in Mississauga, they gave the appearance of panic – undermining the “steady hand at the tiller” pitch the two-term Premier has been making to voters.

Even seasoned political operatives wondered aloud at how the Liberals managed to let a fairly marginal local issue throw them off message for at least a couple of days. The answer is that they were guilty of making faulty assumptions leading up to the campaign, and then weren’t willing to live with consequences that would have involved hanging one of their strongest MPPs out to dry.

Panic. Yes.

What else on this enchanted night? Well, we have proof the Liberals are using bots on Twitter. And then there was that hilarious story about how the Liberals met with the cast and crew of "Murdoch Mysteries" to brag about how they are spending money to support the local film industry. Trouble was? "Murdoch Mysteries" got cancelled. Oops.

And if that wasn't enough, here's another opportunity for a fun filled round of "What's Wrong With This Picture?" This one's real easy, since the last one gave the Eric Hoskins campaign team a lot to ponder. I know, thanks to my hit counter. ;)

Finally, it looks like the NDP are leading or competitive in some key ridings. Which ridings? How about Sudbury, possibly the safest Liberal seat in the north? Or York South Weston, which looks like it will be overrun by the NDP? Or perhaps even, randomly, Bramalea Gore Malton? Yeah, yeah, this thing was paid for by Sid Ryan, but it should put the fear of heaven into a few Liberals, and that ain't a bad thing!

Can it be that the Liberals have been....um...blowing smoke all this time that people were fooled into thinking they were running a credible campaign? :P

Another Endorsement

2011-09-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yet another endorsement by a former PC Leader calculated to drive the Liberal War Room bonkers. That seems to be happening a lot today!

Hey, remember when John Tory endorsed this city councillor? And she won?

Bill Davis Endorses Hudak

2011-09-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

D'awwww.......a whole two months of Liberal hearsay and false outrage down the drain.

The retired politician, now in his 80s, popped up on the campaign trail at a Hudak event in Brampton, after which he playfully sparred with reporters and gave his party’s leader a thumbs-up.

“I thought he did quite well” in the debate, Davis said, adding he thinks Hudak is solid in his riding and beyond.

“I think he’s doing quite well in Brampton. I’ve been to several other ridings and I think he’s doing quite well. If you ask me to make predictions, I didn’t when I was running … and I haven’t started doing it yet.”

Steady Hands on the Till?

2011-09-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

The hands. Good grief, the hands.

I've seen politicians dodge debate questions before, but that was completely ridiculous.

Green Shift?

2011-09-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

So today it emerged that Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May turned up on a list of endorsements for Ottawa West Nepean MPP Bob Chiarelli.

I found that odd, because Elizabeth May told me near the start of the campaign that she was "on the campaign trail" for Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner.

Now then....where is that tweet....

Ahhh. There we go.

A Subject of Continuing Conversation

2011-09-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, we will make it a subject of continuing conversation. During the debate, maybe....

If You Needed Proof the Liberals are the Toronto Party....

2011-09-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

So let me get this straight:

McGuinty WON'T stop building wind turbines in rural ridings where he has no chance of winning.

But he WILL stop building a power plant in a Toronto area riding where he DOES have a chance of winning.

Do I have that right?

Highly Scientific Analysis of that Forum Research Poll

2011-09-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Accurate to within 0.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

I'm sure it must be the case because, in case you didn't know, the Liberals have backtracked again to try and save some seats in the 905.

Oh, and has anyone else noticed that one of the main proponents of a Liberal NDP coalition is running the Liberal War Room?

The Beat Goes On

2011-09-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Jumping Jiminy Christmas, when does the crappy news end for Dalton?

Many critics have already consigned electric cars to history's scrap yard, even though those vehicles are only now starting to appear in showrooms.

Batteries, they complain, are too expensive; their range is far too short; they falter in cold or hot weather. The often-gleeful conclusion is that the technology is wasteful, a boondoggle, and will never improve.

A new study from Britain, although sponsored by a group that advocates for alternatives, the London-based Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, seems to hand the naysayers some potent ammunition.

Of course you all know Dalton wants to bet the ranch on these jalopies?

Liberal Candidate: Chinese Earthquake an Inside Job

2011-09-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here.

"However, a terrible and devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people changed world sentiment from anger to pity. Could the Chinese government have actually orchestrated an earthquake to sway world opinion? They were shooting missiles intothe sky to influence weather patterns; why not trigger something underground to cause an earthquake?"

Boy, I sure hope the Liberal War Room Boss issues one of his "fire-this-candidate-immediately" posts soon. Or does that just go for NDP candidates in Niagara?

Waaaaiting.....*whistles, looks at watch*

Downward Spiral

2011-09-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Slowly, surely, we're turning the corner?

As the Oct. 6 Ontario election approaches a crucial leaders' debate next week, a major Canadian bank has downgraded its forecast for the province's economy, citing increasing economic concerns.

"Disappointing economic indicators, foreign governments grappling with fiscal challenges, and heightened worries about the health of the global recovery paint a picture of only sub-par growth for Canada," says a TD Economics report issued Thursday.

"This constrained environment must trickle down to the provinces as well. In turn, we have downgraded our provincial growth profile for 2011 and 2012."

The bank said it is lowering Ontario's 2011 GDP forecast growth to 2.3 per cent. In June, amid rosier signs, TD put that growth estimate at 2.9 per cent. All other provincial economies were similarly downgraded.

The Smoking Gun

2011-09-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

So....no link between the Liberals and the unions, eh?

But the presentation leaked to me shows that top Liberal campaign organizer — and fellow Sun columnist — [He Who Must Not Be Named] -actually made a presentation to United Association Local 46 — a plumbers’ union — where he pitched the idea that they should become politically involved.

The 28-page presentation laid out talking points about the record of the Mike Harris and Ernie Eves governments, and tied them to Tim Hudak.

The last two slides tell the union members to act:

“Not just a lawn sign,” it says.

“Contact your local newspaper. Submit letters to the editor. Open line radio shows.” It also tells them to get involved with social media.

“Use paid media, such as radio or television ads,” says the presentation.

It said, “politically-charged campaigns launched by other unions have been successful in the past” — pointing to the controversial Working Families’, “Not This Time Ernie,” campaign of 2003.

Update: Wow, it's a regular free for all!

Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Party of Ontario should not be accepting donations from publicly owned or funded agencies including hydro utilities, the opposition parties said Thursday.

Elections Ontario documents show Thunder Bay Hydro donated the maximum amount allowed – $1,244.32 – to the local Liberal riding association last year, at a time when electricity rates are soaring as the province spends billions to rebuild its electricity system.

Now Here's An Interesting Question For The Debate

2011-09-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

"Mr. McGuinty, Andrea Horwath has commented in support of the Liberal-NDP accord of 1985. Will you accept her support in a similar voting arrangement after this election?"

Bonus points for pointing out that this support, if accepted, would be in spite of this.

Liberal Screwup Roundup, Sept 21st

2011-09-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

How strange. It looks an awful lot like Dalton's campaign is going to pieces, but for some reason this trend isn't being reported in the media. Hmmmm. Well, I'm sure the Star and the Globe will notice soon.

From bad.....

In a statement released Tuesday night, the Brant MPP said he “misspoke” twice.

"I confused a cap-and-trade program with a carbon tax. While a cap-and-trade system has been discussed, a carbon tax is not and has never been on the table. In fact, the premier has been clear and definitively ruled this out, permanently," the junior energy minister said.

....to worse....

OTTAWA — The centrepiece of the Ontario government’s green energy policy, the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program, is “economically unsustainable,” says a former CEO of the Ontario Power Authority.
Jan Carr, who was head of the OPA from 2005 to 2008, made the blunt assessment in a commentary released Tuesday by the Council for Clean & Reliable Energy, a self-described forum for “reasoned analysis” on subjects related to electricity policy.

.....to even worse.....

The Ontario Provincial Police is investigating allegations of procurement wrongdoing at the Niagara Parks Commission. Bullet News has learned the Parks Commission’s own Niagara Parks Police requested the OPP look into the assertions in an attempt to ‘clear the air.’

Parks Police Chief Doug Kane confirmed he ‘recently’ made the call to the OPP, which is currently interviewing current and former staff members and current and former commissioners.

“It’s not a secret that there has been a number of allegations made over time and rather than us investigating those we thought we would send it to a totally independent agency such as the OPP,” Kane said. “They have no connection to the Niagara Parks Commission and this will let them conduct their own investigation.”

All part of the plan, eh, Liberals? Stay tuned, right?

Liberal Screwup Roundup: Sept 20th

2011-09-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, Dalton's junior energy minister told webchat participants today that a carbon tax is on the table.

But didn't Dalton tell Ontarians, three times running, now, that he would not raise taxes? Yes he did.

Oh my. What a pickle. And it is in the media, thanks very much. So no, Liberal war room. You will not prevent this from getting out.

Significantly less damaging, but no less humiliating, was the reversal of a Sarnia-area Liberal candidate and Huron Bruce Liberal MPP Carol Mitchell on whether local jails would be closed.

Many questions surfaced surrounding the pending closure of the Walkerton Jail. Thompson committed the PCs to an "Economic Impact Study" to review the facts behind the reasoning and chastised the Liberals for stonewalling a Freedom of Information request into the figures governing the Liberals decision to close it. Robertson said it's a "yes or no" answer and the NDP party committed not to closing the jail, recognizing the 50 jobs that will be lost under the Liberal government and the funding lost to municipalities from prisoner transfers. He also said their's a need to tie in a regional addiction centre into the facility. Mitchell admitted there are "holes in the math" regarding the jail closure, but said her government is committed to keeping the courthouse open.

And just think! There's a whole one-half of an election to go!