It's Over For the Liberals

The only question we have is why did it take so long?

Meanwhile Dion is insisting the band play on the deck. The Liberal ship is unsinkable!

It's time to go, Ralph...

Wascana on the Radar Nationally

Goodale, first elected in Saskatchewan in 1974, is one of those rare politicians who ends up known by only one name: “Ralph.” He is as much a Prairie icon as the grain elevators, though they, of course, are rapidly vanishing from the Big Sky landscape.

And so will Ralph...

This is the part of MacGregor's column that gets us.

“It's not a ‘TAX,'” says Goodale. “It's a ‘TAX CUT!'” – one that he says will give every individual in the province a tax break.

Ralph is either incapable of telling the truth, or to arrogant to admit what Green Shift actually is.

However, last week on JGL, Ralph all but admitted Green Shift was a wealth transfer from the West to the East. We're still trying to source the clip but will post it here when it becomes available.

The Polls Speak

I guess the election plan didn't work as well as anticipated...

Green Shift not central plank: Dion

So much for the courage of their convictions.

What we will do is make sure that every voter knows that Green Shift was Dion's plan and that Ralph promoted it vigorously to the detriment of every single Saskatchewan resident.

It's time to make Goodale pay politically for his betrayal of our province. Send a message to the LPOC and get rid of Ralph in Regina Wascana on October 24th.

Ever Get The Feeling The Whole World Is Against You?

But Ralph Goodale, the Liberals' only MP in Saskatchewan before the writ was dropped for the Oct. 14 vote, said the figure cited by the government doesn't include any of the offsetting personal taxes that are included in the Green Shift plan, which the Liberals calculate as more than $1,300 for the average family.

"They have totally ignored the benefit side of the equation," he said. "You can't make the most favourable assumptions for the Conservative government and the most unfavourable for the Green Shift."

What about the about the increased cost of products and services as a result of new taxes at the manufacturing level, Ralph? What about the fact that that very little collected by this new tax would actually be utilized to stop greenhouse gas emissions, rather than to fund pet Liberal projects to solidify support in the 905?

You really don't want to get into a "what they omitted" discussion. Liberals are the very worst at art of transparency.

Ontario's Economic One Man Wrecking Crew Speaks

If Bob Rae is for it, you know it has to be bad for Canada...

If Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is going to criticize the federal Liberals' key election plank, he better be prepared for a fight, says former Ontario premier and Liberal candidate Bob Rae.

During a stop in Regina on Saturday for the official opening of Palliser candidate Cal Johnston's campaign office, Rae defended his party's Green Shift plan to tax carbon in exchange for income tax cuts.

...

Last week after meeting with his Alberta counterpart, Wall raised concerns the climate change plan could be harmful to the province's economy. Wall has said he'll release the province's analysis before the election. Rae wants to see the math.

"I've seen some wild statements about things that bear no relationship to any fact of which I'm aware," Rae told reporters as he stood flanked by other Saskatchewan Liberal candidates, including Ralph Goodale, the province's only Liberal MP.

...

That's funny, Bob. The people of Canada want to see the Liberal math on Green Shift, but that hasn't been forthcoming either.

Bob Rae; The Canadian political equivalent of the sound of one hand clapping.

Mind you, it's a nice change from the Canadian political equivalent of Foghorn Leghorn, Ralph Goodale...

What? He's Not Really A Hockey-Loving Outdoorsman?

Sorry Stephane... It seems as though the great unwashed aren't buying it.

The Liberal effort may have made Dion even less likable to Canadians. The gap between his popularity and that of Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- or even NDP Leader Jack Layton -- is wider than ever.

Ouch. That's gotta sting!

Now THAT'S Confidence

We're behind you, Stephane (with knives drawn).

This from a party in the middle of a federal election.

The Liberal party moved last night to cancel its biennial convention in Vancouver in December, clearing the way for a full leadership vote next year should Stephane Dion fail win the Oct. 14 election. Sources say hotel reservations were ordered released this week as the national executive gathered to finalize the postponement decision. Mr. Dion's leadership was not cited as a key reason for the delay.

Right...

"A Crock of Unmitigated Horsefeathers"

Who actually uses a term like that? Oh, I forgot... Ralph Goodale. What does that term actually mean?

...

"I don't know the environmental benefit of some of these initiatives, especially when there aren't even reduction targets attached to some of them. We're going to defend our economies regardless of the federal interests here." (Brad Wall)

...

"Goodale said Wall's depiction of a capital outflow is also wrong, noting the carbon tax will apply on the wholesale side, meaning the burden is distributed among the province.


"Their arithmetic is just completely wrong, mistaken and false," said Goodale from the campaign trail in Regina's Wascana riding."

...

The problem is nobody has seen the arithmetic on Green Shift. Let's see the numbers, Ralph.

(As an aside, part of the reason we started this blog is that nobody in the Regina media challenges Ralph by asking the simple question, "OK, Ralph show us how the arithmetic is wrong. Show us some concrete numbers.)

One of the additional problems is that the plan keeps changing, partly due to Liberal candidates (not Ralph) who have pressured Dion to change it because they see what the plan is doing to them on the doorsteps.

Not that I need to remind you, but Ralph is one of the few that has never suggested a change in Green Shift regardless of how much the current structure was going to hurt Saskatchewan.

We all need Ralph to 23 skidoo...

Whoops!

Liberals losing ground in key ridings...

"Stéphane Dion's Liberals are losing the crucial close-fought ridings they won in the last election, leaking potential voters not just to the Conservatives on the right but to the Greens on the left, a new poll tracking key electoral battlegrounds shows."

Say it with me... "Wascana, Wascana, Wascana..."

Dion's "Brown Shift"

"Dion's fuel-guzzling campaign plane," the caption read. The text suggested that "a two-hour flight from Toronto to Halifax on Dion's Boeing 737 will burn 6,017 liters of fuel, 1,000 liters more than the Conservatives' Airbus 319."

What would Dion's dog Kyoto say? Or rather bark?

Harper's Election Play

"The Liberals chose a leader whose centralist biases and hard-left economic nostrums would add instability and uncertainty precisely when and where they are least needed."

Yup...

The Countdown Begins ...

... to Ralph Goodale's ouster in Regina Wascana.

Federal election set for October 14th.

Keep your eye here for developments in Regina Wascana and other important ridings throughout Canada.

It's showtime!

How Does a Drowning Man...

... throw himself his own life preserver?

"The sweeteners include $400-million in emission-reduction credits for farmers and forestry workers under the proposed Green Shift and a $250-million "green farms fund" to support environmentally friendly research aimed at cutting fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions. Another $250-million fund would help fishermen and truckers go green."

Election's coming up, Stephane. Glub, glub, glub...

This Doesn't Look Good For Dion

Uh, oh...

"The new poll for The Globe and Mail-CTV News finds Canadian voters satisfied with the direction of the country and significantly more confident in the leadership abilities of the Tories and Prime Minister Stephen Harper than they are in those of his main rival, Stéphane Dion and the Liberals."

You mean that stone cold Stephen Harper could lead the country more effectively than the natural governing party? Awww, shucks...

Who Would Have Thought?

Green Shift support declining, poll shows

"An Ipsos Reid poll of 1,003 adults completed Aug. 26-28 found that a majority 51-per-cent support for the Green Shift in July has declined to a majority of 52 per cent opposed. That is a seven-point decline in support and a nine-point rise in opposition. Four per cent are undecided."

You're going to sell this thing right out of your job, Ralph...

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel...

... is a train heading right for the LPOC.


OTTAWA -- Only one week before they expect to be plunged into a federal election campaign, some Liberal MPs are still hoping to make "adjustments" to the centrepiece of their party's platform -- the risky proposal to impose a carbon tax.

They want Liberal Leader Stephane Dion to massage the so-called green shift to make it more palatable to farmers, truckers, rural residents and others who stand to be hardest hit by a tax on fossil fuels and who have not yet been appeased by the promise of offsetting income tax cuts and tax benefits.

Really? But Ralph's been trying to sell it to Saskatchewan just the way it is.

Prime Minister Harper, let's get rid of these buffoons once and for all. Call the election.

Ralph's Weekly Bloviation

Two words; Sponsorship Scandal

...


WEEKLY COMMENTARY

By Ralph Goodale, M.P.

A TAINTED ELECTION! A TAINTED GOVERNMENT!

From its first day in office, Stephen Harper’s government has been one of questionable legitimacy.

The Conservatives made two massive, vote-buying promises in the last campaign which they quickly dishonoured. One was never to tax Income Trusts. The other was to pay Saskatchewan $800 million more every year in Equalization.

Such bare-faced dishonesty obviously undermines Conservative legitimacy.

Their position is further eroded by the serious legal questions which have been raised by the Chief Electoral Officer about a Conservative election financing scam in the last campaign.

Respected, independent election officials are investigating whether campaign spending limits were violated at the national level, while illegitimate reimbursement claims were filed locally.

On top of that, the Conservatives benefited shamelessly from the extraordinary and inexplicable involvement of the RCMP in the last campaign. Every credible independent observer says this incident in the midst of the last election had a huge and totally improper impact.

Two and a half years later, Stephen Harper now wants a snap election – in violation of his promise of a fixed election date in October of 2009.

The illegitimate Conservative behaviour continues.

What has the Harper government so panicked that they are prepared to break their word to Canadians – yet again – and even break the spirit of the fixed-election-date law which they, themselves, enacted?

They’re spooked by at least three things on the horizon, which don’t look good for Mr. Harper.

First, the Conservatives will lose all four of the federal byelections called for September.

Secondly, the national economy is getting into deeper trouble, and the responsibility will rest squarely on Mr. Harper’s shoulders.

And third, the investigations into Conservative ethical lapses are exposing more and more illustrations of apparent Conservative corruption and incompetence.

A quick election could sweep this all under the rug.

The Attack on Green Shift...

continues unabated.


"The carbon tax proposed by the Liberal leader would be like a new transfer program, whereby billions of dollars would flow from taxpayers in these two provinces, to be spent in other regions.

...

Mr. Dion has won some praise for showing leadership by introducing a bold idea.

But leadership at the national level also requires an understanding of the interests of Canada's different regions and a willingness to ensure that any national proposal does not penalize one region, especially one in which the Liberals hold very few seats.

Let's not return to the divisive days of western alienation and regional discontent."


Well said, Ms. MacKinnon...

This Is Really Going To Screw Up Our Pension Plan

While Ralph Goodale continues to sell Green Shift, as is, to one of the provinces that will be most hurt by this wealth transfer tax, other Liberals seem to have been reading the tea leaves.

Is that election thing still on, Stephane?

More Proof: Just Because You're Tenured...

Doesn't mean you know anything...

"Staging the election this fall would allow Stephane Dion, the Liberal leader, to capitalize on some of the excitement surrounding Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, said Stephen Clarkson, a political scientist at the University of Toronto."

Now I've heard some political scientists say some pretty stupid things over the years, but this have to be one of the dumbest.

"The perception of Obama standing for change and hope will play out it Canada in its own way," Prof. Clarkson said. "And Obama is portraying himself as green, so there is a connection there as well."

Regardless of the fact that Mr. Clarkson is in fact a political scientist, there is no evidence whatsoever to support either one of his statements. The line between "political scientist" and "progressive" seemed to have been breached.

Clarkson gives a personal opinion that is easily lapped up by Cowan, which says something about Cowan and the National Post.

Cowan would be wise to ask a few more questions of Clarkson rather than taking what he says as some incredible insight, rather than the wishful thinking that it is. Mind you, this is just another example of the abdication of professional journalism shown by the MSM.