Month: June 2005

Watch CTV news tonight with Lloyd Robertson and you’ll see a story concerning a confidence vote coming next week on the NDP budget C-48.

Craig Oliver said that Conservatives are upset on the Liberals reneging on promising to delay the SSM bill C-38 in exchange for support for the budget bills.

This is dishonest

The Conservatives said that they would allow C-48 to come to a vote before the summer break in exchange for delay on a vote on the SSM bill. Conservatives have never said that they would support C-48. Craig Oliver should know this detail. He’s on the Hill each and every day and sure pays more attention to these kinds of things than I do.

Another point of bias comes when Oliver and Robertson muse that the Conservatives believe they have a better chance now at electoral success than after Gomery, because they believe that Martin will be found to have no connection to Adscam, which “many Canadians believe”. How dishonest.

Finally, Robertson echoes a Liberal talking point when he underlines that the Conservatives are inconveniencing everyone by potentially defeating the government next week.

“There goes our summer vacation”, Robertson laments as he closes the report.

Yes, this post will detail my thoughts on being an MP. Or rather, my thoughts on being perceived as an MP. The structure of this post is for the benefit, or rather to the detriment, of people who don’t read past headlines, past titles, or don’t know how to read properly at all. This post is to clarify ambiguity, but at the same time for my own amusement, to perpetuate it as well.

You see, I’m not an MP. I have never been an MP nor have I run in an election to become an MP.

Some people out there have misperceived my status (or lack thereof) in Parliament. This has actually been somewhat amusing for me but I have never gone out of my way to mislead people on this. In fact, I seek clarity, not ambiguity on my actual status (however, I do concede that the title of this post may be working against me in this regard).

While I’m on the topic, my name is Stephen Taylor, not Stephen Harper. I am not the Leader of the Opposition nor the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. I have a fairly good ranking on Google for “Conservative Party of Canada”, mostly because the title of my site describes me as a “Conservative Party of Canada pundit” and partly because I keep saying “Conservative Party of Canada” in this sentence. My high ranking for “Conservative Party of Canada” (last one, I swear) perhaps has drawn some people to this website looking to contact that other Stephen. As a result, I have received some emails from Canadians wishing to express their comments to Mr. Harper. Take this one for example from a guy named Grant:

Mr. Harper

Your actions are childish and unfit of a want to be leader. The people of Canada don’t want another election now, not until the Gommery report is out. If now all you will do is make the Bloc a much much stronger party and then what?

A 40 year resident of Quebec.

I debated on whether or not to forward this email to Stephen Harper so that he could be informed of the dire consequences of an early election call, but I decided to be childish so I ignored the email and made myself a grilled-cheese sandwich.

I’ve also received some emails that were incoherant and that go in all kinds of loopy directions. I can only begin to imagine the types of emails that they receive at the OLO.

As my number is listed on this website, a highlight was the voicemail that I received from the leader of the “Canadian Workers Party” informing me of his displeasure that my MPs were going to vote against the NDP budget C-48 which “has a lot of good money in there for people”. Sorry comrade, you got the wrong number.

So, once more for the sake of clarity, I am not a Member of Parliament, nor am I the Leader of the Opposition. But, please… continue to send me your amusing emails!

Heh.

From the Globe and Mail:

A group of federal Conservatives said Monday they have won the right to make their voices heard next month in a U.S. court case that will decide how long the U.S. border stays closed to Canadian beef.

In a statement, the group said the court has agreed to accept an amicus curiae — friend of the court — brief during a July 27 hearing in which a Montana judge will hear arguments on whether a temporary injunction on younger cattle and beef should be made permanent.

I remember watching the Conservative news conference break on Newsworld over a month ago. Post news conference analysis by Don Newman and Jim Travers was pessimistic and cynical. “A long shot” and “Political positioning” was the analysis.

Perhaps it was a long shot, but the Conservatives have just accomplished more for cattle farmers than the Liberal government has in a long time.

Operation “Do The Government’s Work, But Better” is underway.