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September 29, 2009

Narnia found!

Michael Ignatieff recently filmed some relatively bland ads where he told us that Canada needs to reach out India and China and make the new green jobs of tomorrow. The ads were largely panned as too light and I speculate that they served to re-introduce the Liberal leader through a softer lens rather than allow the Tories to solely define Ignatieff as “Just Visiting”. Andrew Coyne joked that the ads looked like they were filmed in Narnia, and I was only too happy to take the meme and run with it.

Today, I’m pleased to report that Narnia has been located! The ads were shot at Cherry Beach in… wait for it… downtown Toronto. As critics rip into Michael Ignatieff for taking his advice from a tight circle of downtown Toronto Liberal advisers, as the Liberal leader appears out of touch with Quebec (let alone the rest of Canada), and as the Liberal Party is lovingly dubbed the Liberal Party of Toronto by both its detractors and realist supporters, Michael Ignatieff shoots his definition ad in downtown Toronto.


Michael Ignatieff in Narnia? Algonquin park? The hundred-acre wood?


Michael Ignatieff’s new favourite park. Cherry Beach in downtown Toronto.

Michael Ignatieff once famously said “The only thing I missed about Canada was Algonquin Park”, it appears that Ignatieff doesn’t miss it too much these days as he couldn’t be bothered to drive more than 3km from the airport, or 15 minutes from Rosedale or Yorkville.

Michael Ignatieff tells us that we need to reach out to India and China, while he himself is loathe to reach out past his Toronto bunker. Ignatieff tells us that we need to create green jobs as he lectures us from a park located on an man-made island peninsula in Toronto.

This entry was authored by at 01:05 PM | Tweet this | Comments (141)
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  • akirby

    Typo in your article “it appears that Ignatieff does miss it too much these days as he” I believe you “mean doesn't miss it too much”.

  • http://twitter.com/ottawasteph ottawasteph

    It's obviously not the same place. It only matches on the right side. Having said that, kudos for not manipulating the photo to suit your delusional rantings.

  • albertagirl

    Geesh ottawasteph…of course it is the same place- you do know that flowers and plants change over time…look at the three trees on the left.

    Soooooo – it is 'obviously' the same place – minus the bear

  • yusume Ohio

    The Liberal party has become the party of Scott Bryson, Gerard Kennedy, and the like who are really so socilist in their ideas that they make Layton look right

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    “scoop” was sarcastic of course.

  • Dick_Richards

    Perhaps the next wilderness we'll find him in will be a shovel ready field in a liberal held ridding that the conservatives refuse to give any to. That may get the point across a little better than these adds have, albeit, these ads did serve as a good positive introduction

  • Dick_Richards

    *refuse to give any money to*

  • Dick_Richards

    *refuse to give any 'money' to*

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Thanks!

  • hollinm

    No matter where it is located it is still considered the enchanted forest where are good things Liberal are dreamt up.

  • hollinm

    Ask Dennis Coderre if he agrees with your assertion.

  • hollinm

    are we now in grammar class? The poiint was made and that is what counts.

  • http://devinjohnston.ca Devin Johnston

    I've never understood the Conservatives' anti-Toronto pandering. If you're going to “stand up for Canada”, you need to stand up for all Canadians, including Torontonians. We need to move beyond divisive regional politics and remind ourselves that Canadians are stronger together.

  • akirby

    no problem. enjoy reading your articles.

  • David

    The new leader of The Bloc Torontois….

  • Bec

    I think it was the LIBERAL guy that put down Toronto.

  • David

    The accusations are coming from Liberals themselves. It was led by a remarkably cynical comment from an Lib MP and his supporters.

  • MrEd256

    I think the Toronto Bashing is not a conservative thing…it's more a liberal thing…i.e. Liberals claiming Conservatives bash Toronto… In the West we jokingly refer to Toronto as the center of the universe…it simply is in the Canadian business scape. Realistically though your comment cuts both was… “If you're going to “stand up for Canada”, you need to stand up for all Canadians, including Torontonians.” and conversely Torontonians need to look at the bigger picture… if not for Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver to a lesser degree their would be no Liberal party and the NDP wouldn't exist… that speaks volumes as to who has Canada's best interests at heart and who panders to the major 3 cities and cultural vote bases like the Tamils and other non-Canadian interest groups who arrived here on the P.E.T. immigration express and continue to vote Liberal because they know or understand nothing else…because lets face it…besides us bloggers and those really into politics the Average Canadian has been turned off of politics

  • lfister@yahoo.com

    For God's sake, who cares?

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    you did… enough to comment

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    yes, we're all very terrible people. /sarcasm

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    continuity would dictate that the tree sway erratically from left to right depending on the weather

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    and I enjoy writing them!

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    meh, I had some time to kill.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor
  • http://devinjohnston.ca Devin Johnston

    “conversely Torontonians need to look at the bigger picture”

    I agree with that. I grew up in southern Ontario and today I live in the prairies, so I see both sides of these kinds of issues. I think that we all need to make an effort to move beyond regional politics and toward a more co-operative model of federalism. I think that there are legitimate criticisms that can be raised about how our status quo treats certain regions unfairly, and we should absolutely try to address those issues. But I don't think it's helpful when that debate devolves into region bashing one way or the other.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Would love to talk about Ignatieff's policies, though I have to wait until he comes up with them.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Kady O'Malley says:

    “As a friend of the non-Liberal persuasion pointed out to ITQ last night, if you charted the last few months of Liberal poll numbers alongside Ignatieff’s disappearance from the political landscape, you could rightly conclude that his best strategy for the next election will be to spend it holed up in an underground silo somewhere in Narnia. Still, you’re stuck with him for the moment, so you may as well make the best of it — and leave the preemptive post-mortem performing to us professionals.”

    That underground silo in Narnia would be downtown Toronto.

    Instead of reaching out to India and China, he should be reaching out beyond Toronto.

  • http://twitter.com/ottawasteph ottawasteph

    You could find the same flora anywhere south of 60° in Canada. The possibilities are endless.

  • hollinm

    Stephen Taylor….I hope you realize I was being sarcastic. My attempt at humour failed I guess.

  • null

    This seems petty.

  • John

    Really — this is a scoop? They film *everything* in Toronto fella – stands in for Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. Filming nearby his home sounds…reasonable and responsible and….who cares? Talk about policy, not this ridiculous angle.

  • freeryantoday

    haha oh my. I love that you found this spot. Too funny.

  • Cat

    Are you saying that the great Iffy tried to pull a fast one on Canadians?
    This is sweet Stephen! Thanks – it's worthy of wide WIDE sharing to my family, friends.

  • terry1

    Stephen, is that the best you can do? Who gives a rat's a$$ about that location?

    Why not tell us why harpo needs to run away from parliament to deliver his economic lies. Was he afraid of being laughed out of the house?

  • Jammer

    Who cares? He also lives in Toronto and represents a Toronto riding. With Ignatieff, there’s much to attack (legitimately) but this certainly doesn’t seem like something worth getting bent out of shape over.

  • MansesFreer

    Socialist isn't an argument, it's an economic philosophy, and therefore I disregard your comment as pedantic.

    Go ahead look it up, Gerard Kennedy told me to use it.

  • Jimbo

    And perhaps the liberals should hire some continuity folks from hollywood because the tree behind him is leaning to the RIGHT.

  • Mw

    I can’t believe I clicked the link to your site and read this petty post. That’s two minutes of my life that I will never get back. Wait, now I’ve commented – make that two minutes and 30 seconds.

    The polls show the Conservatives up, flirting with majority territory. Yet, you attack Ignatieff personally at every chance you get. Your internal polling must tell a different story.

  • Name

    Impressive detective work! Although Toronto was obviously the place to start looking.

  • Canadian Citizen

    Seriously. Grow up.

    Who cares if it was shot in Toronto?

    I'm sick of the Conservatives and the lowest common denominator politics. Why can't you talk about real issues? Seriously. You guys are disgraceful sometimes.

  • Skeptical in New Brunswick

    I read a few days ago that the ad was shot at a “Toronto waterfront park” – good work on confirming it. The question I haven’t seen raised yet is “Was Ignatieff really there?”

    It looks for all the world like he is sitting on a stool in a studio in front of a green screen. Look at the differences in lighting between him and the background. Look at the line around his body as he moves against the background. What exactly is he sitting on “in the woods” (he’s clearly not standing). I think this whole thing was an engineered sham. Nothing but smoke and mirrors like most of the Liberals’ messaging!

  • Dave

    From the look of it, he was sitting in front of a green screen and they CGI’d in the forest behind him. So, for all you know, it was filmed in Ottawa or anywhere.

    But, it’s good of you to raise an issue that would have been seen as truly trivial if seen by someone with sense.

  • http://www.kinnyscomments.blogspot.com/ Paul MacPhail

    Now we know where to look for the lost policy papers. As long as the Bear wasn’t using them to wipe something.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    We'll talk about real issues when the world-renowned thinker named Michael Ignatieff proposes some actual policy. For those of us paying attention, we haven't seen much offered from the Liberal leader.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Hmmm, it seems to be more of a man-made peninsula!

  • m123T

    Did anyone catch Dominic LaBlanc on From the Hill saying that the party is very strong in Quebec and there are no problems anywhere. It is all just Codere's ego.
    Again, the cbc talkers laughed at him.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Fret not, it has been confirmed.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    “Who cares” seems to be the common line from the Liberal folks in this thread. Is there a mailing list out there that I haven't subscribed to?

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    I think he was there. It's the post production work that makes it look sort of dreamlike

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    The Globe and Mail seemed to care enough about this “trivial” issue

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/th…

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    The bear was Mercer's best in a while.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Yes, no worries.

    I was just looking for a place to plug in that paragraph

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Reminds me of the time earlier last week when Iggy showed up at the wrong field in Burlington, ON.

    http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullco…

    “A senior party strategist noted that the Liberal advance team, seeking to highlight the government's alleged tardiness in spending stimulus money, had used the wrong field for an Ignatieff photo op last week, and that the park wasn't scheduled for construction until next year anyway. “In our rush to dump Stephane Dion, we have given ourselves John Turner,” he sighed.”

  • Dan A

    I suppose this is what happens when National Newswatch sends people your way? There seems to be alot of pretending not to be upset by this, and yet, they’re upset enough to argue the point.

    Iffy Iggy should have tried his luck in the US. He could easily have been elected a US Senator from Massachussets or New York in 2008. One wonders why he’s wasting his time here. Canadians won’t elect a guy with a US passport.

  • Jim

    I just wikied Cheery Beach. According to Wiki the woods are in the process of being torn down to make way for soccer fields. Probably economic stimulus money at work.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Beach

  • TwoYen

    There are bears in downtown Toronto?

    Is it true that Gerrard Kennedy has introduced a private member's bill to rename Toronto Narnia?

  • MrEd

    more likely he wanted to get the message out completely in one un interupted pressentation before some a$$hole rudly interupted him… that said the details were released to parliment simultaniously regardless of the fact Igneative had already prepared a vote of non-confidence

  • Anne in sw ON

    MI: We demand a report card X 4! That's the only way we will support this government and try to save face while we're doing it.

    SH: Oh, you'll get those 4 reports, Mikey, BUT they'll be delivered to 'ordinary' Canadians in places of my choosing. Now try not to fall on your face getting off your high horse.

    Score: SH 1 MI 0

  • madmacks

    IgNarcist is only reaching out to Chinese and Indian voters.

  • Jim C

    According to the wikipedia entry for cherry beech this forest is being turned into soccer fields. Probably stimulus money at work trying to destroy Narnia

  • Name

    For such an expert on geography, maybe you could explain when Cherry Beach became a man-made island.

  • David

    It's their new slogan.

    “We can do better” flopped.

  • Hyper_Toque

    *puts on CSI hat* Okay, the angles of the two shots are slightly out which means backgrounds in 3D including foliage are somewhat unreliable. The most reliable (and obvious) anchor point for both shots is the leaning tree, so let's use that. First, we have to agree on a unit of measurement and I would suggest the length of one of Iggy's eybrows is usable.

    You will note in both shots, there appears to be a broken branch protruding from the main trunk about one Iggy Brow (1 IB) in length. If you travel up the main trunk in the first shot, about 1 IB, you will see a dark area with a white “dot” on it. This corresponds to a dark area, same distance up, in the second shot.

    If you travel down the main trunk from the broken branch in the second shot, say about 1.5-2.0 IB, you will see two lateral score marks perpendicular to the bark grain. They are each about 1/2 the thickness of the main trunk with the top one starting on the left side running toward the centre and the bottom one starting on the right side, also running towards the centre. The are separated by 1/2 IB (approximately). These score marks can be seen correlated to the two dark slashes in the first photo. A case could also be made for a fainter score mark just below the broken branch stub.

    There you have it, your Honour. I recommend that bail be denied and we should all go out for mojitos and wings.

  • Omanator

    All joking about the park aside. You are missing the most important point. Denny Coderre, is making clear to Iggy, that he has to treat Quebec better. After all Quebec is better than any other
    Province and deserves it. When some pollester says this whole disagreement would have no effect on the next poll I disagree. The Block will make hay out of this.

  • turtle

    There was a new wave song in the 1980s called “Cherry Beach Express”, about some kid getting picked up by the police and having a confession beaten out of him there.

    Ah, good times.

  • Jooge

    I see you are in a very playful mood today Stephen. Love it! I will also be campaigning for the Iggy Brow to be officially recognised as an SI unit!

  • megannety

    We've hit the second largest deficit in our history, and you are looking for a forest. Methinks you can't see the forest for the trees; but did you notice the shovel-ready project we'll announce in the far right corner of the shot?

  • Dick_Richards

    Funny it didn't bother you that Stephen Harper become the first prime minister in Canadian history to go into a televised debate without a platform

  • doasIsay

    Good forest..strong roots.

  • terry1

    Andrew, of course they nitpick . They will do and say anything to avoid the real facts of life.

  • Bec

    Oh my…the enablers are restless!

  • Anon

    Cherry Beach used to be the place in the 1940s and 50s and earlier for all I know where Toronto’s murdered bodies were anonymously dumped for the authorities to dispose of. It was a post-industrial wasteland in all respects. In fact, the mere mention of Cherry Beach was sufficient for a yucky recoil reaction amongst the Rosedale nobility. A wouldn’t-be-caught-dead-in location with unsavory connotations. Possibly, it still is.

  • Andrew

    Who cares where Ignatieff filmed a commercial?? Maybe he wanted to save valuable time, by NOT driving 4 hours to Algonquin Park. If he had gone there, you’d probably criticize him for wasting time on the long drive! Really, you Conservatives nitpick about the most ridiculous things…

  • terry1

    Harpo also porogued parliament because he had no policies then either.

  • terry1

    Mervin, of course we are in grammar class…………reformatorts have nothing better to do than spell check. Ask your friend Gabby.

  • mred

    actually no… he porogued parliament to stop a koo that would have colapsed Canada's economy and potentially resulted in the colision in calling for the military to enforce marshial law…something only the Liberals under PET have the honor of having the claim for in Quebec..

  • http://twitter.com/erik_thomas Erik T. N.

    refreshing honesty Taylor, what would partisans do without the fodder.

  • ferrethouse

    He didn't say it was an argument. Do you get hard trying to sound intelligent?

  • MrEd

    did you pay so little attention to the out cry from across Canada when this was happening las December and January…guess Terry1 hybernates

  • terry1

    the lies you hear from your leaders are now folklore I see.

  • terry1

    Yusime…its actually harpo who has become the biggest socialist in his zeal to keep the perks of office. I call a $60BB deficit socialist thinking

  • penlan

    What a waste of time this is. Don’t you have better, more important things to do?

  • SansFree

    Ok my bad, thought he was saying something there. I understand now that I was wrong and it was just noise, thank you for correcting me.

    Also I apologize for having a vocabulary and using it, here is a link to google next time I use a confusing word you can now look it up and feel a part of the conversation.

    http://www.google.ca

  • ferrethouse

    You are cute when you act superior. It is very liberal of you.

  • SansFree

    Also a well founded argument, you should be in politics, that kind of sidestepping the issue and appealing to the lowest common denominator could only help you get elected.

  • ferrethouse

    “I understand now that I was wrong and it was just noise”

    Right – I should stick to the “issues” like you do.

  • SansFree

    “He didn't say it was an argument.”

    Sorry if it's not an argument then it's just noise. I apologized for my misinterpretation, thought he was using the word socialist to disparage someone. You corrected me by rightly pointing out the same thing I said in that he wasn't making an argument at all.

    Honestly after reviewing your comments I see that your not really saying anything either except making assumptions about my politics, and trying to colour me as an elitist.

    Just think what we could accomplish if we stopped jabbing at each other and actually attempted to make an argument. Sadly this is a political commentary so it would be out of step with the theme wouldn't it?

  • SansFree

    Phew…

  • SansFree

    koo eh?

    Like a Dove koo, because I have heard that happen before and it didn't collapse anything.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    don't you?

  • Name

    To the doubters: first, the two photos do match. It would have helped if the author’s photo had been taken at the same angle and distance, and if his camera could produce the same effect as the Liberal cinematographer, but if you study both sides and imagine them from a different angle, you’ll find that the two photos are of the same place. Second, the idea that it is at Cherry Beach matches comments overheard in Ottawa last week and reported on http://www.bourque.com.

  • Fran Drescher

    Cherry beach is not in downtown Toronto.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    Check the map

  • MrEd

    it has never happened in recent history where a party with the sole intent of breaking up a nation has been given veto control over same country's future

  • SansFree

    Short memory MrEd?

    http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/11/23/ottaw…

    Let me guess, but that was different right?

  • MrEd

    LOL…is that including the 40+ billion in stimulus spending your hero Iffy insisted be spent or the fact there’s 50 Billion that’s been pilfered from EI that would have been really useful today with the world economic mess the globe is in??? seems kinda low given it could have been 30 billion in the black if not for Liberals spending… But why let little things like facts get in the way of a good spin Terry1

  • Digory Kirke

    Two trees falling in the forest…

  • MrEd

    it was the CTV and CBC pole numbers that showed if this would have happened fully 3/4ths of the nation would not stand for it and all 3 of the losers would have been soundly spanked as soon as their colision fell

  • MrEd

    Actually I have a great memory… from your own reference you may want to read it… “That would mean Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority Liberal government would fall, triggering an election call on Nov. 29 and a campaign during the holiday season”

    … this was a vote of non-confidence…totally different than a “Colision of Losers”…the three party’s who failed to win enough seats to form gov’t joining together to sleaze power…

    The article you refernce clearly states it was not an attempt of the parties in question to form gov’t…

    and before you jump on the Alliance and Bloc discussing this same issue back when Belinda crossed the floor and Cadmen voted with the Liberals (because his family would not receive any parlimentary death benifits if parlament desolved and he was not a seated member but in the midst of an election campaign when he died…which he would have been) I’ll remind you that there was never any Veto Power provided the Bloc and the intent was to force a non-confidence vote and trigger an election

  • MrEd

    Boy…for a non-story you sure have a lot of Liberal pissed off

  • Fran Drescher

    Ask anyone who lives in Toronto. It’s in the port lands, which is *NOT* downtown Toronto.

  • Reg

    ;)

  • Reg

    I guess all of those news reports about the “coalition” were lies and folklore too???

  • terry1

    Which coalition…the reformatort one in 2005 or the Liberal one in 2008.

  • Name

    So I’m not much one for blogging or for partisanship or for arguing back and forth with people in cyberspace about how wrong they are and all of that, but I just wanted to send you a quick link to a story I read over the weekend about the new Liberal ad campaign…

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/701417

    The story, published on September 26th, mentions how the ads were “… shot in a Toronto waterfront park”. I don’t think there is any sort of Toronto-centred-Liberal-cover-up going on here as to where they are filming their ad campaigns.

    I agree that there is some irony in the fact that the ads were filmed in Toronto and there is of late this HUGE outcry about how the LPC is so out of touch with everyone outside the 416, but come on, really? REALLY?

    Any ways, just thought I’d help support your hard-hitting investigation of where Narnia can be found and to say that I don’t really think we have just discovered the secret of the DaVinci Code or anything like that.

  • terry1

    Is this the accountibility Canmadians can expect from the reformatort liars:
    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/703628

    “Critics say it is just further proof the port authority has been supplanted by Tory faithful and has become little more than a partisan arm of the Conservative government, but a port authority official says it was all a simple transgression.”

    AND HERE IS THE MINISTER'S ANSWER:
    “Transport Minister John Baird said he was assured by the arm's-length agency that it wouldn't happen again.”

    THIS GOVERNMENT IS NOTHING BUT AN UNSUPERVISED GOON SQUAD

  • MrEd

    Actually I have a great memory… from your own reference you may want to read it… “That would mean Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal government would fall, triggering an election call on Nov. 29 and a campaign during the holiday season”

    … this was a vote of non-confidence…totally different than a “Colision of Losers”…the three party's who failed to win enough seats to form gov't joining together to sleaze power…

    The article you refernce clearly states it was not an attempt of the parties in question to form gov't…

    and before you jump on the CPC and Bloc discussing this same issue back when Belinda crossed the floor and Cadmen voted with the Liberals (because his family would not receive any parlimentary death benifits if parlament desolved and he was not a seated member but in the midst of an election campaign when he died…which he would have been) I'll remind you that there was never any Veto Power provided the Bloc and the intent was to force a non-confidence vote and trigger an election

  • terry1

    mred……………….more garbage from you.

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    it's 6 blocks south of front st. I think you're depending too much on the technical to make your point. It's like saying the Toronto Island airport isn't “downtown”

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    confirmed in the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/703107

    “It is hard to imagine anyone taking to a podium to denounce the preponderance of Montrealers working in politicians' offices – a fact of life stretching back decades in Ottawa – or Calgarians, for that matter. But Toronto seems to evoke a special stigma in its perceived influence behind the scenes in politics.

    Ignatieff's advisers, for instance, have gone to great pains to obscure the fact that the recent wave of TV ads, featuring the leader in a woodland glade, were filmed in Toronto, at Cherry Beach.

    And none of the advisers who call Toronto their hometown – chief of staff Ian Davey, communications director Jill Fairbrother, principal secretary Dan Brock – wanted to talk yesterday.”

  • MrEd

    LMAO…you are too funny. So let me see if I can sum up your tempest in a tea cup… A woman MP asks former co-workers who are like minded (otherwise she'd have not likely saddled herself with them while working in an authority position) asks them to help out and volinteer on their own time to help send invitations and invite other people whom they know are like minded and formerly worked together with to an event… Instead of stealing the contact list and taking it home to email people as many people would they instead send out some emails to these people and a few go to the wrong people who run to the Red Star screaming the “sky is falling”, “uproar”, “wah wah wah”, “etc,…”

    and based on this you come to the biased conclusion that “THIS GOVERNMENT IS NOTHING BUT AN UNSUPERVISED GOON SQUAD”???

    What are you smoking and where can the rest of us get some Terry1?

    On second thought strike that…please let us know so We can avoid it, your world sounds awefully dark and paranoid to the rest of us… I bet you think 9/11 was a conspiricy and that excuse “I never had sexual relations with that woman” translated to Clinton never cheating on his wife with Monica…

  • SansFree

    Ah, sorry I get it, thought you were getting all upset that the Libs may topple the gov, but no your still upset about the coalition.

    First, the three parties do represent more people than the PC/Reform/Canadian Alliance/Conservatives. I believe we would get a better government if politicians were willing to work with each other more, but it is not that status quoe and like proportional representation it threatens the established norms we hold so that is out.

    Second, I am sorry but so long as we have a party in power that won't consult with the people it needs to consult with to maintain that power we are going to have minority governments that last a year or so and fail.

    Third. I also don't believe the bloc wants to break up the nation, although I do agree there is money to be made in the posturing that they do. Squeaky wheel and all.

    Fourth. the only difference between the Coalition you are upset about and the Lib or NDP propping up the Con's like they have and may be is that it was put into a working document that would likely of resulted in more governmental stability (yes provided the people would accept it).

    As for the other stuff you mentioned I don't really care if Belinda walked across the floor, (it's been done before it'll be done again it's politics) and Cadmen is dead so should that issue die.

  • terry1

    my idea of good spin is the fact that the Harpercrites have said virtually nothing about that EI money and they have yet to put it in a separate fund. So your BS doesn't fly on that issue.

    Iggy would not have gutted the GST and therefore the deficit would not be structural as its now designed. I beleive harpo has designed the defict to be cleaned up by the next liberal government as has always happened. That will give the country another 13 years of good solid government when it soon happens.

  • terry1

    Mervin, I've asked the guy who Harpo dumped in McCallum's riding and he told it like it is. he says the reformatort party is a puppet show.

  • terry1

    Its not that incident alone but the preponderance and abundance of those types of events like having harpo's picture pasted all over government of Canada ads on stimulus, bribing tory ridings only with stimulus money without regard to any other needy areas. The list of tory lies and deceipt goes on.

  • terry1

    This event apparently happened quite close to Narnia:

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/703928

    Ethics commissioner to investigate Lisa Raitt

  • MrEd

    LOL…you're funny when I'm right and you're well…limited

  • MrEd

    and the reason for no word on it….ummmm, duh… they're not in campaign mode bubba. wait until another 2 years have gone by and parliment is desolved… it'll be in campaign ads…front and center

  • MrEd

    lies terry…you have to resort to lies? how could you… Stimulous funds are being given to mainly Tory ridings…that's likelt because they're the ridings outside of Toronto…. Toronto and Montreal got more than their fare share of stimulous money directly and they choose how to spend it…

    perhaps you could provide a list of your needy ridings? would that be like the park that won't complete for 7 years with stimulous money Iffy was all happy abuot where the Mayor Spanked Iffy in the same interview pointing out it would have been 12 years without the money?

    and as for his picture everywhere with Gov't of Canada ads… um, he's the acting PM… would you rather see pictures of long dead people like PET? Santa Claus? Prince Caspian? Obama?

  • MrEd

    Sans… let me address these in order…

    first…we agree… but it wasn’t Harper who stated publicly or in private he could “wear this recession” or that he wasn’t willing to offer up any idea’s for Harper to take credit… so who’s not co-operating to make things work?

    second…agreed…but see statement in #1

    third… agreed…but as a fedral party The Bloc should be required to run members across all of Canada …definition of Fedral Gov’t… just as the CPC, Lieberal, No Damn Plan, and Greenies do…hell, even the dope smoker party has members in multiple provinces…

    fourth…the difference is the “colision of losers” was planned before the election and finalized after they all lost as an attempt to sleaze power from the duely elected Gov’t and as you’ve said “if the people accepted it” you know from the public outcry that there’s not a snowballs chance in hell it ever would have gone to the people to decide yes or no… the people having any say after the fact?!?! Ya, right, I saw that movie 60 years ago in China when they “adopted Communist rule” according to the CBC today…and the document you refer to gave veto power to one province over everyone else which is likely bordering on if not outright un-costitutional…

    And I agree with your final summary….if you read what I said you know I was saying not to go there and you did anyways which I find quite funny actually…

    Like the Liberals bringing up the sponsorship scandal as a distraction in the press recently to Iffy’s poor leadership, loss of key people in Quebec, etc, Liberals can’t help themselves but try to spin everything and have the last word

  • MrEd

    What mythical Fund or stash of existing funds are you talking about Terry1? The 50 billion that was taken from the UI program after it was changed over to EI … that’s gone and spent against the deficit but the Liberal party under Martin claimed it was their good management of affairs and not steeling from the UI fund that balanced their budgets… or maybe some “hidden money” that simply doesn’t exist now that the UI fund is gone because in case you missed it their is no money set aside for it since the Liberals restructured UI to EI and threw the money nito general revinue… any money budgeted for EI was already spent in the last year because their is a global recession if you haven’t heard… try google, it might help!?

    I’ve told you on other blogs and it’s pretty much shut you up that the vast majority of Canadian export and GNP is based around natural resources… with Oil, Natural Gas, Iron, Copper, etc,… all down during this global recession with demand below supply, of course our deficit is climbing… but take the numbers and raise the prices back to where they were and add in the taxation formulas on those resources and guess what…. the numbers start going down quite nicely…

    We are the second largest supplier of oil to the country Liberal love to hate south of our border… we also sell them boat loads of Hydro electric power out of Quebec, Ontario and BC…

    once they pull there asses out of the fire ours will rise with them… but Harpers gone a step further and signed trade agreements with 24 other countries while Iffy sits in Toronto and talks about increasing trade with China and India only from a local beach that the LPC finally admitted was in the heart of Toronto… who has their heads in the sand?

    Have you guy’s ever actually looked at a map of Canada??? We border 3 oceans and the largest Super Power in the world… they’re just over the other side of that lake next to Toronto… Try color coding it based on which party holds the seats… you’ll see those little red dots around that one ot two major city seems pretty much all that’s red except a couple places in the Marritimes where they’re realizing real growth for the first time in Decades since a CPC gov’t took office in 2006…pretty soon it’ll just be those 2 cities if they don’t get their sh!t together to be a responsible opposition party or realistic alternative to Stephen Harper.

  • ben

    Don't know if anyone's pointed this out yet, but algonquin parks the big park 3 hours north of toronto, albion hills is the one about 20k from the airport, but algonquin is closer to ottawa.

  • terry1

    Maybe if you read stuff that wasn't BS from your own partisan sources you might understand more of what goes on. Gerard Kennedy has written a concise report on the abuse of stimulus money and has asked fatso Baird every day to explain certain awards in specific parts of the country. All he gets back is the typical bluster of zilch from that AH.

    Its apparent you are full of shite just like Baird

  • http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

    I'd love to read that report. Do you have a copy/link?

  • terry1

    Maybe your reformatort masters have limited your computer's search capabilities to party approved sites!!!!

    Here it is:http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/docs/240909_inaction_plan.pdf

  • terry1

    If you're too ignorant to read facts that's no ones fault but your own:

    1. The SC court said the Liberals move of EI funds to general accounts was illegal but the reformatorts have not moved any new EI money into that separate fund and conti nue to put the money into general revenues.

    2. I don't know what sites you have shut me on..probablky ones I haven't gone back to as dealing with ignorant a$$h**es like you is pretty damn easy. Canada is for sure resource export Country;that's not rocket science even for you I see. However, natural gas prices are way down and show no sign of recovery any time soon due to a more or less permanent oversupply that is now happening due to new NGL terminals in the US that can receive billions of CF of natural gas at lower prices than Canada can produce its conventional gas. The economics you choose to use are voodoo stuff that only a reformatort could produce. There is no way in hell that our export profits will offset $160BB of combined deficits and growing. Every economist in the Country says you are full of crap.

    3. Canada is the richest natural resource country in the world but also has a government with the worst economic profile in the western world even worse than the Bush regime. Flaherty still hasn't told the tuth about the real deficit this year which will blow past $60BB….ALL IN ONE YEAR.

    DO YOU GET IT YET, STUPID

  • terry1

    I'm not so much limited as I am way ahead of you. I don't have to lower my pants to give mybrain feesh air.

  • SansFree

    It appears that we are running into the collum so I'll bow to some of your points as we appear to be snowballing on issues.
    Glad to hear a perspective that is thought out although I do not necessarily agree with you.
    Incidentally where did you hear that the coalition was thought out before the election, that is not the way I heard it.

  • MrEd

    the confrence call that was recorded from the NDP strategy session prior to the election suggests it and the elaborate paperwork and legal contract work could not have been established as fast as it was unless talks had begun prior to the election… The pile on regarding the tv debates with Harper vs. everyone else suggests colusion as well given many of the opposition responces were too slickly worded and dove tailed into one another against Stephen Harper to have not been rehursed

  • MrEd

    One other thing that should be pointed out because Iffy seems to want to ignore this… over 297 cases of civil unrest happen on a daily basis in China… almost 300 a day!!! in the next 15 years over 50% of the standing ground troops, trained military fighting men and women will reach the age of manditory retirement and be assimilated back into the general population…

    So Mr Iffy, What do you think is going to happen in China when the people who are being suppressed outnumber the people doing the suppressing and those who make up the population are trained in the art of war?

  • MrEd

    so you're not wearing pants??? thats too much information thanks

  • jt

    “I think that there are legitimate criticisms that can be raised about how our status quo treats certain regions unfairly, and we should absolutely try to address those issues.

    Good. Let’s get rid of the CWB and eliminate milk quotas. On top of that dump subsidies to auto manufacturers, “supply managed” monopolies, egg boards, chicken boards, sugar beet subsidies and anything else that distorts trade, not only with our neighbours to the south, but provinces, too. How about eliminating that federal law against trucking more than two cases of beer over provincial borders and the interprovincial “wine” protectionism? Oh, and one other – the groupthink that bans the Irvings from shipping their crude products east of Montreal.

    Should be enough homework for some aspiring provincial and federal finance ministers, eh?

  • terry1

    ED, did I say I wasn't wearing pants……..as usual you reformatorts read what you want in any sentence.

    Are you the talking horse or the stalking one

  • MrEd

    your understanding of human anatomy being such…”I don't have to lower my pants to give my brain feesh air.” (I think you ment Fresh) infered I had to do something I didn't to breath… It infered you needed to do this to get oxygen to your own brain and since you clearly stated you did not need to drop your own pants so eloquantly you must not be wearing pants… or the normal way you wear them is over your head and tied off around you neck cutting the oxygen supply to your brain … that is a given …for most people, we breath through our mouths or noses… my guess is you're a mouth breather…

  • Name

    Ignatieff, the Liberal Party and Toronto … three things Canada would be a better place without. It's a shame he couldn't take the latter two with him when he heads back to Harvard after the next election.

  • MrEd

    One other thing that should be pointed out because Iffy seems to want to ignore this… over 297 cases of civil unrest happen on a daily basis in China… almost 300 a day!!! in the next 15 years over 50% of the standing ground troops, trained military fighting men and women will reach the age of manditory retirement and be assimilated back into the general population…

    So Mr Iffy, What do you think is going to happen in China when the people who are being suppressed outnumber the people doing the suppressing and those who make up the population are trained in the art of war?

  • MrEd

    so you're not wearing pants??? thats too much information thanks

  • terry1

    ED, did I say I wasn't wearing pants……..as usual you reformatorts read what you want in any sentence.

    Are you the talking horse or the stalking one

  • MrEd

    your understanding of human anatomy being such…”I don't have to lower my pants to give my brain feesh air.” (I think you ment Fresh) infered I had to do something I didn't to breath… It infered you needed to do this to get oxygen to your own brain and since you clearly stated you did not need to drop your own pants so eloquantly you must not be wearing pants… or the normal way you wear them is over your head and tied off around you neck cutting the oxygen supply to your brain … that is a given …for most people, we breath through our mouths or noses… my guess is you're a mouth breather…

  • Name

    Ignatieff, the Liberal Party and Toronto … three things Canada would be a better place without. It's a shame he couldn't take the latter two with him when he heads back to Harvard after the next election.