Month: December 2005

Blogging Tories and fans of Blogging Tories, the first leader’s debate has been scheduled for December 15th in Vancouver. There is one new feature that the networks are adding to the debate: viewer participation.

While there won’t be a live studio audience, the networks will be collecting questions from Canadians on a variety of topics. The best questions will be chosen by the networks and they’ll tape you asking your question for the leaders.

Questions can be to all leaders in a general sense or they can be focused to any candidate.

This is another example of how the Internet and blogging is connecting the electorate to their representatives.

So, Blogging Tories (and readers) I’m encouraging you to help further enhance participatory democracy by submitting your questions to the following email address:

question@electiondebate.ca

Be sure to post your questions in the comments section below (if you like) and please encourage other Blogging Tories to do the same by linking to this post.

Take a look at the header of the Liberal website:

Are the Liberals implying that Buzz Hargrove endorses Tax Cuts? It took less than 24 hours for the Liberals to abuse Hargrove’s endorsement.

Perhaps Hargrove will be rethinking his flawed strategy? Endorsement of Liberal corruption will have the Liberals abusing your endorsement.

Uh oh.

It appears that Jack Layton has lost a key supporter in Buzz Hargrove and the CAW. Buzz has been piloting the Liberal Party for a while now ever since he sketched out his demands on the back of a napkin in a hotel room in downtown Toronto. Apparently, Hargrove’s official reason is that he wants to stop Stephen Harper at all costs and thus, he’ll back the Liberals.

This is good news for the Conservative Party and here’s why:

This is an implicit compliment for the Conservative Party as it implies that Stephen Harper’s got a very real shot at forming government.

This announcement will make Jack Layton fight so much harder for his support base and this will take the heat off of the Conservative leader. Depending on how desperate the situation gets, Jack Layton may even be heard declaring that Stephen Harper is as threatening as a kitten and that Paul Martin is the scariest thing for Canadians since George W Bush (remember, this is Jack’s POV).

It is also debatable on whether or not strategic voting works. There may be solidarity when it comes to the union dental plan, but Stephen Harper’s GST tax cut and his income tax cuts yet to be announced will mean a real difference for everyone who is employed and everyone that spends.

Furthermore, left-wing people that I know that vote Liberal because they can’t stand unions will have yet another thing to stomach before they cast their ballot.

This also intensifies the battle for the left while a majority of Canadians have centrist and centre-right ideologies.