You Have To Wonder Why Mother Nature Is Not Mourning?

So far "she" has sent down two deluges of rain to wash away people's messages of mourning...

John Moore: Why people are mourning Jack Layton

Blatchford is right that our society overflows with false sentimentality. But she missed that, this time, it’s not false.

Jack Layton’s death has precipitated an outpouring amongst Canadians. In Toronto, the public square in front of city hall where he served as a councillor has been blanketed in a rainbow of chalk-written tributes. People who never met the man have wept. They will likely turn mourners away at his laying in state.
For some this is all a little overwrought. Ground zero for that perspective would be my friend Christie Blatchford’s column in Tuesday’s National Post. Christie’s greatest skill is her ability to not only take the public pulse but to interpret it. She’s one of the few print columnists who can prompt you to say “Exactly!” out loud while you read her. But her column on the keening accompanying Jack Layton to his final rest has provoked a ferocious pushback. True, the column was “liked” on Facebook by thousands but it has also drawn a record number of flaming online comments and countless emails to Christie, many she tells me opening with the salutation “Dear C–t.” Read More »

We Wish Him Well But The Reality...

...is that even if his cancer goes into remission it is questionable whether the "old" Jack Layton will rise from the ashes.

NDP tries to quell rumours of a coup in Layton's absence


Jesse Kline: After a frail-looking Jack Layton temporarily stepped aside at a press conference on Monday, it’s hard not to start wondering if someone will not try to take advantage of the power vacuum he left in his wake

Peter Worthington:Does the NDP need Jack Layton?

The Major Plank In NDP Committment...

...do whatever is necessary to keep their place at the trough!

HMMM...

Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Take back the night, Vancouver!


WEEKEND ROUNDUP

The big decisions

Three days of punditry on remaking the NDP, resisting the goons of Vancouver, the future of Canada Post and the CBC, and, uh, a potentially deadly industry that employs all of 200 people part-time.

The Toronto Star‘s Chantal Hébert post-mortems a weekend of touchy debates at the NDP convention in Vancouver over topics like ruling out cooperation with the Liberals (defeated) and eliminating the word “socialism” from the party constitution’s preamble (also defeated). The Dippers don’t need to figure all this out immediately, says Hébert. But keeping Quebec on board is going to be a full-time job. “Should the NDP turn out to not to have the stomach to go the extra miles to recast itself as a competitive contender for federal power,” she warns, “it will quickly lose the allegiance of its more recent fellow travellers.” After all, as Hébert notes, there were more Quebec delegates at the recent Conservative convention than there were at the New Democrats’.

Mark Milke, writing in the Calgary Herald, doesn’t see how the NDP can continue to appease Quebec nationalists — on language laws, on the Clarity Act, on the province’s over-representation in the House of Commons — without greatly offending supporters and potential supporters in other provinces. “It would be amusing to watch the NDP leader defend his call for more Quebec seats to voters in under-represented British Columbia or in southern Ontario,” he suggests. (Well, people in southern Ontario don’t care about such things. But B.C., we agree, would be highly amusing to watch.)

Read More »

NDP Gain Status Similar To NOW...

...They have a high profile, newsboxes at many major intersections but they both end up in the recycling or garbage bins.

 

NDP stunner changes the game

 

NDP win is no consolation

Did Bob Learn Anything From His NDP Fiasco...

Apt Title For Jack...

Chief Panhandler in Tantrum

Pity:

NDP Leader Jack Layton accused the prime minister Wednesday of ordering Conservative senators to kill a climate-change bill, the day after a surprise vote in the Red Chamber ended in the legislation's defeat.

A number of Liberals were not in the Senate when the vote occurred, and the bill died with a tally of 43-32.
ht

Posted by Cjunk at 5:08 PM
Comments (56)

Is Jack Out Of The Country???

Hedy Fry should read the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations

Friday, July 09, 2010 at 05:09 PM

Comments: 3

Hedy Fry, Liberal MP, is all exercised over the fact that the Canadian embassy in Poland was...wait for it...flying the Canadian flag.
I swear, no one can make this stuff up.
Oh Hedy.  You are responsible for so much laughter in this world. 

Click the title to read the whole story...

Right Out Of The Anarchist Handbook...

Adrian MacNair: My social condition is feeling disadvantaged again

Adrian MacNair  June 24, 2010 – 10:26 am

 

If the NDP bill passes, we'll all get to live in houses like these. 

Owing to the fact that Libby Davies has been busy trying to explain how she mixed up two rather important dates regarding Israeli independence, it’s no wonder that many people missed her last two bills introduced in the House of Commons. These bills would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to prohibit “discrimination” against a person based on their social condition.
What the heck is a “social condition?” Libby explains: Read More »

Posted in: Full Comment, Uncategorized  Tags: Adrian MacNair, NDP, Libby Davies, poverty, Rich, Social condition

Not Seeing The Forest For The Trees...

I Don't Know Much About Libby BUT...

...she is probably a good mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, friend etc. but needs to work on her role model persona.

Paul Russell: Readers deplore honour killings; they aren’t fond of Libby Davies either

Paul Russell  June 20, 2010 – 9:00 am

 

The New Democratic Party of Canada has its loyal supporters — but I suspect not many are National Post subscribers. Last week, more than two dozen of the latter group castigated NDP deputy leader Libby Davies for suggesting that Israel has been occupying Palestinian territory since 1948.
“Libby Davies and [MP] Pat Martin have made it clear that the NDP reeks with extreme prejudice against the state of Israel and bitter vindictive against Evangelicals and Catholics,” said Jimmy Hagarty. “So much for the old theory that the habitual last place party is the home of morality and tolerance fighting supposed right-wing bigotry.”
“If you scratch the surface of a left-wing Palestinian defender, you will find an anti-Semite,” added Felix Golubev. “The very creation of Israel is a bone in their throat. Like Helen Thomas, Libby Davies just couldn’t help it. As the old saying goes: The old parrot betrayed his master.” Read More »

Many NDPers Will Be Venting Their Frustration During G20 Marches...

NDP fails at damage control after Davies' comments go viral

By L. IAN MACDONALD, QMI Agency

Jack Layton was having a bad day in the midst of what would turn out to be a very bad week for the NDP.

Leader Backing Party Member...

Libby Davies faces backlash over Israel comments

NDP deputy leader is in hot water over comments she made at an anti-Israeli protest when she appeared to question the Jewish state’s right to exist.

It's Not Hard To Be Popular...

 ...when you are sitting on the fence not having to make unpopular decisions and we certainly have examples in Ontario of the leadership capabilities of the NDP at the provincial and municipal level.

Prime Minister Layton? Spector:

Results of Angus Reid poll released today are not surprising CPC 35 per cent, LPC 27 and the NDP 19 per cent.. However, the poll also asked Canadians how they would vote if the Liberals and NDP went to the polls offering Canadians a coalition government, and here things get interesting. MORE....

Here We Go Again...

Reading and writing: the golden ticket

But the problem of poor literacy skills is a scandal in plain view. May 14, 2010 

...leftists on school boards diminished the value of the three Rs by refusing to fail students, by changing the role of teachers to student's friends, by promoting the introduction of Jane Has Two Mothers into the reading list and other cultural items that should be left to the families.

Possdible LegUp For Ontario NDP...

Anti-HST campaign gives boost to B.C. NDP
Support for the British Columbia New Democratic Party is growing in opposition to a controversial new tax. The NDP has secured an 18-point lead over the Liberals.

Hmmm...

Ellen Ocran –BUSTED?

Countless news stories last week referred to her as a concerned University of Ottawa student. A simple GEDS search however reveals that a "Ellen Ocran" works for Pat Martin –NDP member for Winnipeg Centre!

Pardon Me For Being Cynical But Are NDP Looking For Sympathy Vote...

...and before the dingbats start throwing bricks I lost a family member to prostate cancer and my family doctor has ensured I get tested regularly.

'I'm really proud of Jack'

By JONATHAN JENKINS, Queen’s Park Bureau

Jack Layton’s public acknowledgment of his prostate cancer diagnosis should help prompt other men his age to get checked out, Ontario New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath said Friday.

Layton given praise for announcing illness publicly

By CHRISTINA SPENCER, Parliamentary Bureau

Nine years ago this month, Allan Rock — then the federal health minister — was operated on for prostate cancer.

Give Jack Credit For Trying....

...but he is out of his depth in the major leagues!

I'm Not An NDP Supporter By Any Stretch BUT...

...Cathy Crowe has paid her dues and her efforts over the years in helping the less fortunate should be repaid by the voters.

NDP candidate sensing victory in Toronto-Centre

Or, will she have to eat Crowe in Thursday byelection?

By JONATHAN JENKINS, Queen’s Park Bureau

Cathy Crowe smells an upset in Toronto-Centre.
“I’m getting prepared for a win,” the New Democrat said of Thursday’s byelection to replace former deputy premier George Smitherman at Queen’s Park.
“It’s certainly a neck-and-neck race. It may surprise some of you but that’s what I’m hearing at the door.”
Smitherman held the downtown riding for a decade and built a formidable and well-funded machine for the governing Liberals before opting to run for Toronto mayor this fall.
Defending the seat for Dalton McGuinty’s party is former Winnipeg mayor and president of the Canadian Urban Institute Glen Murray.
Crowe, a street nurse and homeless advocate with a high profile in Toronto-Centre’s less affluent south, said she has found the riding has grown weary of the Liberal-Conservative dichotomy and wants something new in an elected representative.
“The overarching sentiment is that the Conservatives had a number of years and the Liberals then had six more,” she said. “(Voters) use the word change, they want change.”
Not surprisingly, Murray says he has seen none of the anger or concern over such issues as the impending Harmonized Sales Tax or the Salvation Army pulling out of running the Grace Health Centre, as the NDP say they have found.
“It’s the biggest red herring,” Murray said of worries about the Grace, which he said were whipped up by a “desperate NDP.”
“The whole thing was ridiculous, quite frankly.”
Murray said that people he talks to are more interested in the redevelopment of Regent Park, expansion at Ryerson University and what he said was an $85-million increase to St. Michael’s hospital budget.
“We’ve never seen this kind of investment and real people when you knock on real doors are feeling very good about that and are very excited,” Murray said, adding he expects his toughest competition to come from Progressive Conservative candidate Pamela Taylor.
“I think we’re going to win Thursday but I always run like I’m in second place. As long as you run like you’re in second place, you’re more likely to come out in first place.”