The joke’s on us Will Stephen Harper’s “a carbon tax is crazy economics;it’s crazy environmental policy” turn out to be the 2008 election’s version of “Zap! You’re frozen”? During the 1974 federal election campaign, earnest, awkward Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield—the Stephane Dion of his day—proposed a policy of wage and price controls to put […]
Stephen Kimber
The joke’s on us
So Gerry Ritz a made stupid, tasteless, offensive joke. Two actually. Is that any reason for Stephen Harper to fire him? My answer would be no. Most of us—well, me at least; thee may be more pure—have, in the heat of an overheated moment, or in a moment of frustration, or in the inevitably mistaken […]
Death by a thousand polls
How many thousands (millions?) of dollars will Canadian news organizations spend polling public opinion in the leadup to the October 14 federal election? How much of that would have been better spent explaining the concepts and relative merits of competing environmental policies like the carbon tax or cap-and-trade emissions policies so the public opinion they […]
Be it resolved…
Given the number of candidates in this upcoming federal election who’ve already had to suddenly slink off in disgrace because videos had surfaced showing them driving while doping, or skinny-dipping while (or while not) erect, or blathering mindlessly in their blogs about how gays and women must begin packing heat to protect themselves from predators…; […]
Misadventures on the campaign trail
It seemed like a good idea at the time. According to various news reports, Halifax Liberals planned to gather Wednesday evening (Sept 10) to officially crown Catherine Meade as their candidate in Halifax. I should go, I thought. I first checked out the Liberal party’s provincial and national websites, but there was no information on […]
38 reasons (and counting) not to vote for Harper
Thirty-eight reasons not to vote for Stephen Harper… one for every day of the campaign. Feel free to add your own: 1. The Accountability Act that isn’t 2. Negative advertising (puffin poopers unite) 3. Afghanistan… Do you trust the man who unfixed his own fixed-date election legislation to bring the troops home in 2011? 4. […]
Poll pellets
The pollster who once claimed Haligonians were eager to have the 2014 Commonwealth Games now wants us to believe Nova Scotians want to elect more Stephen Harper’s Tories. Don Mills of Halifax-based Corporate Research Associates told Halifax’s Metro newspaper that his company’s latest public opinion poll showed “a big positive change” for the ruling Tories […]
And the correct answer is…
Question number one. “Stephen Harper has been prime minister for almost three years. Under his strong and focused leadership, do you think Canada is on the right track?” “Yes.” “No.” Uh … Question number two. “Stephane Dion has been leader of the Liberal party since December 2006. Some people say Mr. Dion is a weak […]
The NDP’s party
There’s something comfortably old-shoe about attendingan NDP gathering in Halifax. You’re almost certain to run into someone you know. The neighbour down the street you saw mowing his lawn in the rain last week, the young couple with the toddler who just bought the fixer-upper on the next block, the sales clerk from the drug […]
Outside the Charmed Circle
Did you know that the first week of Stephane Dion’s federal election campaign went so “poorly… several senior Liberals have expressed serious concern that (it) could be the sign of an electoral disaster to come?” You’d certainly know that if you’d read the front page of Monday morning’s Globe and Mail. Or its strange-bedfellow matching […]
NDP squabble
The search for Alexa McDonough’s successor is off to a rocky start. And the party has yet to nominate its candidate. But it isn’t clear what—if any—effect a messy misunderstanding between the Nova Scotia federal NDP campaign office and wannabe-standard bearer Irvine Carvery over membership fees might have on the upcoming campaign and/or —and perhaps […]
NDP squabble: Update 1
Irvine Carvery concedes his difficulties with the NDP’s provincial campaign office were likely the result of a simple “miscommunication,” but he says that misunderstanding “puts the screws to me.” Carvery is one of three hopefuls vying to be the party’s candidate in the riding of Halifax in the October 14 federal election. Carvery says his […]

