With Conservative leader Stephen Harper maintaining his odious attack on Liberal Leader Paul Martin over what he says is a Liberal failure to address child pornography, in it’s final week the election campaign has become bogged down in an unsavoury war of words over what Prime Minister Martin has called, “comments (that) were clearly out of line.”
In Thunder Bay, NDP Leader Jack Layton lashed out at Harper.
“There’s been no sense of apology or anything … it shows a real failure of judgment in my view on Mr. Harper’s part, and puts into question the kind of judgment he’d exercise in office.”
“Stephen Harper doesn’t want Canadians to know what he really stands for, so they need to exploit tragedy (the murder of Holly Jones, the ten year old Toronto girl whose killer was sentenced on Friday) in order to divert focus, and it’s not going to work.”
The Montreal Gazette reported that Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Québécois, as telling reporters that the Conservative stance on child pornography was too extreme and would lead to legislative excess.
“It could have the effect of closing the Sistine Chapel in Rome. You know, those little naked angels, they’re just about everywhere in the churches. What do we do with that? That’s [the result of] their infantile reasoning. We don’t want to fall into excessive law and order like the Conservatives often have a tendency of doing,” said Mr. Duceppe.
The Bloc platform calls for minimum, long-term sentences for those convicted of sex crimes against a minor.
Jim Elve, at BlogsCanada, addresses the issue here and here.
Later today, VanRamblings will publish a full election day update.
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.
“In just eight days, Canadians must make a decision that was never going to be easy and is now downright vexing,” writes James Travers in today’s Toronto Star. Travers’ opening comment in his Star essay comes on the heels of the release of today’s EKOS Resarch poll, which shows the Conservatives still with a narrow lead, with 31.4 per cent support of decided voters, while Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Liberals are at 29 per cent.
The NDP has picked up some strength, with 20.5 per cent, while the Bloc Québécois is at 14.2 per cent. The Green party has 4.3 per cent.
Although the latest EKOS and Ipsos-Reid polls still show the Tories marginally ahead, the polls don’t fully account for the latest wave of Grit attack ads, the Liberal bid to yoke Stephen Harper to Brian Mulroney and depict Harper and Ralph Klein as kissing cousins on undermining the Canada Health Act, or the bizarre Tory press release on Paul Martin as favouring child porn — and the refusal of Harper to apologize for it.
Yesterday’s SES-CPAC tracking poll, titled ‘Tories slide on first night of new ad’, shows the Grits with a decided-voter preference of 34 per cent, the Tories at 29 per cent, and the NDP at 22 per cent. This would seem to confirm the latest Liberal internal polling, showing the Liberals once again in front, heading towards election day. The Knives Come Out For Belinda Stronach
Belinda Stronach
Star Tory candidate, and recent Conservative Party leadership hopeful, Belinda Stronach, is getting a rough ride from constituents in her home riding of Newmarket-Aurora, on the way to what is presumed to be an assured electoral victory come June 28th.
Opponents of the 38-year-old former Magna International CEO questioned Stronach’s credentials and blamed Magna for cutting jobs and wages. Another opponent referred to anti-abortion statements made by Conservative candidates that jar with Ms. Stronach’s own pro-choice position, and demanded an answer to the question: “How can we believe what you say when we’re getting so many different views?” Harper’s Agenda Weakens Canada
In their lead editorial today, the Toronto Star asks, “What would Canada look like today if Stephen Harper’s Conservatives had their way?” Their answer: radically different.
Although the Star suggests “few will object to Harper’s promise to deliver better health care, lower taxes, a stronger economy, accountability, and restored integrity to government … voters may want to consider the rest of the Tories’ sweeping programme for change. Because come June 29, we may wake up to a very different country in the making.”
Weakening Parliament: From appointing only elected senators — who would thwart the will of the House of Commons — to the implementation of ‘direct democracy’ referenda, which would almost inevitably lead to decision-making gridlock.
Weakening the Supreme Court. Applying an American-style litmus test to the appointment process.
Weakening civil rights. The Tories are prepared to overrule the Supreme Court and Canada’s cherished Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to the point of infringing on freedom of thought … overruling the Charter is a slippery slope that would legitimize attempts to strip away other rights.
The Star quotes Toronto Mayor David Miller as saying that the Conservative programme is a “recipe for Canada as a country to fail.” Although Miller was making specific reference to the Tories’ indifference to cities, his criticism applies to so much more, they say. Michael Moore Turns Up Heat On Tories and Grits
Documentarian Michael Moore
In an article published in today’s Globe and Mail, American documentarian (and contrarian) Michael Moore puts in his two cents about the federal election campaign.
Visiting Canada for an advance screening of his new film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore said he has spent a lot time trying to persuade Americans that Canadians are smart and his country should be more Canada-like. Electing Conservatives — whose leader, Stephen Harper, once advocated joining U.S. President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq — would spoil his argument, he said.
“You’re going to make me look really bad,” he said, to hoots of laughter. “I really need you to make sure that Mr. Harper does not take over the prime ministership. Why would you want to be like us?”
“[Ronald] Reagan and Mulroney start to look good when you think about Bush and Harper,” Mr. Moore said during a political t�te-�-t�te with Mr. Mulroney’s son Ben for CTV’s E-Talk Daily. “Because now, now, let’s jump ahead 20 years, all right, to the ‘Conservatives’ that we have now. These people; they’re off the grid …”
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.
In the final 10 days of the federal election campaign, the two leading parties are going negative to get their message across. With most polls indicating that Paul Martin’s Liberals and Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are locked in a statistical dead heat, neither party leader is passing up any opportunity to punch holes in his opponent’s credibility.
Mr. Clueless Stephen Harper
But, perhaps, the Tories reached a new low earlier today when they issued a party press release with a headline reading: Paul Martin Supports Child Pornography?. Although, later in the day — following a media backlash against the headline — the Tories withdrew the bizarre claim that Prime Minister Martin favours child pornography, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper didn’t back down from the substance of the party news release.
“I’m not going to, in any way, give the Liberal Party any break in its record on child pornography,” Harper told reporters at a campaign stop in Drummondville, Québéc. “It is disgraceful, they have had multiple opportunities to do something about it, and they have refused.” Asked about the ‘taste’ of the headline, Harper said: “What’s in bad taste is the Liberal Party’s record on child pornography.”
“I will not make excuses on it, I will attack them on it, and if (the Liberals) want to fight the rest of the election on it, good luck to them,” he heatedly said before stepping back on his campaign bus.
Tim Murphy, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said: “Obviously the statement … is a ridiculous one in a world where right and wrong is pretty clear. And it’s unfortunate when this kind of thing happens.”
On the Liberals’ own website, they point out that their party, working with MPs from all sides of the house, toughened the criminal code in 2002 to protect children from sexual exploitation, passed a bill mandating tougher penalties for those convicted of child pornography, and passed Bill C-16, creating a national sex offender database. Note is made that the Reform / Alliance / Conservatives voted almost en masse against Bill C-12, improving the protection of children from pornographic exploitation. Quote of The Day
In describing Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper …
“A radical, neo-conservative, Americanophilic Conservative Leader, with hidden agendas peeking out of every pocket, himself in thrall to a powerful but alien Alberta populist Premier, and propped up in the House by a cabal of separatist Québéc MPs, will impose a decentralizing, Republican agenda on (Canada) unless they are stopped.” — John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail.
The quote above is placed in a particular context; read the full article here. How Are The Papers Covering The Campaign?
four federal leaders of the apocalypse
As part of the Globe and Mail’s ongoing analysis of the 2004 Canadian Federal Election — in a project undertaken with the Observatory for Media and Public Policy at McGill University — the OMPP panel found that although most voters didn’t watch the leaders’ debate earlier in the week — and even though most voters learned about them through newspapers and newscasts — a majority of voters felt that NDP leader Jack Layton and Tory leader Harper were the debate winners.
The finding stands in contrast to the largely neutral coverage given Harper by the media, the negative coverage received by Layton, and the generally positive coverage given to Martin’s performance. Still, as an Ipsos-Reid poll found, “Voters were relatively less impressed with Mr. Martin, and more approving of Mr. Harper and Mr. Layton.” Strange, but true. CPAC – Canada’s Political Channel
CPAC’s Ken Rockburn
For some days now, VanRamblings has been meaning to point you towards CPAC, Canada’s self-described political channel, which provides comprehensive coverage of national politics and current affairs, usually on television, but as well as a video streaming (Windows Media Player required) service.
During the course of the election campaign, veteran journalist and broadcaster Ken Rockburn not only has his own CPAC blog, but finds himself travelling across Canada interviewing Canadians about the upcoming vote on June 28th.
Most days, you’ll see Ken on the campaign trail, talking to Canadians from across our vast country, about the federal election, what issues are of paramount importance to them, and what these Canadians would wish to see for our country. This is grassroots public broadcasting, and often fascinating to watch. More and More Political Blogs
Each and everyday, Jim Elve — the very able, hard-working and articulate administrator of BlogsCanada (and I thought I had a high energy level; compared to Jim, I’m asleep) — posts more and more political weblogs, at BlogsCanada’s Canadian Political Index site.
One site Jim Elve pointed to awhile back on the E-Group Election Blog on BlogsCanada, was Canada Votes 2004, aimed primarily (it would seem) at younger voters.
Jim also points VanRamblings’ readers towards Daily Kos, one of the US’ most popular blogs (150,000 visitors/day), which has a couple of ongoing discussions on the Canadian election: one here and another here. Election Headlines of the Day
Paul Martin launched an offensive today over Alberta Premier Ralph Klein’s plan to privatize delivery of medicare services, in the Globe and Mail story Health battle escalates as leaders trade barbs.
Canadian Press reports New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton wrestling with a post-election scenario in a story headlined NDP would work with any party.
In a story headlined Canadian prisoners exercise right to vote, the CBC presented a story on inmates registered to vote in the June 28 election, following rules laid out by Elections Canada, exercising a new right granted to them (and opposed by Conservative leader Stephen Harper) by a 2002 Supreme Court of Canada ruling. A RealPlayer streaming video of the story is available here.
A poll taken on the first full day following the leaders’ debates earlier in the week, indicates that support for Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party is in freefall, the Tories having dropped a full eight points in the standings, since late last week, from 37% support among decided voters to only 29%, as of this morning. So much for Harper’s contention that the Conservatives will form a majority government come June 28th.
Read the figures and weep, Stevie. Ya shoulda listened to your handlers’ advice to knock off the arrogant talk of transition and majority government.
CPAC-SES overnight poll results, June 18th
As always, at some point later this evening, VanRamblings will publish a full wrap-up of the important election events of the day.
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.
