Bollocks and bullshit

We pay attention to scrotal circumference down here on the farm. In making sire selections cow-calf producers know that size matters.

So, who can blame me for thinking that a clue to the abrupt and vague resignation of the head of Elections Canada, Jean-Pierre Kingsley can perhaps be found in Gerry Nicholls piece in the National Post.

For instance, during the 2004 federal election, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) -- a government agency -- ran newspaper ads extolling the virtues of the board's monopoly. The ad featured pictures of two bulls. One bull was labelled, "This is the CWB"; the second (this one castrated) was labelled, "This is the CWB in an open market for wheat and barley." The bottom of the ad said, "No one has the right to tell you which one is right for your herd."

Have you ever seen a herd sire snort and paw the ground when he's considering doing some serious damage to you? Harper' s bit more subtle than that.

From the CBC: Harper on the resignation of JP Kingsley

"Mr. Kingsley has always served Canadians to the very best of his ability," Harper said.

"The Government of Canada appreciates his contributions and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours."

Harper on the resignation of RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli.

"I'd like to thank the commissioner for his long and dedicated service to the RCMP and the country."

I'm thinking maybe Prime Minister Harper's got JP by the .... scruff of the neck.

Reluctant trend setter

He was born during the great ice storm of 1998. It's assumed, but incorrect, that we named him Noah because of the rain that covered eastern Ontario and western Quebec. In fact it was a compromise - of sorts. His older brothers having pleaded with us for months not to name the new baby Hughie John.

We didn't realize in '98 it was the beginning of a trend.

Most people who track trends know that children are pretty good arbiters of what'’s hot, what'’s not and what'’s next. It turns out this all starts on the day they'’re born, as the names they are given often fit into larger social and cultural trends.

Noah is now #6 on BabyCenter's list of ten most popular names.
I do sometimes wonder if the boy named Hughie John would have grown to be a different child from the one we know today.

Using names to honour relatives is a time-honoured tradition, and Bolton expects this to be a strong trend in 2007, especially names of grandparents and great-grandparents. "They're names that have stood the test of time, everyone knows them and can spell them, but they've been off the bench for so long that there is a little bit of individuality," she said. In 2006, for example, Abigail was No. 9.

Answer to complaint against French-only health centre

AM 1220 New is reporting that the Cornwall area women who was turned away from a French-only health centre because she only spoke English has an answer to her complaint.

Shirley Ravary filed a human rights complaint back in March after the centre at the corner of Ninth and Sydney Streets denied her treatment the month before. She has now finally had her complaint heard and the short answer is the centre's protocol will be changed but which language you speak will still be a qualification for medical treatment. You may recall this story made national news. At the time, Health Care Minister, George Smitherman defended the clinic. Ravary is now dropping the issue.

Update: From the Standard-Freeholder

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman said it was Centre de sante's right to turn Ravary away, while opposition leader John Tory argued that access to health care should not be determined on the basis of language.

At the time, Bisson admitted the clinic had refused anglophone patients because of its mandate to serve the region's francophone population.

He said the Centre de sante, which was founded in 1991, helped relieve pressure from other medical centres like the Cornwall Community Hospital by providing services for francophones.

Who knew that Avon carried real diamonds?

When you're eight, about to be nine, and the truth about Santa threatens to put a damper on your Christmas it's good to be able to give your Mom real diamond earrings for Christmas.

When you're seventeen, about to be eighteen and working part-time, it's good to pick out a book your Mom is going to love.

When you're living and working in the big city for the first time it's good to find a cheese cutter that's so cool your mom, your aunt and your grandmother will all love it.

If you're old enough to know better, but still insist on shopping on Christmas Eve, it's good to find the framed print of the natty looking couple in the swan sleigh still hanging in the store.

I never make lists and rarely yearn for anything at Christmas, preferring to let the season's gifts reveal themselves in unexpected ways. But, Smart Turn Out reminded me of shores of the St. Lawrence with the Adirondacks in the distance.

As it turns out the artist is unknown and the circa 1845 original hangs in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. So, it's probably New England and not Quebec but it is grand.

Wild Turkey

I don't get excited over kitchen disasters. If something doesn't turn out as planned I take a tip from my sister and cover it with grated cheese or whipped cream and give it a new name. But the wild turkey had me in tears. Very close to out- right weeping.

The hunters had shared one with us and the whole family had been looking forward to tasting a Meleagris gallopavo silvestris since they took up residence behind the barn. Always up for a culinary challenge I offered to cook the bird.

When I pulled it out of the oven I found the most hideous thing I had ever seen. Under the cover of apples and bacon it was bony and sinuey and had caved in on itself. A dozen or so were expected to gather later in the day and it looked like we would eat no flesh.

The Rooster doesn't find me in tears all that often. Certainly not over a kitchen crisis. And, like the good man and excellent carver that he is, set out to make things right for me. He’s been making things right for me for almost 30 years. Soon, what had looked inedible, was sliced and arrange on a big platter. "It's fine. There's nothing wrong with that turkey" he assured me.

The Rooster knows lots more about cooking game birds than I so I asked, "But what did I do wrong?"

"Nothing." he replied knowing it was now safe to laugh. “What were you expecting? A Butterball?

Well, yes actually. That is exactly what I expected. Open season for wild turkey is early spring, before they mate and after they've spent the winter eating acorns and, at least down here on the farm, bits of corn silage and the ornamental cabbage in my perennial beds. They've enough to survive. But fat and juicy they are not.

By the way, the Divinity Fudge turned out gritty and didn’t set up. I put them in a slow oven and turned off the heat. The next morning I renamed them Meringues.

Merry Christmas

Stroke it's chest. Make gentle noises. It will relax and close it's eyes.

We ate lots of duck when I was a kid. One Christmas, years later, I bought a frozen bird. I was greatly disappointed, not only with the quality but the quantity of meat on the pathetic oval carcass. My Dad reminded me that what I bought was not the meaty Muscovy ducks of my childhood.

Muscovies are unique, the only domestic ducks that aren't derived from mallards. They come from South America and they're tree birds rather than water birds. So they don't need a pond to swim in. And they fly. They're much bigger and heavier than other ducks, and flying gives them large and powerful breast muscles, and strong, meaty legs.

My grandmother often said, "Never learn to milk a cow, dear." Sage advice from a woman who had come to understand that being capable and resourceful meant you were often asked to do things you'd just as soon not. She once, reluctantly, agreed to sit with a woman in labour while the husband fetched the doctor. That, she would say, is where it started.

It ended several years later when another neighbour was about to deliver her eighth child. Given the accumulated experience of my grandmother and Mrs. May, the doctor was in no hurry to get there. He finally arrived to find my grandmother, literally frozen in fear and making direct eye contact with the new-born. The old doctor simply said and I suspect not entirely in jest, "Well, Mrs. Empey, I would have thought you'd have this all taken care of by now."

So, I never learned to pluck and draw poultry.

Use a big, heavy piece of timber as a chopping block. Hammer a nail into it near one end. Tie a short length of thin rope to the nail and put a noose in the other end. Lay the bird down on its back on the block, put the noose round its neck and tighten it -- not too tight. Hold the bird by the legs and pull it away from the nail so it can't move but isn't stretched. If you stroke its chest a bit and make gentle, reassuring noises it'll relax and probably close its eyes. Now's your chance. It needs a single, swift, well-aimed and decisive blow.

Great Work. It's Wonderful

Fantastic Machine.

ya know he's right

Excellent point and very big of Wells to post it on his blog.

It takes more than a piece of paper to prove loyalty to one’s country. Birth or race has nothing to do with it except in Mr. Wells’ mind and others like him. And we wonder why French-speaking Canadians get upset when a national magazine print such uninformed diatribes.
Bernard Derible
Capt(N) Ret’d

A grumpy old right-wing guy said something similar a couple of weeks ago.

This is bullshit but I’ll post it so people can comment. In my view Levant is making a big deal out of Dion’s dual citizenship because he’s French and I don’t like it. I have no information to back me up but I’m virtually certain we’ve had more than one PM with dual citizenship. Perhaps there was no noise because it was of the Canada-British variety?

I like Jack. A couple of degrees farther to the right perhaps than I am but, like a good cop should be, he's tough but fair. He also links here once in a while sending much appreciated traffic my way.

Quebec supports the wheat board!!!!

Darcey thinks perhaps this is a reporting error. I'm thinking the new liberal leader knows nothing about the ag industry and didn't read his briefing notes.

Lets hope for Dion's sake Darcey's right and I'm jumping to conclusions.

From CP:

After a meeting with board members in Winnipeg, Dion said there's unity about maintaining the monopoly on western wheat and barley. Dion said that even Quebec producers support the wheat board. His remarks follow the firing of wheat board president Adrian Measner by Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl.

Update: Ok, so maybe he did read his briefing notes and the CP story above didn't get into the finer details.
CWB director Ian McCreary:

In Quebec, alarm over Ottawa's actions goes well beyond the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), Canada's most powerful farm organization. "It's not only the supply management system in Quebec, but our structure is very similar to the Quebec syrup farmers' single desk and Quebec wheat farmers recently made their wheat board compulsory," McCreary continues. "They're all watching what's happening to the CWB."

What Quebec supports is not the CWB but supply management and their own marketing boards. This is a move to counter the standing ovation Harper got yesterday from farmers north of Montreal.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday turned the page on a bitter chapter of Quebec history by announcing the return of 4,450 hectares of land to farmers from whom it was expropriated nearly 40 years ago for the construction of the ill-fated Mirabel airport.

Eggs and Whole Wheat Toast

If you happen to be looking for similarities between the end of the CWB monopoly, which markets grains, and the battle of Carmichael's farm and the OEF, which markets and manages the supply of eggs, you'll not find many.

From a CTV story on the firing of Canadian Wheat Board president Adrian Measner ....

The minister made his announcement at a staged rally west of Winnipeg. Farmers who oppose the wheat board's current monopoly on international wheat and barley sales surrounded him.

Greg Arason, a former wheat board president, is the interim president. Arason supports the government's plan to end the board's monopoly.

For ideological reasons one could expect the western provincial NDP governments to support the status quo. But honestly, what do the federal Liberals and their new leader know about western wheat or what growers want for their industry. It's not like they've been paying attention or anything.

Federally, the NDP and Liberals both support the board. Measner stood beside Stephane Dion when the new Liberal leader promised to restore the board's monopoly if elected.

The NDP provincial governments in Saskatchewan and Manitoba support the status quo.

Alberta's Conservative government would like to see changes. Groups like the Western Canadian Wheat Growers and Western Canadian Barley Growers associations have always supported ending the board's monopoly.

You'll notice that the wheat and barley growers have always supported the end of the CWB. Pay attention to who is and isn't standing behind Shawn Carmichael the next time he gets up on a combine to rant about his right to farm. When other farmers and commodity groups start to clamor for the end of supply management that will be the time to re-evaluate the system.

There are limited export opportunities with supply managed commodities and the cost of quota makes it difficult is not impossible for young farmers to get into the business. There are any number of cases you can make for the elimination of supply management but given the shit-kicking the beef guys have taken the last couple of years and the economic climate of the industry in general I don't think now is the time to try and convince egg, poultry and dairy farmers it's in their best interest to embrace a free market system.

Maybe their days are numbered. But who can blame them for holding on with a death grip. It's not like the rest of us have given them any cause for optimism.

Time to re-think battle plan at Carmichael Farm

It's becoming increasing difficult for me to understand why the Landowners are still riding shot gun with this guy.

The "genesis" of Tuesday's events, said Wilcox, was a story last week in The Recorder and Times, in which Carmichael said he still had enough birds on his property to produce 18,000 eggs a week, adding he had been giving the ungraded eggs to eastern Ontario food banks.

He's claiming the Recorder got it wrong. Still more bird- brain behaviour.

Carmichael's comments to the media led the EFO to worry he was "flouting the law," said Beaven.

Police officers were called in because of previous incidents, including one in early November in which Carmichael followed EFO staff after waiting outside their Brockville hotel in his vehicle in the early morning, said Beavent.

It's time for the Landowners to re-think the battle plan for the rural revolution. From grudging acceptance that they champion rural issues that might other wise fall on deaf ears to outright disbane in that they represent landowners, but not the farming community, they may enjoy notoriety but only tenuious support.

Tinsel halos and tea towels on their heads

We had our second and last performance of the nativity pageant at St. Matthew's last night.

Honestly, is there anything sweeter than tiny angels with tinsel halos? Or little shepherd boys with tea towels on their heads? Actually, after 13 years, our production has fairly elaborate costumes and includes a couple of cast members who are more than 80 years old. But, I'm sure the people come to see the children - and the donkey Sasha who makes a slow procession up the centre of the church and out the side door with Mary and Joseph. The only consideration each year in the casting of Joseph is that he be able to handle livestock.

Sasha's been the star for the last seven or eight years. Last year, for the first time, she left behind a fragrant, heaping reminder that she is a living, breathing, eating, animal. We were quick with the snow shovel and the corn broom. So, this year we were prepared - broom and shovel at the ready. The Saturday matinee went off without a hitch. But, at last night's performance it became apparent that we should have had a mop and bucket near by as well . Clearly she had been eating more than just dry hay.

I appreciate that equine aroma but not everyone does. A liberal dose of lysol spray was also deemed necessary. I don't even want to think about what the bottoms of the angels' white leotards looked like at the end of the evening.

The audience of course loved it. They roared with laughter. They'll be back next year to see the children. And a repeat performance from Sasha.

Mike the Greek provides a link to the performance of a different child. He's offended by parents who use their children as political props. I'm not comfortable with a little girl dressed like a tart. I think children are more appealing as sugar plum fairies. Or angels with tinsel halos. Or shepherds with tea towels on their heads.

Blatant health fraud ignored in Ontario

A northern Ontario woman received a confirmation letter in October for a pacemaker she received in a Montreal hospital.

The only problem was Bruyere hadn't been to the hospital, she didn't have a pacemaker in her chest and, in fact, didn't even have heart problems.

"At first my reaction was to laugh," Bruyere told Osprey News. "And then, when I showed it to my family, they said I should be concerned because someone was using my health card."

Sharing this information with the ministry of Health didn't get Joanne Bruyere the response she anticipated.

Even though the letter from Medtronic contained personal information about Bruyere and suggested her card had clearly been used to pay for someone else's expensive surgery in another province, a ministry official told her that was "no way to verify" the story and said she'd have to write a letter to officially complain.

Ospery's James Wallace also cites Ontario's auditor, Jim McCarter's recent report which includes a long list problems suggesting significant fraud in the system including potential over-billing by a group of physicians of $9.7 million since 2001 and claims paid to doctors who were either dead or no longer held valid licences. Despite this evidence, including a report estamating OHIP fraud at $11 million to $22 million annually the auditor found limited resources used to monitor health card use. Limited indeed.

In fact, the ministry doesn't proactively look for fraud.
Nine bureaucrats review fraud tips from the public and health workers but have a backlog of 7,000 cases, 90 per cent of them more than six months old.

Where criminal intent is suspected cases get referred to 22 OPP officers in Ontario's Fraud Program Branch, who regrettably don't have a mandate to conduct fraud audits nor the authority to access health records needed to monitor fraud. Of 1,150 cases handled by the unit since 1998, just 100 charges have been laid and, in just five cases, repayments totaling $37,000 have beenrecovered, the auditor found.

Meanwhile, the province's defunct medical review committee, which formerly reviewed questionable physician billings, ceased work three or four years ago and has never been replaced as recommended, McCarter told Osprey News.

The Battle of Carmichael Farm Continues

Advance and retreat. So goes another battle in the rural revolution.

They raided his farm in March 2006. On Oct. 4, 2006, Shawn Carmichael pleaded guilty to five charges related to producing eggs without quota in the Brockville Court House. On Wednesday the Egg Farmers of Ontario and 20 OPP officers returned and attempted to enforce a court judgment against Carmichael at his Shanley area farm.

For the second time in 10 months, the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board backed by about 20 OPP officers cracked down on a farm east of here yesterday, and for the second time, the enforcement team left empty-handed.

The Brockville Recorder and Times reports that when officers asked to look in the barns Paula Carmichael consulted the family lawyer and then asked them to leave as they had no warrant.

Upon hearing of the raid at his farm, Carmichael got into a combine and headed home, to be met by a police roadblock at Shanly Road and County Road 21, he said

The officers got out of his way, then followed him in a low-speed chase Carmichael ironically compared to the famous O.J. Simpson chase.

Carmichael said he led the officers on a "parade," going past his home and leading them on for some 20 minutes before the officers decided to leave.

Of course, it didn't take long for a band of merry men to get involved.

Surrounded by supporters from the landowners' movement, a defiant Shawn Carmichael spoke to a protest rally in front of the Ontario Provincial Police detachment here Wednesday, a move that could lead to another charge against him.

The Shanly-area egg farmer, his wife Paula and brother Craig addressed roughly 100 members of various Ontario Landowners Association (OLA) chapters, who gathered in the detachment's parking lot to protest against an inspection at Shawn Carmichael's farm the previous day and the two brothers' subsequent arrest.

Carmichael isn't above the law in his bid to produce eggs without quota. He was charged and did plead guilty to five charges in the Brockville Court House. He faces a number of other charges including dangerous driving and obstruction of justice.

The necessity of a search warrant however isn't altogether clear. If the EFO and the OPP wanted to look in the Carmichael barns and were justified in doing so you'd think it might have been prudent if not simpler to have obtained a search warrant in the first place. The situation was considered volatile enough to necessitate 20 cops and a road block.

If they didn't need a warrant to carry out an "inspection" the question then is; why not? Agencies like the EFO are within the law - but surely they aren't above it.

Update: A bit of clarification is necessary here for those who don't understand marketing boards and the quota system. Don't try. It's complicated.
I posted this comment over at Darcey place and adding it here as well.
It was the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the local health unit that raided his farm in March for ungraded eggs. This time it was the Egg Farmers of Ontario and the issue is not ungraded eggs but producing eggs without quota. Carmichael claims he’s not selling the eggs but giving them to the food bank. If I were this guy’s neighbour and had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in quota I’d be a little pissed. Egg and dairy farmers aren’t convinced they’d be better off in a free market. Simply dismantling the marketing boards is complicated in the extreme given the amount of money tied up in quota. Whether he’s right to try and dismantle the system is worthy of discussion. Doesn’t change the fact that this guy’s farm was raided without a warrant.

I'd be real happy if someone would tell me why it wasn't necessary.
New link from Brockville Recorder

Good Dog!

Simple steps get your dog to do basic tricks.

Our old Aussie dog was happy to sit quietly and let visitors fondle his head. The Sweet Thing is a cross-bred pup - heavy on Border Collie traits. Getting her to sit-stay while greeting visitors is not only a challenge - it doesn't work all that well. She's too small. The say hello trick, which is more an exercise in good manners than a trick, is perfect. I added the clicker to the steps on this site and she picked it up after five or six attempts. Good Dog!

Note of clarification: That isn't the Rooster with Bella in the photo. It's my Dad. And if you're wondering about the scowl on his face .... he's watching Mike Duffy Live. Like the Sweet Thing, I was born with a genetic pre-disposition to certain traits.

Ever been to Schenectady?

Another one from the Calgary cousins. Classic.

Adventure at sea - romance and murder, too

Standard-Freeholder reporter Kathleen Hay has written a great story about Dundas County author Steve Thompson. The Osprey link won't hold long so read it now.

The story idea hatched when a friend of his, John Carruthers, of Morrisburg, purchased a surviving artifact of the vessel. The item, a harpoon gun, was lovingly restored by Carruthers, a skilled gunsmith and history buff, to its previous glory.

And he began to do research both on it, and the ship from whence it came.

"In our later discussions, we concluded that the harpoon gun, no doubt lost when a whale smashed into a whaleboat, could form the basis of an historical novel," said Thompson.

"It became the inspiration for the story."

It is a great story but we have a vested interest in The Master of the Erik. Girls, don't let the love triangle stuff scare you off. We're convinced it's the perfect Christmas gift for those hard to shop for men in your life. Oh, and if those men are not too long "off the farm" they might also like Of Curds and Whey . Shameless self-promotion I know, but I don't do it that often.

Couple's Guide to the Thirty-Nine Positions

What does your favorite position say about you?

hard to define

One of the Calgary cousins sent this over. Entertaining.

Yep, liberals are champions of women in politics

Kate, the skank, has been nominated in the best Canadian Blog category of the 2006 Weblog Awards. There's nothing at Kate's site to indicate that she is a woman of low moral character. So what's the deal Robert? Is it because she's a woman blogger. A conservative woman. Or does she just make you feel small?

Voting for the 2006 Weblog Awards opens tomorrow so vote for My Blahg or this skank will win again. I’ll put up a direct link to the poll as soon as it becomes available.

How did a guy like this ever get nominated in the first place?

Those of you who will not be voting for Small Dead Animals are invited to look over the list of nominees which includes a couple of decent left-wing bloggers who are much more deserving of your support.
Update-direct link here to vote for Canadian blogs
h/t Tory Time

Looks like a knock out

This from the Landowners regarding the Renfrew Bakery

On Monday December 4, 2006 at a meeting in Ottawa the CFIA agreed to drop the compliance orders against the Renfrew Bakery. At the meeting CFIA Regional Director -Vicky Therrien confirmed the following to Pam & Rick Powers;

There is now no requirement to register recipes nor have them analysed.

No need to change the present labelling practices.

No need to purchase any new expensive equipment

The Powers will need to purchase a "Black magic marker" and identify the quanity of buns in a package.

Apparently, the CFIA could not read nor understand their own regulations and put many bakery owners through a hell of stress because of incompetence.

Many thanks to Scott Reid MP, Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington for accepting the OLA briefing package and his determined efforts to bring sense and reasonableness to the CFIA. In addition our thanks are extended to Chuck Strahl Minister of Agriculture and his aide Donald Boucher for reining in the stampede of stupidity that has overcome CFIA bureaucrats.

The Landowners will proceed with our Victory rally at noon on Friday December 8, 2006 in Renfrew, and encourage all members and supporters to come and celebrate another landowner victory.

Ontario Auditor General's Annual Report

This isn't abuse of taxpayer dollars. It's theft and fraud.

The Ontario auditor general has found millions of dollars of spending abuses. Apparently there are no receipts for credit card charges of $127 million to Hydro One and $6.5 million to Ontario Power Generation. There are 300,000 more OHIP cards than Ontarians and Workplace Safety Insurance Board patients get quicker access to diagnostic services than injured workers not covered by WSIB.

A leaked draft report also showed abuses at several Children's Aid societies including purchases of SUVs and Caribbean vacations.

In response to the scathing report, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the abuse of taxpayers' dollars by Children's Aid Society workers will no longer be tolerated.

The premier said a new accountability office will oversee the society with more strict controls imposed on expenses.

A new accountability office? Now that most certainly would be an abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Each CAS has a board of directors. It's their role to oversee the society and ensure controls on expenses. They are, or should be, responsible for disciplining staff who ignore those controls and for turning over to police cases of fraud and theft. SUVs and Caribbean vacations fall into the fraud and theft category where I come from.

To Your Corners

Team Weston vs. The Renfrew Bakery.

The Landowners will hold a Title Fight at the Renfrew bakery on Friday December 8th 2006.
Time: 12 NOON
MAIN EVENT – Food Champion of Canada Title Fight - Team Weston vs. Renfrew bakery

* Referee CFIA (Canadians for Imported Agriculture) president Frankie Guimont
* Judges: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, NDP party
* Team Weston will be supported by; Coach-Mickey Monsanto, General Manager-Andy Dandy Midland, and trainer Casey Cargill.
* Renfrew Bakery will be supported by Coach-freedom of Choice and General Managers-Ontario’s rural Landowners

For those of you who do not understand the rural revolution:
Soy sludge from Brazil closes Hershey plant & The Renfrew Food Fight

However, the CFIA is devoting all its resources and abusive enforcement practices against innocent Canadians and high quality Canadian foods. Recently the CFIA has targeted small town Bakers as a significant threat and have issued onerous compliance orders forcing their closure.

Politicans love to talk about rural ecomonic development. But they don't know a thing about it. If they don't start paying attention to "Robin Hood" Hillier he'll be leading his own damn party and they'll be taking him on at the polls.

I did not know that

Really? Less than two dozen Sikhs in the Canadian Military?

But he's hopeful military recruiters will help bolster that number.

Lets hope so.

h/t MediaRight

Odds and Ends from the convention floor

Excellent snippets in this Star report

The thrill of the chase that goes nowhere

Leadership conventions are all about rumours, excitement, and reading the entrails of the convention floor. Prognosticators and journalists tend to be a harried lot at these events, and television reporters even more so. Which is why a TVA reporter chased Michael Ignatieff out a back exit and up an escalator to check out rumours of a secret meeting with Bob Rae.

As the reporter insistently asked where he was going, Ignatieff didn't miss a beat, leaning into the microphone and whispering, "To the bathroom."

H/T National Newswatch

.... and a new premier

One could expect the Federal Liberal leadership race to over-shadow the PC leadership in Alberta but I discovered last night, as was noted in Kate's comments , that the MSM had abandoned coverage of this important race to a blogger in rural Saskatchewan. Not so much as a small "breaking news" banner could be found anywhere. But it was all happening at Small Dead Animals.

11:43 pm in Alberta ...based on current tallies, and the likely results of the Morton second choice ballots, the SDA Decision Desk is projecting Ed Stelmach the new Premier of Alberta... Now, I'm off to bed, in anticipation of preparing crow for breakfast. Continuing coverage in the comments, presumably.

The media seems to have recovered after a good nights sleep. From CTV

Ed Stelmach, a soft-spoken farmer and cabinet veteran, has come up the middle to become the leader of Alberta's Progressive Conservative party and his province's 13th premier.

With all 83 constituencies reporting early Sunday, the ex-cabinet minister led front-runner Jim Dinning 35.9 per cent to 35.5 per cent. Ted Morton, the voice of the hard right, had 28.6 per cent. He was dropped off the ballot.

In a two party state a guy like Morton might have pulled it off, but given the strength of wild rose conservatives, a farmer from Fort Saskatchewan- Vegreville seems a good fit.

bein' bitchy

Have I mentioned that I'm not real fond of Judy Sgro - the champion of women's rights and the liberating aspects of the eastern European sex trade. Comes as no surprise then that the release of the Pink Book last week made me catty. Belinda! Girl friend, this move to be taken seriously as a woman in politics needs more depth, substance and volume. Lots more volume. You're never going to make it as a burnette if you don't get more lift at the roots.

Joan Tintor with more on liberal roll models for women in politics

Scarcely 48 hours after Stronach, Sgro and Minna were raising the pink flag of equality, their Liberal sisters were dropping red and black thongs in the Palais des Congres in Montreal, proving that, while they may be unwilling to go barefoot, bare-assed is totally cool. And on a December night in Montreal, partially numb.

Conservative men on the other hand continue their efforts to keep women from reaching their full political potential. Stephen Taylor interviews Martha Finlay Hall and in his comments says what most conservative men were thinking this weekend about women in politics.

I just wanted to say that she was a better candidate than Volpe, Dryden and Brison.
She was beat by Volpe. She really deserved better than that.

She did deserve better than that from her party. Lets see if the new leader gives her what she deserves.

Iggy's a goner

CTV reports that after the third ballot Judy Sgro walked to Iggy. The man should have turned on his heels when she saw her coming. Seeing as how her support helped Martha Hall Findlay make in roads for women at this convention.

He's done.

Flat as pee on a platter

So, are the Liberals broke or not? A report that National Director Steve MacKinnon claimed they had, not only cleaned up their debt, but pulled together a $4.4 million war chest seemed a bit optimistic to me.

Steve Janke found a conflicting report quoting Mike Eizinga that I missed in the National Post.

Their embrace of the new constitution followed warnings from two outgoing members of the national executive that the party was on the financial brink and out-of-touch with the grassroots.

Seeing as how they can't steal tax payers' money to finance campaigns and MacKinnon's a tit, I'm going to say Eizinga has a better handle on the situation.