Thursday, August 28, 2008

I Decide Which Laws I Follow

Well, it's clear that Harper will respect neither the letter nor the spirit of the fixed election date law, but what about election spending laws?

He was asked the question in Inuvik and in his usual non-answer fashion said:

He says the Conservatives will "operate within the law as we understand it in consultation with Elections Canada."

Perfect. The In and Out scheme skirted the law based on their creative understanding of it, (which really means they tried to get around it) so what is to prevent them from doing that again?

He then went on to distort the truth further by saying:

Speaking during an Arctic tour as a federal vote looms, Harper said elections agency officials have "changed some of their positions" since the last federal campaign in 2006.

And that, says Harper, is the Tories' problem with Elections Canada.

No, it's not really. There have been some changes made to the law based on the Accountability Act, but not the ones that they contravened in 2006. No, exceeding spending limits by transferring national expenses to riding associations wasn't allowed in 2006 either, but he'd like you to think otherwise.

So we go into an election by the PM first breaking his own law, lying about a crisis in parliament that only developed in the past 2 weeks when the House wasn't sitting and the possibility that the Conservatives will once again overspend on advertising during the election.

Additionally, they have made clear that they will begin advertising immediately, which is allowed of course, but these ad's have been ready for a while, which tells us that they have been chomping at the bit to go to an election. Dion wasn't playing their game though.

The ad? Is it an attack ad? Apparently not, unless of course you consider an attack on your intelligence an attack ad.

Rather than attacking Liberal Leader Stephan Dion, the commercial features Canadians describing what they like about Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It seems designed to portray a kinder, gentler side of the prime minister.

Kinder, gentler? After a summer of running around attacking Dion on every front, lying to Canadians about the Green Shift and their own plan, we're supposed suddenly swallow a new phony image of the man?

"He's doing a good job," another says. "He's the steady hand we need when the world's economy is so uncertain."

This one is beyond ridiculous. I do not for the life of me understand how they get away with perpetuating this lie. They have brought this country to the brink of deficit and Flaherty has a track record of being a terrible Finance Minister. The Con's have outspent the Lib's, done nothing to assist the manufacturing sector and attacked the provinces.

"I like the idea that he's a family man with young children," a woman says.

What? Being a father with young children qualifies you to run the country how exactly?

So there you go. Pre-writ ads that ask you to believe that the Stephen Harper you know, is not the one running for PM. It's another Stephen Harper created on celluloid that you'll be voting for.

In the meantime, we have our Health Minister making jokes about food safety in Denver at a time when a family in Madoc is preparing to bury their mother who died of Listeriosis.

The Canadian government sponsored a swish lunch reception at its consul-general's Denver residence.

The food included bite-sized bits of beef, shrimp, tortellini and potatoes gratin. Health Minister Tony Clement, whose absence from Canada during the tainted meat crisis has not gone unnoticed, was there and introduced himself:

"I'm Health Minister Tony Clement, and I have to say I approved this food."

That's an accurate depiction of our kinder, gentler, compassionate Conservative government.


h/t- Red Tory on the Clement story

8 comments:

penlan said...

I, fo one, think the Cons will do more In-Out financing again during the upcoming election. They didn't respect the election rules/laws in the last election & they won't respect them now. They want a majority so badly they will do whatever it takes to get it - even break the law. They have no integrity.

To them it most likely makes no difference as nothing has been resolved yet from the last time "so what the heck, let's do it again".

RuralSandi said...

Gee, what a concept....a PM with kids.....there hasn't been a PM without wife and kids since - oh, MacKenzie King.

Imagine, paid actors trying to portray Harper as warm and fuzzy.

penlan said...

Adding one more thought. The Cons have to do more In-Out otherwise, if they don't, it will make them look guilty & conceding that they were wrong when they did it last time.

Anonymous said...

He's in Denver hosting an event during election fever where every commercial states "I'm so-and-so and I approved this message." What does his opening (weak) joke have to do with the food safety crisis back in Canada? Seriously, I don't get it. He's obviously not making a reference to Toronto's tainted meat factories. If he were, not one American in attendance would know what the hell he was talking about.

Karen said...

Nice spin anon. Clement is an idiot. The woman being buried lives in the next riding to his.

What he say's to American's doesn't mean a whit. What he says in America that relates to home speaks volumes.

The man is an idiot, as are many who make up the present cabinet.

It's time to highlight the stupidity.

wilson said...

'...but these ad's have been ready for a while, which tells us that they have been chomping at the bit to go to an election...'

Yes, the cons have been ready for an election for awhile.
Dion kept threatening to bring down the government.
Who would have EVER predicted that the Liberals would abstain 42 times.??
Who would have EVER predicted that PMSH and the Conservatives would make history with the longest running minority government???

Anonymous said...

Nanos has the Libeals leading the Conservatives, wow Liberal pollster has Liberals ahead, what a big surprise.

Anonymous said...

What he say's to American's doesn't mean a whit. What he says in America that relates to home speaks volumes.

If you can show us that what he said in Denver had any relation to Toronto's Tainted Meat Debacle, it would be appreciated, and go a long way in clearing up your muddled rage.