Blue Blogging Soapbox

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2007-09-30T21:26:00.001-04:00

Moving Day

2006-05-27T08:10:00.000-04:00

BBS is moving to new digs today.

Click the link to visit the new BBS

This site will remain online for archive and linking purposes.

Thanks

Look forward to seeing everyone at the new home.

One Kopi Luwak to go please

2006-05-27T04:28:00.000-04:00

If the strategy is Dalton McGuinty as the 'Tim Hortons' kind of guy, I hope someone's ready to get sued by Tims for ruining their brand.

I suppose people who live in million dollar homes drink Tim Hortons too.

On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that they're serving Tim Hortons at $10,000 a head fundraisers or $5,000 per person golf rounds.

$10,000 would cover my food budget for a year and at $5000 dollars, 5 Extra Large 3 creams a day, I would still have $2080.oo dollars to buy coffees for all my friends - year round.

Dalton McGuinty is as much 'Main Street' as I am 'Bay Street'.

You really shouldn't pretend to be something you're not - it'll come back to haunt you.

For some reason, I've always imagined Dalton drinking Kopi Luwak coffee. It certainly seems to fit his political image better than Tim Hortons. At one stage or another.

Hyperbole in action

2006-05-27T03:55:00.000-04:00

1. Manufacture a crisis where one doesn't exist

2. Scream loudly and often

3. Claim "victory" when the manufactured crisis doesn't happen

Seeking Evil American Political Advice

2006-05-26T22:48:00.000-04:00

Because we all know just how corrupting and cynical American political advice is. In case you forget, here's Jack Layton's view.

Jack Layton:
"I think if Mr. Harper was listening to Canadians instead of American right-wing pollsters, he would be taking very different positions on issues," said New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton. He added that Canadians should be concerned about Harper meeting with Republican pollster Frank Luntz last Friday.

"I think most Canadians will be concerned to know that the Republican pollsters who have helped generate the agenda for the Bush administration in the U.S. would be offering advice here."

I guess Jack and the provincial cousins haven't been talking too much lately.

Top NDP officials travel south
By SEAN HOLMAN, 24 HOURS

Four senior provincial New Democrat operatives are heading south of the border for political advice.

The leader's press secretary Scott Perchall, party provincial secretary Laura Nichols, organization director Nikki Hill and communications officer David Bieber will be attending a training seminar in Washington, D.C. hosted by Campaigns & Elections - the magazine for American political consultants. The annual event - which is being held at the Washington Marriott and costs $475 to register, includes sessions with titles such as "Just Don't Do It: Actions to avoid in a campaign," "Keep Your Friends Close, and Your Enemies Closer: How to talk to reporters" and "Diggin' for Dirt! How to find and use opposition research."

In an interview, caucus communications director Jim Rutowski said Perchall was "paying his own way" to the event, receiving no funding from caucus. Bieber, Hills and Nichols will be attending the conference on the party's dime.

Confirmed speakers at the conference feature some of Jack Layton's worst nightmares:

• John Zogby, Zogby International - an American pollster

• Joe Trippi, Trippi & Associates - Democratic Party operative, former Dean campaign manager

• Michael DuHaime, RNC, Political Director - a Republican no less.

And just in case any Liberals are feeling smug, we wouldn't want to forget the Joe Trippi seminar for Liberal Leadership candidates in Toronto recently.

For the curious, here's the complete Washington seminar schedule:

The Art of Political Campaigning

Keep Your Friends Close, and Your Enemies Closer
How to talk to reporters

Give and Take and Take and Take
The Fundraising plan step by step

Handling Bloggers and Using Them to Help Your Campaign

Ready, Aim, FIRE!
Going negative: when, why and how

Diggin’ for Dirt!
How to find and use opposition research

Who Says You Can’t Be Yourself?
Using polls for message development and effective voter targeting

Of course, we know the NDP operatives will all be very attentive students.

Not bad for a robot-like policy wonk

2006-05-26T20:18:00.000-04:00

If you've watched him in the House during Question Period or watched some of his press conferences, you'll see for yourself that PM Stephen Harper actually has a pretty sharp wit and is good with a quick little quip.

The Lighter Side of the PM

The Prime Minister noted the diverse crowd that came out to honour Reynolds at the gala dinner at the downtown Vancouver hotel, including Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and cabinet ministers from provinces and territories. “Who could bring together such a disparate group of people like this. The answer is the NDP,” Harper quipped.

Where do we draw the line?

2006-05-26T09:30:00.000-04:00

While things seem to be nearing resolution in Caledonia, there are many other issues that need to be dealt with.

A reader emailed me the following link and asked why there wasn't more reporting on it. A perfectly valid question in my mind.

When damages are reaching millions and tens of millions of dollars the issues are moving beyond simple protest actions.

What actions are justified in a protest of this nature? Where do we draw the line?

Destruction of bridges, hydro towers and transformers are not legitimate avenues of protest. This is sabotage, plain and simple and should be addressed as such, not swept under the table for the sake of 'resolution.'

Failure to carry out a full and complete investigation of acts such as these will only legitimize this sort of destruction in future protests. In a province already facing power woes, can we afford to have a major power corridor attacked?

Pictures of the transformer damage - from CitizensofCaledonia.ca (H/T to Bill @ Strongworld)

Transformer repairs as high as $15 million
Vandalism at Caledonia blockade caused massive power outage in Norfolk

Monte Sonnenberg - SIMCOE REFORMER
Thursday May 25, 2006

The Simcoe Reformer — The fire set at a key transformer station south of Caledonia this week may have caused millions of dollars in damage.

Yesterday, Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer said repairs could cost as much as $15 million.

“These are multi-millions of dollars,” she said. “They haven’t got it evaluated but that is in the ballpark.”

The mayor noted that a new transformer station was recently built near Stelco Lake Erie in the Nanticoke Industrial Park. It cost $24 million.

The Hydro One station in south Caledonia contains two transformer units. It is designed so that if one malfunctions the other continues relaying power. The station is rated for 230,000 volts.

As of yesterday, Hydro One technicians had put one unit back in service. The second will be out of commission until further notice.

The station was sabotaged Monday afternoon following fist fights at the Argyle Street barricade in south Caledonia. The barricade was erected April 20 by natives from the Six Nations reserve.

Natives and Caledonia residents clashed when residents surrounded a vehicle carrying natives and started rocking it. Damage to the transformer station cut electricity to large sections of Haldimand and Norfolk for nearly two days.
Haldimand OPP are investigating. Police say they are on the lookout for vandals. However, reports have emerged that those responsible were taking part in the native blockade.

“As far as we know, the First Nations group drove a car through the fence and set it on fire,” Bill Dodds, Norfolk Power’s manager of energy services and telecom, said yesterday.

Dodds would not speculate on how much repairs will cost. But he said, “certainly, it’s multiple millions of dollars.”

Hydro One spokesperson Daffyd Roderick confirmed yesterday that fire caused extensive damage. Roderick said a vehicle was forced into the compound and set alight beneath critical switching equipment. Another transformer unit inside a brick building was also vandalized and badly damaged.

Hydro One has offered an initial damage estimate of $1.5 million. However, Roderick added, “there’s significant damage to the station. That may change.”
Trainer said the native protesters manning the Argyle Street South barricade had been eyeing the transformer station for a long time.

“I do know this was bragged about before it happened,” Trainer said.
Following destruction of the transformer, natives removed their barricade on Argyle Street South. The barricade on the Highway 6 bypass west of Caledonia remains in place. As well, natives continue to occupy the disputed 100-acre Douglas Creek Estates subdivision in southwest Caledonia.

A week ago, native protesters and provincial negotiators agreed to a moratorium on development in the disputed area until a settlement was reached. Trainer reported yesterday that, contrary to the moratorium, squatters from Six Nations have extended a road from the reserve into the subdivision, effectively folding the disputed land into their territory.

Haldimand OPP reported yesterday that Argyle Street South into Caledonia remained free of barricades. Hydro One crews continue working at the station while police watch from a distance.

The article notes that the Haldimand OPP are investigating. This is one investigaton that should not be allowed to fall off the radar.

Another related story to the blackout:

Prepare to eat your losses
Insurance claims over blackout may be futile

Weird, Wacky and Wonderful

2006-05-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

A list of the Weird, Wacky and Wonderful to round out the week.

If this doesn't scar the kid for life, I don't know what will

Caught pants-down in house's chimney, Calif. man claims he was stargazing; police suspect burglary
I'll resist the urge to comment on any planetary bodies he may have been gazing at.

The "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Strikes".

Canadian Angels is born
Support our Armed Forces.

Sask. Opposition draws fire for misspelling province's name in TV ad

One 'Stroke Special' to go please
One of the more popular items on the menu at Mulligan's bar in suburban Decatur, Ga., is the "hamdog," a half-pound of hamburger meat wrapped around a hot dog, which is deep-fried and served on a hoagie topped with chili, bacon and a fried egg. The bar also offers the "Luther," a half-pound burger served with bacon and cheese on a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and, for dessert, fried Twinkies, two deep-fried Cap'n Crunch-coated Twinkies topped with chocolate and cherry sauce.

Terrorists have needs too
"When we went on-line we would deliberately go onto chat rooms and pornography sites. There were probably times I enjoyed it," the admitted terrorist testified, speaking of a technique he and friends used to divert scrutiny.

"I've never said I was a perfect Muslim," said Mohammad Junaid Babar, a 31-year-old New Yorker

Email me your links for inclusion in the 'Weird, Wacky and Wonderful' weekly reveiw, posted every Friday.

Politicians Down Under

2006-05-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

An interesting and unique political website launch from a New South Wales politician, Penny Sharpe.

A Blog called "Red Leather", discussion forums, RSS feeds, monthly e-brief and quarterly newsletter.

The use of animations was very prevelant in the last U.S. election cycle and is expanding even more in the current cycle. This is certainly a medium to keep an eye on. In terms of messaging, this can work very well in reaching people who don't normally tune in to politics.

She notes on her blog that there are 135 politicians in New South Wales but only 27 of them have websites.

Update: the site owner and subject of the blog - Penny Sharpe was kind enough to stop in. Check out the comments.

The 'Gotcha' generation

2006-05-25T06:59:00.000-04:00

Paul Wells with an insightful piece revived from 2003.

Read the article very closely.

For fun, re-read it and substitute 'politician' for every mention of media or pundits. Journalists may have been the subject of his speech, but they're certainly not alone in analytical mix.

Buried in a sea of special interest groups, political correctness and partisan sniping, the dialouge has left the building. The 'elevator brief' has replaced careful thought and study. The thirty second soundbite rules our strategies and 'vision' has replaced solid policy and planning.

Period piece

In the early days of this blog, back at the end of 2003, I posted this piece, the text of a speech I delivered to public servants about the shortcomings of the press gallery. This was at a time when the next prime minister of Canada was energetically blowing sunshine up my colleagues' butts, and I was far from sure we, as a group, deserved it. Now a new guy has picked a fight with us, and judging from my email, there's an immense market for the idea that we're everything he accuses us of being and worse. I think it's worthwhile investigating where that sentiment comes from. So I'm re-running this piece. Its points may still be worth considering.

I must admit I have come before you tonight under false pretenses.

I was invited to discuss the media's perception of the public service. I thought about the assignment for a good long time, then began polling some of my colleagues. As late as last night, at a book launch for Lawrence Martin's new Chretien biography, I buttonholed a valued colleague and asked her: "Hey, what's our perception of the public service?"

She considered the question for perhaps two seconds before replying, "Non-existent, for the most part."

As that was pretty much a consensus view, I figure I should explain what has been going on in my line of work, although I confess that even though I've been thinking about it a lot lately, I remain a little mystified. I'm afraid most of my remarks will be about my kind of people and not about yours, but I do think it is important that public servants understand the guiding neuroses of the Parliamentary press gallery.

... more

Food police coming soon to a home near you

2006-05-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Prime example of our ever expanding nanny state run amok. I hadn't even realized that the local health unit had moved into inspecting church suppers. Not content, it's on to school fundraisers.

This is just getting ridiculous. If you want to hold a pasta fundraiser for a worthy cause at your church now you have to call the Health Unit and have the facilities inspected prior to the event.

At the rate we're going, I'll need to inform the Health unit when my nieces and nephews are coming for a visit.

This isn't public safety any more, it's public harassment.

Food police target schools(subscription only)
Crackdown on church suppers to be extended, health unit says

Sharon Hill, Windsor Star
Published: Thursday, May 25, 2006

COTTAM - The health unit crackdown on homemade food served at church suppers is coming to schools next.

Deb Bennett, director of health protection with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, said she received several calls this week from parents who were concerned about food served at schools after hearing about the food safety push with churches.

"It's coming," she told a group of about 50 people who gathered at the Cottam United Church Wednesday.

Bennett said the health unit wants to meet with school boards and start its "education component" before the next school year.

Health unit officials said meat and some pies cannot be cooked at home and then served or sold to the public. Because the health unit can't inspect private homes, food must be prepared at a church or hall that can be inspected. Churches could work together or with restaurants to prepare food for church suppers.

Some sugary baked goods such as cupcakes and fruit pies aren't an issue. Other pies from meat to cream are considered "hazardous" and can't be cooked at home and sold.

The health unit wants churches and fraternal organizations to give notice and get inspections before events such as dinners where tickets are sold. Church events for members, such as a lunch after the service or after a funeral, aren't a problem.

Beth Cooper, vice-chairwoman of the local public school board, said she's all for public safety but wondered how the health unit's enforcement of rules might affect fundraising through bake sales. She said it's getting harder and harder for schools to raise money.

Catholic school board Trustee Mary DiMenna said it could affect some potluck lunches or ethnic events where parents bring in food. But she doubted it would be a big issue since much of the food brought in for children comes from restaurants and fewer schools in her area hold bake sales.

DiMenna said she hasn't heard of children in her area getting sick from food served at school.

Cottam United Church may still be able to serve its American Thanksgiving dinner after all.

After hearing from the health unit Wednesday, organizers are looking for places to cook 46 to 48 turkeys that can't be prepared in people's homes.

And if they choose fruit pies, they could make the 300 pies needed in homes. The church has to decide if it's going ahead with the event by early June so it can order the turkeys.

They must make some wicked eggs in Newfoundland

2006-05-24T22:14:00.000-04:00

I think I've been eating in all the wrong places all these years.

Millions flowed from sponsorship program, trial told

"Wine for breakfast?" Justice Fraser Martin quipped as the court examined the $2,526 tab.

Spin Cycle: Liberal's Double Standard

2006-05-24T07:45:00.000-04:00

Let's flash back a little to Stephen Harper's attendance at a PC Party fundraiser at the beginning of May. Pundits and press alike expressed shock at Stephen Harper's introduction of John Tory as the "next Premier of Ontario". Highly partisan, outside the norm were just some of the terms tossed around.

PM's comments draw fire from McGuinty
"I don't think it's helpful when it comes to establishing a good, positive, constructive working relationship between the people's representative – duly elected, at least at this point in time – and the PM of Canada," McGuinty said on Friday. "But I will continue to make efforts to reach out to the prime minister."
McGuinty says Harper not helping by calling John Tory next Ontario premier
Political analyst Graham Murray, who publishes the Inside Queen's Park newsletter, said Friday that Harper's partisan comments were a marked departure from tradition.

"There's a convention that there should be some elbow room between the two levels of government," he said. "The job of people in government is not to interfere too blatantly with the political affairs of the other level of government."

Bloggers joined in the mix:

Power Plays
Many prime ministers have done what they could in subtle ways to support federalist parties in Quebec, but by and large provincial elections have been outside the realm of federal politicians.

I guess Premier McGuinty forgot to tell his Minister of Education that he was still trying to "reach out to the prime minister":

However, Ontario Education Minister Sandra Pupatello wasn't nearly as diplomatic as her boss Friday in criticizing Harper's actions at the Conservative fundraiser.

"I think it is total inexperience on the part of the prime minister," Pupatello said in an interview. "He may really not realize how rude his behaviour is being interpreted, never mind by us, but by the people of Ontario."

But I digress. The general concensus at the beginning of May was that Federal politicians shouldn't be 'interfering' in provincial politics.

Imagine my surprise when I was reviewing Liberal Leadership Candidate Ken Dryden's schedule for the past weekend:

Saturday, May 20th, 2006
6:30 pm – 7:15 pm
Kirk Cox Campaign HQ Open House Shelburne, NS

Sunday, May 21, 2006
11:30 am -- 12:30 am
Campaign office kick-off with Rick Fraughten and Cynthia Lamson
Chester, NS

1:30 pm -- 2:30 pm
Hot dog “meet and greet” event with Pam Streeter
Springfield Lake Recreational Center
266 Lakeview Avenue
Middle Sackville, NS

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Campaign event with Tracey Devereaux
Doolittle’s Pub
143 Main St
Dartmouth, NS

Monday, May 22, 2006
10:30 am – 11:15 am
Campaign office event with Dan MacIsaac
91 St. Andrews St.
Antigonish NS

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
Event with Dan Walsh
Pictou East, NS

Scott Brison's schedule seems to have a hole in it right where his time in Nova Scotia should be.

Scott Brison visited Cape Breton on Saturday, attending a rally in North Sydney. MP Mark Eyking, MLA Gerald Sampson and Fred Tilly, the candidate running in Cape Breton North, joined Mr. Brison on the tour. (Sunday Herald, May 21, 2006 - no longer available online.)

Imagine that, federal MPs and candidates for the Leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada 'interfering' in a provincial election. Wow!

Obviously this is a case of monkey see, monkey do, following in the footsteps of ex-Prime Minister Paul Martin. In 2003 Martin campaigned for Dalton McGuinty (yup - same Dalton McGuinty) saying "Politics is a team sport. And this is my team."

While we're on the subject of fundraisers, it's interesting to see the recent efforts of McGuinty supporter Warren Kinsella to paint friend Dalton as just an average guy, while referring to John Tory as 'Richie Rich'.

How soon they forget.

John Tory's $750.00 a plate fundraiser was spun by various Liberals as an example of his catering to 'rich' people.

Dalton McGuinty on the other hand, only hangs out with the average Ontario citizen:

$10,000 dollar a head fundraiser for McGuinty

$5,000 dollar a head golf games

I consider myself an average Ontario citizen and I can assure you I can't remember the last time I payed $10,000.00 for dinner. Hell, I don't know if I even spend $10,000 in a whole year on meals. But then, that's just me.

Note: in line with recent efforts to organize myself a little better, "Spin Cycle" will become my regular Wednesday feature.

For the record...

2006-05-24T05:15:00.000-04:00

Bullshit!

Although I probably find myself disagreeing with Scott Tribe more often than agreeing with him, nothing I have ever seen or heard would lead me to believe this.

I have had several email exchanges with Scott. I respect his work in the blogsphere, both his efforts at Progressive Bloggers and his recent addition to the Canadian Blog Exchange.

As one of the more prolific contributors to CBE, I have never noticed a problem with any of my posts since Scott has begun moderating.

The last five posts to the Liberal Party: Criticism category -

23-05-06, 11:02 am

22-05-06, 2:47 pm

22-05-06, 1:29 am

20-05-06, 9:47 am

19-05-06, 9:52 am

CBE works by displaying the most recent posts and categories in order. It updates every 5 minutes. At this frequency (or lack of frequency), any post to this category would not be on the CBE page for long, if at all. Anything posted after it in a more popular category would bump the Criticism category off the page.

I have the CBE Current Posts feed loaded in my RSS Bandit reader, set to update every 15 minutes. I have reviewed the last several days of posts to the CBE in my RSS reader and do not see anything wrong.

Many would probably advise to simply ignore this, but unfortunately, it's becoming a regular thing. I love a good partisan scrap just as much as the next person, but this is beyond anything acceptable.

Ciao

2006-05-24T02:11:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite bloggers is hanging up the golden lasso, storing the bracelets and departing the blogsphere.

Wonder Woman has announced that she's departing, albeit on a happy note.

I first came across her just after she started blogging and I was very impressed. She is a passionate, witty and intelligent writer.

I'm sad to see her depart, but happy she's doing so on a postive note. I'll miss her daily posts (as I have for the last while) and can only hope that she will rejoin us someday.

Best wishes to Wonder Woman. You're always welcome to drop in here and guest blog. Just let me know in advance so I can clean the place a little.

Follow the money

2006-05-23T12:30:00.000-04:00

The Pembina Institute is an independent, not-for-profit environmental policy research and education organization.

In the interests of a greater understanding by all Canadians, let's take a look at some of Pembina's reports and see just who's funding them.

A Quick Start Energy Efficiency Strategy for Ontario (.pdf file)

Oak Foundation USA
511 Congress Street, Suite 800
Portland, ME 04101
Environment: (Climate change North America; conservation of the marine environment – Alaska)

Oil Sands Fever: The Environmental Implications of Canada's Oil Sands Rush (.pdf file)

Oak Foundation USA
511 Congress Street, Suite 800
Portland, ME 04101
Environment: (Climate change North America; conservation of the marine environment – Alaska)

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
2121 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Of course, we all know just how dirty American money is when it comes to funding something in Canada. This must be some sort of Bush conspiracy to defame the left wing in Canada.

At least the next report is all Canadian in it's funding.

Troubled Water, Troubling Trends (.pdf file)

Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation

Environment Canada

When we have universities that are begging for more research money, why does the government continue to fund these "independent" organizations. Cut the middle man out and either start providing the research money directly to universities or conduct the research using the Public Service.

In the last ten years while the previous Liberal government was extolling the virtues of Kyoto and patting themselves on the back as caring about the environment, just how much money were they spending on research?

This seems to be a recurring pattern. We've spent a lot of time funding independent organizations and advocacy groups while simultaneously doing nothing.

Did we just realize this year that we need to reduce our emissions by 35% or has the government known all along and used their funding power to keep various organizations fat and happy?

Note: in order to help organize myself a little better, "Follow the Money" will become a regular Tuesday feature. This way I can do the appropriate research ahead of time, when I have the time. Feel free to email me any links, suggestions or information for future posts.

Move along, nothing going on here

2006-05-23T02:30:00.000-04:00

For all those that like to delude themselves in thinking that nothing is going on in Canada.

Add in people, drug and gun smuggling and Windsor is the centre of "nothing" in Canada.

"A multimillion-dollar smuggling operation based in Michigan allegedly helped fund the Hizballah terrorist organization (also known as Hezbollah), according to a federal indictment of 19 men that was announced March 29."

"The enterprise operated from Lebanon, Canada (Windsor), China, Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States, according to the indictment.

Plochinski said the indictment was handed up in April 2004 but kept secret until the March 29 raids, in hopes more members of the organization could be identified. Federal agents decided to act when Karim Hassan Nasser crossed from Canada into the United States."

"A Smuggling Hotbed

The case is not an isolated occurrence of smuggling or other illegal activities involving tobacco products in Michigan or Michigan residents.

In May 2005 four residents of Windsor, Ontario were charged in Ontario courts with smuggling and possession of 642 cases of "unstamped" tobacco products that apparently had been brought into Canada from Michigan, suggesting Michigan has become a distribution hub for cross-border smuggling.

In April 2005 Ohio law enforcement officials arrested a Jordanian-born resident of Dearborn for illicit tobacco trafficking and seized more than $1 million in tobacco products from him.

In October 2004 a truck holding 135 cases of cigarettes worth more than $27,000 was hijacked in Washtenaw County, Michigan after the thieves pistol-whipped and blindfolded the truck's driver."

I'm sure all the accused are simply misunderstood. They're all just upstanding citizens who donate to charity on a regular basis.

The people and tobacco smuggling busts are becoming so commonplace in this area that many are beginning to ignore the stories as just another story on just another day.

The Torch Banner and Button

2006-05-23T00:20:00.000-04:00

Debris Trail from Celestial Junk sent me an email awhile ago asking for a banner and button for The Torch, so without further ado:

Banner 468x106

Button 200x45

I still have some work to do on the smaller button. I'm not that good at working with the smaller sizes. When I get a chance, I'll be redoing that one to come up with a button that's a little more readable and a better size.

Different Strokes

2006-05-22T16:23:00.000-04:00

Because it's all the Conservative's fault
And for a government supposedly committed to rewarding those Canadians who play by the rules, some of the problems seem relatively simple to fix:

Comparing apples and lemons
The Liberals blundered over the helicopter purchase by the Mulroney government, which the Chretien Liberals made an election promise to renege on. They did. Costing us billions in the lost contract and then billions more in replacing the helicopters. Now the Harpocrite government has done the same thing with the canceling the Liberal Governments Environmental programs.

Rob Moore, a psychic failure
Mr. Speaker, on Monday the United Nations will release a report on Canada's human rights record.
...
What has the government done to conform with the recommendations that will be made on Monday

Because only men shoot guns
It is used to take guns away from violent criminals, the mentally unstable or men who threaten women before they shoot.

George Bush wears pants, Stephen Harper wears pants...
I suppose if the prime minister has pancakes in the morning he will be eating a "Bush-style breakfast" and questions will be put in the House. And if he uses Aunt Jemima syrup (instead of the maple sort) he will be accused, not only of "American-style sweetening", but also of racism.

Canadian Angels takes flight

2006-05-22T05:58:00.000-04:00

From Canadian Angels Blog:

What a great first couple of days

In less than two days, my little idea has grown incredibly. I really want to thank the 30+ volunteers who have already signed up, with more emails coming in every hour. I have had calls offering me technical and financial help. I have been contacted by Siri Agrell of the National Post to do a follow-up on her piece of May 6th. And on Monday night I will be speaking to Rob Breakenridge on CHQR (Calgary) at 8:05pm Mountain Time.

The first post on the blog was entitled "Countering Apathy", but now I am beginning to rethink that. Canadians are not apathetic toward their military at all. They really care, as they've shown over the past couple of days.

Our main shortcoming remains the inability to get the word out to the troops en masse, but the applications are trickling in nonetheless.

People are offering advice, too. One person pointed out (to my shame) that I had referred to all our Forces as "soldiers", instead of the soldiers, sailors and airmen that are over there. It's a silly mistake that I promise will be corrected.

Keep the applications coming. As soon as we have more soldiers, everyone will have one to sponsor. And thanks again for all you've done so far. posted by Wendy Sullivan at 9:23pmIf you haven't heard about Canadian Angels yet, stop in and check it out. A simple way for any Canadian to show their support for our Armed Forces members.

Cross-posted from the Torch

Next generation podcasting

2006-05-22T05:30:00.000-04:00

Ever wanted to host your own live call-in radio show?

Now you can!

Skypecasts Preview offers free live casting with up to 100 people. The caster controls the microphone, with the ability to mute all or pass the virtual mic around. Chat is also available between participants and the host or just between participants.

Skypecast is relatively easy to setup and use.

All you need is the Skype client, a headset (preferred) or microphone and speakers.

There is a widget for Typepad users to promote your cast. HTML snippets are under development for all others.

Record your cast and make it available as a podcast.

The service is still in preview or beta mode but I have listened to several shows and the quality is fantastic. Some casters are still having difficulty with the setup as far as the interaction goes. Feedback can be an issue with some users. As the service matures and guides and tips are produced by the early adopters, I'm sure this issue will disappear.

To take things up a notch in the overall VOIP wars, Skype is offering FREE calling within North America for the remainder of the year. Handy for anyone on a budget.

Skypecast Forums

Some recording tools for Skype:

Pamela v2.0 (Beta) - 30 day trial.

Freecorder - free software with restrictions, upgrade for $19.95 U.S.

PowerGramo - free basic edition, upgrade for $19.95

Blogs and the Liberal Leadership Race

2006-05-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

The ongoing Liberal Leadership race is creating some interesting opportunities for the Canadian Blogging Community.

Most of the candidates are blogging in some degree or form. Several interviews have been granted to bloggers and indications are, more are to come.

For my own part, I have been running a series of reviews on the Leadership Websites. This was not intended as a partisan hack job, but as serious a critique as I could provide based on some of the best practices for political websites. I have to say at the outset that I have received cooperation from various Liberal bloggers (Cerberus, Calgary Grit) as well as from individuals on various campaign teams. Marc, Michael Iganatieff's webmaster had arranged for me to attend Michael's recent Windsor event as a blogger. Unfortunately, due to last minutes business related issues, I was unable to attend.

The reason for this post is an initiative Calgary Grit started this week, inviting the Leadership Candidates to Guest Blog on his blog. Carolyn Bennett posted a blog and the war was on. Various conservative bloggers jumped in like there was blood in the water and they were hungry sharks.

Some of the comments:

"Especially with the condescending, arrogant attitude you people constantly allow to creep out on the national stage.

Good luck on your race... you really need it."

"Hey Dr. Chickeepoo! Tell me, this democracy binge and purge you're on. Did you ever bring it up with David Herle, Mike Robinson and Tim Murphy when you were begging for a cabinet seat? Did you bring it up after you got to the Privy Council? Or was it just all about you at that point?"

"Everyone is looking forward to the left wing signing up for the mission in Sudan. We're going to miss Layton and Keith Martin. And you might want to lay off the "Chicken Hawk" phrase condidering Bill Graham's preferences."

Flame wars amongst various blogs are accepted by some and tolerated as part of the game by most. That's not to say it's desired or even necessary.

Many people from all political stripes are watching this process and formulating future strategies based on the results. If one of our goals is to encourage politicians to engage people on the internet, dragging out the howitzers every time they appear doesn't seem to be an encouraging trait.

Elections are one thing, but this is purely a Liberal party race. We cry that the Liberal party has no real policy other than the polls, but when attempts are made to have discussions, out come the large size monkey wrenches. The result:

"As expected, the Tory trolls come marching out of the woodwork."

If this initiative is going to live or die, I'd rather it do so on it's own merits, not because we can't exercise some restraint. Put yourself in Calgary Grit's shoes. What would the reaction be if this was being attempted in a Conservative Party Leadership race?

The internet offers boundless opportunities to engage everyone. Videocasting, podcasting, live webstreams, blogs, discussion forums, live chats and video conferencing are just some of the tools available today, with more being developed all the time. Garth Turner is ready to launch his new MPTV on the 1st of June. Would it be possible to see the Prime Minister or Cabinet Ministers participating in a blog or chat event in the near future? Not likely, given current trends.

In a country with sinking voter turnouts and rising political cynicism, we do ourselves no favours engaging in partisan warfare at EVERY given opportunity. The various blogrolls and their members crave recognition and respect from media and other sources but often exhibit behaviour that produces the exact opposite results.

The majority of people have their own blogs. If you really feel the need to jump on various candidates and their positions, blog away. Lord knows I certainly do.

Thanks to the efforts of Stephen Taylor, Craig Smith and numerous other conservative bloggers, we have established a strong and leading presence on the internet. The way forward is to continue building on that strength. Instead of engaging in useless partisan attacks on Liberal Leadership candidate's online initiatives why not start some of your own.

Invite a local Conservative MP to guest blog on your blog. Start a podcast or videocast. Interview an MP as a blogger and post the results on your blog. Create a round-table discussion involving various bloggers. Better yet - create something totally new and be the leader.

Hopefully this post can generate some lively discussion and encourage people to look forward not back. Let's continue to build a strong conservative presence online instead of wasting time on the Liberal Leadership Follies.

Update: From Political Staples - Kudos to Calgary Grit

NDP reverting true to form

2006-05-21T07:36:00.000-04:00

The Afghanistan debate not only threw a bit of a wrench into the Liberal party's 'shifting sand' stance on the military, it cleary defined the NDP.

Given the chance, our military would be reduced to Boy Scouts with pea shooters faster than you can say 'social program spending'.

See also: Follow the money

NDP want to give peace a chance
Yes. We heard unequivocally from New Democrats that our Armed Forces should not be used for peacemaking (because heaven forbid our soldiers use their weapons!).

They should instead be peacekeeping -- that gentler, far worthier task.

In short, the NDP wants our troops wearing blue UN berets, not camouflaged Kevlar helmets. In today's context, this would mean moving our troops out of Kandahar and into Darfur, as they advocate.

This fresh NDP position demands a new foreign policy for Canada. Jack Layton and Dawn Black are proclaiming -- let our country be a light unto the world; let Canada lead and not follow; let us take our own path, one that builds on our strength (peacekeeping) and reflects to the world the values and principles that define us nationally (the pursuit of peace).

Wrong and foolish

It's wrong and foolish for Canadian to think we are better than others, especially the Americans. And making our soldiers exclusively peacekeepers is an insult to our past deeds and present capacities. It will decrease, not enhance our standing in the world. Unfortunately, this delusional initiative put forward by the NDP has a sturdy following among the liberally minded Liberals of Canada.

Blogging Tories Site of the Week

2006-05-21T06:41:00.000-04:00

RootleWeb

Ruth - the self described Wife, Mom and Nerd of the BT roll.

Now I know what rootle means. Thanks!

Blog on!

Follow the money

2006-05-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

Just in case any Canadian is wondering what will happen to Canada's military if the NDP were to ever hold the balance of power in Canada's parliament, or heaven help us, become the government.

Despite their very recent conversion to supporting the Canadian military, never forget where the NDP's true roots lie.

Breaking Rank - a citizens' review of Canada's military spending

* There should be no increase in Canada's military spending. More military spending will not increase Canadians' security, and the Department of National Defence can spend defence dollars more wisely.

* Defence policy and spending are being driven by special interests. A small, well-organized and well-funded defence lobby in Canada and the United States is driving the public debate on defence spending, despite Canadian public opinion dramatically desiring the federal government to focus on social programs - not military spending.

Now we all know the mantra of our left-wing friends is that any Canadian right-wing institutions that receive funding from the United States are part of the global Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and are in grave danger of succumbing to all things evil emanating from the United States.

What they generally fail to tell you is the amount of funding THEY receive from various left-wing foundations in the United States. Thats right, Canadian left-wing think tanks accepting dirty American money.

"Finally, I wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Grace Public Fund"

The shame.

Bring on that vision

2006-05-20T07:30:00.000-04:00

One thing very interesting to see during this Liberal Leadership race is how the party and it's candidates are getting back to the grassroots, defining themselves for what they stand for and not against.

After thirteen long years I think I'm starting to get a sense of that "vision" we've all been hearing about. Those great defenders of democracy and all things Canadian, the Liberal party, are speaking to us from the heart.

Listen carefully!

I want to share my message with all Canadians

A challenge to all Conservatives in Alberta: We don’t deserve to call ourselves a national institution unless we win back seats in this province.

Behave like a Prime Minister, Mr. Harper!

~~Tony Clement~~ Scott Brison calls for tax breaks for youth

Liberals have no sense of humour

Gerard Kennedy: Stehpen Harper's doing what needs to be done on equalization, he's just not doing it the Liberal way

True North, Strong and Free - the Liberal way.

Paul Martin and the Earnscliffe Boys always respected Parliament and Canadians, why can't you follow their example

Canada deserves a real bilingual leader

Early Childhood Development and Care - For ~~thirteen long years~~ eighteen months the Liberal Party of Canada was dedicated to a great national endeavour that truly mattered, a national system of early learning and child care. Now it is gone.

Gerard Kennedy: I want to share my vision of Canada with all Canadians

I have a vision! (or how not to say anything in 500 words or less)

The NDP are all negative, angry people - Vote Liberal!

The Cutting edge of 21st Century Technology - Enter the Liberal "B" Team (sorry, Word .doc - please be patient)

Financial advice for Canadians

I'm overwhelmed. Excuse me while I go lie down.

Liberal Leadership Website Review Update 10

2006-05-19T05:20:00.000-04:00

Michael Ignatieff
Still head and shoulders above the rest.

Atom RSS feed added. Podcast feed added, verified feed is working.

Recruitment Material added to the multimedia section (candidate card in .pdf format)

Action buttons added to blog post section.

Site now has 550 members, 553 threads, 609 posts. 65 users with one or more posts. The forums seem to be growing and the discussion expanding and maturing. Lots of blog posts, but none by Michael personally as yet.

8.75/10

Stephane Dion
Action Centre titles have been converted to links (About Stephane, Why I'm Running and Get Involved). Events page improved.

7.5/10

Scott Brison
First webcast of the campaign.

Audio from speech to the Economic Club of Toronto. If you managed to suffer through the 1/2 hr of elevator music, the audio quality was good. Now that the campaign has some audio, it might be good to offer it as a podcast, or at least as a download.

You can still click through to CNW site and listen.

Join page has improved. Site captures data now before sending you on to the Liberal party's online form.

7.5/10

Bob Rae - no change noticed. As one of the official candidates, Bob Rae now has access to an online donation page to direct donations to his campaign. Doesn't seem to have made it to his site as yet.

https://www.liberal.ca/donate_e.aspx?cand=2%20

7.5/10

Ken Dryden - no change noticed

7/10

Gerard Kennedy
Directed online donation page at Liberal.ca active now, but you may have to look hard to find it.

First candidate that I've noticed with a Desktop Wallpaper available for download.

News Release section is underway.

Still a great deal of the site "under development".

7/10

Maurizio Bevilacqua - no change noticed

6/10

Martha Hall Findlay
Looks like the front page is starting to be overhauled.

Easy to find Join button on front page, 'Where's Martha Today', 'Picture of the Day'. Promise of a blog coming soon.

Lots of work still required.

5.5/10

Hedy Fry
Regular blogging, RSS added, Event calendar now in use and updated.

Still lots of work to do here.

5.5/10

Joe Volpe
Wrapper added to take people to online donation page - directed donation to the Volpe Campaign. This is a handy feature, but can be difficult to integrate. Most people should be able to navigate and use this page.

Yet another site with lots of work ahead.

5.5/10

Carolyn Bennett
Regular blogging, RSS added for blog entries, guest blogging on Calgary Grit.

Promise of an online policy dialogue, but it has yet to materialize

5/10

General Observations

Party has revamped their online signup page. Members can now join online and pay immediately with CC or request a form from a Provincial or Territorial Association. Individual candidate donation pages are now available for Official Candidates, but no specific link is available on Liberal.ca

What is it with some of these sites and .pdf files? If your link is a pdf file, you should identify it as such. I can't believe the number of .pdf files I'm running into when I expect a webpage or link. This may be just a pet peeve of mine, but it's definitely annoying. Still lots of 1 mb or bigger pictures floating around some sites.

Blue Blogging Soapbox's Liberal Leadership Review Page - all the reviews and links to other Leadership related sites.

Note: I had hoped to attend Michael Ignatieff's event in Windsor this morning and blog about it later, but unfortunately a lack of sleep over the last several days has got the better of me. H/T to Marc for making the arrangements for me to attend and my apologies for not being able to do so. Hopefully Michael will return to Windsor later on and I will have another opportunity. I hope to attend any of the candidate's events in Windsor, as an observer, and then blog about them. We'll see how that goes.

For any of the Webmasters who might be dropping in, or individual candidate supporters, if I happen to miss new features or changes to a site, feel free to email me. (bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com). I try to keep a close eye on all the sites, but it's easy to miss something when watching 11 different sites.

Spin Cycle: Polaris and CP News - Part Two

2006-05-19T02:41:00.000-04:00

Much as I expected when I blogged yesterday's Spin Cycle, the left-wing Polaris Institute's report, Boots on the Ground: Canadian Military Operations in Afghanistan and UN Peacekeeping Missions. By Bill Robinson, May 17, 2006.(pdf) was used by various opposition members in Wednesday's Afghanistan debate.

Take one disingenuous and misleading report, add a ~~Polaris press release~~ CP news story repeated in various quarters and suitable quotes from MPs in the house - what do you get?

More misleading information in the public realm about our Forces and the mission in Afghanistan. Note how the NDP is already falling back on the old tried and true 'let's spend those billions of dollars elsewhere'. Thirty years of that mantra from successive governments, with vigorous support from the NDP, is what got the military in the condition it's in today.

Makes me wonder why we pay for a research bureau for the NDP and Liberals. Is fact checking a lost art in Ottawa, or do we just assume everything published by the Polaris Institute is a non-partisan, balanced fact?

From Dawn Black, the NDP Defence critic:
Hansard 17:25

We are also very concerned about the cost of this mission. By the time the current mission is complete in February 2007, it will have likely cost Canadians in excess of $5 billion. The Polaris Institute has estimated that a two year extension or a new mission would cost an additional $2 billion to $3 billion.

"We could provide a huge amount of reconstruction and humanitarian aid for $7 billion, not just in Afghanistan but also elsewhere. As I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, military force is a blunt, dangerous and expensive instrument. For $7 billion it is incumbent upon us as guardians of the public purse to confirm that there is no alternative to the counter-insurgency approach and to ensure that this is the right mission."

Denis Coderre, Liberal:

Hansard 18:20

"I am very proud that we are in Afghanistan, but we are told that the past four years have already cost us $4.1 billion. I am willing to make this investment and to see Canada continuing to work and provide support in this area. However, it seems only logical to also ask whether we have the tools we need to succeed."

Bonnie Brown, Liberal:

Hansard 18:30

"Talking about affordable, on the prudent use of financial resources, we know that we have already spent over $4 billion in Afghanistan since we first went there on our various missions. During the same period we spent only $214 million on UN operations. We know we have 2,300 troops in Afghanistan and only 59 abroad in UN operations."

I'm always extremely nervous when I hear the NDP saying things like the $7 billion could be better spent elsewhere. After a resurgence in support for the military, it didn't take too long for that familiar refrain to start appearing. The forces have experienced 35 years of "spend the money elsewhere" and can't afford anymore.

Even in opposition they can't resist leaking

2006-05-18T08:39:00.000-04:00

Too funny! A leaked story from caucus about a Liberal leaking from caucus.

The Marx Brothers couldn't do any better.

Broadcast news

Gathered in their secret weekly caucus meeting this morning behind soundproof doors in Parliament, Liberal MPs were in for a shock as they discussed the thorny issue of how to handle Prime Minister Stephen Harper's motion to extend Canada's military mission to Afghanistan.

Ralph Goodale, the Liberal House leader, brought proceedings to halt when he interrupted to say that one of the Liberal MPs was surreptitiously using a Blackberry to pass on everything that was being said to CTV reporter Robert Fife, according to one participant. It was assumed that the information pipeline went dry at that point.

Hmmm...., I seem to remember a story about the Conservatives and banning phones/blackberries during caucus meetings.

Conservatives ban cellphones, BlackBerries in weekly caucus meetings(subscription only)

Full Story here

"What's next, X-rays and body searches. That's an indication that there's not much trust operating on the basis of their Tory team or the Conservative team...That's a bizarre way to operate a caucus. I don't think you can build trust and team spirit on the basis of suspicion," said NDP caucus chair Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North, Man.).

Given the nature of Ottawa, this restriction doesn't seem out of place.

Spin Cycle: Polaris and CP News

2006-05-18T08:05:00.000-04:00

This report and news story are in dire need of a good run through the spin cycle.

The headline is striking:

$4.1 billion spent on Afghanistan

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government has spent more than $4.1 billion on its Afghan operations since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed 25 Canadians in New York's twin towers, a think-tank said Wednesday while calling for hearings on Canada's role in the wartorn country.

Afghanistan and related operations account for 68 per cent of the $6.1 billion spent on international missions between the fall of 2001 and the end of March 2006, the Polaris Institute said in a report released hours before Parliament was to debate and vote on a two-year extension to the mission.

The reality is a far different story. I have to wonder if CP News even made it past the first page bullets of the report.

First up, I always find it strange that the Polaris Institute is described simply as an institute or a think-tank instead of a left-wing institute or left-wing think tank. We never fail to see the term right-wing applied to the Fraser Institutue or the C.D. Howe Institute, why the double standard?

Next let's take a look at the actual report - Boots on the Ground:Canadian Military Operations in Afghanistan and UN Peacekeeping Missions. By Bill Robinson, May 17, 2006.(pdf)

Page 1
MAIN POINTS:
• Canada has spent $4.146 billion on military operations in or related to Afghanistan since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.

There's that $4.1 billion dollar number again. Highlighted for ease of viewing by the press, just in case they don't care to read the rest of the report. Personally I like a little more meat in my research than just the bullets so off I go looking for some stats. The first hint that something is amiss comes in the very first line of Page 2, a term catches my eye:

"Canada spent more than $4 billion on military operations in or related to Afghanistan between the fall of 2001 and the end of March 2006."

I wonder what the Polaris Institute considers "related to Afghanistan". Let's look at their chart.

(Click on chart for full size picture)

Lots of names, figures and footnotes. Lets take a look at the footnotes.

Footnote 1: Operations

Canadian operations related to Afghanistan:
APOLLO: Canadian “military contribution to the international campaign against terrorism,” including the war in Afghanistan, from October 2001 to October 2003.

ACCIUS: Canadian contribution to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Canada contributed one Lieutenant Colonel from November 2002 to June 2005.

ALTAIR: Canadian contribution to U.S.-led naval coalition in the Persian Gulf (part of U.S. Operation ENDURING FREEDOM); contribution continued from APOLLO. The most recent Canadian contribution was a six-month deployment of the frigate HMCS Winnipeg during 2005.

ATHENA: Canadian contribution to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF). Canada participated from October 2003 to October 2005.

ARCHER: Canadian contribution to U.S. Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan. Canadian participation began August 2005. Current number of Canadian personnel: 2300.

FOUNDATION: Canadian liaison team at the headquarters of U.S. Central Command for “liaison with the CENTCOM campaign against terrorism.” Current number of Canadian personnel: 7.

Operation Apollo includes all deployed Canadian Forces contributions to the International Campaign Against Terrorism.

Things like the Canadian Naval Task Force deployed to the Persian Gulf:

Chronology of Ship Deployments

August 4 , 2001-February 14, 2002:	HMCS Halifax
December 5, 2001-May 27, 2002:	HMCS Toronto
October 17, 2001-April 27, 2002:	HMCS Charlottetown
October 17, 2001-April 27, 2002:	HMCS Iroquois, HMCS Preserver
October 29, 2001-May 28, 2002:	HMCS Vancouver
December 5, 2001-May 28, 2002:	HMCS Toronto
February 17-August 17, 2002:	HMCS Ottawa
March 23-October 14, 2002:	HMCS Algonquin
May 1-November 17, 2002:	HMCS St. John's
May 22-November 24, 2002:	HMCS Protecteur
September 9, 2002-April 25, 2003:	HMCS Montreal
September 15, 2002-May 2, 2003:	HMCS Winnipeg
February 2-July 1, 2003:	HMCS Regina
February 24-July 29, 2003:	HMCS Iroquois
March 5-August 28, 2003:	HMCS Fredericton
June 15-December 14, 2003:	HMCS Calgary

and 'Foundation' listed above, the Centcom liaison team was something else before it became 'Foundation':

Joint Task Force South West Asia (CA JTFSWA)

The CF units and formations committed to Op APOLLO are organized under the Commander, Canadian Joint Task Force South West Asia (CA JTFSWA). The headquarters of the CA JTFSWA is the Canadian National Command Element (NCE), employing approximately 40 CF members, co-located with U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. The NCE links the Chief of the Defence Staff with U.S. CENTCOM and the various CF units assigned to Op APOLLO.

In mid-August 2003, following the re-alignment of Canadian activities in southwest Asia, the NCE was reduced to a liaison staff. This liaison team is part of a new mission known as Task Force Tampa (TFT) or Op FOUNDATION.

Let's not forget, we're not talking about Afghanistan alone here, but all CF operations related to the War on Terror. The Polaris Institute thinks that operations such as Navy Destroyers patrolling in the Gulf are "related" to Afghanistan, at least related enough to help them increase their figures. Can't forget that catchy headline.

Here's some soldiers deployed to the Arabian Gulf deemed "related to Afghanistan" :

On March 14, 2003, a platoon of about 35 soldiers from the 1^st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alberta, deployed to the Arabian Gulf region to provide local security to CF units deployed on Op APOLLO. The deployment of the security platoon is part of a Force Protection Plan. In July 2003, soldiers from the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based at Canadian Forces Base Shilo, Manitoba, replaced the Patricias.

How about some Air Force pers:

On December 27, 2001, the Minister of National Defence announced the deployment to the Arabian Gulf region of two CP-140 Aurora long-range surveillance and maritime patrol aircraft with about 200 Air Force personnel, including flight crews and support personnel, from 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and 19 Wing Comox, British Columbia.

Can't forget about communications for all these deployed units:

In May 2002, the National Command, Control and Information System Squadron (NCCIS Sqn) was created to organize communications for the CF personnel and units deployed on Op APOLLO. The NCCIS Sqn provides the Canadian Joint Task Force Commander and the commanders of deployed CF units with national communications and information system capabilities. The personnel of the NCCIS Sqn build and maintain the computer and telephone networks that link the units deployed in the Arabian Gulf region to their headquarters in North America.
At its peak, NCCIS Sqn strength stood at about 90 all ranks; it now comprises about 30 CF personnel. The core membership of the NCCIS Sqn comes from the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment in Kingston, Ontario, and from communications units at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario. The mission of this unit, too, is changing to focus on Op ATHENA.

Already, the Polaris Institute's numbers are starting to create a smell.

On to Footnote number 2 - Full Cost:

“Full cost” as defined by DND includes civilian and military salaries; overtime and allowances; petroleum, oil and lubricants;spares; contracted repair and overhaul services; and depreciation and attrition costs of all equipment involved. All figures are in thousands of dollars.

Seems straight forward. But wait a minute! Wouldn't most of those salaries, depreciation and attrition costs, amongst other things, still be going on if the CF wasn't in Afghanistan?

That question brings us to Footnote number 3 - Incremental Cost

“Incremental cost” as defined by DND is the cost incurred by DND over and above what would have been spent on personnel and equipment if they had not been deployed. It is derived from the Full Cost by subtracting salaries, equipment depreciation and attrition, and other sums that would otherwise have been spent on exercises or absorbed as part of normal activities.

Now we're actually starting to approach some real numbers. The total incremental cost, according to Polaris, is $2.166 billion dollars since 2001, and that's only if you include the Persian Gulf Deployments in the Afghanistan figures.

We're not done yet. In Footnote 1, they have listed:

ACCIUS: Canadian contribution to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Canada contributed one Lieutenant Colonel from November 2002 to June 2005.

United Nations Assistance Mission? I thought the United Nations missions were being tallyed up in a later section of the report. Why are they including United Nations costs under the Afghanistan total? The officer was deployed to Afghanistan, but not as part of Apollo.

How about Altair:

ALTAIR: Canadian contribution to U.S.-led naval coalition in the Persian Gulf (part of U.S. Operation ENDURING FREEDOM); contribution continued from APOLLO. The most recent Canadian contribution was a six-month deployment of the frigate HMCS Winnipeg during 2005.

More destroyers in the Persian Gulf. You'll note the addition of the text "part of U.S. Operation ENDURING FREEDOM". This is one of the institutes thin lines of reasoning for including all these costs under the 'Afghanistan' category.

The U.S. actually has troops deployed to Afghanistan under Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. They also have troops deployed in many other places under that Operation.

It's the U.S. name for global operations in response to the September 11th terror attacks.

The Operation comprises several subordinate operations:

Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan (OEF-A)
Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines (OEF-P) (formerly Operation Freedom Eagle)
Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA)

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's go back and look at that $4.1 billion dollar figure again. The Polaris report and CP story would like you to believe that is the total cost spent on Afghanistan since 2001.

We now know that the actual figure is $2.166 billion and if you strip away all the "related to" numbers I suspect that number would at least be halved.

The Polaris report would like you to believe that the cost of the Afghan mission is approaching $1 billion a year and climbing. Nice bit of fear, but we've seen how reliable their numbers are.

Yet another interesting question is the lack of "related to" costs when analysing Canada's spending on UN missions. You know, the number they want to appear as small as possible. If related costs are good for the Afghanistan calculations, why not the UN?

The worst thing about this is that most Canadian newspapers and news outlets ran with this CP story virtually verbatim. Published as fact. At least that's what Canadians think they got.

That's enough of the spin cycle for this one. Time to apply some heat to this report and story. By heat, I'm certainly not thinking about the dryer.

Slice and Dice: Lowell Green and Peggy Nash

2006-05-18T03:33:00.000-04:00

Thanks Lowell, someone needed to do this.

Nash characterizes Gwyn Morgans statements as racist, but can't quite bring herself to call him a racist.

Smear and fear, but not actually having the courage to stand behind her words.

Lowell Green/Peggy Nash interview

I don't care much for Stephen Harper's reaction to this, but there is plenty of fault to go around on this issue. For all the oppositions cries of this government trying to act like George Bush, they just gave a three star performance of an American-style Congressional partisan hack job.

Well done to the NDP, Bloc and Liberals. You have become what you fear the most.

H/T to Sharon for the link.

Note: I really wish our local CHUM station would play Lowell here. Anything would be better than the daily dose of left-wing pablum we're forced to listen to every day. I look forward to the hosts taking a day off. The fill-in host, Leah Hanson, is a sharp one from Calgary who doesn't give anyone a free ride.

Rare sighting in Ottawa today

2006-05-17T15:31:00.000-04:00

Rare sighting in Ottawa today

17 May 2006

Ottawa - The House of Commons today was witness to an extremely rare sighting at 3:26 pm this afternoon.

Ex-Liberal Leader Paul Martin rose in the House and spoke today.

Calls and appropriate press releases are at this moment going out to Ripleys Believe It Or Not and The Guiness Book of Records.

Canadian Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

2006-05-17T14:23:00.000-04:00

Update from CTV News:

Female Cdn. Forces soldier dies in Afghanistan

Updated Wed. May. 17 2006 2:43 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A female captain with the Canadian Forces has been killed serving in Afghanistan, though few details have been released about how she died.

She is the seventeenth Canadian soldier, and the first woman, to die in Afghanistan.

Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan
Last Updated Wed, 17 May 2006 14:02:33 EDT
CBC News

A female soldier from Canada has been killed while serving in Afghanistan, military officials said Wednesday.

She has not been identified, but was a captain in the Canadian Forces.

Details are scarce, but it is known she died during a major operation south of Kandahar.

It's not clear whether she was killed in combat or in an accident.

This raises Canada's death toll in Afghanistan to 16 soldiers and one diplomat since the mission started in 2002.

Roughly 2,300 Canadian soldiers are serving in the country, mostly around the southern Kandahar region.

MPs will vote Wednesday on whether to extend Canada's deployment in the country until 2009 from its currently scheduled end date of February 2007.

Liberal Leadership Website Reviews - Email Test Results

2006-05-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

I expected poor results from this test but I must admit I was truly shocked by the lack of response.

None of the campaigns had any sort of auto-responder setup to verify receipt of my email. Eight of the eleven campaigns did not respond as of 6:00 am this morning and one campaign did not have any email address listed.

Congratulations to Marth Hall Findlay's team as the first team to respond, Hedy Fry's team as the second.

Using a Gmail address, youngliberalto@gmail.com, I sent the following email to every campaign on the 12th of May, beginning at 5:30 am: (Gerard Kennedy was subbed for Scott Brison in the email to the Brison campaign)

Hi,

I have a friend who has been trying to get me to join Scott Brison's campaign but I wanted to check out the other campaigns first.

Specifically, where does each campaign stand on youth related issues such as post-secondary funding.

I'd appreciate any info that you could provide.

Thanks,

Shawn Brodie

I used the general info address listed for each site. If there was no info address, I then used whatever address was listed for communications. The following are the email addresses used and the response or lack of one.

communications@carolynbennett.ca - no reply

Maurizio Bevilacqua - no email address found on site. I could have used the Admin address from a Domain Name Search, but the purpose of the test was to mimic an average visitor.

info@scottbrison.ca - no reply

info@stephanedion.ca - no reply

outreach@kendryden.ca - no reply

info@marthahallfindlay.ca - reply from Youth Coordinator 13 May, 10:48am. Promise to forward to Policy Director.

pat@hedyfry.com - reply received 16 May, 5:59pm. Promise of further information to follow.

comments@michaelignatieff.ca - no reply

info@gerardkennedy.ca - no reply

info@bobrae.ca - no reply

contact@joevolpe.ca - no reply

Email communications are effective campaign tools, especially for campaigns on a tight budget. Autoresponders can be an effective first step in the communications chain. Include a 'failsafe' email address in your autorespond email.

Example: "If you do not receive a reply to this message within 48 hours, please forward your email to xyz@abc.com ." The 'xyz' email should be someone higher up in the campaign. If they begin receiving a flood of email, then obviously emails are going unanswered and the problem can be rectified.

I'll most likely be repeating this test later on in the campaign to see if any improvement has occurred.

Blue Blogging Soapbox's Liberal Leadership Review Page - all the reviews and links to other Leadership related sites.

Copps gun registry spin

2006-05-17T03:22:00.000-04:00

Sheila Copps with some classic Liberal spin.

Women Voters Wary

"He promised to scrap the gun laws while in opposition"

"Couple that with a move to scrap the gun registry and you start to detect a pattern. A pattern of government action which appears to go against the grain of popular thinking by women voters."

If a reader didn't know better, after finishing this article they would be left with the impression that Stephen Harper is going to scrap all the gun laws and scrap the gun registry.

More of the same from the past several days:

CP misses a few things

Spin or interpretation

Stephen Harper and the government have some messaging to do before this gets out of hand.

Action not words

2006-05-16T20:09:00.000-04:00

After years of inaction the Paul Martin Liberal government trumpeted the Kelowna accord as the First Nations "fix for a generation".

The Conservative government has committed to the goals of the Kelowna accord, but rather than blindly funding yet more initiatives, will work on fixing the delivery systems to ensure money and programs actually do what they are intended to do. While some progress has been made, the Auditor found that the progress on 15 of 37 key recommendations from the 2000 and 2003 audits were unsatisfactory.

Six years and the recommendations that most effect the lives of First Nations people have not been dealt with. Simply throwing $5.1 billion more dollars at the problem will not fix things.

What we examined

In this follow-up audit, we examined the progress of five federal organizations in implementing 37 recommendations we made between 2000 and 2003 on First Nations issues. The recommendations were included in chapters that covered housing on reserves, economic development, third-party intervention, health care, the food mail program, comprehensive land claims, and reporting requirements for First Nations. We also identified factors that appear to have been critical in successfully implementing our recommendations.
What we found

Overall, the federal government's progress in addressing our 37 recommendations on First Nations issues has been unsatisfactory. While the issues are extremely complex, federal organizations had agreed with most of our recommendations and had committed to taking action. We found their progress on 15 of our recommendations to have been unsatisfactory. These are generally the recommendations that are most important to the lives and well-being of First Nations people. We found that little had been done to deal with the serious problem of mould in houses on reserves. We also found that progress has been unsatisfactory in analyzing patterns of prescription drug use and drug-related deaths among First Nations people, implementing comprehensive land claim agreements, eliminating unnecessary reporting required of First Nations communities, and addressing gaps in the Third Party Manager Policy.

Here's a good example:

5.30 In our 2004 audit of the management of federal drug benefits programs, we found that Health Canada had not conducted any analysis of prescription drug use since 1999. Instead, it had spent the previous four years trying to obtain client consent. It had obtained consent for only about 25 percent of clients before stopping this effort in March 2004. We found that the number of clients obtaining more than 50 prescriptions over a three-month period (a criterion used by some provincial bodies to identify cases for review) had almost tripled compared with what we found in our 2000 audit.

This program as of 2000 had annual expenditures of $530 million. Further:

5.33 In this audit, we found that Health Canada still does not gather data on prescription drug-related deaths. Nor has it sought enabling legislation for its Non-Insured Health Benefits program. In November 2004, the Department resumed its analysis of prescription drug use, but, at the time of our audit, it was not yet able to identify reductions of inappropriate prescription drug use due to its intervention. Its current approach is only to seek consent, on a case-by-case basis, from those clients for whom the Department has not already done so, before informing health providers or pharmacists of concerns related to prescription drugs. There is still no enabling legislation for the Non-Insured Health Benefits program, and the rights and obligations of the Department and its clients have not been defined.

On mouldy housing:

However, without management's sustained attention, facilitated by a strategy or action plan, the scale of the problem has not been identified, priorities for action have not been established, and no overall plan for co-ordinating federal organizations' efforts or monitoring overall progress has been developed. Without a strategy and action plan to address this problem, First Nations communities may continue to experience premature deterioration of their housing stock and negative health effects on their people

CP misses a few things

2006-05-16T04:24:00.000-04:00

Here we go again. CP story posted on Canada.com - missing the detail that it's the long-gun registry that the government is moving on. They seem to have the same sort of mental block that Canwest News Service has regarding this topic.

Government set to begin dismantling gun registry

Police consult the firearms databank about 5,000 times a day.

CTV News:

Tories will deregister long guns, shotguns

Globe and Mail:

Long-gun registry to be axed

Toronto Star:

Showdown looming over gun registry

The Star headline is misleading, but at least the story correctly identifies the long-gun registry as the target.

Another question I've often asked and researched but have never been able to find an answer. You see figures everywhere from 2000 to 5000 quoted for how often each day the registry is consulted.

We never hear what the accuracy rate is. 5000 is such a nice sounding number but what if it's only 60% accurate?

Spin or interpretation

2006-05-15T22:02:00.000-04:00

Anybody else besides me read this article and come away with the impression that Stephen Harper is in favour of completely scrapping the gun registry?

What would ever give Canadians the impression that Stephen Harper's plan is to "completely scrap the country's expensive gun registry program" ?

From CCN Matthews, the original News Release.

Two-thirds of Canadians (67%) are of the opinion that the new Conservative government under Stephen Harper should "keep in place some sort of system that makes gun owners across the country register their fire-arms", while in comparison 31% feel they should "eliminate the idea of a gun registry entirely" -- 2% say they "don't know".

Next up is the Canwest version:

Canadians don't want gun registry scrapped: poll

Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, May 15, 2006

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will have a tough time convincing Canadians it's time to completely scrap the country's expensive gun registry program, a new opinion poll suggests.

The Ipsos Reid survey, conducted for CanWest News Service and Global National, indicates two out of three Canadians believe the government should revamp the gun registry system.

''There's nothing ambiguous about this,'' said John Wright, senior vice-president at Ipsos Reid.

''The concept of a gun registry has taken root across the country. There's a majority, 67 per cent, that's not a small majority, who believe that Stephen Harper shouldn't be doing away with all gun registries.''

From the Conservative Party platform, we get a decidedly different impression:

Conservative Party Platform (pdf file)

Invest in effective gun control, not phoney measures

The plan
Conservative government will:

* Repeal the wasteful long-gun registry legislation (Bill C-68).

* Reinvest savings from scrapping C-68 into hiring front-line law enforcement officers and assisting victims of crime.

* Maintain the existing handgun registry and bans on all currently prohibited weapons.

* Work with the provinces on effective gun control programs designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while respecting the rights of law-abiding Canadians to own and use firearms responsibly.

Measures will include:

- Mandatory minimum prison sentences with restricted parole eligibility for the criminal use of
firearms, trafficking or possession of stolen firearms, or illegal possession contrary to a bail, parole, or firearms prohibition order.

- Strict monitoring, including tracking place of residence, of high-risk individuals prohibited from owning firearms.

- Tighter restrictions on individuals on bail or parole for firearms offences, including the use of
electronic monitoring.

- Cracking down on gun smuggling.

- Safe storage laws.

- Firearms safety training.

- A certification system requiring a background check and safety training for all those wishing to acquire and use firearms legally.

- Eliminating exceptions to firearms prohibition orders following criminal conviction.

Tick, Tock

2006-05-15T18:21:00.000-04:00

Update: Just a reminder and an opportunity for those who didn't see this blog post the first time. Only 11 days left. I would expect to see some excellent submissions from the BT roll.

I was surfing around last night and came aross this contest. Here's a good chance for all of us opinionated sorts. Cash prizes and the chance to be published. (and bragging rights for the remainder of the year)

My word processor is firing up in the background and I'm putting on a fresh pot of coffee. How about you?

Deadline is Friday May 26th, 12 noon.

Now it’s your turn to vent
Enter the Sun's annual column contest

By LINDA WILLIAMSON

Ah, spring! Another year has flown by and I can start looking forward to a whole new glorious crop.

Of course I’m talking about the Sun’s annual column contest — and the wonderful harvest of opinion I know you readers are anxious to produce.

Now in its ninth year, this contest is your chance to vent your opinions — and get published right here in these pages alongside your favourite Sun columnists!

It’s also our chance to see what our readers care most strongly about — and perhaps discover some new columnist talent.

Remember last year’s winner, Brad Phillips? A 30-year member of the Canadian Forces then stationed in Afghanistan, he had never written an opinion piece before, but his powerful account of the Afghan children who had captured his heart caught our judges’ attention. He followed up on that theme in additional columns over the past year, bringing his unique voice and perspective to our pages.

If you’re one of our winners (including in the 18-and-under and 19-30 categories), you’ll have a chance to write additional columns, too, over the next year. Who knows? You could become our readers’ new favourite.

The contest opens today and closes Friday, May 26 at noon. That gives you about five weeks to get writing.

The complete rules follow below, but first, a few guidelines:

Remember, a column is your opinion. You must have a point, and make it clearly. A column is not a short story, a letter or a memoir (although a good personal tale is great if it helps you make your point). We’re looking for bright, lively, interesting, compelling writing — in 600 words or less.

Your best bet is to choose a subject you’re passionate about (it helps if it’s one that won’t soon be outdated) and write from the heart. Don’t forget to send along a separate note telling us a bit about yourself. Have fun, and good luck.

A few changes

Now, the rules. There are a few changes from last year, so please read these all the way through (they’ll be posted at our website, torontosun.com, later this week for future reference):

Entries will be accepted until Friday, May 26 at noon.

Entries are limited to one per person.

The judges are Senior Associate Editor Lorrie Goldstein, Readership Editor Alison Downie, and me.

Prizes and categories: First prize — $500; Second prize — $300; Third prize — $200; Ages 18 and under — $200; Ages 19-30 — $200. (All entrants 30 and under are also eligible for the top prizes.)

Column length: 600 words maximum. (That’s shorter than last year.) Columns longer than 600 words will be disqualified. Note: Your name and title of the column don’t count.

Please include, separately from your column, a note about yourself, including your age, occupation, where you’re from, your interests, etc.

Winners of the 18-and-under and 19-30 categories will be asked for proof of age. Winners under age 18 will need a parent or guardian’s permission to receive prize money.

Sun employees and their immediate families may not enter.

Professional writers are eligible, but must disclose any working relationship with any of the Sun’s direct competitors (i.e., the Star, Globe, National Post, 24 Hours or Metro).

Entries on paper must be neatly printed or typed.

For the first time, you may enter by e-mail, but your entry must be sent as a text file: NO attachments.

Your column must be original, meaning it has never been published anywhere. Plagiarism is not allowed, nor will we publish any column that could cause us legal problems.

Finally, here’s how and where to send your entry:

Mail it to “Sun Column Contest,” c/o Comment Section, Toronto Sun, 333 King St. E., Toronto, M5A 3X5.

Deliver it, addressed the same way, to our front desk at 333 King St. E. during normal business hours.

Fax it — labelled “Sun Column Contest” — to 416-947-3228.

E-mail it to columncontest @tor.sunpub.com (remember, text files only; no attachments accepted).

Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. If we can’t reach you, you can’t win

Do the right thing

2006-05-15T08:48:00.000-04:00

This kind of crap needs to end. Former Military Ombudsman Andre Marin recommended compensation after investigating the matter. A year later we learn that two officers have been compenstated for their treatment, but the family continues to receive the bureaucratic shuffle.

I'm on the road with a slow connection right now, but I'll blog on this again later this evening with all the appropriate links.

Link to the original report is below, along with the recommendation for compensation.

It still stands and should be acted upon.
Soldier’s widow still fighting military for compensation(subscription only)

CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
OTTAWA
The Canadian Forces has determined the family of a soldier who was killed during a 1992 training exercise doesn’t deserve financial compensation for their suffering, despite a report last year that blasted the military for putting the man’s wife and
daughters through an emotional roller-coaster of “inattention and insensitivity.”

Christina Wheeler has fought with the military bureaucracy over 14 years, first to find out what happened the day her husband Rick was killed and then to clear his name after officers blamed him for causing his own death.

Master Cpl. Wheeler, 29, died in April 1992 when he was run over by an armoured personnel carrier during a training exercise in Alberta.

The Victoria woman thought the battle was largely won last year when an investigation by then Canadian Forces ombudsman Andre Marin blasted the military establishment for its treatment of the Wheeler family.

Marin recommended financial compensation for Wheeler and her two daughters for the pain and suffering the military put them through. He noted the military’s actions in the wake of the soldier’s death created “an aura of coverup, bias, partiality or impropriety.”

Mixed signals

The Forces has already compensated two officers, one of them retired, the other now a general, for how they were unfairly treated in the aftermath of Wheeler’s death. It also suggested last year that Christina Wheeler submit a claim for compensation, adding such a request “would receive the sympathetic consideration that any meritorious claim against the Crown would receive.”

But in an April 26 letter, the office of the Canadian Forces’ legal adviser told the Wheeler family they don’t deserve compensation. The letter noted errors and delays associated with investigations into Wheeler’s death were administrative in nature and did not make the military liable for any issues that arose from them.

A review of the evidence did not permit the Canadian Forces to determine whether “Mrs. Wheeler is suffering from the result of the death of her husband or her frustration with the process.”

Christina Wheeler said the letter is typical of the attitude the Canadian Forces has always had towards her and her daughters, who were three- and six-years-old when their father died.

“The military can do this because they can,” she explained. “They seem to keep thinking they can stall me or outwait me. I’m not sure why after 14 years they think I’m going to go away.”

From Military Ombudsman Andre Morin's report, When a Soldier Falls:

1506 I therefore recommend that:

1507 30. The Chief of the Defence Staff take action to acknowledge the unfair treatment that the immediate family of MCpl Wheeler received during the investigation of MCpl Wheeler’s death, and ensure that appropriate measures are taken to ensure redress so that adequate closure can be obtained by the family.

1508 The department’s response to this recommendation reads:

1509 Agree in principle. A family visit to the site of the accident and the erection of the memorial cairn, was greatly appreciated by Mrs Wheeler. LFWA continues to
maintain contact through a Liaison Officer.

1510 The DND/CF recognizes the trials that Mrs. Wheeler has endured during the entire process. The departmental OPI [office of primary interest] for compensation claims, DND/CFLA CCL [Department of National Defence / Canadian Forces Legal Advisor Claims and Civil Litigation], has no authority, however, to settle this matter without first receiving a claim from Mrs. Wheeler.
Were such a claim to be received by CCL from Mrs. Wheeler, it would receive the sympathetic consideration that any meritorious claim against the Crown would receive.

1511 Although the DND/CF response appears to indicate that legal advisors for the military would be amenable to making some offer of compensation to Mrs. Wheeler in response to a legal claim submitted by her, this does not in my view go far enough to recognize the harm which she and her daughters have suffered. I note that in accordance with the DND/CF response above Mrs. Wheeler has documented the extent of the impact of these events on her and her children and also provided statements from her daughters as to how they have been affected. This has been done at great emotional expense on all of their parts. It is manifestly unfair however, to place the onus on Mrs. Wheeler to jump through additional bureaucratic hurdles to make a case for compensation, especially given the findings contained in my Office’s report. The ordeal which she has suffered is well documented and the impact on her and her immediate family should speak for itself. It is also deserving of anacknowledgement at the highest level.
I am calling upon the Chief of the Defence Staff to formally acknowledge the impact on Mrs. Wheeler and to instructmilitary legal advisors to ensure not just that her claim receives “sympathetic consideration” but that she receive adequate and just compensation on a expeditious basis, sothat she and her family can put closure to this lengthy saga.

Cross posted to The Torch

Happy Mother's Day

2006-05-14T04:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

I'm off to Guelph this morning to have brunch with my own mom.

(anybody know any flower shops between Windsor and Guelph open at 5am?)

Blogging Tories Site of the Week

2006-05-14T03:27:00.000-04:00

Right in Canada

definition of a liberal: someone so open minded their brains have fallen out

Kariba graced the Site of the Week rolls not long after I first started it last summer. She is a compelling read and well worth the vist. Since she continues to blog on that wierd Xanga thing, you might not notice her all the time. Stop in, have a read and bookmark it. It's worth the effort. (Hint: check out Roe vs Wade for Men)

Blog on!

100 down, 3365 to go

2006-05-13T09:16:00.000-04:00

Amazing what having a plan and sticking to it can do for you.

Harper reflects on first 100 days
PM relishing job, pleased at pace of accomplishments
May 13, 2006. 07:35 AM
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had to fight a few brush fires during his first 100 days in office.

But he maintains that, on the whole, things have gone so well since his government was sworn in on Feb. 6 that work has already begun on fashioning a new agenda for his government.

Harper, 47, appeared relaxed when he sat down yesterday for an interview with the Star to reflect on his first 100 days in office (as of next week) and to give a glimpse at what can be expected from him in the days and months ahead.

One last trip

2006-05-13T07:48:00.000-04:00

This from a local columnist who I usually disagree with. On this subject though, I wholeheartedly agree. The Canadian government paid for the first disastrous trip to Dieppe by these veterans. At the very least, the government can do the same for their last.

Of the 4,963 Canadians who embarked for the operation only 2,210 returned to England, and many of these were wounded. There were 3,367 casualties, including 1,946 prisoners of war; 907 Canadians lost their lives.

The Essex virtually ceased to exist after Dieppe. Of 540 all ranks who embarked, only 48 returned, and many of these men were wounded.

One CF Airbus should do the trick.

'These guys' get their due(subscription only)

Gord Henderson, Windsor Star
Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006

Signing the guest book at the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery where dozens of young men from Windsor and Essex County are spending eternity, Mike Beale felt compelled to include a question.

"How do we find a way to remember these guys?" he wrote while seated in the stone nave of that achingly beautiful hillside cemetery where the dead, buried in long double rows by their German foes, are serenaded by songbirds and bumblebees.

"These guys" were the 907 Canadians killed during the disastrous Aug. 19, 1942, raid on the French seaport of Dieppe, including 121 members of the Windsor-based Essex Scottish Regiment. And the question posed by Beale, a city businessman on a European pilgrimage, was rhetorical. Or so he thought.

Fast-forward to last spring, and Beale, an honorary member of the Essex and Kent Scottish, was in the non-commissioned officers' mess at Fort Knox in Kentucky, the main U.S. army armour training centre, after a day spent observing Windsor reservists on training exercises.

Seated across from his buddy, Lt. Col. Phil Berthiaume, Essex and Kent's commanding officer, Beale was enjoying his first sip of a single malt scotch when Berthiaume dangled the hook. He explained that the regiment's memorial plaque in Dieppe was in rough shape and needed replacing.

"I hadn't even punched a hole in the bottle," said Beale. But that didn't keep him from leaping at the bait. "We can do that. Sure. No problem," he glibly assured Berthiaume. The next morning the scale of the challenge dawned. "Mike. You've got your mouth in gear. Now you've got to deliver," he told himself.

FINISH LINE IN SIGHT

A big challenge, yes. But also a gift. He recalled the words he'd written in the cemetery. "How do we find a way to remember these guys?" Now he had a way. An ideal way. And it had just fallen into his lap.

A year later, Beale and his project committee are nearing the finish line. They've raised about $100,000 in cash and hundreds of thousands more in donated goods and services.

What began with 20 bucks worth of lumber, used to build a mock-up of the proposed memorial, has evolved into a civic cause that has drawn support from every age group and from organizations as diverse as the CAW and Rotary.

Beale, who described his role as "whining and arm-twisting and generally making a nuisance of myself," was blown away by Windsor's response. Two DaimlerChrysler workers, Jim Lee and Ken Rose, organized a plant gate collection and in a single day raised $5,400, on top of the CAW's $25,000 contribution.

"It's just been a wonderful, wonderful ride," said Beale. What really affected him was how students at several area schools bought in. At Prince Edward elementary school, for instance, the kids raised $588.17. "It might as well have been a million as far as I'm concerned," he marvelled.

Even the thumbs-downs helped. When Air Canada and Air France declined to do anything special (Beale said he could find better deals on the internet) to help 12 vets and their caregivers get to France for the August ceremony, local contributions soared. "It helped us in a backhanded kind of way."

A story in last Saturday's Star sparked new interest and four more Essex Scottish vets, including one living in California, now want to make this last trip. "So be it. These guys have got to go. That's all there is to it," said Beale.

A positive thinker by nature, he's unwilling to pose the obvious question. Where the heck is the federal government in this? If the nation was prepared to give its soldiers a free ride to France in 1942, why isn't it doing the same thing now? Why is it leaving it to school kids to raise nickels and dimes to do the right thing?

Beale said National Defence has been very helpful in getting people to Dieppe on scouting and prep missions and will fly the three-tonne granite memorial to Europe on June 14.

The vets will likely fly out of Detroit on a discount airline. But Beale's dream scenario, the one he wishes the feds could visualize, would have a military aircraft departing Windsor Airport for France with the vets and their supporters. There would be a brass band and a cheering crowd. In other words, a proper final send off for heroes.

It would be a class act and powerful demonstration of our collective gratitude. Surely that's not too much to ask.

Cross posted from the Torch

Choose your weapons: frozen peas or artillery shells

2006-05-13T00:15:00.000-04:00

Yet another Premier who just doesn't quite get it yet. Posture, position and pout all you want, it will get you no where. Negotiating through the media will accomplish even less. Philisophical differences aside, low level talks between various provincial and federal ministries on unique approaches to problems will probably yield far better results.

Any of the Premiers who think this upcoming negotiation on equalization will be a repeat of negotiations of old need to give their heads a good strong shake.

This is not Paul Martin looking for a 3 day photo op with the Premiers as a prelude to shoveling billions more out the door. If you prepare for this round of negotiations as you have in the past it will be akin to bringing a pea shooter to an artillery duel. Your choice.

Saskatchewan Premier wants answers from PM on equalization
"While I appreciate the philosophical commitment, from my point of view that is not satisfactory to resolving this file. The philosophical commitment needs to turn to reality over the next several months."

There are also concerns from the NDP over the Conservative intent to scrap the Kelowna accord on aboriginal issues and the child-care agreements signed by the previous government with the province.

There's also dismay over the cutting of federal funding to the Saskatchewan Forest Centre, the softwood lumber deal with the United States, the scrapping of the deal to sell grain hopper rail cars to a farmer's coalition and ongoing uncertainty over whether future agricultural programs will continue to be split 60/40 per cent between the federal and provincial governments.

Calvert said Harper told him he would not do anything on equalization until the expert panel on equalization appointed by the Liberals reports shortly.

The premier wants assurances Harper will act on his promise no matter what the panel reports and to ensure the changes are made before next year's federal budget.

When we're done, not a minute sooner

2006-05-12T19:12:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's focused on what our exit strategy from Afghanistan should be needs to run, not walk on over to the Torch and take a few minutes to read Babbling Brooks' excellent post.

One simple answer in a sea of complicated questions

When it comes to Afghanistan, our exit strategy should be this: we'll leave when the democratically elected government of Afghanistan asks us to, and not before. As long as there's more work to be done in the country by foreign troops, Canadians should be helping to do it.

It seems to me that asking when we'll leave Afghanistan is like asking a paramedic when she's planning to stop performing CPR on a heart-attack victim just clinging to life. Don't be surprised when she snaps at you with annoyance: when the patient no longer needs my help to live - now bugger off and let me do my job

The sooner we move this discussion out of the realm of political rhetoric into reality, the better.

All hope is not lost

2006-05-12T09:02:00.000-04:00

Nice to know that someone else finally got around to reading the budget discussion paper.

Fiscal policy versus posturing

JOHN IBBITSON
The accusations and arguments over the fiscal imbalance have reached the point where it's just about impossible to separate fact from rhetoric, policy from posturing.
So here are a few touchstones you might want to bear in mind, as we stagger through the coming months.
1. Stephen Harper is a pragmatist, but not a hypocrite.

2. The fiscal imbalance cannot be resolved through equalization alone.

3. It's not just about Quebec

4. It's not so much about the money, either.

It's only 125 pages with lots of big letters, graphs and white space. (There, maybe a few Liberals will actually read it now)

More policies for Liberal MP Khan to protest about

2006-05-12T08:26:00.000-04:00

Related: Liberal MP organizing anti-Harper protest - By the way, I'd be interested in hearing from any NDP, Conservative, Green, Libertarian, Marxist-Leninist and general non-partisan people who also received a phone call from Liberal MP Khan's office to attend this anti-Harper protest.

Stephen Harper's Conservative government action speaks louder than 13 years of empty Liberal words.

Harper set to make foreign adoptions easier
CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce plans to make it easier for Canadians to adopt children born in foreign countries.

Harper is set to make the announcement Friday during a visit to Mississauga, Ont.

Sources told CTV News that Ottawa wants to smooth away the bureaucratic red tape that currently slows the process for overseas adoptions.

Harper also reportedly intends to follow up on his election promise to half the $975 immigrant landing fee.

The announcements come as the Tories move to woo immigrant communities, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area.

The GTA takes in around 40 per cent of new immigrants who come to Canada each year, but despite Harper's promise on cutting the landing fee, the Conservatives were shut out of Toronto in the January elections.

The region is a crucial battleground for the Tories as they try to lure away enough Liberal seats to form a majority government.

On Thursday, Ottawa said it would issue temporary residence permits to people who had been smuggled into the country to work in the sex industry and other trades.

Police say between 600 and 800 people are smuggled into Canada each year, while a further 1,500 to 2,200 are trafficked through the country into the United States.

Immigration Minister Monte Solberg told Reuters Thursday that victims would be given temporary residence permits valid for 120 days and would be eligible for health-care benefits.

At the end of that period, they could either return to their home country or apply for another permit valid for up to five years.

"We're talking about a lot of people who are affected by it . . . it's an important start," he said.

Canada is the signatory to a 2003 United Nations trafficking protocol to protect and assist those caught up in the trade in human beings.

Canadian PRT's at work in Afghanistan

2006-05-12T02:35:00.000-04:00

10 May 2006
Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, Afghanistan

Lieutenant Gwen Bourque is one of the instrumental players whom has been involved with the donation of three ambulances, a garbage truck, and one dump truck to the Afghan people. The ceremony took place at the Governor’s palace downtown Kandahar City. The ambulances will be distributed to Spin Boldak, Panjwayi and Maywand District Health Center’s. The garbage truck is for the hospital and the prison. The prisoner van will be to transport prisoner’s to court from the jail.

The Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (KPRT) located at Camp Nathan Smith in the heart of Kandahar City is comprised of approximately 250 soldiers, drawn largely from Land Forces Western Area (LFWA) and 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) based in Shilo, Manitoba and Edmonton, Alberta.

Task Force Afghanistan is part of Canada’s contribution to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Canadians and their international partners are helping Afghan people to rebuild their lives, their families, their communities and their nation. The mission is to improve the quality of life of Afghan people by providing a secure environment in which Afghan society can recover from more than 25 years of conflict.

Photo by Sergeant Carole Morissette
Task Force Afghanistan Roto 1
Imagery Technician

Cross posted from the Torch

Liberal MP organizing anti-Harper protest

2006-05-11T23:51:00.000-04:00

File this one under the 'devoid of any credibility' category.

Does anyone else find it interesting that an MP's office is calling Liberal supporters to arrange a protest? Seems like a rather partisan use of government resources.

Update: someone in the 905 should give the office a call first thing in the morning to obtain the 'protest' details.

Update 2: Khan is listed as a Joe Volpe supporter for the Liberal Leadership.

To all Mississauga Liberals, particularly those from Mississauga-Streetsville:

The office of the Mississauga-Streetsville MP, Wajid Khan, just called me to alert me that Stephen Harper will be appearing at the Delta Medowvale Hotel tomorrow (Friday May 12) to make an announcement regarding Immigration. The office wants as many Liberals as possible to go and protest against Harper's policies.

If you are interested in attending and need directions or more information please call Wajid Khan's office at (905) 812-1811. Make your voice heard and let Harper know we don't approve of his policies!

P.S. If you are not from Mississauga, but want to go to protest, feel free to do so. We need as many protesters there as possible!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith

Maybe Mr. Khan should speak with some of his Liberal colleagues about their performance on this file for the last 13 years:

* since the Paul Martin authored 'Red Book' in 1993 the Libeals have been promising to raise immigration to 1% of population or approximately 320,000 people. This promise has been repeated over and over, and consistently broken. (last years figure was approximately 260,000)

* The current immigration backlog is over 800,000 - years of waiting just to have an application processed.

* A $975.00 'Right of Landing Fee' was imposed by the Liberals in 1995.

* In April of 2003 the Auditor General reported that the government had "lost track" of 36,000 people awaiting deportation

The Conservative government of Stephen Harper has initiated immediate action instead of empty promises:

* immediately cut the landing fee to $490.00, with the goal of entirely eliminating the fee

* over the next two years provide $307 million to enhance immigration settlement programs and services

* taken steps to create a Canadian agency for assessment and recognition of foreign credentials.

All this in 13 weeks, unlike the 13 years of inaction by the previous Liberal government.

I checked Mr. Khan's website and could find no mention of this protest. I wonder if this is supposed to be one of those spontaneous, non-partisan protests Liberals are always pointing to. If this protest does come off, it should be interesting to see how the MSM reports it.

Give 'em credit

2006-05-11T20:37:00.000-04:00

A PR firm that embraces blogs and the social networking prospects. As a member of the Torch group blog I received the following email:

Hi,

I work for Thornley Fallis Communications in Ottawa.

We represent both Lockheed Martin and Alenia in Canada.

We work with Lockheed on the C-130J and with Alenia on the C-27J, promoting the respective aircraft for tactical airlift and fixed-wing SAR. We also support Lockheed on JSF.

I have been following your blog, The Torch, with great interest over the past few weeks, and have circulated the address to several people in the defence industry community.

The posts on airlift have obviously been of most interest to me and my colleagues -- they have generated some really informed and insightful discussion.

Should you have any questions or require additional information on the C-130J or C-27J, I would be happy to provide you with the same level of response that I would for 'mainstream' media.

You may find these two websites useful if you aren't already aware of them: www.c-130j.ca and www.c-27j.ca.

A quick look at the Thornley Fallis website reveals both a blog and a podcast. From a recent blog post, commenting on a firm member who is departing:

We’ll accept that this increased risk is just part of the entry fee to engage in social media. And we’ll understand that it’s better to spend a year learning and exploring with a guy like David Jones than it is to spend a decade of the safe same old, same old practise of techniques we long ago mastered.
For PR consultancies, it’s grow or die. And we must learn to grow. We will learn to deal with this aspect of blogging.

On Corporate Blogging:

So, a company wants to influence the views of opinion-leading bloggers. That’s a legitimate objective.

And emailing information directly to opinion leaders is an effective way to get it in front of them. They might not see it on your own blog. But, that brings us back to the big but: true transparency requires that you should be prepared to publish for all to see anything you’re prepared to send to a selected blogger. And to be able to do this in the blogosphere requires that you have your own blog. A place where you can post your point of view, your information, for all to see.

A savvy firm not afraid to embrace a new and changing landscape.

For anyone who's wondering, the email has encouraged me to look more closely at this issue and most likely blog on it in the future.

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 9

2006-05-10T01:05:00.000-04:00

Hedy Fry
Nice, simple and quick entry page with English and French options. Just one problem, the French isn't actually a French translation of the site. The site is using a Content Management System (CMS) called Drupal. Drupal is probably one of the most powerful and versatile open-source CMS. It's also one of the geekiest. Extensive knowledge of PHP and MYSQL, although not absolutely required, is a definite asset. The French translation offered here is nothing more than the Drupal French template which will translate all the core features and menu, but none of the addon or content, unless you specifically enter those translations yourself. So, when you hit the French button (and some of the other languages listed on Hedy's site), you get a mish mash of some menus and links in French and the remainder of the site in English. This includes the top buttons and menu links. If you're not going to offer a real French translation, then don't fool people into thinking you are.

The very top menu forms a sort of action centre with $upport Hedy, Join Hedy's Team, Get in the Loop and Buy a Piece of History. The "$upport" is hokey as far as I'm concerned. At least when you click on it, you're taken to a donation page utilizing Paypal. That puts Hedy in front of 80% of the other candidates. Paypal is easy, secure and very cost effective for this sort of thing. "Join Hedy's Team" is a roundabout way to get you to join the Liberal party. After a bunch of info that most people won't read, you're offered a link to 'renew your Liberal Party Membership'. Clicking on this link takes you to a basic form that will collect your info for Hedy's team. That's a good thing - just buried one more level down than necessary. What happens if I'm not already a Liberal? Do I click the link to renew or go elsewhere to find a "Join" button. (not to be found). After filling out at least a name and email, you're taken to a page called "webform" and now offered a link to take you to the Liberal party join page. Trying to emulate Rae's join feature here, but not quite cutting it. "Get in the Loop" tells you to join, but then doesn't offer you any way to do so. The whole join, get in the loop process is confusing and self-defeating when trying to recruit. "Buy a piece History" at some point is supposed to turn into a retail store.

Next level menu is all Hedy, all the time. "Hedy's History" (Bio), "Hedy on Hedy" - not sure - a blog of sorts? "Visioning the Future" - policy (check back later), "Hedz Sez" - this is supposed to be a blog, so what is Hedy on Hedy for? Headlines - highlights one of Drupal's powerful features, aggregators. Using a Google News search, an RSS feed is created and added to the site. Now anytime an article is indexed by Google News about Hedy, the site will automatically grab it. (Now you just have to hope someone writes something about you. Hint: it will aggregate blog and other content as well). "Links" is a nice surprise and one I've been waiting to see on all the candidates sites. Hedy's sites provides links to all the other candidats sites. She encourages people to visit, check things out and come back and compare. A very nice touch.

The sidebar is another sort of mish mash. The login screen is at the top, and a really bare bones navigation menu underneath. If you sign up for the site and login, the navigation menu jumps to the top. It doesn't really offer much once you are logged in. There is a potential for forums, but none have been defined as yet. The events module is confusing. Clicking on the little pic, as most will probably do, is for ICal enabled browsers only. Great if you have a MAC or Mozilla Calendar but useless for everyone else. The "more" link actually takes you to the calendar.

The front page is where CMS can shine. Content is easy to add. The page is straight forward, although still stuck on campaign launch day. Nice little embedded video of the launch.

No RSS feeds, blog is awaiting use.

Policy - forthcoming

No Privacy Policy

Overall a very shaky start. Drupal is very powerful and versatile but the campaign needs to tame it and organize the site. The French issue is a large negative. Lots of potential here, as with some of the other CMS sites.

4.5/10

Google Link Search - 2 - dead links to old site

Google Search - #1

Bob Rae
Two steps forward, one step back. Recent News and Upcoming events have been added to the sidebar. RSS feeds have been added to top menu. "Join Bob's Virtual Community" has been removed from the main menu and given a prominent place at the top, centre of the site. Front page now has a Welcome message and a nice embedded message from Bob. Joining the community takes you to a sign up page. I felt like I was applying for a job when filling it out. KISS principle applies when you are first trying to sign up people. Once logged in, you are presented with a very formidable volunteer skills sheet. By default everything is set at 'no'. Not really sure about this implementation of collecting data. It seems sort of overbearing instead of enticing me to participate.

The once very good Join has been disrupted with what I think is a bad link. Clicking on it now takes you to a login screen. You either have to login or subscribe to the Virtual community. Gone is the opportunity to join the party. Not Good.

7.5/10 (fix the Join and we can bump this to 8)

Stephane Dion
Links to French translation and Contact added to top, under search box. "Why I'm Running" renamed to "How I See it" which takes you to the "Speeches and Position" page. Much better layout and presentation. The "Get Involved" area on the front page now has an email collector underneath that takes you to a different form page. A "Keep me informed" email box now follows the user on most pages. Now all the site needs to do is add Join and Donate to that following. Some minor improvements, but improvements nonetheless.

7.5/10

No other changes noticed on the other sites, other than a smattering of somewhat new content. (exception remains Ignatieff's site). Looks like Brison volunteers are still selling info to other Brison volunteers. :)

One hint for a couple of the sites. What's with the 1.2 and 1.9 mb pics, squashed down to fit on the site? Even on high speed, these are a drag on page load and there are still some dial-up people out there that are really pissed at you right now.

One last note - there must be at least one Liberal out there who reads these reviews who can contact Martha Hall Findlay's team and let them know what a REALLY BAD idea it is to solicit Credit Card donations through an unsecure form and email submit. I've tried contacting through the site and by email. No luck.

Blue Blogging Soapbox's Liberal Leadership Review Page - all the reviews and links to other Leadership related sites.

The Race to Stornaway - Calgary Grit has compiled all his links into one post. He pledges to update as often as Joe Volpe does!

Choice for Childcare Blogroll

2006-05-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

Update: Just a repeat for any who missed this yesterday. One clarification, there is no need to display the blogroll in order to join. You can put a button up, a link or nothing at all if you wish. The goal is simply to collect together like minded people on this issue and begin raising the profile more.

I've been trying to become more proficient with Photoshop for a while now. As I was playing around with the program tonight, I was looking for a graphic or picture to work with. Since Child care has been on many people's mind lately thanks to Liberal Leadership Candidate Carolyn Bennett, that seemed to be a good theme to pick.

After creating a few different buttons and banners I figured I might as well find a way to put them to good use. Mother did teach me to always share. Once I got this far, I figured I might as well go all the way and create a blogroll for all those who wish to show their support for Choice in Childcare. I've posted the various buttons and banners below, along with some code for an easy cut and paste to display the pics. The Blogroll code is at the very bottom. I borrowed from Sara's link list to get the blogroll started. If anyone doesn't want their site listed that I have on their, just send me an email and I'll remove it right away.

Have fun!

Banner 768 x 124 (click on banner to see actual size)

Banner 468x76

Button 190x72

Button 150x57

Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word...

2006-05-09T07:15:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, it's time for another appearance by bonehead.

Maurice Vellacott is not a rookie MP. (not that that would forgive a statement like this, but would go a little farther in explaining it). I don't believe the Supreme Court and its' Justices are above criticism, but at least make the argument credible.

Mr. Vellacott is not alone though. Reading through some of the opposition responses, Mr. Comartin's struck me as somewhat on the sanctimonious side:

PM downplays MP's attack on judiciary
"NDP justice critic Joe Comartin, who practiced law for 27 years, said Vellacott is "simply following a pattern that we've seen from this Conservative government repeatedly.

"That tendency to be almost paranoid about our judiciary really does permeate the Conservative party. . . It's offensive for anybody who's practiced in the courts, who understands how the courts function."

"Paranoid", "permeate", "pattern" - ooohhh - those scary Conservatives. Vellacott's statements no more reflect the government's views than would any one of Mr. Comartin's comments necessarily automatically reflect the view of the NDP.

It's not like Mr. Comartin would every impugn the credibility of a Superior Court Justice (soon to be a Supreme Court Justice, at that time) and a Senior Minister of the Crown in one sentence:

Dan Cook on the Supreme Court committee review
4:27 p.m. Final Summary Justice Minister Vic Toews: Thanks everyone. Let's Justice Rothstein know that he attended one of his classes thirty-years ago. Rude interruption by NDP member Joe Comartin: suggests Justice Rothstein got Justice Minister Vic Toews through law school.

Of course, for someone who's practiced in the courts and understands things, he must obviously be referring to the extra study help Justice Rothstein offered Mr. Toews.

I'll score that as two boneheads for the price of one.

Criticism is healthy, especially for one so deserving as Mr. Vellacott in this situation. Over the top rhetoric, on the other hand, tends to minimize that which you are trying to achieve.

Some light reading

2006-05-09T05:44:00.000-04:00

First read this story:

Newfoundland and Labrador to develop Lower Churchill alone
Last Updated Mon, 08 May 2006 15:14:34 EDT
CBC News

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador plans to move ahead on its own to develop the Lower Churchill River hydroelectric generating project, Premier Danny Williams announced Monday.

Last year, the province accepted proposals from three potential developers, but Williams said none of them would yield sufficient benefits for the people of the province.

Instead, he said it is time for the province to get the lion's share of the profits by selling the power over transmission lines across Quebec.

Now take a look at Page 49 of this document, under the heading "Barriers to Mobility and Trade Within Canada"

Interesting stuff.

For the political junkies, some background reading - Agreement on Internal Trade

Liberal Leadership Review - Ratings/Links page

2006-05-09T05:00:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to cleaning up my Google page and have set up the latest Ratings and various links there. As things progess I will keep this page updated with the latest stats.

Blue Blogging Soapbox - Liberal Leadership Review - Stats and Links

Google Page Creator is a handy little tool for bloggers. The WYSIWYG editor isn't too bad once you get used to it. Nice little utility for whipping off a quick web page. No annoying ads or banners like most other free hosting sites. Google Page Creator includes 100 mb of space for hosting your pages and any other files you wish. Requires a Gmail account. (email me for a Gmail invite if you want to try it out)

Is it just me or is it getting personal around here ?

2006-05-09T04:08:00.000-04:00

"Conservative party mouthpiece and supposed blogger Stephen Taylor"

Sounds like someone's been hanging out at Robert's place again.

Choice for Childcare Blogroll

2006-05-08T20:23:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to become more proficient with Photoshop for a while now. As I was playing around with the program tonight, I was looking for a graphic or picture to work with. Since Child care has been on many people's mind lately thanks to Liberal Leadership Candidate Carolyn Bennett, that seemed to be a good theme to pick.

After creating a few different buttons and banners I figured I might as well find a way to put them to good use. Mother did teach me to always share. Once I got this far, I figured I might as well go all the way and create a blogroll for all those who wish to show their support for Choice in Childcare. I've posted the various buttons and banners below, along with some code for an easy cut and paste to display the pics. The Blogroll code is at the very bottom. I borrowed from Sara's link list to get the blogroll started. If anyone doesn't want their site listed that I have on their, just send me an email and I'll remove it right away.

Have fun!

Banner 768 x 124 (click on banner to see actual size)

Banner 468x76

Button 190x72

Button 150x57

Liberal Leadership Website Review Update 8

2006-05-08T08:15:00.000-04:00

Content Review

Once a week (at random times) I'll review each site for 'freshness' of content. In order to drive traffic to a site and engage with your visitors a site requires ever changing content. The lack of fresh content and information renders a site nothing more than an Internet Postcard.

I figured the day after the LPC(O) convention was a good time to check. By late Sunday evening, each team should of had enough time to update with content from the weekend.

Freshness Scale:

Piping Hot! - less than 12 hours old
Fresh - new within last 24 hours
Day old - new within last 48 hours
Stale - no new content for more than 48 hours
Mouldy - no new content for more than 5 days
Putrid - no new content for more than a week

(Note: Freshness relates to original content on site, not external links to MSM stories. Calendar/Event info, while helpful, will also not be counted as content. )

Carolyn Bennett - Stale
no media advisories, no press releases or stories. Latest English blog 03 May, French 04 May. Testimonial posted on the 5th of May

Scott Brison - Putrid
no media advisories, no press releases. Latest story posted on the 30th of April.

Maurizio Bevilacqua - Stale, almost Mouldy
no media advisories, front page press release dated 02 May (teaser posted on front page, full release only available as a Word download), blog post on the 3rd of May

Stephane Dion - Day Old
New article on the front page (no date) - looks to be from speech Friday night at LPC(O). Same article in News section with a date of 06 May.

Ken Dryden - Putrid
no media advisories, no press releases, no blog posts. Latest content found was a speech dated 29 April.

Martha Hall Findlay - Putrid
no media advisories, no press releases, no new section at all. Doesn't look like any content has changed since site launched.

Hedy Fry - I'll begin tracking content on this site after I complete my initial review, probably late Monday or Tuesday.

Michael Ignatieff - Piping Hot!
Hat tip to Ignatieff's Communications team. They are obviously the best prepared and most web savvy of the bunch.

Front page - two Press Releases dated 05 May. Large logo/link directing site visitors to the team's 'Live' coverage of the LPC(O) convention. Featured live blogs and videos from Friday and Saturday. (nothing as yet from Sunday). Videos from Friday and Saturday. Special email address setup for people to email the campaign regarding LPC(O). New photos posted from LPC(O), Friday and Saturday.

Special logo created for MI Community bloggers - bloggers wearing buttons at event, with posters etc, distributed throughout the event. Only campaign that I know of that held a specific event for bloggers, and posted a quick blog about it.

Site now has a blog roll featuring various Liberal bloggers (not all Ignatieff bloggers) and an aggregator to go with the roll.

Forums are beginning to pick up steam. Anyone who has ever tried to start a forum of this nature knows that time and patience are required in order to start building. Even with the change of sites/platforms and other technical difficulties, the forums are developing. While I was on reviewing the site at 11:30 pm Eastern, there were 17 guests and 5 registered users browsing the forums. Latest stats: 470 members, 194 threads, 227 posts. There were posts from throughout the day on Sunday.

While it is still open to debate whether website strategies such as this can be turned into organizational strength in Canada, the Ignatieff team is leaving nothing to chance. Although I was expecting to see more blogs after Friday's start, the team put in a solid effort, including some good instant video. Should other campaigns try to emulate Ignatieff's at other events, they're already that much farther ahead. Excellent job.

Gerard Kennedy - Putrid
no media advisories, no press releases, news section is still under development, blog still under development. No new content can be found. Doesn't look like any content has changed since site launched. Note: watch out for those menu links that actually launch as .pdf files when you least expect it.

Bob Rae - Stale
no media advisories, no press releases. 'Virutal Community' is still under development. Front page announcement posted on Friday, although there is no date on the article.

Joe Volpe - Putrid
no media advisories, no press releases, Latest content found was a Press Release date 23rd of April

Note: in order to shorten these posts somewhat, I'll be moving all the links to a Google Web page shortly (I have to clean it up a little first), and then will only need to provide that link at the end of each post.

Related Posts, Blogs and Websites

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - original review

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 2

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 3

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 4

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 5

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 6

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 7

Rob Cottingham - other reviews on the candidates websites

Liberalia.ca - a Liblogs member's reviews

Liberal Leadership Odds - a great little site put together by Sean at Trickle Down Truth. Tracking many aspects of the race. Sean is inviting other bloggers to cross post items to the site.

Blogger Endorsement Tracking - by Cerberus

Liberal Leadership Central - By Cerebus. "Candidate websites, endorsements, website rankings, interviews and other campaign resources that can be found online." Note: most complete list that I've been able to find online.

Constable John Atkinson - RIP

2006-05-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

Const. Atkinson: Our community mourns

As an undercover officer with the province's anti-terrorism unit, Atkinson's job was lonelier than most. He toiled in anonymity and worked long hours away from his loving family to make his community -- our community -- a better place. He loved his job and he was good at it. We owe him a debt of respect for his service and his family, especially his young children, a debt for his sacrifice.

People may post their expressions of condolences online.

Books of condolences for signing by the public will be placed in five locations beginning at 10 a.m. today.

Locations
Lobby of City Hall;
AKO Neighbourhood Centre at 4170 Alice St.,
Forest Glade Community Centre at 3215 Forest Glade Drive;
College Avenue Community Centre, 3225 College Ave.,
and South Windsor recreational complex, 2555 Pulford St.

The books will remain at those locations for a week, then given to the Atkinson family.

There will be a candlelight vigil Tuesday at 8pm, Windsor Civic Terrace, Glengarry and Goyeau

Funeral will be Thursday at the St. Denis centre.

A memorial fund is being established, details of which will be available after 2pm this afternoon.

Talking to the wrong people...

2006-05-08T02:22:00.000-04:00

The Kelowna Accord

I see this situation the same as a car with an oil leak. Do you buy 10 cases of oil and keep pouring it in every day, or do you fix the oil leak?

As well as funding listed below, the federal government has invested $2.2 billion over the last 10 years in First Nations Water Systems. Right - those same water systems. An average of $350 million a year increase every year for the last five years.

Do we keep pouring good money after bad, or do we fix the leak first?

From the budget:

Government of Canada spending on programs directed towards Aboriginal people, including claims, has increased to $9.1 billion in 2005–06 from $7.4 billion in 2000–01, an average annual increase of 4.3 per cent. While federal programs targeted to Aboriginal Canadians have reduced disparities between Aboriginal people and other Canadians, unacceptable gaps remain.

The Government is committed to meeting the targets agreed upon at the fall 2005 First Ministers meeting with national Aboriginal leaders. The way forward will require a joint commitment by all parties to deal with the root causes and structural issues causing these socio-economic gaps.

The Government will work with Aboriginal leaders and provinces and territories to develop a new approach with workable solutions to meet the established targets. Strong accountability and governance structures will be essential to ensure concrete improvements in outcomes and to ensure programs are effective.

Some of the Aboriginal response:

Budget to feel political heat on aboriginal issues: native leaders
Failure to implement Kelowna Accord will increase frustrations within aboriginal communities, lead to disputes and conflict, First Nations chiefs say.

BC First Nations Leadership Council Joins with Premier Gordon Campbell & the Entire Legislative Assembly of BC in an Urgent Call for Federal Gov't Financial Support for Kelowna Accord Commitments

I continue to view Jim Prentice as the best Minister this file has had in the last 30 years. Maybe if Aboriginal leaders spent more time talking to him instead of the press and their former Liberal friends, some momentum might actually be achieved on this issue.

Best Liberal "source" quote of the week

2006-05-08T01:33:00.000-04:00

As well as the best quote from a Liberal MP.

From a Hill Times article:

Libs in no hurry to bring down Harper's government
Federal Liberals say they will vote against Prime Minister Harper's budget, but no one seriously wants to defeat the Conservatives before the next Grit convention.

Meanwhile, another Liberal source told The Hill Times that under the current circumstances, it's unlikely that the Liberals will win the next election because of their low popularity in Quebec. According to a CROP poll released last week, federal Conservatives surprisingly surpassed the Bloc.

According to the poll conducted for La Presse and released last week, Conservatives were leading with 34 per cent of support from Quebecers, followed by the Bloc who had the support of 31 per cent of Quebecers and Liberals had the support from only 15 per cent of Quebecers.

The source said Liberals, at this time, seem to be relying on the strategy to wait for the Conservatives to make some gaffes, which the Liberal said, won't win them the next election.

"People [Liberals] are deluding themselves. If they think that the Tories will trip up and that we'll form the government next year, it's possible, nothing is impossible, but my God, you think the Tories are going to fuck it up that badly, that Canadians will not want to give them another chance, I can't see that, I can't see that. I am convinced we're out for four to six years, that's my opinion, I may be wrong but we'll see," said the source.

"We've got to do better in Quebec. We can't win [nationally] without that."

Liberal MP John McCallum (Markham-Unionville, Ont.), meanwhile, who was recently quoted in Maclean's magazine saying if the Liberals don't make any progress in Quebec they won't be in government until the 22nd century, emphasized last week that the key to forming the government after the next election for the Liberals is to become relevant again in Quebec where they were reduced to 13 seats in the last election.

Right from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

No two tier health care in Ontario

2006-05-07T03:20:00.000-04:00

Liberals will call it anything other than two tier. Legal hair splitting is all that it is.

We live in a world of rationed health care. Who you know does mean something when it comes to receiving your ration. You can get an MRI for your dog faster than you can get one for your mother. Quebec and British Columbia have thriving private sector initiatives underway, yet if any other Province contemplates moving in this direction, out comes the velvet hammer.

We must continue to demand more, and when the government can't or won't produce, we should be allowed to legally purchase the required service anywhere in Canada.

Hospitals willing to deliver drugs paid for by patients
May 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
ELAINE CAREY AND TANYA TALAGA
HEALTH REPORTERS

Under a proposed agreement with Ontario's 14 cancer treatment hospitals, the patients would buy the drugs and the hospital would administer them without charge.

"If you're wealthy enough to buy it, or have it covered by third-party insurance, is it a reasonable thing that you should have no access to this agent?" he asked. "I'd like you to speak to the cancer patients who are presenting this case."

Women with breast cancer who are prescribed expensive aromatase inhibitors already have to pay for the pills because Ontario pays only for cancer drugs that are intravenously administered, Sullivan said.

"This is the way we pay for pharmaceuticals in this country — it's all over the map," he said.

Sullivan is adamant that the new proposal is not two-tier health care because the drugs are not covered by the provincial insurance plan. The Canada Health Act only prohibits paying for drugs or services that are insured, he argues.

"The feds have nothing to do with this," he said. "It's about whether or not hospitals are comfortable with this. How can it be a violation of the Canada Health Act to say you're allowing patients to pay for a service that's uninsured?"

From a true blue Conservative...

2006-05-07T03:01:00.000-04:00

With a sense of humour to boot!

Stuck in the meddle
Now, aside from the occasional cigar with a sniff of snuff and a glass of port at a military banquet, I don't smoke.

Don't advise anyone else to smoke, either. It's hardly an endearing habit, and a dangerous one, too.

A bit like voting Liberal or New Democrat.

Seriously though, a good read. One more person who's had enough of being told what to eat, how to speak, where to go to school, what to think about. Enough social engineering by those who know better.

Blogging Tories Site of the Week

2006-05-07T02:37:00.000-04:00

Back Off Government!

"Do this. Don't do that. Stay back in line. Where's tax receipt? Fill out form. Let's see license. Submit six copies. Exit only. No left turn. No right turn. Queue up and pay fine. Take back and get stamped. Drop dead - but first get permit." -Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.

Blog on!

Reading, a lost art in Canadian politics

2006-05-06T05:15:00.000-04:00

Paul Wells with one of the shortest, yet probably one of the most insightful blogs of the week. Many may not of even noticed it due to his recent blog hiatus.

No surprises in the budget?

As always, nobody's reading the discussion paper. The surprises are always in the discussion paper. A radical revision of recent history and a sweeping plan for the future. It's all in there. And if you follow Stephen Harper's paper trail --as I've been doing, O Lord, for three months— -- you see he always drops king-sized hints about where he's headed.

I almost feel sorry for the current crop of Liberal leadership candidates focusing their energy on critiquing Harper regarding the evironment and the Kelowna accord. Almost.

Anyone who read Wells' post-election piece on Harper will realize he's one of the few journalists to look beyond the conventional stereotypes of Stephen Harper. He's taken the time to get a sense of who Stephen Harper is. A McLeans subscription would be a worthwhile investment for the next year. While most of the press gallery has been spilling barrels of ink on where Stephen Harper should be holding his press conferences or who gets to ask what, where, when, Wells has been doing what good journalists do best. Digging.

Have your say - the Toronto Sun way

2006-05-06T01:01:00.000-04:00

I was surfing around last night and came aross this contest. Here's a good chance for all of us opinionated sorts. Cash prizes and the chance to be published. (and bragging rights for the remainder of the year)

My word processor is firing up in the background and I'm putting on a fresh pot of coffee. How about you?

Deadline is Friday May 26th, 12 noon.

Now it’s your turn to vent
Enter the Sun's annual column contest

By LINDA WILLIAMSON

Ah, spring! Another year has flown by and I can start looking forward to a whole new glorious crop.

Of course I’m talking about the Sun’s annual column contest — and the wonderful harvest of opinion I know you readers are anxious to produce.

Now in its ninth year, this contest is your chance to vent your opinions — and get published right here in these pages alongside your favourite Sun columnists!

It’s also our chance to see what our readers care most strongly about — and perhaps discover some new columnist talent.

Remember last year’s winner, Brad Phillips? A 30-year member of the Canadian Forces then stationed in Afghanistan, he had never written an opinion piece before, but his powerful account of the Afghan children who had captured his heart caught our judges’ attention. He followed up on that theme in additional columns over the past year, bringing his unique voice and perspective to our pages.

If you’re one of our winners (including in the 18-and-under and 19-30 categories), you’ll have a chance to write additional columns, too, over the next year. Who knows? You could become our readers’ new favourite.

The contest opens today and closes Friday, May 26 at noon. That gives you about five weeks to get writing.

The complete rules follow below, but first, a few guidelines:

Remember, a column is your opinion. You must have a point, and make it clearly. A column is not a short story, a letter or a memoir (although a good personal tale is great if it helps you make your point). We’re looking for bright, lively, interesting, compelling writing — in 600 words or less.

Your best bet is to choose a subject you’re passionate about (it helps if it’s one that won’t soon be outdated) and write from the heart. Don’t forget to send along a separate note telling us a bit about yourself. Have fun, and good luck.

A few changes

Now, the rules. There are a few changes from last year, so please read these all the way through (they’ll be posted at our website, torontosun.com, later this week for future reference):

Entries will be accepted until Friday, May 26 at noon.

Entries are limited to one per person.

The judges are Senior Associate Editor Lorrie Goldstein, Readership Editor Alison Downie, and me.

Prizes and categories: First prize — $500; Second prize — $300; Third prize — $200; Ages 18 and under — $200; Ages 19-30 — $200. (All entrants 30 and under are also eligible for the top prizes.)

Column length: 600 words maximum. (That’s shorter than last year.) Columns longer than 600 words will be disqualified. Note: Your name and title of the column don’t count.

Please include, separately from your column, a note about yourself, including your age, occupation, where you’re from, your interests, etc.

Winners of the 18-and-under and 19-30 categories will be asked for proof of age. Winners under age 18 will need a parent or guardian’s permission to receive prize money.

Sun employees and their immediate families may not enter.

Professional writers are eligible, but must disclose any working relationship with any of the Sun’s direct competitors (i.e., the Star, Globe, National Post, 24 Hours or Metro).

Entries on paper must be neatly printed or typed.

For the first time, you may enter by e-mail, but your entry must be sent as a text file: NO attachments.

Your column must be original, meaning it has never been published anywhere. Plagiarism is not allowed, nor will we publish any column that could cause us legal problems.

Finally, here’s how and where to send your entry:

Mail it to “Sun Column Contest,” c/o Comment Section, Toronto Sun, 333 King St. E., Toronto, M5A 3X5.

Deliver it, addressed the same way, to our front desk at 333 King St. E. during normal business hours.

Fax it — labelled “Sun Column Contest” — to 416-947-3228.

E-mail it to columncontest @tor.sunpub.com (remember, text files only; no attachments accepted).

Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. If we can’t reach you, you can’t win

Time for CPC to fix this issue

2006-05-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

From the Toronto Star's Political Notebook blog.

Oh, and before we forget, taxpayers forked over the tab for the government Challenger jet, RCMP security and other expenses to Harper could attend a provincial political fundraiser.

This issue was bound to come up sooner or later, and rightfully so. The CPC hounded the Liberals in past years for their partisan use of the Challenger.

The right thing to do is for the party to cover the costs of the jet's use when used to attend partisan events. The practice of scheduling other government business to coincide with party events is a thin veneer of credibility. The costs should be split between the taxpayers and the government. Harper's latest visit to Toronto as mentioned above would be a case in point. Not knowing what other business Harper did in Toronto I would say that this visit would be split something like 90% for the party and 10% by the taxpayers.

The Prime Minister has no choice but to travel on the challenger due to security concerns. That being said, there's no reason why the taxpayers should be picking up the tab for trips that are mainly partisan related. At the very least, the party should be reimbursing taxpayers an amount equal to what the trip would have cost if commercial air was used.

Police Officer shot and killed in Windsor

2006-05-05T19:15:00.000-04:00

Latest reports have two youths in custody with police continuing a search for a third suspect. The Chief of Police and Mayor will be holding a press conference later this evening with further details.

The officer killed, John Atkinson, was a 15 year veteran who leaves behind a wife and two young children.

Update 6:00 am: Slain Officer's daughter turns seven today

Update 5:00 am: Windsor Police Services Media Release

Update 10:00 pm: Plain-clothes police officer in Windsor, Ont., shot and killed while on duty

Police officer in Windsor, Ont., shot and killed in parking lot: report at 17:27 on May 5, 2006, EST.

WINDSOR, Ont. (CP) - A police officer was shot and killed Friday in the parking lot of a Mac's Milk convenience store in a residential section of this southwestern Ontario border city, radio reports said.

Video footage of the scene showed a body under a blue sheet, and unidentified police sources told two media outlets that the dead man was a police officer. Witnesses said two young men shot the officer outside the Mac's Milk store in the city's east end just after 2 p.m.

A store employee identified as Emma said she saw two men in the parking lot when suddenly she heard gunfire.

"We heard gunshots and a guy was bleeding from his mouth, and then we were told he was a policeman," she said.

Police sources who asked that their names not be used told media sources in Leamington that it was a police officer who had died.

Witness Lloyd Menard said onlookers couldn't believe their eyes or their ears.

"At first, a couple of people thought they were just like poppers on the ground, but no, it was actually gunfire," he said. "My truck's got blood all over it, so those kids must have shot him right there."

The owner of the Mac's Milk declined to comment on the shooting, saying she was worried for her life.

Two suspects were reportedly taken into custody, and SWAT teams cordoned off a large area and launched a huge manhunt for a third suspect in a part of the city that has many vacant warehouses.

One report said the officer returned fire and may have hit one of the suspects.

Another report said the officer was a 15-year veteran of the force who was not in uniform. The body under the blue sheet appeared to be wearing jeans.

At least eight elementary schools and one high school in the area were locked down, keeping as many as 3,400 students indoors. A nearby day-care centre was also under lockdown.

Doug Fox of the Greater Essex County District School Board said all the students were safe, but were being held until police gave the all clear or parents arrived to pick them up.

"We don't want them to be anywhere near a place where they could be in danger," Fox said.

Nearby residents were also advised to remain in their homes.

Windsor police did not immediately return calls seeking comment, but scheduled a news conference for 8 p.m. ET at police headquarters to discuss the shooting.

The area where the shooting took place is on the other side of the city from the border crossing to Detroit.

Officials at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor said security had not been stepped up as a result of the shooting and that officials were taking no extra precautions.

One local resident said people in the city were unused to gun violence, despite their proximity to the United States.

Take a moment this evening to remember John Atkinson and his family in your thoughts.

Update: I turned off the comments on this post after seeing where they were going. This post was intended to be respectful and informative, nothing more. I suppose I should have made my intent clear.

Flaherty scores a touchdown

2006-05-05T18:24:00.000-04:00

TOUCHDOWN

Federal Budget

Budgets are where the rubber really hits the road in politics. Politicians can – and often do – promise things and support ideas ‘til the cows come home … but when something is put into the budget, it’s actually going to happen. So federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty scored a large Touchdown when he unveiled the Harper government’s maiden budget this week, because it followed through in no uncertain terms the Conservatives’ key campaign promises: cuts in taxes (and specifically in the GST), more money for the military, and financial resources to get tough on gun crime and to ensure a more accountable government. Regardless of how you might feel about the Harper agenda, the fact that the budget walks the talk of the Conservative election campaign commitments makes it a great piece of communications.

Bob Reid has been a journalist and media advisor to a former Ontario Premier. He is now Veritas’ principal media coach.

Touchdowns and Fumbles

Did you see the big story in the news this week? Can you believe someone ACTUALLY said that to a reporter? How would you have handled yourself in that situation?

Get Veritas' expert analysis of the communication plays of the week, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Sign up for our newsletter, Touchdowns & Fumbles

Carolyn Bennett has some homework to do

2006-05-04T11:45:00.000-04:00

I wonder if Liberal Leadership candidate Carolyn Bennett read the Liberal Party's "Code of Conduct" for leadership candidates prior to her Childcare or Prison statements.

If she has, she might want to re-read the section entitled 'Public Image'. If she hasn't, someone should get her a copy REALLY quick.

Public Image

Our reputation and identity are among the Liberal Party of Canada’s most valuable assets. No one should act in a way, or make any statement in any media, including Internet chat rooms and our internal electronic media, that adversely affects the reputation or image of the Liberal Party of Canada in the community at large. Only those designated by the National Executive or the National Director may act as official spokespeople for the Liberal Party of Canada.

Oops. Too late!

Even after losing the last election, the Liberals can't admit the fact that Canadians are interested in making their own choices for once instead of having a nanny state government tell them what's right.

Much like the Scott Reid/John Duffy 'Beer and Popcorn' combo, ex-Justice Minister Irwin Cotler decided to weigh in on the issue during yesterday's question period.

Harper eats babies and jails them?
Yesterday, former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler accused Harper of fighting an imaginary crime wave by building more prison cells at the expense of the Liberal child care plan. Whew! And the Grits think this kind of hysterical rhetoric is going to get them re-elected? Dream on, boys and girls.

Despite all their protests to the contrary, the 'Father knows best' attitude of the Liberal party still pervails.

Liberal Leadership Website Review Update 7

2006-05-04T00:53:00.000-04:00

Stephane Dion
Dion becomes the latest leadership candidate to bring his website in for a complete overhaul. The difference is profound. The new site is a Joomla Content Management System (CMS) install, utilizing what looks to be a heavily customized Rhuk Solar Flare II template. Entry page with English/French choices as well as English and French direct links to items on the site such as 'Why I'm running' and 'Get Involved'. Works well, but that picture ? !

The new site represents a leap forward for Mr. Dion. The header looks professional. Included is a search feature. If you want to see the power of CMS, try entering something like 'environment' in the search box (one of the themes of Dion's campaign). Top right of the header contains a 'Quote of the Day' feature. Nice touch, as long as it's kept current. This shouldn't be hard in Joomla as there are numerous 'Quote of the Day' plugin modules that will automatically rotate the quote based on a database that you load.

The menu is straight forward, easy to use and understand. The only thing missing is a 'Join' and 'Donate' option. The 'Get Involved' menu item takes you to a page with a catch-all form for volunteering, joining and donating.

The main page is clean, crisp and well organized.

The 'Highlights' section features 'Upcoming Events' and 'Latest News'.

The right hand side of the page is setup as a sort of action centre. The 'Get Involved' works here, but again, the site could use a Join and Donate link. Still no link to the Liberal Party's online membership form. Some graphics to highlight the section would also help. Approach the front page as if you only have 10 seconds to get a user to do something.

RSS - no RSS feeds present. As with all the other Joomla installs of candidates, this is puzzling. Joomla installs with RSS turned on by default, and is quite simple to manage for various site categories. RSS is an effective content distribution tool. No blogs or other interactive features.

Policy: I guess the 'Why I'm Running' section qualifies as the Policy section. After spending over half an hour on the site, I couldn't really point to any set of issues that define Stephane's campaign. It's there, just not presented in a way that I would remember it when I left the site.

Privacy Policy - no privacy policy

Overall a much needed improvement. The site now has a much more professional look and feel. The content presentation is greatly improved. The only thing remaining now is to take that final step to turn the site into an active tool instead of an internet postcard.

6/10

Ken Dryden
You can actually join the Liberal Party now, from the 'Join the Party' page. A minor point maybe, but a crucial aspect in a campaign that revolves around signing up members in the early stages.

7/10

General: Cerberus is running a Blogger Endorsement tracking. Currently there are 40 declared bloggers and 144 undeclared. That's a lot of online influentials looking for something to do.

Updated Rankings:

Micheal Ignatieff 8.5/10
Bob Rae 7/10
Ken Dryden 7/10
Scott Brison 6.5/10
Gerard Kennedy 6.5/10
Stephane Dion 6/10
Maurizio Bevilacqua 6/10
Joe Volpe 5/10
Carolyn Bennett 3/10
Martha Hall Findlay 0/10 - Donation Page still not fixed.

Related Posts, Blogs and Websites

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - original review

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 2

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 3

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 4

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 5

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 6

Rob Cottingham - other reviews on the candidates websites

Liberalia.ca - a Liblogs member's reviews

Liberal Leadership Odds - a great little site put together by Sean at Trickle Down Truth. Tracking many aspects of the race. Sean is inviting other bloggers to cross post items to the site.

Blogger Endorsement Tracking - by Cerberus

Globe's Margaret Wente Live - discussing childcare

2006-05-03T23:12:00.000-04:00

Good chance to join the child care debate and let your voice be heard.

Margaret Wente

Globe and Mail Update

Daycare in Canada has always been a hot-button topic, but has been particularly front-and-centre since the Liberal government announced its plan to give $5-billion over five years for subsidized daycare spaces.

But after the Liberals' defeat, the new Conservative government said it would end that program, promising instead a $1,200 family allowance payment for each child under six. Plan favours stay-at-home parents .

Like it or not, this is the approach for now for parents with small children.

Is it satisfactory to you?

Join Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente on Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT for a live discussion on daycare issues.

Send your questions in advance

As if Beer and Popcorn wasn't enough ...

2006-05-03T21:22:00.000-04:00

Liberal Leadership Candidate Carolyn Bennett decided to take the rhetoric to a whole new level. On Mike Duffy's post budget show Bennett was joined by the NDP's Olivia Chow and Minister Diane Finley.

When asked to comment on the Conservative Party's Child Care initiative contained in the budget, this is what she had to say:

"Well it certainly uh uh, the approach to child care is just spiteful its its its canceling the supplement for our most vulnerable children. There is actually no plan for early learning and childhood education (ECE). SO its a good job they're putting more money for prisons in the budget because we're gonna need them if we don't get this early childhood right."

Keep statements like this in mind as you watch the Liberal Party develop their new "vision" for Canada. Personally I've had enough "vision" over the last 13 years to last me a lifetime.

It's time for action.

H/T to Sara @ Choice for Childcare

Joel @ Proud to be Canadian has the video of Carolyn Bennett's comments.

Today's Mike Duffy Live
Diane Finley discusses childcare

Carolyn Bennett backpedals and spins but does not apologize

If you wish to express your outrage over Ms. Bennett's comments, here are several suggestions:

communications@carolynbennett.ca - Communications Address for Carolyn Bennett's leadership campaign

bennec@parl.gc.ca - Official Parliamentary address

grahab0@parl.gc.ca - Parliament address for Bill Graham, Leader of the Opposition.

Neale News Newspaper Listing - links to most newspapers in Canada. Take a few minutes to draft a Letter to the Editor of your local paper. Let them know what Liberals REALLY think of Canadian parents.

Write a blog post about this issue. Email family, friends and co-workers the link to this and other blog posts on the issue. Make sure as many Canadians as possible are aware of the Liberal attitude towards parents.

Glass half empy or half full

2006-05-03T05:36:00.000-04:00

Since the local Windsor Star has an aversion to printing anything in it's pages that might be even remotely critical of our current Mayor Eddie Francis, I'm posting my Letter to the Editor submitted this morning. I usually get just about every letter I submit printed, with the exception of those relating to Eddie Francis.

Makes a person wonder.

Glass Half Empty or Half Full

After reading the Mayor's comments on the recent Federal Budget, I had to wonder if we watched the same event. With all the potential positives for the City of Windsor and Essex County contained in the budget, the best comment the Mayor could muster was a shot at the Conserrvative Child Care plans.

This from a Mayor with visions of a mega million dollar arena dancing in his head and a front page story of yet another business venture the City was planning. (sale of Roots clothing). How much money could the City of Windsor be investing in child care if we weren't subsidizing the Cleary to the tune of $600,000 per year, or spending $28 million dollars to play at being a developer.

I have to wonder if the Mayor even noticed the reduction in excise tax for vinters and small brewers. I'm sure Walkerville Brewery and the numerous Essex County wineries are appreciative of the tax relief that will help them become more competitive. How about the University of Windsor's share of the $360 million post secondary infrastructure funding? The Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit and Apprenticeship Inventive Grant would certainly seem to be a benefit for this area.

I realize Conservative bashing is a long accepted sport in this area, but not really advisable for a Mayor seeking a billion dollar plus border investment from the Federal government.

Rant complete.

First Nations Kelowna shell game

2006-05-03T00:01:00.000-04:00

Kelowna Accord
5 years - $5.1 billion targeted to the following categories:

1. Education
2. Children
3. Health
4. Housing and Infrastructure
5. Economic Opportunities
6. Relationships and Accountability

Let's be quite clear about exactly what the Kelowna accord was. It was an agreement to fund initiatives under the broad categories listed above. None of the funding was allocated by the Liberals and while the accord talks alot about a "plan", this was to be developed by all signatories over the coming months and years. The actual accord is 19 pages of broad strokes and vague targets. Does anyone actually believe 19 pages is an appropriate plan to spend $5.1 billion dollars?

Now let's look at what Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered in today's budget:

Helping Aboriginal Communities
A New Approach

Government of Canada spending on programs directed towards Aboriginal people, including claims, has increased to $9.1 billion in 2005–06 from $7.4 billion in 2000–01, an average annual increase of 4.3 per cent. While federal programs targeted to Aboriginal Canadians have reduced disparities between Aboriginal people and other Canadians, unacceptable gaps remain.

The Government is committed to meeting the targets agreed upon at the fall 2005 First Ministers meeting with national Aboriginal leaders. The way forward will require a joint commitment by all parties to deal with the root causes and structural issues causing these socio-economic gaps.

The Government will work with Aboriginal leaders and provinces and territories to develop a new approach with workable solutions to meet the established targets. Strong accountability and governance structures will be essential to ensure concrete improvements in outcomes and to ensure programs are effective. This budget provides $150 million in 2006–07 and $300 million in 2007–08 for the following priority areas:

Education: Although Aboriginal students have made significant gains in educational attainment over the past two decades, the Government is committed to improving Aboriginal education outcomes as this is key to eliminating the socio-economic gap.

Women, Children and Families: The Government recognizes the pivotal roles that Aboriginal women play within their families and their communities and in improving socio-economic outcomes.

Water and Housing: Aboriginal Canadians living on reserve suffer from a severe housing shortage and a backlog in the renovation of current units. Many do not have access to clean and safe drinking water. To properly address these fundamental needs, it is essential to consider innovative solutions that could help address this chronic situation over the longer term.

Details concerning initiatives will be provided by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the coming months.
Addressing the Legacy of Residential Schools

The Government is committed to honouring the Agreement-in-Principle reached on November 20, 2005, with the legal counsel for former Indian residential school students, the churches, the Assembly of First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations.

In anticipation of a final agreement, $2.2 billion has been set aside for the common experience payments and for other programmatic elements such as healing and commemoration. In addition, provision has been made in anticipation of an improved Independent Assessment Process to address claims of serious abuse in the Indian residential school system, which would replace the current Dispute Resolution Framework. Compensation through the Independent Assessment Process would in all cases be paid by the Government following validation by an independent adjudicator.

The Government believes that this financial recognition of the often negative impact of the residential school experience, buttressed by support programs and compensation for those who suffered harm, will help former students to build a better future for themselves and their families in communities across Canada. Programs and activities devoted to truth and reconciliation and commemoration of the residential school experience should lead to a broader understanding among all Canadians of the impacts of the Indian residential school system.
Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing

In order to help provinces address short-term pressures with regard to the housing needs of Aboriginal Canadians living off reserve, the Government is providing a one-time payment of $300 million, to be paid into a third-party trust, contingent on sufficient funds from the 2005–06 surplus in excess of $2 billion. The Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing Trust will support investments to increase the supply of rental housing and enhance home ownership opportunities for Aboriginal Canadians living off reserve.

Pending confirmation in fall 2006 of the Government of Canada's financial results for 2005–06, funding will be distributed to provinces based on their share of the Aboriginal population living off reserve and notionally allocated over three years.
Affordable Housing in the Territories

The pressures on housing in the territories, where many Aboriginal Canadians live, are particularly acute. In order to help the territories address short-term affordable housing pressures, the Government is providing a one-time payment of $300 million, to be paid into a third-party trust, contingent on sufficient funds from the 2005–06 surplus in excess of $2 billion. The Northern Housing Trust will support investments to increase the supply of affordable housing, including rental, transitional and supportive housing in the territories.

Pending confirmation in fall 2006 of the Government of Canada's financial results for 2005–06, funding will be notionally allocated over three years and distributed among the three territories as follows: $50 million each for the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, plus an additional $150 million for urgent needs in Nunavut.

More details on the two trusts can be found in the section entitled "Restoring Fiscal Balance in Canada."

In total, Budget 2006 confirms funding of over $3 billion in support of Aboriginal Canadians.

Aboriginal Communities
A new approach: priorities	$450 million
Education Women, children and families Water and housing
Addressing the legacy of residential schools	$2,200 million
Off-reserve Aboriginal housing	$300 million
	___________
Affordable housing in the territories	$300 million
Total	$3,250 million

Excluding the residential school payments, that adds up to $1.05 billion out of the 5 year, $5.1 billion committed to in the Kelowna accord.

Along with the above is the clear statement:

"The Government is committed to meeting the targets agreed upon at the fall 2005 First Ministers meeting with national Aboriginal leaders."

So what is the response from First Nations:

"First Nations will remain in last place as a result of today's so-called "Building a Better Canada" federal budget. This disappointing budget does not begin to address the gap in quality of life between First Nations and other Canadians and could increase the gap through inaction." -- Phil Fontaine, Assembly of First Nations

"Despite years of hard work and great progress as we experienced with the previous government, Stephen Harper's Conservatives have not stood up for the Métis Nation. It is not acceptable to ignore the years of work which lead to last November's historic signing of the $5.1 billion dollar Kelowna Accord. The accord was endorsed by all provinces, territories and national Aborigional organizations and yet, despite receiving clear support for this investment and record federal surpluses, this new government has not made the welfare of Canada's first peoples and in particular, the Métis Nation, a priority." -- Métis Nation

"Our fear, suspicion and mistrust of (the) Conservative government to support the historic Kelowna Accord were well placed," said Chief Stewart Phillip, head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. "Today, aboriginal people across Canada learned that Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper has a wooden heart to match his wooden smile."

Do First Nations want to continue generating self-gratifying headlines or actually work with the Conservative government towards fulfilling the commitments of Kelowna. The Liberal method of dumping loads of money on a problem along with fuzzy goals and targets no longer exists.

The Conservative government will be developing specific programs with clear goals and reporting mechanisms, much like the Plan of Action for Drinking Water. Over the last 12 years $2.5 billion was spent on aboriginal drinking water systems and yet 75% of reserves have water related problems and over 100 reserves are under boil water advisories. The Liberal shotgun approach to spreading money no longer rules in Ottawa.

Can you spare a quarter?

2006-05-02T15:59:00.000-04:00

At this rate, the delegates to the Liberal's Montreal Leadership convention will all be hitting the streets with tin cans:

First Quarter 2006 Fundraising
Bloq Quebecois $167,170.66
Conservative Party $5,578,233.89
Green Party $128,352.11
Liberal Party $1,332,366.16
New Democratic Party $1,148,960.76

Source: Elections Canada

Liberal Leadership Website Review Update 6

2006-05-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

Ken Dryden
Out from the shop, the site seems to have undergone some tweaking, but no major changes. A new entry page is up, with English/French option. Gone is the huge bilingual front page header, replaced by a huge unilingual front page header.

The 'Get Informed' and 'Get Involved' sub-menus on the right hand side of the site have been changed to a white font on red background from yellow. This helps them standout somewhat more than before.

Still no way to join the Liberal party from the Join the Liberal party page. A link takes you to the Delegate page where you then can find a link to the online membership form.

'The Issues Page' has been populated with content to complement the sub-menu.

Blog is still lifeless, with not much "Buzz" going on.

I am curious about one thing. How many people can find a way to sign up for the Liberal party within 30 seconds of visiting Ken's site? Feel free to post your results in the comments or email to bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com

Overall, some minor tweaking. Nothing as yet that would cause me to change the score and ranking.

Michael Ignatieff
Mi Community up to 433 members. (and this is only the ones who have registered so they can post, viewing is still available without membership). The MI team seem to be handling the debates so far in an intelligent and respectful manner, despite some of the ususal suspects. The "By Province" discussion group should be interesting to watch develop. This has the potential to be a powerful regional communicaton/organizational tool.

General
Some campaign's blogs are already showing signs of being stale. If you want to use a blog, then post regular content. Otherwise they're nothing more than more campaign pablum being spoonfed to visitors when someone remembers. At that point, you're better off not having a blog. Carolyn Bennett seems to be doing the best with her personal blog. Regular posts in both English and French.

The all popular "Coming Soon" link to the Liberal Party Donation page doesn't seem to be materializing on any sites.

Related Posts, Blogs and Websites

CPC 34, BQ 31, Lib 15

2006-05-02T11:04:00.000-04:00

It's only one poll, in between elections, but something tells me that Stephen Harper and the Conservative party are beginning to lose the 'scary' label in many peoples eyes. This should have a few opposition strategists reaching for the TUMS today.

Conservatives lead separatists: poll
Tue May 2, 2006 9:12 AM EDT6

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Conservatives are rapidly gaining support in Quebec and are now more popular than the province's separatist party, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.

The CROP poll for La Presse put the Conservatives at 34 percent in Quebec, up from the 25 percent the party won during the January 23 election. The separatist Bloc Quebecois, which a few months ago was flirting with 50 percent backing, dropped to 31 percent from 42 percent on January 23.

The Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, unexpectedly took 10 of Quebec's 75 seats in the election, helping them win a fragile minority federal government and thereby ending 12 years of Liberal rule.

Harper -- who needs to pick up more seats in Quebec if he is to win a majority government in the next election -- has been assiduously courting the province for months.

"Thanks to his attitude, his gestures and his speeches, Mr Harper has clearly succeeded in getting closer to Quebec since the January 23 election," CROP's Claude Gauthier told La Presse.

The poll contained more bad news for the Liberals, who once dominated the province but were brought down last November by a corruption scandal which centered on Quebec. The party sank to 15 percent support from 20 percent on January 23.

CROP also found that 56 percent of Quebecers were satisfied with the federal government, an enormous jump from the 22 percent recorded in a CROP poll from January 11 to 16 this year.

The survey of 1,002 people was carried out between April 20 and 30 and is considered to be accurate to within 2.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 5

2006-05-01T07:25:00.000-04:00

Martha Hall Findlay
One item previously unnoticed in my initial review of this website was it's use of a Content Management System (CMS). The site's urls should have given me a clue, but it just didn't register for me at first. After reviewing all the sites Sunday evening for changes, the unique urls seemed to jump out at me. A quick peek at the source code reveals pavliks.wcm., a CMS by a Barrie area company. This makes the unsecure donation page utilizing email to transmit Credit Card information all the stranger. Pavlik offers eCommerce solutions as part of their services. I've sent an email to the address posted on the site as well as a message through the site's contact page (25th of April). Dan Cook made mention of the page in his Saturday Blog Stroll. There must be at least one Liberal out there that can contact Martha Hall Findlay's team and arrange for this situation to be fixed.

Ken Dryden
Looks like the team has pulled the site into the shop for some work. The placeholder page is back up again. Will keep an eye out for developments.

Gerard Kennedy
Share the Message on the top toolbar now contains a volunteer kit. (.pdf)
Now that the 'Breaking News' scroll has gone "live", I'm even more convinced of this feature's waste of both time and valuable front page space. It's 7am Monday morning and already one of the items would be considered stale as far a 'breaking' news goes. The Quebec item seems to want to link to something, but doesn't. (try mousing over it). The other two items are meaningless blurbs scrolling across the screen in a constant distraction, fighting for your attention with the large flash screen below it. Unless the candidate or a member of his team is going to break something every day or the web team is going to be posting hourly updates to the site, save the 'Breaking News' for the next election night.

I couldn't find any changes in the other candidates websites, including any fresh content for that matter.

One other interesting site to note in Leadership related content is Liberal Leadership Odds by Cerebus. A nice simple Wordpress install with a discussion forum. He's already helping various campaigns out by identifying Liberal blogs and which candidate they are supporting.

Kennedy currently leads with 12 followed by Ignatieff at 7, Brison at 4, Dryden and Dion at 3 and Bob Rae at 2. With 158 blogs still uncommitted, there's a lot of blogging power looking for a home. I wonder how many Liberal bloggers it takes to ~~screw in a lightbulb~~ start a blogroll?

If anyone notices new features coming online drop me a line at bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com or post a comment in any one of the Review posts.

Related Posts, Blogs and Websites

The future of the military

2006-05-01T03:15:00.000-04:00

With 9 out of 10 Liberal leadership candidates advocating a return to left of centre politics for the Liberal party I thought it might be interesting to see how the military would fare with a left leaning Liberal minority government supported by the NDP.

One good place to start looking for answers is the NDP's favourite left wing think tank, the Polaris Institute.

Never Enough - October 2005 (.pdf)

Breaking Rank - December 2002 (.pdf)

If you read both reports, many of the themes and recommendations will sound very familiar. They should, you hear them espoused by most of the NDP caucus on a regular basis.

The NDP's new interest in the military masks the fact that they have their own hidden agenda that they wish to keep out of the Canadian public eye at this time. Should the military fall from the spotlight in Canadian affairs there is not much doubt we would see a return of the NDP calling for re-investement of military dollars for the social good of all Canadians.

All the more reason for those of us who support the military to ensure that our forces continue to receive the attention and respect that they deserve.

What say those 'senior Conservative sources' ?

2006-05-01T01:50:00.000-04:00

Seems like not all the press is having the same difficulties as the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

Famous five follow-up: Tories plan new fall priorities with environment at top
By JENNIFER DITCHBURN

OTTAWA (CP) - A clean air act to combat pollution and a package of new environmental protection measures will become the Conservative government's new top priority come the fall, say senior Conservative sources.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's inner circle is already piecing together the follow-up to their tightly focused spring agenda of five top priorities.

So far, the strategy of an easily explained policy checklist has been a successful one for Harper. The government believes it is on track to pass the Federal Accountability Act, cut the GST and give Canadian parents $1,200 a year for child care.

Anti-crime legislation and a wait-times guarantee for major medical procedures are expected to be checked off the list by early autumn.

The fall agenda won't necessarily have five components - even though the phrase "the next five" is circulating in Conservative circles - but a definite direction is taking shape.

It does make you wonder which reporters have spent the last several years developing sources and which ones were happy to be spoon fed by leak o' the day Martin PMO.

It's all in the context

2006-05-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

Just another one of those articles where they forget to add "left wing" in front of the Polaris Institute, in the same way they attach "right wing" to the C.D. Howe Institute or the Fraser Institute.

Ottawa fears losing control of Afghan mission, says Steven Staples
Apr. 30, 2006. 01:00 AM

These two decisions, not lowering the Peace Tower flag and denying access to the media, are best understood when taken together. Add Harper's insistence on vetting the outspoken Gen. Rick Hillier's speeches, and a pattern emerges.

This is a government worried that the mission in Afghanistan could get out of their control and become a huge political problem for the Conservatives Ã— especially as pressure builds in anticipation of a decision to renew the mission before it ends in February 2007.

Polling has shown the public virtually split down the middle on whether Canadian troops should be in Afghanistan. No doubt, the Conservatives have figured out that the sight of flag-draped caskets and flags at half-mast are not going to help them win a majority in the next election, especially since they have staked so much of their agenda on the Afghanistan mission.

But if the Prime Minister thinks this ploy will work, he should ask that other politician who has tried it but still finds himself dragged down by an unpopular war: U.S. President George W. Bush.

Steven Staples is the director of security programs for the Polaris Institute, a public interest research group in Ottawa.

Denying access to the media - the article would like to leave you with the impression that the government is denying all access to the media, when this is not the case. The media have full access to the ramp ceremony in Afghanistan when the soldier's remains depart and have access to the funerals based on the families' wishes. The only part denied media access is the arrival in Canada.

As this weeks arrival proved, the airport at Trenton affords the media enough access from outside the base to actually film and photgraph the event. If the mantra is that the government wishes to hide something, obviously they are failing. If the real goal was to hide the event, as opposition politicians claim, it would most likely be conducted in the early morning hours and the planes postitioning on arrival would be such that no pictures could be taken from outside the base. This could very easily be accomplished. The media themselves have proved that they have access to film and photograph so we are left with what the real complaint is. They don't have 'special' access not available to the public.

Harper's vetting Hillier's speeches. Staples writes this as if it's a statement of fact

Hillier denies clearing speeches
Apr. 19, 2006. 04:31 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA Ã— Canada's top general is denying a report that the new Conservative government asked to approve his speeches.

And Prime Minister Stephen Harper also says there's no move to censor Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff.

I guess Staples doesn't read the very paper he writes for.

Some might ask what is this Polaris Institute that Staples works for and how does it operate?

Today, the Institute's program is developed in consultation with an advisory committee which is mainly composed of social movement activists working in this country and elsewhere around the world. The Polaris program operates on a decentralized model. A small secretariat located in Ottawa provides overall program direction.

Of course, no article written by the left wing these days would be complete without a gratuitous reference to George Bush. These continuing efforts to link Stephen Harper to George Bush are nothing more than a nuanced approach to continue the anti-Americanism that has pervaded our national dialogue for far too long.

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 4

2006-04-30T14:22:00.000-04:00

Michael Ignatieff

Ignatieff's webteam has done a complete overhaul of the site. Gone is the Joomla install in favour of Active Server Page (.asp)

Clean, professional looking and appealing. The menu is straight forward and simple. French/English available. About the only page that seems to be still under development is the 'Get Involved' page and this isn't a big issue at this stage as the well designed site offers numerous other opportunities to 'Get Involved'.

Mi Community is still there, but greatly revamped. The Mi Community Home Page is the Union Station of the campaign, connecting users to features. Based on Community Server 2.0 , the section will keep users active and engaged. MI Blogs, Forums, Photo Gallery, Multimedia Centre and Upcoming Events. Every feature execpt the calendar allow comments in one form or another. The blogs have permalinks and comments, no trackbacks. The new forums feature focused policy debates, an opportunity to debate on subjects of the users choosing and a breakdown by Province. (What about the Territories?). Emails went out to all the users from the previous site with a new password and login. There were 412 users when I first looked, 414 when I just checked the site again.

RSS is available for all of the sites content. No autodiscover on the home page, the RSS icon is in the bottom right corner. Clicking on it will take you to a page listing three feeds. The forums also offers feeds for topics and comments and I found another feed, 'Speeches' tucked away on the site. I think this one has the possibility of being a podcast.

Donations, Joining and Volunteering are easy to do. With the exception of the MI Community section, the options to donate, volunteer and join are easily available on every page. The Ignatieff campaign remains the only one with their own eCommerce section allowing for online donations. The reworked donations page is easy to understand and use. Pre-set donation amounts, user entered and monthly contributions are available. Standard phone, fax and mail donations are also available along with a form.

As with the previous site, policy is not really evident. This seems to be more a campaign decision/strategy than any function of the website.

Privacy Statement opens in a javascript window.

Significant improvement over the last site. Ignatieff's site now represents the gold standard for others to reach for. There are still many features that can and may be added to the site but in it's current for Ignatieff's site is head and shoulders above the rest.

8.5/10

Note: Ken Dryden's site has reverted to a placeholder page again. Expecting some changes and updates there after the weekend.

Related Posts, Blogs and Websites

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - original review

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 2

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 3

Rob Cottingham - other reviews on the candidates websites

Liberalia.ca - a Liblogs member's reviews

Liberal Leadership Odds - a great little site put together by Cerebus. Tracking many aspects of the race

Happy Birthday Prime Minister Stephen Harper

2006-04-30T13:05:00.000-04:00

Happy 47th Birthday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Send your greeting to the PM

Blogging Tories Site of the Week

2006-04-30T12:11:00.000-04:00

Canadian Blue Lemons

A public moderated forum that will dress down stupifyingly self interested sycophants especially those of the liberal humanist faction that know all the answers, but none of the questions and know what's good for everyone else, never having asked what others want.

Update: my apologies - I forgot to change the link title. It's been updated to reflect Canadian Blue Lemons as site of the week.

How much childcare for $261,469 ?

2006-04-29T18:44:00.000-04:00

Sara at Choice for Childcare has a good post on the funding of daycare lobbyists. I thought I would follow through on one of the links and take a look at what value for money Canadian taxpayers were getting for this.

Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada: $261,469

Minding our Ps and Qs: Pedagogy, Policy and Quality

The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada is a pan-Canadian, non-profit membership-based organization dedicated to promoting quality child care which is accessible to all.

The project's objectives are:

to increase knowledge of curriculum issues in national policy making through dissemination of research findings and current issues;

to increase collaboration between sectors involved in early learning and child care through public consultation to identify and implement common values and early childhood educational goals; and,

to create a national curriculum/pedagogical framework that will provide a common foundation on which to build programs that enhance children's early learning and development.

So were giving them over a quarter million dollars to lobby the government on 'curriculum issues and network with other like-minded advocacy groups. The third point is supposed to provide the justification for the funding. If the federal government wants to develop a 'national curriculum/pedagogical (teaching) framework' they have the appropriate public servants to do so, in conjunction with their provincial counterparts.

The Canadian taxpayers should not be funding advocacy/lobbyist groups to develop policies and programs or to conduct research. If the government wants to fund research on these issues, then direct the funds to the appropriate accredited university.

If these organizations wish to continue advocating specific issues, they are free to do so with their members money, not the taxpayers.

If you want my money than ask me up front and convince me to support your cause. Stop picking my pocket through the government.

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 3

2006-04-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ken Dryden
Big Red enters the race, and I do mean BIG.
No entry page, French offered, although it might be a little hard to find at first. Another Joomla Open Source Content Management System(CMS) installation with a custom template. Professional look and feel. The front page contains Ken's slogan "A Big Canada" with a link to his vision. One problem though, is many people won't find that link. With the very red front page and the small little arrow underneath, it kind of blends in.

Menus are straight forward, broken up into two sections - Get Informed and Get Involved. The Get Informed section works well. It also includes an actual real live blog. A Wordpress Joomla mod complete with permalinks, moderated comments and trackbacks. You must register with the site in order to comment. News Centre is very well done. If you register with the site, you can comment on the posted news stories using a Joomla component called AKOcomment. Almost like a blog.

The Get Involved section starts off with Join Team Dryden. Filling out this form also registers you with the website, providing a Username and Password. You will receive an email shortly after registering with links to donate, info on how to be a delegate, and a (insert link here) link to the Liberal party join page.

Join the Liberal Party is a confusing page. Info on why to join and what the process for delegate selection is, just no info or links on exactly how to join the Liberal party. The very bottom of the page provides a link to the Become a Delegate page, where if you are very diligent, you can find a link to the Liberal Party online membership form. There is a "Join Now" bar on the front page, but it kind of blends in with everything else red.

Two big 'Get Informed' and 'Get Involved' sections on the front page with nice pictures but what do they do other than take up space? Considering their prominent placement, I tried mousing over them, expecting a link to take me some where.

When you surf to other pages, the big header is replaced with a smaller one. In the top right there is a small form for Email, name and a subscribe button, but what are you subscribing for? The site, emails, newsletters, 12 issues of Liberal Life magazine?

Donating is impossible unless you register with the site. I could find no link or menu item to a donation page other than the link I received in the registration email. Not sure if this is by design or by omission..

Volunteering - Join Team Dryden, register for the site. Lots of opportunities to do so. Makes for good email/name collection.

No RSS feeds - should be a no brainer for both the Blog and the site. Joomla itself is feed enabled by default.

Policy (Issues) - easy to find and lots of it.

Privacy Policy - extensive policy available, although it opens a new instance of the site in a window in order to view it.

Overall a good start. Obviously the site's goal is to inform and engage with it's users.

6.5/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - #2 (Stephen Harper gets top spot again.)

At least as things stand now, this rounds out all the candidates currently declared for the race. (I'm not going to bother with Ashley). So here is my final ranking for the first round.

Bob Rae 7/10
Scott Brison 6.5/10
Ken Dryden 6.5/10
Gerard Kennedy 6.5/10
Michael Ignatieff 6.5/10
Maurizio Bevilacqua 6/10
Joe Volpe 5/10
Stephane Dion 4/10
Carolyn Bennett 3/10
Martha Hall Findlay 0/10 - Donation Page still not fixed.

Next up will be an Accessibility test on each site along with freshness reviews every few days. All ten reviews are now included on the original review page.

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - original review

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 2

Rob Cottingham - other reviews on the candidates websites

Revealing blog survey

2006-04-28T18:45:00.000-04:00

Blogads recently completed a survey of 56,000 bloggers in the US. ClickZ reported they found that bloggers broke up in the following groups:

Political Blogger
read five blogs per day
18% spend 10 hours each week reading blogs over the last 6 months:
70% contributed to a cause of campaign online
41% spent $100 or more
60% bought software or clothes
87% bought books, of those 52% spent more than $100
72% percent of political blog readers are male;
77% have a college degree;
over 20% have a household income between $60K and $90K.

Music Blogger

72% male
4 percent are ages 31-40
86% have bought music online in the last six months
47% spent over $100;
70% bought books online
63% bought clothes.
25 %are students, over 58 percent have college degrees

Gossip Blogger

77% of gossip blog readers are women,
50% are age 22-30;
60% plus have a college degree;
68 percent purchased clothing online,
48% plus spent more than $100.
15% of gossip blog fans read three blogs daily
15 % spend two hours each week

Motherhood/Parenting-related Blogger

90% percent female;
12% plus read five blogs daily;
17% pend two hours a week reading blogs;
72% bought clothes online in the last six months, and
46% spent over $100;
83% purchased books;
46% contributed to a cause or campaign;
23% bought toys.
45% of mom blog readers are 22-30 years old;
73% have a college degree;
21% + have household income between $60K and $90K.

You can't beat free research. Something for political strategists to think about when targeting groups. Many online ads are no cost or low cost compared to traditional media.

Hot Air takes off

2006-04-28T10:17:00.000-04:00

No, I don't mean Jack Layton's running away.

Hot Air is a new video blog venture by Michelle Malkin

About

Welcome to the world’s first full-service conservative Internet broadcast network!
Internet video is booming. Apple’s iTunes store has sold a gazillion videos since its debut. YouTube gets more traffic than the New York Times web site. And politically-oriented video is on the rise:

Google teamed up with Al Gore’s Current TV network to provide Google Current.
Amazon.com broadcasts Fishbowl featuring left-wing comedian Bill Maher.
iTunes offers a discount price for Comedy Central’s liberal Daily Show.
AOL joined with the Huffington Post to provide Contagious Festival, a collection of conservative-bashing short movies.
These efforts have one thing in common: they are all produced by liberals for liberals.

I formed Hot Air Network, LLC, to bring ideological diversity—because we all love diversity–to the videoblogging world. And because it looked like a lot of fun. Two of the most cutting-edge bloggers on the Right have joined me in my cyberquest: video editing whiz Bryan Preston and the almighty Allah Pundit. Allah likes to think of us as a little Internet garage band. Only we’re playing in three separate home offices and a basement. But you get the idea.

Carnival heaven

2006-04-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

What a fantastic tool. I smell a Liberal Leadership Carnival coming - Carnival of the Inane anyone?

Blog Carnival for Carnival Organizers and Hosts

We want you to spend more time reading submissions and writing your carnival, and much less time on carnival administration.

You can run all your carnival administration from Blog Carnival, or mix and match with your own stuff. The service is free (we cover our costs through advertising).

Blog Carnival makes your life easier by

simplifying collection and arrangement of submissions (with complete source information) for each edition of your carnival,
coordinating activities with the other people hosting your carnival, and
keeping your readers in the loop and developing your carnival community: readers, contributors, hosts, and organizers.

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 2

2006-04-28T08:30:00.000-04:00

Three new sites for review today. I'll amend the original post so that all the initial reviews are on one page. My apologies to Maurizio Bevilacqua for missing his site in the first round. I could have swore that I searched under his first name, but I must have been fumble fingered that night and spelled his name wrong.

Maurizio Bevilacqua
Entry page with English/French option. Header area and menu is clean and simple if a little over "Maurizio'ed". (all Maurizio, all the time). I'm not sure if I care for the main page layout. 3 equal columns. In my mind the left and right sidebars take up too much space, distracting from the main, centre real estate, and limiting what can be done in that space. The menu bar looks good but the traditional 'Home' location is replaced by 'Maurizio Links'. The link page itself is of dubious value, so it's placement here is strange. The header is clickable to the home page, but I'm not sure how many people recognize this as a standard. The links would be better off in one of the sidebars, replaced by a 'Home' page. The 'Media' link could go to the sidebar as well. The three things that campaigns need to do is get people to Join, Volunteer and Donate. These three make such a nice combo together. Maurizio Fans? Not sure if this is just a place filler or if there will be some purpose to this section later.

Online donations not available. Phone number and a promise of a link to the National donation page later.

Volunteer is easily found on the top menu, sidebar and bottom of page. Good duplication

Become a member takes you directly to the Liberal Party's online form.

Media Centre - lots of 'click here's' and external links. No RSS here or anywhere else on the site. Great photo gallery with lots of pictures, you just don't know what the pictures are. Always try to caption pictures by identifying people and places and event. People like seeing their name on a candidate's site. Enhances the value of being on the team.

There is a so called 'blog', but no comments enabled, no trackbacks, has sort of a permalink on the side. Is it a blog or isn't it? There are certainly differing opinions on this. Personally I think these are more like static pages than a blog.

Policy (MaurizioViews) - easy to find on main menu. I would take the fourth paragraph, bullet it and move it up. Check out Brison's site for an example. Would make the page more readable and get the policy highlights across quickly.

No Privacy Policy

Overall a good start. Some tweaks will improve navigation and usability. As with many others though, the site falls down on the interactive part. None.

6/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - unable to find maurizio.ca with just a first name

Gerard Kennedy
No entry page. French option available in the top right corner. Professional looking and quick loading. Best 'Action Centre' I've seen of all the sites. Volunteer, Donate and Join all there along with a yet to be ready "Share the message" feature. The icon row in the top right corner seems to be a strange placement to me. This eats up about 1 inch of valuable front page real estate for questionable value. The Menu bar initially looks easy to use, but the tabbed format is confusing because the tabs do not change colour as you navigate. You're never really sure which tab you're on. For some reason I didn't even notice the sub-menus until my third or fourth time through the menu bar. I think I was so focused on trying to figure out where I was on the tabs, that the sub-menus escaped notice. I'm assuming that as the campaign goes on he'll have more than one speech and one media release so we'll be able to do away with each of those opening a .pdf unexpectedly.

Breaking News - this isn't CTV Newsnet or CNN Headline news. Unless the Candidate falls down and breaks something, there really isn't a lot of "breaking" news on a leadership campaign. Takes up more valuable front page real estate. Usually these end up being nothing more than stale distractions.

Huge flash area for such a small page template. The calendar is well done. Most of the other features are still 'under development', but certainly show a lot of promise. The online community looks to be a chat feature. Share the Message has some interesting potential. There is a placeholder for a blog in the multimedia centre, but it's not active yet. One video and one .mp3 there. Hint - it's not a podcast unless you're actually casting it. Requires RSS of which there is none.

National Networks - I thought I was actually going to find something interesting here, but alas, no. Some good ideas but the site doesn't give people the tools to follow through. "Organize a coffee party or a pub night to raise funds for Gerard. Follow the instructions on this website on how to donate." Give your volunteers the tools to do this through your site. Integrate social networking tools into your site and the people will really help build a national network.

Policy - link is on the menu, but it opens up another one of those surprise .pdf files. I'll assume that this too is still under development.

Privacy Policy - link is there, but not the page. Mailto link for Contact the Webmaster is broken. (missing the l in mail)

Overall a good professional looking site, with tons of potential if all the features are developed.

6.5/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - #1 spot

Bob Rae
Splash entry page with French/English choices. I guess waiting to launch paid off for Bob. This is my pick for best of the bunch so far. Simple, clean, fast and easy to use. The only issue I have with the front page is with no 'Home' button, the entire header needs to link back to the home page. Currently only the far right panel does (at least in Firefox - haven't tested in IE yet)

All the right elements are there (Policy, Join, Donate, Volunteer etc) . The media centre is kind of thin and the font rather small leading to readability issues on pages like the Issues, but these are minor points.

Killer Feature - phase one of the campaign is all about signing up members. Click on Bob's join page and you get a form, but it's not just any type of form. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would figure this out. The form requires at least a name and email for contact purposes before sending you directly to the Liberal Party's online signup page. They now have a name and contact method to see if you actually joined the party. Someone had their thinking cap on here and it's the little things like this that will pay off in the long run.

Bob's Virtual Community is still under development, but I'm assuming this is going to be some sort of board or messaging feature.

Donation link is there, but not active yet. Join, Donate and Get Involved are always front and centre.

No RSS or other interactive features

No Privacy Policy

Overall a very good job. As mentioned above, the leader of the pack so far, but not by much.

7/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - site not listed. (Google Adwords would probably help here) You can find it on the #1 Wikipedia entry for Bob if you scroll way down.

So that gives us 9 of the 10 so far with just Ken Dryden to come. His campaign launch is today, so I would expect his site to go live some time soon.

A couple of random thoughts that may inspire a campaign or two:

Little or no front end/back end volunteer resources on most sites. Web banners, buttons, desk top wall paper, email templates. Blogrolls - Blogs for Brison? Mi Blogs? Bennett Bloggers? Maurizio Fans? Bob's Bloggers? eCards, Message forum - coordinate letter writing, phone call in campaign, motivation, rally organization etc. Meetup

Online donation - with only the Ignatieff campaign having their own ecommerce solution, I'm starting to wonder if the party is offering to collect for all the candidates. That would allow them to take a rake off the top and supposedly the candidates then don't have to worry about it. It's the only reason I can think of why all the rest of the campaigns have just a form or a notice saying that a secure donation link will be forthcoming from the party.

I found a limited link to Belinda Stronach's last leadership site. Many of the pictures are missing, but it gives you the general idea. Considering this site was built almost 3 years ago, it would still be head of the class in this group of leadership sites. I believe the only thing it was missing was RSS feeds, but I could be wrong. (RSS wasn't really big then). Some of the most powerful features were in the backend, which unfortunately can't be accessed.

Belinda Web Archive

My overall ranking for the sites right now:

Bob Rae
Scott Brison
Gerard Kennedy
Michael Ignatieff
Maurizio Bevilacqua
Joe Volpe
Stephane Dion
Carolyn Bennett
Martha Hall Findlay

The top four are very close. Anyone in the top six right now could easily vault ahead with some work. Should be interesting to watch things develop. Once all the sites are up I'll run them through some accessability checks.

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - original review

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1

Rob Cottingham - other reviews on the candidates websites

Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1

2006-04-27T10:01:00.000-04:00

I'm going to try and maintain an ongoing review and comment of each of the leadership candidate's websites.

I'll make note of any new features and improvements found, rate the freshness of content and highlight any significant errors.

Freshness Scale:

Piping Hot! - less than 12 hours old
Fresh - new within last 24 hours
Day old - new within last 48 hours
Stale - no new content for more than 48 hours
Mouldy - no new content for more than 5 days
Putrid - no new content for more than a week

(Note: Freshness relates to original content on site, not external links to MSM stories)

Carolyn Bennett - Fresh
Photo Website still lives as the default option. Standard site has a much improved entry page. Fast load and clean look. I missed an interactive feature in my initial review. 'Words of Encouragement' and 'View Testimonials' work as a tandem. You can submit your support for Carolyn and then view all the testimonials in a sequential order. Nice little feature as long as it's not allowed to get stale.

Maurizio Bevilacqua - still looking for a website

Scott Brison - Stale
Still stuck at the campaign launch. Two upcoming dates in the calendar. Still wondering what the price is for campaign information sold from one volunteer to another.

"Any information provided through this website is not disclosed or sold to anyone except employees of the Scott Brison Campaign who need the information to carry out their duties."

Stephane Dione - Putrid
ZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Ken Dryden - not yet declared
Election website is gone now, new placeholder page in place.

Martha Hall Findlay - Mouldy
Dangerous Credit Card Page still live. Page looks like an online donation page, but is actually nothing more than a form. Clicking submit launches your email program with all your personal and Credit Card information ready to be sent via unsecure email. One upcoming event listed on calendar

Michael Ignatieff - Piping Hot! (latest post on policy board from 7:34 am)
370 Posts in 46 Topics by 410 Members, and that doesn't include all those coming by to just look. Even if it's the opposition visiting, they're still visiting your site, seeing your policy and discussing/debating on your terms. What does it say about your campaign when your people spend more time on your opponents site than yours? Without the discussion forum, site content would rank as Mouldy.

Gerard Kennedy - not yet declared.
Still looking for a website.

Bob Rae - Campaign launched but website must be stuck in Committee.
"Call me Bob" (but don't call me slow off the mark). New placeholder page. Different colour and a dash of flash.

Joe Volpe - Mouldy
RSS Feeds added (RSS 1.0 and ATOM), unfortunately, they're broken. Google Translate removed. Hopefully this feature will return, just better identified and displayed. Media Materials section added to Media Centre. We all realize that Joe likes to be larger than life (with the lunch bills as well) but is it really necessary for all the photos on the site to be the same way. The huge photos hide and distract from the site's content.

For a little bit of perspective, I'll offer up a website that I'm working on for the Windsor-Tecumseh EDA. If you're interested in joining the Conservative Party or Donating money to the EDA, I'll bet you can find a way to do it in under 3 seconds. You'll have to take my word that the site has interactive features as they are private, for EDA members only. I welcome all comments and critiques. That's how you improve.

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - Original Review
Rob Cottingham - another review on the various candidate's websites.

Re-Elect David Miller Mayor of Toronto

2006-04-27T06:19:00.000-04:00

Short term pain for long term gain. As Bob Rae immunized Ontario from ever having to worry about another Provinical NDP government this century, Mayor Miller can accomplish the same for Toronto. (At least Rae can point to a recession as part of his woes. )

One more three year term should provide the final nail in the coffin for Mayor Miller and his socialist hordes. By that time Toronto should be hovering on the brink of bankruptcy with crushing debt, crumbling services and an irate electorate.

Only a sharp dose of reality will make the citizens of Toronto realize that platitudes and promises don't equal substance and action. Grandiose programs and slogans abound while Toronto smoulders, tinder and dry.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also costly and the bill is fast coming due.

Last stop for station

By SUE-ANN LEVY

I think Mayor David Miller's new "Building a Great City" website should be renamed "How to Destroy Toronto the Good in Six Easy Socialist Steps."

With the demise this week of the $150-million deal to revitalize Union Station, His Blondness has done little on the key promises he made when he came to power three years ago (to clean up the city, cut crime, renew the Waterfront, etc.)

Now he can add to his list of so-called accomplishments the scuttling of a deal that would have restored a 77-year-old transportation landmark using the kind of bold public-private partnership that is popular in many North American cities -- except socialist, union-friendly Toronto.

Last word from me on the Flag debate

2006-04-26T07:38:00.000-04:00

No half-mast for every death - Good decision

Media ban of arriving coffins - about as stupid a decision as they get.

This may fade away over the next several days, but it will be resurrected every time there is a returning flight of fallen soldiers. Let a pool camera in for joint coverage and put the issue to bed. If individual familys request privacy, then give it to them.

I'll let Lorrie Goldstein have the last word. He sums up the whole deal perfectly.

A matter of respect

Lorrie Goldstein

Wed, April 26, 2006
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

The "flag flap" over how to honour our soldiers killed in Afghanistan says so much about our country, none of it good.

As military historian Jack Granatstein wrote in Who Killed the Canadian Military?: "There is, unfortunately, a soft-headedness about Canadians and their politicians. An unwillingness to focus on the essentials."

And that's all this flag flap is. A non-essential, with the chorus of "support" for our soldiers being led by hypocritical Liberal and New Democrat MPs -- all of whom should be ashamed of their parties' records when it comes to our military.

Those 'scary Conservatives' !

2006-04-26T03:29:00.000-04:00

Another myth put to rest. Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice is taking things one step at a time, moving in accordance with the agreement.

Various native groups have been sounding alarms and raising all sorts of speculation about the "impending doom" sure to befall them if the Conservative government ever assumed the reins of power.

In Minister Prentice I believe we have someone with the potential to effect the most far reaching changes ever on this complex issue of native affairs. The question native leaders must ask themselves now is whether they want to engage in a constructive environment of improvement or continue to hold on to their fantasies of Conservative boogey men.

Final deal to compensate residential schools students reached

SUE BAILEY

OTTAWA (CP) - A final deal has been reached that will offer about $2 billion in compensation and healing programs for former students of native residential schools.

"The government will now immediately consider the settlement agreement and the interim payments and the timing of those payments," Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said Tuesday in the Commons. The deal must be cleared by cabinet, a formality that's expected within days. It must then be approved by courts in several provinces.

Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review

2006-04-25T11:00:00.000-04:00

As a political and web junkie, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at the various Liberal Leadership sites. It never hurts to see what the competition is doing and most often you can learn a new trick or two.

I'm not a designer or programmer in any sense of the word, rather more of a power user. I like to learn as much as possible from the best on the web and try and apply it in the most cost effective ways to my own efforts.

Considering someone went to a great deal of expense to bring Joe Trippi to Toronto, it looks like they didn't get a lot of value for their money. I think most of the candidates must have been sleeping. Some sites show potential and as a wiser gentleman than me said, they will probably not start hitting their stride until a month or so into the campaign.

Regardless, if I was working on any of these campaigns I would run as fast as possible to Belinda Stronach and find out if someone is available from her previous web team. Her site from the CPC Leadership campaign would leave all of these in the dust.

Carolyn Bennett
Nice entry page with French/English choice. But then everything goes crazy! What the hell is a photo blog doing in a Leadership race? While this may be appealing for artistic purposes, it's functionality is useless, especially as the default choice. There is an option to use a "more traditional or accessible website", but the link is buried in small text at the bottom of the page. That's about all I'll say about the photo site.

Once you finally find the "traditional" website, things improve somewhat. The site has a left hand menu but many of the terms are confusing and much clicking will ensue until you figure everything out. The whole site is crammed into the upper half with a newsroom sidebar on the right hand side.

If you want to donate, you'll need to be persistent and maybe a bit of a detective. Donating online is not possible, but a form is available for submission.

You'll need to drill down a level in order to volunteer (form) or join (form). No link to the new Liberal online membership page.

The navigation leaves much to be desired.

No RSS feeds. There is a blog, but not comments are possible. Carolyn states that she will be alternating blog posts between french and english. The closest thing to an interactive feature is more form filling and the opportunity to email using the "Tell a Friend" tool.

If you want to find Carolyn's policy ideas or positions, they're there, just not where you might think. (Personally, I tried the Policy link first - go figure. )

The site has a Privacy Policy, but again it's certainly not where you think it might be and is not labelled as such.

Newest content - Monday, April 24th

Overall a fairly confusing experience. Some of the basics are there but a great deal of organization and housecleaning is required to get things in order.

3/10

Google Link Search - 34 (33 2006 election or Parliament related)

Google Web Search - # 1

Maurizio Bevilacqua
Entry page with English/French option. Header area and menu is clean and simple if a little over "Maurizio'ed". (all Maurizio, all the time). I'm not sure if I care for the main page layout. 3 equal columns. In my mind the left and right sidebars take up too much space, distracting from the main, centre real estate, and limiting what can be done in that space. The menu bar looks good but the traditional 'Home' location is replaced by 'Maurizio Links'. The link page itself is of dubious value, so it's placement here is strange. The header is clickable to the home page, but I'm not sure how many people recognize this as a standard. The links would be better off in one of the sidebars, replaced by a 'Home' page. The 'Media' link could go to the sidebar as well. The three things that campaigns need to do is get people to Join, Volunteer and Donate. These three make such a nice combo together. Maurizio Fans? Not sure if this is just a place filler or if there will be some purpose to this section later.

Online donations not available. Phone number and a promise of a link to the National donation page later.

Volunteer is easily found on the top menu, sidebar and bottom of page. Good duplication

Become a member takes you directly to the Liberal Party's online form.

Media Centre - lots of 'click here's' and external links. No RSS here or anywhere else on the site. Great photo gallery with lots of pictures, you just don't know what the pictures are. Always try to caption pictures by identifying people and places and event. People like seeing their name on a candidate's site. Enhances the value of being on the team.

There is a so called 'blog', but no comments enabled, no trackbacks, has sort of a permalink on the side. Is it a blog or isn't it? There are certainly differing opinions on this. Personally I think these are more like static pages than a blog.

Policy (MaurizioViews) - easy to find on main menu. I would take the fourth paragraph, bullet it and move it up. Check out Brison's site for an example. Would make the page more readable and get the policy highlights across quickly.

No Privacy Policy

Overall a good start. Some tweaks will improve navigation and usability. As with many others though, the site falls down on the interactive part. None.

6/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - unable to find maurizio.ca with just a first name

Scott Brison
The most polished and professional looking of all the candidates sites so far. I don't care much for flash entry pages, but it does look nice. English/French entry choice. Site navigation is simple and easy to use. The "Get Involved" icon follows as you travel the site.

No online donations available, but there is a link to the Liberal Party's online membership form if you hunt a little.

Volunteering is front and centre on the main page and follows via the "Get involved" page.

There are 3 different RSS feeds available, although not on the front page and there is no overall feed. Feeds do not autodetect from the frontpage.

Unfortunately, this is the closest the site gets to any sort of interactivity. There is no blog, volunteer tools, downloads, videos, podcasts, volunteer back end, discussion opportunities etc. This is where the site falls down and leaves it as nothing more than an internet postcard, albeit a very professional one.

Policy (Vision) is easy to find and readable.

Site Privacy Policy is present, although very brief. (I hope Scott's volunteers don't have to pay too much for your information that might be sold to them!)

Newest content - Sunday, April 23rd.

Overall, very sharp and professional looking, just not very engaging. All sizzle but no steak.

6.5/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Web Search - #1 (entry # 5 - CTV.ca item - Brison defects to Liberals)

Stephane Dion
Simple entry page with English/French choice. The whole site screams retro 1990s. Site navigation is simple because there isn't much of it.

No online donations or link to Liberal Party online membership. Joining, donating and volunteering are all lumped under one "Get Involved" form.

No RSS feeds or any hint of interactivity for visitors.

Policy is sort of available on the front page and spread throughout the site in various speeches and papers. One redeeming point is some excellent quality videos found in the newsroom.

No Privacy Policy

Newest content - Saturday, April 8th

Overall a very simple and functional site, but it's certainly not going to cut it in 2006.

4/10

2nd Website
Dion becomes the latest leadership candidate to bring his website in for a complete overhaul. The difference is profound. The new site is a Joomla Content Management System (CMS) install, utilizing what looks to be a heavily customized Rhuk Solar Flare II template. Entry page with English/French choices as well as English and French direct links to items on the site such as 'Why I'm running' and 'Get Involved'. Works well, but that picture ? !

The new site represents a leap forward for Mr. Dion. The header looks professional. Included is a search feature. If you want to see the power of CMS, try entering something like 'environment' in the search box (one of the themes of Dion's campaign). Top right of the header contains a 'Quote of the Day' feature. Nice touch, as long as it's kept current. This shouldn't be hard in Joomla as there are numerous 'Quote of the Day' plugin modules that will automatically rotate the quote based on a database that you load.

The menu is straight forward, easy to use and understand. The only thing missing is a 'Join' and 'Donate' option. The 'Get Involved' menu item takes you to a page with a catch-all form for volunteering, joining and donating.

The main page is clean, crisp and well organized.

The 'Highlights' section features 'Upcoming Events' and 'Latest News'.

The right hand side of the page is setup as a sort of action centre. The 'Get Involved' works here, but again, the site could use a Join and Donate link. Still no link to the Liberal Party's online membership form. Some graphics to highlight the section would also help. Approach the front page as if you only have 10 seconds to get a user to do something.

RSS - no RSS feeds present. As with all the other Joomla installs of candidates, this is puzzling. Joomla installs with RSS turned on by default, and is quite simple to manage for various site categories. RSS is an effective content distribution tool. No blogs or other interactive features.

Policy: I guess the 'Why I'm Running' section qualifies as the Policy section. After spending over half an hour on the site, I couldn't really point to any set of issues that define Stephane's campaign. It's there, just not presented in a way that I would remember it when I left the site.

Privacy Policy - no privacy policy

Overall a much needed improvement. The site now has a much more professional look and feel. The content presentation is greatly improved. The only thing remaining now is to take that final step to turn the site into an active tool instead of an internet postcard.

6/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Web Search - #6 (Stephen Harper gets #1)

Martha Hall Findlay
No entry page. French is available on a small tab on the side of the site. Site navigation is simple and straight forward. Martha wins the award for the quickest direct link to a membership form - on the front right side of the page. The problem is, it's not very prominent and it's placed with an unmarked .pdf link to some sort of strategy document.

The front page is not very readable. There is an action centre, but it's only partially visible on the bottom right. I actually thought I'd found my first online donation form, but in actual fact discovered a very dangerous little item. First clue that something is wrong is the supposed online donation form is not a secure page. Second clue is hitting the submit button launches your email program with all that nifty Credit Card information ready to send. A VERY BAD IDEA!

Volunteering, joining etc, is easy through either the menu or the action centre.

No RSS feeds, blog, discussion....

Policy is easy to find (Issues) but not very readable. The bolding, italics and colour send your eyes all over the place.

~~No Privacy Policy~~ Correction - a Privacy Policy exists. It's actually both detailed and bilingual.

Newest content - Friday, April 21st

Overall another internet postcard with slim possibilities. The Credit Card problem is an immediate problem and must be rectified. I'm sending an email to the campaign to inform them.

0/10 (until the CC card page is fixed)

Google Link Search - 5

Google Web Search - #1

Michael Ignatieff
No entry page. French is available via link in the top right corner. At first glance the site holds promise. This is the first Content Management System (CMS) site that I've seen so far. The site is a Joomla Open Source installation with a custom CSS template. I may be prejudiced towards Joomla, but CMS's should be a no brainer in Canadian political campaigns today, especially with so many good Open Source candidates available. (Mambo, Joomla, Drupal etc).

Navigation is front and centre although a little confusing. "Run to Leadership"? "Jump in"? JOIN, VOLUNTEER, DONATE usually work pretty well. The front page contains a blog of sorts with Michael and various team members posting. No direct commenting is available but their is a link after each post to another area. (I'll cover this later)

Eureka! Someone in the Liberal Party has discovered e-commerce! Online donations can be made on the site through a secure e-commerce system. (VirtueMart) This is one of the strengths of CMS sites. Numerous features can be added to the site as a simple component or module plug-in.

After finding an actual online donation form, I was surprised not to find even a link to the Liberal membership page. The Joomla site even has the capability of placing the page in a "wrapper" the same way they implement another feature I'll discuss later. Doing it this way allows you to signup using the parent Liberal site without leaving the candidate site.

Volunteering is available once you "Jump In". The action centre on the front page is far too wordy and denies the opportunity to volunteer directly from the front page.

There is 1 RSS feed on the site, but you have to search very hard to find it. Again this is surprising as Joomla comes RSS enabled and is very simple to implement. (It's actually turned on by default)

"Mi Community" - an actual dyed-in-the-wool, real, live discussion board. (Simple Machine Forums). Congratulations to Mr. Iganatieff for being the only candidate to include a live, interactive feature on his site. While many may debate the virtues of discussion boards or blogs, they can be a powerful tool, and at the very least a continuing draw for the site. (for example, Mr. Ignatieff wins for freshest content with the latest post being 6:49 this morning. ) The only problem with the forum is that it is implemented in a wrapper and the narrow template really squishes things. Even those familiar with boards may find it a little off when they first start using it. The forum contains an RSS feed, but the only way you will find it is if you search the source code or try auto-detecting feeds with a reader. Signup for the forum is simple, but the login takes you to the French side of the site. The forum is still English, just the menus change to French.

Policy is not really evident on the site. Another one of those click the Policy links but find something else. I left the site without really knowing what policy or vision Ignatieff wants to project.

Site has a Privacy Policy but be prepared to scroll. It's worth it as you'll also find another handy little link hidden away - A site map! The only one found so far. This is such a handy thing for so many people - why hide it?

Newest content - 8:57 am, Tuesday, April 25th. (interactive works. )

Overall a good first effort. I'd spend a few bucks on a professional template. Scott Brison's site looks flashier, but this one has the engagement and the capability to easily add other features.

6.5/10

2nd Website:
Ignatieff's webteam has done a complete overhaul of the site. Gone is the Joomla install in favour of Active Server Page (.asp)

Clean, professional looking and appealing. The menu is straight forward and simple. French/English available. About the only page that seems to be still under development is the 'Get Involved' page and this isn't a big issue at this stage as the well designed site offers numerous other opportunities to 'Get Involved'.

Mi Community is still there, but greatly revamped. The Mi Community Home Page is the Union Station of the campaign, connecting users to features. Based on Community Server 2.0 , the section will keep users active and engaged. MI Blogs, Forums, Photo Gallery, Multimedia Centre and Upcoming Events. Every feature execpt the calendar allow comments in one form or another. The blogs have permalinks and comments, no trackbacks. The new forums feature focused policy debates, an opportunity to debate on subjects of the users choosing and a breakdown by Province. (What about the Territories?). Emails went out to all the users from the previous site with a new password and login. There were 412 users when I first looked, 414 when I just checked the site again.

RSS is available for all of the sites content. No autodiscover on the home page, the RSS icon is in the bottom right corner. Clicking on it will take you to a page listing three feeds. The forums also offers feeds for topics and comments and I found another feed, 'Speeches' tucked away on the site. I think this one has the possibility of being a podcast.

Donations, Joining and Volunteering are easy to do. With the exception of the MI Community section, the options to donate, volunteer and join are easily available on every page. The Ignatieff campaign remains the only one with their own eCommerce section allowing for online donations. The reworked donations page is easy to understand and use. Pre-set donation amounts, user entered and monthly contributions are available. Standard phone, fax and mail donations are also available along with a form.

As with the previous site, policy is not really evident. This seems to be more a campaign decision/strategy than any function of the website.

Privacy Statement opens in a javascript window.

Significant improvement over the last site. Ignatieff's site now represents the gold standard for others to reach for. There are still many features that can and may be added to the site but in it's current for Ignatieff's site is head and shoulders above the rest.

8.5/10

Google Link Search - 5 (4 2006 election related)

Google Web Search - #3

Gerard Kennedy
No entry page. French option available in the top right corner. Professional looking and quick loading. Best 'Action Centre' I've seen of all the sites. Volunteer, Donate and Join all there along with a yet to be ready "Share the message" feature. The icon row in the top right corner seems to be a strange placement to me. This eats up about 1 inch of valuable front page real estate for questionable value. The Menu bar initially looks easy to use, but the tabbed format is confusing because the tabs do not change colour as you navigate. You're never really sure which tab you're on. For some reason I didn't even notice the sub-menus until my third or fourth time through the menu bar. I think I was so focused on trying to figure out where I was on the tabs, that the sub-menus escaped notice. I'm assuming that as the campaign goes on he'll have more than one speech and one media release so we'll be able to do away with each of those opening a .pdf unexpectedly.

Breaking News - this isn't CTV Newsnet or CNN Headline news. Unless the Candidate falls down and breaks something, there really isn't a lot of "breaking" news on a leadership campaign. Takes up more valuable front page real estate. Usually these end up being nothing more than stale distractions.

Huge flash area for such a small page template. The calendar is well done. Most of the other features are still 'under development', but certainly show a lot of promise. The online community looks to be a chat feature. Share the Message has some interesting potential. There is a placeholder for a blog in the multimedia centre, but it's not active yet. One video and one .mp3 there. Hint - it's not a podcast unless you're actually casting it. Requires RSS of which there is none.

National Networks - I thought I was actually going to find something interesting here, but alas, no. Some good ideas but the site doesn't give people the tools to follow through. "Organize a coffee party or a pub night to raise funds for Gerard. Follow the instructions on this website on how to donate." Give your volunteers the tools to do this through your site. Integrate social networking tools into your site and the people will really help build a national network.

Policy - link is on the menu, but it opens up another one of those surprise .pdf files. I'll assume that this too is still under development.

Privacy Policy - link is there, but not the page. Mailto link for Contact the Webmaster is broken. (missing the l in mail)

Overall a good professional looking site, with tons of potential if all the features are developed.

6.5/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - #1 spot

Bob Rae
Splash entry page with French/English choices. I guess waiting to launch paid off for Bob. This is my pick for best of the bunch so far. Simple, clean, fast and easy to use. The only issue I have with the front page is with no 'Home' button, the entire header needs to link back to the home page. Currently only the far right panel does (at least in Firefox - haven't tested in IE yet)

All the right elements are there (Policy, Join, Donate, Volunteer etc) . The media centre is kind of thin and the font rather small leading to readability issues on pages like the Issues, but these are minor points.

Killer Feature - phase one of the campaign is all about signing up members. Click on Bob's join page and you get a form, but it's not just any type of form. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would figure this out. The form requires at least a name and email for contact purposes before sending you directly to the Liberal Party's online signup page. They now have a name and contact method to see if you actually joined the party. Someone had their thinking cap on here and it's the little things like this that will pay off in the long run.

Bob's Virtual Community is still under development, but I'm assuming this is going to be some sort of board or messaging feature.

Donation link is there, but not active yet. Join, Donate and Get Involved are always front and centre.

No RSS or other interactive features

No Privacy Policy

Overall a very good job. As mentioned above, the leader of the pack so far, but not by much.

7/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Search - site not listed. (Google Adwords would probably help here) You can find it on the #1 Wikipedia entry for Bob if you scroll way down.

Joe Volpe
No entry page. Another Joomla install, using a stock template, modified. (rhuk solarflare II) French is available in the top right corner.

Navigation is simple and easy, although the Action Centre is probably too small. This is a common fault of many stock Joomla templates. The rotating image banner will interest some, but others will not care for it. I don't mind one way or another, but one problem is where's my city? I think Windsor has a Liberal or two left.

The front page isn't there. The page is overwhelmed by the photo on it, forcing the visitor to scroll down to find the content. This is a common problem throughout the site. The size of the photos makes it difficult to find content, links etc.

The Volunteer link in the Action Centre takes you directly to the signup form, but the Get Involved link takes you to another one of those gigantic photos. No online donations, just another form.

No RSS feed, no blog, etc....

Policy is there (Joe's views) and easy to find but not very readable.

The site contains one of the best uses of Google Translate that I've ever seen, it's just a shame most people will probably never find it. For campaigns reaching out to ethnic communities this can be a powerful feature. Although Google translations leave something to be desired, they will at least convey the general idea and may bring the person to your campaign looking for further info.

No Privacy Policy

Newest content - Sunday, April 23rd.

Overall a shaky start, but in Joomla the site has a strong platform that is easily modified and built on. As with Ignatieff's site, invest in a professional template and go interactive.

5/10

Google Link Search - 0

Google Web Search - #1 (3rd Entry actually registers as 'LPOC Leadership Candidate Home")

Final ranking for the first round.

Bob Rae 7/10
Scott Brison 6.5/10
Ken Dryden 6.5/10
Gerard Kennedy 6.5/10
Michael Ignatieff 6.5/10
Maurizio Bevilacqua 6/10
Joe Volpe 5/10
Stephane Dion 4/10
Carolyn Bennett 3/10
Martha Hall Findlay 0/10 - Donation Page still not fixed.

If you've actually struggled through my ramblings and are interested in someone else's review, check out Rob Cottingham's site.

For what it's worth - that's my opinion. Like it, hate it -who cares. That's what blogging's for.

Liberal Sticky Finger Award

2006-04-25T04:54:00.000-04:00

As in, congratulations for finally getting the finger out and figuring out how to get the Membership page working.

Welcome to the 21st century web! With one bold, albeit extremely slow, stroke they've finally managed to make the five pages of rules regarding membership applications a moot point. Leadership candidates rejoice!

Now if they could only figure out how to get rid of Paul Martin.

Oh well, we're used to 13 years of do nothing so I guess we can't expect too much all at once.

MP advocates unwavering support for the United States

2006-04-24T14:35:00.000-04:00

Monday afternoon Canadian Jeopardy.

What current Canadian MP said:

"I want to see a strong government in Ottawa that matches the iron-will of the Canadian people to support our best friend – the United States.

We stand beside America and we shall never abandon her."

Answer: Who is...

(Hint: thanks to this person and other friends, the wish above recently came to pass)

Public fleecing ending, special interest groups rage

2006-04-24T14:30:00.000-04:00

Academic research is a valuable asset in the realm of public policy debate.

Special interest groups funded by the taxpayers are a completely different issue. Political parties of all stripes have increasingly been using these groups to support their own agendas.

We have a federal Public Service to assist governments in researching and drafting policy. If further research is desired or required, then academic institutions can be called upon.

If special interest groups wish to provide input, then they should derive their funding from those that share the same interests, not the public purse.

Lets stop funding the special interests and start funding the issues.

Alarm bells ring over Tory cuts
Interest groups feel abandoned
BY MIKE DE SOUZA CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

OTTAWA
Child-care researchers, aboriginal communities, affordable housing advocates, environmental activists, artists and the CBC all have something in common these days.

For more than a decade they built bridges with the federal Liberal government to negotiate grants, funding and subsidies. Now they are at odds with Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Conservative promises to lower the GST and send out new family-allowance cheques to parents for child care could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding.

“There’s a preference (in government policy) for financial transfers to individuals, therefore directly to citizens,” said Christian Rouillard, the Canada research chair in governance and public management at the University of Ottawa. “As for everything that supports civil society, different community groups and the social movement, they are at risk of seeing their transfers diminished or in some cases, eliminated.”

The government has already confirmed it would eliminate 15 programs dedicated to the fight against climate change, prompting an outcry from the groups affected.

“I think it’s fine for a new government to come in and say we want to look at things a little bit. We want to rejig things a little bit, but that’s not what they’re doing. They’re cutting everything,” said Greenpeace spokesman Steven Guilbeault.

“So basically we’ll have bureaucrats sitting around doing absolutely nothing, because they have no budget. There will be no programs, there will be no incentives, there will be nothing.”

With a budget expected within weeks, the next likely targets are childcare advocacy groups, researchers and academics who have gotten hundreds of millions in research grants and subsidies over the years.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley has said all programs are under review in her department.

Meantime, Harper complained last week about “the armies of academics, researchers and special interest groups” who are taking Ottawa’s childcare money away from parents.

Public child-care advocates are furious since they have not been able to meet with anyone in the Harper government, while Conservative-friendly interest groups are regularly consulted and invited to participate.

If you want to 'advocate' on a position or cause, do it on your own dime, not the taxpayer's.