Without question would give my vote if I had one to Carol Todd!
Carol is the mother of Bullying Victim Amanda Todd.
Carol, after the death of Amanda, somehow managed to get front and center in front of the cyber bullying and teenage suicide issues to arouse public sentiment and get the government start on the road to real change to protect our kids.
I can only imagine the pain she must feel.
Without question my vote would go to Carol Todd.
Thank You Carol you have helped us all!
What a joke the Canadian Press is. I can’t think of any other way to put it.
At a time when most people are beside themselves with the glorification of idiots,knuckleheads and murderers in the press, these idiots vote one of the worst ones as the Newsmaker of the year.
Just what nut-bars need, more free publicity.
As far as I am concerned, none of these people are responsible enough to deserve holding down a job of a profession that used to be held in high esteem.
They will all have blood on their hands if future tragedies along the same lines occur.
I am disgusted.
Enough said.
With Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi calling out Conservative Candidate Joan Crockatt for not participating in a by-election all candidates debate, I thought today would be a great time to tell you where I stand on all candidates debates during elections.
As some one who has been fortunate to participate in politics and live in a lot of major centres in Canada I can tell you that these debates all have one thing in common.
It is this: They are a waste of time!
The first thing you would see if you went to one would be all the wanna be politicos,campaign managers, candidates and party volunteers.
What you would be hard pressed to find would be actual voters who want to learn about the issues.
The reason for this is that these debates are stacked with political volunteers who ask their candidates softball questions to make them look good. Most people know that.
The average person get their news from the internet because there is no time to give up 2 or 3 hours for a partisan debate.
If you are the frontrunner( no matter what party) it is a night of all three parties ganging up on you.
Another thing, in my experience is that everybody and their dog wants to host a debate.
In the last federal election I can recall being invited to at least 8.Most of these are devised by people or groups whose sole reason for being is one issue.
Do I ever recommend candidates participate in an all candidates debate? If it is hosted by a Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade then yes. They are mediated properly and keep partisan bs to a minimum.
In truth and in fact, politicians and voters would be much better of engaging on the door step.
Firstly a candidate will reach more voters by door knocking.
Secondly,the discerning voter can ask the questions they want answers to and demand an answer. Most good candidates will either know the answer or if they don’t say so and promise to get back to you.
All candidates Debates? They are a big waste of time and Naheed Nenshi made my case for me.
So on this eve of this historic ( they always say elections are historic) what will determine the outcome? Will it be, as they say, who gets out the vote better that determines the outcome in 2012?
Being as the Republicans wrote the book on Get Out The Vote ( henceforth known as GOTV) the Democrats better hope not. ( I know in 2008 the Democrats won this game but polls showed it was going to be a big win and most Republicans stayed home and licked their wounds.)
I can make that statement because as a Canadian Conservative I can tell you we have been using a facsimile of that book for our successful election campaigns of the past few years.
There are of course more factors than simply getting out the vote that determine an election outcome each unique to a specific election .
To Wit: When the race is close there is nothing like a good old fashion hurricane to get people to stand up and take notice of their politicians.
If you believe the mainstream media, the nod goes to Barack Obama for his handling of the recent crisis.
However it’s 2012 and as I have said before and so have countless others people want politics done differently and the nod might go to the Republicans for the way in which New Jersey Governor Chris Christie handled Obama and the situation. People might think this is a breath of fresh air and give the Romney team some support it hadn’t counted on.
If you believe what I have said about people wanting to do politics differently than you don’t have to look much farther than the stump speeches Romney and Obama have made in the last few days.
Romney has made speeches that detail Obama breaking this promise and that promise while Obama touts working together with people and families.
I think Obama has been saying what people want to hear lately more than Romney unless of course you believe they both have been preaching to the converted so to speak.
Ironic in that earlier in the campaign Romney offered the positive vision while Obama went negative and attacked.
Jobs and the economy will get people up and off the couches to vote. In the past week Obama got good news on the job front but he still broke his promise on cutting the deficit in half. Do people care? About jobs yes, about the deficit,no.
What does America need right now? Bold leadership with a vision that Romney can offer. He has the experience to get the job done.
Will they get that?
No.
I think they will get 4 more years of Obama and it won’t be quite as close as everybody thinks.
Why? Because Republican VP hopeful Paul Ryan showed his inexperience and made women feel stupid with his abortion discussion during the Vice Presidential debate.
Watch the exit polls on women’s voting tomorrow. They will determine the election outcome in 2012.
It will be THE STORY.
What do you think?
The latest polls are showing Obama and Romney neck and neck in this coming Tuesday’s election.
There is all sorts of speculation and suggestions on what could happen.
As I related in an earlier post there is even talk of a split White House with Romney as the President and Biden as the Vice President.
It could go down to the so-called swing states. Those states are: Wisconsin,Virginia,Ohio,Florida,New Hampshire,Iowa,Pennsylvania,Nevada and Colorado.
If you live in the Eastern United States or Eastern Canada you could be up late.
There are ramifications for the Canadian Economy too. The Democrats are known to be more protectionist than the Republicans. We shall see.
The other thing that could have an impact on the Canadian economy are the votes regarding the legalization of marijuana. Polls show in the state of Washington,for example,that the pro pot vote might win.
The great Canadian excuse for not legalizing the drug is that it would hurt relations with the US. This of course would no longer be an issue if they voted to legalize. The other thing worthy of note is the BC is responsible for a large amount of sales in Washington.
This would no longer be the case as they would be able to grow their own.
The impact on the BC economy could be quite shocking.
All in all it will be a very interesting night. Political Insider will be there to sort through all the news.
Stay tuned!
What do you think will happen?
Hard working BCNDP Candidate Raj Hundal has stepped aside and shut down his bid to become the MLA for Surrey-Tynehead.
Hundal as you might recall won the nomination back in July of 2011.
Up until earlier this week Hundal was one of the more active BCNDP hopefuls on Twitter and Facebook.
Interestingly enough all of Hundal’s social media accounts were shut down soon after the announcement.
Her has yet to make a personal comment.
The press release made a reference to the old stand by ‘personal reasons”.
The timing is interesting in that the BCNDP is having a nomination meeting this weekend between two so-called heavy weight candidates Geoff Meggs and George Heyman in the vacant seat of Vancouver-Fairview.
It is rumored that both men are cabinet material.
It has been said that the BCNDP will find a seat for the candidate who loses on Sunday.
Could it be that they found a seat and asked Hundal to step aside?
If that’s case what’s in it for Hundal?
What do you think?
Lately and with good reason all the talk has been about bullies and specifically the death of Amanda Todd.
Her death was a travesty.
This article written by Kelly McParland I think is one of the best ones written that not only speaks for Amanda but other victims of this little punished crime.
One of those people would be me.
I went to junior high in Winnipeg made up of grade seven,eight and nines.
I remember only too well being in grade 8 ( I was the smallest kid in the class) living a 1 minute walk from school.We lived next door to the school, I literally had to go out the back gate and pretty much the back stairs were there.
Didn’t matter, this guy got me most every day at least once. Never hit me just blocked my way, pushed me , and threatened to clobber me. Tormented me, scared me.
Bothered me so much I used to pretend to be sick so I wouldn’t have to go to school.
In reality and looking back there was no pretending at all. I was sick and scared.
This guy ( there was two, but one predominately and I remember the name like it was yesterday but I won’t mention it).
Still bothers me today and it makes me wonder how those events shaped my life and that was before the internet.
I had a nervous stomach and as a 12 year old kid became the Tagamet king of Winnipeg.
I often wonder if taking that drug is the root of all my digestive and other problems now .( Actually bullying is probably the root)
So lets hope Amanda’s life and death were not in vain, lets hope she brought this issue to the forefront where it should be.
Maybe then, the bullies will no longer be the funny people in cartoons but rather the monsters that they deserve to be.
October 16th marks the one year anniversary date of the death of my granddaughter Marissa and her dad Kyle.
As I was thinking about that the other day ( I think about that a lot) I received an email asking me to help out the children of Christopher Speer who was murdered in Afghanistan by Omar Khadr.
It goes without saying that even though I lost a granddaughter it is not the same as being a young kid losing a father and all the memories and fun times that that entails.
I think that Marissa and Kyle would like it very much if I reached out to you through my blog and asked for a little piece of your heart.
It would be great if you could help out, go to the website and help the cause. Contribute whatever you can even if it means at the very least sharing it on your Facebook page or Twitter account.
Together we can make a real difference in these children’s live and perhaps restore some of the hope that they lost when Christopher’s life was taken from them.
Marissa,Kyle and I thank you!
Not wanting to be one-upped on the news high-lites by the likes of Justin Trudeau, Knucklehead Premier Christy Clark used the occasion of the opening of Trudeau’s coronation to tell the world she will withhold electricity if the pipeline goes ahead without her okay.
One problem with what Clark said is that if and when it gets to that point she will either have been ousted by her own party or sent packing by an angry electorate.
Justin Trudeau on the other hand, well, his world, is about to get a whole lot more exciting after announcing tonight that his hat is in the ring to lead the Liberal Marijuana Party of Canada to oblivion.
I am sure The Prime Minister is sitting back thinking this is the best thing that could have happened to him and the Conservative party.
Trudeau, if as expected, waltzes to the LMPofC leadership more or less uncontested, he will have more than Prime Minister to contend with.
Tommy Mulcair is no dummy and wants to hold onto the title of Patron Saint of Quebec. Trudeau will not get seats in his home province without a fight.
A fight that bodes well for Conservative Party fortunes across Canada as both the NDP and the LMPofC clash and prepare to split whatever vote is out there allowing Harper’s team to come up through the middle and win seats they don’t currently have.
It’s also possible, although I never take the electorate for granted, that the CPC will pick up additional seats with the new riding redistribution under way and expected to be in place before the 2015 campaign.
This should make for a larger majority in 2015 than they have now.
Speaking of elections,Liberals in BC complained during the 2011 federal campaign that they were tarred and feathered with the Gordon Campbell Liberal brush. Just wait until they get painted with the Christy Clark ” I am a federal Liberal in my heart brush”
They will also have the Ghost of Justin’s old man to contend with.For years the west has wanted in and now that we are ” aint no man named Trudeau going take that away from us”
The next LMPof C leader has his work cut out for him. ( it will be no cakewalk for Mulcair either, as by the time 2015 rolls around, Adrian Dix and the BCNDP will have had two years to screw up enough things to have their share of doors slammed in their faces too)
For Justin Trudeau to succeed and show the country he will do politics different and more exciting, he will have to be just like his dad.
He will have to be like his dad in that he will have to stand at the ready with his middle finger, the only difference being he will have to wave it at his own party establishment rather than the electorate in Salmon Arm,BC.
The folks in the LMPofC establishment will no doubt try and refine Justin’s image,something that he cannot allow to happen.( Look for fallout here too!)
What do you think will happen?
Today was a good day for the BC Conservative Party up-to and including the incident where John Van Dongen left the party.
The party elected Voice of Reason Al Seibring as president, Christine Clark as Vice President,Linda Bellamy as Secretary and re-elected Treasurer Lambert Leung .
Also elected were a whole host of new directors including Dan Denis,Dennis Beliveau,Daniel Brooks and Douglas Machan.
All the instigators of the last week were not elected and lots of new blood was elected to the board.
John Van Dongen left the party ( I told you that might happen in my post yesterday) and so the party has a chance to get some work done and elect some MLAs next May.
Van Dongen worked hard on the BC Rail file but he also worked hard at disrupting board meetings with his monthly ” I am getting elected with or without your help threats”.
During his goodbye speech John Van Dongen mentioned that the BC Conservatives did not work as a team. This is a concept that Van Dongen himself doesn’t understand as his demands on the board above illustrate.
Could we have done more to pacify him? Probably but he could have done more during the by-elections to help us too.
Sure losing an MLA is a blow but in this case the party is better for it!
Thoughts Anybody?