Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘ndp’

Is it just me, or are our politicians holding a contest these days for “most spineless”?

Martin may succumb to Layton’s blackmail by agreeing to defer corporate tax cuts in the federal budget in exchange for a promise for the NDP to support the budget:

The apparent concession came just hours after Prime Minister Paul Martin appeared to shut the door to NDP Leader Jack Layton’s demand that the cuts be scrapped. “We are prepared to discuss the possible deferral of the corporate tax measures,” the source said.

Martin’s fighting for his political life, so it’s obvious why he’s doing this. But the NDP doesn’t hold enough seats to prop up the Liberals if everyone else votes against. Martin will probably learn the hard way that Layton’s life raft is made of lead.

It looks like the NDP will vote with the Liberals for the throne speech, and the Tories and the Bloc will vote against. That would cause a tie – 153 votes for, 153 against. Leaving the fate of the government up to Independent MP Chuck Cadman:

Independent MP Chuck Cadman’s single seat could give a Tory-BQ voting bloc enough votes to overcome a Liberal-NDP partnership. On Tuesday, he told reporters that he is “pretty well neutral” on the issue of bringing down the government at the moment.

No pressure, eh?

Of course, there’s still some horse-trading going on before that point is reached. I sincerely doubt that the government will fall today… if only because any party who causes it to collapse will pay the price dearly in the next election. The Liberals will probably make enough promises to the Conservatives to get them to come on board for the time being.

Still, these alliances are indicative of things to come. It could be a rocky few months.

As of 8:00am, the final results stood as follows:

135	99	19	54	0	1

Overnight, a couple of extra seats were lost from the NDP and the Libs and gained by the Tories. This puts the combined Liberals and NDP at 154 seats – or one shy of the 155 needed to form a majority.

Sweet relief!

While on most issues this will make no difference – an extra vote is generally easy enough to find – it does mean that in theory, the Conservatives and the Bloc (and one independent) can all combine to vote down a Liberal-NDP initiative.

Some of the margins were razor-thin; it will be interesting to see whether recounts affect any results.

One last thought on the election before I go to sleep: It’s still close. Many ridings were won with squeakers, and others are still undecided. With recounts, the results may still change enough to make a difference.

At the moment, the NDP and Liberals are combining for 157 seats. Remember that 155 is needed for a majority. That’s a close enough number that any recounts, slim losses, or bolting of MPs may put the notion of a Liberal-NDP coalition in danger. Or at least one can only hope…

If Layton gets his way, his popular vote will translate into a lot more seats next time around. But I can’t imagine any of the other parties approving proportional representation. It’s not in their best interests.

And of course, if Duceppe has his way, then Quebec won’t be in Canada in time for the next federal election. And to think that in 8 ridings, the Conservatives stole enough Liberal votes to elect Bloc MPs. *Sigh*.

Update: The combined Liberal-NDP total is now down to 155 predicted seats. However it ends up, it’s going to be close.

Svend Robinson has been charged with theft for stealing a ring at an estate sale.

The “incident” caused him to step down as an MP for the NDP, amidst self-serving crocodile tears. But if he thought that his apologies and his life as a public figure would allow him to escape responsibility for his actions, well, think again. He ‘fessed up. Now it’s time to pay up.

I’m trying not to be too jubilant here, but, well, it’s difficult I’ll admit. Robinson has been a first-class ass for a while. Now his political legacy finally reflects that.

Ever the politician, of course, Svend did manage to resign just in time for these charges to be unlikely to stick to the NDP. That’s my only regret in this whole debacle. Svend, I’m sure, has plenty.

I was watching former NDP leader Alexa McDonough be interviewed on CBC Newsworld about her party’s foreign policy.

In predictable fashion, she ranted about the need to “choose” what Canada’s role would be in the world, and how “most Canadians” agree that force should only be used under the UN, and how Canada should expand its peacekeeping roles under the UN and distance itself from the “Bush administration” (the last bit was said with a disdainful sneer).

When she talked about needing to make the “choice”, I realized something: she – and many Canadians, both within the NDP and outside of it – still think that the War on Terror is a choice. They harbour the delusion that if Canada “chooses” to stay neutral, to stay out of it, that the terrorists will leave us alone.

They don’t get that we’re in a war whether we “choose” to be or not. The terrorists haven’t struck on Canadian soil – yet – but they’ve been planning to and trying to. We’re on the list of Evil Western countries, merely for being a free democracy, and none of McDonough or her ilk’s “choices” will change the fact that they have unilaterally declared war on us.

So the choice they’re really asking Canadians to make is between reality and denial.

Beyond whatever anyone’s opinion of all the NDP’s rhetoric about renegotiation free trade as “fair trade”, ending tax cuts to multinational corporations, or any of their policies… that is the choice that voters will be making on June 28th.

CP is now reporting that Svend has offered a whole host of excuses for his departure – which seems to have been downgraded to a “leave” – ranging from medical to legal reasons. The “medical” reason seems to be “severe emotional stress”… apparently having something to do with an incident in which he stole an expensive ring at an auction:

Describing his past few months as a time in which he has experienced “severe stress,” the seven-term MP for Burnaby-Douglas said “something just snapped” last Friday when he pocketed a ring during a public sale at an auction house.

“For some time now, I have been suffering from severe stress and emotional pain ,” Mr. Robinson said during prepared comments. “…I have experienced great inner turmoil. The reasons for this are intensely personal and I’m not prepared to discuss them.”

Yeah, I’d say theft is a “legal” problem. His comments really give an insight into how unstable the man is.

In the meantime, NDP Leader Jack Layton seems to think Svend deserves some kind of medal:

“Svend spoke about how he made a mistake and how he’s taking responsibility for it,” Mr. Layton said. “He did the right thing by going to the police. If everybody who made mistakes were willing to take responsibility for it the way Svend Robinson has just done today I think we would be living in a better world.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for taking responsibility. But let’s not pretend that owning up to a mistake erases it.

NDP member and Canadian MP (and general all-around pain in the ass) Svend Robinson is quitting politics:

The reason for the popular MP’s departure from political life was not immediately known. Robinson, an outspoken figure on Parliament Hill, became Canada’s first openly homosexual MP when he publicly declared his sexual orientation in 1988.

His aggressive stands on same-sex marriage, charter protection of gay rights and Palestinian autonomy – among other issues – have made Robinson a lightning rod for critics.

This is indeed big news. All the NDP members bother me, but Robinson is particularly annoying.

For the record, it’s not the “openly gay” or “protection of gay rights” issues that bother me about Robinson. Far from it. On those points, I actually agree with him.

No, it’s more due to things like this:

He was demoted from his international affairs critic’s role two years ago after travelling to the West Bank, staging his own detention at an Israeli checkpoint and then accusing the Israeli military of murder and torture.

“I plead guilty. Yes, I am taking sides,” Robinson said at the time.

“I am taking the side of peace over war. I am taking the side of the oppressed over the oppressor.”

Oh, and let’s not forget the time he nominated the ISM for a Nobel Peace Prize. Hey, I suppose they deserve it just as much as Arafat does…

Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out, Svend.

I was flipping channels the other night, and heard a teaser promo on – I think – the CBC on a story about trans fats and the drive to legislate them out of existence that went something along the lines of “Why don’t we eat the way we should?”

Now, I’m not disputing the findings of all the experts who say that trans fats are bad for us, or are a health hazard even. But I am a little wary of attempts to ban unhealthy foods. Even if fat is “the new tobacco”, as the Heart and Stroke Association sensationally warns, well, heck, even tobacco’s legal.

Every day, we’re assaulted by shocking warnings about different kinds of food. One day, it’s watch out for the water – it’s polluted and will kill you. The next day, don’t touch that protein. The day after, protein is king (thanks Atkins) and it’s the carbs that’ll kill ya. Sugar is bad so sweeten artificially… no, artificial sweetener will cause cancer; use real sugar. It’s an eternal yoyo going by with such dizzying speed that nobody can possibly keep it all straight.

In the end, everything’ll kill you. But that’s ok cause life will kill you. Death is one of the only two certainties in life. You can eat only vegan all-natural vegetables your entire life and get hit by a car.

As long as they are eaten in moderation, most foods won’t do you grievous amounts of harm. So if I want to be bad and occasionally eat something that’s bad for me, that’s nobody’s business but my own. It’s certainly not the government’s. If these interest groups get their way, every guilty pleasure will be illegal, and all the causes of death will drop drastically… but when people realize what kind of dry existence they’re left with, suddenly the suicide rate will spiral out of control. After all, what is life if you can’t indulge in a slice of triple-chocolate mousse cake on occasion?

I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs. But I have the occasional drink, I’m positively addicted to chocolate, and I don’t always eat my recommended daily intake of the four food groups every day. Even more shocking: Sometimes I read romance novels, watch cheesy movies, and I’ve even caught an episode or two of bad reality TV. And the guilty pleasure derived from doing each of those is the same as the guilty pleasure derived from eating greasy onion rings.

So to the NDP and their proposed bill outlawing trans fats, I say try being bad once in a while. Sometimes, it just feels good.

The NDP has elected Jack Layton as its new leader.

Do you care? I don’t. *Yawn*.