Senate Page Disrupts Throne Speech ~ A Page Outta Harper's Book?

Brigette Marcelle ~ AKA ~ 'Brigette Depape'

bravely gives up her job as a page in the Senate of Canada (AKA 'The Harper Senate of Harperland') to get out her simple message during the reading of Harperland's first Throne Speech!

Brigette Depape Holds a Sign which simply says:

STOP
HARPER

No Shrinking Violet, Marcelle (Depape) had a press release all ready to go:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 3, 2011

" Senate Page disrupts throne speech and says "Harper's disastrous agenda needs to be stopped with creative action and civil disobedience".

Ottawa -- During the reading of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's throne speech today, a young page was yanked from the Senate Chamber as she tried to hold up a stop-sign placard reading "Stop Harper."

"Harper's agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation," Brigette Marcelle says. "We have to stop him from wasting billions on fighter jets, military bases, and corporate tax cuts while cutting social programs and destroying the climate. Most people in this country know what we need are green jobs, better medicare, and a healthy environment for future generations."

Brigette Marcelle (aka Brigette DePape), 21 and a recent graduate from University of Ottawa, has been a page in the Senate for a year, but realized that working within parliament wouldn't stop Harper's agenda.

"Contrary to Harper's rhetoric, Conservative values are not in fact Canadian values. How could they be when 3 out of 4 eligible voters didn't even give their support to the Conservatives? But we will only be able to stop Harper's agenda if people of all ages and from all walks of life engage in creative actions and civil disobedience," she says.
"This country needs a Canadian version of an Arab Spring, a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, neighbourhoods and workplaces." "

Trending in Canada as 'Stop Harper'
and as 'Brigette Marcelle' and both
ahead of 'Throne Speech'

Her opinion is a commonly held one and it is obvious that she is not alone in this protest. As I type this there are some 15 Facebook pages springing up and growing. Where will it end? I am not sure, but it is at least a heartening gesture on her part. Gee, I wonder what's on her mind? Or has she been reading mine? News spread quickly and ten minutes later it was a trending topic on Twitter in Canada and briefly in the world.
The campaign to stop Harper is not a new one as you will see from this 2008 video in which Rick Salutin describes Harper and his right winged views and his Tourettes-like habit of blurting out Right winged ideological rhetoric, his teflon and why, even though most of us fear him, he gets to sneak up the middle, by splitting the vote. He discusses the difficulties of strategic voting and the grassroots nature of the movement.

Jeremy Dyer Human Rights Activist

We have not had a young hero like Brigette Depape since Jeremy Dyer refused to shake Harper's hand in July of last year. He was protesting against Harper's duplicity and his arrogance. Harper had made a mockery of Human Right's and then helped open the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg last July. Ryan, a young N.L. human rights activist was also invited to the event. Ryan had not agreed to meet Harper and when he found himself face to face with him, he used the opportunity to have his views heard.

“It was such a degrading experience. I felt so tokenized,” he said. “I feel like they took something so huge away from me that weekend. So huge.”

There is not a lot on the web that is directly attributed to Jeremy Dyer, but there is this lone comment on a blog by Montreal Simon that Jeremy left regarding the human rights of Omar Khadr.

This Video was shot from a concerned citizen's TV obviously. Sadly, CBC.ca and Evan Solomon do no share videos. It matters not that they are made using Taxpayer money, they simply do not share them. Neither does Evan Solomon share the intellect of the young Depape. He tries to shame her, she is not ashamed. Shame on you Evan, and the rest of the MSM who do not care about things as flippant as democracy, pay attention, you could learn a lot from Canadians who do care.



Of course these are early days in Harperland and this story will take a day or two to get a real handle on, but at least this shows that Canada still has a pulse. I can only hope it also means that Canadians are starting to suffer 'buyers remorse' for buying in to the Harperland experiment. I sure hope it does, please feel free to comment.

Afterthought: As I was pondering the confusion surrounding her name. The confusion was that at First it was reported as Brigitte Marcelle, then Brigette Marcelle and then a bit later as  Brigette DePape and also De Pape. After some digging I found this. It answers several questions or at least suggests that DePape is  her stage-name, and that in spite of the ramblings of the anonymous and right winged commenter below, that she is obviously ^NOT stupid. It is also obvious that she is ^NOT shy and ^NOT always quiet.  At least she is no longer anonymous!



I am tired of both Cowards and Cowardice. I suspect that Brigette DePape, or whatever she prefers to call herself, feels somewhat the same.
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Harper to Replace Auditor General ~ Another Piece of the Puzzle?

Sheila Frazer's ten year tenure as auditor General is drawing to a close. Appointed in 2001, she has been a well respected and respectable presence. She raised the initial concerns that led to the Gomry Inquiry and has always been seen as a non-partisan and balancing force in her position.  Her job will end on May 30th, 2011.

Harper's majority in the House will give him a free hand to fill the position with a person of his own choosing. Although the end of her term is but three weeks away, not a hint of who that person may be has reached these ears. You will excuse me if I am made nervous by the prospects.
She has already finished writing her final report, which includes chapters on the contentious issue of how the Conservative government spent tax-payer money on the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario last June. It includes, according to leaks, a scathing analysis of the Spending in Tony Clement's riding (known to have been in excess of 50 million dollars) and the origin of those funds.

"The report was supposed to be tabled in Parliament in April but was delayed by the election and won't be released until the Commons is in session in June — after Fraser's departure."

That of course is ^NOT exactly true, as it was really stopped in it's tracks before the Contempt charges were laid. It was a result of NDP MP Christopherson's vote in the committee. This is skirted entirely in the article quoted above, even though Christopherson's opinion on other matters was widely quoted.

“Liberals Want Canadians to See the Auditor General’s Report – but Mr. Layton’s stunt of calling for a meeting with the Auditor General took some nerve after his party blocked the report’s release before Parliament was dissolved,” said Mr. Volpe, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee in the last Parliament.

“If Jack Layton and David Christopherson had their way, voters would never know that the Conservatives spent nearly $50 million on G8 projects with no controls and without Parliament’s approval – and they missed their chance to expose this waste, abuse and contempt before the election by siding with the Conservatives to bury this report.

Two days before the election was called, Mr. Christopherson – the only NDP member of the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee – sided with the Conservatives to kill a Liberal motion introduced by Liberal MP Jean-Claude D’Amours calling for the Auditor General’s G8 and G20 reports to be made public in the event of the dissolution of Parliament – even if there was an election.”

As we launch, or rather plummet headlong into this new Harper Majority, keep your eyes open, and let them know that you are not someone to be counted among the somnambulatory majority of Canadians who helped allow this situation to get this far. You should be easily identifyable as part of this group if you woke up Tuesday last and were feeling even a bit satisfied with the election result.

I Worry that Our Prime Minister has ^NOT exactly made a habit of making decisions that could be seen as non-partisan, open and transparent nor has he gained my trust in the Five long years since these appointments have been his to make.

He has appointed a record number of Senators, to a Senate that he promised to make an elected body. He has dabbled in any and all positions that he could turn to his advantage. How much of Canada will remain free from his control? hard to say, but this appointment may very well set the tone.

So, remember Mike Duffy. Remember Bill Elliot. Remember Christianne Ouimet who managed Over 200 files with no results. Remember all of the Contempt, and remember that it is now very likely that none of it will ever be dealt with. Remember the 2006 election, the Prorogations, the still Secret Afghan detainee Documents, the Guergis affair and the Countless other Deep Democratic Concerns.



Remember that Harper is ^NOT Teflon.

Remember that He is Proactive and Preemptive.

 

Somnambulate at Your Own Peril.

p.s. Remember CRUSH?


http://www.electionscanada.ca/
toll-free 1-800-463-6868.

Democracy has a New Enemy ~ The Harper Majority

As the polls were about to open in Newfoundland and Labrador, on May the second, I posted one last, "Good Luck Canada" to my Facebook friends on CRUSH. If you are unaware, that stands for "Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper", a Facebook group dedicated to the defeat of the Harper Government in the General Election then only moments away from fruition. I quickly added: "See ya when the polls close."

The reason for timing it thusly was a simple one. CRUSH was about to go into hibernation and would stay there during the hours in which any Polls in Canada were open for business. It is the law of the Land!CRUSH it seems, was registered as a third party by Elections Canada, as it was conducting advertising in Print and other media, and was required to maintain what could be metaphorically called "Radio silence" during that time frame. We all agreed to this as we all, all 7350 or so of us agreed that that is a very necessary  incovenience to protect Democracy.

It was a noble response by a noble group of Canadians dedicated to researching and documenting the record of the then Minority Harper Government. These are bright people. They are people from all walks of life who simply did not approve of the long long list of items that make up Stephen Harper's five year record of anomalous activities.

To get a better sense of this record you can read some of the posts on this blog, or get involved with other Canadians as we had done at CRUSH. Just leave your preconceptions at the door, pull up a keyboard and delve into the truth of the Harper regime. It is entirely up to you if you wish to maintain that the "In and Out Scheme" was just an "Administrative Dispute" with Elections Canada, as Stephen Harper and his  defenders contend. besides all the evidence says otherwise. You'll figure it out.

Or, at least you would have. Over the last few days, Starting on March 3rd Some hundreds of Politically awakened Facebook groups have gone down, and Not just here in Canada.  Dissident groups are being deleted. CRUSH was one of them. Check it out! Not one of the dozens of links that this blog contains

Has that Information disappeared or is facebook sitting on it? Or as I am hearing some speculate, is it in the hands of right winged governments the world over? I don't know that, but the truth will come out. It always does.

Sadly, Not everyone plays by the rules. The CBC is, at our and others' insistance, being  investigated for having breached that Blackout. Also the Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada was actually on the Radio during the voting and apparently was campaigning for all his little blue sweater vest was worth.  

I was telling a friend that I was going to go it alone, and they asked what that meant. I told them:

"I meant go it alone Ms. M....., only in the sense that when you get taken out in large numbers, as in having a group like CRUSH down, the only thing that can be done is to blog it!

I want to take my time and get it right, but I started a new Facebook "Fan" Page for " The Twain Shall Meet " It's my blog! We need to become more resourceful. We need to have 5000 friends in Common. That way we cannot be separated.

I suggest that each of us spend the next few months making personal connections and re-connecting with group members that are no longer accessible. We cannot let this get to us. As long as we are reasonably discreet and speaking the Truth, No one can legally shut us up!

The day that Harper starts harrassing people who just happen to have a better understanding of democracy than he does, is the day that we start getting Canada back!"

 

 

So, the game continues. Harper thinks he has fooled us. He has fooled many of us. He has not fooled all of us! He is still Contempuous, he is still Canada's Biggest Problem. Just do the research.

THIS is a LINK to this Blog's fan page NOW On Facebook Join me there, or On My Wall.

We'll talk!

Harper Looks Prime Miserable to Me! ~ He is our Prime Misery!

Debating the Debate         

As Long as the Main Stream Media Believes

That Harper Owns the Economy We are Screwed!

The Debate is still a recent event, and it will be getting a Good going over today and for the rest of the Campaign period. As I watch the hapless and incredibly Conservative Evan Solomon, I am reminded of how much Power is in the hands of the Media here in Canada.

So Far they seem to be Mindlessly Bobbling their way through. Bobble Heads are Not Great media. They are in a very real sense among the elitists in this Country, they have things to defend and they will protect their turf. With the exceptions of the veterans; Robert Fife, and Terry Milewski, for instance, I feel that they come off as much less than sincere.

They are quite easy on the Prime Miserable in My Opinion. Do they ever ask (themselves) why everyone is picking on Harper? No, they just say he is... holding up well. They are also saying over and over, that he looked Directly into the Camera. He looked weird to me, and he was Not actually looking into the camera. He was focused at a point just to his Right of the lens. Very Odd indeed. A more reasonable observation would have been to point out his failure to look his opponents in the eye. That is after-all what got us to this point in time. The MSM's myopia reminds me of Bob Cole, who would benefit from a more careful look at the replays, instead of repeating his original missed call.

Hell, were they expecting him to be nervous, or contrite, or reactive, during all of those well deserved criticisms? By what mechanism? He has No Conscience. He is convinced that Supporting Exxon over Canadian citizens is the right thing to do. He is the Immovable Object. I thought he looked anal, and emasculate. He 'pretends' that he is the Victim here and they in the MSM do NOT tell us the Difference. I am still waiting for an apology from Mr. Harper. Instead what we get is a complete denial of the charges. It is interesting that the defendant, now found guilty is now framing it as him having been framed and that it was atrivial Bickering. Enter the Bobble-heads to nod away and agree that it really was nothing. Apparently Contempt is acceptable to a surprising number of Canadians. I feel very differently on the subject as you already know.


I am Not impressed! I thought Harper was evasive, smarmy, misguided and robotic. I wouldn't trust him to feed my Cat!

At Least He Looked Prime Miserable!

 Take the man-Child Out of a place of authority, and figure out a way to put him back in the tube. The fact that he cannot even look the other guys in the eyes should tell us all that we need to know!

In the entire two hours of the debate Harper stared at a spot on the floor somewhere near Duceppe's feet and never looked into the Camera. The Main Stream Media came out saying that Harper held his own during this debate. I didn't see it that way. But since I consider him a Child, I will tell you how other kids saw it!

Ignatieff Draws Praise while Harper Criticized for Lacklustre Debate Performance

EDMONTON — Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff won the televised leaders’ debate after he stopped dumbing down his arguments and started acting like himself, say the three student debaters who participated in the Edmonton Journal’s live chat.



Ignatieff’s impassioned plea for the role of the federal government in supporting equal access to health care across Canada was his strongest point, the three said.

“He had the most consistent message,” Kristen Pue said, adding he also backed up his statements with more examples than the other leaders.

He looked relaxed, and when taking questions from Canadians he answered directly and remembered the questioner’s name, said Sheida Kayat, who judges debates for the University of Alberta Debate Society, the oldest club on campus.

"Nearly 300 participants in the live chat were asked at the beginning who they thought would debate the best, and Harper won out with 38 per cent expecting good things from him.


But by the end of the debate, opinion turned against him. When asked who won the debate, 44 per cent of those on the live
chat voted for Ignatieff. Layton got 41 per cent while 15 per cent thought Harper won the debate. No one voted for Duceppe."
So What Is Real Leadership?

If Any of you 'PMO' Types are looking at this and I somehow doubt you are. I need to know if this is Jenni Byrne. It was sent to me and it is supposed to come from Jenni's facebook Profile.

Apparently She is NOT a very nice human being. If you do NOT know who she is, She is in charge of Harper's re-election Campaign, and is Noted as a problem-child, just like her boss!

For more information on Helping to Un-Seat the Cheat, Read on Down this page, or visit C.R.U.S.H. on Facebook.

Now we need to Figure out How to Get this Mean Genie back in the Bottle, or more accurately this strange Blue Goo back into the tube. A lot of people who are as hated as Harper would just crawl back in and Go away.

Mr. Harper is ^NOT the type to do that. He will need to go down in flames in order to get the point. He does ^NOT seem to understand that he is being held in Contempt by so very many of us.

On May 2nd

Vote for DEMOCRACY

^NOT Contempt!

This Just IN:

This is a very odd way to advertise Compassion, and is in very bad taste for the facebook page of a 26 year old running a national Election campaign. Oh, that's Right, Ethics, Compassion, Empathy, public good, the suffering of others, is^NOT on the Conservatives 'Radar'.
Sadly, If you are reading my Blog, YOU probably Are!

Polls Are For Trolls and Fools ~ Just Ignore Them!

Or Better yet, just stop taking them!

The Nik Nanos interview on CTV's Power Play  on Sunday Feb 20th (see the Nanos interview at the 1:38 minute mark) should have been billed as a Conservative Infomercial, or at the very least, a Con Game. And since it was not, I think some might have taken it seriously, the way Canadians do. Not that they tend to take it so seriously that they look at the disclaimers at the bottom of the stats, or even more importantly, the light that was made to shine on it just last week in print, and on "AT ISSUE" by Allan Greg. He is always described by Mansbridge as a long time Conservative Pollster, so it was refreshing to hear his refresher on the subject.


Allan Greg speaks to "The House" on CBC radio via CBC.ca
At any rate, The Cons are not worried, nor will they be until the Pollsters stop hyping them. Nik Nanos like all pollsters who insinuate that polls can be trusted, simply can ^NOT be trusted. And an increasing number of those of us who like to do a bit of math when we have doubts, see that the numbers are more political than scientific and our oddly widespread faith in them makes them much more able to affect outcomes than predict them. Polls don't just let us know who is going to win, they help determine it.

I Call in to "The Week" ~ A Sunday NOON ET show on CPAC with a few Questions and a few comments including one about Greg's idea that these Polls are now unreliable and as always an exercise in political interference. I ask them why in light of this, they still insist on pushing poll results.

Watch it Here ~ I'm on at the 23 minute mark,
but the whole show is well worth a look.

Pollsters call a few thousand or so (that's one in every 70,000 or so voters) mostly folks on land lines, only 15 to 20% of whom will talk to them at all and blithely come up with numbers which are (19 times out of twenty) somewhere ( according to them) within +/-3.4% (That's a possible 6.8 points off of, (-) or added to (+) the total spread) and rely on our being too damned lazy to do the math.

We could simply subtract that 6.8% and know that the current (supposed) 14% spread might only be 7.2% but they never bother to do that little bit of the real math on our behalf.

And don't forget that one in Twenty polls where even that huge inaccuracy is multiplied by built in error. (nineteen times out of twenty, remember)

Now Keep in mind that these polls are pretty much weekly and given the 52 weeks that is a year here in Canada, we are fed this twentieth poll two or three times a year. They don't bother to make that clear. Like I said they leave us to do that math. Why?


Is it because they know that it would show them to be irrelevant and leave them much less useful to the political parties that pay for them? I am afraid  that that is a sad and distinct possibility.

Food for thought.
A Review BY ALLAN GREGG of"
"Harperland" ~ The Politics of Control by Lawrence Martin published by Viking Canada

Meeting The Liberal Express was a Refreshing Experience

As any of you who have ever read "The Twain Shall Meet" or know me from Twitter or on Facebook, or have read any of my comments on CBC.ca already realize, I am completely disillusioned by the Harper Government.

I absolutely hate their closed minded, confusing, oddly ideological, "catch me if you can", and strictly scripted approach to governance and information. I have come to not trust them either, to; tell the truth, to share information, to stand and take uncomfortable questions, nor to show any signs of compassion, reason, or any sign of a caring attitude towards Canadians. I have come to expect only contempt, deflection, deceit and denial from the entire caucus, cabinet and their leader.

I realise also, that many Canadians are being told subliminally by the minions of the Conservative Party of Canada, who would have the population in general fail to vote, and work their own asses off to get their base to the polls, that nothing ever changes in Ottawa. I feel that as a result of this 'Meming', as I like to call it, (based on the French term 'meme chose' meaning, of course 'same thing') that far too many Canadians have already come to believe that all political parties and all politicians are exactly like these insufferable ideologues. I do not want to believe that, as it would mean that there is no way out of these tough (meaning Tory) times.

So, when Paul Zed, former liberal MP, invited me and a lot of others to attend a Barbecue in his backyard, and to meet the Liberal Express in Rothesay, New Brunswick, I decided that it sounded like a great way to get some perspective on the subject.

I must admit at this point (again, no surprise to many) that I had already developed a growing deep respect for and a positive impression of what I felt and still feel are Michael Ignatieff's; impressive intellect, reasoned perspective, honourable motives and his compassionate vision of Canada, which I had already taken the time to get to know. I was quite sure that it was a vision not unlike my own.

Besides, I thought, it is an absolutely beautiful drive from Moncton down to Rothesay N.B., which is a very pretty little town just this side of Saint John, some 150 kilometers away down a rather modern highway. The views along the way are spectacular and the Kennebecasis River Valley is incredible in Summer. In the afternoon sun, on August 1st, New Brunswick is as green as Ireland. Not only that, but it was promising to be perfect weather for a drive down the Road. So, careful to recharge a few batteries so that I could take some pictures, I did what I always do, and forgetting my camera at home, sped happily towards Saint John with it's batteries securely in my pocket.

I had no trouble at all to find the place, (ain't google grand?) but had to park on a side street a short ways from the house, as I was, still plenty early but far from the first to arrive. I walked there while chatting about the event with a nice, slightly older gentleman and was soon in the Zed's back yard, behind a large, beautiful two story house, where a couple of hundred people were already gathered.

I soon spotted Paul, who greeted me enthusiastically and warmly, introduced himself, and asked me to make myself at home. We chatted for a few minutes and he soon put me totally at ease. He showed me where I could find something to eat and also told me that the House was "wide open" if I cared to go inside. In the Maritimes, kitchens, if not the rest of the house, are almost always part of the package.


Paul Zed


I said that I was a progressive political blogger and a proud member of "Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper" and that I had a few Questions to ask; him, anyone who was aboard the bus, and also his quests. He said that that was the purpose of the evening, that he expected me to have questions and that I was more than welcome to ask anything of anyone at all.

He described his professional and personal relationships with Michael Ignatieff as one and the same, and a warm and close one and that. They had, he added, been good friends for a while. I told him that I was aware of that and that I was hoping to get Michael's attention for a while to ask some questions. Paul laughed and said he knew before he invited me that I would feel that way. We had a good laugh, and I said I'd wander around and that his back yard seemed an "odd setting". He looked momentarily troubled, as I had hoped he would, and I said that it was "the nicest place that I had ever lingered while waiting for a bus".

So, wander around I did, and grabbing a bite to eat from the barbecue and a simple salad I ate while sizing up the still growing crowd. Oddly, they did not strike me as elitists, and they seemed to me like any average New Brunswick crowd. It occurred to me then that the Conservatives did not own the "Tim Horton's crowd" as they so often claim, and that I was clearly standing among them as we waited for the bus.

After eating, I wandered out to the road to smoke a quick cigarette, and just as I reached the roadside, a taxi pulled up. A tall, rather large man, popped gingerly out of it carrying a travel bag. I recognized him as Gerry Byrne, a young and promising Liberal MP from Newfoundland. We soon fell into a pleasant conversation and I asked him his impressions of "Strategic voting" as a better alternative to Danny Williams' A.B.C. campaign, which had worked so well for the Federal Liberals on "the Rock" in the last election. He thought that that strategy was a worthwhile endeavour in the rest of Canada, but that A.B.C. was all that was needed in Newfoundland, citing that the Liberals were so strong there due to Harper having reneged as soon as he became Prime Minister on a written promise to "keep non-renewable energy resources out of the equalization formula" An interesting conversation, to say the least.

It was not long after that that the bus arrived. It was not the run-down rickety old bus that is described in Conservative circles, but a large, clean, quiet, rather pretty bus. In the strong sunshine, it was brightly white, made more so by the richly red lettering and darkly tinted windows, which hinted of air conditioned comfort. In fact it was looking rather smart! Why was the main stream media missing this? That is another blog entirely.

As it pulled in and came to a stop, a loud applause, and excited voices gathered around it. I was excited to see who exactly would be on board. I have been following it on Twitter, and can tell you that the cast keeps changing as different members of the Liberal team join it at different stops as Mr. Byrne was about to do.

The first person, that I recognized was Senator Jim Munson followed by Marlene Jennings, one of my absolute favorite Baird baiters from Question Period, whom I suddenly found myself face to face with.

 

Under the Flag as I Chat with Marlene Jennings

 Next came Judy Sgro, formerly Veteran's Affairs Critic, and still a member of the committee responsible for overseeing it. Next came the talented Dominic Leblanc, followed closely by My current MP, Brian Murphy, whom I had become re-acquainted with as he spoke at the CAPP Rally in Moncton, in January and with whom I had the pleasure of talking over Coffee at Tim Horton's right after the Rally.

I was, as I said, standing face to face with Marlene Jennings, who was accompanied by her teenage daughter whom she introduced. I noticed that she had cigarettes and after spending almost an hour on the Bus, we soon found our selves alone and out of the way, smoking and talking about the G20. I had asked her opinion on the prospects of an inquiry, and she was quite candid about her dissatisfaction of the authorities handling of the crowd. She was refreshingly open, and was aware of the man from Thorold who had been relieved of his prosthetic leg, and literally dragged off to the detention center for a 27 hour ordeal. She knew about many of the stories that I had heard and was not impressed with the situation saying that she felt that even though it would be hard to ever get Harper to agree to an Inquiry, she did seem to think that some of the questions being asked would result in proceedings against at least some of the police officers involved. This she said could be done with or without any official inquiry. I was impressed that she was so comfortable giving me her take on it. We made our way back toward the crowd and parted as she approached another guest who wanted to speak to her.

The next person I spoke with was Senator Jim Munson, who worked with now controversial Senator Mike Duffy years earlier while they were both with CTV. He was less than shy as he described how Mike had declared during the Chretien years that he was "quite willing to become a Liberal", if it would only get him a Senatorship. I saw right away that this was scoop enough to satisfy even a real reporter, so I asked if he understood that I would be sharing that story, and he added that it was not a secret and added that it is a shame that Duffy was now only a shallow shill for Harper and had become a mere caricature of himself. I thanked him for his candor and accepted his business card.

I was not surprised to hear that Duffy story. Not really. I can count on one hand those who still feel good about Duffy. The one who comes quickest to mind is the often irascible Ezra Levant who seems to tolerate him quite nicely as seen in an interview he recounts from 2008 with Mr. Duffy, then still with CTV.

At this point I realised that I was within a few feet of Michael Ignatieff, and I slipped in closer and soon got a chance to meet him.

I had been watching him move easily about the crowd and was amused that whenever he met anyone, he introduced himself. Was there anyone there who did not know his name? Probably not, but at any rate I found it to be charming and not the habit of an arrogant man.


I got to talk to Michael Ignatieff, and was quite surprised by
how comfortable and welcome he made me feel and how pleasant he
was, even when I asked him some serious questions. I realised
that this was not Stephen Harper. This guy was listening!


I shook his hand and introduced myself, as did he. Again, I found it disarming. I sensed that he was comfortable and I was not made nervous by him. I told him a few things about myself and that I had a few short questions for him from some of my friends on Facebook. I asked him a couple of questions about life on the road and such and then asked, if he was going to be asking for an Inquiry into the Police actions at the G20 in Toronto. He said much the same thing as Marlene Jennings, although, like her it never sounded scripted in the least. He was simply responding to it by giving me his thoughts on it.

He said that he saw no need to press for a Federal Inquiry, as it was unlikely to happen under any circumstances, and like Jennings had said, that there were Provincial Government, and Internal Police Inquiries, as well as many different involved interests launching individual proceedings on behalf of many individuals. He was convinced that these would shed a lot of light on the subject and that it was his opinion that the Liberal Party was more interested in laying the blame squarely at the feet of Stephen Harper.

He went on that Harper, could so easily have chosen a more suitable location almost anywhere outside of Toronto, and that the city had tried to make it clear that they preferred that it not be held in the GTA and that it could best (as in more cheaply and more safely) be done at the Exhibition Grounds. He said that Harper absolutely insisted that it be held, in what became the RED ZONE, and that the city was not given any other option. Ignatieff seemed to think that by the time all of the interested parties were through with the process, justice would be served.

As I have had a few days to digest it and to look into what exactly is already being done and all that is looming, he may very well be right on the money. He will, I think, be satisfied that Harper will be ultimately made to pay, by the ombudsman of Ontario, by the police commission in Toronto, by the People of Canada, who are forced to pay the Billion plus for it and that the police involved will be held responsible by individual prosecutions launched in the name of individuals and not by governments.

He made it very clear that he wanted to stay out of the fray and let these forces do the damage, and that he would do his best to keep Harper at the very center of it all. I suspect that he plans to be busy getting ready for an election call that may not happen right away, but that he feels he owes it to Canadians that he be ready for when it does. If he has this figured correctly it seems obvious that Harper will be busy as well! And i hope distracted.

I will stop here for now, but I will publish this and edit it as necessary later and add the rest of the story after I sleep for a few hours. It is now 6:44 AM in the Good Ol' Maritimes.

There is a whole lot more more to tell! see Part two below.

Meeting The Liberal Express was a Refreshing Experience <> Part Two <> <> A Shared Vision of Canada <>

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Michael Ignatieff's Vision of Canada (or at least <> my impression of it)

Back to [Part One]
As enthused as I was with the ease with which Michael Ignatieff had fielded and answered all my questions, I still had one more item on my agenda. I had gone there not just to meet him but also to hear him speak. I wanted to be there in the crowd, as he spoke, in order to get a sense of his style, his outlook and his vision,  and i wanted to try to get a sense of the spirit of the man.

I did not have to wait long. I could see Paul Zed moving towards the P.A. system on the steps of the old barn and I moved to the back of the crowd so I could take it all in, and see also how the audience was going to react to it.

Paul picked up the mic, and thanked us all for coming, and casually mentioned that there was still food on the grill, and that he was very happy to have all of us there and that he was very happy to have Michael there as well. He said that it was Michael's sixth trip to Saint John in the last few years and that he had often stayed right there at Paul's house. He introduced him as Our next Prime Minister and the crowd applauded loudly and enthusiastically as Michael Ignatieff stepped up casually, smiled as he thanked Paul, and took the mic.


<>Note<>: I will not be "quoting" the Speech, as I did not tape it, But here are my impressions of it and since I've already let the cat out of the bag,  it the main reason I found this trip so refreshing!


This is New Brunswick of course, and it is also Nouveau Brunswick, so he opened with a bit of history on it's roots, and remarked on it's various peoples which he said included; La Brayonne, Les Acadiens, United Empire Loyalists, First Nations ( Mi'kmaq and Maliseet ), Early European settlers and more recent immigrants from all over the World. He said that New Brunswick was as proudly multi-cultural a place as there is in Canada, and that he was proud to have roots here.



Michael and Zsuzsanna
Fisher House Kings Landing

 I did not realise that he had roots here, so I listened intently as he told us that they had just come from Kings Landing, an Historical Settlement along the Saint John River which is a recreation of a New Brunswick town from the period of 1780-1910 and that he was surprised to realise that, one of the oldest buildings there was called "Fisher House" and was built by an ancestor of his named, not surprisingly, Fisher.

That was cool enough in itself, I thought, but he then said that his Grandmother,  Maude Parkin Grant, who was, I assume, on his mother's side, was also a New Brunswicker and that she was buried in Salisbury NB. ! ! !

Well, I instantly let out a 'slightly too loud' ~  "Hey! that's My Hometown! ~

I am certain that he did not know it was me who shouted, but I think he heard it, because he decided to elaborate. I guess he was in no hurry.  And as it turns out, he was not.

He said that he, along his wife Zuzanna, and  his friend (our host) Paul Zed had made a very special trip to Salisbury, NB, just last summer, to find her resting place and hopefully her headstone. They managed to find it, with a little help, cleaned  it up a bit and spent  some time there reflecting on what it means to have roots here. He said that he had always been very much at home here, but was even more-so since, the trip to Salisbury. It was not hard to believe as he seemed to be having fun and was in fine form. 

He used no script, no teleprompter, no cue cards and he showed no signs of needing them. That alone was Refreshing. He was in fact, as it turned out, just warming up.

<>Note<>:  I found out later that evening from another guest that they had managed to find it in a farmer's back field that in the corner of which was hidden the few grave markers there and that it was now somewhat grown up and is lightly wooded. The guest also said that Paul would be able to give me more information on it, including the farmer's name. I am only 15 minutes from Salisbury, and I know my way around, as I grew up there, so I thought I might love to go and try to find it myself and brush it off, and spend a little time contemplating my own roots. That sounded like a worthwhile thing to do! And this time, I promised myself, I will not forget my camera!

He then smiled broadly and said that he was here to do better, that we deserved and needed better, and that we need a Government that is based on Compassion and Respect. That we need a government that values education, values science and reason, values the environment, and that values and respects people.

He said that he was not really a partisan, and that he valued co-operation and that a good government worked with the opposition parties and sought out information from many sources to insure that things progress. Progress, he noted was a word that was used no longer by the Conservatives. And that we can all see that cooperation was not Harper's style. He said it would be his style.

He briefly touched on; Harper's treatment of the Press, his lack of cooperation on any level, the one source contract for $16,000,000,000.oo for the stealth F35s, the Cost and the overall handling of the G8/20, right down to the fact that it was stupid to ever have had it in Toronto, and the Fake Lake. He mentioned the incredible amount being spent to show how well Canada Inaction Plan is being managed, the Omar Khadr issue, his total lack of action on the environment, the Prorogations, one being the result of his dragging his feet (he left out his dragging knuckles though) on the detainee issue, his gutting of Human Rights Commissions, his ideological redistribution of funding from humanitarian to the more right wing NGOs, the recent announcement about changes to the census, in spite of Canada's almost unanimous disapproval and his stubborn insistence that it will go ahead. There were a host of other issues. All of which are of interest to to me as a Canadian and as a member of CRUSH.

He said that it should be obvious to any Canadian paying attention that the Harper Government had no respect for Canadian institutions and that they were continually attacking them, using Ideology instead of Intelligence, Fiction instead of Facts, dismissing science, dismissing all expert opinion, and disregarding the opinions of civil servants and was constantly making glaring mistakes because of it.

He said that the word 'Accountability' had at it center the smaller word 'count' and that the Harper Government could not count, and that we could not therefore count on them.

He said that the Liberal Party of Canada was the party at the very center of Canadian life, but that it was also widely based  and very inclusive, and that it was the only party that had any real chance to defeat Harper and form a government, and that a vote for the NDP, or the Greens, was in fact a vote for Stephen Harper.

He said that he hoped disillusioned "Progressive" Conservatives who where tired of the lack of progress and the gutting of Canadian institutions and democratic traditions understood that there was a place for them in the Liberal tent.

He hoped that New Democrats, who were tired of the current Government's contempt for Parliament and democracy in Canada and their insatiable thirst to gut Canada's much needed  social programs  will also feel welcome within in the Liberal tent.

He said similarly, that those who intended to vote Green, would take heart in the fact that the Liberals are a party that has a deep commitment to the Environment and that again there is room for them under the Liberal banner. He urged all Liberals and would-be liberals to urge all Canadians that it was time to unite the huge majority of us who will not give Harper our support and to unite to defeat him under the Big Red Tent that is the Liberal Party of Canada. The party, he said  "at the very Center of Canadian Life!

At this point, Paul Zed joined him briefly and gave him, among other things, a case of 12 Moosehead Beer and said he could enjoy it later to which Michael responded with a quick flick of the tab, a hearty drink, a quick wave and a Cheerful good night to all!

I was quite impressed by the speech, finding it satisfying, encouraging, entertaining and inspiring.
I found his style deliberate and well focused with a good cadence in spite of the fact that it was not scripted and that it was almost 20 minutes long ("In a gadda deveda" was only a little over seventeen minutes and I suspect, it was scripted, lol) and it sounded very sincere. It was delivered in a strong but friendly tone and was loud enough when required and subtle enough where necessary.

That was not the end of the evening, nor in fact, the BBQ. There was still lots to talk about, and plenty of enthusiastic guests to talk to. I was about to take a quick break and grab a smoke, but saw Michael had been asked to give a quick scrum to a handful of local reporters, and with out so much as a second mouthful of MooseHead Beer, walked a few feet onto the lawn and took those questions. I got up quite close but could not hear all of it, but one Question was dealing with Canadian Nuclear Energy and I was able to find a short piece on it in the Telegraph Journal. I of course commented there, and I await the moderator. Feel free to comment on it yourself.

Well I am going to call this episode Part Two and push the button soon but before I do, let me just tell ya that in Part Three, I meet Wayne Easter, and get a chance to talk to Judy Sgro about her time as Critic for  Veteran's Affairs. And I still want to give you my impression of Zuzanna, with whom I talked, after the speech and before watching the Bus leave for Moncton. I was about 5 minutes behind it, and never saw it at all on my way home.  So I guess it must have worked pretty well, eh? It was a great night for driving, and I wasted no time getting home.

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My Vision of Canada

The Sun is well past risen here in the east as I try to find a way to direct attention to a small meadow in my mind where the river is deep at the shore and to a magical canoe exactly large enough to hold all who dare come aboard.
To each a paddle,
to each a bow,
to each a song
and seeds to sow.
As we set out
none say goodbye
for none are left ashore.

For all aboard
and each aboard
a feast of words awaits.
A feast of hope,
a feast of light,
a feast for all to taste.

We are not kin,
and yet we breathe
the air the same as all.
Together in this craft so light,
this craft with room for all.

D. Kim Leaman 07/2008

Ignatieff samples a MooseHead and waves it to the crowd.
A vision we share!