Category: News

Sacked?

As most likely know by now, maverick Tory MP Garth Turner has been suspended from the caucus today and, surprise surprise, the blogosphere is all over it like a cheap suit:

Garth non grata… Turner gets suspended from Tory caucus
Garth Turner
Garth Gets The Boot
Garth Turner has been suspended!
Garth Turner Booted?
Garth suspended!
Garth Turner Gets the Boot

That should be enough reading on the subject to keep ya busy for a while. 😀

BOO!

Well, kids, the political game of musical chairs in London just keeps on keepin’ on these days, doesn’t it? First, it was Joey Bananas leaving Ottawa to come back and run for mayor in London, creating a socialist vacuum in the area that threatened to suck in everything from Martha Hall Findlay to Bob Rae. Now, former mayor Dianne Haskett has announced that she’s going to be making a run at the Tory nomination for London North Centre. I guess she figured that, since Joe was after her old job, she could return the favour.

Haskett might be the best bet the Tories are going to find around here, too. A solid social conservative (remember the stink raised when she refused to proclaim a gay pride proclamation in 1995 because of her religious beliefs?), Haskett has an equally solid reputation in the London area as someone that will stick to her guns, even if they’re pointed at her. She also has a solid reputation for winning; in the 1997 mayoral race, she beat the competition by a margin of 2 to 1.

“I have a sense that in my future I’m meant to continue in political leadership and that this period of time, presumably about five years, is a hiatus period. I feel led to a life in the future which I feel will include political leadership in the federal arena.” — Haskett Oct. 19, 2000, as her family leaves for Washington D.C. area.

Those of you who have been following the “And the flop flips” fun (there seems to be more of you than I would have thought) can now pick it up here. It’s been so amusing that I migrated the whole thing, comments and all (but the comments are the best part, aren’t they?), from the old blog today.

Yes, indeed, ladies and gents, the hill was quite the busy place today. The ball got rolling realitively early, beginning with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s address to Parliament (including, I assume, Jack! Layton; which is likely as close to a meeting with Karzai that the Smirkin’ Gherkin is gonna get):

Afghanistan’s president offered his personal thanks Friday to the families of Canadian soldiers killed in his country and told them their loved ones have died for a great cause.

Hamid Karzai also met families of Canadian 9-11 victims after being welcomed on Parliament Hill by an honour guard of soldiers who’d served in Afghanistan. (more)

And then there was the huge rally, beginning at noon, which drew out damn near ten thousand in support of our troops overseas:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged again to rebuild Canada’s military during a speech Friday to thousands attending a rally on Parliament Hill to support Canada’s troops overseas.

The subdued colours of official Ottawa were replaced with blazing red shirts, red ties, red hats, red jackets – even flashes of red thongs among the crowd – all intended as a morale booster first proposed by the wives of two soldiers from the nearby Canadian Forces base at Petawawa, Ont. . . The rally took on a life of its own as local radio stations in Ottawa pumped it up, promoting it on air. (more)

All in all, quite a day. CTV footage of Karzai’s address to Parliament can be found here and articles on the rally can be found here and here.

I would like to begin today by saying, on behalf of all of us here, that our most heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to the family and friends of Anastasia DeSouza, whose life was ended so tragically yesterday in Montreal. We also maintain our highest hopes for those still struggling to live through the ordeal. May their families get good news, and get it soon.

Out of respect for the sensitivities of those so deeply affected by this event, it has been decided that there will be no posting of opinions about the social implications (or anything else) regarding this matter until after the families have had the chance to come to grips with their loss and say their final farewells to their loved ones, after whatever fashion they follow.

There will be NO capitalizing on this issue here. Any commentary to that affect will be deleted immediately and the poster will be banned.

Again, our best wishes to the families. If there is anything at all that we can do, please do not hesitate to contact any of us.

Well now, isn’t this interesting? The Canadian Medical Association, the Keepers of the Sacred Health Care Cow in Canada, have elected Brian Day, the owner of a private surgical clinic in Vancouver and a longtime advocate of loosening the country’s stifling restrictions agains private medicine, as their president in a secret ballot in Charlottetown.

Past president Ruth Collins-Nakai was quick to make with the “move along, folks; nothing to see here” song and dance:

“It is not necessarily a shift in ideology. I think you are seeing a level of frustration by doctors in terms of the lack of access to care. Physicians are frustrated by the fact they cannot provide the care patients need in a timely fashion.”

Couldn’t have anything to do with the current “envy-of-the-world” system being heavily composed of a bloated bureaucracy that hoovers up so much money in administrative costs and overpaid government unions now, could it?

As you probably guessed by now, the unions and their little Grit, NDP and assorted other lefty stooges are in full “EEK! it’s the end of the world!” mode. Just like they were right after Harper won the last election, but the world is still here, isn’t it? Volcanoes didn’t erupt, the dead didn’t rise from their graves, the sky stayed where it was and William Hung didn’t win a grammy. You’d think these boneheads would get bored of being wrong ALL the time…