Politics in 2015

[Edward Campbell]

...and if there is asbestos in 24 Sussex, remediation will balloon the cost of doing anything.

Fair enough ... Prime Minister designate Trudeau can then make some decisions:

    1. Do what is necessary to restore and maintain the property as the official residence of Canada's prime ministers;

    2. Let is rot ... until it falls down or we sell it to a gullible American or Arab; or

    3. Knock it down and build a new, better official residence.

We could ask (yet again) the Brits to sell us Earnscliffe, but they aren't that dumb.

 

[GAP]

With proper messaging, he can hoist the previous resident on his own petard.

"This is preserving a piece of our national heritage for future generations.  The cost has now increased to (ridiculous) million dollars; had the prior PM addressed it when he had the chance, it would have cost only $10M.  It's clear that you need to invest in infrastructure before things deteriorate too much, something my government has committed to do."

That issue has been around for at least 20 years if not more....no PM did much, Liberal or CPC

 

[George Wallace]

That issue has been around for at least 20 years if not more....no PM did much, Liberal or CPC

Other than new carpets and wall hangings, I don't think much else was done; and I believe that was Chretien's regime.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Cost is meaningless when doing work on government buildings. The government tenders ridiculous and needless extras, the bidders inflate the prices hugely, because it's a government project. Substandard work and minimum requirement materials are used to maximize profits. Built in obsolescence is instilled to ensure the project remains ongoing. Other than taking the taxpayer to the cleaners, as much as possible, the dollar figure and blame belong to no one but Public Works.

 

[larry Strong]

With proper messaging, he can hoist the previous resident on his own petard.

"This is preserving a piece of our national heritage for future generations.  The cost has now increased to (ridiculous) million dollars; had the prior PM addressed it when he had the chance, it would have cost only $10M.  It's clear that you need to invest in infrastructure before things deteriorate too much, something my government has committed to do."

Ask any landlord and they will tell you; "The best time to do maintenance is between tenants"!



Cheers
Larry

 

[Brad Sallows]

Any prior estimate of cost is bound to be less almost by definition: there is almost always inflation, and there is almost always something new every year.  I own a home.  I've never been simple enough to believe that if I fix everything this year I will enjoy cost-free residence for years to come.

 

[dapaterson]

Any prior estimate of cost is bound to be less almost by definition: there is almost always inflation, and there is almost always something new every year.  I own a home.  I've never been simple enough to believe that if I fix everything this year I will enjoy cost-free residence for years to come.

On the other hand, you've done necessary repairs and upgrades along the way, and not relied on plastic sheets over the windows for insulation during the winter... for a decade or more.

 

[dapaterson]

On Twitter, David Akin is reporting on vote totals.

#1 vote getter this election?  Kevin Sorenson in Battle River-Crowfoot, with 47.5K votes.  #2?  Andrew Leslie with 46.5K.  (Together, they got more votes than were cast in all of PEI (excluding Kanata)).

For the party leaders:

@pmharper 37 263 votes
@JustinTrudeau 26 391 votes
@ThomasMulcair 19 242 votes

EDIT:
And here's the ultimate dis: The top NDP vote getter in all of Ontario was Paul Dewar, who lost Ottawa Centre.

 

[Kirkhill]

Those that liked him liked him a lot.

 

[Brad Sallows]

NDP during recent election campaign - We're the party of balanced budgets.  [A claim resting entirely on performance at the provincial level.]

Peter Stoffer, yesterday - Separate the federal and provincial wings of the NDP.  [?]

AB NDP, today - Not just a deficit, but borrowing to cover operations; indeed, perhaps a quadrupling of AB debt by 2019-20.  [Now I understand.]

In other potentially good news, the federal government will help ON collect for the latter's pension plan.  So maybe the payroll tax increase can be confined to ON.

 

[a_majoor]

NDP during recent election campaign - We're the party of balanced budgets.  [A claim resting entirely on performance at the provincial level.]

Peter Stoffer, yesterday - Separate the federal and provincial wings of the NDP.  [?]

AB NDP, today - Not just a deficit, but borrowing to cover operations; indeed, perhaps a quadrupling of AB debt by 2019-20.  [Now I understand.]

In other potentially good news, the federal government will help ON collect for the latter's pension plan.  So maybe the payroll tax increase can be confined to ON.

Do these people never venture outside or read the news? While Greece may be on another continent and Detroit and California are in a different country, Ontario isn't that far away from Alberta...

 

[George Wallace]

An interesting "Thank You" to Prime Minister Harper (that many of the "Harper Haters" in the MSM and other organizations totally ignored in their damning of the PM and Conservative Government.) from  Hillel Neuer - Executive Director of UN Watch:

https://www.facebook.com/hillelcneuer

Hillel Neuer with Stephen Harper
October 20 at 8:02pm · Edited ·

Justin Trudeau: Congratulations on your election as Canada's next Prime Minister. UN Watch will look forward to working with your new government to ensure UN accountability and defend human rights worldwide.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: We owe you a profound debt of gratitude. Over the past decade, when others were silent, you courageously led Canada to defend moral clarity at the United Nations, defying dictatorships and double standards.

I will never forget, at the infamous UN Human Rights Council, during the years 2006 to 2009 when the U.S. was not a member, how your government became the only one in the world to vote against poisonous resolutions sponsored by Syria's Assad, Qaddafi and other murderous tyrants.

I will never forget how, in 2009, you were the first in the world to pull out of the antisemitic Durban II Racism Conference, leading Italy, the U.S., Germany, Netherlands, Australia, and others, to follow. Thanks to your actions, when Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered the opening speech, leading democracies walked out, and the entire conference was exposed as a sham.

I will never forget how you stood alone against French President Jacques Chirac and what he called a "great majority of states," to successfully prevent the 2006 Francophonie Summit from singling out Israel for opprobrium after the Hezbollah-Israel war of that summer.
I will never forget how you defended my organization, UN Watch, when pro-Hamas UN official Richard Falk, a 9/11 Truther, tried to shut us down; nor will I forget how your government condemned the UN's cynical and corrupt appointment of Falk's wife to a similar UN human rights post.

I will never forget how your government supported UN Watch's ongoing work to give a platform to democracy activists, dissidents and human rights heroes, suffering under the world's worst tyrannies.

For all of those reasons, and for so many others, those of us at the United Nations who work to restore the founders' ideals were deeply fortunate to see a world leader who showed, through extraordinary actions, how a profound commitment to basic principles can defy even the most intense peer pressures of international politics.

Thank you, Prime Minister Harper, and may God bless you.

 

[George Wallace]

Another eye opener to all those who doubted what the Conservative Government was doing for Syrian Refugees over the past years:

https://www.facebook.com/GlobalNews/videos/912987755415657/?pnref=story

 

[GAP]

excellent interview

 

[Edward Campbell]

Brian Gable, drawing in the Globe and Mail on the biggest threat to Canada right now ...

         

              ... unless and until Canada gets some adult leadership we are in real trouble.

 

[Altair]

Brian Gable, drawing in the Globe and Mail on the biggest threat to Canada right now ...

         

              ... unless and until Canada gets some adult leadership we are in real trouble.

Quebec has a balanced budget under liberal leader Philippe Couillard.

Does that count?

 

[Edward Campbell]

Quebec has a balanced budget under liberal leader Philippe Couillard.

Does that count?

Premier Couillard is a refreshing change after so many, many years of mismanagement (things have gone from bad to worse since Paul Sauvé in 1959/60.)  (Jean Charest's tax cuts were good, but he really, Really needed spending cuts.)

Balancing the budget is a good thing ... turning the Quebec economy around and making it productive is a HUGE challenge.

 

[Altair]

Premier Couillard is a refreshing change after so many, many years of mismanagement (things have gone from bad to worse since Paul Sauvé in 1959/60.)  (Jean Charest's tax cuts were good, but he really, Really needed spending cuts.)

Balancing the budget is a good thing ... turning the Quebec economy around and making it productive is a HUGE challenge.

Baby Rome.

 

[dapaterson]

As we head into a leadership review for the Conservatives, it's informative to look cross the pond and see what's happening in the UK and wonder about Mr Mulcair's future.

Tony Blair’s former adviser John McTernan has been arguing for weeks that MPs should put the interests of Labour voters before Labour members and dump Corbyn in 2016. The left would go wild; Labour members would scream that MPs were backstabbing bastards who had overridden party democracy. But so what? Politicians are meant to be backstabbing bastards. There are moments of crisis when their party and their country’s interests demand backstabbing bastards. If today’s Labour MPs can’t bring themselves to be backstabbing bastards, they should step aside and make way for proper politicians who can.

http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/how-does-labour-solve-a-problem-like-jeremy-corbyn/

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Premier Couillard is a refreshing change after so many, many years of mismanagement (things have gone from bad to worse since Paul Sauvé in 1959/60.)  (Jean Charest's tax cuts were good, but he really, Really needed spending cuts.)

Balancing the budget is a good thing ... turning the Quebec economy around and making it productive is a HUGE challenge.

It makes one wonder where we are headed in Canada, when Quebec is being touted as the paragon of fiscal responsibility....