Follow-up to my post above … when I stop looking for reportage of the Examiner’s “Harper campaigned on election day” incident in mainstream media, I do find much in what seem to be agenda-driven blogs: such sites as “democraticunderground” and “pushedleft.blogspot” and “fucorporatemedia” are reporting it. However, many of them cite the Examiner item and copy it wor-for-word.
Interestingly, the radio log I linked to above does say that “Stephen Harper also made a statement last night on the death of Bin Laden but was careful not to turn it into a partisan campaign speech as it is Election Day today.” They then list the guests that discussed the election: a UBC professor and a Conservative strategist. However, again, it does not seem that Harper was a call-in guest.
I’m tempted to believe that the incident never occurred, and it was simply invented out of whole cloth by the Examiner writer. But I’ll keep an open mind for now, and if I find anything in the mainstream media, I’ll post it.
The wave of blue across southern Ontario drove this Conservative majority. The Left is going to have a lot of Reform-style discussions about vote splitting coming soon.
Currently 3 - Ralph Goodale plus two in Vancouver. But you can’t be surprised.
Thankfully they’re not forming the government, Bob Rae style. This will give them time to find the good apples, marginalize the bad ones, and prepare real candidates for next election.
This election was a choice between no fiscal restraint, or almost no fiscal restraint combined with no concern for Canadian democracy and freedoms.
Wait, what? They’re already low-tax, big spending deficit monsters. You think that’ll change now?
I agree, this part is good. I would have preferred him to be facing another Conservative minority. These twenty unexpected Conservative seats surprised me significantly.
The NDP aren’t really hard left, you know. And neither are Canadians, or they’d be voting for the Communists. I’ll wait and see if the Tories can still be considered center-right in a year.
Okay, I was able to get confirmation for the Examiner’s claim from the Vancouver Province. Looks like it actually did occur: cite from the Province. The Province, however, stops short of reporting that Harper broke a law; but rather, that “An encouragement to vote for the Conservative party during an appearance on a Vancouver radio station has some saying Stephen Harper broke Canadian law by campaigning on election day.” Emphasis added.
The Province then goes on to debunk the claim that Harper campaigned, using the same legislation and logic that Northern Piper did: briefly, according to s. 319 of the Elections Act, campaigning does not include an interview.
I am so freakin’ depressed about a Harper majority.
I am cautiously hopeful about the strength of the NDP.
I am astonished at how poorly the Liberals did.
I guess I need to become more involved and vocal every time the Harper government does something I disagree with. I imagine that will be often.
I vow to make my voice heard while he is in power, instead of just thinking about it, and toddling off to vote when an election is called. I need to do more than vote.
Spoken like a true Canadian! I implore you to take up a stance on something you are adamant about, as there is utterly no shortage of things the Harper government is jeopardising.
Really, now is the time for everyone who didn’t vote Harper to make their voices more audible. Otherwise you might as well get down on your knees and start praying to the new Christian nationalist dictatorship we are about to be transformed into.
Can’t we have a Conservative party that actually cares about improving the lot of common people and families? One that can be relied upon to support our rights when we find ourselves up against major corporations? One that supports common rights towards intellectual property, promotes universal access to education and the internet, and seriously tries to conserve our democratic ideals and freedom of expression? I’d vote for that party in a heartbeat.
As I understand it, that’s only true of certain things which you can’t possibly parody by being too over the top. Originally stated in reference to religious fundamentalism, it appears to be equally true of political partisanship.
By having a healthy economy that ensures the improvement of ‘common people and families’.
When are you up against major corporations? They are run by people, too. But it is why we also have laws.
Usually it is major companies that sue the ‘common man’ for downloading stuff they didn’t pay for. What is it? For intellectual property or against your ‘rights’?
You have essentially free education up until you graduate high school and heavily subsidized education after that. A healthy economy allows you to pay for the internet. Or are you suggesting that we also subsidize computer purchases because one without the other is pretty meaniingless?
You can beak off all you want right here. No one is stopping you other than the ‘facist’ moderators. I’m not sure what you mean otherwise, or why it will change now.
