- Does everyone remember the Conservatives more or less accusing Dion and the Liberals of aiding and abetting the Taliban for being insistent on a firm pullout date for Afghanistan? (A little link for you if you don’t). Now that Harper has come around to agree with Dion and the Liberals position on Afghanistan, I’m waiting to see if all those Conservative bloggers who took up the cries of their Conservative politicians and said the Liberals were “cutting and running” will now issue the same condemnation of Harper. Send them in to me if you find any criticisms of their beloved strong leader. It appears even some Conservative strategists are wondering what is going on with Harper.
- Ezra Levant is part of the Conservative War Room? No wonder they’ve been committing gaffes.
- On a related note, here’s a pretty telling line from a Conservative insider about the Conservative War Room and the headaches it’s caused the Harper campaign so far:
“We’ve said for years that the hyper-partisan Republican-trained true believers around Harper were going to cause him trouble,” reflected a veteran Conservative strategist. “The stuff they just wanted to kick out to media knew no limits.”
- On yet another related note, we find out through Kady O’Malley that the “Notaleader” site was using clips from TVO without their permission.. and these folks want to pass Copyright Reform legislation?
- Speaking of copyright legislation, Professor Michael Geist says in an update at the Fair Copyright For Canada Facebook Group that this election offers the chance for all those Canadians who oppose the provisions outlined in Bill C-61 to make their voice heard:
Over the past two months, the reaction to C-61 has overwhelmed many politicians. Some have acknowledged that it was the top issue among constituent correspondence, others have held town hall meetings in response to local concerns, and yet others have sought to make it an election issue…Raising the profile of copyright has required thousands of Canadians to pro-actively contact their elected representatives. Starting today, those same representatives (and would-be representatives) will be seeking you out. They will be knocking on doors, making phone calls, attending all-candidates meetings, and generally doing their best to convince voters that they will best represent their interests. This presents an exceptional opportunity to ask the question - where do you stand on important digital issues such as C-61 and Canadian copyright reform? Does your local Conservative candidate support the reintroduction of Bill C-61 or would they work toward amendments before it returns? Is your local Liberal candidate willing to commit to public consultations before the introduction of any new copyright bill? Is your NDP or Green candidate firmly against the approach in C-61? These are the questions that need to be asked again and again and again this fall.
If there was to be a “sleeper issue” in this campaign, it could very well be the copyright legislation known as Bill C-61. I believe A fair number of people will turn against the Conservatives if the word can be spread that people are potentially liable for lawsuits up to $20 000 for merely copying songs from their legally purchased DVD (because the DVD has DRM) to their Ipod under this legislation, if it were to get passed. You see that potential for voter backlash when the Facebook group has over 91 000 members. So, I hope this issue is brought up more by the opposition parties, because there’s a lot of potential votes and anger against this legislation that could be tapped. A lot of young voters will get rather ticked off over this issue if they are made aware of it.
UPDATE: I almost forgot this: An extremely good response by Dion to Harper’s ridiculous accusations that national unity would be put in peril if the Green Shift was implemented:
While [Stephen Harper] was busy talking about building firewalls in the West, I was fighting to keep my country together…. I do not need any lessons from Stephen Harper on fighting for the national unity of my country.
A firm pullout date of December 2011 was in the agreement to extend the Afghan mission.
“Our objective is to end the mission in 2011,” he told reporters. “We believe the mission could be completed by then.”
But a government official later went further, saying: “It’s our government’s intention that the mission end in 2011.”
Feb 12, 2008 TheStar
‘A confidence motion to keep Canadian soldiers in Kandahar until 2011 has passed easily in the House of Commons…
Revised following consultations with the Liberal party, the motion calls for the mission to be renewed past 2009, but with a focus on reconstruction and training of Afghan troops.
It also includes a firm pullout date, calling for Canadian troops to leave Afghanistan by December 2011.’
March 13, 2008 CBC