NDP Convention by the numbers:

NDP Convention by the numbers:

Over 300 riser decks
Almost 3000 square feet of truss
120 moving lights
Over 450 interlocking LED Panels
9 HD video projectors
6 line array stacks for sound

Number of Canadian Flags on Display 1, and you can get a print of it for only $250, with half going to the NDP

I've looked at hundreds of pictures online, as well as watched coverage of the convention. Only time I saw our Canadian flag was when it was flashed on a screen for the singing of the anthem, or the one in the photo called Jack's Flag, with print copies being sold for $250. Matter of fact the CBC media setup proudly boasted the CBC logo around it's circumference, with nary a Canadian flag in sight. Pathetic.

I won't hold my breath that some member of the CBC will ask Mulclair if he loves Canada.

Rob Ford Can Turn The Subway Loss Into A Huge Win...

It's pretty much a done deal. Rob Ford's vision for subways (one I agree with), is dead. I think years down the road Torontonians will see the error in their ways, when the maintenance costs of LRT far outstrip any savings accrued from aborting the subway plan. Now if I were Rob Ford, rather than continue to deny the subway vision as being dead, I would embrace it.

Now I realize that will be a hard pill for the mayor to swallow, but this loss could lead the way to many wins in the future on his plans and visions for the city. My thinking is this. The usual anti-Ford, David Miller apostles, including The Toronto Star, Adam Vaughan, Karen Stintz, have spent a great deal of political capital in steamrolling the mayors plans for subways. Matter of fact, all of the lefty anti-Fordites have all chosen to toe the same partisan line, that it was a democratic vote by council that led the way for the now future of Toronto transportation, LRT's.

One of those who has repeated that line about how we have to respect democracy and the vote by council is a guy by the name of Dalton McGuinty. Perhaps you've heard of him. In their zest to beatdown the mayor, they in fact have handed him a bag of hammers, in which he is now free to play whack-a-mole with their heads.

You see, whenever Ford puts something to council, something like fiscal or social cuts for example, and he gets enough support on council to pass, he only has to quote the usual suspects about how democracy works, and throw in a few factual quotes regarding the subway.

After all, if the subway proposal defeated by council must be respected due to democracy, neither McGuinty nor anybody else using that mantra had better make a peep about anything voted in favor of by council as being unacceptable.

Suzuki's Email Campaign As Phony As Leadnow's Robocall Petition.

Via KATE at Small Dead Animals, seems Suzuki wants to prevent the Senate from questioning both the funding and motives of groups outside of Canada in regards to the oilsands. Best part is, much like the Leadnow robocall petition, it allows editing. Here's my email including the revisions I've made. Wonder if Suzuki agrees.

Subject: Canadians want to be heard, not insulted by David Suzuki Dear Senator Eaton, Members of the Senate, and Members of Parliament,

As a Canadian who cares deeply about the future of our country, I am extremely disappointed by the recent attempts by David Suzuki to silence and demonize those who don’t share his positions.

Suzuki has labelled those who support the oilsands, and the economic benefits they bring to Canadians, including health care and education “radical” and have questioned the integrity of legitimate Canadian businesses and the Canadians it employs.

I am proud to support Canada’s oilsands, which have a long history of providing all levels of government with tax revenues to support the social programs Canadians need and depend on, and providing information to help Canada steward the natural environment on which we all depend for our health and future prosperity.

The Suzuki Foundation is supposed to be a registered charity removed from partisan politics. As such, we expect more from CRA, including an investigation into the Suzuki Foundation and it's removal as a registered charity.

Like many Canadians, I believe that the issue of large amounts of international funding is a distraction and effort to silence and discredit honest Canadian businesses, and the people they employ. Canadian businesses that provide and that are looking out for the needs and interests of Canada and Canadians.

A democracy functions best when all points of view are considered rationally and carefully, and when our leaders, both elected and appointed, examine the facts before speaking. Sadly, Suzuki himself refuses to listen to anyone unless they hold a mirror image of his opinions
As a Canadian who looks to Foundations that believe in leadership, I ask you to get back to the business of thoughtful debate rather than trying to stifle the voices of millions of Canadians with whom you may not agree.

Sincerely,Paulstuff

Cash Reward Offered!

I honestly don't know what this world is coming to. Do people have no moral conscience anymore? Last night I parked my car in my driveway and went in for the night. Left sitting on the dash were a pair of tickets for a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey game. I live in a good neighborhood and never really gave it a second thought. Well, this morning I went to get in my car to drive to work only to discover my window smashed. I remembered leaving my Leaf tickets on the dash and looked to see if they were still there. Of course you can all guess what happened.

Sitting on my dash were my two Leaf tickets, and another pair the hooligan left, who's identity I'm offering the reward for. I've tried giving away my Leaf tickets for two months, asking thousands of people with no luck. Now I'm stuck with another pair I can't get rid of. Perfect:0)

Globe & Mail Omits Significant Part Of Ian Brodie Comments...

and it's obvious why. I actually have to give Maher and McGregor credit. They ran a similar story as the Globe but had enough integrity to state all Brodie's thoughts in regards to the robocalls, something Lawrence Martin did not (que surprise?). This is the part the Globe omitted and M&M(tm?) included:

"Brodie said in an email to Martin that the culprit may not have needed to have access to CIMS, because so much information about voters is available from public sources, including Elections Canada, which lists donations.


"If you gave me an hour, I could cull a list of known Liberal and NDP supporters that added up to more than ten thousand names — using nothing but the Elections Canada website! And if I had a reasonably competent amateur programmer, I could match my list of known supporters to home telephone numbers in a single afternoon. Five cents per name and a few quotes from a few demon dial companies and there you go — a very large calling campaign."

In fact, the Globe included something that was completely opposite to what M&M included in their story. This s what the Globe wrote:

"Conservative partisans tried on Friday to tamp down the notion that the problem was bigger than Guelph, releasing records of calls made by an unknown operative who hid behind the alias Pierre Poutine. These records, provided to select journalists Friday, showed that thousands of calls were made to residents of Guelph, and that more than 140 stray calls were dialled to ridings outside the Southern Ontario city – likely in error.


Still, the records don’t explain why many voters outside of Guelph contend they received misleading calls directing them to wrong polling locations within their own communities.

That's also a complete 180 of what was also reported by M&M:

"Conservatives suggest that the pattern shows Poutine may have downloaded a list of Guelph opposition supporters that was clogged by bad data, which would explain why voters beyond the riding have complained of receiving the robodial directing them to the wrong polling station.

An industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed that may be what happened.
"It just means they didn't take the time to scroll through the list of phone numbers and delete them," he said."

It's called guilt by omisssion, something the G&M is guilty of here. It's also called crappy, unethical, partisan bullshit by people like me. And if you need any further proof:

"Something seems to have gone on, on a scale I've never seen before," Brodie wrote to Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin, then joked: "As you may be aware, I am a strong proponent of the death penalty for this sort of thing."
Martin, who didn't realize the comments were not for publication, posted them in a story on iPolitics.ca, which the political website later took down."

Someone Tell Mark Holland His Pants Are On Fire..

because it sure looks like todays news doesn't coincide with allegations made by Holland less than 24 hours ago. What say you Mark?

Yesterday's news: "Mr. Holland, who lost to former ambassador and Conservative star candidate Chris Alexander by just more than 3,000 votes, told The Hill Times there were so many calls inundating the riding he does not believe the cost could have been covered by the local Conservative campaign, and that many or most of them must have come from outside the riding."

Today's news: "The call that claimed to come from Elections Canada was sent out to 5,053 recipients in the 519 area code that covers Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Windsor and Sarnia.

But it was also received by 35 people in downtown Toronto, 74 in the 905 suburban belt surrounding the GTA, 14 in the 613 area code that includes Kingston and Ottawa, 22 in the 705 code area that includes Barrie, Sudbury and North Bay and one person in Thunder Bay.


I should point out this interesting fact as well: "Area code 905 (with overlay area codes 289 and 365) is a telephone dialling area in southern Ontario. It includes the Niagara Peninsula, Hamilton, Oshawa, and the suburban Greater Toronto Area.

I'm willing to give Holland the benefit of the doubt, and say that all the calls made to the 905 area code went to voters in the riding of Ajax-Pickering. So subtract one call from the 74, as I received one, and say the other 73 went to Holland supporters. So Mark, no by-election. In fact, your ridiculous statements yesterday have me thinking of contacting Elections Canada once again, to see if you signed an affidavit with your allegations, and question the facts as you claimed them.

Because today's news just sent that pathetic attempt by you to blame your electoral loss, no making that ass-kicking loss, on robocalls as hollow as a Liberal promise to scrap the GST.

WORTHLESS!

An Open Invitation To Terry Milewski

I see your most recent piece of journalism indicates that the victims of robocalls were voters who had previously indicated to the Conservative Party they would not be supporting them in the election. A few points Terry. I myself received a phone call telling me my polling location had changed. The CPC knew I was supporting them. I had confirmed that previously when contacted by the party. I had a Chris Alexander lawn sign. Close relatives worked on Alexander's campaign, being at the campaign office every day. I myself did some volunteer work.

I also attended the two appearances by the PM. The first one was at the Deer Creek convention center. Matter of fact, I sat about 10 feet to your right, sitting beside the media table. I also attended the invitation only event at Chris Alexanders campaign office near the end of the campaign. I also received multiple calls a few days before the elction supposedly from the conservative campaign office. These calls were annoying. Right at dinner time or later in the evening. People who worked at the campaign office received similar complaints from other party supporters. That's right. Voters who the party had identified as supporters received harassing or misleading phone calls. The thing is those calls were not made by the party.

Here's the thing Terry. Can I call you Terry? Whenever I received a legitimate call from the national campaign, the name on the call display would read Conservative Party of Canada. If it was a robocall it would be a recording by the PM. When I received a legitimate call from the local campaign the call display read Chris Alexander. The voice would be Chris Alexander's. Those annoying calls? They had area codes I'm not familiar with. No 905, 416, 519, etc., and no name displayed.

Here's the thing Terry. I'm willing to sign any release necessary to allow Elections Canada to access my phone records. Need an affidavit signed? Just pass me the pen. I know other Conservative supporters who also received similar phone calls. While I can't speak for them, I'm sure if I contact them they would be likely to follow my lead.

By the way Terry, I just wonder if you actually believe every one of those 31,000, oops, sorry, I mean 700 alleged complaints are legitimate. I just want to be on the record here Terry, be upfront and honest, and let you know I was actually in the PROVINCE at the time.

If you would like to discuss any of the information posted here, feel free to contact me at paulsblues45@hotmail.com