The New National Dilemma After Our Sharp Right Turn

I dug out a little book that I'd bought a while ago at a book fair:  The National Dilemma and the Way Out

It was published in 1975, and co-written by Winnett Boyd, chief designer of the Chinook jet engine and the nuclear reactor at Chalk River.  He was also a political activist, first as a Liberal, then as a Progressive Conservative; not liking the direction that Pierre Trudeau was taking the country.

Boyd ran for the PCs in 1972, using the campaign to espouse capitalist values.  He lost.  The book was his lament over Canada's sharp left turn, seeing little difference between Liberal Pierre Trudeau, PC Robert Stanfield and NDP David Lewis.

We are seeing the same dilemma today, after Canada's sharp right turn.  Everyone is competing for the middle, but no one really knows where the middle is; so they just keep inching to the right hoping to fall into it.

I am not a socialist and don't believe that we need to own everything; but do believe that we should be using our natural resources for the benefit of all Canadians.

I also believe that we need to maintain control of institutions like Canada Post, regulatory boards, healthcare and education.

I'm not anti-corporation, but think that far too many tax dollars are going to help their bottom line, and not nearly enough to protect ours.

I believe in freedom, but not the Conservative brand of freedom, which is used as an excuse to blow stuff up.  Using the term "mission" and not "war" fools no one.  It is just more corporate welfare, because they are the only real winners.

Like Winnett, I started out as a Liberal, but did not leave because of Pierre Trudeau, but rather when the party began adopting neoliberal policies, abandoning Trudeau's goals of a just society.

I liked what I saw as the sensible approach of the PCs  toward nation building, and was a huge fan of our local MP in Kingston, Flora MacDonald.  I was becoming disillusioned with the party under Mulroney, but stuck it out until their final demise in 2003.

I was never really what you'd call hyper partisan though, appreciating the contributions of Tommy Douglas, David Lewis and Ed Broadbent, and was never more proud then when Jean Chretien kept us out of the Iraq War.

However, I did find myself in 2006, where Boyd was in the early 70s.  No major party had what I was looking for.  I was disgusted with Adscam and terrified of Stephen Harper, so voted NDP, by default.

After a decade of Stephen Harper and his destructive Neoconservative platform, Canadians are ready for a change.

Anybody But Conservative, or ABC groups are mobilizing and that's good.  The sentiment of ABC and Stop Harper campaigns, are important reminders,  and will undoubtedly have an impact.

However, strategic voting campaigns, conducted months before the election, only cause confusion and draws attention away from what elections are supposed to be about.  Choosing the best party platform and/or leader, to steer our country in the right direction.

Justin Trudeau was right when he rejected the notion of a coalition.  For any party to talk coalition in the middle of an election campaign is political suicide, and makes you wonder why they don't trust their own platform enough, that they already believe they will lose.

It also allows Harper to play the victim, a role he plays very well.

During the NDP leadership contest. Thomas Mulcair was chosen because of his claim that the party should avoid specifics of their platform, and instead focus on getting elected.  This new aim is evident in their ever changing ideals, even promoting something in one province and then denouncing it in another.

It is also evident with the "pooling" scandal, where they skimmed off public funds, for party purposes.  I'm just as disgusted with that as I was with Adscam. 

So with roughly 2 1/2 months to go, I will be using my energy to compare platforms, and promote the Liberal Party and Justin Trudeau.  By early October, we will have a better picture of voting intentions, so I will throw myself behind any effort to make sure that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are not re-elected.

I will not be open to coalition talks or election engineering, until it is the time to do so.  

In the meantime, I have enough confidence in my party and leader, to believe that we will not need either. 

Are the New Conservative Election Fraud Plans Going up in Smoke?

In April of this year, an ambulance was called to 24 Sussex Drive, after a teenage girl had consumed too much alcohol. No charges were laid, despite the fact that she was underage.

The occasion was a birthday party for Stephen Harper's son Ben, and the official response was that the Harpers were just a normal family. Yes, apparently all normal families ply teenagers with enough alcohol, that they have to be rushed to hospital, apparently suffering from alcohol poisoning.

(The image above is our Justice Minister Peter MacKay and his beer bong)

However, rather than using this as an opportunity to address the growing problem of teen drinking, Harper attacked Justin Trudeau for wanting to legalize marijuana.

Double standard or plain ignorance? Tough call, but one thing that history has taught us, is that prohibition only increases criminal activity, while creating new social norms.

Bathtub Gin and the Devil's Music

In November of 1933, on the eve of the end of Prohibition in the U.S., Fortune Magazine ran an article, summing up the era since 1919, when the Draconian Volstead Act was put in place.

"Moonshiners" "bootleggers", "speak easies" and "bathtub gin"; defined the period, as did Al Capone and others who protected their prohibition empires with violence, that included shoot outs with police.

The Fortune article focused not on the history, which was well known, but on prohibition's impact on American culture. Noting that before the ban, Americans drank 140 million gallons of liquor a year, and during the ban, that increased to 200 million gallons a year, they spoke of a "rebirth" in the industry that manufacturers of spirits had to address.

Bathtub chemists had not only made gin the new drink of choice, but had created a new class of drinkers.

... the bootleg industry, discovered that the one thing prohibition prohibited was the manufacture of the native U.S. drink, rye and bourbon whiskey, and so it gave the thirsty citizens something else and changed the taste of a generation.

The calculation of the taste factor now baffles everyone in the business. Before prohibition, gin went into Martinis and Negroes. The alcohol industry of the 1920s made it a drink. The younger drinking generation was weaned on it and an entirely new body of drinkers, women, preferred it to whiskey .....

Gin flowed freely at parties and in the Speak Easies and Jazz Clubs, throughout the 1920s, where dancing and "wild" music helped to define the era. But something else was becoming popular. Marijuana.

Throughout the Jazz and Swing eras, pot was consumed by both musicians and their fans. Louis Armstrong called it a "cheap drunk" and preferred it to alcohol, as did many others, including Dizzy Gillespie. Pot not only improved their stamina, but provided a new element to their music. A wild abandon that was also seen in the jitterbugging of the patrons.

This raised concern among law makers, not because of the health impact of the drug, but the influence of non-whites on pop culture. Says journalist Maia Szalvitz:

Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (an early predecessor of the DEA), was one of the driving forces behind pot prohibition. He pushed it for explicitly racist reasons, saying, “Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men,” and:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."

Hustlers, Beats and Others

By the 1950s the "Beat Movement" created a new pot user. According to the 1972 Report of the Canadian Government Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs: "... the accompanying growth of a white middle class audience for jazz music also played a role in the diffusion of cannabis-smoking."

By the 1960s, the craze had spread. Wrote Ned Polsky in Hustlers, Beats and Others:

The "beats... most enduring imprint on American culture appears, in retrospect, to have been precisely this diffusion of marijuana use to many circles of middle-and upper-class whites ....

Anslinger's ban had not reduced the use of pot, any more than the Volstead Act had reduced the use of alcohol.

In Canada, Marijuana prohibition was enacted in 1923, and while its use was mostly clandestine, a 1967 study in Toronto, revealed that its popularity was widespread enough to warrant user categories.

"The Beats", who were usually under twenty-five and inhabited "the Village" section of downtown Toronto; "The Swingers", who were mainly criminals, members of the criminal fringe and entertainers between the ages of thirty and forty-five; and "The Squares", who were upper-middle class, well-educated professionals between thirty-five and fifty years of age."

So was music the gateway to marijuajna?

According to that 1972 report speaking to the "cannabis-using population "There is almost universal consumption of tobacco and most drink alcohol (usually beer or wine)"

So is tobacco and alcohol the gateway to marijuajna?

Of course not. It's society. And society determines what is socially acceptable.

I don't smoke pot and could actually get it legally because of my MS, but choose not to. I tried it once as a teenager, and never liked it. But then I have never smoked cigarettes and the number of times that I have been drunk, I could count with the fingers on one hand.

However, none of these decisions were moral issues, but rather an aversion to chemicals.

When Justin Trudeau announced that he would legalize pot, not just decriminalize it, it triggered a storm of debate. Canadians began to question the sensibility of pot "laws", and now an overwhelming majority agree with Trudeau. He has forced the other parties to create a policy on the subject.

With the Conservative attack ads suggesting that Justin Trudeau wants to force your children to smoke pot; backfiring; they have decided to use a different approach. Spending our money to create anti-pot ads, to improve their chances for re-election.

In the meantime, they are offering an olive branch by promising to perhaps soften the laws. However, any punitive actions are long past their prime. We need to treat alcohol, tobacco and cannabis, the same, by making all of them controlled substances, rather than illegal ones.

After all, roads were not paved with good intentions but with vices.

The results in Colorado have been overwhelming, and the revenue better than expected. Add the savings in court and police costs, and it seems a no-brainer.

Stephen Harper's allowance of serving alcohol at a teen's party was not only illegal, but proved to be dangerous. He needs to get off his high horse.

If taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill for yet more of his Party's political ads, than those ads need to include the dangers of alcohol and tobacco. Despite a well publicized hoax, it's almost impossible to OD on pot, yet alcohol poisoning is real and growing.

And pot does not cause cancer, but cigarettes do.

Canada has always been a progressive country, but under this government, we we are regressing, and I'm sick of it. Given the latest poll results, I'm not alone.

Harper's new (un)fair Elections Act, and gerrymandering redrawing of the electoral map, are transparent attempts at stealing yet another election. He can't win unless he cheats and he knows that.

But given this important issue, will it all go up in smoke? Let's hope so.

Are Conservatives Behind Vote Fraud?

The Guelph Mercury is reporting that those prank calls in ridings where Liberals and Conservatives are close, may have come from the Conservative party.

When one resident was called, he called them back and they answered "Conservative Party of Canada" and to please leave a message.

And Stephen Harper himself is challenging election laws again, by appearing on a Vancouver radio station, urging people to vote Conservative.

In an interview this morning with Bill Good on CKNW in Vancouver, Stephen Harper openly campaigned for the Conservative Party of Canada, asking listeners to "vote Conservative" in defiance of Elections Canada rules and regulations that state no campaigning may be done during the media blackout on election day.

During the interview Stephen Harper contravened the Elections Canada Act by stating that "It is certain that I will vote, and I encourage all other people to vote, and I encourage people to do the same as me and vote Conservative."

They just do what they want.

This Election is Very Much a Referendum on Harper

For a nation that didn't want an election, I've been out this weekend talking to people and many are engaged and excited. We drove past a large group of Queens' students, with their stuff on the sidewalks (moving day) and I asked them if they were voting.

They gave me cheer and most said that they already had. There was a time when I would never have asked that, or if I did, probably would have earned nothing more than a puzzled look. Today it means something. A common bond. A shared purpose.

One of my favourite columnists Haroon Siddiqui, wrote: Vote has become referendum on Harper

And regardless of conflicting polls, one thing is absolutely clear. The majority of Canadians want Harper gone.

He cannot be rewarded for treating our Parliament with disrespect, and making us the first country in the British Parliamentary system, to have a government found in criminal contempt.

He doesn't respect us, and we should not respect him.

So ignore the national polls. Those running them have an agenda.

Focus on your local riding. You know who has the best shot against the Conservative. The most lawn signs are a good clue. The most visible. Or just get out and talk.

Catch 22 have a list of close ridings with the best choice. Stop the Split allows you to put in your postal code and they will give you a sense of who is in the lead. But don't assume that just because the results indicate a "safe bet", that there's no hope. This election, no seat is safe.

Please don't split the vote. Think twice, vote once. We can do this.

Conservative James Moore Says People With Autism are a Special Interest Group

Boy, I thought Kingston's Alicia Gordon was ignorant when she suggested that farmers have no marketable skills, but I think James Moore may have won the award of ignorance, for his remark on autism:

Conservative candidate James Moore was asked at Riverside Secondary All Candidates Meeting in the BC riding of Port Moody–Westwood–Port Coquitlam whether he would support legislation to amend the Canada Health Act to include autism treatment (ABA/IBI) under Medicare.

His reply, as reported at Medicare for Autism NOW, demonstrated Mr. Moore's fundamental ignorance of autism disorders: "No, autism is not a disability and The Canada Health Act is not for Special interest Groups."

A special interest group? That's the problem with a party that only deals with the wealthy. They have no idea of how most Canadians live.

Think twice, vote once. We have a real chance to get rid of this government.

The Glimpse of a Police State in Kingston

Quite an ordeal in Kingston on Friday and a real eye opener.

We knew that Stephen Harper would be attending a rally at 1:30 at a local restaurant. So wanting to be early, my husband and I decided that we would have lunch there and that way possibly be inside.

We arrived about 11:45 but there was already a heavy RCMP presence and they had the sniffer dog combing the bushes. We waited a bit to see if there would be protesters. I knew the Prison Farm supporters were attending but not sure where they would be setting up.

I saw a small crowd gathering at the back of the lot, so while my husband waited in the car, I went over to see where they were from. It was the prison guard union. They plunked a sign in my hand and before I knew it I was marching. But mostly I just spoke with them. Imagine a group of prison guards marching against the injustice of Harper toward inmates?

My husband soon joined us, along with not only a large Prison Farm contingent, but youth groups, pensioners, the Native community and many ordinary citizens.

We were soon told that we would not be allowed on the lot. Big problem. Our car was there and my husband had locked my purse in the trunk. We asked if we could move the car (the lot was still just about half full and Harper not due to arrive for at least a half hour), and the police officer said that we could, but then we'd be charged with trespassing.

We were told we'd have to wait until the event was over.

As it was approaching 2:30 we grew concerned. The disabled grandson we are raising would be home at 3:30 and someone had to be there to take him off the bus. No cell phone and the protest was so noisy you'd have to move away from it to be heard.

So we approached a police officer, just to see if they'd let me get my purse. Again he said be my guest, but as soon as you set one foot on the lot you'll be arrested for trespassing. I explained the problem and he smiled and said I should have thought of that before I parked on private property.

I told him that we often eat at that restaurant and if they just got someone from inside, I'm sure they'd recognize us. He again just smirked.

So my husband ended up walking home (took him 45 minutes) and then took a cab back to get me.

The officer in the photo at the top was the worst. He warned us about crossing a line (an imaginary line). One woman asked where the line was and he said never mind where it is, but if you cross it you'll be arrested.

Jeff Peters, one of the organizers of the Prison Farm protest group, was walking along the curb with a megaphone, but he lost his footing on the curb and literally fell over the line. The police officers grabbed him, threw him across the car and arrested him on the spot. For falling.



Another man crossed the line (I didn't see where), and another arrest. For crossing an imaginary line.

Is this how Alicia Gordon is going to represent Kingston? With police brutality?

Jack Layton is in Kingston today, for some strange reason. The NDP are a distant third so the best he'll be able to do is split the vote and move us closer to a police state.

There was a day when I would have gone to see him. Now I can't stomach it. We are so close and yet sometimes I feel, so far away. He should be concentrating on ridings where he can win, not ones that could only guarantee a Conservative victory.

What is he playing at?

Have You Ever Met Harper's Prison Consultant?

When I first saw the donkey at the rally, I thought they were going to allow us to get nearer to Harper than I thought. That was until I got closer, and realized this guy wasn't as big an ass.

Actually this donkey's name is 'Stormy' and he has been at all the Prison Farm demonstrations. I told his tale before.



And the rally was also represented by the bovine community. She left a little memento to remind us of the content of Harper's speeches.



Don't worry, they cleaned it up.

Please don't split the vote. We have a real opportunity to get rid of this man. Just ask Stormy.

If Stephen Harper is an Economist, I'm the Duke of Windsor

Some time ago Gerald Caplan wrote: If Stephen Harper's an Economist, I'm the Queen of Sheba.

This campaign the Conservatives are suggesting that they are the best economic stewards, and billing Harper as a 'trained economist'.

Trained where? The only real job he ever held was in the mail room at Esso, a place where his father and uncle worked.

In the coverage of the Kingston rally, local candidate Alicia Gordon had to look at her notes twice to get out one sentence about how Harper saved Canada from sure ruin. Even she wasn't convinced.

John Peters writes in the Toronto Star: Harper and the illusion of economic management

Over the past four weeks, Stephen Harper has repeatedly told Canadians that the Conservatives are the “best economic managers” on offer, and that their “stewardship” is why Canada’s economy bounced back strongly from the global financial crisis.

There are good reasons for Canadians to be skeptical of these claims and even more reasons to be worried about what a continuation of Conservative economic policies will mean for Canada’s future. The Conservatives cannot claim much credit for Canada’s economic success of the past decade. The surge in our natural exports has been due largely to the spike in commodity prices driven by rising natural resource demand and dwindling supplies.

Even before the latest round of corporate tax cuts, Canada’s oil, gas and natural resource exports nearly had doubled in value in recent years, and now more than 25 per cent of Canada’s economy is directly or indirectly tied to the mining and oil and gas industries, even more so in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, where oil and gas account for nearly 40 per cent of provincial GDP. It was also because of the Conservatives’ sheer luck — not economic management — that Canada did not suffer a financial crisis and end up like the United States or many countries in Western Europe.

In fact because Harper has our economy tied up in commodities, Goldman Sachs is warning their clients not to invest in Canada.

"Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Stephen Harper has got to go." Sorry, I thought I was still at the protest rally.

I warned the rude police officer standing in front of me that he was never going to get that song out of his head. He almost smiled.

Stephen Harper Returns Home for Final Thrust

And no not Calgary. Toronto. The place where he was born and grew up. A sheltered childhood in a WASP neighbourhood.

Tim Harper explains:

Even in a private chat with the Star, the “game face” remained on, but the Harper message had become more urgent. He needs seats in Toronto, the city of his birth and a city that could determine his political fate Monday. He made a forceful argument that the perception that Canada’s largest city is hostile turf for him is outdated.

He talked about a Jack Layton-led coalition government, pulling language that could only be found in the addendum to the Conservative playbook entitled Apocalyptic Scenarios. He portrayed himself as the one who has shown flexibility and compromise during five years as a minority prime minister, painting Layton as the rigid Dr. No.

And he made a bold plea for Liberals to jump on the Conservative team at the last-minute, saying the party’s anticipated demise under Michael Ignatieff stems from his opponent’s decision to stray from Liberal principles.

Don't forget folks. There may or may not be an NDP surge in Quebec, but there is not one in Ontario. Vote-splitting here will assure Harper a majority.

The photo above is another from the protest rally in Kingston, and the video below from one in Brampton.

Please think twice and vote once.

How Stephen Harper Turned me Into a Spy

Though the Conservatives sold the notion of their Kingston rally as trying to drum up support for local candidate Alicia Gordon, a woman so out of touch with the needs of Kingstonians, that she believes a for profit super prison is good for the area as a "job creator".

I was told that part of the prison renovation is a state of the art monitoring system, one of the most invasive in a democratic country. And as such, there will be few new guards, only non-union, low pay positions, watching monitor screens.

Under any other government I would dismiss it, but it certainly fits in with Harper's corporate agenda.

But this drumming up of support, was nothing more than a pandering to Harper's ego. Our local news stated that there were 300 people present, but they brought in 3 busloads and about 6 or 7 SUVs. Also Patrick Brown, the Conservative MP from Barrie showed up with his own bus load of admirers. So perhaps 100 or so were actually local.

To get the photo above I had to hide in the bushes, feeling like a spy. That was as close as they'd let us get to him.



There was a lot of horn honking showing support for our protest, and I said that every horn honk was a vote not going to Alicia Gordon.

I went to the grocery store on Saturday and there on the front page of the local paper, was an enormous photo-op with Steve and Alicia Gordon. I thought how incredibly telling. I was at the rally and the closest I got to Stephen Harper was in line at the grocery store the day after.

This is not what democracy looks like.

Unbelievable. Harper Now Asking Liberals to Help Him Get Majority

Another photo from Friday's protest in Kingston. A good old Kingston welcome for Stephen Harper.

I think he may be cracking under pressure. After years of constant personal attacks, he is now asking the Liberals to help him get a majority or risk the "extremist NDP". Is he insane?

I mean seriously.

Most of us know that polls are grossly inaccurate at best and fraudulent at worst. He is nowhere near a majority, and if strategic voting is successful, won't even have a minority.

The pollsters are not factoring in just how badly Canadians want this man gone.

Wanting the Liberals to help him destroy our country? I don't think so.

Harper's Goons Shout Down Questions. How is This Democracy?

Above is another photograph from Friday's protest rally in Kingston, where Harper made a stop.

The news appears to be the same at all of these rallies. Heavily staged. You can't get anywhere near the man and he is bringing his own crowd.

And Terry Milewski got shouted down again for asking a question that Harper didn't want to answer.

Conservative supporters booed CBC journalist Terry Milewski at a GTA campaign stop Saturday after he challenged Stephen Harper on whether he would accept a decision by the Governor General to hand power to the opposition parties in the wake of the May 2 election.

He wants to be our prime minister but refuses to speak to us. I don't think so.

The man has got to go.

This is not what democracy looks like.

Harper Spent More on Advertising Than Bell Canada

The above photograph is from the Harper protest rally held in Kingston on Friday.

The gentlemen beside Mr. Big Head belong to the prison guard union, and are fighting for the restoration of the prison farms, a vital rehabilitation program.

In typical Conservative arrogance, local candidate Alicia Gordon supported the closing of the farms, suggesting that only 1 in 10 find jobs on a farm. What an incredible insult to the farming community.

During the protest, one of her supporters came down to talk to us, saying that it would be better if the prisoners learned carpentry and other things.

However, sadly they are being taught nothing. And what Gordon and the rest of her party fail to understand, is that farming is a business like any other.

I told the guy that, saying that they do far more than raise animals and grow crops. They learn machinery, accounting, business management, and responsibility. He just waved his hand and walked away.

I spoke with one guard who told me that they worked hard. It was not a free ride. The inmate farmers were up at 5 am everyday and there is no loafing. It's hard physical labour.

Now they do nothing but sit in their cells.

The Conservatives refused to give any breakdown of costs, but suggested that they would save about 4 million a year.

This from a man who spent $136 million tax dollars for self-promotion advertising in 2009-10, $46.5 million more than corporate giant Bell Canada.

Bell sells a service with their ads. The Canadian taxpayer got nothing in return for this enormous expenditure. 34 times what it costs to run the prison farms, assuming the numbers are accurate.

And Harper spent $38.7 million tax dollars to hire a team to monitor the media, to make sure that they could either pull anything negative or go into damage control to soften the blow.

The Canadian taxpayer got nothing in return. 10 times what it would have cost to run the prison farms for a year.

And $100 million was poured into Tony Clement's riding on roads to nowhere, gazebos and lighthouses on stumps. 25 times what it would have cost to run the prison farms for a year.

And he wants us to trust them with the economy.

Democracy in Action: We Need More of the Same This Weekend

Yesterday at a rally in Kitchener, Michael Ignatieff was joined by two, perhaps surprise guests.

Green Party candidate Jamie Kropf and former NDP candidate Rod McNeil. Kropf said there was no chance an NDP or Green party candidate would win in the region, so they were supporting the Liberals.

In Edmonton, there appears to be a friendly agreement between the NDP and Liberals, where the NDP candidate, Shawna Knowles is lying low to help bolster the Liberals, while the Liberal candidate in the adjoining riding, is returning the favour, to assure that Linda Duncan keeps her seat.

It has Rob Anders in a right flap. This bastion of democracy, whose own riding association has been trying to oust, but Stephen Harper can't quit him.

In Quebec, 2 former members of the Bloc (not candidates) are throwing their support behind the NDP.

In Saanich Gulf Islands, a prominent former Conservative and Reform party activist, Fraser Smith, and a former NDP MLA, Don Scott, have opted to support Elizabeth May.

This is how I thought this election would go. With our very democracy on the line, I thought that all progressives would campaign like hell but in the end, those with no chance to win, would stand with those who do, if it means taking a Conservative seat.

In 2008, when some balked at strategic voting, it was because of the $1.95 per vote subsidy. But we already know that Stephen Harper intends to scrap that.

Some of my NDP friends are angry with me because I refuse to believe that there will be an NDP wave that will save us all. I'm too much of a realist to take my chances on waves.

If I lived in the West I might join that movement, but in Ontario, the hotly contested ridings are still mostly between the Conservatives and Liberals, so I'm going to dance with the one that brung me.

I spoke with one of the organizers of a strategic voting group, and asked if they had changed any of their seat projections, and if we should now promote an alternative. But they have been out door knocking and hand shaking and assure me that they see no NDP wave in Ontario.

I got the same feel in Kingston yesterday, when I was out talking to people. They want Harper out and are sticking with Liberal candidate Ted Hsu, as the best option to beat out the Conservative candidate.

I'm sure there will be many surprises, but I'm more concerned with the shock, if we find that once again vote-splitting has returned Stephen Harper to power, possibly with a majority.

When I was at the Harper protest in Kingston yesterday, and we were finally allowed on the parking lot, two men came out of the building with 'Here for Canada' signs. I told them that they weren't here for Canada at all, and had a lot of nerve carrying those signs.

One of them asked: "so I guess you're voting NDP". And I said "no, I was voting strategically in the riding, so would be sticking with the Liberals". They mocked, saying "Oh, but haven't you heard. The NDP are on a surge." I said, "the day a Conservative tells me to vote NDP is the day I know I'm being played."They just laughed and walked off.

There was some justice though, because the wind caught one of the signs and it blew across the lot. Immediately a group of young people who had attended the protest, grabbed the sign and ceremoniously stomped on it, smashing it to smithereens.

Shannon Rupp wrote yesterday in the Tyee: Memo to Iggy, Jack and Liz: Get Strategic!

Attention: Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May Re: Interpreting the Polls. As a card-carrying member of the Lesser of Evils Party (LEP) I’ve been asked to send you a note regarding those increasingly wacky polls leading up to our biannual election.

You seem to have trouble interpreting them, although they’re all saying the same thing: More than 60 per cent of Canadians want a coalition that does not include Mr. Harper. So, Mr. Ignatieff, Mr. Layton, and Ms. May, we are asking you to set aside your agendas, personal and professional, and consider the good of the nation. Please ask your candidates and supporters to cast a vote, riding by riding, for whichever party has the best chance of denying The Harper Government even the hint of a mandate.

We have a real chance here to oust him, not just keep him to a minority. But only with co-operation.

And on another note, while the realist in me is supporting strategic voting, the Canadian in me, does not just want a change in government, but a government that is fit to run our country.

And whether that's an NDP minority, a Liberal minority, a coalition led by Jack Layton or Michael Ignatieff, it has to be a strong alternative. Otherwise, the right-wing noise machine will deafen us all.

When I first learned that the NDP were leading in Quebec I saw it as a good thing, until I read about many of the candidates. Some are school teachers and union leaders, which I applauded as good choices. But many others were a joke.

They haven't been out campaigning at all, and several are now just sporting Jack Layton signs.

It can be heartwarming when a candidate spends little or no money on a campaign, and wins. But when a candidate does none of the work, and is instead just hoping to ride some one's coattails into a high paying job, it's something else all together.

Strategic voting allows the second strongest candidate to win. And the reason they are the second strongest, is because they have done the work and are accepted in their communities.

So please to everyone out there. If you know you can't win throw your support behind someone who can. This is not the time to let egos get in the way. It will leave you with a good feeling knowing that you have restored our democracy, or at least given it your best shot.

Michael Ignatieff Gets a New Pair of Shoes

Michael Ignatieff is finishing the campaign in a new pair of red shoes.

I spent most of my day out talking to people and then at the protest in Kingston, giving Harper a grand welcome.

Two comments were distressing. One was from a man about 40ish, who said he wouldn't vote for Ted Hsu because he was Asian. I must have gasped because he said "that didn't come out right". Then he went into a rant about "cheap stuff from China".

I realized I had just met someone from Harper's base.

The next was from a business owner who is a friend. I had convinced her to vote Liberal but she was having doubts. Not because of the Liberals themselves or Ignatieff, but she said that many business owners were frightened that the NDP might get in, so were considering going Conservative. I think, or at least I hope, I changed her mind.

But the protest was great and I plan to blog more on it along with photos tomorrow.

Been a long day.

Canada Could be Facing War Crimes for Refusing to Handle Detainee Issue

All the games that Harper played with the Afghan Detainee issue could land us in the International criminal court, facing charges of War Crimes.

When Toronto filmmaker Barry Stevens asked Moreno-Ocampo in his film, Prosecutor, if the ICC would pursue a country like Canada over its role in Afghanistan, he replied: “We’ll check if there are crimes and also we’ll check if a Canadian judge is doing a case or not . . . if they don’t, the court has to intervene. That’s the rule, that’s the system, one standard for everyone.”

This is not something we can simply sweep under the rug and hope goes away.

International Union of Labourers Throw Support Behind Ignatieff

This is a very important endorsement, given that most unions typically go NDP.

The Labourers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) today endorsed Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada for its commitment to help ease the economic pressure on middle-class families. "LIUNA represents working men and women in a wide range of industries — and Michael Ignatieff s platform and the Liberal Family Pack offer solutions that fit the priorities of our families."

"A Liberal government's policies will support stronger public pensions, create good-paying jobs for our workers, defend Canada's universal health care system, and help those in our society who need an extra hand – while at the same time offering a responsible fiscal plan that puts families first." LIUNA is a one of Canada's most powerful and respected trade unions with the goal to help improve wages, benefits and working conditions for its members. It has represented workers in North America for over a century, with diverse membership including )N workers in building construction, heavy construction and highway construction, manufacturing and commerce, health care and the public sector.

"The Liberal commitment to investing in middle-class families is in line with LIUNA's priorities. These are commitments that are important to us – but the Conservatives aren't interested in middle-class families and the NDP don't have a reliable plan to deliver on their promises. "On May 2nd, we encourage all of our members to vote Liberal because they offer voters the choice of a credible plan to help families now and defend public health care."

Let's hope it works. The NDP spending platform would be great if we were in better financial shape.

Think twice, vote once and DON'T SPLIT THE VOTE!

Conservative Insider Charged With Breach of Bail

The Conservative law and order agenda must include keeping the criminals close by. Another one is facing charges of fraud and now breach of bail.

Boy they can pick 'em.

NDP Were Never Serious About Forming Government

Up to now Jack Layton has been given a free ride because no one really took him seriously as a true contender.

Then the so-called "surge" and he's running around telling us he's the best choice for prime minister. If he was serious about wanting to be our prime minister he would have taken a bit of effort to find candidates who could actually do their job.

The NDP's sudden burst of momentum is shining new light on the party's candidates and some of those standard-bearers are being found far from the ridings they are seeking to represent. NDP Leader Jack Layton has been forced to address both his recent surge in public opinion polls but also why some of his candidates are not being seen in their ridings.

Isabelle Maguire, the NDP candidate in Richmond-Arthabaska, has left for a three-week trip to France, according to La Nouvelle Union, a Victoriaville, Que., newspaper

One candidate currently in Las Vegas but running in Quebec, can't speak French. Do they really believe people from Quebec are going to vote for candidates they can't find or can't speak to?

And the media is also now critiquing the NDP platform which includes 70 billion in new spending.

The economy is still important, since it determines whether or not we can continue to pay for things like healthcare. The NDP has no track record and their platform is a fairy tale.

Only the Liberals can offer a viable alternative to Harper.

Listen to Jean Chretien and you'll be reminded of why.

What Passes For Democracy in Harperland

The Globe and Mail are endorsing Harper because he's kept on message and blah, blah, blah.

Of course he's kept on message. He doesn't take questions. Anyone can stay on message when they allow no one to challenge it.

Right across the country Conservative candidates are avoiding debates and all-candidates meetings. How can they be assessed when they can't be accessed?

Anne McIntyre discusses her situation just trying to get into a Conservative rally. And her story is far from unique.

John Baird refused an invitation to a media event at a homeless shelter, Rob Anders and Cheryl Gallant stormed out of meetings and most just fail to show up.

We deserve better than this.