Liberal Leadership Race Gets Rolling Because its Nasty Now

Well, it looks like the federal Liberals are starting to heat up there leadership bids according to these tree postings its getting real nasty! See here, here and here. The Liberals are re-energized again. You can tell especially when they get this nasty. Oh what would canadian politics be without the Liberals?

Anti US Riots In Kabul And Continued Unabated Taliban Warfare

Canada may have to stay in battle for many more years to come by the appearance of this Reuters report. Seems the Taliban are in constant and unabated battles in the south of Afghanistan where our Canadian troops are. Winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans may also becoming more difficult as reported in the same Reuters article saying that Citizens rioted in Kabul, Aghanistan' capital, because US troops killed 5 citizens. Add this to the recent bombing of the southern Afghan city's innocent citizens by our coalition planes and the outlook sure doesn't look great right now especially since you also have Canadian Senators calling the Afghan President a US puppet!

More significantly the Globe and Mail reports (full report here) that the Taliban in Afghanistan have maintained, and perhaps even gained, strength. I sure hope this doesn't become another Vietnam or another Russian Afghanistan disaster. It's obvious to this writer that the sugar coated pills being fed to the Canadian public on this war may be just that, placebos. Case in point Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor on CTV says Canada is not at war in Afghanistan! Could have fooled me! And to cap it all off our Canadian Troops are told Geneva rules don't apply to the Taliban! So we can do anything we want to them and never worry about something silly like being called war criminals.

Harper's Problem - Satisfy Alberta Or Ontario

Canadian Press reports that Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has threatened to pull out of the federal government's revenue-sharing deal with other provinces if energy income is included in the equalization formula. The issue is clearly painted by good ole Rafe Mair in the Tyee. Does Harper cater to his political Alberta roots or to Ontario's promised road to a majority? Equalization is a major issue that will be on the western premiers' agenda when they get together north of Winnipeg this week as reported by Yahoo. Could this Ontario pressure ever lead the Harper Conservatives to any kind of a mini NEP (national energy program) that the Liberals were hated for in blue eyed oil shiek Alberta? But as Rafe says as gas starts moving closer to $2 a litre, Harper will have a hard time not catering to Ontario's industry and gas consumers somehow.

Ignatieff And Kennedy Front Leaders To Lead Liberals

The Globe and Mail reports that of the 10 official candidates that Ignatieff and Kennedy are out in front with more Liberal MPs endorsing them than any of the others. LFP is betting on Ignatieff. Meanwhile The Public Eye reports that Richmond Lib MP Raymond Chan will co-chair Kennedy's BC campaign.

Traditional marriage lobby heats up on Parliament Hill

The Hill Times reports that anti gay marriage lobby and basically strong Conservative supporters are calling in their chips! The Conservatives' 2006 election platform, under a section called "Stand up for Families," promised to "hold a truly free vote" on the definition of marriage in a House motion. If the motion passes, the platform said, the government would introduce legislation to "restore the traditional definition of marriage while respecting existing same-sex marriages." In April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would deal with the issue of same-sex marriage "sooner rather than later," leaving lobby groups to expect a vote on the issue in the fall session. Here we go again!

Harper Gags MPs re Gay Mounties Wedding

Remember this previous post of two gay Mounties getting married? in that posting I predicted it would be tough for a lot of people especially some not so socially progressive Conservative MPs to bite their tongues on this story. Well guess what PM Stephen Harper either read my post or he feels the same concern about his own MPs! Read Macleans for their take. It further quotes Liberal MP and upcoming Liberal leadership candidate Scott Brison who says, "It shows that Stephen Harper does not trust his own caucus to avoid social Neanderthalism on these issues,". Gee I wondered why no comment was forthcoming on this topic from Langley MP Mark Warawa. Too bad the local press didn't ask him to comment! I should have guessed, he never apparently responded to his own constituent's letter as per Kim Richter's post either! But he certainly is suddenly the greenest politician in town!Warawa promised Richter way back on March 30th! Let's see that's 56 days and counting.

First Liberal Leadership Candidate Visitor To Langley

Our Sources tell us that the first declared Liberal leadership candidate to visit Langley will be Martha Hall Findlay who will visit with the Liberal riding constituency members on June 5th. See more on Martha at this previous link.

Shouldn’t Canada Be In Darfur...NOW?

The Government and the rebels in Sudan's Darfur are having trouble meeting their ceasefire agreement leading to increased violence and human rights abuses that have already killed more than 180,000 people so far. CBC reports the following;

'A separate report released Tuesday by Amnesty International said Darfur and similar crises around the world are being ignored as nations such as the United States concentrate on the so-called war against terrorism.'

"Governments collectively and individually paralyzed international institutions and squandered public resources in pursuit of narrow security interests, sacrificed principles in the name of the 'war on terror' and turned a blind eye to massive human rights abuses," the secretary-general of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, said in a statement linked to the report.

LFP asks, where's Canada? This should be a United Nations supported real peace keeping opportunity and an emergency priority. Afghanistan and Iraq is a USA led coalition against terrorism.

Afghan War Collateral Civilian Casualties Bad PR For Canada's Military

The Globe and Mail reports that the Military bombing of a village while supposedly killing enemy Taliban soldiers killed at least 17 to 25 innocent villagers when western coalition aircraft bombed many houses, and even a religious school, in the early morning hours between 11 p.m., Sunday and 5 a.m. while villagers slept, yesterday. Countless more civilians including young children were also sent to hospital. This dramatic blanket bombing resulting in 'civilian casualties and mounting violence will make it harder for Canada's soldiers to continue the campaign to win support from ordinary Afghans'.

Harper's Conservatives Popularity Highest Ever

Stephen Harper according to Ipsos poll is a miracle worker that has brought his Conservatives to within shooting distance of the Quebec seperatist Bloc 33% to 38% popularity! Who would ever have thought that a non francophone conservative leader could ever have pulled this off? Meanwhile nationally 43% of federal voters support the Conservative Party (+5 points since a mid-March Ipsos Reid poll), giving them an impressive 18-point lead over their chief federal rival, the Liberal Party (25%, -3 points). The NDP (15%, -4 points) trail the Liberals, while the Green Party (5%, unchanged) remains much further back. The current Conservative Party government is enjoying their highest levels of federal vote support in nearly 20 years, since Brian Mulroney’s majority in November of 1988. National Post reports that 'Harper has support to win majority'.

Biggest & Best Conspiracy Theory Since the Grassy Knoll

PLEASE NOTE IT TAKES QUITE A FEW MINUTES TO BUFFER AFTER SELECTING PLAY.
The Number #1 Video in the world is fascinating. '911 Loose Change' while long at 1 hour and 22 minutes is the latest and best conspiracy documentary since Kennedy's Assassination conspiracy. Many of the actual clips and stunning facts are shocking and hard at times to believe. But who ever really knows. Please Share your feedback and your comments on the Documentary just below.

Canada To Be World's 4th Biggest Oil Producer

Well LFP predicts that the Canadian loonie will surpass the US greenback as us great white northern Sheiks become the world's 4th biggest oil producer thanks to Alberta's tarsands. Now can we get a litre of gas as low as in Venezuela where it is about 10 cents a litre? Reported in today's Province.

First Ever Gay marriage Of Two RCMP Officers

No matter how enlightened Canadians are, the water cooler talk tomorrow will be all about the publicly announced gay marriage of two male RCMP officers as reported by the Halifax Chronicle Herald. Bet you some Conservative MPs are biting their tongues, maybe even in our own back yard! This sure puts a different spin on the RCMP always getting their man!

Harper's Handshake With Michael Ignatieff Ploy To Embarass?

Two things. CP reports that after the commons vote on Afghanistan Harper crossed the floor to shake hands with Liberal Leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff to embarass him because he was one of the 24 Liberals who voted with Harper's Conservatives to continue the Afghanistan war for at least 2 more years as reported by CP's JOAN BRYDEN. LFP suggests that Harper probably also considers that Ignatieff is the front runner to replace Paul Martin!

MPs Play Politics - Canada in Afghan War Two More Years

The Toronto Star reports that a tight 149 to 145 vote in the house of commons will keep Canada in Afghanistan for two more years at least! PS- Curious how the Liberal Leadership candidates voted? See this link.

16th Afghan War Soldier Killed in Combat Is Canada's First Woman

Capt. Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard was the first ever female Canadian Soldier killed in combat. Captain Goddard a 26-year-old CFB Shilo-based soldier was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while she was riding in an LAV armoured vehicle during heavy fighting with Taliban guerrillas during a firefight with Taliban insurgents yesterday. Reported by Canoe. For US perspective see CNN coverage. See British BBC perspective. Asia Times perspective. See also Globe and Mail report. Her Parents remember her as per the Toronto Star. CBC reports on thousands of comrades who send Goddard home. Goddard's husband comments at CBC.

East Langley Sewer Services To Cost Us $47 to $56 Million!

Our sources tell us that at this past monday's meeting of Township Council that they got an update about the desperately required sewer services upgrade needed for East Langley, more specifically Aldergrove. Apparently 3 options were presented consisting of total project cost and immediate first year cost;

Option A) $47.3 M - up front cost $20.2 Million
Option B) $45.5 M - up front cost $15.7 Million
Option C) $56.2 M - up front cost $ 39.9 Million

These are preliminary costs and could be more considering the $3-4-5 million grandstand fiasco track record! The three option routes for these sewers are from Aldergrove straight north to the River, or north and right to Abbotsford or west along the Fraser highway to GVRD via Langley City. How come nobody saw this coming and how come we didn't save up for infrastucture replacement until crisis set in? How come?

Apparently Councillor Richter and Kositsky were absent from this meeting (too bad Richter would probably have blown a cork based on her previous Council tax & spend roasts). Richter warned everybody during the last election about Township spending being out of control and that we should expect massive tax increases over the next many, many years. Well she was right! Not only has Township council approved compounded 4.95% tax increases over the next 3 years and beyond, you can now bet that there will be plenty more due to this major sewer services cost fiasco. Keep in mind that this single cost is more than half of the annual Township budget! So Council keep spending on $3-4-5 million granstands and the like we taxpayers are obviously thrilled to be paying more and more and more! Heck we can also borrow more too to help out the banks too!

Terrorist Scum One Day - Friend Next Day

And so it goes as per CTV but then remember once upon a time the USA supported the Taliban as well as Saddam as well! U.S. restores diplomatic relations with Libya! Believe it!

CNN Airs Bush Rehearsing Speech

CNN Network cuts into own programming to show president's warm-up as reported by WorldNet Daily. See warm up speech here. Bush always looks like a deer in the headlights!

Harper To Call Vote to Extend Canadian War In Afghanistan Two More Years

Parliament will decide in a vote tomorrow night whether to extend Canada's military commitment in Afghanistan by two years, CanWest News sources report.

Shrinking Birth Rate Dominated by Social Conservatives

For what its worth see Saskatoon Leader-Post Posting!

Iran's Leader A New Hero?

So, we all in the western world think that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (note: he is shrewd enough to have his own website and one in English to) is a dangerous crackpot with his blatant tirades against the U.S. and it's western allies and especially more so now since his country is expanding enriching uranium for their nuclear power plants. Obviously the rest of the world agrees with us. Right? Not at all! Shockingly, the Australian News reports that Iran's President is the new hero among Indonesians! Boy oh boy, does President George Bush and all of us in the West have a very serious problem if we don't come to grips quickly with dealing with the Muslim, the 3rd and not so 3rd world countries and peoples properly and much better than we are doing so far. Our interventionist holier than thou approach is obviously not working and probably borders on and appears like a new Bush led western Christian crusade to this other half of the world. Our leaders must approach these problems better/differently or else every time the west kills one terrorist or dethrones one thought leader, multiple more arise to replace these martyrs! One step forward, three steps back! Take note, please, Prime Minister Harper.

PM Harper Hires Ex-Con

See C-news report.

Libs in no hurry to bring down Harper's government

The Hill Times reports that the Liberals will vote against the Harper Conservative budget but essentially don't want an election forced until after their Montreal Convention this coming December. Pretty tough running an election with no real Lib Leader!

Conservatives Looking At U.S. Style Senate

Yup, here we go again Mini Me USA (Canada!). Reported by the Edmonton Journal. Hey maybe this one ain't so bad though!

$350 A Day Renumeration For ALR Appointees Controversy

BC Liberal's political patronage accusation story has very long legs! See our previous posting. Today's Vancouver Sun has the whole page A4 going in depth on the controversy of recent ALR appointments that the NDP continues to rail on about. And now the major press is all over it.

In the case of recent local Langley appointee, John Tomlinson (former Aldergrove/Ft. Langley BC Liberal riding president), the Sun points out that the ALR website biography mentions none of his experience related to farming or land use planning whatsoever. The Sun points out that ALR commissioners are supposed to be "knowledgeable in matters relating to agriculture, land use planning, local government or first nation government."
When questioned by the Sun about NDP critic Bruce Ralston's accusations of appointing "Liberal Party Insiders" and specifically about a "political directive to get Barnston Island out of the reserve, Tomlinson said he had no comment and added that he had not had time to review the file.

Tomlinson and two other members recently appointed have stirred up the concerns of political patronage by the NDP critics. Vaughn Palmer page A3 article and The Province's Michael Smythe on page A26 also wade into the growing Liberal political Maelstrom.

LFP is curious to see what the Langley local media and papers investigate and report on this controversy! And apparently there are two more seats available on the ALR gravy train. Get in line to apply.....

Peacekeeping, at what cost? - Broadcast Feb. 9, 1993

Listen to this 1993 Hal Jones 3 minute CBC radio clip re Canadian/U.S. peacekeeping issues and concerns in 1993. Has anything really changed in 2006? Ironically Lloyd Axworthy predicted in this 1993 radio clip that if 30 young Canadians were brought back in body bags that there would be an 'uproar' from Canadians. To date 15 Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan.

Bush Administration Alarmed Afghanistan Situation Is Bad

The New York Times reports that the Taliban threat is growing in Afghan South and that "The Taliban and Al Qaeda are everywhere,". It continues, 'The arrival of large numbers of Taliban in the villages, flush with money and weapons, has dealt a blow to public confidence in the Afghan government, already undermined by lack of tangible progress and frustration with corrupt and ineffective leaders." This could explain the perplexing olive branch offering posted a few days ago.P.S. its well worth it to sign up with the NY times to view thier article(s).....

Afghanistan on “Life Support” Warns Council Report

Stability and security in Afghanistan remain elusive says the linked report. Their summary is that economic growth is the only cornerstone upon which a stable and secure Afghanistan can ever be built. Unfortunately this is so far off it may even be unrealistic. The Council on Foreign Relations’ Studies Program is home to more than forty scholars, called fellows. Taken together, their expertise covers nearly every issue related to international relations. This think tank produce and disseminate ideas so that individual and corporate members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students, and interested citizens in the United States and other countries, can better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing them.....

Did Mexican President Vicente Fox Bow To U.S. Pressure?

Today's Globe and Mail suggests that Mexican President Fox ( a former Mexican Coca Cola executive) reversed his office's initial comments that he would pass the bill to decriminalize personal amounts of drugs as reported earlier. Think there was a call from his buddy Bush? Neat being a bordering U.S. neighbour isn't it. First they screw Canada on our free trade agreement and then probably screw with Mexico's internal policy and lawmaking! Well at least Mexico doesn't have troops on the ground defending the U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan like Canada!

Langley Patronage Appointment by ALR Ministry Accused by NDP

On page B3 of today’s Vancouver Sun the B.C.’s Liberal Agriculture Minister denies accusations by the NDP that John Tomlinson, a Langley Township resident well known locally for his strong support of Liberal Minister Rich Coleman’s Langley riding, was recently given a patronage appointment to the Agricultural Land Commission(ALR). In fact Tomlinson was Rich Coleman’s riding president from 2004/2005 alongside newly elected rookie Langley Township Councillor Jordan Bateman amongst others who also served with Tomlinson as well at the same time as the riding's communication chair. The NDP further claim that Tomlinson donated $12,000.00 to the BC Liberal party and that he starred in a Liberal campaign ad as an ordinary person. Prince George Agriculture Minister Pat Bell however claims that Tomlinson is well qualified and still owns a 10 acre farm and has been in the agriculture industry all his life. LFP won’t make a comment either way on Mr. Tomlinson specifically. LFP strongly suggests that any and all candidates for the ALR should logically and most certainly first be vetted to assure that they are not linked formally to any provincial political party especially the ruling government party. The importance of impartiality and being free from bias and or appearance of bias is of the utmost importance in the very important position of making ALR rural land use decisions and the like. If this is not the prerequisite now, then it should be in the future for any subsequent appointments in this writer's opinion.....

Harper Conservative's First Canadian Budget

Major goodies for B.C. include almost $600 million over the next eight years on the Pacific Gateway Plan. CKNW reports that most of the money will go to road, bridge, and railway improvements to help boost the flow of goods through B.C. ports to and from Asia. The budget also promises 400 million dollars over two years to help B.C. fight the mountain pine beetle infestation in provincial forests. For the finite and specific details to see how the budget affects your individual needs and priorities see the comprehensive details at CBC.