Hux

National: CPC - 32% Lib - 32% NDP - 17% Grn - 9% and in Quebec: BQ - 44% Lib - 28% CPC - 16% (!) I'll raise the bar on intellectual comment and analysis and go with my gut on this one...

General consensus in the Conservatives will present a Budget in the spring that the opposition parties will not be able to support, in essence engineering their own defeat. However, the more their numbers go south the more the dynamic changes and their strategy could change - maybe they'll be working to avoid defeat then - but the Bloc is pretty locked into voting against the next Budget unless it delivers 12 billion for the "fiscal imbalance", so they're kinda locked in at this point. So, I guess I would bet on an April election, but I have been very wrong on election timing before, so I won't pretend to have any idea.

ouch - so what do the men drink then, Kerosene?

More insight from Chantal Hebert: "In fact, it could well be that some Harper strategists have already given up on Quebec. How else to explain the spate of policy announcements and pronouncements of the past few weeks? If the government had wanted to run its prospects down in Quebec, it could hardly have achieved its purpose more quickly than by insisting on its plan to do away with the long-gun registry on the heels of a deadly shootout at Dawson College in Montreal, the abandonment this week of any pretence that climate change is a federal priority, the elimination of a variety of initiatives such as the court challenges and the literacy programs that have long stricken chords in Quebec and the recent musings about a defence of religions act."

Del was rockin' it Sat., hope you had a good birthday man, however, for the record - he did refuse a shot of Jack Daniels. Hardcore?

You can also watch it again at cpac.ca Some fiery moments yesterday - good watch.

That was a great time on Sat. Nice to meet some new skanks, see some some old ones, and hang with a lot who never went anywhere. Yeesh, it felt like it had been awhile since a bunch of us have been together. Time flies. Great set by the band, thank you guys for coming to Ottawa, hope you can make it back sometime. And I can confirm Booche was diggin' that Shakedown. Epic. Confirmed. No Nannigans. Sweet Blog.

Happy 58th Ace. I'm gonna try to post something eloquent. But I need a coffee first.

New Ekos poll out today: National: Conservatives - 36% Liberals - 32% NDP - 16% BQ - 10% Greens - 6% And in Quebec: Bloc Quebecois - 44% Liberals - 21% Conservatives 17% I love watching the faces of the new Conservative MP's from Quebec in QP when this kinda news is about - so glum, they know their careers may be short lived. What a shame. "With their support at 17 per cent, the Tories would be hard-pressed to get their 10 Quebec MPs re-elected, let alone win new seats. Their current standing is a full eight points below their score in the last election"

Stop padding your post-count.

Well, I know what song I'm gonna be yelling for tomorrow night (besides Saint of Circumstance)

I have a BM when I hear Trey.

I think a better thread title would've been: Fat Cats Sat

Knowledge that Booche dislikes them.

You're exactly right. These are not your Mother's Progressive Conservatives. They believe this stuff.

Conservative majority? Unless we annex Oklahoma I wonder where they're gonna win seats? Why Bloc likely itching for Spring election The Toronto Star Friday, October 6, 2006 Page: A17 Section: Opinion Byline: Chantal Hebert Source: Toronto Star The Bloc Quebecois clearly wants an election sooner rather than later, a wish that makes an election campaign in the first half of next year a near-certainty. By tracing an early line in the sand on the amount he wants to see transferred to Quebec next year as part of a deal on the fiscal imbalance, Gilles Duceppe has just about locked himself into a plan to vote against the 2007 budget. While a spring election probably suits Stephen Harper's planning, you have to wonder why Duceppe wants one so badly. It has never been his style to paint himself into a corner. If he is acting out of character, it is because, with every passing week, his MPs are getting more heat for keeping the Conservatives in power. Only last spring, Duceppe had reason to fear that the Tories would overtake the Bloc in the next election. But now he is more concerned that a backlash against Conservative policies will send his supporters straight into the embrace of the next Liberal leader. This fall, Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion and Bob Rae all have more presence in Quebec than Harper's ministers. None of the Quebec members of the Conservative cabinet has emerged as a strong voice. On the contrary, there are reasons to question their influence. If they had any of the latter, they would have stopped the minority government from proceeding with some of the cuts announced last week. If the Conservatives wanted a lot of bang for the relatively few bucks saved in the process, they certainly achieved their purpose. In Quebec, that bang was overwhelmingly negative. A government that had solid intelligence on Quebec would have known that literacy has been a big deal in the province since Jacques Demers, the last coach that brought the Stanley Cup to the Montreal Canadiens, wrote a book about life without basic reading and writing skills. It would have thought long and hard before eliminating the federal Courts Challenge Program that has allowed francophone minorities across Canada to assert their constitutional rights. Not so long ago, the program financed an Ontario legal battle to keep Montfort, the only French-language university hospital west of Quebec, open. It has not escaped attention in Quebec that the federal ministers who killed the program last week used to be part of the Ontario government that tried and failed to close down Montfort. More than six months into his tenure in the Senate, Michael Fortier has yet to select a riding to run in. It is not for lack of trying; for weeks, the party has been looking for a good riding for the government-appointed public works minister. The search is taking a long time because none of the ridings in and around Montreal looks promising for a Tory candidate. If Fortier had to run in one of the seats on his short list tomorrow, his career in federal politics would come to an end. As Harper's former campaign co-chair and as someone who was offered a shortcut into the cabinet, Fortier has no option other than to follow through on his commitment to run in the next campaign. But the high-profile Quebecers the Conservatives are courting for the next election are under no obligation to sign on as sacrificial lambs. It will be hard for anyone of stature in Quebec to go into an uphill election under the triple burdens of the extended Afghan mission, the abandoned Kyoto Protocol and the plan to scrap the long gun registry. But it will be even harder to find successful Quebecers who want to run for a party that caters to a social conservative wing. If there is one mix that tends to repel Quebec voters, it is that of religion and government. Talk of a "Defence of Religions Act" will do even more damage to the Conservatives in Quebec than their opposition to same-sex marriage itself. These days, it is easier to list the ridings that the Liberals will likely hold or take in Quebec in the next election than to find the seats that would make up the difference between a minority and a majority for the Conservatives. Duceppe is worried that Harper's Quebec window may turn into a Liberal back door - and the Prime Minister should be too. Chantal Hebert's national affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Dinghy, next time I see you I`ll throw on a little 9.3.77 Music Never Stopped and you can try to tell me that`s acid folk country whatever....

Don`t blame me - I voted Liberal! (new bumpersticker I`m working on)

Try: ratdog.org or tooboarders.net -> tooboard

It may not be technically in the definition of democracy, but I'm glad we live in a democratic society that has decided such groups deserve those opportunities, I look at the peaceful and just society this compassionate approach has created - the envy of the world -and feel pretty good about what we've got.

Put down the crackpipe Trey, it was in Kingston and weren't you there too???

guys guys, let's remember what this thread is really about - the crack.

Oh.

...that you have to share.

I was there too!!!