MacKay - Ousted MP Bill Casey May Rejoin Conservative Caucus

The following is from the Halifax Chronicle Herald today. Oh the interesting times we live in!

OTTAWA — Bill Casey may run again for the Conservatives in Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, Peter MacKay said Monday.

"I don’t think that decision has been made yet," said the Central Nova MP and defence minister.

"But the riding association will obviously have something to say about that."

Mr. Casey was ejected from the Conservative caucus in June when he voted against budget-enabling legislation that, he says, violates the Atlantic accord that shielded Nova Scotia’s offshore revenue from a federal equalization clawback.

Mr. Casey is sitting as an Independent but he is already the nominated Conservative candidate in the riding, and he has the support of the Tory riding association.

"Our entire association stands right behind Bill," Scott Armstrong, the riding association president, said Monday. "We want to see a resolution of the Atlantic accord so that he can get back into caucus."

Mr. Armstrong is a longtime supporter of Mr. Casey and a key Tory organizer at both the federal and provincial levels.

He said the community is behind Mr. Casey and, as a good Tory, he hopes he never has to choose between campaigning for Mr. Casey or a different Conservative.

It would be unusual for the prime minister to accept a dissident like Mr. Casey back into the fold, and Mr. Armstrong acknowledged that it may not happen.

"That’s what we’d like to see as a local organization," he said. "But that decision will lie with the prime minister."

Don Plett, president of the federal Conservative party, was in Nova Scotia for meetings last week but Mr. Armstrong said there is no pressure from the national party to rush a resolution.

"The election for us, the farther away the better, so we can work through this and hopefully get back in before the writ’s dropped," he said.

For his part, Mr. Casey said he’s not sure if he would re-enter the Tory caucus, although he’d think about it if the federal government reverses itself and honours the Atlantic accord.

"Well, they booted me out, so I don’t know," he said Monday. "And I can’t go back unless they reverse it."

Mr. Casey issued a tongue-in-cheek news release on Monday after the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals each released lists of conditions for their support of the Tory throne speech next month.

"As an Independent Progressive Conservative MP from Nova Scotia, I have only one condition for me to vote in favour of the throne speech," the release said. "Reverse the seven pages of amendments to the Atlantic accord agreements which were imposed on Nova Scotia and Newfoundland without their consent or agreement in the 2007 budget."

The federal Tories say they haven’t violated the Atlantic accord, as the province has the choice of sticking with the accord and an older, less generous equalization scheme, or opting into a richer system that includes an offshore revenue clawback that the accord was designed to remove.

There's a New Crime Boss In Town.

The scandal ridden Liberal party of Canada is trying to rebuild it’s image by suddenly re-branding itself into a bastion of propriety.

Since being unceremoniously booted from office in the last federal election they have been desperately trying to shake off their image of corruption and entitlement by moving from being the “Librano’s” to becoming Canada’s version of the “Justice League”

Today the Liberal Party went on the offensive with their Conservative counterparts by releasing the names of 129 candidates and official agents implicated in court documents as participating in an apparent scheme to violate spending limits and pad candidates' rebates in the 2006 federal election.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has refused to release the names and instead has chosen to challenge Elections Canada in court over the investigation. A challenge that would cost the taxpayers a fortune in legal costs, in addition to the funds allegedly stolen from taxpayers by the Conservative party.

According to Federal Court documents the Conservatives allegedly funnelled over $1 million in national advertising expenditures through at least 66 of their candidates campaigns. These funds were then signed off by their official agents.

According to a Liberal press release today, the implications of the scam are two-fold.

First, if properly accounted for as part of the Conservative Party's national campaign, then the current government exceeded the $18 million national spending limit and broke the law in getting elected in 2006.

Second, scores of Conservative candidates claimed reimbursement of 60 per cent of the money at issue, money that Elections Canada ruled them ineligible to receive. If these allegations are proven, this would amount to election fraud. A complete list of the Candidates, Ridings and dollar amounts, as released today, can be viewed at:

http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/docs/070924_InOutBkgd_en.pdf

How Will You Vote in The Next Federal Election?

Speculation is already starting that Canada could be into another federal election before Christmas. The Bloc has presented the Harper government with several non-negotiable demands they want addressed in the October throne speech.

The Liberals are facing a situation where they may either have to go to an election, in order to force all their troops to fall in line behind Dion, or head into another leadership convention.

The NDP already see themselves in a position to pick up some seats thanks the the momentum the gained in a recent Quebec by-election.

Stephen Harper appears to be willing to take on the opposition parties thanks to largely consistent, if not stellar, polling numbers.

The Greens don't have a say in an election call but their new found popularity and the Canada's inaction on the environment means they must be factored into any election strategy.

If an election is called, the Question facting Newfoundland and Labrador voters is which party should they support.

All of federal parties govern by playing the numbers game, caving in to the area of the Country where they want more seats, rather than doing what's best for the public in various parts of this diverse nation. Usually this practice leaves smaller provinces like NL to fend for themselves while desperately trying to fight off federal legislation that will actually harm the them.

Deciding who to vote for is a complex issue.

Just by examining the track records of recent governments (let's put a boat load of historical grievances aside for a moment), you have to ask yourself, should I vote for the party that tried to screw us on the Atlantic Accord but didn't get away with it, the party that succeeded in screwing us on the Atlantic Accord or the ones that never had a chance to screw us?

Or is there another option?

Maybe when this election rolls around we should put aside all the past actions of the various parties and simply focus on their philosophies, political leanings and so on.

Rather than try to outline these in words, perhaps the following versions of the Canadian Flag (as sent to me by a regular visitor to Web Talk) say it better. As someone once said, "A picture is worth a thousand words".


Green Party Flag:





NDP Flag:


Liberal Flag:



Conservative Flag:


It paints a pretty scary picture doesn't it? But who knows, perhaps this time around there may be another option to consider.

The NL-First Party Flag: