Well, this will fail miserably

In Saint Boniface, former Liberal MP Raymond Simard intends to try to get his seat back from Winnipeg police officer Shelly Glover, who defeated him last October by almost 5,000 votes.

Winnipeg Free Press

Oh dear god, no.

Look, Ray. You’re no Duhamel, okay? The reason why Glover kicked your ass by 5000 votes is because for the most part you were a big face on a billboard or bus bench. No really, I’m pretty sure people only voted for you in past elections because Chretien was in office, and then Paul Martin was less scary than Stephen Harper.

Simard said he knows it “will be difficult,” but said with a stronger leader and without the noose of former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion’s Green Shift proposal, he’s got a better chance.

Yes, that may have contributed to some loss, but 5000?

Can we look at Ms. Glover’s credentials for a moment? Because I think there was a definite reason she was voted in. First and foremost, she was a a member of the Winnipeg Police Department, she’s Metis, she’s an Anglophone who actually embraced whatever French she learned from Immersion, and she’s an advocate of crime victims, woman and children.

What are your credentials Simard? You’re an advocate of la francophonie. So’s Glover. Oh, I forgot, you like to plaster your face on bus benches and billboards.

Yeah, that’s not so helpful to anyone.

Now, I can honestly say it’s been a good three years since I’ve lived in good old St. Boniface, so I don’t know what the buzz around Glover is, but I can tell you one thing about St. B as someone who grew up there.

St. Boniface is a very diverse riding, it’s the whole of St. B and a chunk (primarily the lower to middle class income earners) of St. Vital*. There are francophone voters, there are seniors, there are lower-middle class income families, there are two French Immersion grade schools with about 500 or so students between them, several high schools and at least one Manitoba Housing community.

Shelley Glover was voted in because most of the voters in St. B saw Simard as the mythical ad man. Glover on the other hand was running on the Youth Criminal Justice Act. St. Vital and St. Boniface keep their crime quiet and parents would have voted for someone who wants to try and solve the crime problem in general.

I also think that’s it’s important to look at Ms. Glover and Mr. Simard’s answers to the CBC survey. Personally, I think Simard’s answers are a prime example of why he was voted out. The Lexus alienated him something fierce.

Simard’s Answers

What is your usual mode of transportation?
Simard says he relies on his own vehicle — a Lexus ES 330 — because being on time is important to him.”I usually travel with my vehicle because I never just go to the office — I will be going from one event to the other and it is important for me to be on time because I have people waiting for me,” he said.

More of his interview can be found here.

Glover’s Answers

What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?
The Youth Criminal Justice Act is the most pressing issue unique to her riding because there are kids out there who are falling through the cracks and there are parents who are frustrated, Glover said.

“We have adult criminals who are targeting kids with money or drugs to get them to commit crimes knowing they don’t have any punishment or any real accountability,” she said. “Our youth are our future. We have to do everything in our power to protect them.”

…

“As a police officer and a mother, I am in situations where discipline becomes an issue. I am in contact with people who are in tragic situations, not by choice, but by circumstance, and I really don’t like it when they are treated badly,” she said. “So I just say to be kind, always.”

What is your usual mode of transportation?
“I have five children and in order to get everyone around we use a van,” Glover said. She finds her vehicle very handy, especially when she is running around to soccer games.

Source

Now if I was to look at these answers from a non-partisan viewpoint I would choose Glover. Not only did she sound the most down to earth, but sounds most like the parents of people I grew up with in that riding. Mr. Simard’s answers were better suited to Winnipeg South.

We also need to take into account that during the 2005 election, Mr. Simard came close to losing his riding. Ken Cooper had 1500 less votes than him.

Honestly, I think unless the Liberals have someone else go up against Glover, she’s staying put. Simard was given two chances by the voters, and obviously it didn’t work out. If he runs in St. Boniface again, I have no doubt that he will face an even bigger loss in numbers.

*Winnipeg South primarily has the higher income St. Vital families and residents. One only has to look at housing costs to realize this.

Seriously?

Harper, sweetie, did you actually just say that you had tapes of Michael Ignatieff? Did you actually just give everyone the opportunity to visualize you alone in 24 Sussex’s basement listening to boring old tapes of Iggy? Possibly with your cats?

Do I really need to get into how bad this makes you look? Do I really need to get into how paranoid it makes you look? What’s next? Showing up next week with pictures of Iggy and the Queen? Or Iggy eating a corn dog? Oh, I know, there’ll be a picture of Iggy with the Queen, eating a corn dog and an out of context quote that implies how unCanadian he is? Am I getting warmer here?

Good to know that there are more important things on your plate right now than the larger than anticipated deficit that wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place.

Throwing In The Towel

I have a secret. 

I’ve always had mixed feelings on Michael Ignatieff. He has a tendency to say one thing that endears him entirely to me one day, and another that makes me literally facepalm. Cases in point would be his speech in Toronto regarding the attack ads and his seal hunt comments. The speech spoke to me, the seal comments made me go “this is why we can’t have nice things”.

His official response to the recent attack ads might just be what tips me over to the permanent positive. I may not have to solely rely on a simple love of the cantankerous old man I believe him to be after that Zoomer article and his appearances on Mercer. Sure the nationalism gets to me, I’m not going to lie. So does the entire idea of staying classy, something that the Liberals have definitely been showing lately. I had figured before this statement that I could get behind him for at least those things. I was already sold on what he was hoping to do, it was just the man himself that continuously baffled me.

That response though. It impressed me, it made me go “Way to go, Iggy.” I didn’t facepalm, I didn’t find it to be lacking, it was exactly everything I wanted a response to be. You finally got to me. 

Keep it up Iggy, I think I might be a believer.

—

(and the response, for those who haven’t seen it)

brb, fangirling

“Le Canada est un pays avec des habitants qui viennent des quatre coins du monde. Et vous et moi savons qu’il s’agit là d’une des grandes forces de ce pays.

Stephen Harper ne comprend pas ça. Il aimerait vous faire croire que les Canadiens qui habitent et travaillent à l’étranger sont, d’une certaine manière, moins canadiens. Nous savons tous que ce n’est pas le cas. Peu importe d’où nous venons, nous sommes d’abord et avant tout de fiers Canadien

I’m in politics to make my country more united, more prosperous, and more compassionate. My Party will never, ever set region against region, person against person, or group against group for the sake of partisan advantage.

Un gouvernement libéral, sous ma gouverne, travaillera toujours pour l’unité de ce pays—il ne montera jamais des régions ou des groupes les uns contre les autres.

Un gouvernement libéral comprendra toujours que la magie de ce pays, c’est ce que nous accomplissons ensemble.

That’s what the times demand of us. That’s what’s demanded of our country. And that’s what we’re going to do together”

- Michael Ignatieff via Maclean’s 

I believe a macro is in order. 

On attack ads and being a Canadian

In grade school we spent an entire month on famous Canadians. The same was done in high school for a “very special week”. 

One thing that has stuck with me to this day is how many of the famous Canadians spent a large portion of their lives abroad. Lorne Michaels, Mike Meyers, Wayne Gretzky, Howie Mandell, Alex Trebek, and Dan Akroyd are only a few of the people I remember being touted as the be all end all of celebrated Canadians who we should all love and cherish.

The latest Conservative Attack ad decries Michael Ignatieff for spending a chunk of his life outside of Canada. 

After all, how dare Mr. Ignatieff come back to Canada and enter politics. Such audacity he has to spend his life abroad and then declare himself a Canadian. After all, such beacons of Canadiana like Mandel, Shaffer and Trebek would never do such a thing. Never.

We should cherish those people who left our country to claim a piece of celebrity elsewhere, we should hold them high above everything else. And most of all, we should never dare trust anyone who actually comes back to the country. 

Maybe if Mr. Ignatieff had a become a journalist in the United States the Conservatives would consider him a real Canadian or worthy of our vote.