Why can't we drive this LAV all the way to a majority?

Scott has posted on the utterly craven reasoning behind Conservative military spending with a choice quote from a National Post story:

“Some Conservatives have also complained the funding the government has directed for new defence equipment has not translated into additional support for the party at the polls.”

Boo-fucking-hoo. I thought we needed all this stuff to fight a war. If the high-profile purchases of things like Boeing C-17s were really attempts to buy votes, it's really far more expensive than Chretien's custom golf balls. This quote above is enough for someone to do a really careful audit of every military expenditure approved under the Conservatives. The military is not a slush fund and our soldiers are not campaign signs.

Harper Getting Ready

The Star says that the Conservatives are prepping their buses for a campaign right after the throne speech. It ought to be apparent now that Harper has chosen this fall as his time to go. The throne speech he's crafting is probably going to walk a fine line between being unsupportable by the opposition but still acceptable to Canada's political mainstream. He'll hem and haw about how the opposition forced him into a campaign, and yet it ought to be apparent by now that he wants one. It's probably the Chretien strategy of hitting the new guy before he gets established, and Harper's going to try to use it to grab a majority.

Outremont and the Liberal Party: Plus ca change...

There is this sort of meme now that Iggy is going to really go after Dion for the leadership job. It would be ludicrous if this happened. Part of what undid the Liberals 13 years in power was the sort of fratricidal undercurrent between Martin and Chretien. These new guys though, they can't even wait till they get into office. The party probably does not have enough time to install another new leader before an election. I don't have any strong feelings about the Liberal party, but this sort of infighting is what could potentially put Harper in majority territory.

John Tory's "Stanfield" Moment

That's what I call what he did today with his teach-what-you-want approach to science in the newly taxpayer-funded religious schools of this province. Many religious schools may want to dispute evolution but now that taxpayer money is involved, it's a different story. Moreover what if Scientology sets up a school teaching children that Lord Xenu dumped a bunch of alien souls in volcanoes and that's where we came from? I'm sure there are other examples and indeed ones that just about anyone would not want to be supported by their tax dollars. John Tory this is your Robert Stanfield fumble. Not as spectacular as telling people not to vote for Chretien because he's ugly, but pretty bad nonetheless.

What the Attack Ads Say

Paul Wells has posted several interesting observations on the Conservative attack ads as they appear in Quebec. Notably, he critiques the mention of Chretien:

"When I see an attack ad based on Chrétien and Dion, I think: the Liberals' best two years in Quebec in the past 15 were the ones when that old bleu, Lucien Bouchard, was fuming about Chrétien and Dion."

I think that Harper may believe his own propaganda about Chrétien. I think he perceives Chrétien as a really awful Prime Minister and would like nothing more than to be able to continue dragging his name through the mud.

Here We Go Again

Remember how everyone said that they wouldn't buy another war being sold by Cheney and company on false pretenses? Well, it's happening again, only this time with Iran.

The only question now is whether Stephen Harper will take us along for the ride. Remember his words on Iraq:

"Today, the world is at war. A coalition of countries under the leadership of the U.K. and the U.S. is leading a military intervention to disarm Saddam Hussein. Yet Prime Minister Jean Chretien has left Canada outside this multilateral coalition of nations.

This is a serious mistake. For the first time in history, the Canadian government has not stood beside its key British and American allies in their time of need."

Once again, I believe this to be one of Chretien's better legacies.