Monthly Archives: July 2009

Dipperspam and Pics from the Layton Rally

Alberta, Edmonton, Elections, NDP, Politics

Not counting the newsletter that I got from Linda Duncan a few weeks ago (which is justifiably considered as legitimate MP-constituent communication materials), I have until today only received spam-like 10%-ers from the Conservatives and Liberals.

There’s a few notable differences with this new Dipperspam though.

  1. It’s from MY MP and not some random person several hundred to thousand kilometres away.
  2. It’s a third of a page (of cardstock) rather than a full page.
  3. It leaves a quarter of the total space available to comments (as opposed to one or two lines in a corner).
  4. The address goes to Linda’s office here in Edmonton-Strathcona rather than some dark office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

So here it is:

NDPad001

NDPad002

And now for some pictures from the joint Edmonton East/Centre federal riding nominations where Ray Martin and Lewis Cardinall were acclaimed with Jack Layton present.

DSC03691

DSC03693

DSC03694

Highlights of the night:

  • Linda Duncan likes my shoes (essentially these:)

    • converse

  • I didn’t realize Lewis Cardinall’s brother Lorne was Davis from Corner Gas

  • Jack Layton, Lewis and Lorne Cardinall, Linda Duncan, Brian Mason and a host of Dippers crashed Avenue Pizza near campus for beers. It’s great when I can go to the same bar with work, school, and politics.
  • Jack Layton randomly talked to just about everyone in the entire bar. Now that’s connecting with “Joe Six-Pack.”

When PZ writes about Alberta, its usually bad

Alberta, Atheism, Links, Media, Religion

Someone decided it would be good to send the good Dr. Myers a link to the Red Deer Advocate, which took to publishing someone’s befuddled rantings about atheists. This letter was in response to Kim Beach who was attempting to properly define atheists as:

atheists (for the most part) simply do not believe the claim that a god exists because there is insufficient evidence to support such a claim. Atheism, by definition, is the absence of belief in a god.

Thankfully, I’ll only be in this province for another 5 weeks (not counting next week when I’ll be out-of-province with work).

Pirate Party raises sails in Canada

Elections, Free speech, Politics

After recent Swedish success, the pro-copyright reform Pirate Party has begun taking shape in Canada.

It’s hard to tell their current numbers, however their forum is fairly active and they already have a number of volunteers signed up in several ridings (some for running for MP).

They’ve even received some media attention from The Canadian Press, CBC, and Boing-Boing.net.

And naturally, they have a manifesto.

So what are there chances?

In Sweden, where copyright law has been a much hotter topic due to the Pirate Bay’s founders being arrested and fined millions, the Pirate Party received roughly 7% of the vote nationally.

Currently, due to our antiquated single-member plurality (or first-past-the-post) system, 10% of the vote nationally has not translated to a single seat for the Green Party.

However, their best bet would not be to run a slate of candidates across the country, but rather, like the Communist, Sex or Marijuana Parties, to run a single or a few candidates in key ridings (perhaps around major universities), and appeal to the youth demographic and the media. With enough coverage, while likely not electing an MP, they could influence public opinion or policy (especially of the opposition parties) to be more supportive.

Several places on their site do explicitly state that they would like to see the NDP or Liberals champion their causes for them if possible (since our system tends to forbid small or single-issue parties from getting elected).

They don’t seem to expect to be ready for a Fall 2009 election if one comes, but after that who knows what will happen (and I’ll likely be living in a different university riding then that might be worth a look by such a party as this).

Also, there will be an Edmonton Meetup on August 19th at 5:00pm at the Elephant & Castle Pub in the City Centre Mall.

Weekend straw poll: Worst cowboy hat leader?

Alberta, Conservatives, Fun, Liberals, NDP, Politics

In honour of the kickoff to the Calgary Stampede Parade (and due to the fact I’ll be camping and not blogging for at least the weekend), here’s a straw poll for you, vote in the comments.

There’s our PM, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper:

harper_cowboy

Or Green Party Leader Elizabeth May:

may-cowboy

Or NDP Leader Jack Layton (bonus: featuring Calgary Stampede Marshall: Mike Holmes):

layton-holmes

And as honourable mentions (since I couldn’t find pictures of them in cowboy hats – send them in if you have them):

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff (in white and black fedoras):

CANADA/

Ignatieff-fedora

Or Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe (in a hairnet?):

Duceppe 1997

Vote (for the best/worst/funniest) in the comments below. (Also submit any other good pictures you have and check out CalgaryGrits past roundups).

Conservaspam and Gritspam

Conservaspam, Conservatives, Gritspam, Liberals, Politics

I received my latest Conservaspam a few weeks ago (older spams here, here, here, and here), so here it is, this time portraying Mr. Ignatieff as a typical “tax and spend” Liberal.

harperAd008

harperAd009

Even richer though, is Liberal John Cannis‘ 10 per center from Scarborough Centre which accuses the Conservatives of underfunding science (notice that it follows almost the exact same format as the Conservaspam template):

gritAd001

gritAd002

I now actually have to give credit to Harper and crew for being willing to include the other major national party leaders (Layton and May). Harper’s arrow is even less pointed at himself on this one. However both loose points for no comment line.

I really find it rich that the Liberals are criticizing the Harper budget now, that they voted for over 4 months ago.

I was even a little wary that today’s Edmonton Journal editorial entitled “Curtail MPs’ newsletter rights” would simply be a response to this recent Gritspam, but actually attacks the Harpercons for using their 10 per centers to push their attack ads. Most priceless is Fort McMurray Conservative MP Brian Jean’s comments defending the spam:

I don’t think of it as an attack at all. I think it is providing information and my job is to inform Canadians as to what their options are.

Apparently Ignatieff is too right wing for some Albertans

Edmonton, Elections, Liberals, Politics

The following was taken after the Silly Summer Canada Day Parade on Whyte Avenue that Michael Ignatieff was rumoured to show up in, but didn’t end up making an appearance (local NDP representatives Rachel Notley and Linda Duncan sported hockey sticks and cheered to the crowd).

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This follows a Liberal 10%er that I promise to upload in the next few days.

Update: As mentioned by Daveberta in the comments and seen on the Edmonton Journal’s photo gallery, Ignatieff was in the parade.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Alberta+election+rules+report/1749282/story.html