Why I like John Tory

Haven't posted in a long time - it's amazing how much time a baby can consume. Best time of my life too.

However, I have been coerced back into blogging. There has been a lot of criticism directed at John Tory. Conservatives say he's too liberal, Liberals act like he was Premier during the Harris/Eves tenure. You'll notice that McGuinty hasn't mentioned Harris or Eves during the campaign - he wants us to forget the Tory wasn't there during those years.

To be clear, I like Mike Harris. He was brutally honest with his plans during his campaigns and pulled Ontario from recession into prosperity despite huge cuts in federal spending and 5 years of Bob Rae. Best of all, he did it without whining about how unfair his situation was. He was exactly what we needed for the time.

John Tory is not Mike Harris. His policies are much more progressive; more spending and fewer tax cuts. 12 years ago, I would have thought him an excellent and respectable Liberal leader, and would have voted for Harris. But these times are not those times. Canada's economy is booming; it doesn't need revitalizing. It needs direction. Today, I would vote for Tory over Harris.

John Tory shares Mike Harris' political courage. He is being honest about his contraversial policies, and is not backing down because alarmists are saying they will cause the end of the world, like with relgious schools and private clinics. He has spent his time in public life travelling the province, talking to people, experiencing Ontario for himself. He has made plans to improve Ontario - actual plans, not soundbytes, budget figures or press releases. They take time to explain and can be difficult to understand. Read his platform, it's all there.

For those who don't see any differences between John Tory and Dalton McGuinty, here's one: John Tory has actual policies. McGuinty will issue funding with no set plans, or waste millions and billions on pet projects that sound good but do little/nothing. Many of them get cancelled soon after they are announced. They seem to lose importance after the press conference is held.

John Tory, if you or your staff are reading this, start talking about your policies. Make announcements - show that you are a real leader with real ideas. We know McGuinty broke promises - most of Ontario hates him without your attack ads. We need to see why you'll be different. Tell them your plan for property taxes. Or farmers. Or job creation. Energy. Poverty. ANYTHING. You are letting McGuinty choose which of your policies to focus on, meaning as far as the average Ontarian knows, you only plan to fund religious schools and private clinics. People are not reading your 61 page platform - help them out a little!

Conservative bloggers, you can help out. Pick a policy you like out of his platform, and write a release about it. I plan to start doing that, but the baby just woke up so I have to end this quick.

On October 10th, vote for John Tory. He deserves it. Ontario needs it.

May Clarifies: She Meant to Call Harper a Nazi

Elizabeth May is in a hole, and she's trying to dig her way out.

Her first statement was bad enough: Harper's actions on climate change are "a grievance worse than Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis." I have to admit, while I am disgusted that use the Nazis as a tool to further her political agenda, I can at least understand the basis of this statement. She see global warming as a threat to the planet, and she thinks Harper is minimizing that threat in the vain hope that nothing will happening. May's words are disgusting and extremist, but not inexcusable.

But now she says we misunderstood; she was quoting George Manibot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planning from Burning. She continues to add that Manibot says that Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and John Howard (the Australian PM) are the new "axis of evil."

Here, she goes too far. Experimentation of Jewish children, the gas chambers of Auschwitz, the Foibe Massacres and the Rape of Nanking; these are the deliberate acts of truly evil men. They are not just tools to be used for her political agenda.

Elizabeth May, you had a chance to explain or recant your first statement. You used it to further abuse some of the worst atrocities in the history of man. I wonder if you even realise why it's wrong.

Update:

I have a better link. May reminds us that she did not make the comment herself. She then repeats the comment on her website, also including the axis of evil comment. Then, like a true politician, she tries to pass blame onto Manibot.

This does not change my analysis. She's named the author, cited his credentials, then quoted his argument to support her own. She does not say she disagrees with him on any point, just that since he said it originally, she cannot be held accountable.

I invite readers to follow the link and make their own judgements.

The Next Great Disaster

The media love to report on the next disaster that's going to kill us.

For a while, it was nuclear war. Then rain forest depletion. There were holes in the ozone layer, international terrorists, asbestos, trans fats, cell phones...

They try out a new one each week. When one sticks, the stories will run until people lose interest. Then the threat will go away, and a new one will take its place.

I'm opening the comments to predictions of The Next Great Disaster. Unless you believe we'll all be killed before the media moves on. If you read the Toronto Star, you probably believe we were all killed 3 weeks ago.

America Bashing: Leftist Hypocracy in Action

I hear a lot of America bashing from the left. They take pride in it. Many of them will portray themselves as the noble underdog daring to stand against an evil superpower. That America bashing is a risk-free venture celebrated by their peers is lost on them.

But then the impossible happens. They find an American they can use. Today, it's Gore. In December, it was Howard Dean. In Montreal, it was Bill Clinton. Suddenly, it seems we misunderstood. They did not hate Americans. They hated Republicans. Americans are great!

They forget how they rallied against Clinton while he was bombing Iraq and Kosovo. They neglect to define the difference between Americans and Republicans when they are attacking all things American. Things like that don't matter anymore. All that matters is they've found someone who they can use to support their cause.

I was inspired for this post by a comment from my last one. Greg said "Let me be clear. As a lefty, I like Americans. I just hate Republicans. Carry on." So casually, you tell us you hate almost half of all Americans because they vote for a party whose views you disagree with. Having defined yourself as a lefty, you'll hate anyone whose opinions are different. So you do hate Republicans. When they tell you to, you hate Americans.

We'll never stop some people from their righteous hatred. But at least we can call it for what it is.

Isn't Gore an Evil American?

Liblogs and the media are drooling over Gore's review of the Green Plan. He calls it a "fraud... designed to mislead the Canadian people." Trivia buffs will recognize the statement as quoted from a review for his film.

Memo to Gore; this is none of your business. Your country has done nothing on climate change. You were vice-president and did nothing on climate change. Now you're touring Canada, getting between $100-150K per lecture, trying to tell us how we're so bad environmentally?

To all Liberals - we have lots of Canadian environmental activists. David Suzuki, love him or hate him, has devoted his life to Canada's environmental concerns. Gore jumped on the bandwagon and is riding it to riches. Find a better idol.

Gore reminds me of Michael Moore; sleazy opportunist spouting propaganda. Who here read Moore's letter during the last election campaign? That was pure gold. I carried a copy with me, and everyone who saw instantly vowed to vote Conservative.

Environmentaists strive to make themselves irrelevant

Environmentalists don't like the Green Plan! Wow! I, for one, am shocked. Apparently, the Conservative Government is not doing enough for the environment, since they are not going to meet the Kyoto 2008-2012 targets.

I'm not going to talk about the Green Plan right now. I will later, but not now. Now is the time to talk about environmentalists. They all say they want to see the Conservatives act on the environment. The opposition parties say this is more important than partisan politics. Yet they have given the Conservatives no political motivation to achieve anything substantive.

No matter what the Conservatives do, it won't be enough unless they can meet the reduction targets set by Kyoto. There is no compromise, no "good first steps." Reductions start today, and we meet the targets, or it isn't good enough.

I watch a rant on Mike Duffy Live between Dale the Suzuki Foundation guy and Buzz Hargrove. It was hardly a clash of intellectual giants, but after Dale ranted about how it might take 3 years before we start seeing reductions, Duffy asked Buzz Hargrove "Are you every going to be able to satify people like Dale?" The answer is quite easy. If you have a Conservative party logo on your stationary, no.

Opposition parties are even worse. They call on the government to adhere to the Kyoto protocols, then when the government makes a concession to agree to absolute targets instead of intensity targets, they call it "the biggest flip flop they've ever made." Brilliant is your goal is to make the government look bad no matter what, but stupid if you actually care about the environment. I would never accuse them of the latter.

A note to environmentalists; you need a carrot to go with that stick. Stephen Harper has no motivation to give you anything you ask for. As a member of the public, I have no reason to trust anything you say. If I know what you are going to say before I know the issue, your opinion is irrelevant. And everyone knew you were going to hate the Green Plan before it was released.

Where are the Liberals?

Do they even show up in the House anymore? Is any vote important enough for them to be there?

Their bill to recall our troops in Afghanistan after 2009 got voted down 150 to 134. With all the floor crossing, it's tough to track the numbers in the House these days, but I'm pretty sure the Liberals and Bloc have more than 134 members between them. Where are they? This was a close vote. With the Lib-Bloc voting against the CPC-NDP, a single member could've made the difference.

Do the Liberals have somewhere else to be? I can understand the Conservatives not having everyone there; they're running a country. They need to be all over the country (and in some cases the world) to do their jobs. What are the Liberals doing?

Anyone who can provide a link to the voting records would be welcome. I can't find the record yet.