Tag Archives: NDP

Pat Martin quits Twitter… Now who will we turn to for profane political tirades?

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Tis a say day in the Twittersphere, as NDP MP Pat Martin, who gave us such classics as “This is a f—ing disgrace . . . closure again. And on the budget! There’s not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot s—,” has announced that his keyboard, smartphone et al have gone silent.  “I apologize for my regrettable and inappropriate language yesterday. It seems some people shouldn’t tweet so with this, I sign off,” he tweeted today before pulling the plug.  Surely, Canadian politics will never be the same!

It seems that Martin had a bit of a fit last night over not being invited to an announcement in his riding by Vic Toews over some Youth for Christ centre.  I don’t believe Toews ever responded, at least not via social media, but the National Post and Maclean’s both offer a breakdown of what went down, including another appearance by that “dreaded f-word.”  Oh, and he also called the Conservatives “rat faced whores…”

Alas, it seems the decision to quit Twitter was made by Martin after meeting Mulcair.  The Toronto Star reports that the latter’s press secretary, Karl Belanger, sent out an emailed statement, informing the media “These comments were simply inappropriate and unacceptable. Mr. Martin agrees and we understand that he has decided to stop using his Twitter account.”  So now, in order to enjoy Martin’s tirades, one will actually have to pick up a newspaper, or, y’know, pony up 6 bucks a month to read the Toronto Sun online…

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Ruth Ellen Brosseau–in the flesh–in the GTA!? (OK, Hamilton, but still…)

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Although she’s a long way from Berthier-Maskinongé, the NDP’s true Cinderella story will be the guest of honour at a provincial party fundraising event for the Hamilton riding of Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale this Saturday evening.  The New Democratic Party may have finished a distant third in the riding–which is held federally by the Conservatives–in the last two provincial elections, but they’re clearly pulling out all the stops for this one.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau, as you may recall, rose from the ranks of campus bartender to deputy critic of agriculture on the backs of an ignorant populace who voted strictly for the late Jack Layton.  Never having set foot in her riding beforehand, she’s since become quite popular amongst the locals–and who can blame them?  She’s gotta be the hottest politician this side of Sarah Palin!  Actually, scratch that–I’d take the Berthier Babe over Mama Grizzly any day…

Brosseau’s French has gotten a lot better, but one can only assume she’ll address the gathered masses in her native tongue.  Unless you get her going about her love of cheese, that is.  (Did I mention that she’s a vegetarian?  I guess Malcolm Allen must be the one who meats, erm, meets with the poultry and cattle farmers…)  In any case, the event also features a cash bar and silent auction.  One can only assume that “Win a Mauricie weekend with Ruth Ellen Brosseau” is the top prize up for bidding.

This fundraising extravaganza, to be held at the Worker’s Arts and Heritage Centre (seems like a logical place for an NDP function, eh?) a few blocks north of downtown Hammertown, is a 45-dollar ticket, though it’s PWYC for “students and/or unwaged persons” (they recommend 10 bucks).  It promises to be a real doozy.  According to the riding association’s website, over 80 tickets have already been sold!  Alas, I’m not sure if Elections Ontario has a rule forbidding Torontonians from contributing to a Hamiltonian riding association, but I’m almost tempted to take the GO out there for the occasion.  According to Google, it’s only about a 20-minute walk from the bus depot to the venue…

And it seems Madame Brosseau isn’t the only celebrity to be hitting The Hammer in the coming days.  As the CBC reports, filming of the Robocop remake is set to begin next Monday on James Street, as it seems the filmmakers are using Steeltown as a stand-in for Detroit.  What, was Winnipeg too far away? ;)

Where to drink in Ottawa if you want to become an MP’s “babysitter”

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If you drink Keith’s or 50, chances are you’re an NDP supporter, whereas Liberals gravitate more towards Heineken, according to the National Post’s parliamentary drinking guide.  According to the Post, the Conservative party prefers the upscale Métropolitain Brasserie and and Sir John A. Pub, while the NDP hangs out at Brixton’s Pub so often that they invite its bartender to their Christmas parties.  Meanwhile, the Liberals once staged a takedown of D’Arcy McGees Irish Pub, where it’s not uncommon for parliamentary pages to get hit on by MPs.  “The page program can’t control you at 11 p.m. if you decide to hit D’Arcy McGee’s and get chatted up by an MP,” former page Sarah Govan told Postmedia in 2006.  Wait, aren’t pages college and university students—and most MPs in their 50s?  Creepy!

While the Post lists several downtown hotspots, including Bar La Zone in Gatineau, where the Bloc Quebecois drowned their sorrows after being reduced to rump status in the last election, it makes no mention of Oliver’s Pub, the Carleton campus bar which the NDP’s Deputy Agriculture Critic assistant-managed before being elected.  I guess she no longer gets the employee discount?

And while most Conservatives, from Fearless Leader Stephen Harper to past Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, seem to lay off the sauce, such was not the case for the original Tory leader, whose namesake pub some of them occasionally visit.  As per the Post, “Sir John A. Macdonald, of course, was renowned for his drinking. He vomited during campaign speeches, downed tumblers of gin during parliamentary debates and drunkenly lit his London, England hotel room on fire while hashing out the final terms of British North America.”  And yet, he was never known to pass out in parliament.  Rob Anders, on the other hand…

COMMENT OF THE DAY: If this guy could speak French, he wouldn’t be encouraging people to donate to the PQ…

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From: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/15/ndp-taunted-tories-with-french-2015-chant-as-budget-vote-wrapped/

The NDP may have been chanting “Deux mille quinze! Deux mille quinze!” at the conclusion of the parliamentary amend-athon, but this true Canadian patriot is encouraging all “REAL Canadians” to look to next year instead.  And by REAL Canadians, I’m assuming he means people who don’t listen to Nickelback…

Here’s the thing, though.  Even if you were to Google Translate the PQ website, which isn’t available en anglais, you’ll eventually end up at an online donation form with le Directeur général des élections du Québec.  And while this form does allow you to choose English as your language of correspondence, it does not have an entry field for Province, probably because they don’t take donations from outside of Quebec.  And it took a bilingual federalist all of three minutes to demonstrate why this glorious plan isn’t going to work.  Guess you’re stuck with Commie Tommy till at least deux mille quinze, mon vieux…

COMMENT OF THE DAY: The NDP sez “No bags for you” too?

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From: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/08/ndp-edges-ahead-of-tories

The latest Nanos poll has the federal NDP moving ahead of the Conservatives—by a whopping 0.1 per cent.  Hardly anything to hang your hat on, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s their first time leading in the polls.  On the other hand, a Toronto Sun poll on whether the NDP will win the election shows that 38 per cent of respondents feel “their incompetence will be their undoing” and 22 per cent say they’ll move to Germany if the NDP does win.  And let’s just say that parliament should take no lessons in civility from the ensuing discussion in the comments section.  Case in point:

I guess the threat of no plastic bags nationwide looms large over this commentor, though I’m not so sure about his analogy.  Thomas Mulcair may be a bit of a loudmouth, but he’s barely a ripple on the Rob Ford scale.  Not to mention that the last time I checked, there was nothing in his party’s platform about stopping the gravy train.  Lest we forget that this dysfunctional city council is led by a man who has absolutely nothing in common with the NDP…

COMMENT OF THE DAY: Thomas Mulcair–better than a cartoon character!

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/mulcair-rallies-ndp-declares-beginning-of-the-end-of-tory-rule/article2420261/

Today is the one-year anniversary of the Conservative majority government, an event that prompted opposition leader Thomas Mulcair to pull out all the stops, including a “video montage of his MPs challenging the government in the House of Commons.”  Hey, everybody loves montages, including this Looney Tune:

So, if Daffy Duck’s the PM in your world, what does that make Bugs?  Minister of Defense?

COMMENT OF THE DAY: Who needs official bilingualism when you’ve got Google Translate!? (Ahem…)

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/01/ndp-tables-bill-requiring-bilingual-officers-of-parliament/

The NDP’s languages critic, Yvon Godin, tabled a private member’s bill today that would require parliamentary officers, such as the auditor-general or privacy commissioner, to be functionally bilingual in English and French.  As someone who’s fluent in each language (despite never having lived in Quebec), I am of the opinion that to work for the government of this, or any, country, one should speak all of its official languages.  But it seems the commentors over at the National Post tend to disagree.

 

Hey buddy, ever tried translating something into another language, then back into English, using Google Translate?  Here’s what you end up with after the above comment bounces from English to French and back again:

“I can go online and translate any document as it is free and we need to bilingualism in this country? I will vote for a party that promises to rid this country of this mess expensive. It is only the beginning of the fall of the NDP in the ROC.”

Hmm, not too shabby, but that kind of grammar will get you ridiculed on certain news sites… ;)

So, it seems that Thomas Mulcair has a thing for Ruth Ellen Brosseau, too…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Don’t get me wrong, I love Ruth Ellen Brosseau.  I really do.  Of all the NDP poteaux in the last election, she was by far the best-looking.  And by all accounts, she’s doing pretty well in Berthier-Maskinongé, a riding she couldn’t have found on a map before being elected its MP.  But in naming her deputy critic of agriculture in the NDP shadow cabinet, Thomas Mulcair is making a mistake.

I mean, let’s face it; Brosseau doesn’t exactly have an agricultural background.  Need I remind you that she was a campus bartender before being elected?  Okay, so as a deputy critic, she’s basically a backup to Malcolm Allen, the NDP’s lead critic in that department, but if Mulcair really wanted to give her a token post in his shadow cabinet, could he not have found something more suitable, like women’s issues and gender equality, where she’d be backing up Niki Ashton?  I know I’d suddenly take a stronger interest in that domain if it was being criticized by a Brosseau-Ashton tag team!

Granted, it’s not like there are a whole lotta household names in the NDP’s Quebec caucus.  I for one have never heard of half these new deputy critics.  But in giving arguably the least-qualified MP of all-time a portfolio that she knows absolutely nothing about, Mulcair is only extending the punchline of the longest-running joke in Parliament.

That said, I just might find myself taking a new interest in agriculture…

Those wildcat Air Canada strikers are (unintentionally) hurting their cause!

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The ongoing labour troubles at Air Canada took a cruel twist of fate today, a wildcat strike in Toronto, Montreal and other cities forcing the cancellation of several flights.  As the CBC mentions in its report, “With the NDP leadership convention beginning on Friday, many people from across Canada were scheduled to arrive in Toronto.”  Wonder how many voting delegates will be forced to stay home?  I mean, they’ll still have enough attendees to elect a new leader, I hope!?

Of course, in fitting with their pro-labour leanings, the NDP has been vocal supporters of Air Canada employees throughout the dispute.  This was surely unintentional, but a delicious irony, nevertheless.  Mmm, irony…

COMMENT OF THE DAY: Keep the potential parade marshalls out of politics!

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From: http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120223/robocalls-tories-politics-elections-120223/20120223/?hub=OttawaHome

On the latest episode of As the World Turns around Stephen Harper, it was revealed today that the misleading automated message informing voters of a fictional polling-station change in a handful of hotly-contested ridings was done through a voice-broadcast company called Racknine Inc. that has previously been employed for several Conservative campaigns… including Herr Harper’s, himself!  OMGz!

Naturally, Pat “Pitbull” Martin was quick to respond, eschewing the Nazi rhetoric this time for references to Black Ops and the Deep South.  But y’know, when I started seeing headlines mentioning “robocalling” and the NDP, I couldn’t help but think back a couple weeks to when they “harassed” Lise St-Denis by redirecting constituents to her busy phone line via automated message.  Then again, she committed the grievous sin of crossing the opposition side of the floor to the Liberals!

Man, no matter which party flag they fly, these politicos are all a buncha crooks, eh Rich?

 

I must concur.  If you can’t run a parade, you can’t run a country!

 

UPDATE 4:33 PM: The latest from the Prime Minister is that his party had no knowledge of the calls.  He’s not fooling this guy, however:

 

 

I gotta say, his comment made me laugh so hard I almost “urintated,” myself… ;)