Canadian PM hid in store cupboard while gun battle was fought nearby.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... a-shooting
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Canadian PM hid in store cupboard while gun battle was fought nearby.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... a-shooting
Well, he's from Alberta and so I doubt he didn't have a gun or two stashed away in his private office and would have got away with a squeeze or two himself if he could. I'm guessing he was either put in there for his own safety or he was following some standard protocol about keeping his position safe. It sounds like the security team had things well in hand anyway with the amount of bullets they fired at this terrorist, but one has to wonder how this guy was allowed to get so close to the Centre Block for the Sargent at Arms for the House of all security people, to take him down. Seems odd to me that no one noticed the gap in security that someone could drive right up to the front door and walk in with a shotgun in hand...crazy!
Anyhow, we hope to be saying goodbye to our current right wing Prime Minister only months down the road anyway with the young Mr.Trudeau. It was through the senior Mr. Trudeau's fifteen or so years in power that we were first able to come out of the closet forty years back, or more appropriately that the government was taken out of Canadian bedrooms (as he put it).
Surfcrest
What do the betting markets say? I read somewhere that Bodog was offering betting on the Toronto mayoral race but perhaps it's a bit early for the Canadian federal election (mind you I can already bet who will win here in the UK next May if I wanted)Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfcrest
The municipal election in Toronto's Mayoral race has stolen the spotlight due to the colourful candidates competing for that spot including the most famous one that's not. Doug Ford is running this time, Doug being Toronto's infamous last Mayor Rob Ford's older brother. Also running is left wing candidate Olivia Chow, the late NDP leader Jack Layton's widow. The front runner for the race is the former PC leader of Ontario, the corporate candidate from the far right John Tory. Ontario, Canada's largest province goes to the polls tomorrow for their municipal elections Monday October 27th.Quote:
Originally Posted by kommentariat
It is too early to call how the Canadian federal election will turn out. Voter turn out is usually far from enthusiastic even in the most interesting of races. Elections are typically about getting rid of people, rather than introducing new alternatives. The exception to that so far is Trudeau, because his father is so popular today (not that he was so much back then) and because our current Prime Minister, in the closet or out is so unpopular.
Surfcrest
Awwww :-(
So it appears that Doug Ford didn't win, although surprisingly it was a reasonably close thing, considering his and his brothers recent past antics ( he got 33.7% of the vote compared to 40.2% to the winner John Tory).
Well, all I can say is that while this might be a sensible result for the people of Toronto the rest of us are gutted as between Doug and his infamous Brother Rob that's all the fun gone out of Toronto politics now as with the those two chuckle bothers you could always be guaranteed a laugh and or a new scandal every week it seemed. So damn you Toronto residents for ruining all the fun for the rest of us ! :-( lol.......Although I see Rob has amazingly kept his on the local Council and has already pencilled in a race for the top job again in another four years so watch this space it seems, I wonder what crazy shit he can get up to in the NEXT four years to beat the LAST four ! lol
Rob Ford in extremis. I lived in Toronto during my 20's (ah memories) and the city since has been mayored by many a bland grey flannel suit.
Robbie wears grey, but that's just about his only claim to blandness.
Beside eating pussy on a regular basis (his words), he apparently bathes in bathtubs of CRACK ... yes, that other type of crack.
Good old Jon Stewart, always there when one needs him. A classic:
[youtube:13h3ob41]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILvu11Prxjo[/youtube:13h3ob41]
Fortunately, on the night before the Canadian election it is not too soon to predict that Canada will elect Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party to replace Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. Many of us have been hoping for this day since November 2012 when he spoke at his father's funeral in Montreal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfcrest
Surfcrest
[youtube:975qycta]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p4NUJMPAjQ[/youtube:975qycta]
Regarding Surfcrest's view Justin's father ....who was so "popular "...perhaps in the rest of Canada .
my recollection of him (the Father ) was on his last visit to BC was when he waved goodbye with the ONE finger salute...
the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...... we obviously travel in different social circles ..I try to look outside the gay perspective ..
No, I think you've embellished the story a tad Nirvana. As I recall on August 11, 1982 the Prime Minister was giving the finger to a single protester in Salmon Arm. You could ask our new PM, he was on the same train that morning with his father, a train that was pelted with vegetables farther up the line. Urban legend has it that it had something to do with the French language. I can't recall the sign itself, despite living up on the Sunshine Coast that summer.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...Trudeau+Salute
Nevertheless, a brilliant acceptance speech from our new Prime Minister tonight...far outside any gay perspective.
Surfcrest
We shall agree to disagree on this matter ...hardly a gesture one expects from a prime minister ,
as for Justin ...Two B A's and some environmental degree and a few years in the safety of the opposition
benches ...hardly a Prime Minister makes ..........
Here he is this morning, the morning after the election continuing to shake hands and meet the people in a Montreal Subway Station during morning rush hour.
Those are the sort of ingredients that make for a strong Prime Minister for the people.
Surfcrest
[youtube:1vm356zb]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pil65GIDym0[/youtube:1vm356zb]
Hardly a PPE from Oxford then? Hardly up to my First in Greats, certainly (before I read PPE)Quote:
Originally Posted by Nirvana
..Surfcrest ...what is your response to the fact that a Liberal gov. was declared before the polls in BC were closed ,
makes our votes quite insignificant ...time for an Autonomous region..?
My response is pure apathy. I could not care what other people vote for, simply the cumulative result at the completion of the process. The election of our MP Dr. Hedy Fry had not been decided until later on in the night. Autonomous Region...silliness!
Surfcrest
He's positively an intellectual, then, compared with the Labour Party's candidate for next UK Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn. He achieved 2 grade Es in his A level exams, before dropping out of a further education course on Trade Union Studies after the first year with no qualification to show for it at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nirvana
Surfcrest ... where did Ms Fry end up; back in The House in Ottawa, or in a West End dumpster.
I rather liked Hedy. Wasn't she a tad corrupt ... a personality trait I rather like in my pols up to a point, as long as they don't go Over-the-Line like getting obscenely rich after only two weeks in Ottawa, or less. I like 'em to become slowly wealthy, it's more classy, and Canadians can forget it more easily.
To wit;I love it when the Premier hands money under the table to a guy named 'Dimitrios Pilarinos'. With a handle like that you just know he was born into petty graft.Quote:
BC Premier Glen Clark resigned suddenly on the night of August 21, 1999, following allegations that he had accepted favours (in the form of free renovations worth $10,000, which he had actually paid for) from Dimitrios Pilarinos in return for approving a casino application.[8] He was later formally charged with committing breach of trust, a criminal offence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Clark
Mr Clark was eventually exonerated, but he was tossed anyway ... by that time nobody cared.
And, under the same regime, we had 'CasinoGate' and 'FastFerryGate' ... apparently BC'ers really wanted their own homegrown Nixon. All this under a puritanical NDP [or 'Socialist' party, the Amercuns would say]. Canadian politics can be so so cool.
PS . . . Maybe we could start a 'Canadian Politics' Forum here. I'm sure everyone would be just thrilled.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69...st/HedyFry.jpg
Well, Dr. Hedy Fry has been our Vancouver Centre Member of parliament since 1993 and has been with us since, uninterrupted. I'm not aware of any corruption or any scandal, with the exception with when one time she referred to the people of Prince George burning crosses on their lawns, which of course wasn't true...but could have been a metaphor for something close to that (lol). In 2006 Hedy made a go at the Liberal Leadership, but that didn't go far. I'd say she may be disappointed about not being selected for Cabinet, but I think some well qualified people were chosen and this government has vowed and has already demonstrated it's goal of being inclusive. She won her seat easily this time by a very wide margin and with very good voter turn out.
I've seen my share of NDP governments, both here in BC and once in Ontario when Bob Rae made a go out of it. Most of the BC NDP governments have been brought down in scandal. I'll never vote for them.
Our new Prime Minister will be touring the world attending the G20, APEC and the Environment Conference in Paris later this month.
Surfcrest