Justin Calling

Justin Calling to Albertan towns

Now get prepared for the writ to come down

Justin Calling to the oilsands

Forget about Pierre and his Energy plans

Justin Calling, now look here to us

The new Trudeaumania is on the up'n'up

Mulcair isn't catching

Harper's on the way out

The Cons are corrupted

The Greens got no clout

A BQ error, leaves the left in the clear

And Justin is calling and I'll...

Go for the winner!

Justin calling, yes, I was there, too

An' you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!

Justin calling to the gun registry arm

Forget it brother, that's a horse that's long gone!

Justin calling to the zombies of Ignatieff

Quit bitchin' bout, those (true) ads all negative

Justin calling, and I don't want to flout

But while you were sulking, I glad-handed about

Justin calling, see we ain't getting high

But there's taxes to be raised from making it legalized

Mulcair just ain't catching

Harper's on the way out

The Cons are corrupted

The Greens got no clout

A BQ error, leaves the left in the clear

And Justin is calling and I'll...

Go for the winner!

Justin calling, yes, I got swept up too

And you know what they said? Sacha's onboard too!

Justin calling through the Mop & Pail bile

After all this, won't you give me a smile?

Justin calling

I never hoped so much, so much so much!

- 30 -

French Debate Kicked Ass (mostly Harper's)

I hope people were watching, because tonight's French-language leaders' debate was lively, passionate and substantive. After fighting sleep at about the half-way point in yesterday's English-language debate, tonight I found myself riveted.

This is in no small part due to Gilles Duceppe's fiery energy tonight, after being content to sit quietly on the side-lines for much of the previous night. But also, because Ignatieff really came across, and contrasted strongly against Harper, who himself seemed unsure of his French, and off his game generally. I found Harper did not seen strong tonight, which is the worst thing for the guy who is the current PM to convey.

Layton was taken off his game again by Duceppe's jabbing on the Bill 101 question. Harper's only really good moment was when he pointed at the two of them and asked the audience to imagine them working together in a coalition. That's not saying all that much.

Duceppe went whole-hog on his separatist cred tonight, and that is perhaps a sign he may be setting down some touchstones for a potential jump to provincial politics. He may be positioning himself to take the Parti-Québecois mantle from Pauline Marois, who appears weak going into a confidence vote among the party faithful in coming weeks.

Back to Ignatieff. He looked tough, secure and in charge. His French was generally good, and when it wasn't, his obvious passion made up for it. That is key for the Québec population, so good on him. He can ride this into a lead in coming days.

Again, that's if he plays his cards right.

- 30 -

BQ and the separatists' need to forestall a fall election

It's simply bad for the cause. The big cause: Quebec separation. That's why Bloq Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe's MPs will prop up the Harper government and support the upcoming Ways and Means vote on Friday.

That's also why I suspect the Bloc will keep the Conservatives afloat until at least the first week of November (once the Montreal municipal election is over). Because the real reason former Parti-Québecois cabinet minister Louise Harel jumped into the race for the mayor's chair - under the Vision Montreal banner - is so the separatist movement could establish a strong organizational beachhead on the populous island where all the "money and ethnic votes" flourish. And to do that, first they have to help ensure she unseats incumbent Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay - himself a former Quebec Liberal leadership hopeful with strong ties to many in the Charest government.

A little Quebec politics background here: Harel has worked her whole professional life for the PQ and the separatist cause, having joined the party in 1970 at the age of 24. She got elected in 1981, back when René Lévesque was party leader, and went on to serve in both Parizeau's and Bernard Landry's cabinets; including a stint as interim party leader in the National Assembly.

While you won't find a hint of separatist policy (nor any mention of her impressive PQ and separatist bona fides) on the Vision Montreal website, make no mistake about the true motive here: Installing a separatist municipal government with strong PQ ties into Quebec's largest city would serve a similar purpose to the raison d'etre of the BQ: organizational and ideological support that each party can leverage off of between their respective elections.

And any government of Harel's will have at least one eye trained on promoting Quebec separation at any given opportunity. For if the last 40 years of Quebec history teaches us anything, it's that you can take the politician out of the ostensibly separatist party, but you can't take the separatist drive out of the politician.

And with the notable exception of former Vision Montreal leader (and Paul Martin Liberal) Benoit Labonté, who allowed himself to be bumped down a notch from party leader to become Harel's right-hand man, most of the candidates recruited by Harel have similarly strong separatist credentials. For example, yesterday I received a full-colour glossy pamphlate in my mailbox promoting former PQ MNA Elsie Lefebvre as a Vision Montreal candidate for city councillor in the Villeray arrondissement (or district). And how about former Bloq MP Réal Ménard, brought on board by Harel last June to run for mayor of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough?

So how does this all fit in with Duceppe's propping-up of the Harper government? Well, voter apathy in municipal elections - the conventional wisdom goes - is not helped one iota by a concurrent national campaign competing for the public's (and media's) attention.

That said, Harel needs to bring up the issues and stir up voter anger towards her opponent. That's her greatest hope for dislodging him in what has become a two-way race. Especially since her history with the PQ does not in any way endear her to the overwhelmingly federalist and entrenched Liberal-supporting constituency of the island.

Because traditionally, Montrealers return their mayoralty incumbents to power unless and until they get really fed up with them. Getting us fed up should be easy, given the rampant allegations of wide-spread corruption within the Tremblay administration. But if a federal campaign comes along in the meantime, that makes Harel's job a whole lot harder. And if she loses, then the possibility of a new (de facto) separatist government lording over Montreal island becomes that much more distant; with the goal of separating from Canada as elusive as ever.

The over-arching separatist strategy, therefore, is best served spending the next 11 weeks quietly putting all three parties' volunteers and support to that purpose - not fighting another federal campaign wherein they will need to concentrate on helping the Bloq maintain their seat count against the ambitious Liberals and Conservatives.

Simply put, there is absolutely no need for the separatists to bring down Harper's government right now, since it would only serve to hamper the separatist cause (not to mention Harel's personal ambition).

I'm surprised Jack Layton is letting all his party's political capital seep away, given this reality. His base must be furious with him, especially considering the Conservative government is comfortably safe without NDP support ...until November at least.

- 30 -

Advice to the GG: if asked to Prorogue, Make him Sweat!

I see that to top it off, Harper has embarrassingly inconvenienced the office of the Governor-General of Canada. With Michaëlle Jean forced to cancel her trip and fly home early, I suspect Harper will pull out all the stops and ask her to prorogue Parliament before the Opposition benches have a chance to vote in line with their oft and clearly stated position that his government has lost the confidence of a majority of the MPs.

If he does request a prorogation, one suspects that he will hold out as long as possible first while he shores up support for this action among his caucus and grassroots, in order to minimize the negative reaction to "pulling the fire alarm" in this way.

Now, I am no constitutional scholar, and I don't suppose Jean would be very comfortable in not granting a prorogation should Harper request it; but here is an interesting idea to let the G-G off the hook (at least partially):

What is to stop her from deciding to consult with her advisors and take say, a few days' deliberations before making her decision on whether to grant the request? That could even take her as much as a week, perhaps. And if the Opposition acts on the floor of the House to formally declare non-confidence in the meantime, then would not the prorogation request itself be prorogued (or negated?)

Call it the "Let me get back to you when I get back to you" option.

You're quite welcome, your Excellency

- 30 -

Tories' record of blood on their hands

From the CBC: fresh allegations the Secret Harper Imitation Tories turned the CFIA from inspectors to mere paperwork auditors.

"We might not have had anybody dead [if company officials were still obligated to report positive listeria findings]. It's terrible. My dad eats this stuff all the time. I eat it," the inspector said.

...

"Before, you had authority, you were like a cop. We were the meat police. Now, you're just looking at the paperwork," the Toronto-area inspector said.

Gilles Duceppe had it right yesterday, calling Harper out for having no moral compass.