It’s Day 25, and the clock is ticking. Stephen Harper is in Thunder Bay, Michael Ignatieff is in Winnipeg and Jack Layton is in Toronto.
Yesterday, Layton had an event in Val D’Or, Quebec. It seems to be difficult to get a satellite truck out there, so it didn’t go live, and I’ve heard nothing about what went on.
Harper had a rally in the NDP-held riding of Thunder Bay-Rainy River last night, which also wasn’t carried live for whatever reason. Through the magic of the Twitter Machine, I do know that he went after the NDP, saying that they want to implement a carbon tax – though it’s actually a cap-and-trade system in their platform. I didn’t hear anything else about it, but I can pretty much assume that it was Canadians said yes, the opposition coalition said no, [insert daily announcement here – Arctic stuff], security and stability, appeal to patriotism and Harper out.
In his interview with Peter Mansbridge, Layton says he has no plans to topple a possible Conservative minority government out of the gate. I didn’t see a qualification about what that would mean for the return of the same budget that nobody loved a month ago.
Marlene Jennings wants an investigation into Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s use of parliamentary resources to help get a regional councillor – his riding president at the time – elected.
Today in Bruce Carson news: the revelation that Gary Lunn’s office hired Carson’s money-laundering then-girlfriend’s niece in 2008, despite her having no experience or party background. Huh – imagine that.
The CBC’s Reality Check team gives a fail (or perhaps a “hashtag fail”) to the NDP’s “fact check” on Ignatieff’s position on abortion. They also take a look at the G8 spending in Muskoka, where it seems the municipality was given free rein with no oversight – unlike the other infrastructure spending, which was constantly scrutinized to a greater degree than other projects. Interesting…
And Margot Kidder is campaigning for the Liberals – or rather, her brother, who is the Liberal candidate running in Stockwell Day’s old riding. And she’s telling all those self-professed “closet Liberals” that it’s time to come out.