amherstburg liberal

This is getting tougher and tougher

2008-03-11T21:52:00.003-04:00

I'm not really sure what I will do if they abstain from their own frigging bill. I agreed on Afghanastan, I understood the logic of the budget vote, I can even argue in favor of those things but this one will be tough. If we sit on our hand come Thursday, they Not a Leader theme is going to be tougher than ever to battle at the door come the next election.

This is tax shelter manna for Liberal voters. Would you not like to discuss how the blue team caused an election over a way to effectively save for your kids education. the ads could already be in the can..."Does Stephan Harper think that the best way to save for your kids education is to be an MP with terminal cancer? Why doesn't Harper want us to keep our hard earned dollars? MAybe he'll have Ian Brodie leak the answers next...."

WE need to get to the polls and get to the polls now. We are looking worse and worse by the moment.

The common working man,

2008-02-29T19:51:00.002-05:00

Blue collar Windsor, a town hard hit now by a massive downturn in manufacturing. A town that was once the envy of all other Ontarian town for it's large paychecks that the autoworkers earned toiling in factories churning out thousands of vans, transmissions and engines. This is an industry that has brought the standard of living up for almost everyone that lives in Windsor and Essex County.

This is unfortunately an industry that is terminally ill. The globalization of manufacturing as well as monetary parity with the US is the virus that is spreading and killing its host body. It is eating the hosts healthy cells and is leaving it hopeless and dying. This industry needs help, it needs stability and it needs some form of government intervention.

If you are concerned with stopping this disease please email:
A- you local MP stating that you think that manufacturing is an industry worth saving.

B-Write a letter to the editor expressing your support for this industry.

I realize that there is a lot of people who think negatively of Buzz and company, but for every job in the industry seven spin off jobs are created.

Each and every person that loses their job has a name, a family, a story. Even though there may be mixed feelings about Unions in general, as Liberals we cannot be callous to those who are losing their jobs and lay awake at night worrying about how they are going to feed their children.

The budget is coming, the budget is coming

2008-02-25T21:05:00.003-05:00

Holy crap its here. Seeing as I bet my shirt two years ago that we would never be seeing another minority Tory budget, well just say I'd be writing this without wearing shirt. The blue team is bringing Ottawa to a wild frenzy with all of the potentially fatal jockeying from crime to Afghanastan. I beleive, and am going on record with it, that we will not like the budget, we will rant about the budget, but we will not defeat the governement on the budget. We desperately need the momentum that the by-elections can provide and the blue team has once again defined our position on spending before we had the chance to do it, again. They are worse than catching a frickin' pickpocket. They shameless bend the truth, (read LIE), and for some reason the people who are reading it are sucking it up. My co-workers eat this bait hook line and sinker and I'm not sure what we can do to diffuse it if we vote against a budget that is paying down debt.

I think the budget flies, we sweep the by-elections, and come April, down they go and off to the polls.

If I'm wrong, you'll never hear this topic mentioned again.

An open letter to John Tory

2008-02-23T12:41:00.002-05:00

Dear John,

It’s ironic that a break up letter is called a “Dear John” letter as well. You seem like a principled man. You seem decent enough. Unfortunately you have the political antennae of a gnat. First, you give up your safe riding in order to run against a very high profile, well liked minister. Then you bring up the faith based funding issue. Now, if you are insisting that even if the convention gives you a mandate of 50+1, you (should I say your ego) will stay on as leader causing one of your ELECTED people to quit their seat and have a by-election. These things cost lots of money. These things cause cynicism among the electorate. You constantly harp on the dishonesty of the McGuinty liberals, but you sir are dishonest.

To say that Stephan Harper lost his first election as leader as well is dishonest. His party lost the election but he retained his seat. Mike Harris is constantly mentioned as another leader who you claim lost his first election as leader, if you want to be honest John, the party lost but Harris never lost, did he? Actually the last leader of your party that lost their seat in an election was Grossman, was it not? What did he do John? He quit.

Do us all a favour John, quit. As a taxpayer I resent having to fund your ego. Go back to the private sector John, and stay there. Your constant indignation towards anything that our provincial liberals set in motion is dishonest as well. I may as well call a spade a spade here John, you’re a liar. You lie about the financial realities that Eves left this province in. You lie every time that you say that the province is worse off today than it was in 2003. You lie every time that you ignore the fact that this province is moving in a progressive fashion forward and the electorate saw you for what you are. That’s why they not only rejected the party they rejected you the leader.

Ironically, by not quitting, you continue to demonstrate the lack of leadership that people in Ontario knew was ingrained inside of you all along.

2008-02-20T19:35:00.002-05:00

I hate to harp on the NDP but please……they are actually threatening to vote against the budget (big surprise) if the liberals don’t come to their position on finances in the country. The NDP thinks that prudent fiscal financing is breaking even when they hold a spaghetti dinner in a church basement.

This budget will be tough. Tough for many reasons but the biggest one is that the GST cut is not stimulating the economy the way that Stevie and the gang thought it would. They were the only nuts in the country that thought they were a good idea but it gave them the ability to make no further decisions when it comes to provincial or municipal issues. Unlike the Liberals infrastructure program that has been proposed, the blue team can now say that they have opened up tax room for cities or provinces to take up if they need more money. They want to be able to say they cut the GST and if other levels of government tax the gap, there’s nothing they can do to stop it.

Our economy is going into the tank and my home town is in big trouble. I hope the budget passes and we keep the government. This Budget will probably leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but what’s the upside of defeating this government; just another minority (ours or theirs) with another budget that will be a nightmare to pass. I think that we gain momentum with the by-elections and continue grow our strength in the grassroots in order to win a majority next year.

Wishful thinking I know…

Happy Family Day

2008-02-17T08:24:00.001-05:00

Family Day is tomorrow. I can’t believe the heat that Dalton is taking over creating a new Holiday. Over 60% of the province will recognize the holiday and many of the ones who will not already get more than the minimum the law sets out. Take the Big 3 for example. We get the Friday before May 24, the Friday before Labour Day and Easter Monday. Those are three Holidays that the general population does not get off so for us to complain is rather shallow at best. Would I like another Holiday? Sure would. But I’m not self centered enough to not appreciate the fact that many people get it off and through negotiations we may get the day off in the future as well.

A funny note is that John Tory tells anyone who listens that the holiday is a bad idea. If John was being truthful he would acknowledge that everyday for him is a holiday because he lost his seat. Just like his childish antics about the time changes for QP. Obviously he is opposed because he doesn’t want to have to get up that early to watch it on TV. I hope to God that he loses the leadership because otherwise he is going to cost taxpayers lots of money with a by-election when one of his peons steps down so he can have another go at getting elected.

Triathlon news has moved to my tri specific blog that can be found here.

When Buzz met Stevie a classic tale

2008-02-13T11:52:00.002-05:00

Yesterday there was love in the air, you could almost feel it. Buzz Hargrove and Stevie Harper finally sat down to say, face to face, that they basically despise each other. The conservatives are not going to bail out autoworkers and the general public generally agrees with them because the autoworkers are perceived as greedy and overpaid.

The auto sector has driven the economy in my hometown for generations and unfortunately is about to stop doing this. Because our plants are not in vote rich Toronto or in Quebec, our manufacturing industry is withering and dying. The blockheaded NDP killed the last hope we had of federal aid when they voted with the blue team a couple of years ago.

Stevie and the gang don’t care that they are making us the first generation in a long time in the city of Windsor to leave our kids worse off than we had it.

Like him or hate him (and I happen to like him) Buzz has proven to be a brillant negotiator. He has shown flexabilty when i comes to work rules and has proved to be much more forwrd thinking than he is given credit for

Triathlon news…One hour zone three workout today on the treadmill. The 30k run around the bay in Hamilton is going to be great. 5500 runners is the cap and I can’t wait. I am publicly going to put my goal time on here of 2:40. It is an ambitious goal but without setting my sights high, I’d only be looking down.

E day looms....

2008-02-12T07:24:00.000-05:00

It beginning to feel alot like an election and judging by the reponse at my break table at work, no really cares. The guys I work with think it is odd that I have Don Newman on my podcasts. I think it's odd that they don't know when caucus day is. To each their own I guess.

The question that we Liberals must ask ourselves each day now and until the writ is dropped is "What did I do to spread our message today." If the answer is nothing then you had better download some talking points and get talking because this is going to be one nasty, ugly, low down dirty campaign. When the house leader (purposely not capitalized) from the blue team refers to us as agents of the taliban, you do not need to be a mind reader that the ads will be unfair as hell.

On the endurance side of life I completed my half marathon on the weekend in a blistering 1:58, running in brutal -30 temperatures with winds reaching 45kph. All in all it was a great experiance and I was glad to be able to share it with my brother. He had a spectacular 2:20 in the same armpit like weather conditions. Together our journey continues towards the Around the Bay 30k at the end of March.

More to follow...

Crazy Jack Layton

2008-02-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

Jack Layton, a crazy man with a cool moustache is beginning to sound like a broken record when it comes to his opposition to the war. Crazy Jack is under the illusion that the proper course of action for Canada is to cease and desist and begin the rebuilding process and improving equality for women and training for the Afghan people. He also thinks that referring to the mission as a failure is a good thing for a party (and I use that term loosely) leader to anyone who stick a microphone in his face.

I’m not sure but Ole Jack may have made his crazy statement of the year already in February. First off, it’s tough to retrain people while being blown up. I’m sure the NDP could come up with a campfire song that would enable the UN to soothe the Taliban into a calm that would strip them of their desire to blow up our soldiers HOWEVER if they cannot write such a song, then we may have to shoot them.

Equality for Women? A very noble gesture by crazy Jack but it has a certain “Out-of-touchiness” to it. Does Jack actually think that without a military combative presence in Afghanistan the insurgents will tire of having no targets and simply go away? Do we simply cede the southern part of the country to the Taliban and rebuild and improve the quality of life for those in the North? Does Jack plan on building some version of a giant fence to keep insurgents (that simply love blowing stuff up) away from the law abiding citizens in the North? Or do we simply explain to the radicals that women have as many rights as men an they should allow them to live thier lives accordingly.

Let’s face it, I do not claim to understand the situation over there but I do understand that every time that crazy Jack refers to the mission as failure over there, he spits on the grave of every soldier that has given their life for our country. If anyone knows failure it should be the NDP in their failure to become relevant in the history of their existence, and even crazy Jack would have to admit that the Canadian Military is not a failure.

WE have a timeline pf 2009-2011. We recognize the need to change the mission with dignity and safety for our soldiers and the afghan people. Pulling out doesn't work for teenagers in backseats and it will not work for Afghanistan either.

i'm back

2008-02-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

Absent for awhile...

Life gets busy and that means that things like this blog fell by the wayside in recent months. I have a new found respect for people that manage to blog daily because it requires alot more dedication than I realized. (Mind you three posts in three months is not exactly wall to wall action). Anyhow on to my mindless musings...

I work for a company that is independant of the government but I now live in fear that Stevie's cabinet puppets er ministers may fire me. There seems to be alot of firings around Ottawa lately of people who are supposed to operate independantly of government intervention. A glaring fault of this government is that it fails to realize that when a person is hired to fulfil a mandate they cannot look upon that mandate merely as suggestions. Things like nuclear reactors need fairly strict guidelines and procedures in order to operate safely. Personnaly I am glad they do however I'm not so sure that Mr. Lunn understands this premise. He made the statement that she needed to take the isotopes (a medical concern) into consideration when she made the difficult decision to idle the plant for much needed safety reviews.

This government is not one to let a little thing like the law to get in its way of vindictive firings though. Linda Keen, by law, could not take a medical concern over her mandate from the CNSC's rulebook. This government also was annoyed late last year with the failure of the head of elections Canada to follow the laws as well. Keen's firing goes to a patern of vindictiveness that has touched the wheat board, General Hillier, the Senate and on and on.

Stevie mustn't have any mirrors in his house or else he would realize by now that the reason his party can't break into majority territory in the polls is staring right back at him when he shaves.

On my quest for physical greatness and extreme humility, I am wrapping up my training program and am to compete in my hallf marathon on Sunday in Sarnia. That race will be followed by a 30k race in Hamilton on MArch 30th. I have a goal time for Sundays race of 1:50 so if you never hear this race mentioned again you will know that it was not acheived.

Flip Flopping Stevie

2007-11-09T18:27:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me that our current PM treats average Canadians like they are idiots. This latest flipflop regarding Mulroney proves that Stephan Harper is a man that governs with plans that have at least two or three minutes of thought behind him. On day he is threatening Liberals to not make him investigate this scandal...the next he is....wait for it....ordering an investigation!!!!!! Ole Stevie really likes to change his mind, unfortunately he also has no qualms with changing longstanding traditions like standing up for Canadians abroad, or here even for that matter.

Little Steve has a mean streak a mile wide and it shows time and time again. He reminds me of the drug addict that pleads for your trust that they're not using meanwhile they have their dealer on the other line. Whether muzzling his ministers, contradicting his departments or simply associating with the likes of John Baird and Peter Van Loan, Stevie Harper proves again and again that he is a man that believes traditions are simply obstacles that lesser men failed to dispose of.

Running Notes...did a 4k slow run Monday, 6k steady run Wednesday. Legs are great, lungs are fine and the only thing standing between me and success is the failure...

Hello Out There

2007-11-08T10:24:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog page. I am the new riding president in Essex and I am quite excited about growing our party to help elect our candidate, Susan Whelan. I am more than concerned with the direction our Country is heading, or to be more accurate, the LACK of direction our country is heading. Being in the manufacturing sector I am keenly aware of the dangers of the red hot dollar and our finance minister's apparent lack of concern for the increased pressures that this sector is causing. His response of tax breaks as the solution to fix everything and anything that ails us is growing older by the day. McGuinty's government is fully aware of these problems as is every other person that is connected to this sector of society and I cannot understand why in this corner of the province when we have a sitting conservative MP who is in full support of a mini budget that is silent on financial aide for a struggling sector. (One that provided a living for his family prior to getting elected)

Enough of that however, it's good to have a week off from the House of Commons coverage with the insanity that has plagued it so far this sitting.

On a running note, I'm training for the Hypothermia Half Marathon in Sarnia on Feburary 10th. If there are any other runners out there looking to break the winter blues, start now.