Time Immortal

Mustafa Rizvi — who ran as the NDP candidate in Mississauga-Erindale in the last election — has been getting threatening phone calls from disgruntled Muslim voters in that riding.

His crime?

Rizvi, an insurance adjuster and a Muslim, ran against the Liberal incumbent in that riding — Omar Alghabra, also a Muslim. And Alghabra lost, by a few hundred votes, to the Conservative candidate. (Rizvi placed a distant third, evidently.)

Rizvi, then, is being accused of splitting the Islamic vote, thus costing one Muslim his electoral victory. And for this, other Muslims are now threatening him.

“I’ve been getting harassment and phone calls from angry people,” he said. “But this isn’t faith-based politics; this is a democracy.

“Everybody has a right to run anywhere in the country.”

Silly man…you only think that’s true! Where Islam is concerned, faith and politics are practically the same side of the coin.

This happened yesterday, actually, but — for obvious reasons — I didn’t touch on it. But it’s worth mentioning now: Stehpane Dion has stepped down as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He denied that his performance during the election campaign had anything to do with the crushing loss that his party suffered, but he did admit that, as the party leader, he had failed in his mandate.

So he’s out. He will stay on as interim leader until next May (probably), when the party will hold a leadership summit. Unless Bob Rae has his way, I guess.

However, I just couldn’t help but remember this little snippet from just prior to the election proper:

…Grit Leader Stephane Dion continued to hammer away at the Conservatives and worked to bring NDP and Green supporters into the Liberal fold.

“I will never quit. I will stay for my country,” said Dion during a sweep through Ontario Sunday.

…

According to The Canadian Press, when Dion was asked to respond to a Harper comment that both he and Dion would lose their jobs if they lose Tuesday’s election, Dion called Harper a “quitter.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a quitter. I’m not,” Dion said. “I will fight for my country. I love Canada.”

Quite, Mr. Dion. Indeed.

At any rate, I guess the “Stay Stephane Stay” logo has to come off of the sidebar now. Pity.

It’s all over but leadership race(s).

The final total gave the Conservative Party of Canada a tough-nut-to-crack minority with 143 seats, nearly double what the Liberal Party of Canada managed to win (only a mere 77 seats). Not quite the result my wife and I were hoping for, but not bad either. If nothing else, it would seem to be a vote of confidence on the part of the Canadian people — confidence in the Conservative Party’s plan for the country, in the direction they’ve led it in, and in the man at the helm. That’s the lowest level of popular support that the Liberals have had since…uhm…the formation of Canada, actually. That’s not something that Stephane Dion can survive, I would suspect…although it would seem that Dion expects to stay on as party leader.

I have to admit: I’m kind of hoping that Dion stays on in the role, or at least attempts to. Such a move would fracture the Liberals, probably irreparably. But I really can’t see him surviving long in the post: his party just lost 26 seats, mostly to Jack Layton’s NDP, and I’m pretty sure that the knives are being sharpened. There will be a leadership race soon enough, and the Liberals will put someone more…well…competent at the helm. I hate to frame it in such terms, but there it is: Stephane Dion was not an effective leader for his party, and it has cost them dearly. It could well be time for Michael Ignatieff to finally take over the party leadership. Then again, Justin Trudeau just got himself elected, and I could see Pierre’s boy throwing his name in the hat in a leadership race. Jay Currie has his money on Bob Rae.

Please to cringe now, good Reader.

Of course, the Liberal coffers are basically empty at the moment. This puts a very interesting spin on things, both in terms of the future prospects of the party itself, and on the tone that the Harper minority will set when Parliament resumes. It was the case, with this last election, that the Liberals weren’t well-equipped financially to fight an election. They’re in an even worse position now, and so will have to think very carefully about undertaking any voting effort which would see the Conservative government defeated on a confidence motion. The last thing they can afford is another election, no matter how badly they might want another shot at power.

I very much doubt they even have the money to hold a leadership race at present. That presents its own problems, given that Dion simply cannot stay on as leader if the party is to survive and recover. So what to do? We saw the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada die a couple of elections ago — could we be seeing the end of the Liberals as well?

That’s certainly one possibility — one hope, I might even say. As far as this election goes, the bleak future of the Liberals is one of the more interesting outcomes. As Jay Currie notes, they’ve basically been reduced to being the Toronto Party — that’s never a good sign.

There were a few notable upsets, too. Local to Edmonton, Rahim Jaffer lost the Strathcona riding to NDP candidate Linda Duncan, which came as something of a surprise (both CTV and the CBC had called that riding in Jaffer’s favour as of the time I went to bed). The big surprise for me was Garth Turner losing his seat — that was unexpected, but nice to see all the same. Karma’s a bitch.

(More than a few people were happy about Garth’s defeat. I also note that others observed, as I did, that the Elections Canada website went down — hard — yesterday evening.)

I’m not at all impressed with the fact that the NDP made some gains, although I suppose it was inevitable that it would happen. As Grace remarked to me last night, progressive Liberal voters wanting to flee from Green Shift and Dion were a shoe-in for the Dippers. That such people don’t have the best interests of Canada at heart is a side discussion. Still, it’s consoling to remember that Jack Layton’s people are still the fourth-place party in Canada; the Bloc Quebecois picked up more seats than them. I doubt that there will be a leadership race in the NDP as a result of this election…but one can always hope, can’t one?

Now, I mentioned that the stronger Conservative majority was a vote of confidence in the Conservative Party’s leadership and performance thus far, and I definitely stand by that opinion. At the same time, though, it should be noted that it was also a vote in favour of the status quo. It’s not likely that anything will change in the wake of the latest Harper victory, at least not in terms of shoring up the strength of the human right to freedom of expression. Section 13 of the CHRA will likely remain “on the books,” although there is some hope that the Young Offenders Act will be made more harsh.

Now, the only question that remains is how long this latest government will stand. A year? Two years? Longer? It would be strange to think that any minority government would survive the full legal duration of a term in office, but I suppose it’s possible. With the Liberals all but crippled — financially and at a leadership level — the Conservatives will have what amounts to an effective majority, though not an actual numeric one. That’s a condition that is not likely to clear in any expedient manner, either. I’m thinking it’ll be at least 30 months until the next election, if not 36.

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

Jay Currie has been busy, and deserves a ton of credit for breaking this story. Assists, as I understand it, go to Dr. Dawg and The Black Rod.

Briefly, what has transpired is this. Yesterday, Jay broke the story of Liberal Party of Canada candidate Lesley Hughes, who had for years been publishing Twin Towers conspiracy theories of an anti-Semitic nature on the internet. In one such writing, she asserted that Jewish businesses vacated the World Trade Centre in the days prior to the 2001 attacks.

(The “Jews were Warned!” meme is a fairly common one in the circles of those who insist that the most devastating act of Islamic terror perpetrated yet in North America was, in fact, an inside job or the work of the Israeli Mossad.)

Not twenty-four hours later, after initially defending his candidate and refusing to take action, Stephane Dion asked for, and received, her resignation from the electoral race in the Manitoba riding of Kildonan-St. Paul. This was a story that emerged, and was carried, almost entirely in the blogosphere — the mainstream media has been struggling to play catch-up.

And in a somewhat ironic twist, the Liberal Party’s “Team BC” website yesterday ran a story about an NDP candidate who is also a “troother” (e.g. a 9/11 conspiracy theorist), one Bev Collins by name.

Methinks that Jay has opened himself a rather large can of worms here. If you ever needed to see a quick demonstration of the power of the blogs, O Reader, look no further than this example.

Also: very sweet…I haven’t used the “Conspiracy nonsense” category in a while!

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

…but of course, it’s permissible because he’s doing it in the context of “speaking truth to power” and casting aspersions on the Christianist bias of society’s traditional observance of the Christmas season:

“Instead of perpetuating outdated and confusing holiday myths, it might be more fulfilling to return to the original source of these seasonal celebrations. How about getting back to basics and enjoying some magical mushrooms with your loved ones this solstice? What better gift can a family share than a little piece of love and enlightenment?”

Whatever you say, man. Peace, free love, and mushrooms — a winning combination, if your goals are, in order: a) to see your country taken over by violent thugs, b) to get five different STDs before age 50, and c) to explode your brain in a vain attempt to flee reality.

Ladies and gents, meet Dana Larsen, NDP candidate for West Vancouver (Sunshine Coast).

Exit question: is the penultimate sentence in the above quote, is Larsen advocating for giving magic mushrooms to children (”with your loved ones”)?

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

So the leader of the federal NDP, Jack Layton, was recently on the John Gormley show, talking about the Alberta oilsands.

His claim?  That no reclamation has ever been done up near Fort McMurray.

He confidently trotted out increased water pollution, more cases of human cancer and poisoned fish — all the result of the oil sands projects near Ft. McMurray.

Suspicious of this — I’ve seen data that says Jack is dead wrong on this — I asked him about reclamation, where the mined soils are returned to a natural state. He, again confidently expounded that “reclamation has never taken place at the oilsands”.

Oops.

Sorry, Jack…you’ve been caught in a lie.

Campaigning is already underway.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper pulled the plug on his minority government and asked voters to go to the polls on Oct. 14 to give him a fresh mandate as Canadians face growing global economic turbulence. Harper’s opponents say the campaign will be a referendum on his leadership and the direction he has taken the country since the Conservatives won power in 2006.

Harper painted himself as a reliable quantity while his political opponents pushed the “change” button.

The Conservative leader pointed to what he said was a solid record of governing that, he says, proves he is a tried and trusted steward for uncertain times.

Voters have two distinct choices, he said.

“They can choose between clear direction or uncertainty; between common sense or risky experiments; between steadiness and recklessness,” he told reporters after Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean agreed to dissolve Parliament.

October: busy month!

Harper’s Conservatives seem to be in a decent position at present; this should be a good campaign for them. The Liberals — at least based on their choice of campaign aircraft — aren’t well-positioned financially to fight an election, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the NDP has alienated a lot of people with its constant rhetoric against the Afghanistan mission.

But the NDP were always small fry. It’s the Liberals that stand the most to lose here, and indeed the possibility has begun to emerge that this election might send the Liberals the way of the Progressive Conservatives.

One can hope, I suppose.

Now, if only the Conservatives hadn’t axed the Telefilm fund…that bad decision will make voting for them a little less palatable for me.