Patrick Lagacé, Maire de Montréal en 2013?

Une blague? Oui, mais...Laporte: << Un candidat énergique et en verve aurait sûrement réussi à profiter de la conjoncture scandaleuse pour tasser le maire Tremblay. Un Eliot Ness. Un Patrick Lagacé. >> Harel : << À Montréal, ils (les angry young men) sont entre les mains de Patrick Lagacé. >> Hmm. On a déjà vu des affaires plus étranges se produire. Puis, Lévesque, Pelletier, Drainville, St-Pierre, et j'en passe, le Québec a une certaine tradition de journalistes qui passent en politique. C'est clair que La Presse et les autres médias lui seront acquis, même Voir, et sa (courageuse) défense du libéralisme au sens politico-philosophique lors du soi-disant débat sur << les accomodements raisonnables >> fera en sorte que ce qu'on appelle les communautés culturelles lui seront favorables aussi. De plus, il est tout à fait bilingue et aime bien les anglos, tout en étant, au fond, un nationaliste, voir même, qui sait, indépendantiste, à ses heures. C'est farfelu, et il ne voudra pas s'y plonger, mais imaginez s'il se laissait tenter : gageriez-vous contre sa candidature? Une blague, je vous dis, mais au Québec, les blagues, les comiques, on prend ça au sérieux, hein?

Down With Squealer & Napoleon!

Well played BBC. Animal Farm read by South African John Kani, to mark 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall? Good one. A very well considered choice. I caught the awful conclusion by accident today, having long ago vowed never to revisit that terrible scene that rightfully traumatised many children, like me, years ago. Still awful (that's a compliment). If you want to boil with anger towards the pigs again, the conclusion should soon be available, for the next week. Listen if you dare.

PS. Cliche, I know, but has ever writer better loved his land than Orwell? Every time one opens one of his books, Jerusalem should play, like those Hallmark cards. And maybe there should be coupons for bitter inside, on which his instructions for tea-making are also inscribed.

Blue Christmas in All Senses (Gun Control etc.)

"Senator John Bryden has decided to retire.(...) It also moves up by almost a full year the date when Conservatives outnumber Liberals in the Senate." CBC

Layton, Iggy, BCer, F&W & Others: From White Ribbon To White Flag

"The President of the Federation of Women of QC, Alexa Conradi, is disheartened by this lack of political conviction. «We will soon mark the 20th anniversary of December 6th 1989 and it would be shameful for Jack Layton, who never misses a chance to blare that he launched the White Ribbon Campaign, to allow his MPs to permit the abolition of the Long Gun Registry», she said in an interview. For her, «It is obvious that this is complete hypocrisy.»" Original French here. Same goes for all the incoherent proponents and apologists of bad policy, bad politics and unethical behaviour on this issue. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Je m'en souviendrai. I hope like-minded others will be taking numbers as well.

Open Nominations To Make Fearful Libs Reconsider

Worth repeating: I think some forget the motivating power of hot button issues. Liberal MPs who are voting not their consciences but their electoral prospects are worried about the general electorate. But to get motivated gun control advocates to buy party memberships and designate their riding as, for instance, Thunder Bay, is very doable. Further, while a plurality or majority of the general electorate in such ridings may be opposed to gun control, there is always, at a minimum, a strong minority which is passionately in favour, all the more passionate for being in the minority (most federalist Federalists I know I are from Saguenay, separatist Separatists from West Island, reddest Liberals and most socialist Dippers from Alberta, etc.) By example, take Thunder Bay, again, where I happen to know, by happenstance, a goodly number of hitherto non-partisan granola types, who could most easily be motivated to slap down the small membership fee so as to affect the gun control debate. And as passionate pro-gun types gravitate to the Cons and hate Libs, there is little possibility of an incumbent Liberal MP, facing a nomination fight over his vote on this issue, being able to motivate and deliver enough pro-gun types to counter the gun control advocates. So I do indeed maintain that Liberal MPs who are planning on voting counter to party platform, policy & legislation, not out of any deep consideration of conscience (of which, on gun control, there is none in any event) but rather out of electoral fear, may indeed be persuaded to reconsider their position in light of these facts were there open nominations for even sitting MPs.

5.30ish Tomorrow Is Vote On Gun Registry

Liberals will be watching Liberals, and I would hope same could be said for Dippers re. NDP, but they just seem to have become completely abject apologists for Jack & Co. Anyway, if vote passes, might be time to revisit nomination meetings for all: some sitting MPs might need the reminder of the exigencies of party democracy to keep them clever.

Mum of Polytechnique Victim: Do The Right Thing

(Trans.) "I am disappointed that the leaders of the LPC & NDP do not seem ready to stop them [the Cons]. I am disappointed that they are pretending that C-391 is a private member's bill that they cannot halt. C-391 is clearly a Government Bill: the PM, the Conservative Party and its allies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to advance the passage of this Bill". Original French here. My question to those hiding behind false private member's bill pretense: how many Cons will vote against? To pretend this an ordinary private member's bill, that this should not be a confidence motion, is contrary to deeper study of parliamentary tradition. The Leader ALWAYS has prerogative of declaring ANY bill under a 3-line whip. Since private member's bills rarely pass, and when they do, usually on rarely controversial or objects of unanimous accord, or on micro-issues, problem rarely arises. But there is no tradition standing by and letting parliament pass measures contrary to program & policy. And with new Con senators after Christmas, is this goes through Commons (can't keep it in committee forever), it could be approved and law by Spring. Think heavily on what you're about to do. NDP & Libs. It may end up on your political tombstones, for good or ill.