Canuck Politics

April 22 and 23, 2010 - EKOS pollster Frank Graves has ignited controversy over his recent advice to the Liberal Party that they should “invoke a culture war” on Western Canadians.

I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.

- Frank Graves, President EKOS Research

The Conservative Party points to the fact Graves donated over $11,000 to the Liberal Party during a time when taxpayers paid EKOS Reasearch $61 million under the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.  The Conservatives also raised questions about the CBC’s impartiality because the network always presented Graves as a “neutral pollster” in his frequent appearances on air.

Graves later apologized and denied any bias, but he repeated his calls for a culture war, and also says he has emperical proof  to support his comments about Western Canadians and Conservative supporters.

There is a higher incidence of people who are less tolerant to homosexuals and more wary of other races, within the Conservative Party. I can demonstrate that empirically.

- Frank Graves, President EKOS Research

The Conservative Party has launched a letter-writing campaign protesting the CBC’s continued use of EKOS and Graves as their “pollster of record”.

Related Links:

• Questions about Frank Graves
• Unethical pollster Graves must be fired

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney celebrates the 25th anniversary of his 1984 majority government, at a gala honouring him in Montreal.

We had a vision of Canada as a country united at home and admired abroad for our values as much as our prosperity. A land of opportunity, a beacon of hope for the world.

-  Brian Mulroney

In his speech, Mulroney saluted leaders from other political parties such as John Turner and Ed Broadbent for their commitment to national unity, as well as Tommy Douglas and Leaster Pearson as the founding fathers of Medicare.

Mulroney also praised Barack Obama for his long-term vision and political leadership on the issue of healthcare reform in the United States.

50 years from today, Americans will revere the name Obama.  Because like his Canadian predecessors, he chose the tough responsibilities of national political leadership over the meaningless nostrums of sterile partisanship that we see too much of in Canada and around the world today.

-  Brian Mulroney

Stephen Harper said Conservatives need to win a majority government  in the next election because the alternative Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition “would do long-term, real damage” to Canada.

Harper made the remarks in a private address to Conservative party supporters on September 2nd in Sault Ste. Marie.

If they get together and force us to the polls, we have to teach them a lesson and get back there with a majority, and make sure their little coalition never happens.

- Stephen Harper

A video taken by a local student and Liberal Party member attending the event was turned over to the Liberal Party. One week later parts of the video was broadcast by the CBC, and the full video was released to other media outlets the following day.

September 2 and 3, 2009 – Federal party leaders position themselves after Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals began pushing for a fall election.

Prime Minister Harper says he will not make any “backroom deals” but is willing to listen to specific proposals coming from the other parties.

The Liberals have abandoned the blue-ribbon EI consultation panel they negotiated in June, and Ignatieff says he won’t negotiate with Harper any longer.

Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe says the Bloc is ready for an election, and they will vote in the interests of Quebec on an issue-by-issue basis.

NDP leader Jack Layton denies any existing deals with the Liberal Party or Bloc.  Layton he says he will not make any “backroom deals”, and that Stephen Harper must “reach out” and take action on NDP issues or he will not support the Conservatives in the House of Commons.

Related Videos:

• Video: Liberals push for fall election (September 1, 2009)

The New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and Liberal Party are working to form a social democratic coalition that would topple the Conservatives and replace them as government.

Related videos:

• Video: Government faces defeat over cuts to political subsidies (November 27, 2008)
• Video: Harper’s deficit flip-flop (October 7 to November 25. 2008)

Canada’s opposition parties are threatening to defeat the Conservative government over cuts to political party subsidies included in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s economic update.

Flaherty says the federal budget will go into deficit after accounting for the planned economic stimulus spending agreed by the G-20 nations.

We cannot ask Canadians to tighten their belts during tougher times without looking in the mirror. Canadians have a right to look to government as an example. We have a responsibility to show restraint and respect for their money. Canadian tax dollars are precious … Today, our Government is eliminating the $1.75-per-vote taxpayer subsidy for politicians and their parties, effective April 1, 2009.

- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty

Jason Kenny, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, reaches out to immigrant Canadians in a speech at the 2008 Conservative Policy Convention in Winnipeg.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave his first major address since the federal election at the Conservative Party Policy Convention in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Harper highlighted the party’s recent successes, and told supporters the ‘Conservative Party is Canada’s Party’.