June 29, 2004
Always hanging on to Nurse/For fear of finding something worse
from Paul Wells, this morning:
I am most struck by the eerie similarity between the popular-vote and seat outcomes in Ontario in the 2003 provincial and 2004 federal elections. Check this out:
Popular vote 03:
Lib 47% PC 35% NDP 15%
Popular vote 04:
Lib 45% Cons 32% NDP 18%
Seats 03:
Lib 72 PC 24 NDP 7
Seats 04:
Lib 76 PC 23 NDP 7
whole post here
June 23, 2004
I should stop looking at these daily polls, evidently -
Today, a recovery for the NDP.
The bad news –
from today’s Globe -
Wireless has arrived -- discreetly -- in the wilderness, so roughing it in one of Canada's largest refuges no longer means being completely out of touch.
Bell Mobility has begun providing its 1X digital wireless service along the highway that runs through Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park, bringing civilization as close as a wireless text message, e-mail or phone call.
The good news
Despite all the technology and effort, though, the new wireless signal in Algonquin won't go very far. The coverage area extends just three or four kilometres from the Highway 60 corridor through the park.
June 22, 2004
Today's SES poll
SES is the company that produces daily rolling polls, with a smallish sample size. They're kind of addictive.
Today's shows a sharp downward trend for the NDP starting at the end of last week.
What would account for it? I can't connect it to anything obvious, except possibly left-of-centre suburbanites switching to a hold-the-nose-and-mark-the-ballot Liberal vote to thwart Harper.
(It may not *matter* all that much, given how highly focused and local the NDP's campaigns are.)
Barber, at the top of his form
From Saturday’s Globe:
“ … Taking stock of what Toronto stands to lose as a result of a Liberal defeat fails to inspire regret. That's because there's nothing there. In view of how very many Liberals we elected over the past three elections, the sheer bulk of nothing is remarkable. Thus the appetite for change.
Should we worry about Paul Martin's promised "New Deal for Cities" going down the drain? We might, had it ever actually appeared in the tub. But it never did. It would be worth defending if it were a record, rather than a much-repeated, always vague promise. But it isn't. Worrying about its survival begs the question: It was never born.
“ … The last thing I heard any local Liberal say about the waterfront, after the disaster of Mr. Martin's precampaign press conference there, is that Torontonians are ungrateful -- meaning presumably that we should better appreciate all the effort that goes into repeating previously unfulfilled promises.
Full text
June 14, 2004
At electionprediction.org
A discussion of the Green Party's chances of electing their candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands.
June 10, 2004
I'm the one you all should know/Much more popular than Trudeau!
UPDATE: Context provided on the discussion board. In my defence, it's posted on the front page of the ndp.ca site without any explanation.
This commercial really has to be seen to be believed; it’s a strange burp in an otherwise sensible campaign.
Guys: the people that ad would work on either aren’t old enough to vote, or they don’t remember Ed Broadbent. An 18-year-old now would have been three when Broadbent resigned as party leader. Three.
Maybe they’re aiming for the Grade 8 civics class mock-election vote, by way of laying the groundwork for the 2008 campaign; they might get somewhere with that demographic. On the plus side, he’s a very good sport, and he looks like he’s having fun.
RealPlayer format »(didn’t work for me)
QuickTime format »
Windows Media format »
June 08, 2004
Riding-by-riding gossip
Davenport
electionprediction.org
Beaches-East York
electionprediction.org
babble.ca
Parkdale-High Park
electionprediction.org
St. Paul’s
electionprediction.org
Toronto Centre
electionprediction.org
babble.ca
Toronto-Danforth
electionprediction.org
Trinity-Spadina
electionprediction.org
babble.ca
June 07, 2004
oh, good catch
OTTAWA (CP) - Two veteran Liberal MPs say there is no difference between their party and the Conservatives on abortion, contradicting Paul Martin's claim that there is a "gulf" between the two parties on hot-button moral issues.
Toronto MP Tom Wappel and Sarnia MP Roger Gallaway also say that Liberals are deeply divided over gay rights, with Gallaway going so far as to predict that a free vote on same-sex marriage would be defeated ....
Among those opposed to same-sex marriage is Judy Sgro, the cabinet minister sent by Liberal campaign officials last week to heckle Conservative Leader Stephen Harper over his stand on abortion.
Sgro, who supported an Opposition motion last fall reaffirming the traditional definition of marriage, taunted Harper with the question: "Whose rights are you taking away tomorrow?"
The comments from Wappel and Gallaway puncture Martin's attempts to portray the Liberals as defenders of civil liberties and the Conservatives as a regressive party with a hidden agenda to recriminalize abortion and deny gay rights.
rest here
June 04, 2004
Cannon to left of them, cannon to right of them
As yet another illustration of how we should never again be surprised by the Internet, even if we inevitably are: bronzecannon.com
(They're bad people: they loot shipwrecks, or pay people to do it for them.)
It is strongly recommended that these antique cannons are never fired, as it may cause damage to the cannon, to yourself and/or to anyone in close proximity. We assume NO RESPONSIBILITY of any kind for any attempt to fire these antique cannons!
June 03, 2004
I want one!
Only $1,195 (U.S.)! Plus, uh, shipping!
THIS IS A GREAT MID 1800'S CAST IRON NAVAL DECK OR SIGNAL CANNON! THE CARRIAGE HAS BEEN RESTORED - THE TUBE IS OLD! BORE MEASURES 1 1/4". FOR THE MAN WHO MIGHT HAVE EVERTHING!
rest here
June 02, 2004
A sign of progress
Seen in front of the James Joyce on Bloor tonight: a woman smoking on the sidewalk, just as if she was taking a smoke break in front of the office fire escape.
'Victim of progress?' I asked.
'Fuckin' bylaw,' she replied.
When I came back a few minutes later, there were five.
If I was a bar owner, I'd wonder about how to stop people from walking out on their tabs, if there was a constant back-and-forth of patrons to the sidewalk.