Timmy TeaBagger's Woman Problem Continued

Oh, dear. Like the USian ReThuglicans, the Ontario Progressive *cough* Conservative Party seems to have an ongoing woman problem.

Newsflash to Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak: a job-cutting plan shouldn't bank on women leaving the workforce after they have a baby.

But that seems to be what PC MPP Lisa MacLeod said over the weekend when she appeared on Sun TV to defend her party's campaign pledge to cut 100,000 public sector employees if the Ontario PCs form government.

MacLeod emphasized how "a lot" would be through attrition -- "whether there's maternity leaves or retirement."

Bloggers got on it: BigCityLib and Youth and Work.

After someone tweeted a link to the latter blogpost, MacLeod said:

Nope. That's a lie. Didn't say that. "@PatriciaKarpiuk: .@MacLeodLisa, a PC MPP, wants to fire young mothers.

— Lisa MacLeod (@MacLeodLisa) May 20, 2014

Watch for yourself:



Certainly sounds to me like she has a basic misunderstanding of how both attrition and maternity leave work. Which is kinda amusing considering Ms MacLeod held the position of Critic for Children and Youth Services from October 2006 to January 2008.

But she does have a history of misunderstanding how to count job losses and their effects.

Nepean-Carleton Conservative Lisa MacLeod attacked Ontario’s Liberal government Friday for policies she said have cost Ottawa 3,684 jobs since 2006.

But she dodged questions at a “media availability session” about cuts to the public service by the federal Conservative government that have eliminated more than four times as many jobs in the National Capital Region since 2012.

Given the Ontario Conservatives' track record on women's issues, doncha think voters deserve a clarification on whether indeed young mothers face HudAxe's axe?

"No Free Ride" — brilliant!

From one of Canada's respected, award-winning veteran film-makers, this video about Hudak's morally vacuous ideological position with regard to Ontario workers.

Together, Hillier and Hudak make the specious argument that Ontario’s declining manufacturing sector and rising unemployment, relative to other provinces, can be blamed on unions. Their analysis ignores the upheavals of globalization, the appreciation of the Canadian dollar, and the commodity booms that benefited other regions.

And it conveniently overlooks the historical reality that in Ontario’s boom times, the private sector was far more heavily unionized than it is today. Competing against right-to-work states won’t prepare Ontario’s highly educated workforce for the high-tech, high-value jobs of tomorrow.

More here, and here.



The federal Cons who are facilitating the destruction of the Canadian manufacturing industry are now bellowing and bleating about a lack of skilled workers.  This fatuous disinformation ploy is their opening volley in a tactical attack upon post-secondary educational institutions and programs.  More spin to follow, as their disingenuous communications campaign is rolled out.

Harper and Finley's real goal is to justify their greedy grab for the Employment Insurance budget of $2.5-billion it transfers to the provinces for skills training. 

Bruce McDonald.  His impressive filmography includes many movies that I have watched, and rewatched over the years particularly _Trigger_ about two regretful punk rocker grrrls, with the luminous Molly Parker and the incandescent Tracy Wright.

We Agree: Defund!

Zygote zealots in Ontario are planning a repeat of last year's MASSIVE Defund Abortion Rally, but even MASSIVER this time.

Today, Campaign Lie held a presser at Queen's Park, sponsored by CON MPPs Rick Nicholls, John O’Toole, and Randy Hillier, who unaccountably did NOT show their support in person.

So, the old CON abortion peekaboo begins again.

Conservative Leader Tim Hudak admitted* last year that he had signed an anti-abortion petition in the past, but said he had no plans to re-open the debate if he becomes premier.

No, no, no, we are not reopening the abortion debate. It's those pesky fetus fetishizing independent-minded MPPs.

PC Finance Critic MPP Peter Shurman says as far as he's concerned, the abortion debate at the provincial level is closed. He says this doesn't say anything about the Tories being able to reign in members, noting there are 36 MPPs with minds of their own.

Now you see them, now you don't.

Mini-rallies will be held this Saturday, October 13, at 41 'randomly selected' MPP offices. All the party leaders will get a visit.

The MASSIVE rally at Queen's Park is scheduled for a Tuesday (October 30), so busloads of Catlick kids can get an educational outing at taxpayer expense.

I'd really like to see whatever media coverage the MASSIVE event gets to focus on that. A poll from June this year showed that a majority -- 53% of all Ontarians and 58% of CON supporters -- oppose public funding of Vatican Taliban schools.

That's the MASSIVE misuse of taxpayer money that deserves attention.

DJ! is totally behind that defunding effort.


* Hudak 'admitted' to it only after a old link to dominionist ARPA's rating of CON leadership candidates was discovered. Oddly, the link to the ARPA article is now dead.

Hudak Hits the Road -- The Low Road, That Is

That Hudork, what a class act. After getting his ass kicked last night, or as Martin Regg Cohn put it, after he was humiliated, look what he had to say.

Tonight’s result has shown that public sector unions from across Ontario were provided with the perfect opportunity to concentrate their resources and lash out against the wage freeze we’ve been consistently pushing. They bought Kitchener-Waterloo and now we can expect the rest of Ontario taxpayers to pay for it as the NDP cut more budget deals to keep the Liberals in power.

This is bad news for Dalton McGuinty. He rolled the dice with an expensive appointment to trigger a by-election to try and gain his coveted majority. He failed and taxpayers lost. Even worse, he put off taking the urgent action needed to deal with Ontario’s jobs and debt crisis.

Now, more than ever, as public sector union bosses further entrench their interests in this minority parliament, we need to keep the government’s feet to the fire. The Ontario PC Caucus will proudly standup as the sole standard bearer of fiscal sanity and private sector job creation in this province.

Unions 'bought' Kitchener-Waterloo. Really, Tim?

Oh, and that 'expensive appointment' McGuinty made to trigger the by-election? He didn't. Elizabeth Witmer wanted out of politics because her husband has cancer.

Elizabeth Witmer put an end to speculation about why she stepped down as MPP after 22 years.

She said her decision had nothing to do with politics.

Her husband of 32 years has cancer.

Of course, we can't expect him to apologize to McGuinty, but he might think about apologizing to Ms Witmer for tacitly impugning her integrity to get a cushy job.

In related news, Hudork is trying desperately to turn the page and will release some kinda policy statement next week on health care.

How desperate is he? Will he pledge -- again -- to defund abortion?

You never know with a class act like Pandering Timmy.

Yet Another Abortion Defunding Gambit

Gearing up for their Defund Abortion Bunfest on October 22 at Queen's Park, the fetus fetishists have released another *yawn* poll.

The majority of Ontarians oppose taxpayer funding of abortion according to a poll commissioned by Campaign Life Coalition, LifeSiteNews.com, and The Interim. More than six in ten Ontarians oppose the status quo of paying for all abortions in the province while just three in ten support subsidizing this unnecessary, elective surgery.

According to an Abacus Data poll, 40 per cent of respondents think abortion should be available but only funded in medical emergencies, while 11 per cent think abortion should be available but never funded, and 10 per cent do not think abortion should be available at all. In contrast, 30% think abortion should be available and always funded. Another 8 per cent said none of those positions match their view.

I downloaded the PDF and got this:

While overall a significant majority (81%) of Ontarians feel that abortions should be available to those who choose to have one, a majority (61%) also oppose government funding of all abortions, including many of those who support access to abortion.

Now unless Ontarians are significantly stingier about funding medical care than Canadians overall, this doesn't square with consistent numbers from Angus Reid.

In three polls from January 2009 to Jan 2010 (I couldn't find any more recent), about 43% of Canadians are cool with funding all and 41% are in favour of funding only in emergencies.

In fact, the number saying 'fund only in emergencies' is down by 5 points over the period. But 'not fund at all' is up by 6 points (from 4% in July 2009 to 10% in July 2010). So I'd call that a wash.

The poll included another of those idiotic 'gotcha' questions fetus fetishists love. Like this one going all SHRIEEEKY over the fact that Canadians didn't know that there is no time limit on abortion under law. (There are of course medical guidelines on limits.)

This time they're going all SHRIEEKY over the fact that 91% of Ontarians don't know that abortion costs the government 'at least $30 million' a year.

Well, duh. Under our system of single-payer medicare, I betcha 91% of Ontarians haven't the foggiest what is spent on appendectomies, cancer care, childbirth, or any other medical procedure.

And that's a good thing.

I did find out how they came up with that figure spent on abortion in Ontario.

Statistical Evidence:

Abortions in Ontario per year: 32,000 (Canadian Institute for Health Information) to 51,000 (Source: Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report (POWER)
Average cost of an abortion: $1000 (Joyce Arthur, Pro-Choice Action Network)
Annual cost of abortions (excluding complications): 32,000 x 1,000 = <$32 M to $51M

(Isn't that sweet? Citing pro-choice Joyce Arthur as an expert.)

I have no reason to quibble with that number, but wouldn't it be more responsible to put it in some kinda context? Like, what do we collectively spend on childbirth, vasectomies and other 'lifestyle choices' (as the CLC spokesthingy styles abortion)?

I tried to find out what a vasectomy -- 99.5% covered by OHIP -- costs and this is the best I could find. It looks dodgy, but the figure of $500 to $1000 seems reasonable.

(Reversing vasectomies has been defunded and the 'unsnipping' will run you nearly $2000.)

This next quote is also sweet, considering that the fetus fetishists probably expected Tim 'Defund Abortion' Hudak to be premier at this point (emphasis mine).

“The poll results show that a clear majority opposes the status quo of taxpayer funding for all abortions, proving that politicians should not be afraid to address abortion defunding.” said Jim Hughes, President of Campaign Life Coalition. “What politician or political party will have the guts to stand up for taxpayers and accountability to resist paying for the personal choice to destroy an unborn human being?” asked Hughes.

Quick answer, Jim: Nooooobody.

Slightly longer answer: Because with the vast majority of Ontarians staunchly pro-choice, to do otherwise would be political suicide.

Suck it up, Buttercup

Well, that was sweet, wasn't it?

As deBeauxOs gloated pointed out earlier today, The Sun is in a tizz, which I find especially delightful since they refused to endorse Hudork.

And our friends over at Freak Dominion -- yeah, those guys who told the whiny lefties to suck it when we pointed out that a majority of Canadians did NOT vote for King Stevie the First -- are having a bit of, um, what to call it?

Oh, right. IDWCDI. It's Different When Cons Do It.

In a thread dissecting the loss of their boy, a commenter named 'Conservative Toronto' says:

Just to put things in perspective, 0.492 x 0.3762 = 18.5% of Ontarians voting for McGimpy, and 81.5% choosing to do "other".

To which 'smallLliberal' replies:

so what, that would mean Hudak got around 17% .. 83% chose "other"

Yep.

First Past the Post is a bad system and NOT just when your boy loses.

Of all the morning-after blah-blah out there, I really enjoyed this from Andrew Coyne, accounting for Con losses in both Manitoba and Ontario.

In short, conservatives in this country, at least of the partisan, capital-C variety, have lost their nerve. They do not believe in themselves, yet somehow hope the public will. They reek of flop-sweat, calculation and guile, yet ask the public to trust in their leadership. They offer no alternative, yet campaign on “change.” It is a formula guaranteed to fail, as it has done, over and over again. Yet it is the one they return to, over and over again.

Dan Gardner, who pointed to the piece, said:

BTW, I love this: "They reek of flop-sweat, calculation and guile." Impossible to read that without seeing Hudak.

Yep.

One more morning-after bit from me. A Globe reporter named Steve Ladurantaye was reassigned from his usual real estate beat to ride the bus with Hudork. I found his reporting good and his tweets even better.

I could try to find it, but near the end of the campaign, he tweeted something like: 'I don't usually cover politics and am finding the level of dishonesty/lying/disingenuousness [something like that] amazing'.

Imagine. A reporter who asks questions, expects to get them answered, and is surprised when he's lied to.

Yo! Globe! Keep Steve on the political beat.

And give him a raise.

Today, he tells the story of Hudork's borrowing of Wayne Newton's raunchy tour bus, a story the Con staffers wisely kept to themselves until after the election.

Reporters were never told, for good reason. The replacement bus formerly belonged to Wayne Newton, party insiders said, and featured a stage complete with a stripper pole in the back.

Dammit, if only we'd known.



Image source.

Creekside: Steve plugs for Harper Hudak Ford TeaCon trifecta

Go read Alison at Creekside: Steve plugs for Harper Hudak Ford TeaCon trifecta.

You can watch Stevie Spiteful's jolly little screed against the NDP that was posted on YouTube immediately after it was recorded and which Harper's Contempt Party and his Politburo have tried repeatedly to suppress.

Is there anything more despicable than pimping your own kid?

Apparently, Tim Hudork doesn't think so. He thinks it will win him an election.

Here he is using his daughter's recent serious illness (and some ringer nurses) to talk about healthcare.

Here he is using a ginormous photo of wifey and adorable daughter as bus-wrapping.

Here he is again using daughter's illness to try desperately to connect with someone, anyone. (Warning: major glurge-fest.)

And how about this one this past weekend? Adorable daughter has a birthday party and a CP vidographer just happens to catch the candle-blowing out part.

Awwwww.

But really, I wonder how he can top today's kid-pimping effort.

Defending a homophobic flyer sent out by his party -- a flyer that spouts a bunch of lies about that sensible sex-ed program that the Liberals scampered away from when Foghorn McVety stamped his widdle foot -- he trots out adorable daughter again today.

“My little girl Miller – it’s her birthday today – is just four and she has started JK,” he said. “The notion that Dalton McGuinty thinks a priority in education is sex-education curriculum starting at Grade 1 when they should be learning their ABCs and how to tie their shoes is another example of how Dalton McGuinty has lost touch with mainstream Ontario.”

How low can a pol possibly go?

Well, there are three days of desperation left. We may find out there is yet a lower sinkhole in pandering pimpitude.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Surely, in a Theo-Neo-Con's mindset, teaching a child to tie her shoes is a PARENT'S responsibility.

Rob Ford = Tar Baby

Bless the Star. They are trying to make Hudork wear it.

It’s a four-letter F-word that Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak tries not to utter.

Ford.

. . .

Finally, after six questions about Ford, Hudak reluctantly mentioned the mayor’s name.

“I know that mayor Ford and council are going through recommendations by the city manager, so the question is how can the province be of assistance,” he said.

While Hudak did use one of Ford’s trademark campaign lines — “we’ll end the war on the car” — he is clearly mindful that the Conservative mayor’s political coattails are not what they were when he swept to power last October.

It seems that Harper too is trying to stay away from the clutches of the Ford tar baby*.

Here's the 'hat-trick' video the Cons keep trying to get vanished.

*Note to politically correct: I look forward to your demonstration of how I'm being racist using that term.


Image source

Hudak the Refusenik

This is too easy. I googled "Hudak refused" and look what I got.

There was (to DAMMIT JANET! at least) that first important one. About defunding abortion.

When the Star repeatedly asked Hudak if he is “pro-life” he refused to answer the question and walked away from the microphone.

The rest of the list is kinda random in time.

The tax-dodger candidate.

At a press conference Friday following a speech to the Economic Club of Canada, Mr. Hudak refused to say whether he would continue to support Mr. Hillier even though he is behind on his taxes.

Hydro rates.

Asked specifically if he could guarantee the [hydro] rates would not continue to climb if the Tories win on Oct. 6, Hudak refused to answer but was quick to add that the provincial portion of the HST would be cut.

Uploading the costs that Mike Harris Sr. dumped on municipalities.

Hudak refused to commit to honouring the existing 10-year [uploading] deal between Ontario municipalities and the Liberal Government.

Teacher training.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak refused to say if he'd match the Liberal promise [to double teachers college terms], choosing instead to call out Premier Dalton McGuinty for his absent election platform.

Nuclear power.

PC Leader Tim Hudak is not saying how he will protect electricity consumers from the inevitable cost overruns on the nuclear power projects his party favours. Mr. Hudak refused to respond to a Clean Air Alliance survey asking what parties would do to protect Ontario consumers and taxpayers from massive nuclear cost overruns.

HST.

Today, Tim Hudak was asked repeatedly about his flip-flop on the HST, but he refused to come clean with Ontarians.

Extra billing by doctors.

The promise comes after Hudak refused on Wednesday to state whether or not he’d go after doctors who charge service fees.

And today's entry, on green jobs.

Hudak never mentioned Samsung in his eight-minute address. He didn’t take questions from the media, either. So Star reporter Craig Pearson, standing so close to Hudak that the leader had to step around him, asked him anyway. “Will you guarantee the 200 to 300 Samsung jobs?” Hudak didn’t answer.

Pearson followed him out, holding out his tape recorder, and asked him several more times. Hudak didn’t answer. Finally, Hudak referred him to an aide to arrange an interview.

Sorry, no interview, Pearson was finally told the next day.

Just to be fair, I also googled "McGuinty refused" and "Horwath refused" and got one each.

McGuinty:

For the second straight day, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty refused to give into pressure from his rivals to participate in a debate on Northern issues in the sprawling region. The Progressive Conservatives even offered to pick up the tab for his travel costs.

Horwath:

However, Horwath refused to say whether her party would consider a coalition in the event the election produced a minority government.

(P.S. To ONDP and OLP war-rooms: I prefer single malt.)

Image source

A Picture Is Worth. . .

At least a thousand words of BS on crime from this scofflaw gang.




Image source

It's not too late, Tim

Hmmmm. Interesting timing. One woulda thunk this bunfest would be coordinated with the fetus fetishists' other fall fun fair, Life Chain, on October 2.

I've looked and can't find any info on whether this shindig is the first ever, tenth annual, or whatever. No qualifier of any sort. And usually the fetus fetishists love to highlight how long they've been holding their futile rallies and vigils and whatnot.

I wonder who they expected to be in the Premier's seat on October 22, you know, two weeks after the provincial election that at one point seemed a no-brainer win for the Cons.

Were they hoping for compulsive 'refuser to say' Tim Hudak who once mighta, kinda, maybe vowed to defund abortion?

Given his repeated flip-flopping on issues, maybe they were hoping the sight of a few dozen zygote zealots on 'his' new lawn at Queen's Park would flop-flip him back again.

Because currently Campaign Life Coalition's handy candidate rater has him down as 'pro-abortion'.

Ouch. That's gotta smart what with all the pandering to Christianists he's been doing.

(Interestingly, the fetus fetishists seem slow off the mark with their quiz. While many candidates have 'not replied' and many more [like Hudork, big surprise] have 'refused to answer', lots haven't yet been sent the survey.)

We've blogged about abortion funding being the potential wedge issue in the never-ending War on Women. Obviously, the fetus fetishists think they have a winner here.

Here's what the text on that poster says, including the mandatory breast-cancer and trauma lies:

At least 30 million dollars of taxpayer money funds elective abortion surgery in Ontario alone

*Additionally, the cost of abortion complications could escalate this cost of hundreds of millions of $ annually (Eg: breast cancer, trauma, infections)

But hey, it may not be too late to try to cash in those martyr markers, Tim. Canadian Life Chain locations are here. Pick a spot, hold up gory sign, and bingo! You're back in their good graces.


Aesthetic footnotes:
1. What's with the blobs? Everyone knows that 'blobs'® are prochoice symbols. They're appropriating our shit again. Waaa!
2. What's with the logo? Is that a heart with toesies? Eww. Creepy.


h/t AntoniaZ

Pulling Numbers out of Their Asses

Back in mid-July, Ford pit-bull Mammoliti was threatening tax hikes of up to 20 %.

Toronto councillors will have to clobber residents with a tax hike of up to 20% if they fail to make tough budget decisions, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti warned Wednesday.

By July 28, the day and night of the marathon bogus consultation, at which I was one of the 'usual suspects', the number had risen to a 30% tax increase.

Today, Hudork is on the stump again, repeating his nonsensical promise to cut 'red tape', sometimes 'regulations', by that magic number, 30%, again.

Election campaigns often demand of electorates a level of credulity that tends to border on wishful thinking.

For example, a promise by Ontario's Conservative Leader Tim Hudak to reduce regulation by 30 per cent. . . .

Reducing regulation by 30 per cent raises a multitude of questions, one of which is simply, how did Hudak and his policy team arrive at 30 per cent? Precisely, 30 per cent of what?

Why does no one ask these questions of Hudork himself?

And what the hell does it mean?

Maybe it means that tax-dodger Con candidate, Randy Hillier, will have to fill out only 3 of every 10 lines of his 'confusing' tax forms.


Image source

Hudork on Health

Speaking of pimping one's kid, Hudork dragged his three-year-old to Hamilton today to talk about healthcare.

From a report titled: 'On health care, Ontario's Hudak battles memories of Harris cuts' by Steve Ladrurantaye:

His daughter Miller was born six weeks premature, and more recently faced a three-week hospitalization for an undisclosed, but serious, illness. The happy three-year-old is a steady presence on the campaign trail, and often travels with Mr. Hudak when she’s not in school.

Oh yeah, we remember the Harris cuts. In particular, the 6,000 nurses fired remember the Harris cuts. Hudak, remember, was junior Health Minister for some of that time.

“Investing more in health care is necessary and prudent,” he said as he stood beside an ultrasound machine at St. Joseph’s Hospital, flanked by the two nurses in scrubs. “I personally know from my family’s experience how important it is to have quality health care where and when you need it … to me it’s personal.”

What? Flanked by nurses????

Wait. Apparently they couldn't find any Steel Town nurses to stand beside Hudak, so, according to Ladurantaye, they were shipped in from St Catharines complete with scrubs and stethoscopes.

Pimping your kid while bussing in ringers. Another great day for Hudork.

Astroturf on the Cheap

So, now that the Ontario election campaign is up and nasty running, what's that anti-union, pro-Hudork astroturf gang up to?

Not much, seemingly. Its webpage has not changed (teehee) since I last visited on August 19.

Its YouTube channel now sports three, count 'em, three videos.

The latest, posted on September 8, at least attacks Dalton McGuinty. The other two attack pro-union Working Families.

I'm embedding the vid because the voice is driving me crazy. Reminds me of some doofus character -- maybe from Red Green? -- on telly. In any case, it's an odd choice. As is the guitar-pickin' music.

As is the message. It confirms that McGuinty did not raise taxes, but then lists various other fees and premiums introduced by the Liberals. The annoying voice keeps repeating: 'technically speaking' McGuinty has a pretty good record.

Odd.

Have a listen.



Who is that?

PFBO's frontman, Dominionist nutbar and former spokesthingy for tax-doging Con candidate Randy Hillier, Tristan Emmanuel seems pretty quiet too.

His company, Brazen Communications, has no web presence that I could find, though there is a Brazen Communications in Singapore.

Tristan seems to limit his brazenness to Twitter and Facebook. The last comment on the FB wall is August 17, but he had a flurry of activity on September 8 on Twitter with three tweets: one directing people to the new vid above and two directing people to a peppy newsletter with an odd domain name: us2.campaign-archive2.com.

Which takes you here, something called 'Mail Chimp'.

Hi there.

You probably found this page because one of our subscribers used MailChimp to send you an email campaign, and you traced a link in the email back here to investigate. MailChimp is an email-marketing service that serves more than 900,000 companies of all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. We send more than 40 million emails every day, and we help our customers comply with spam laws and best practices so they can get their campaigns into their subscribers' inboxes.

(Aside: And a laff riot to boot. There's a link to 'Our Practical Jokes' which takes you to the hahahaha [^NOT] story of how the company's mascot -- yep, a mailbag carrying chimp -- was built.)

Zow. It looks like Tristan is hooked up with a professional spamming outfit.

Makes sense, I guess. Astroturf group and spammer.

That's yer Con astroturf grassroots for ya: cheap and cheesy.

That Hudork Bus Just Lost Another Wheel

Tim Hudork's campaign is getting downright comical.

The Progressive Conservatives’ election platform couldn’t be any clearer – the party wants to see “change that guarantees a promising future to every hard-working family that plays by the rules.”

Which is why Leader Tim Hudak suddenly finds himself in such an awkward position amid revelations that property rights activist and Conservative candidate Randy Hillier hasn’t paid his taxes.

Oh dear.

And how many times has the phrase* 'Mr Hudak refused to say. . .' appeared in campaign stories so far? Oh look, there it is again.

At a press conference Friday following a speech to the Economic Club of Canada, Mr. Hudak refused to say whether he would continue to support Mr. Hillier even though he is behind on his taxes. Canada Revenue Agency has placed two liens on the candidate’s home, one for $9,017 and another for $5,863.

And it just gets worse.

[Mr Hillier] also pinned the blame to his wife.

And worse.

Hillier ran against Hudork for party leadership, but backed out and supported him when Timmie said he'd abolish Human Rights Commissions.

So, it's all good, right?

Um. No. That would be another Hudork flip-flop.

And. Also. Hillier is the guy who helped oust longtime PC stalwart Norm Sterling, prompting the now-infamous Tea Bagger Party comment from former PC premier Ernie Eves.

Heckuva job, Timmie.

*And of course, Timmie still refuses to say whether he'd defund abortion.

BONUS: Randy Hillier would also defund abortion.

ADDED: And that 'foreign worker' dealie is also just getting worser and worser.

Pick your bus analogy

Bus, being thrown under. . . or Bus, wheels falling off of.

Hudork is having a rough couple days here.

Yesterday, the Liberal Party released this observation.

TORONTO, Aug. 30, 2011 /CNW/ - Following a month that saw Tim Hudak stumble on his sneaky plan to raise property taxes, fumble on his previous commitment to defund abortion and flip flop again on the HST, the PC campaign team has quietly dropped all of the scenes involving Hudak from their television advertising.

Gone from their advertising are pictures of Hudak meeting voters and posing with his family. Also cut from the ad is Tim Hudak's appearance at the end promoting his reckless campaign promises.

Leaving Hudak on the cutting room floor was not done to make the ad shorter or add new attacks. The PCs simply cut the scenes involving Hudak and slowed the rest of the commercial to fill the time.

The fact Tim Hudak would rather perform juvenile stunts than tackle the provinces most pressing issues, together with the fact his platform has a $14 billion hole and is built on poorly disguised Harris-type wedge issues is simply icing on the cake for most voters who are increasingly saying Tim Hudak just isn't worth the risk.

Also yesterday, this story came out.

The ouster of MPP Norm Sterling by the Progressive Conservative Party in Carleton-Mississippi Mills was disgraceful, said former Ontario premier Ernie Eves.

“I don't care who hears this," said Eves. "The treatment that Norm got from his own party was not very polite, was not fair, it was not loyal, it was not compassionate, it was not even and it was not honest,” he said during an appreciation dinner for Sterling at the Canadian Golf and Country Club on Aug. 25.

And today, given a chance to walk it back, Ernie strikes again.

On Wednesday, Eves repeated his critique, saying his tribute dinner remarks were “directed at those few individuals who decided that the Tea Party version of Ontario politics would be good in that particular riding.”

“And I don’t happen to agree with that, quite frankly,” he told a talk radio show in the provincial capital. “I don’t think it was fair and I don’t think it was loyal and I don’t think it was compassionate and I don’t think it’s honest.”

Also, today a poll showing Hudork's double-digit lead of not long ago is in free fall.

Yikes! That's gotta hurt!

Hudork: 'Keep My Family Out of It Except for This Humongous Image of Her and Our Adorable Daughter'

Back in November, Tim Hudak warned others to lay off his wife, Deb Hutton.

So, are families fair game in politics?

Just last month [October 2010], the Liberals issued a release under the headline “Tories at the Trough,” which singled out four Conservatives, including Hutton, for “living the good life” at taxpayers’ expense.

“After landing at Hydro One to collect a $200,000 per year salary, the former Harris aide forced taxpayers to cover over $5,000 in restaurant bills,” said the Liberal release.

Professor Henry Jacek of McMaster University in Hamilton said Wednesday that Hutton may indeed be considered fair game by the Liberals because of her political background.

“I think this is a special case,” Jacek said.

“It’s not that they’re trying to be mean to a spouse because she’s a spouse. They’re going to try to use her as evidence that her husband has close ties to Mike Harris.”

Now, however, there's this.



I'd say that Hudork himself has just involved his family in the campaign.

So how about those ties to Mike Harris? There are many, but Torontoist puts it best: 'Hudak loved the Common Sense Revolution so much he married it'.

Deb Hutton was Harris's aide and one of the architects of his political platform, the notorious Common Sense Revolution, which in many ways Ontario is still reeling from.

But you won't find that out from her Wikipedia page. It has been deleted.

Hmm.

Deb Hutton, Deb Hutton, why does that name ring a bell?

Oh, yeah. Ipperwash.

From Nov. 21, 2005:

Deb Hutton, who had been an aide to Premier Mike Harris, testifies at the Ipperwash Inquiry. Hutton was a member of Harris's inner circle who had represented the premier at several meetings during the standoff. She says allegations that Harris favoured armed force to resolve the occupation at Ipperwash are false.

On the other hand:

Other testimony has further put the Harris government in a bad light. In particular, former Harris aide, Deb Hutton repeatedly testified in November, 2005, that she couldn't remember any specific conversations, leading one cross-examiner to pointedly remark that she had used phrases such as "I don't recall" or "I don't specifically recall" on 134 separate occasions. Also former Ontario Provincial Attorney General Charles Harnick testified that Harris used profanity while shouting, "I want the fucking Indians out of the park.". Later witnesses denied Harnick's evidence.

Well, heck, she's just a wife, albeit with an interesting political past.

Or is she?

What’s not as clear is how much say Hudak’s wife, former Harris chief of staff Deb Hutton, a stay-at-home mom these days, will have on the political affairs of the Tory party now that her husband’s king. If Hutton’s rep for being hands-on holds (not-so-lovingly referred to by her critics as the most hated person at Queen’s Park when she was there), then things can get ugly real fast under Hudak.

And there is that little matter of the deleted Wiki page.

I think we need to know a little more about Ms Hutton's involvement in Hudork's plans for Ontario, don't you? Especially as so many of us believe it's going to be the Common Sense ReRevolution.

h/t gritchik who speculates:

With a double digit lead having evaporated over the summer because a lot of people, particularly women, don’t care for Hudak all that much, it appears the Tory brain trust wants to reassure voters that Tim really is a nice guy. Really.

Spin, Timmie, Spin

Let the attack ads begin!

Specifically, attacking unions, 'union bosses' who get 'fat raises' and 'lavish benefits' all paid for by us poor tax-payers who get nothing -- like education, health, safety etc -- in return. McGuinty is 'beholden' to those unions.

Then there this totally lame and really annoying effort from Hudak's astroturf group, fronted by a Dominionist nutbar.

This is what he says about his communications *cough* company:

Brazen Communication is all about offering clients a bold way to express their complex ideas, services and mission

If that vid is any indication of quality, I think Tristan should stick to god-bothering.

Speaking of complex ideas, Lloyd Brown-John writes in the Windsor Star about 'catchphrase politics'.

Election campaigns often demand of electorates a level of credulity that tends to border on wishful thinking.

For example, a promise by Ontario's Conservative Leader Tim Hudak to reduce regulation by 30 per cent.

. . .
Reducing regulation by 30 per cent raises a multitude of questions, one of which is simply, how did Hudak and his policy team arrive at 30 per cent? Precisely, 30 per cent of what?

Indeed. Good questions.

30% of water safety regulations?

30% of abortion regulations?

30% of food inspection regulations?

30% of building regulations?

30% of mining regulations?

Sure, a lot of people would suffer from poisoned food and water, unsafe healthcare, collapsing buildings, and dangerous workplaces, but at least around 30% of them would be evil fat-cat union members.

Hmm. 30 per cent again. Maybe Hudak just wants to eliminate 30 per cent of Ontarians.

Bonus! Today's Con stunt event is literally all spin.

Women Don't Trust Hudak

Not surprisingly, women don't trust Hudak.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak faces an uphill battle to win the trust of female voters in the upcoming election campaign.

In a new poll by Nanos Research, just under one in four voters describe Mr. Hudak as the most trustworthy leader. Among women, the numbers are even lower, with just one in five choosing him.

Well, there is still that outstanding matter of defunding abortion.

A commenter at the Globe -- if not writing with tongue planted in cheek -- seems to have heard the dog-whistle.

Jesus-Is-Lord

I agree completely with Mr. Hudak's position on abortion. It is not for the woman to decide, a woman with child is not emotionally capable of making such an important decision. If the government must prohibit abortions then so be it! Mr. Hudak is completely correct in his assessment of the role that the Ontario government must play in stopping the butchery of unborn children. Every child is a wonderful gift from God and that child has equal rights with the mother! The Holy Bible teaches us that abortion under any circumstances is murder! Murder!

"Truly children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3)

Our Lord gives women the gift of childbirth and no one can take that away. Mr. Hudak is only being a good Christian by protecting women from abortion.

I will vote Conservative to save the unborn!

Yes, indeedy. Look at the company he keeps. Read Niles on Christian Dominionists.


Image source.