Sun News Network

Things are looking good for the new Sun News channel.

Is a Lib-NDP-Bloc coalition out of the question?

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff would have us believe so. Charles Adler disagrees: Coalition of the losers:

The Tories fail to get a majority in May and when Parliament reconvenes they fail to win a vote of confidence following another attempt at a budget.

Michael Ignatieff reaches for his posterior and pulls out a piece of paper with a lot of signatures on it. They all have one thing in common. None of them are members of the Conservative party. All of them are members of parties that lost.

Some could call it a coalition of losers. But it would be a coalition that could easily win the day with the Governor General.

At smalldeadanimals, Kate illustrates why Ignatieff can claim that he won't form a coalition: he already has one!

"This Accord will expire on June 30, 2011 unless renewed."

Yes, it's true. Thanks to some diligent work by Stephen Taylor, we know that the coalition agreement (Accord) signed by the Libs, NDP and Bloc on December 1, 2008 is still in effect!

Kate has acquired some legal insight on the Lib-NDP-Bloc "Accord":

1. It is a "Live " document and is binding on the parties.
2. Termination - No termination by any party-- Termination only occurs on June 30th 2011
3. Document BINDS the NDP and Liberals ( the Liberals cannot unilaterally back out of deal)-- the NDP can force compliance.
4. Given that Michael Ignatieff signed the document-- he can not argue bad faith, or had no knowledge and as such is bound to the Agreement

Watch the Libs and the NDP bring forward the argument that coalition governments are not unusual, even common in Europe. That may be true, but the makeup of such coalitions usually centers on the party that won the election, not those that lost.

Michael Ignatieff has the coalition Accord in his back pocket and he will not hesitate to use it should the Conservatives win anything short of a majority on May 2nd.

Be sure to listen to the audio at the top link to Charles Adler.

Earth Hour: Let there be Light!

I almost missed it but tonight is Earth Hour. The usual media hype doesn't seem to be there like it has been in previous years. Is Earth Hour losing it's trendiness? Anyway across the land tonight, many well meaning but misinformed individuals will be taking symbolic action in order to fight what they refer to as "climate change":

"When I get up in the morning, I'll turn off the furnace unless there's danger the pipes will freeze," Rezansoff says. "I'll turn off all appliances except the fridge, and we'll eat fruit, vegetables and sandwiches. In the evening, we'll play board games by candlelight."

While these folks will be briefly experiencing what life would be like without all the modern conveniences that that science, technology and free enterprise have brought us I will be celebrating the Earth and the many wonderful resources she provides us with by TURNING ON every (incandescent) light in my house. I will be watching FOX News Channel on my big screen TV and cranking up the furnace to make sure I'm nice and comfy while I eat my roast beef.

Earth Hour: Let there be light!

It's on!

The conservative government of Stephen Harper has been defeated on a confidence vote 156-145. PM Harper is expected to visit the Governor-general tomorrow and ask him to dissolve Parliament. Then we will be off to the polls, likely on May 2nd.

The opposition parties have been beating the drum for some time now concerning ethics violations and "contempt of Parliament" by the government. They may, however, be the victims of their own rhetoric as the voters just don't seem to care or simply aren't listening. Stephen Harper's Conservatives are at an all time high in the polls and if they stay there, we could see a Conservative majority government come May 2nd.

The question is: can the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff convince Canadians that the government is indeed behaving unethically and contemptibly? And so much so that it needs to be replaced? Not such an easy task for a party that itself in 2006 went down to defeat over some of the most egregious ethics issues ever seen in Canadian politics. On an ethical basis, how do you trump the passing of taxpayer money under the table in brown bags to political operatives and Liberal Party cronies?

The other thing working against the Liberals and the NDP is the economy and you can be sure the Conservatives will do everything in their power to make this the focus of the election. Canada has weathered the world-wide recession well and this is largely attributed to the good fiscal management of the government.

With the Conservatives leading in key provinces like Ontario and BC, and improving in Quebec, one has to wonder about the logic of the Liberals to force an election at this time. Is Iggy so absorbed in his own BS that he is blind to the mood of Canadians? Or has he had enough of Canadian politics and wants to go back to his cushy job at Harvard?

Update: via the Globe:

It was also a motion that declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to share information that opposition members said they needed to properly assess legislation put before them.

Hmmm... you would think the government said something like "We will have to pass the bill for you to find out what's in it"? Oh, the arrogance!

Health care

In today's National Post, Shaun Francis examines the case of a Toronto woman who was denied a life saving drug by Ontario's Ministry of Health - until enough public pressure was brought to bear on the Minister. Francis points out how government health-care bureaucrats decide what treatments will be allowed and when they will be permitted. These bureaucrats must, after all, control costs within our health care monopoly. From today's National Post:

During last year’s debate over Obamacare in the United States, right-wing critics accused reformers of promoting “death panels” that would make life-or-death decisions about citizens’ health care. Obamacare defenders insisted that such a notion was ridiculous.

Yet here in Canada, “death panels” dictate our health care every day — even if that is not the name they go by.

Francis goes on to explain that our health care system is not "free" as many like to think. In fact, he shows how high the costs are, and that they're increasing all the time, while service continues to degrade.

Socialized medicine is a great system if you don't mind the long wait times for treatment, having to go without certain life saving drugs and having little or no choice within the bureaucracy. There has to be a better alternative to the current government run monopoly. It's time to introduce some competition in our health care system.

Forward, Into the Past

Where the left is tasking us, via Ed Driscoll

Obama: Drill, baby, drill... in Brazil

From Investors Business Daily:

Energy Policy: While leaving U.S. oil and jobs in the ground, our itinerant president tells a South American neighbor that we'll help it develop its offshore resources so we can one day import its oil. WHAT?!?

That should be WTF?!

Now, with a seven-year offshore drilling ban in effect off of both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in much of the Gulf of Mexico — and a de facto moratorium covering the rest — Obama tells the Brazilians:

"We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers."

Is this an energy policy designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil? or to increase it?

Michelle Malkin asks, "why don’t we send Ken Salazar over there [Brazil], too?"

Proof that socialism works

via Kelly McParland.

Leadership

The situation in Libya is reaching critical mass. Col. Ghadafi thumbs his nose at the United Nations resolution and continues his assaults on his own civilians while claiming to have imposed a "ceasefire". Clearly, decisive action is required quickly to prevent further atrocities. Some of the western world's leaders, including Canada, are meeting in Paris today to determine how they will deal with the situation.

Mr. Harper had arrived in Paris early Saturday morning for the summit after an overnight transatlantic flight from Ottawa, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and General Walt Natynczyk, the chief of the defence staff, for the one-day meeting.

The fact that PM Harper has brought with him Foreign Affairs Minister Cannon and Canadian Forces Chief General Natynczyk says that Canada is serious about participating in possible military operations. In fact a number of Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are already in the region, presumably Italy, and reports say they will be ready for action very soon. Reports this morning indicate that France already has fighter jets in the air over Libya.

While military intervention in Libya carries risks, primarily the risk of further escalation, the leaders of Britain, France, Canada and other nations are tackling the problem head-on.

All this begs the question: where is the leader of the free world?

Update: US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, "There are difficulties".

Update 2: Rex Murphy: There’s a great vacancy at the top of the world: A retreat by the American government from its global leadership role.

Detecting the greenhouse effect... or not

IPCC 1990 report Detection of the Greenhouse Effect in the Observations:

"Given our rudimentary understanding of the magnitude and causes of low frequency natural variablity, it is virtually impossible to demonstrate a cause-effect relationship with high confidence from studies of a single variable (However if the global warming becomes sufficiently large, we will eventually be able to claim detection simply because there will be no other explanation)"

Dr. James Hansen in 1988 testimony before the US Senate:

"...the global warming is now large enough that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship to the greenhouse effect."

Anthony Watts has the full story.

Aussie sceptics destroy EU carbon commissioner

In a radio interview (it starts about halfway through the clip) with Andrew Bolt on the Steve Price program. Jill Duggan is an "expert" on carbon markets for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action which plans to reduce Europe’s carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. As James Delingpole says, "In the process she will of course destroy every last vestige of 550 million people’s economic future".

The money line:

“You’re in charge of a massive programme to rejig an economy and you don’t know what it costs and you don’t know what it will achieve,” says Bolt.

h/t

Silencing the skeptics

The impact of climategate on the credibility of some key global warming alarmists was significant. Now comes the backlash. And no, it doesn't involve a scientific argument.

At CO2 Insanity, John O’Sullivan writes:

Beleaguered global warming religionist, Michael Mann has signed up a Canadian libel law firm that has ties to the ultra-green David Suzuki Foundation (DSF). Skeptics fear DSF and other warmist groups are gearing up for reprisals against skeptic scientists who have helped derail the global warming tax raising juggernaut.

Internationally renowned climate scientist, Dr. Tim Ball and prominent U.S. skeptic Chris Horner appear to be the first victims of a coordinated attack by discredited ‘hockey stick’ graph conjurer, Michael Mann.

Read the full article. Please.

Propping up an industry that can't compete in the marketplace

A look at "green energy" by ReasonTV:



via Hotair.

McGuinty's reality

The full article by Lawrence Solomon in today's Financial Post is worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

Here's the reality. Ontario doesn't need Mr. McGuinty's new electricity system, which will be immensely less reliable and immensely more costly than the current system. The only one who needs the system is Mr. McGuinty himself, to make good his boast of being the world's first leader to get his jurisdiction entirely off coal.

Full story here.