Category: Other

I received this note today from Chris Taylor (no relation). His riding EDA wrote up this piece for a newsletter that was distributed to the membership. Nods like this are quite encouraging.

The Conservative Blogosphere

Now the above sounds more like something gooey than something electronic, doesn’t it? But it could be the most important development among conservative grassroots in North America since the first tavern was built!

You all know about the Internet, and the World Wide Web. Well, a “blog” (short for “weblog”) is just another kind of website, programmed to make it very simple to publish one’s thoughts and photographs as one comes up with them. An online diary or “log”, in some cases, and commentary about current events in others. A few go so far as to provide political or philosophical commentary, and among those “bloggers” conservatives seem to be in the majority! Taken all together, they are referred to as the “blogosphere”.

And there you have it. A way to get around the so-called liberal monopoly in the news media, or better still, to hold them to account. Each blog lists a “blogroll” of the author’s favourite blogs, and thus the best of them are all connected to one another in a virtual web of excellence. The best bloggers, who publish clear and thoughtful posts daily or even more often, are viewed by thousands of, including many journalists. It takes dedication, and there is no reward but honour from your peers — but is that not true of all grassroots activism?

In fact, some Conservative Members of Parliament, including Monte Solberg and Stephen Fletcher, have blogs on their own websites. And there you will see a refreshing frankness and spontenaiety found nowhere else in politics.

Many if not most of the conservative blogs in Canada are listed by BloggingTories.ca. Some of the best bloggers in Canada belong to the ring of Red Ensign Blogs, like Stephen Taylor (whose statistical research is awesome). Some are self-named, like Stephen Taylor’s, while others have way-over-the-top names like Shiny Happy Gulag. Many are thoughtful and funny, some are outrageous, and most of them will make you think.

And if you think something has been left unsaid, or that there is a niche unfilled in the “blogosphere”, then you can easily start your own blog, either by registering at blogger.com or by downloading blog software for your own website from wordpress.org. With daily dedication and thoughtfulness you can be famous too!

Paul Connor

Deciding to exit politics by personal choice rather than that of the electorate, which was sure to come in the next General Election, Le Devoir reports that Pierre Pettigrew is planning to leave the federal scene for potential headship at the Organization of American States.

As I speculated earlier, Pettigrew is one of the most vulnerable Liberals in caucus given his meager margin of victory during last year’s election. He beat the Bloc candidate with by a margin of 2.77%. His mismanagement of the Arar file and the Liberals’ dwindling fortunes in Quebec make exiting ‘on his own terms’ a wise move by the current Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Jack Layton is trying to negotiate the excision of the $4.6 billion corporate tax cut with Prime Minister Paul Martin. Cut those corporate taxes or lose NDP support on the budget vote (a vote of confidence), Martin has been told by Layton.

Let’s look at what has got Layton in a huff.

Jack Layton wants the Liberals to backtrack on a 2% corporate tax cut over 5 years. Corporate taxes have decreased 2% per year since 2001. Jack Layton wants the money reinvested into “people” and the environment. Tax cuts = Job creation. Last time I checked Jack, people like being employed. The Liberal tax cut of 2% over the next 5 years is actually quite modest given the rapid rate of decline in the corporate tax burden over the past five years. Tax relief actually keeps our small, medium and large businesses competitive with American businesses, Jack.

In fact, Garth Whyte of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses agrees:

Elimination of the corporate tax cuts would be a slap in the face to all small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners who create most of the new jobs in every community across Canada. Prior to last year’s federal election, both the Liberal and NDP parties expressed support for creating a fair taxation system for small businesses in recognition of the important role it plays in economic growth and job creation.

In his budget, Finance Minister Goodale proposed to end the corporate surtax in 2008 — a surtax that was introduced in 1987 to reduce the deficit that was eliminated several years ago. This measure will be especially beneficial to SME owners. Finance Minister Goodale also announced a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 19 per cent by 2010 — a much needed measure to reduce Canada’s tax rate disadvantage compared to the U.S.

We believe that these tax measures are far too important to be used as bargaining chips for political purposes. These measures are needed to build business confidence and certainty in the country’s economic direction and to ensure that the SME sector will continue to generate economic growth and jobs — and thereby finance Canada’s ambitious social agenda.

I can’t imagine what the NDP would do if they were actually in power.