Mike Duffy hints at summer election? Or is the media election-biased?

In the mainstream media, they’re at it again! Everyone seems to be asking about the next federal election. To describe elections as the Superbowls of politics would be accurate in significance but overstated in frequency; unfortunately for those of us that live and breathe one writ-drop at a time, there doesn’t seem to be another one so soon on the horizon.

The Prime Minister has stated as much. In a recent press conference, Stephen Harper made mention that party leaders should be focused on the economy rather than hitting the hustings.

So, what’s got the media in a tizzy today? Well, it’s a weekday so it must be any desperate thread of a future election. The “news” today is that Sen. Mike Duffy gave a speech to the Charlottetown Rotary Club where he “hinted” at an election. Let’s take a look at the headline from The Charlottetown Guardian that followed.

“Duffy’s speech hints at looming federal election”

After unexpectedly taking notice to what would otherwise be a hum-drum article from the Island, we find ourselves somewhat disappointed after scanning Duffy’s quotes looking for an explicit or even implicit election “hint”. The article seemingly apologizes at the end but provides an excuse for misleading us,

“He made no mention of an election during his speech on Monday, but used rhetoric reminiscent of an electioneering politician.”

A politician speaking about politics outside of an election?
Dog bites man.

The media, trying to find any reason for us to take notice? Desperate for increased readership and future windfall of ad dollars that come during an election?
Also par for the course.

But was Sen. Duffy’s speech even filled with rhetoric? Let’s take a closer look,

The speech is hardly filled with partisan rhetoric and does not mention Stephen Harper or an election once. The most political item is where Duffy says that he and Minister Gail Shea will fight for Islanders.

Ryan Hastman interview

Ryan Hastman is the Conservative candidate for the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona. A former staffer in the offices of Minister Stockwell Day and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ryan recently moved back to Edmonton where he will run to replace NDP MP Linda Duncan in the next election.

 

Michael Ignatieff appeals for expat dollars

I’ve received this letter addressed to expat friends and readers from America to Africa. The letter is written by Michael Ignatieff and appeals to expats for dollars, dinars, and drachmas and tries to draw a link between the Liberal leader’s 34 year absence from Canada and the career paths of other expats.

(Click the pages to enlarge)

Ignatieff can’t seem to help himself as he boasts of his own experiences in a closing paragraph of the letter,

“My own path has taken me across the airwaves of the BBC to the pages of the New York Times, from the remote villages in Afghanistan into the lecture halls of Paris, Vancouver and Boston. And now that path has brought me here — to the country that has always been my home, as Leader of the one party that can set Canada back on its own path.”

Remember that Michael Ignatieff, when he wasn’t running to be Prime Minister said that the only thing he missed about Canada was Algonquin Park. When asked by a British interviewer after the Quebec referendum if Ignatieff was actually suggesting that Canada, as a concept, has failed, Ignatieff said that he can’t see what sort of future we have [as Canadians]. And, there is of course, this:

Michael Ignatieff left Canada in 1969 only to return to become Prime Minister. If these expats have the same sort of attachment to Canada, it’s doubtful that they will donate any money. Yet, if they not only miss Algonquin park, but also Flin Flon, Oakville, Grand Falls or wherever else in this country they call home, they’ll recognize that, unlike them, Ignatieff as a man without a deep sense of attachment to this country but rather a profound sense of entitlement to it.