Helena Guergis Losing Votes In Simcoe-Grey

Despite the negative attention Helena Guergis is receiving nationally, all that really matters is the support within her riding of Simcoe-Grey, too bad for Guergis that support seems to be slipping.

The CBC Power & Politics reported on the declining level of support for Helena Guergis in her riding. It is made obvious that though the electorate there once held her in high regard, by the comments made by her constituents it doesn’t sound like she could now be held in any lower esteem.

In the video below Steven Desousa interviewed constituents in Collingwood a city in Simcoe-Grey. In replying to Guergis's recent behaviour one woman said, "Well she's certainly lost her credibility in this town for sure." Another constituent referring again to the actions of Guergis and her assistants more moderately stated, "You have to wonder, it certainly wasn't wise." Another woman adding to the chorus, "This is really, I think, disturbing. I mean, I think you lose your trust in this situation."

An aspect neglected in previous articles on this recent scandal involving Helena Guergis is that of the ordinary citizens who had written letters expressing their opinions only to have them opposed by paid political staffers of the MP who was meant to represent them.

Lorne Kenny had written a letter criticizing his MP, Helena Guergis, over a grant to a private school, after finding out that one of Guergis's assistants had hid her identity to attack his letter, he said, "That angers me, because that's not the sort of thing an MP's office should be doing, they're elected to serve all the people."

Ian Adams a newspaper editor first broke this story by finding out that letters praising Helena Guergis were coming from her deceiving assistants Jessica Craven and Victoria Knight. I personally tip my hat to the work done by Ian Adams, not because he found Conservative wrong doing, but because he exposed the truth and there's no higher goal a man can aim for.

Bob Rae And Wayne Easter Blast Guergis In Question Period

In today's Question Period MPs Bob Rae and Wayne Easter took on the public relations fiasco that is Helena Guergis and attacked the Prime Miinister for not doing anything to stop the continual embarrassment she brings.

The whole exchange involved Bob Rae, Stephen Harper, Helena Guergis, Wayne Easter, and John Baird. The revolving Conservative response for Helena Guergis, not to mention the ignoring of statements questioning her merits, highlighted how the government was clearly on their heels throughout the interaction. It was as if Conservatives themselves acquiesed to Guergis being a liability for their Party and tried to change the subject rather than attempt to defend her.

Of interest in the two videos below is that Bob Rae alleges that there are now five assistants to MP Helena Guergis who had hid their identities in order to write letters to editors of various newspaper praising her, only deepening the current scandal.

Wayne Easter was by far the most entertaining in his aggressive questioning of the Minister of State for the Status of Women. When John Baird stood up in her defense, Mr. Easter memorably spouted:

"Mr.Speaker has there already been a trip to Rideau Hall? The usually bombastic Minister of Transport seems to be now the meek and mild Minister for Public Apologies for the cabinet."

EKOS President Frank Graves' Funny Math

Somehow for journalist Bill Curry and EKOS President Frank Graves, a drop of 1.1% for Conservatives is smaller than a drop of .7% for Liberals.

With the release of a new poll from EKOS, a new round of commentary begins, and though it can be safely concluded most of it is highly suspect, it can be rarely proved wrong, Bill Curry and Frank Graves however offer an exception.

Bill Curry has written an article for the Globe and Mail titled, "Tories slip, but Liberals slide further in latest poll," and though from reading the headline most would assume the Liberals fell by a larger margin than Conservatives, they would be wrong. The EKOS poll reports Liberal support declined from 27.7% to 27%, for a drop of .7% over a one week period, while the Conservatives declined from 33.3% to 32.2% for a 1.1% drop. Apparently for Bill Curry, .7 is larger than 1.1.

Bill Curry might be excused as he could be seen as trying to report the expert conclusions of EKOS President Frank Graves who said:

“The leading indicator of confidence in the federal government is down significantly this week, which is not a good harbinger of the future; yet it is even a worse poll for the Liberals who are now down firmly in Dion territory, despite the weekend think fest.”

Though Frank Graves's offers no mathematical explanation of how .7% is larger than 1.1%, his lapse in statistical judgement could be defended by the claim he meant it was worse for the Liberals as they are now at record low levels. This suggestion however is ultimately groundless, for if these rates of decline continued for both parties, even though the Liberals' drop is supposedly worse than the Conservatives', in less than 12 weeks the Liberals would be ahead. This extrapolation is of course flawed, but it only goes to illustrate that so too is Frank Graves analysis, his just happens to be more obvious.

The Problem With Sarah Palin's New Show

Sarah Palin's new show even before it hits the airwaves is already strengthening conservative attacks on democrats.

The former Alaskan governor and vice-presidential candidate is hosting a new show on Fox News. The program titled Sarah Palin: Real American Stories will focus on individuals who have had to overcome obstacles to lead extraordinary lives. The show to begin airing today is already receiving criticism as it's title seems to perpetuate a common false dichotomy used by Republicans and conservatives to undermine democrats and liberals in the United States.

In defining a real America in which only small town, blue collar workers belong, conservatives and Republicans have been openly claiming Democrats and more liberal minded individuals are somehow un-American. Sarah Palin's show appears to be strengthening that line of attack, cementing the McCarthyian term "real American" in America's social consciousness.

It only needs to be asked of the title Real American Stories, what is a "real American" for it to be found full of questionable implications.

Shelly Glover Not The Smartest MP

Yesterday MP Shelly Glover demonstrated just why she's usually not asked by the Conservative Party to do interviews.

On CBC's Power & Politics Conservative MP Shelly Glover made some comments that don't necessarily make her appear to be the most intelligent of our Members of Parliament (video below).

Shelly Glover when put on the spot, confronted with report after report criticizing the fact that her Conservative government is dramatically increasing spending on prisons while the crime rate is going down responded by taking the more unusual path of making some less than intelligent statements.

In response to CBC host Evan Solomon referencing multiple reports, including those from Statistics Canada, suggesting the government is exponentially increasing spending on prisons while the crime rate has actually fallen, Shelly Glover said, "I have to disagree with some of the numbers you are presenting Evan, numbers can be skewed any which way you want depending on who is doing it." Ignoring the fact those numbers were independently gathered by Stats Canada, Glover went on seconds later to say crime is actually increasing basing that opinion solely on the fact 92% of sex crimes go unreported. Now besides questioning the source of that number, the irony of using that statistic is lost on Shelly Glover, unless of course she doesn't think 92% is a number.

The MPs questionable statements do not end there, in another defensive maneuver to change the topic, Shelly Glover suggested the Liberals have ulterior motives for bringing up the fact the government is increasing spending on jails while the crime rate has decreased. She said,

"Let's not forget, the Liberals have an interest here, because predominately prison inmates vote Liberal during elections, cops vote Conservative. There is a clear interest for the prisoners to be voting for soft on crime legislation that the Liberals put forward."

Now besides the blind partisanship displayed, Shelly Glover in suggesting the Liberal Party is actually planning it's criminal platform around the possiblity of attracting prisoner votes is ignorant.

First it is irresponsible for this representative to suggest Liberals are putting votes ahead of public safety. Second there are only approximately 36,000 prisoners who are eligible to vote in elections and very few actually do, to claim the Liberals are tailoring policy for such a small despersed segment of the population is just irrational.

In this panel discussion, MP Shelly Glover has really lowered intelligent discourse in Canada.