CAPRU had a day skip, but is back yet again with your fun supply of Canadian punditry.
Rick Bell:
When you see Tories doling out more than a half-million bucks for a fancy quad ski lift at an Edmonton bunny hill and the cash is a must, because rich kids from the capital city's southwest shouldn't have to wait in line to tumble down what passes for a slope, you know what appears as grey matter under the legislature dome is unplugged from the best of planet Earth's brainwaves.
Yes, the $600,000 is cash from VLT gamblers but it's still coin the province gets and can spend as it sees fit.
And it is a small amount but it is a sign of something bigger. The provincial poobahs will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the rude reality of the current financial calamity.
You see, most of today's elected Tories are Conservatives of convenience. They're Tories because that's how you get elected. It's just a brand.
Rebecca Walberg: Harper was too much economics and not enough culture war. In these times of economic turmoil and strife, we clearly need more culture war and social division. Harper lost not due to his complete lack of a plan for the clear economic troubles Ontario and Quebec are having or his lack of charisma. No, the only thing that kept Harper and crew from getting that majority was not taking a clear stance on the issues that matter during a recession; abortion and gay marriage.
The Toronto Star:
Dion has accurately diagnosed a major cause of the malaise: a moribund fundraising apparatus dramatically outpaced by the Conservative and NDP machines. Lacking a deep campaign war chest, the Liberals were unable to fend off a negative advertising onslaught that framed him as a geeky, goofy, professorial politician.
"I want to protect the next leader against that," Dion vowed.
By announcing his departure, Dion signalled the end of a noble experiment in Canadian politics where a principled politician could concentrate on ideas and policies, rather than imagery and advertising. But his formidable intellectual credentials, his political courage during the national unity debates, and his impressive commitment to saving the environment and fighting poverty failed to impress voters.
Paula Arab:
I'll say it even though it's unpopular: homeless people have rights, too. We forget that, because those already down on their knees aren't likely to get up and defend themselves, or remind us they're part of the human race.
And anyone who says it for them risks a public stoning, being dismissed as a bleeding-heart communist, or told to take in the homeless themselves.
Look at the backlash after B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross upheld the rights of homeless to protect themselves from the elements, when forced to sleep outdoors.
...
Sleeping in a public park is a last resort, when all other options fail. And everyone facing that kind of dire situation has every right to try and cover themselves from the wind, rain and cold.
If they don't, they risk freezing or catching a life-threatening illness like pneumonia.
Bob Hepburn is taking bets on who the next Liberal leader will be. His top bet? Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna.
Naheed Nenshi:
Almost lost in the discussion has been one very smart strategy: Obama focused hard on the almost-forgotten state of Iowa, a state that had voted Democratic in three elections, but which John Kerry lost.
Not only did Obama win a surprisingly large victory in the Iowa caucuses, he moved the state into the Democrat camp. With Iowa in his pocket, he can afford to lose the traditional battlegrounds of Ohio and Florida, as long as he picks up votes in places like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
So, what's the Liberals' Iowa?
If we assume that they can defend their pockets of strength in Toronto, Montreal, and Atlantic Canada, where else do they concentrate their efforts, long before the next election, to build their starting position? Manitoba? Urban mothers? Established suburbs in mid-sized cities?
What is clear is that they need to rebuild a coalition. It's impossible to win an election when you start by writing off one-third of all the seats.