The guessing is over and the election has been called despite Mr. Harper having forced legislation last year for a fixed election date. Many have postulated that Mr. Harper realized and had come to accept that the polls and his chances for re-election as a government were about as good as they were going to get. Opposing indicators i.e. economic slow-down, increasing scandals and Mr. Dion’s and the opposition’s lack of cooperation in not putting forward a non-confidence motion made it difficult to predict if Mr. Harper would follow through on calling an election. However, he started preparing public opinion in the hope that they will come to believe that Parliament had become unworkable and thus an election needed. Many indications were contrary though both Liberal and Conservative sources suggested he was prepared to risk and pull the plug this time.
Obviously, Mr. Harper prefers to be the one in charge and having been upstaged in the summer by Mr. Dion with the Green Shift Plan he was determined to get back in charge. Also, of concern was that the public at-large and most experts considered the Liberal Plan a solid one for our future. Mr. Dion didn’t fall for his baits so Mr. Harper decided to move ahead with plan B suggesting the current Parliament was untenable and there was need and inevitability for an election. In the interim to help confuse things he had called four bi-elections which were automatically cancelled by his subsequent General Election call. What irresponsibility and waste of time and money estimated by Elections Canada at 3.5 million dollars. Imagine how many poor and struggling people such amount would have helped. What foolishness from the guy and party that ran last time claiming to be accountable and transparent. No wonder so many are cynical of politicians! One of the major issues they pushed in the last election was to legislate fixed election dates so governments could not manipulate timing of elections more likely to favor their own re-election.
However, Mr. Harper had realized the fixed-date legislation was not working to suit him, so he decided he must bite the bullet and contrary to his prized legislation and a few weeks of careful grooming and manipulation of many he decided he had valid reason to call the election. However, most of us realize the other whys and wherefores as to his timing including the winds of change blowing amongst our Southern neighbors which many believe will likely bring results and a new Whitehouse administration that will not favor Mr. Harper and his party’s re-election. So here we are.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me including looking for an office and touching base with as many as possible of those that had told me they would help when the election was called. Unfortunately, despite following every lead possible on vacant properties we can only hope that one or other of the vacancies pursued will materialize in the next day or two. We'll notify as soon as we secure it. To keep up-to-date please check Liberal.ca and michaelcormican.com. We had a couple of campaign team meetings to help revitalize the team and on Sunday Russ and I attended an election preparedness session in Calgary. Also, I’ve been contacted by the media and was in the news to help keep the public up-to-date. As you know issues change from week-to-week even day-to-day.
The various Conservative scandals sagas continued to percolate which is likely a major reason Mr. Harper called this unnecessary election. Our MP, Mr. Casson and other Conservatives across the country were busy last month continuing abuse of MP mailing privileges. I was among some that received several quasi surveys each consisting of a statement on one or other of their old five point plan and all asking the respondent to identify who they thought was the best leader. I noted as did others that the return address on all was the Privy Council Office confirming that they have lost all sense of boundaries with respect to separating activity on behalf of the party from that of government. And, guess what; a legal opinion obtained from Elections Canada confirms that such activity is in contravention of the rules of parliamentary privilege. Like the anticipated outcomes of the other issues under review this and all are conveniently swept under the mat with the election call and likely Mr. Harper’s hope is that nothing will surface until he is well re-established; or so he thinks! Also, despite his assurances following the election call that he wouldn’t be negative the party has been saturating the airwaves for weeks with negative ads that contain outright lies. I’ll provide corrections and the truth in my next update. Obviously, Mr. Harper and his party fear the authenticity and validity the Green Shift has received. So you can feel assured and help reassure others I strongly suggest that you check what the benefit for you will be from the Green Shift at the end of the tax year. It’s so simple. Please check thegreenshift.ca on the web, hit the calculator and answer the few simple questions. It will identify how much you can expect when you file your taxes. It differs for each because of the situational variables.
Also, contrary to Mr. Harper's and the Conservatives' lies that Liberals plan to cancel the $100.00 per month per child allowance they say they instituted I assure you the new Liberal Government plans on the $350 per year in addition as outlined in the Green Plan. With respect to the 100 dollars in question that was announced with great fanfare at the time I was assured by Child Welfare people at the time that Albertans were already receiving it since Alberta was one of the three Provinces that had signed and was already providing the benefit before the Conservatives got to power. Let’s remember, Mr. Dryden had negotiated the agreement between the Feds and the Provinces long in advance. They’re also perpetuating another lie with respect to their support for gun control which was another major issue in the last election. As soon as they got in they "scrapped" the program and put no further money into keeping the registry up-to-date. The other mistruths I will deal with later. As you and I know there is no need for this election. If you need to contact me or to offer support or suggestions so I can do the best job possible I can be contacted by phone at (403) 381-7635 and/or 317-0829. Respectfully,
Michael Cormican
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