Broadband access, which provides high-speed links to the internet, is an economic necessity in a knowledge economy, but “as it currently stands, one in 10 Canadians does not have access to broadband,” a party news release said. (source - CBC News)

I am no math major, but I think that 90% is not bad, considering how few in the USA have Cable, or broadband Internet. Yet at the same time, the opposition parties suggest that using the money earned from the recent Cel Phone Auction be used, is interesting as well, but uh folks, don’t we have more pressing issues than laying cable to the farms and rural areas?

Sure, I’d want it if I lived there, so maybe it isn’t right for me to say, but I think we need to lower gas prices for those areas, because you know, food is a bit more important than watching YouTube on your computer. In addition, what they produce, costs more for us, because of that fuel, so rather than worrying about Fast Internet Access, how about we worry about more Kitchen Table issues, like the simple cost of living?

Oil per barrel is under $80, but the price at the pump goes down in a penny here, another here. Sure didn’t go up that way, and a direct result of the higher energy is being reflected in our shopping carts. So maybe Mr. Harper, stop throwing the money at the rural population to get votes, give us cheaper fuel, more environmental friendly energy sources, like all of the other parties offer.

Your stubborn mantra of sticking to fossil fuels, of saying any Green Plan will cost us money, is simply your way of paying back the Oil Industry for their support and contributions. Perhaps yes, a shift to GREEN policies will cost us more today, but you know what Stephen Harper, IT WILL COST US MUCH MORE LATER ON WHEN WE HAVE NO CHOICE.

The point is, the expert brought in by Harper confirms that the tape is legit. While, under oath, Harper lied to the court when he said that he never answered the question posed, as it wasn’t posed. That the answer he is heard giving was for something else, and not as released.

A tape recording at the centre of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s $3.5-million defamation suit against the Liberal party was not altered as the prime minister has claimed, a court-ordered analysis of the tape by Harper’s own audio expert has found.

The key portion of the recorded interview of Harper by a B.C. journalist contains no splices, edits or alterations, a U.S. forensic audio expert has determined. (source - CBC News)

Naturally the spin doctors are at work, claiming that somehow this works to their advantage, but how? It might not be an outright lie, but it does sure sound like one, smells like one, and looks like one.  Why is it important, well if Harper has no qualms about lying under oath, can we believe anything he says in public? Like that the economy is strong, or that he has the best plan for the worsening economic crisis?

Then too, what does it say about a man who is Prime Minister that has such little respect for a sick man, that he tries to play on it, for political gain?

Also what does it say about a man, who wants us to trust him, when he tries to use the court system to stifle open debate, tries to prevent anyone from challenging him by intimating them with lawsuits?

Then how about we include how Mr. Harper has made fun of Stephane Dion’s language problems, and hearing issues. It sets a pattern, that shows to what depths Harper will go to, in order to hold onto, or gain, power and political advantage. Is this really the type of man we want leading Canada during an economic crisis?

Stephen Dion, Jack Layton, & Elizabeth May all have stayed the course, remained true to their platforms, to their plans. At the same time, they have refrained from personal attacks against each other, and against Stephen Harper. Even Duceppe has stuck to the serious issues that face Canada, and has not made personal attacks. Yet the entire Harper Campaign has been nothing but scorn, attack ads, against the others. This lawsuit only shows the mean spirit that exists within the man, but it also shows his unwillingness to accept anyone else’s opinion or view. That simply isn’t good enough, as no single man has all the answers. That is why Dion has a team approach, is willing to meet with the Premiers. Something Harper is not willing to do.

Now I think we know why. He has ALL THE ANSWERS.

Just as George Bush refused to listen to others, Stephen Harper is refusing to barely acknowledge there is a crisis, or that it has any real effect. In fact he tells people to buy stock now, because heck, its a great opportunity. Such compassion, and he expects us to believe he will help create high end jobs.

ANYONE BUT HARPER

Is it even nice?

Stephen Harper is not my ideal of what is a Canadian Leader. I am biased, I know that, but I do try to at least give him the benefit of the doubt, when possible. I also remember the mean spirited campaign of Kim Campbell against Jean Chretien, when she poked fun at his speech impediment in an advertisement.

Now we have Stephen Harper delaying a plan trip, to point out some difficulties Stephane Dion of the Liberal Party had, with an English language interview. He was very quick to point out the language difficulties Mr Dion had. I wonder, is he that desperate to win, that he has to mock and highlight those kind of difficulties? Is he that afraid of losing, that he has to actually distort the truth about Dion’s plans, by making fun of his language difficulties and hearing problems?

Harper delayed a flight Thursday night to show the tape to reporters and make a statement, said Van Dusen, deviating from a campaign routine of meeting with media just once a day in the morning. He did not answer any questions following his statement. (source - CBC News)

Now I can see George Bush doing that, can see Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell doing it. I can see Sarah Palin doing it, but frankly I don’t believe that is proper form, for a Prime Minister of Canada to act. Sure, he has differences with Mr Dion on what is best for Canada. At least he says he does, and I wonder, if perhaps his close ties with Religious Right Wing groups in the United States, that aided George Bush, is at fault here?

Maybe Mr Harper needs a lesson in Canadian Values, because frankly it just isn’t right to mock another, for something they can’t do anything about. Mr Dion has a hearing problem, just as Jean Chretien had a speech problem. Does it make them less capable to lead?  I DON’T THINK SO.

Is this just another Karl Rove / George Bush style of attack, to divert attention from the reality? I mean Stephen Harper says Dion’s inability to comprehend English is why his party has no plan, one that most Canadians don’t know about. Yet I wonder, is it perhaps Mr Harper who has the problem in understanding, because I think most of us do know what the Liberal Party plan is, it is the Conservative Party plan we KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

Then too, I suppose it is part of their character. I mean here we have Stephen Harper poking fun at Dion’s comprehension of English, and hearing problems, just as his agricultural minister Ritz poked fun at those dying from the LIsteriosis Outbreak at Maple Leaf Foods.

Harper said the episode highlights greater concerns than language comprehension, and shows instead that Dion has no plan for dealing with the global credit crisis that is threatening to spill over into Canada

“Well that’s interesting because we hear about [Dion's plan] every single day,” said the CBC’s Julie Van Dusen, who is covering the election.

“It’s … about meeting the premiers, it’s about creating infrastructure jobs to kick-start a slowdown in the economy. It’s about his $1 billion fund that he has for the manufacturing sector in case they want to tap into it.” (source - CBC News)

See this is typical of the Religious Right, who really shouldn’t be given that moniker. I mean there is nothing religious about spewing hatred, about being intolerant of those with a different belief. Yet they are a ’shining example’ according to Stephen Harper. And I wonder, a shining example of what? RACISM? BIGOTRY? INTOLERANCE?

Whether one agrees with, or not, the Green Shift Plan of the Liberal Party, or the one proposed by the NDP Party or the Green Party, at least they have a stated plan. One we can look at, pick apart, or support. What does Stephen Harper have other than quoting the insensitive lines of George Bush? About ’staying the course’ of ‘the economy is basically sound’ that denied the reality of the looming crisis in the United States? That is all Stephen Harper has given us, to date, and yet we are supposed to trust him, to believe him?

At least I know from the three other parties, that the Liberal Green Shift Plan is more middle of the road, that it doesn’t lean one way or the other, and that yes, it could be expensive to undertake. I mean it is never going to be cheap, but let’s be honest too. DOING NOTHING DOESN’T WORK. And that is what Stephen Harper proposes. If he does have a plan, why is it secret? Why does he not have it front and center right now, so that our investors won’t be in a panic? The Loonie is about to hit a low, last seen in 1971. HOW IS THAT PRUDENT ACTION TO THIS CRISIS?

At this pace, the loonie is poised to post its worst weekly showing since 1971. (source - CBC News)

Americans are used to nasty campaigns. I thought we were above that, but it seems that we aren’t. To be honest, Brian Mulroney may have been the first to bring it to Canada, but Stephen Harper is trying to bring it to new levels. Just as his party tried in the recent Ontario Provincial Election, he is diverting attention from the issues. Hell, even Conservative Premiers are wanting meetings, such as the Alberta Premier, to discuss the looming crisis. Yet Stephen Harper refuses.

He can delay a plane trip to make fun of Stephane Dion, but he can’t delay a campaign trip to meet with the Premiers.  What does that tell you of the man, his character?

Kind of says to me, that no one has any input, any right to offer up suggestions. Yet Stephane Dion wants to hold such a meeting, calls for it in his plan, as do the other party leaders. Which to me is the proper way to proceed. It is about coming together to solve problems, yet Harper insists there isn’t a problem. Heck, not until a few days did he even acknowledge that the worsening economic climate would impact Canada. Now I don’t know, maybe he is the one with the real hearing problems, because Banks & Other Experts have been shouting it out to him, but has ignored them.

JUST AS HE IS IGNORING THE PREMIERS.

Seems to me, that isn’t the mark of a leader, nor is is someone I would want to trust with my future, with the future of the next generation. George Bush has put so many future generations into debt, before being born, that is hard to imagine. Now we have Stephen Harper willing to do  the same.

Conservative Premier Danny Williams is bang on when he says:

ANYONE BUT CONSERVATIVE

Remember when Bush ‘claimed victory in Iraq’ and said that the cost of his war would be at about $250 Billion Dollars IN TOTAL? REMEMBER THAT LIE? The War in Iraq is costing US Taxpayers about a BILLION DOLLARS A DAY, the Iraqi Government has a surplus of about EIGHTY BILLION, and George Bush hasn’t a problem with that. Now we have Afghanistan, that HARPER SAID WOULD COST ABOUT 7BILLION.

And this is who we want to trust with our Economy during a possible world depression?

Let us go back to his first election as well, where he said he would restore TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT TO CANADA. REMEMBER THAT LIE? His own reporting agency says that it is the LACK OF TRANSPARENCY that may cause the actual figures for the war in Afghanistan to be much more than what they are showing, even now.

However, a lack of government consistency and transparency has made the figures difficult to estimate, and they likely understate the full costs of the mission, the report says. (source - CBC News)

Now I don’t know about you, but if someone lies to me, misleads me on the truth, I sure as hell don’t think I’d want them running my business, or running my economy. I mean it is like you catch the cashier taking a dollar out of the till, for every two dollars put in. You don’t keep them on the job, you fire the thief, and yet here is Stephen Harper, wanting us to keep him and his gang on as cashiers of our finances.

ANYONE BUT HARPER BEFORE WE GO BROKE

And yet according to Stephen Harper that is what he is saying. Course he also said we didn’t need to worry about our Banking System, as it wasn’t in trouble, like the American Sector was and is. He also said our Economy was stronger, that if we STAYED THE COURSE, things would be just fine.

Now he gives the Banks TWENTY FIVE BILLION DOLLARS FOR MORTGAGES.

While I agree that the situation isn’t as it is in the states, the problem is, can Harper be trusted to tell us the truth for this? He says they aren’t in default, that it is about giving added cash to the banks, that are strapped for it, due to the world situation. Okay, perhaps, but then again, if these mortgages are sound, and will cost us nothing, and perhaps make us money, as Harper says, why is no one else willing to accept them as collateral?

“We are not going in and buying bad assets. What we’re doing is simply exchanging assets that we already hold the insurance on and the reason we’re doing this is to get out in front. The issue here is not protecting the banks.”

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the government’s plan to buy the securities through the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation and provide much-needed cash to financial institutions that sell the so-called “National Housing Act mortgage-backed securities.” (source - CBC News)

High Finance is not my thing, but if these are good assets, why are other financial institutes not willing to give up some cash to hold them? I don’t understand the logic here, and frankly, let’s be honest, our banks DID TAKE A HIT on the US Sub Prime Mortgage problem, so I wonder, is this just a sneaky way to help them out?

When you have NO PLAN, then suddenly are throwing $25 Billion at it, one has to wonder.