880...Gotta Ask:Why/How R Tories Ahead In Polls?

As Detroit and Montreal are to cities, they are where the unthinkable happens on a regular basis; the Conservative Party of Canada is to political parties, they are where the unthinkable happens on a regular basis.

Yet, and let's be realistic folks, if an election were held today Stephen Harper and his crew would get more seats than the Liberals and form yet another minority parliament.

What the f'ck do these guys have to do to convince Canadians that they are unfit to govern?

Take this week. The Health Minister's department sends body bags, properly called post mortem kits because it is more than just a bag, there are toe tags and everything, before vaccine to remote communities in Manitoba, remote aboriginal communities.

They are going to skate. Sure, the native leaders are pissed. "It was insulting," said David Harper, Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, quoted in today's Globe and Mail. "Body bags may be part of flu preparations, but so is medications. Why do we get body bags before we get medication?" The chattering classes are also pissed but the inbetweens, the ones who decide elections, not so much.

Wait, there is more.

The former national caucus chair, married to a minister, Helena Guergis, Rahim Jaffer, got busted for drinking and driving and cocaine. What makes this ironic in the GOP kind of way is Mr. Jaffer, the only Conservative to lose in Alberta last year, pinned his electoral hopes in 2008, as reported on Global National last night, on smearing the NDP as pro drugs with attack ads. The arrest of an anti drug champion on multiple drug charges is, well, ironic, doncha think?

Yet the Conservatives are going to skate and spin their way out of this too and continue to lead in the polls.

WTF?

WFDS

725...Headlines Are Bad For Canada This Morning

The latest polls, conducted for Canwest News Service and Global National by Ipsos Reid and reported by Canwest News Services this morning, indicate that the Conservatives are opening up a big ass lead on Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals.

Tories: 39.

Liberals: 28.

This is not good.

WFDS

356...18 Billion Is A Lot Of Money

Global National last night tackled the issue of how much the war, the War in Afganistan, is costing you.

Hard to get a number on it; Prime Minister Harper and the boys are very secretive about the whole thingy.

Anchorman Kevin Newman stated that "The future cost of the Afghan war has now been declared a national security secret. The government has never easily offered it up. During the election, Global National's reporting led to the release of an estimate...Canadian taxpayers, unlike those in most other countries, are now being asked to support a war they're not allowed it to know the cost of." Jacques Borbeau, a Global reporter, then said "Last year, DND released figures showing how much taxpayers will spend on the Afghan war over the next three years... this year, the defence department is now refusing to give up those numbers, arguing this is information which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the conduct of the defence of Canada."

Or it is super expensive and for what?

Defence Minister Peter Mackay says the decision to keep the numbers secret was not his, well, dude, seriously, you are the Defence Minister, the buck stops at your desk.

The number bandied about in the report is 18 billion. Canadian dollars.

Here is why you should be upset.

18 billion shortens health care wait times, fixes highways, makes mass transit more efficient, lowers the cost of and improves schools at all levels.

18 billion is a lot of money.

WFDS