{"id":1824,"date":"2008-07-01T19:59:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-01T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=1824"},"modified":"2008-07-01T19:59:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-01T23:59:00","slug":"at-issue-the-thrilling-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=1824","title":{"rendered":"At Issue…the Thrilling Conclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the parliamentary year ends<\/a>, here’s a recap of the second half of last Thursday’s At Issue Panel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Overlooked and Under Reported<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hebert: Smitherman<\/span><\/span> and Couillard<\/span><\/span> leave their health portfolios
Coyne<\/span><\/span>: Shift of power to the west
Gregg: Can\/US energy relations
Rex: Human rights commissions<\/span><\/p>\n

Hebert suggests a worthy choice, but I tend to disagree with her claim that the health portfolio “defeated” Couillard<\/span> and Smitherman<\/span>. At the very least in Smitherman’s<\/span> case, he was highly regarded for his work on the file and left to a promotion.<\/p>\n

I can’t think of any obvious stories the media overlooked this spring but I will say that conservative.ca<\/a> seriously under reported Conservative Party accomplishments – I assume there must have been some<\/em>, although you’d never know it by reading their site. A rough eyeballing of their 2008 news stories<\/a> shows over three quarters of them with shruggy<\/span> Dion as the main graphic.<\/p>\n

Shamelessly<\/span> Exploited Issue<\/strong>
Coyne<\/span>: Aboriginal Affairs
Gregg: Harper attacking green shift before its release
Rex: Global warming
Hebert: Couillard<\/span> affair<\/p>\n

The harder challenge might be to find an issue that hasn’t <\/strong><\/em>been shamelessly exploited.<\/p>\n

If you’re looking for comical issue exploitation, nothing comes close to Dennis Coderre<\/span> slamming the Tories<\/a> for allowing CBC to ditch the HNIC<\/span> theme. Except perhaps all the other hockey insanity<\/a> we saw during the playoffs this year.<\/p>\n

Ballot Question for Next Election<\/strong>
Gregg: If the Tories succeed: “is Dion up to the job<\/em>?” If the Liberals do: “referendum on the environment<\/em>“.
Rex: The economy’s relationship with global warming
Hebert: Ditto
Coyne<\/span>: The carbon tax driving style differences between the leaders<\/p>\n

To a certain extent, I think all four panelists are right, although I wonder if they might be over emphasizing the carbon tax’s impact because it’s top of mind right now. That said, right now both<\/em> the Liberals and Conservatives think they can win an election on the carbon tax so they’ll do their best to keep it front and centre. So in the end, I think Coyne<\/span> may be closest to the mark – opinions of the carbon tax are going to shape opinions about Dion as a leader, so this one will probably come down to leadership.<\/p>\n

Who will we be Talking about in One Year?<\/strong>
Coyne<\/span>: Shawn Graham
Gregg: Elizabeth May
Rex: Danny Williams
Hebert: Jean Charest<\/span><\/p>\n

Mansbridge<\/span> gave Coyne<\/span> the mandatory shout-out for picking Maxime<\/span> Bernier<\/span> for this question<\/a> last year. And with Kevin Taft<\/a> and Phillip Couillard<\/span> out of politics, being picked by At Issue<\/em> for this question might very well be the kiss of death.<\/p>\n

With a federal election likely this fall, picking any of the party leaders or their possible successors<\/span> would be a safe choice. If the carbon tax backlash<\/a> in BC drives Gordon Campbell to defeat next May, we’ll definitely be analyzing that election. And, depending on how long Judge Oliphant<\/span> takes to run his inquiry, we might be talking a lot about Brian Mulroney at this time next year.<\/p>\n

When will the Election be?<\/strong>
Gregg: First opportunity
Rex: Fall
Hebert: Fall
Coyne<\/span>: October ’09…if the grits want to go, the Bloc or NDP<\/span> will back down<\/p>\n

I’m putting my money on a November vote but Coyne<\/span> does make a valid point – it wouldn’t at all surprise me to see Duceppe<\/span> propping<\/span> up the Tories if Dion gets more hawkish about an election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the parliamentary year ends, here’s a recap of the second half of last Thursday’s At Issue Panel. Overlooked and Under Reported Hebert: Smitherman and Couillard leave their health portfoliosCoyne: Shift of power to the westGregg: Can\/US energy relationsRex: Human rights commissions Hebert suggests a worthy choice, but I tend to disagree with her claim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}