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Shave Layton! 24 Jan 06

LINK: CanWest News Service source

Olivia Chow has promised back in December on a radio station that her husband, Jack Layton, will shave his trademark mustache for charity under the following conditions:

1. The station will have to raise a large amount of money to donate to charities in Ottawa and in her riding in Toronto.
2. She has to win her Trinity-Spadina riding.
3. “It can only occur during the spring or summer, so that [she] can be present for the drastic change and have time to accustom herself to Layton, sans lip hair.”

I’m not sure how much the station has raised, but she won her riding yesterday. In case she won’t be there to see it, I offer the following artist’s conception:

This ClashBang.com article was written by Chris Chu. Tired of privately venting his frustration in vain, Chris decided to share his discontent with the rest of the world.

Election Eve Predictions 22 Jan 06

It’s Election Eve, and I have some optimistic predictions for the events unravelling tomorrow.

First, let’s see my prediction for the regional votes.

Atlantic Canada

• There usually isn’t much change in the Atlantic provinces, but we’re likely to see a Conservative seat or two in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Prince Edward island will be all Liberal, counting on their unfair number of seats in such a small area.
• Otherwise, Halifax will remain NDP and New Brunswick will be Liberal save a few interior seats going Conservative.

Québec

• No more than 60 seats will go to the Bloc Québécois, who will dominate Québec with the Conservatives a distant but important 2nd.
• Paul Martin himself will face a scare as he loses a lot of support in Québec, even in his home riding of LaSalle-Émard.
• The Conservatives will win a seats from the tradition Liberal stronghold ridings, while the Bloc Québécois challenge for the rest.

Ontario

• The NDP will make the strongest gains in Ontario, winning the voters who dislike the Liberals while still stubborn enough not to vote Conservative.
• Some last-minute fear-mongering won’t work this time around.
• Belinda Stronach might even lose her seat after defecting to the Liberals.

Prairies

• NDP for Manitoba
• Saskatchewan will be Conservative save some die-hard NDP ridings.

Alberta

• Alberta will be painted blue.
• No miracles for Landslide Anne this time around in Edmonton-Centre.

British Columbia

• Vancouver Island city areas, such as Victoria and Nanaimo, will go to the NDP.
• Vancouver will be a split between the NDP and the Liberals.
• The rest of British Columbia will go to the Conservatives.

Arctic Canada

• Yukon and Nunavut will remain Liberal.
• Western Arctic will go NDP.

There you have it; my predictions for this election.

The result will be a Conservative minority government.

I will be interested to hear Paul Martin’s claims of a Conservative hidden agenda after he resigns as leader of the Liberal Party. Gilles Duceppe’s Bloc Québécois will act as official opposition in Canada. Any serious challenges to the Conservative government will have to wait while the Liberals run a leadership campaign to replace Martin.

This ClashBang.com article was written by Chris Chu. Tired of privately venting his frustration in vain, Chris decided to share his discontent with the rest of the world.

Protected: DRAFT: ‘Twas the Night Before Elections

This ClashBang.com article was written by Chris Chu. Tired of privately venting his frustration in vain, Chris decided to share his discontent with the rest of the world.

Latest Seat Projections (Updated Daily) 20 Jan 06

Here are the latest seat projections nationally, taken from a variety of sources. This post is constantly updated, and dated 22 Jan 06 to keep it at the top of the page/RSS feed.

Ipsos-Reid (21 Jan 06)

• Bloc Québécois - 62
• Conservative - 157
• Green - 0
• Liberal - 46
• NDP - 42
• Other - 1

Strategic Council (20 Jan 06)

• Bloc Québécois - 62
• Conservative - 154
• Green - 0
• Liberal - 63
• NDP - 28
• Other - 1

SES Research (20 Jan 06)

• Bloc Québécois - 56
• Conservative - 137
• Green - 0
• Liberal - 91
• NDP - 23
• Other - 1

Decima Research (18 Jan 06)

• Bloc Québécois - 61
• Conservative - 149
• Green - 0
• Liberal - 57
• NDP - 40
• Other - 1

EKOS Research (16 Jan 06)

• Bloc Québécois - 61
• Conservative - 156
• Green - 0
• Liberal - 49
• NDP - 41
• Other - 1

Information gathered from Hill and Knowlton Election Predictor 2006.

This ClashBang.com article was written by Chris Chu. Tired of privately venting his frustration in vain, Chris decided to share his discontent with the rest of the world.

I blast Chris Axeworthy

On tuesday night, during an all-candidates television show on Shaw Cable in Saskatchewan for the riding of Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, a caller called in and falsely accused the Conservative candidate and front-runner, Maurice Vellacourt, for sexually assulting a church secretary in the past.

It was  completely untrue, and when Shaw cable did a phone search, it turned out to be a call from the Liberal candidate Chris Axworthy’s campaign office.

Axworthy claims no responsibility for the call, and speculates that it was a prankster who snuck into his campaign office while nobody was looking and used their phone for the attack.

One problem, Mr. Axworthy. It’s the last week of campaigning in the federal election, and what are the chances that your office is left empty with the members of your campaign team taking a relaxing break?

This ClashBang.com article was written by Chris Chu. Tired of privately venting his frustration in vain, Chris decided to share his discontent with the rest of the world.