Does anyone dare?

Rick asked that question during the second hour of the show. Does anyone dare to call and defend the Premier, Peter Mackay or Gerald Keddy? Either no one wanted to accept the dare, or no one could think of anything to say because it was another pro-Bill Casey and Danny Williams Friday free for all!

Dalton McWimpy. I love it! Dalton wasn't Premier when I lived in Ontario. I suffered under the Mike Harris regime. Now he was a scary dude. He made Stephen Harper look like Mr. Rogers. In his cabinet: Jim Flaherty, John Baird, Tony Clement. I understand perfectly why they fit in so well in the Harper Cabinet. Dalton is a bit of a tool though. Nice guy, but there's a woman from Windsor named Sandra Pupatello, who is currently a cabinet minister. I've always thought she would be an incredibly dynamic Liberal leader. I mentioned to Rick, what Dalton is saying is just posturing. There's an election coming up in October in Ontario and from all indications, he's going to have a strong challenge from the Tory leader, whose name is, John Tory. With that name I guess it was pre-destined that he wasn't going to be a New Democrat.
In some ways I guess N.S. is better off. In Ontario, each person has to pay a health tax. Seriously! If you don't pay, they take it right off your income tax refund. So, not only are you already paying taxes, you have to pay a health tax too! My brother and his wife have one kid and they pay at least a few hundred dollars a year. So that's one thing we don't have here.
Anyway, Dalton is grasping at straws. The auto manufacturing sector in Ontario is in the dumps and he's trying to score political points by taking some cheap shots at Atlantic Canada. Bottom line.


For all those people who want to pick up "The deal is the deal" buttons, you can pick them up at the Liberal caucus office. It's in the Bank of Montreal building on George St. in downtown Halifax. It's Suite 1402 and you can get them from 9-5. I think the campaign is kind of ill-conceived. It's not the people of Nova Scotia you have to convince to be behind the Atlantic Accord. The Liberals are kind of preaching to the converted, don't you think?

I think it's the first time in forever no one has called to mention Rick's appearance on the CBC. I missed it last night - was he a star?

Didn't you love the front of the Daily News today? The Prime Minister giving Sid the kid one of his trophies and the line "So much for the culture of defeat, Mr. Harper". Ha!! That's one good thing that's come out of this Atlantic Accord mess. I feel Nova Scotians are sticking together and are finally uniting for one cause. It's palpable. That's what makes what Mackay and Keddy did so much more galling.

Well, I had a huge sigh of relief at the end of the show, because it's been so busy and contentious!! It's hard not to get emotionally involved in the issues when you hear about them, read about them, write about them and ponder them every single day. That being said, I'm going to let the Atlantic Accord go and relax this weekend. I hope you do the same!

Thanks for another great week...more Monday (with - The Rodenhiser)!

Take care,

Amber