The real Baird Environmentalists

Craig and Layla Baird (any relation?) are in the midst of a year of being more earth friendly and along the way they’re blogging.

Their new blog “Our Green Year” has a mission statement that reads:

Follow us throughout the year as we make daily posts to show what we are doing to reduce our carbon footprint, what you can do, and how much what we do actually helps.

It is informative, it is fun and it is a special journey.

On Day 4 of their personal challenge their blog indicates they gathered snow which they will use for lawn watering, saving 5.3 gallons of water.  They’re using the simple tactics that many of us have caught on too as well like eliminating 384 plastic bags from their lives by using the popular cloth grocery bags.  On Day 8 they did something I did two years ago and installed only energy-efficient light bulbs.

Their blog has tips and quirky stories on how we all can be a little bit more friendly to the planet we live on.

When Liberals and Tories are neck and neck…

It’s a safe bet that when polls have the Liberals creeping up on the Conservatives that conservative.ca will look a lot like the screenshot you see above.

As Steve V points out the Conservative webmasters are nothing but fear mongering six year olds that couldn’t come up with a positive comment if they had a (registered) firearm to their heads.

There are three stories on their website’s front page.  Not a single one has a positive message and all three attack Stephane Dion — the guy who they always say they believe will never lead the country.  So why bother?  I’m not a Dion leadership fan either and I have my doubts about him but I don’t spend my time blogging about his leadership woes.  That’s just because I don’t think he’s going to get into the PMO.  Maybe the Conservatives think the opposite?  Give it up kids!  At least use a different image to make your website a tiny bit more appealing to curious voters and less partisan to appease the Blogging Tories crowd.

Let’s face it, Conservatives and Liberals and the NDP are, relatively speaking, in a big public support rut.  Someone needs to start attracting someone else’s support in order to see a significant change in the polls.  How do you do that?  Well, you stop pandering to your base and start reaching out to other party supporters.  The Conservatives through their website never seem to try appealing to Liberal supporters.

By contrast, the three “top stories” on liberal.ca; a statement about the cyclone in Burma, a statement on the death of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan and an attack on the Conservatives over their health care policies, are a) more relevant b) less desperate and c) aren’t prefaced by the same recycled tired old photo of a guy in a suit with his hands up and shoulders shrugged.

Things in the sky that make you go “Huh?”

It was another beautiful day in our nation’s capital and many of us spent it outside, on a patio, in the backyard or in the Byward Market.

Early this morning I spotted a plane flying a colour banner with only the text “Mexico”.  Minus the “Tourism Board” text, it looked a lot like this logo:

Cinco de Mayo was five days ago… Huh?  Why the “advertisement” over Ottawa’s downtown early on this Saturday morning?  I thought maybe I was still drunk.  But no, all day as we walked around downtown this plane kept flying this huge colourful banner and no one seemed to know why!

Even as I walked home late in the afternoon the plane was still circling the downtown and flying the Mexico banner.  Does anyone know why? Who really wants to go to Mexico right now?  I’m saying that based on the political climate and the actual climate.  It’s almost summer.

Weird.

Disgraced Mayoral Staffer Speaks

David Gibbons, former special advisor to Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien, is speaking out about his departure from the mayor’s office.

Gibbons recently joined a long list of staffers who have departed the mayor’s office since O’Brien was sworn in less than two years ago. He sat down with A-Channel’s Sandra Blaikie to discuss that memoriable day in which he called up CFRA, used the name “Tom” and failed to tell listeners that he actually worked for the mayor as he defended the mayor’s controversial snow tax plan. It was a huge mistake and it led to Gibbons’ departure.

Here’s what struck me in the interview (1:10 into the interview):

Reporter Sandra Blaikie: What were you thinking that day? That’s the question everybody in this city is wondering.

The advisor formerly known as “Tom”: You know.. the use of an alias I dont’ think was the problem. The problem was that I made the phone call in the first place.

I beg to disagree. The phone call and the views he expressed in the phone call indicated to me that he believed passionately in his bosses plan and had conviction to sell the idea of a snow tax. Perhaps he shouldn’t have called into the talk radio show but he’s free to voice his opinions and defend the mayor. However, the use of the alias is the problem and it indicated poor judgement and an attempt to deceive the public.

Gibbons (middle) along with Mike Patton (left) have left the mayor’s office. Brent Colbert (right) is one of the few original staffers since the mayor’s December 2006 swearing in who remain there today. When this photo was taken Walter Robinson was O’Brien’s Chief of Staff and O’Brien’s special assistant was Heather Tessier, the mayor’s niece. Both Robinson and Tessier have left O’Brien’s office as well.

It all begs the question “Who is next?”

Maybe Oda should just take the Greyhound

This cabinet minister can’t disclose a limo expense to save her political life!

Once again Bev Oda has screwed up with her cabinet minister expenses.  This time it’s limos — again!  You’ll recall that Oda spent about $5,500 in limo fees just after the Conservatives were sworn in as government.  Oda failed to report that expense.

This week we learn that Bev might have spent twice that amount on limo fees and failed to report any of it!  Government House Leader Peter Van Loan tried to defend the minister but fell flat on his face…

But rather than apologize, the Conservative government continues to brag that its posted expenses are far less than those of their Liberal predecessors, who brought in the mandatory reporting system.

Tory House Leader Peter Van Loan was at it again yesterday in the Commons, citing former Liberal expense totals that did not compare favourably with those being posted by current Conservative ministers.

However, Van Loan inadvertently provided the counter argument when he cited Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion posting $14,225 for limousines during a 16-month period as former environment minister.

The NDP documents showed Oda spent almost $17,000 over 15 months – and Angus said she failed to disclose $8,800 of that.

Now — I await all of the sponsorship scandal trolls to tell me how the Liberals stole everyone’s money so it’s perfectly OK for Oda to not report these expenses.  The Ottawa Citizen has a different outlook…

In the big picture, the numbers aren’t huge. Spending $1,300 for a single day of limo service as Ms. Oda did won’t bankrupt this country. Yet the symbolism is unattractive, especially because Ms. Oda is now the minister in charge of development to parts of the world where people live on pennies a day.

He’s so bloody out of touch

Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien on the poor turnout for public consultations on the city’s light-rail plan(s): “It shows the majority of people are happy with the way we are going.”

Really?  I actually think it’s because people are so damn fed up and confused by the actions of those at City Hall that they don’t want to trek into the second messiest municipal situation we’ve ever faced.  (The first messiest being the mayor’s legal troubles).

The city is facing the largest lawsuit in it’s history and has so many light rail plans that most people have lost track, one plan has the city wanting to destroy a few homes and no one really knows what the hell is going on or will go on over the next few years.  But nope, Larry thinks everything is coming up as rosy as the tulips at City Hall.

‘Ah, yes, from my (temporary) throne the world looks glorious.’

John Baird’s Shitstorm

If Larry O’Brien doesn’t step down as mayor of Ottawa before his criminal trial, you can bet a lot of people will be lined up ready to see him leave before his explosive trial takes place.

The first person in line will be John Baird who can’t seem to escape controversy whenever stories arise related to our criminally charged mayor. Imagine the optics of a Conservative cabinet minister taking the stand in a criminal trial in which the accused — our mayor — thinks the whole thing is a joke.

I really don’t know if Bob Chiarelli will take down John Baird anymore. I really think it will be the guy who beat Chiarelli in the last election who will take down errr bring down John Baird.

UPDATE: Baird’s staffer is suing Liberal MP Mark Holland for THREE MILLION DOLLARS! HA! Read the Statement of Claim from Baird’s staffer against Liberal MP Mark Holland. Read Mark Holland’s Statement of Defence and my favourite line “Mark Holland additionally states that the damages complained of are exaggerated, excessive and too remote.” NO shit!

HT Zero Means Zero

Government wants to destroy homes

I can’t imagine having spent your entire life saving up for a nice home on a relatively quiet street.  Investing year after year into your home and creating memories there only to have local government want to tear it all up with you getting very little say in the whole process.

Dozens of home owners in Ottawa are facing that reality.  The city wants to bulldoze about 25 homes along Roman Avenue to make way for a new section of bus transitway.

Now I’m all for public transit and getting more people on buses (or trains but that’s going to take years in Ottawa) but this plan does not sit well with me.

I hope to hear more opposition to this plan including my friends on the right who often argue that government meddles too much into our own lives.  Isn’t this the worst sort of intrusion into anyone’s life!?

Mayor Larry Dubya O’Brien

As his term has yet to reach the half way point there are more and more signs that Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien got too much political advice from U.S. President George W. Bush when they met last year.

Here’s the latest…

Regular readers of this blog will remember how Larry called two reporters into his office to discuss how his son posted rather offensive comments on this blog.  So Larry got a little ticked off during the interview, grabbed the CBC reporter’s recorder and tried to erase it and was caught on tape saying “How you do erase everything I’ve said so far?” yadda yadda yadda, just another hellish PR nightmare for Chief of Staff Eric Lamoureux to sort out.

Anyways, the Ottawa Sun’s Sue Sherring has on her blog today that Larry ran into that same CBC reporter over the weekend at Brewer Park and well, you can read the rest…

When O’Brien ran into (Alistair) Steele, who was at the park with his daughter, the mayor found it necessary to joke about it. “You don’t have your taperecorder with you, do you? Turn it off. Turn it off.” Are you sensing a pattern here? Again, not funny, just inappropriate. What would have been appropriate? An apology for the out-of-order behavior.

O’Brien also accidentally referred to Ottawa 67’s Coach Brian Kilrea as “Terry Kilrea”.  Now for those who don’t know — Terry Kilrea is the man who alleges O’Brien offered to get him a political appointment if Kilrea dropped out of the 2006 mayoral election.  O’Brien is now facing two criminal charges over those allegations.  Must have Terry on the brain?  Oooops!

Have I mentioned how much I love all of these new city hall blogs!?

The Tulip Festival’s big black mark

The tulips are late to bloom but controversy is in full bloom at the Canadian Tulip Festival. Organizers invited the Tian Guo Marching Band to play O Canada and The Maple Leaf Forever on the opening weekend of the annual event but abruptly asked the band to leave before a note was even played.

So what happened?

Festival organizers say the band mislead them about who they really were and did not tell them they had connections to Falun Dafa or Falun Gong.

Doug Little, festival marketing and finance director, told the Ottawa Sun, “They came from a protest on Parliament Hill and they came decked out in Falun Gong or Falun Dafa regalia. That’s not who we thought was registered.” Really? No one has access to Google these days?…

OK so let me get this straight. The International Tulip Festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world, selects a group to play O Canada and doesn’t even research the group they choose to learn a little bit more about them? Someone is clearly asleep at the switch over there. It’s not that the group used a fake name or anything — the Tulip Festival clearly knew what the group was called and posted it all over the event’s schedule of events!

The Tulip Festival asked the group to leave the event before anything happened. So in essence, the Tulip Festival kicked out a group they invited because they didn’t do their own research and were affraid the group might — MIGHT — protest.

Oh what’s this? The Chinese Embassy is a partner for the International Tulip Festival?

“We have a partnership with the Embassy of China and we felt this was not appropriate,” said Little…

“We don’t have anything to apologize to them for,” Little said. “We are not about groups coming to hijack the Tulip Festival for their own agenda.”

Really? Because it sure looks like the festival has been hijacked. Next time do a little research before you invite a group to perform at your world class event!  Regardless of what you think of Falun Gong or China, I think the lack of research and sloppiness at which the festival screens and invites performers seems pretty bizarre.

One has to wonder if they’d invite Amy Winehouse next year and then find out last minute that she might be a bad choice because, well, someone didn’t think to Google her.

Losing Faith in Hillary Clinton

But what does it really matter? I can’t vote in the U.S. primaries or general election. I don’t live in the U.S. And I believe it’s up to Americans to decide their own fate.

However, I would consider myself a fan of Hillary Clinton. Hearing Hillary speak about war with Iran has given me a real uneasy feeling.

Speaking in Indiana, Mrs Clinton said she had no regrets about promising to “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons - a scenario that was put to her two weeks ago.

“Why would I have any regrets?” she asked on ABC television.

This photo was taken in Iraq over the weekend which was the last country the United States “totally obliterated”.

The most important issue to me in an election in which I have no control is not health care, jobs, social issues or taxes.  It’s how America is viewed on the world stage.

Missing Ottawa Councillor?

Derek Puddicombe of the Ottawa Sun wants to know where a veteran Ottawa City Councillor is these days.  No one has seen him, his office is locked up, boxes are packed and rumours are swirling!

Where is Rick Chiarelli?

Confirmed: Mayor embarrased John Baird!

You can’t really blame John Baird for being pissed off at Mayor Larry O’Brien either.

I blogged about this earlier this week and Ottawa Sun reporter Derek Puddicombe has the details here:

During the kickoff celebration to this year’s festival season Luba Goy, of Canadian Air Farce fame, announced she would be looking for a job soon when the Canadian production wraps up forever at the end of this year.

Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien stepped up to the podium and said he heard John Baird was working the crowd and mentioned to Luba he could speak with the environment minister to see if he could help land her a job.

You could hear crickets chirp.

The best part of this is that Derek posted the story on the blog just before 1pm on Wednesday. An hour earlier Derek blogged about how Baird and O’Brien ran into each other in the crowd and shook hands and seemed friendly with each other. My sources say Baird was right pissed off after the mayor’s comment and everyone in attendance knew it!

Me oh my it’s amazing what criminal charges against a man can do to a political relationship. Why it was just less than two years ago that Baird said,

“I look forward to working with Mayor Elect O’Brien over the coming weeks and months to get things done for Ottawa.”

In an attempt to find photos on the internet of the two former buddies together I was only able to find this one. Treat it with care, it’s believed to be the only photo remaining on the internet of John Baird and Larry O’Brien together. Call Perez Hilton because these two men have officially broken up.

Finally, a Republican admits the truth

“My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East,” McCain said.

Of course, now John McCain is insisting he didn’t mean the current Iraq conflict.

Oops!

When you’re struggling to make headlines and you’re up against Hillary and Obama then it’s probably best that the headlines you do make are good ones!

Bring Back Roots Olympics Clothing!

Not only is it ridiculous that Canada’s 2008 Olympic gear is “Made in China” (and by the way all political parties are not happy about this decision by Hudson Bay Company) but some of the gear is absolutely ugly!

From Left to Right:

- OK, not bad but there’s not much Canada going on there. She could be wearing a Swiss or Chinese outfit for all we know.

- What. The. Hell. Is HBC trying to make money off this clothing line to sell in their stores? Because they’re not going to with something like that.

- Nothing says Canada like white, black and is that orange? It might be red but then again the girl in the back is wearing something that’s supposed to look gold colour (?)

- Everything is all good with the outfit on the guy on the right until you scroll down to his pants. It looks like a graffiti artist tried to start his own golf pant line.

The problem with HBC’s clothing lines these past two Olympics has been that they A) Don’t have a common theme and B) They have way too many styles. The HBC line for 2008 has something like 25 items in the line and some of them appear to be orange, red, brownish goldish (?), black, and it’s just a mess.

Roots was great. First of all it was designed AND “Made in Canada”. Roots’ Olympic lines were simple and didn’t look like something you would pick up off your bedroom floor and put on — not realizing your cat had vomited on your clothes the night before.

HBC has the 2010 contract for the Olympics on home turf and all I can say is please, please, please just keep it simply Canadian and don’t go ridiculous on us again.

You decide….

Roots or HBC