More email from our listeners:
On our exclusive interview with Bill Blaikie and his Elmwood byelection win:
Marty
I just wanted to take some time to comment on your interview with Bill Blaikie on Friday. I was impressed in a couple ways, mainly on how you conducted the interview.
I think the reason the NDP refuses to give you an opportunity to interview them is because they are afraid of you. You are too well versed on the issues, and therefore cannot be buffaloed into accepting something that isn't the actual answer to your question. Because of this knowledge they are worried that if they don't give you an answer, you will keep asking them the questions and not let them loose.
I thought you were very professional and respectful. You asked Mr. Blaikie a question and you let him answer. You asked him some tough questions that I'm sure either made him cringe a little when he heard it, or made you cringe a little in your mind before you asked them. He gave you an answer, you may have followed up a bit or not, but the point is you didn't hound him to get some kind of answer that the NDP thought you were going to try and get out of him.
I honestly think that is why they have been afraid to come on with you in the past for fear that you would keep asking the same question until you got the answer YOU wanted. You proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the you would let them live or die on their own answers without prodding.
Bravo Marty, perhaps now they realize that they shouldn't be so affriad to come on your show and answer some questions on the myriad of issues that has plagued their government for years.
But back to the interview. I was not surprised Mr. Blaikie towed to party line on issues such as Disraelli or WRHA, really when in comes to policy issues, he simply cannot come off being this rogue candidate who is going to turn the government on its ear with his opinions. I never expected him to come out and say that he thinks certain Administration or Cabinet Ministers to resign over anything, 1. because that shouldn't be his decision, it should be Gary Doer's and 2. He possibly has to go into work tomorrow with these people and most likely doesn't want to start an internal war.
What I was impressed with however was his explanation on some personal issues that have been dogging him since he announced his running in the by-election. I'm glad he cleared up the triple dipping issue. I was not aware that he was considered an adjunct professor and equally not aware that it was a volunteer position. He also made a good point regarding his pension and taking on another government salary. Regardless of where his pension comes from, he has paid into it and he is entitled to it. He is getting it regardless of whether he wins today or not.
Whoever wins today will be getting paid to be the MLA, so to say that he is double dipping however true in a technical sense, simply doesn't account for the fact that all of that money is going to be paid out regardless. One way or another he is getting a pension and someone is getting paid to be our MLA. The only thing I think he skirted was the possibility of being in cabinet where he would get paid more then a normal MLA.
He provided a very reasonable reason for not being accounted for in votes in Parliament, being the Deputy Speaker, of course he would not vote unless there was a tie.
I'm not a fan of the NDP, and specifically has never supported Mr. Blaikie because of this reason. I am still not supporting the NDP today when I cast my vote, but am happy to see Mr. Blaikie clear up some of the issues that has been dogging him. Again Bravo on your interview with him, it was very interesting to listen to.
Thanks S.
A sceptic:
Hi Marty,
‘I’m entitled to my entitlements..’
Where have we heard THAT before? Mr. Blaike is so far removed from ‘the working man’ he supposedly represents, it’s not even funny! I’ve worked in health care for 30 years and I wouldn’t receive 3 million dollars in pension money if I lived to be 150!
Families worried about down-sizing and outsourcing. Young people wondering if there will be jobs for them when they finish school, and those nearing retirement afraid that their savings have vanished faster than the Rainy Day Fund….
Let’s hope the good people of Elmwood are more vested in the outcome of this byelection than those of River Heights/Fort Garry. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see if this spare change he assures us will be made available to prevent the complete closure of the Disraeli, will actually materialize. And while the discussions of everything from temporary bridges to lofty multi-span structures continue….may I suggest you take a walk down to the Disraeli or Louise in the next few weeks and witness the power of the river…let’s not wait too long! K.
Results grim for Liberal brand:
Marty
I have to admit I am surprised by the election results in Elmwood. Not that Bill Blaikie won, and to some degree not even that he won by a landslide, which is what you get when he outscores the other candidates alltogether. Let's get real, Bill Blaikie is a long standing politician, very well respected and should be a shoe-in in an NDP stronghold. This obviously held up.
What I am surprised with is the results for the PC's and Liberals. I truly thought that Regan Wolfram would give Bill Blaikie a run for his money. Coming down the wire it appeared to me as if the Liberals really had a chance to knock off Blaikie, or at minimum finish a very close 2nd. I even found myself questioning my long time loyalty to the PC's in the voting booth yesterday wondering if I should stratgically vote to help knock off the NDP.
I truly felt Regan Wolfram ran a good campaign and was a stronger candidate then Adrian Schultz, however in the end the PC's won out my vote because I support the party.
Based on these results though, does this not prove that the Liberal Party in Manitoba is really finished? You had a much stronger candidate then the last number of elections, someone with real community roots, residents knew by name due to work around the community. Yet no real change in the results. True they gained a couple of percentage points in the vote, but so did the PC's.
I guess the true test would have been if the NDP ran an unknown candidate, but they didn't, they ran a juggernaut. The Liberals weren't even able to knock off the Conservatives for 2nd place.
When the Federal election was on, Regan came to my door with Dr. Gerrard. They told me a good story, but I had to ask them a simple question that it looks like voters asked themselves yesterday in the voting booth. Why should I vote for the Liberals when even if you win it will give you only a 3rd MLA, what good will that do me? Why shouldn't I vote PC and chip away at the NDP?
The answer I got was that they would be a more effective representative for our riding and that it would allow Dr. Gerrard and Mr. Lamoureaux to split up their responisibilites and help hold the Government more to account.
It makes sense from their point of view, but at the end of the day, doesn't make sense to voters, since really nothing changed.
No fault of Regan's, I think he did a terrific job and should be commended. He ran the absolute best campaign I think he could have run. In fact I think he ran the best campaign period among the 4 parties. It's the Liberal Party brand that is the proverbial anchor around his neck.
The brand is effectively dead in this province, I think it's time for 2 long time MLA's to realize that and join the Conservative Party.
Thanks A.
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University of Winnipeg bottled water ban
When I was in my second year there and taking a lot of English courses, one of the instructors received a $500,000 grant to study children's literature. Children's literature? Child development is important, but aren't medicare and infrastructure more important? That woke me up to the unspoken, profit-minded nature of universities themselves.
- After attending classes there for two years and being involved in their student life, I can say that the culture of the University of Winnipeg centres around liberal protestation without actual cause or effect. In everything from student governance to class structure, the people there take great comfort in being in an ivory tower, and not needing to contribute to society. Thus, to hear that they're patting themselves on the back for an ultimately impractical ban is not surprising.
Universities are mature institutions, and everyone in there is an adult. People can make their own choices, and should be allowed to make their own choices, instead of being parented. Choices are practical, mature, and what I'd expect of a good university. Banning items in a vain attempt to look like they're ahead of the curve is not. O.
ban no big deal?
I don't care that much about the water issue BUT.....it is a trend...just like not smoking in public places was a trend. Why NOT be ahead of the curve? All humans drink water, but not everyone drinks plastic bottled pop or other beverages. I do not. I don't like the taste of drinks, pop, juice, etc in plastic. But to compare University grant allowances to this is either ignorant or immature. Some people do want to point at things and connect them to suit their own interests. If I had to guess, that money went to Dr Perry Nodelman, winnipeg's world class authority on children's lit. We should be proud of that. F.
Freedom of choice
Where is my ability to choose to drink non-fluoridated, non-chlorinated water? Wouldn't that be taken away if I was unable to to purchase bottled water? D.
in my days...
Jesus! Who are these dehydrated students that can't make it through a class without a bottle beside them? When I was in University in 84 onward, there weren't any bottles to suck on when I was in class. HOW DID I SURVIVE?!! Water water water....blah, blah. BUY IT SOMEWHERE ELSE THEN AND CARRY IT EVERYWHERE YOU GO SO YOU DON'T DROP DEAD FROM NOT HAVING ON YOUR PERSON ALL DAY!! E.
elusive bossman
A thought occurred to me when you mentioned Axworthy's name. A friend of my wife's belongs to a committee that is hosting a national conference in Winnipeg next year. Supposedly they invited Axwothy to be a keynote speaker.. Over the course of about 3 months they sent something like 3 letters, one of which (possibly two) were registered and several phone calls and never heard back ANYTHING back from him or his office. Not even the obligatory 'thank you for your request, blah, blah, blah'.I guess he is too good for the worker bees. ;) V.
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A round-up of media malarky
Once again, in their infinite wisdom CJOB on the weekend posted a news story on the internet. About a fire in the North end. As I live in the North end, I thought I would check it out. Well reading more of the posting, they go on to say it was on William Ave. When did WIlliam Ave become part of the North end? I sent a letter to Vic Grant on Sunday. You would of thought they would of changed the wording...NOT. I think Vic is out of town still, so I might let him off the hook. How about we all chip in a buck or two, and buy all the news rooms in the city a map, with all the different districts on it. ??? Gh.
misleading headline
Hey Marty,
Did you see this article in the Free Press on Sat?
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Feds-quietly-chop-money-for-fetal-alcohol-program-41628217.html
The only problem with that? The title of the article is “Feds Quietly chop money for fetal alcohol program”. Read the article and you’ll see that that is totally not the case, the program has not been spending it’s allotted budget every year. Cutting funding and not spending the full amount of your budget every year are two entirely different things.
Unbelievable!
But then again, what can you expect when your lead editorialist is Gordon Sinclair. If you needed no other reason to hate the freep, he’s it. I think it is incredible that the Free Press promotes Raise a Reader, and yet this guy can’t even string together a proper sentence. I know grade 2 students that have better sentence structure than he has. And they are supposed to be the “good paper” in this town? Sheesh! C.
James Turner layoff from Freep
Marty,
You know I'm a fan of your show.
Right now I am on travel through the U.S. The internet is sometimes dubious, so I have been missing news from my home (the Peg) as well as "TGCTS". but today...I just read that the Freep had let James Turner go.
Please, please try to get him the message that I have always admired and respected his work. The Freep has made a serious error with this lay-off and they will regret the day....
Marty....and crew....keep up the good work and thank you for reporting what isn't reported. B
in the NDP's pocket?
Marty, You speculated that the mainstream media has been co-opted by the NDP or has ceased to be critical of the provincial government. I think both situations apply. I would guess that the Province and its crown corporations are spending much more on advertising than the Pawley era. The Province and its subsidiaries also relieve the content crunch considerably for the MSM by feeding it a constant supply of press releases.
The aversion to criticizing the NDP, I think, indicates a generation cultivated by Left-leaning academia that is self-conscious of its ideological dependency to the extent of being so intellectually insecure as to fear any criticism whatsoever. There is probably also an instinctive reluctance amongst union comrades to criticize a party that has been pro-Union, at least historically. Keep up the good work, M.
FP create-a-story Sunday
Marty
Here is an idea for you if and when you get your chance to guest star in the Excuse Me? commentary on CJOB
I noticed in Sunday's Free Press, I think on page A8, they devoted a whole entire color page to entries from children on drawing our new provincial flag. I think you are even encouraged to send in a vote on which one you think is the best.
EXCUSE ME?????
Are the editors at the Free Press that dillusional to think that this is actually going to happen? This was a one off policy thrown out at an annual NDP conference, which really got no support to run on. I remember when this hit the news, Richard Cloutier devoted some time on his show for this, I'm sure you did also. Many callers called in asking why he was even wasting air time on this issue. His answer - sometimes you have to put the absurd ideas out there so the creators of these ideas can see just how far off base they are.
Secondly, however cute it is to see children send in their entires on what they think a new flag should look like, is the Free Press that out in left field that they really think the Province will use a child's rendering as our new flag. Do they not realize that if the Province ever did decide to go ahead with this debacle, they would spend millions of dollars doing research, studies, focus groups, marketing firms, etc. before they came up with a new flag? Perhaps this is the Free Press's way of saving the Province money, who knows.
I guess the larger point here is, aside from giving valuable print space to a ridiculous idea, do they have nothing better to report on?
They are laying off valuable reporters, who have done great work, because they are losing money, yet they can devote AN ENTIRE PAGE IN COLOR no less to this so called story that absolutely no one other then a handfull of people care about.
Is it any wonder why the Free Press is losing money and readers? Not to me.
thanks R.
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Yesterday we heard from CTV's Kelly Dehn about the Harper government plan to end the "2 for 1" practice where courts shave hard time off sentences handed to violent offenders, because of time spent in remand awaiting trial; and Jim Carr of the Business Council of Manitoba and Colin Craig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation contributed their views about the new provincial budget and its success and shortcomings.
Carr, the former Carstairs-era Liberal MLA, also gave a warm remembrance of the late Arlene Billinkoff and echoed Premier Doer's comment that her 'Under the Dome' legislature column in the Free Press "provided a lot of accountability for all members..."
Today, more analysis and reaction to the provincial budget, plus;
- how the NDP spent Question Period dodging why Health Minister Theresa Oswald misled the legislature and public about the Brian Sinclair HSC emergency room death;
- more details from the Police Advisory Board report;
- a blogger dissects a Gordon Sinclair column and makes a shocking discovery, and
- we'll point listeners to this new blog that is tracking flooding conditions http://redriverrising.blogspot.com/
