CanadianSense: John Nunziata

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Stoffer is No Casey or Nunziata

The voters in Sackville-Eastern Shore have discovered they did not have a Bill Casey or a John Nunziata as their MP. It appears a promise made is not a promise kept.

Bill Casey
Casey comfortable with status as an Independent Progressive Conservative

June 8, 2007

Ottawa – He has sat as a member of government, the opposition and now Bill Casey, MP is content to take his seat in the House of Commons as an Independent Progressive Conservative.

“I am very comfortable with this situation and I have no intention of joining any political party,” Casey said on Friday. “I have the experience of being a member of government and a member of the opposition, so I know I can adapt to this current situation.”

“I still have the exact same office budget, staff members, offices and equipment as I did prior to being expelled. I still have access to the decision makers,” Casey said. “If anything, I will have even more time now to work on constituency issues since I have reduced committees and no party duties to attend to.”

Casey added he is still committed to the fight to get the Harper government to honour the Atlantic Accord.

John Nunziata held to the Liberal campaign promises he made voted against a budget, supply bill that kept the GST.

The Liberals are the party that ferociously opposed the GST when the Mulroney government brought it in back in 1990. Remember their noisemakers in the Senate? The Liberals are the party whose former leader, Jean Chrétien, once pledged to "axe the tax" and then used it to help balance the budget in 1997.

Stoffer said that a majority of his constituents want the registry preserved. Stoffer has criticized it since he was first elected in 1997.

He doesn’t have a scientific poll, but he said about 62 per cent of the more than 3,000 people who have contacted him on the issue want the registry kept. He said they want to see improvements so it is more respectful to long-gun owners.

Stoffer blamed himself for not persuading people in the riding that the registry should go. He said he may have been arrogant in thinking his position reflected what people were thinking.

Andy Webber, president of the Nova Scotia Rifle Association, said registry opponents in Stoffer’s riding are not happy.

"They are exceptionally upset," Webber said. "They feel they’ve been betrayed."

The Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters said the same thing.

"Betrayed is not too strong a word to use," said a news release from executive director Tony Rodgers.

Rodgers said he thinks Layton whipped his MPs while at a caucus retreat in Regina this month to vote in favour of the registry.

"Peter Stoffer’s rhetoric has never matched his record," he said in an email. "Just like he pretends to support members of the Canadian Forces and veterans but consistently votes against every defence and veterans bill in the House of Commons, Peter Stoffer is now going to reverse his vote on the long-gun registry and abandon his promise to his constituents."

Some in the media thought Rob Ford could never be a Mayor of Toronto and the same media will predict Stoffer is safe. All bets are off.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Rossi Team: Every Hopeful

On the same day that a new Ipsos-Reid poll found he has the support of just 7 per cent of decided voters, Rocco Rossi overhauled his campaign team. Sachin Aggarwal, former deputy chief of staff to Michael Ignatieff, is out as campaign manager. Bernie Morton, who had been poised to run John Tory's campaign, is in.

Last place. That's got to sting one week makes a difference?

Bernie Morton, Rossi's new campaign manager, told the Sun Friday that the election's momentum was shifting to the City Hall outsider.

The Toronto media, the attacks by all the candidates on Rob Ford paint him as the outsider.

Rocco Rossi took the job of fundraiser for the Federal Liberal Party and quit within twelve months? The public relations arm in the Liberal party boasted of reaching twenty million, it did not materialize. In the first two quarters of 2010, the Liberals fell further behind the Conservative Party of Canada, they exceeded their best numbers since 2006. What exactly did Rocco Rossi know about the Liberal fortunes and what did he fix?

Bernie spent seven years working for a City of Toronto councillor after attending the University of Guelph as a political science major.

Bernie has held a variety of political campaign positions over two decades. In the 2006 and 2008 federal elections he played a central campaign role for the Conservative Party of Canada. In Ontario’s 2007 election, Bernie sat on the Ontario P.C. campaign committee. He also serves as Vice President of the Public Affairs Association of Canada.

Bernie is an insider and had backed John Tory.

Sixty percent of the population is not happy with the choices (of Rob Ford or George Smitherman)," Morton said. "Now people are recognizing that Rocco Rossi is an option – he has the greatest opportunity for growth."

When you are in last place, it is safe to predict you can improve.

Sixty percent of the population do NOT participate. You must be eligible to vote in Canadian elections. In most cases municipal politics brings out the lowest participation in the electorate.

In 2008 a large portion of the eligible electorate decided not to vote in the Federal elections. They accounted for nearly nine million Canadians who did not bother to participate in choosing a candidate or spoiling a ballot.

There are 1.5 million electors in Toronto's municipal election.Voter turnout in the 2006 election was 39%.
In 2003 it was a horse race between David Miller and John Tory. Barbara Hall and John Nunziata were only capable of winning one ward each.
The Liberal voters moved from Barbara Hall, John Nunziata to John Tory in order to stop David Miller come from behind rally. David Miller was supported by the NDP and union vote.

Liberals don't have alot of time to move their votes for the next mayor to stop the NDP and union vote this time either. Liberal candidate George Smitherman is wearing his Ontario provincial record.
In 2003 the voters had not suffered under seven years of provincial Liberals. In 2010 the voters are looking to punish everything Liberal. Is Rocco Rossi too closely associated to the Federal Liberals?
Rob Ford is most likely to pick up the anti-establishment vote against more taxes, fees in Toronto. His honesty about the need to balance the books and deal with the deficit of Toronto is making the Liberals and Unions very worried.
Will the taxpayers show up to give Rob Ford a landslide as the incumbent who is the outsider?