"Moi always knew that Moi was destined for le top"

Now that McKenna and Tobin are out of the running for le top spot with the Liberals, is McPiggy in?



During the 2004 Conservative leadership bid, I conjured up a random conspiracy theory about Tony Clement (who, did you know, was born "Tony Panayi"? Yep. Greek-Cypriot father. Interesting, eh? Can't wait to use that the next time I hear someone talk about him as an Italian, as I heard many times over the election: "Clement...yeah, it's Italian. It was probably Clemenza, y'know, like from The Godfather." Yeah. Juuuust like The Godfather).

Anyway. You might recall that he took only 9% of the vote, but that was enough to undercut Belinda's bid for the job. At the time I had this idea (er, random conspiracy theory) that Harper's Ontario dudes convinced Tony to run to split the Ontario vote.

Wonder if Tony will get a seat in the cabinet?

But I digress.

If Belinda runs to lead the Liberals, I'll have to work on a new RCT related to Belinda-blocking. I'm sure John "Beeker" Manley will figure into this commedia della politica soon enough.

The shrill is gone

It will come as no surprise to you, dear reader, that I will not be sorry to see Anne McLellan leave government. After all, this is a lady who was Deputy PM mainly because she was from Alberta*, handling a file - "public safety" - at a time when a certain number of Canadians were systematically plucked from their work/homes/flights and taken to be tortured by other countries. Then there's that trademark McLellan voice and short-breath cadence. Landslide Annie's way of taww-KING! [inhale!] to re-PORTERS! [inhale] could drive anyone to invest in a pair of earplugs, if not a pair of Johnnie Walker's.

Hence, the shrill is gone.

..or is it?

With very few women in the CPC caucus, the safe bet is on Rona Ambrose and Diane Albonczy to snap up prominent positions in da cab. I've got nothing against Rona Ambrose - in fact, I think she's a quite capable MP and I'm told, a hard worker to boot. But listening to Diane Albonczy's nails-on-blackboard wailing sends me into Krameresque epileptic convulsions. I have a feeling I'm going to have to keep the Lorazepam handy during Question Period.

*not that there's anything wrong with Alberta. It's a lovely place, and deserves to be represented. It just that geography should not be the single distinguishing qualifier for major cabinet postings, y'dig?

Gung hay fat choy, eh?

Nice one, Harpy. He spoke three, count 'em, three languages in his first press conference since the election. Not bad for a guy who has only travelled to destinations serviced by Air Transat.

Places everybody, places

So it's rehearsal time at the ---- Broadcast Centre.

Graphics look great.

Lighting rocks.

We've got a cool team.

Lotsa Canadian flags. A little too sponsorshippy for my tastes, but what are you going to do.
There are also a bunch of Ghosts of PMs past - giant expressionist-style poster illustrations of old Prime Ministers all through the building.

And everyone is kinda stoked that we'll get to announce a new party that wins. Even if they're not into the new party. Like when you get a new outfit at Winners for a great price, but can't really decide yet if you want to put it into heavy rotation.

What's interesting is that nobody around has an appetite to do another election again for a while - but neither is there much of an appetite for a majority this time around.

So there you have it.

I'll check in after PM Harpy gives his acceptance speech.

Oh yeah. That reminds me. I've gotta come up with a better nickname for our new overlord. And for all you three readers out there: feel free to suggest a new nom de guerre.