I wish I wish I wish I wish...

Doris won't be running next election.   Good.  What could be better news concerning Day?

Well, this -

With Day's departure, the Harper government can't count on quite as much enthusiasm from this wing of the party during the next election campaign.  Day could probably win the Conservative leadership if he is still interested in becoming prime minister—particularly if the Harper government goes down to defeat in a spring vote.

Day can't keep his mouth shut and he's...how shall I put this?...a moron.  And a fundamentalist religious nutbag moron to boot.  He has less subtlety than a chunk of quartz and can't fool 1/3 of Canadians into believing he is anywhere near moderate.  When he opens his mouth, we see the reformatards in all their dizzying crazy.

Maybe he could make Talks-with-angels-Clement his deputy.  

If he runs, that will cause a fair bit of infighting in a party that is only held together by stevie's threats and promises of what he will allow them to do if he ever gets that fleeting majority, which is looking less and less likely.

I especially like this bit of speculation:

Day has often described himself as a fiscal conservative. This is despite being a cabinet minister in a government that has posted record deficits.  By leaving now, he may be trying to create some distance between himself and his colleagues in advance of the upcoming budget.

 

As Treasury Board Minister, he should have a fair bit of knowledge on what the budget holds, so if he's wanting to distance himself from it, this may be a budget that will not sit well with fiscal conservatives.  Not sure how much difference this will make in an election this time around because the far right has nowhere else to go, but such a budget could cause more problems with the CPC and lead to more than talk about a reform-type group starting up and bleeding off some conservative support. 

Stockwell does math...poorly

Nearly $1.7-billion in promised cuts to government spending will come almost entirely from attrition in the public service, suggesting a relatively pain-free opening round as Ottawa begins to trim its record deficit.

Uh-huh.  Didn’t believe it in March, don’t believe it now.  Neither does Carleton University economics professor Frances Woolley.

“I think [the federal government] is being optimistic in saying they’re going to be able to make it through attrition," she said.

And this is why -

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day...said about 11,000 public servants vacate positions each year – mainly through retirement – and not hiring replacements will be Ottawa’s main source of savings.

Even if exactly 11,000 jobs were left unfilled, finding $1.7-billion in savings assumes the average compensation of the departing workers is $155,000, which she said is high. (No kidding!!!  The average is 68,000.00 and that includes executives) Further, pension obligations mean a retired public servant is not off the books. Internal transfers will also be a challenge, she said, because retirees are often leaving senior positions while cuts will likely affect more junior workers.

But hey, it’s a good excuse for harper to butcher his favourite kicking dog. 

And this affects non-public servants as well.  By not replacing 11,000 retiring workers, services, quality, and even efficiency will suffer through lack of sufficient staffing.  Like here.

Stocky Doris Day should be a kindergarten teacher

In a fundamentalist christian school, of course.

His intro memo to the staff at Treasury Board is unprofessional, insincere, childish in the extreme, and insulting to those he addresses.

Day may not realize all of that.  He doesn’t appear to be extremely bright, and he certainly isn’t worldly.

Here are a few excerpts from his memo:

Hello out there in Treasury Board land! As your newly appointed President (I'm still trying to get used to that title), I don't mind telling you I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed.
 
A few minutes ago, I was looking out of my office window beside the Peace Tower in the direction of the Treasury Board building. I was wondering if I could see any of you from here.
 
The newly prepared briefing books (they look huge) are sitting on the desk in front of me. My briefing sessions are just beginning and I can see that I have a lot to learn.

By trying to sound folksy, chatty, and down-to-earth, he comes across as a fumbling, uneducated guy with no clue as to the nature of his audience.

Did you ever read any of those books written by Richard Scarry? Our kids used to enjoy when we would read one called What Do People Do All Day.

...Now my grandkids will be asking me "What do Treasury Board people do all day, do they take care of Treasures?" I'll say, "Well kind of ..."
 
I'll explain to them that I'll be working with people who work hard every day taking care of the money that the Government gets from all the workers in Canada who pay what's called "taxes," which is the money it takes to run the Government.

Now if Stock were really writing this for his grandkids, this would be fine, but his audience is the staff at Treasury Board.  In addition to making one feel like gagging, this is an extremely patronizing way of addressing adults who have been working at TB for years, some for decades.  They hardly need to hear a dumbed-down version of what they do.

I'm also looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible. The Secretary tells me there are over two thousand of you out there, in Ottawa and from coast to coast. I'm not sure I'll have each of your names memorized by the weekend, but I will get a better idea of "what you do all day" as I get the chance to meet you or at least to hear from you through the magic of email and other sources.

Again, while day is probably trying to sound humourous, his level of address is simply insulting to adults.  If he cannot come up with a genial, but serious intro, he should not have bothered.

So let me say "Thank You" again for "what you do all day". Each of you in your own way is making a difference. I'd like to be a part of that with you.  So for now, it's back to the briefing books. We'll talk again soon. And I'll be telling my grandkids about you.

“Stockwell” “Doris” “Day” should listen to communication advisors who would tell him that “quotation marks” are a “sign” of someone who needs “training” in writing to an “adult” audience.

We’ll talk again soon - patronizing, insincere, just plain stupid and inaccurate.        

I find it somewhat frightening that this bumpkin will be running Treasury Board - sort of.  We all know the real captain will be Stay-the-course, steady-hand-at-the-helm, the Big Guy, Himself.

Bunker mentality on display: these guys listen to their own rhetoric so much they have no clue what Canadians are all about.

This is the song that never ends...

The CONs have repeatedly stated - with no little indignation - that they never, ever received direct warnings about the torture of detainees.

It seems they...lied. Yes, folks, and we have names. MacKay, O’Connor, and Day.

Three federal cabinet ministers and a senior government official met the head of the International Red Cross in the fall of 2006 as the humanitarian organization tried to focus Canada's attention on alleged abuses in Afghan prisons, The Canadian Press has learned.

...While the details of the meeting are secret, enough was said about Afghanistan to generate a report from MacKay's office a month later which flagged the Red Cross president's concerns.

The contents of the report, one of thousands of documents filed in the Military Police Complaints Commission investigation of torture allegations, are censored. The email was titled: Re: meeting with ICRC president re detention issues.

Harper and Co., you can prorogue but you cannot hide.

"absurd."

A few other words come to mind, but that's a fitting one.