Author: Doug Rutherford

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Change in Direction

The term is over, although I am overseeing a practicum but that won’t be taxing, and the election is over and my last CBC blog posted has been submitted and posted. It is now time, or long past it, to start thinking about camping season.

The current plan is heading out to Fox Lake for an upcoming weekend and I may possibly commute the week after as well. It’s about a 45-minute drive, although it is a bit quicker at 6 am when commuting. If you’re wondering what it’s like, the banner photograph on my blog is from Fox Lake Campground (61°14′ 42″ N 135° 27′ 38″ W).

I do have a bit of work to do first. Step 1 is getting the RV ready and there is a lot that needs doing. Some of you are probably rather aware, I spent a lot of time working on it last year as well. There are a few plumbing issues left to resolve, including getting a new grey water tank welded up and installing it. I also need to replace the fitting on the water heater where water enters it as it is leaking like a sieve. Doing plumbing repairs in anything with as little space as an RV is no fun at all but, the sooner it’s done, the sooner I can start repairing something else. This is how things work, isn’t it? It certainly appears that way in my life.

I also need to spend a bit of time setting up the trailer and the new boat. We’re looking forward to actually getting the bottom of it wet sometime next month when the ice leaves the lakes. Hopefully, that will happen before I go for knee surgery next month… an event that will probably prevent fishing for a few weeks.

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I’m Going to Trademark the Expression ‘Unite the Left’

This is the last of my CBC Your Take blog entries. Thanks to the CBC for the opportunity to write them and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them over the election.

Unite the Left is probably going to be a phrase you hear reasonably frequently in the near future. This is due to the Liberal Party being devastated in last night’s election, and this result was also seen in the Yukon.

Larry Bagnell, the Liberal incumbent who has held the seat since 2000 lost (by a rather narrow margin of less than 1% of the total vote) to Conservative Ryan Leef. Larry received 5,290 votes to 5,422 votes. In 2008, the Conservative candidate, Darrell Pasloski, won 4,788 votes and 32.66% of the vote. Ryan Leef won 634 votes  more than the CPC won last time when it was running a very popular local businessman.

What happened in this election? Larry Bagnell garnered 1,425 fewer votes this time. This is important in that about 1,330 more people voted in this election than in 2008. The population, using estimates, increased by about 2,000 people over that time.

Where did Larry’s votes go? I think much of the answer can be seen in that John Streicker, the Green Party candidate, received more than 1,150 votes more than he did in the 2008 campaign and Kevin Barr, the NDP candidate, received more than 1,030 more votes than the NDP representative did last time.

This was a bit of a suprise, since many people thought that either Larry or John were a shoe-in for the seat and last week, the local polling firm placed Larry as receiving about 44% of the vote. Ryan Leef was supposed to garner 24% of the vote (a result that, once again, reaffirms my belief in the correlation between polling and witchcraft).

How similar will these numbers will be when the official results are released? It will be interesting to see if the increased number of voters reflects an increase in the youth vote or not.

So, I’m looking forward to seeing how this works out. And, I’m also looking forward to seeing how many people want to use my new trademarked phrase… for, of course, the appropriate fee.

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Local Election Coverage

Just a quick note on election coverage here in the Yukon. CBC Yukon will be airing coverage after the polls close at 7 pm PDT and will also be airing comments posted to their Facebook page (@cbcyukonforum).

Don’t forget that desseminating election results using social media before all of the polls in the country are closed is an offence under the Canada Elections Act.

My assumption is that everyone has their code phrases down… e.g., the trout flies at midnight or Egg Management Fee!

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Kinky Stuff

Seems that Sun is pushing a news story that, in 1996, Jack Layton was interviewed after being found at a massage therapist’s clinic in Toronto that may also have been serving some other purpose… one probably as healthy but not as legal. Keep in mind that he was, according to Toronto police, doing nothing wrong nor was he arrested. Sun is reporting this based on an unnamed source.

This kind of news by insinuation makes me laugh, simply because Sun was forced to deal with this last week… only they were the targets. Last week, Sun was complaining bitterly that a Conservative Party campaign consultant working from the US fed a them misleading news story about Michael Ignatieff’s potential involvement in the Iraq War. The supposed picture of Ignatieff, when a higher resolution photo was ctually produced by the party, was obviously someone else. The party fired that consultant in question and Sun management have been publicly fuming since.

The OPP, by the way, are investigating the leak of police information regarding Jack Layton. The individual involved, if found, will face rather serious breach of trust charges.

The one thing that gets me, of course, is that I go for massages. My wife does too. Not only that, she goes to the same masseuse as I do. Sun TV must think the two of us are REALLY kinky…

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I’ve Made Up My Mind Now

There are three campaigning days left. The candidates will be spending the next days working overtime trying to get you out to vote and, of course, to vote for them.

Traditionally, I tend to make my way to the polling station early on polling day, and this time around will be no exception. Yes, I have made up my mind as to who I am voting for, although it was largely done through process of elimination. There were two of the four candidates eliminated quite quickly. One thing that may suprise you is the fact that the first one I eliminated would be the candidate from the party I normally support. Normally is a relative word, however, and the fact that he was the first candidate dropped from my list is of no suprise to me. My party last fielded someone I saw as a viable candidate in 2000 and there was no difference this election.

The second candidate I dropped would be one whose philosophy differed from mine drastically. Two things helped me decide. I don’t really support his party in particular, and his performance through the campaign strongly indicated that he was in no way prepared for the job anyway.

That left two. it took me a while to decide, as the one candidate I eventually decided was not getting my vote did seem quite passionate. But I’m really not a big fan of his party either and some of his approach during the campaign made me wonder if he was capable of the job. Yes, this means I decided based on the people I wouldn’t be voting for to select the one receiving my vote. He isn’t the ideal choice, but, I guess, he’s my choice.

This probably represents my last post before voting day. All I can suggest to you is: Vote. Even if you cannot find someone who matches your viewpoint on how the riding should be represented, at least submit a blank ballot or mark them all. If you don’t participate, you have no right to complain when things don’t go the way you’d wish.

Enjoy your weekend.

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Once More Into the Breach

The last of the candidate forums took place Wednesday evening and again, there was little possibility of calling this a debate. This was sponsored by CBC and included an online Facebook feed and Twitter component as well. I was hoping to live blog the event but discovered that, when the hotel said that WiFi was available for the event, it just wasn’t available in the room where it was held.

The format was slightly different, in that the candidates answered questions from the floor and telephone and did have a chance at rebuttal after their earlier chance to answer. However, each of the candidates supported the various concerns, be it reducing violence against women or increasing the amount of affordable housing.

Some of the obvious things that appeared were the standard issues. Some of the candidates are very unfamiliar with the difference between Federal and Provincial/Territorial responsibilities. This was apparent in the answers on free entry staking mining and when discussing education as part of their answers. Much of the time, candidates read their responses from party platforms and their answers seemed flat and uninteresting. In one case, Ryan Leef, the Conservative candidate, refused to answer a question on how the candidates felt about removing support for abortion counseling. His response, that he knew little about the subject so it would be improper to answer, drew a bit of ire from the crowd.

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Not all of the questions proposed were asked due to the two-hour time limit on the event. However, a point of note was that some issues, such as health care and the long gun registry, were not brought up in the discussion.

One aspect of many of the responses was the amount of time candidates spent referring to their history. One tweet from the Twitter feed dealt with this: “when a candidate speaks about himself, he has nothing to say.”

Tweet imageWinners? Losers? Most of the comments on Twitter and Facebook suggest that John Streicker, the Green Candidate, was the most passionate and informed. But, in the long run, I don’t see where these forums actually accomplished a great deal.  There should be a more structured debate format rather than the current one next time. The current format does nothing to allow you to differentiate between the various parties and probably adds little to deciding on whom you’d choose.

For all intents and purposes, there should be little more to the campaign. The leaders are all running around safe ridings to ride out the last few days and avoid doing a “Kim Campbell” at the end of the campaign. Few big issues will come forward to prevent making any mistakes in the final days. Now, the main thing that remains is wondering what will come from the NDP polling results, a trend you probably will not see extended to our riding…

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We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Live Blog

My posting today starts with an apology. I had planned to use Cover It Live to cover last night’s candidates’ forum. My plan was to do this through WiFi. I contacted the Gold Rush Inn early in the week and was told that WiFi was available. Sadly, their WiFi network doesn’t extend into the meeting room where the forum was held and I had no way of notifying people to the contrary. Sorry.

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Candidate Duties

For those curious, I figured I’d throw together a little “Election 101,” or how do things work after elections. It helps to understand that candidates have more duties than simply running for election. There are a number of paperwork issues that must be dealt with, whether or not you win a seat.

One of the most important aspects to consider as a candidate is money. This is important even though a candidate really doesn’t have anything to do with the money. You are required to appoint an Official Agent who deals with all the campaign finances except your own personal expenses. This includes taking contributions, for which there are a few regulations as to limits and who can and cannot contribute to a campaign, issuing official receipts, running the bank account, etc. In short, you can buy yourself a coffee while on the road on a campaign. Renting a car for the campaign, though, must be done by your official agent. I’ve known people campaigning who, as a rule, never carried cash or their debit card on their person.

There are a few other related items. One month after the polling date is the deadline for submitting all contribution receipts for income tax purposes. You must issue a receipt for any contribution over $20.00. Issuing these is usually the job of your official agent since he or she is the one accepting the money.

Three months after the polling date, you must have submitted all of your expense invoices as well as the Candidate’s Statement of Personal Expenses to your official agent. Finally, within four months, you must have submitted all of the forms, auditor’s report, and invoices to Elections Canada, or have filed a request for an extension.

How important are these steps? One of the related issues is maximum campaign expenses. In Yukon, the maximum allowable campaign costs for this election are $85,898.10. Spending more than this on your campaign has serious ramifications, including a 5 year ban on sitting or being elected to the House of commons or holding a crown appointment.  This penalty, on top of any others imposed such as a fine or jail sentence, is automatic for all cases on conviction. If the timing for filing your paperwork has expired, you are not permitted to run in the next election.

In short, there is a bit more to do than just run for election. You’ll note that I say that as if “just” running wasn’t enough to do…

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Candidates Debate Live Blog

I’ll be covering the Yukon Candidates Debate Live. The debate starts at 7 pm, Wednesday and runs until 9 pm. The link for this is here.

Please note that this will open the live blog in a separate window so you must, at least temporarily, allow popups from the site.

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One Week Left

The clock is ticking and there is still much to do.

The local campaign is winding down and all that is left is the main candidates’ debate. This, sponsored by the CBC, will be held Wednesday evening at 7 pm. While the other candidates’ forums were aimed at specific interests (i.e., post secondary education, youth, arts issues), this one is general and relates to the entire territory. A lot of us are really hoping that some differentiation between the candidates appears.  I’ll be liveblogging the forum, and there will be other coverage as well.

Before that, at 6 pm, there will be a vote mob and lip-dub at the Canada Games Centre. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes and determining just how good several organizations are at getting out the youth vote.

One thing we have learned this election: we do have some idea of the importance of the north, though. Only one riding was visited by the leaders. The NWT saw Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton within a week. We, on the other hand, don’t seem to be on the dance card…