Groundhog Emerges From Mulcair's Beard, Sees 4 More Years In Opposition

NDP leader Tom Mulcair in Châteauguay, Quebec last night.

Châteauguay, QC

It was a frantic day on the campaign trail yesterday for Tom Mulcair, as the NDP leader made several stops in key battleground ridings one day before the Canadian election. Mulcair, leader of the Official Opposition before the dissolution of the last parliament, spent the first part of his day making appearances in several Toronto locations, in an attempt to stave off what is appearing to be a growing Liberal tide.

The 60 year old Ottawa native then moved on to Quebec, where in 2011 the NDP, then under the late Jack Layton's leadership, rode to unprecedented heights in what came to be known as the Orange Crush. However, despite leading in the polls early on in the current campaign, Mulcair and the NDP faithful could very well be looking at a third place finish on Monday, as Justin Trudeau's Liberals have surged in the polls, and Conservative leader Stephen Harper has resorted to reaching out to former Toronto mayor Rob Ford for help.

Mulcair held his last large campain rally in the heart of Montreal on Sunday night, but afterwards kept a promise to a local candidate in the Greater Montreal riding of Châteauguay - Lacolle. Mulcair and incumbent MP Sylvain Chicoine held a small gathering outside a local café, where Mulcair repeated his election talking points. However, in the midst of describing his plan to consistently keep balanced budgets, an unexpected visitor interrupted the proceedings, as local legend Châteauguay Charles, a 12-year-old groundhog, emerged from Mulcair's beard and, by all accounts, made it quite clear that Monday's election results would not be kind to the NDP. After gingerly climbing down Mulcair's left jacket-sleeve, Charles scurried along a nearby sidewalk, where autumn leaves had fallen beside a trash can. The mercurial woodchuck first approached an orange leaf, curiously sniffing at it for two minutes, which is impressive considering a marmot's short attention span. However, he then noticed a discarded, peeled-off Labatt's Blue label - clearly a Conservative party omen - and proceeded to lick it for several moments before moving on. In the end, though, a bright, glorious red leaf received the affections of the creature. Those gathered watched in horror as Châteauguay Charles picked up the leaf with his left claw, stood up on his hind legs, and proceeded to wave to the crowd before scurrying off into the night. Charles prognostications of a third-place NDP finish sent those gathered into a nearby pub to drown their sorrows.

From Our Montreal Bureau

Green Party Leader's Self-Approval Ratings At All-Time High

Green Party leader Elizabeth May (r), at the Ottawa Press Gallery Dinner on May 9th.

Ottawa

With one day remaining until Canadians head to the ballot box to choose their next government, much of the hype is surrounding Justin Trudeau. Mere weeks ago, the Liberal leader was, by all accounts, headed for a third-place finish. However, heading into Monday, most prognosticators have the Ottawa native set to take the keys to 24 Sussex Drive.

But Elizabeth May, leader of Canada's Green Party, is having none of it.

In a snap poll conducted by The Sentinel Dispatch on Sunday, Ms. May's self-approval ratings were found to be at an all-time high. "To tell you the truth, I'd have to say that I'd give myself a 95% approval rating at this point of the long campaign," said May when reached by phone from her wind and solar-powered home in Sidney, British Columbia. "Despite what the media might be reporting, I think I've been extremely efficient and have come up with new ideas, though it's been tempting to recycle the same ideas over and over again. The other parties are saying the same things, they seem stuck. Meanwhile, I'm the only one who's been driven," remarked the native of Hartford, Connecticut. "And speaking of driven, I'm the only party leader who is proud to drive a hybrid. That's saying something."

Ms. May is the only Green Party member to ever have been elected to Canada's parliament - she was elected MP of Saanich-Gulf Islands in 2011 after two previous unsuccessful attempts to win a seat. Her party narrowly missed forming government in 2008 and 2011 after garnering 6.78% and 3.91% of the national vote respectively.

The 61 year old lawyer and activist has been criticized by many for siphoning off votes from the Liberal and New Democratic parties and thus aiding the Conservative Party, however she still insists that her party is "vastly different than those other old parties." In some ways, she is correct. She is the only national party leader to commit to mandatory five-year prison sentences for Canadians found guilty of disposing recyclable water bottles into regular waste bins. Ms. May has also said that by the year 2025, under a Green Party government, all jet-fuelled air travel would cease. Her technology critic, a sophomore at the University of British Columbia, when reached at his parents home in Victoria, explained the innovative project: "At the Green Party, we realize that people will still need to travel by air. For the past 5 years, the brightest and most creative young minds in the country have been brainstorming, and based on the principles of aerodynamics, by 2025 we'll have built a fleet of papier-mâché passenger planes. Our working theory is that if we build tall enough airstrips around the country, Canadians will come together and be able to launch these planes by means of their collective blowing."

When asked by The Sentinel Dispatch why she only gave herself a 95% approval rating, Ms. May admitted to lingering guilt over eating a piece of processed cheese in her youth.

From Our Ottawa Bureau

Conservative Campaign Director Resigns After Tree-Planting Allegations

Conservative leader Stephen Harper with (now) former 2015 campaign director Jenni Byrne

Ottawa

With only three days remaining leading up to Canada's 42nd general election, one would think that the major party leaders would solely be focused on criss-crossing the country, fighting tooth and nail to either retain or increase support for their cause. However, for the second time in only two days, a party leader has been forced to part ways with one of their campaign directors.

Word quickly spread - as it does in Ottawa - on Friday afternoon, that Jenni Byrne, national director for Stephen Harper's Conservative election campaign, has abruptly stepped down after video was submitted to several news outlets, including the Sentinel Dispatch, that clearly shows the former Reform party staffer taking part in a tree-planting ceremony near her hometown of Fenelon Falls, Ontario. The event, according to several sources who also participated and spoke to media on condition of anonymity, took place three weeks ago in conjunction with the opening of a new elementary school in Ms. Byrne's riding.

It is clearly stated in Conservative party policy that "no candidate, staffer, or advisor to the leader will engage in any activity which is contrary to Conservative values - such as mishandling of public funds, electoral fraud, or appearing to show concern for Canada's environment."

The Conservative party under Stephen Harper has a long and proud history of standing by its principles of aggression towards the environment. Soon after taking power in 2006, Harper started to clamp down on research into global warming. He ousted his own science adviser and effectively killed the climate-change section of the Department of Foreign Affairs. He shut down the official website on climate change and tried to cut funding for the Polar Environment Atmosphere Research Laboratory, which had been at the forefront of monitoring deterioration in the ozone layer as well as climate change. In addition, an environmentally-friendly group out of British Columbia called Dogwood Initiative, reported that it had been under “illegal surveillance” by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and other groups and individuals had been muzzled. Also, though Harper has promised action on climate change, particularly in relation to the carbon that is released from Canada’s huge reserve of tar sands, now the third-biggest reservoir of oil on the planet, no such action has taken place; there are no emissions rules for its oil and gas sector. In 2011, the Harper government backed out of the Kyoto protocol, and to top it off, when the Centre for Global Development, in 2013, ranked 27 developed nations according to their handling of the environment, it placed Canada at number 27.

This is not the first time during the current election campaign that Ms. Byrne has been under scrutiny. On Day 38 of the current campaign, she was effectively taken off of the election tour bus and sent back to Ottawa due to the party's flagging fortunes before being given a second chance to right the ship.

Ms. Byrne becomes the second major party campaign director to step down amidst controversy in the last two days. On Wednesday, Liberal party co-campaign chair Dan Gagnier fell on his sword after it was revealed that he had sent a highly detailed letter to executives in big oil, advising them how to best lobby a minority government to achieve their goals toward the Energy East oil pipeline. Gagnier also has ties to Conservative lobbyist Bruce Carson, who was charged with fraud and influence peddling, as well as much-maligned former Liberal-turned-Conservative minister David Emerson.

When contacted by the Sentinel Dispatch, Conservative spokesman Kory Teneycke said that "while Jenni Byrne's service to her party and to our country has up til now been commendable, her reckless regard for nature can not and will not go unnoticed by this government."

Late Friday afternoon, Ms. Byrne was seen hastily placing cardboard boxes into the back of her hybrid Toyota Prius.

From Our Ottawa Bureau