Lie is such a strong word, but it fits so why not use it?

Emerson quoted in Vote-splitting this election's wild card: Emerson (Sept. 5, 2008, The Vancouver Sun)

"When Paul decided he wasn't going to stay on as leader, I felt that my obligation to the Liberals had essentially expired and Mr. Harper called me," [Emerson] said.

The lie here is Emerson was in secret negotiations with the Conservatives to cross not when Paul Martin made his plans weeks after the election but, as admitted by co-conspirator former MP John Reynolds, was in discussions with the Conservative Party less than 24 hours after the last vote had been cast during the election. When Harper called is irrelevant. Reynolds would not make the offer without Harper's express permission before hand.

What's not known is when the offer was first conceived. Many have speculated as to whether the offer was on the table before the election was over.

Any astute observer of Canadian politics and economics knows that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is breaking his promise of an election next year, instead calling an election as soon as possible, because his opportunity to win will steadily decrease from here onward.

For the past two and a half years Harper and Finance Minister Jimmy Flaherty have been crowing on about the strength of the Canadian economy, a feat they had virtually nothing to do with. Flaherty still insists the Canadian economy is strong. He is wrong about that. Was strong, is now weakening is far more accurate, but not very politically helpful to his case.

Arguably then we can say a weak economy should not hurt their electoral chances, but of course it doesn't work that way. Incumbent governments are frequently defeated during weak economic times.

The Conservative campaign will position Harper as the best manager of the economy in uncertain times. Ignoring the fact that the government has little control over the economy in the first place, this doesn't make any rational sense, given that the economy is weakening under Stephen Harper's command. Canada by next year will face significant economic strain, just as the U.S. is today. Our economy typically lags theirs by as much as nine to twelve months. Based on my review of economic factors I believe we'll see that lag compressed to six months or less, this time around.

Indeed the international Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) published this week their latest leading economic indicators for member countries. Canada registers one of the most dramatic turn downs in the Composite Leading Indicator series (blue line) and this series in fact is showing more weakness than the United States.

With Canadian equity markets plummeting and our economic growth slowing dramatically its only a short matter of time before these concerns register very strongly with voters. October 14th might not come fast enough for Stephen Harper.

As if the Emerson saga couldn't get any stranger...

On CBC's The Early Edition this morning Emerson told host Rick Cluff that he isn't a partisan. Duplicitous Dave said he ran as a Liberal as a favour to Paul Martin. He says that parties are just tools (to get elected).

So what do we learn today? That the supposedly non-partisan David Emerson is co-chair of the Conservative electoral campaign, one of the most partisan roles one could have in a campaign.

Paraphrased, Emerson went from "I'm not a partisan" to "I'm running a partisan election campaign for the entire country" all in a single interview.

Is it any wonder that no thinking Canadian can trust a word that comes out of Emerson's mouth? And this is one of Harper's bright lights? What deception are lesser mortals willing to pull off?

Emerson also noted that all he really cared about was getting his personal agenda done and that's why he ran. Unsaid in words, but with volumes spoken in action, he never really cared about the things that Vancouver-Kingsway, my riding, care about. The riding cared about issues like child care and aboriginal affairs. Emerson only cared about building more freeways (which Vancouver has historically and successfully till not opposed) and expanding the port (to bring in more imports for the U.S., along with all the pollution on sea and land attendant to such trade). Had Emerson chosen to be honest to constituents and ran on what he really wanted to do, he'd never have been elected even once.

Every word he's uttered on the subject only goes to reinforce that he has nothing but contempt for actual democracy. Perhaps that's why he is such a fan of China, a place where the overlords can get things done without the pesky requirement of being accountable to voters.

The Conservative Party has confirmed to media that David Emerson will not run in the forthcoming election.

Today I heard a clip of former MP John Reynolds - a Conservative power broker in B.C. - and true to form he behaved like the partisan prick that he is. His claim--its damage control I recognize that--is that the movement to force Emerson to resign and run in a by-election was driven by partisan professionals.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and any honest observer of the times could clearly see that.

Since at the time I was still a Conservative party member, my participation puts lie to his claim. I saw the entire effort from stem to stern, met all the people involved, and became involved myself. In a very short period of time literally hundreds of Vancouver area folks came out to help us make this issue stand out for all of Canada to witness. I met and talked with many who had never participated in anything remotely political but the obvious wrong which Harper and Emerson perpetrated clearly was a motivating factor for many to take that first political step in their lives.

With great fondness I recall many achievements and special moments. Working with such a diverse group of people and seeing something come of it was truly inspiring to me.

One achievement I am most proud of was the Walk for Democracy which we conceived, planned, and executed in less than four weeks. The Walk was a tremendous success, drawing out just shy of 1,000 Vancouver area folks to march through the riding one blustery sunny day in April.

Throughout the Campaign thousands of people from across the country called us, wrote letters and email, voiced their opinions in on-line polls, wore buttons, wrote letters and post cards, put lawn signs out, and walked and talked to us in the streets. The public really got this issue, in a way that many politicians simply refused to acknowledge.

Low points in the campaign included Emerson's continuing rude dismissal of our concerns. The riding effectively had no member of parliament. Harper, Reynolds, and other Conservative party operatives were equally venomous. In the end I let my membership in the party lapse. I could not support a party led by one who claims from on high to support democratic principles yet with his left hand is cutting them down.

Harper and Emerson devalued, no, they ignored our votes rendering them completely valueless. More worrisome is the Emerson affair was but an opening salvo. Stephen Harper's behaviour since gaining power has clearly illustrated that he should not be trusted with majority rule, ever.

I wasn't happy with the response from some other political quarters, either. Certain local Liberal MP's were less than supportive of our efforts. I was disappointed in Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh's response in particular. Perhaps he was justifying his own party switch - not that I would consider the two issues to be the same at all - but he like Emerson appears to believe that politicians are above the will of the people.

Except at election time.

The very next day? As Emerson proved, anything goes.

And that my friends is dreadfully wrong.