from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 9:27 PM
subject Le Bloc s’attaque à Bernard Généreux; Teens get adult sentences for brutal rape-murder of Kimberly Proctor
Dear Stephen,
Happy Day Nine? Ten? of the election campaign. I’ve already started to lose count. Sounds like you lost a bit of support during the first week. Are people wising up? Only time will tell. Had a busy weekend, with openings on Saturday, and visits from Greg and Rebecca on Friday and again Sunday (they were visiting for a late Purim) and a full couple days with Rose as she begins to walk a little bit more on her own each day. Yesterday I took her to the park where we went on the slide (she loves it) and she ate handfuls of sand. Last night I made lamb chops for our guests, who included Cade and Sarah after her McGill concert, it was fun but in the end exhausting. Today was lots of little projects moving along slowly and scattered at work and now I have to finish my PM portrait proposal and on top of it all I haven’t done my weekly art review for you and I don’t think I can muster one up tonight. So hopefully it will happen tomorrow.
Still no reply from you as to why @pmharper was following a free porn site and not yours truly. Come on, I almost have 100 Followers!
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 10:12 PM
subject F-35: un expert américain prévoit une explosion des coûts; Conservatives seek to curtail Afghan detainee report
Dear Stephen,
Happy Day Eleven of the Election Campaign. Sorry that my art review letter is late, again. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with visits, work and baby duties. But guess what? Tonight while Skyping with my folks Rose started showing off her new found walking skills and can now totter the full length of the hallway and the kitchen and back again. It’s amazing to watch her develop this fairly important life-skill, and she seems so proud and pleased with herself. If she was to stumble into one of your rallies would she get tossed out for not swearing allegiance to the CPC?
On to some art, the whole point of these weekly letters. I went to the Belgo this past weekend, my favourite place for a quick art fix. There was an opening at SBC of three Sénégalese artists, curated by Pierre Beaudoin. Three other Sénégalese artists were also showing at the MAI. Pierre has spent the last three years organizing these shows, and dealing with lots of red tape and cultural differences to make it happen. My favourite piece at SBC was an animation by an artist named Samba Fall. The animation consists of a series of dream sequences, featuring a man waking rapidly from a tub, then going back to sleep as some sort of programming occurs. Images of credit cards, businessmen jumping upon one anothers’ shoulders, oil barrels, TVs, wastelands, and pharmaceuticals all suggest a fear of the corporatizing of Africa. The constant return to the man in the tub, and the command “wake up”, is almost hypnotic.
A series of photographs by Pape Seydi feature the back of a man walking, the figure literally excised from his surroundings, carrying a different selection of fishing nets in each image. These could be daily images the artist experiences, as the series is titled Les icônes de la ville. Everything is almost identical about the man in each image except for the quantity and colour of the nets he carries. A number, a date, or a quantity, is the only other object in each photograph. On the direct opposite wall each photograph is mirrored with a mirror, an outline of the man centred, the number scratched into the mirror surface. I found the mirrors a bit much, but the photos present an interesting, curious and particular look at daily routine.
I wasn’t expecting to visit many other galleries, but we did slip into Circa, and I was happy we did. Florine Leoni and Sylvain Baumann here present an immerse installation comprised of scaffolding pipes, built to fill the large galery space but allowing ample room to walk around or in some places, walk through. The layering of the pipes mimic actual construction scaffolding, yet the pacing is different; clusters of rectangular forms appear, layers expand and shrink as the artists play with our perception of space and geometry. Interspersed throughout the sculpture are rectangles of black construction netting, further demarcating space and also each containing a simple light bulb highlighting a cinder block or pile of dirt. I quite liked it.
And then there was a return to Galerie B312 to see the Duke and Battersby video. The seven animated vignettes parody God, hunters, and humans in general. One clip presumes the God is just a grumpy old man, constantly going off his meds and getting into trouble, narrated in that typical Vey Duke sing-songy way. The clip wherein the animated animals describe a family history of underage drinking intersects brutally with the edicts of the Catholic Church – something presumably animals must find bizarre. Their strategy is a bit more subtle, and more dependent on humour and absurdity, than that of Fall, though the critiques are similar: society, especially modernism, seems full of problems and failures. Perhaps through the power of unbridled creativity we can re-connect with nature, animals, and ourselves. And just in case you were wondering, Me and thousands of other artists and arts supporters across the country have not forgotten how you have been silently strangling, cutting or weakening arts programs these past five years. The Chinese authorities detaining artist Ai Wei Wei is case in point of a mechanical world gone mad: obsessed with power and control. Sound familiar?
Note to self: do not try to write art-review letter while listening to hockey game on radio, checking twitter feed, Facebook updates, and tweaking the PM portrait proposal. Too many distractions. And all the election campaign gossiping! When will real substantial debates take place? A shame Elizabeth may will be denied a place at the table: her party represents close to a million Canadians, perhaps more. Another good reason we need electoral reform. We need proportional representation!
Habs win in OT! Going to the playoffs, thanks to PK Subban.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 10:00 PM
subject Deux pièces en l’honneur du mariage du prince William; Filmmaker Twitchell tells trial stabbing death was unintentional
Dear Stephen,
Happy Day Twelve of the Election Campaign. I think I am becoming mildly obsessed with it all, in fact I blame my erectile difficulties last night on being utterly distracted by my intake of too much politics. Or maybe it is Twitter? I now have over 100 followers, can you believe it? Only now I am getting sucked into Foursquare which I still can’t understand. I can’t figure out how to “check-in”. Blagh. Anyway, most of the election chatter is all gossip, name-calling and spats, with very little substantial dialogue. Where is the discussion about climate change? Where is the discussion about electoral reform? Voter turnout was at its lowest last time around. People are not turned off elections, they are turned off our first-past-the-post system, which does not give us a representative parliament. Ugh.
Rose is now walking like a demon, she can go the whole length of the hallway and back again. She still kind of run-walks, and teeters a lot, but her balance is improving daily. Soon we will no longer be able to refer to her as our little Drunken Sailor.
They still haven’t found that little autistic boy, Adam, and most fear he fell into the river. That horrific thought has been in my mind for days now. How can people do anything when children go missing?
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 11:46 PM
subject Comment Bruce Carson est passé entre les mailles du filet? Sun Sea crew played ‘integral’ role in smuggling operation, IRB told
Dear Stephen,
I’ve decided to make a book of all my letters written to the PM during election campaigns, starting with 2004, since I missed the 2000 election (I had written letters to the PM between 1999-2000 but it was while i was still a student, so they don’t count). I’ve tracked down all the letters written between May 23 – June 28, 2004, as well as November 29, 2005 – January 23, 2006 and of course September 7 – October 15, 2008. It is an interesting re-read. In 2004 Judy’s father had just passed away, and those events fill a lot of my thinking. In 2005 Harold Pinter wins a Nobel Prize and blasts the US foreign policy. And of course, as you might well remember, in 2008 I took part in many virulent debates with Conservative Party Facebook members, most notably with Blair Skulmolski. I should be able to get it all formatted and print-ready with Lulu.com in the next couple days. I need to find a good cover.
This afternoon I picked up Rose, we went to Jean Talon market to get stuff for supper, then to the park nearby to play on the slides and in the sand. She really likes sand. She still tries to eat it but I think she is learning it is not so good in the mouth. It was sunny and warm and FINALLY starting to feel like spring.
I am spending so much time learning Sketchup at work I am referring to it as Crackup. And at night I spend my free, non-dishes, non-sweeping, non-laundry hours on the computer, tweeting, twittering, reading politics-lite and learning Foursquare. Oh, and drinking wine.
Tomorrow: possible Green Party rally with Elizabeth May and George Laraque. Don’t know yet if I will go; it is on Crescent, an area of the city I despise.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 12:31 AM
subject Ignatieff condamne le «trou» de 11 milliards du PCC; 61-year-old man drowns in Manitoba flood waters
Dear Stephen,
We had a great day, full of activities. First, Rose was up at 6:30am. Ugh. When will she learn that it is perfectly OK to sleep in on the weekend? But it was fun, she practiced her walking and showed more interest in books. After Claudine awoke we went to the market to prepare for brunch. Joanne, Philippe and Nataniel and Dorian came over, we had a great omelet and salad and smoothies and coffee and the cousins played well together.
After the visit, and a brief nap, Clo and Rose and I hopped on the metro downtown to see the exhibitions at the foundry. Finally, it feels like spring! I’ve already told you about the Kelly Mark show and on Monday, or perhaps tomorrow, I’ll write about the AElab show. After the gallery and some wandering around Vieux Montréal we walked up to Ste. Catherine (the metro was down) and finally caught it at Berri-UQAM, to Mont Royal to buy some books at Renaud Bray. Then it was a long wait for the #30 bus (we call it the fantôm because it rarely appears, even when on the schedule). Tired of waiting, we hailed a cab.
I re-formatted my letters for the Dear PM: Letters from the campaign book, and have been getting it ready for Lulu.com. Going through previous elections I’ve found some good quotes. Here’s one from Paul Martin in 2006:
“And so I would say to Canadians – your vote matters in this election because it matters a lot who governs this country – the values they hold, and the program they propose. The result of this election matters for your life and for the life of Canada.”
And they say that there is no truth in politics!
I copied this from a CBC report from the day the writ was dropped: “Asked how he interpreted the vote of non-confidence that brought his government down Friday, Harper said Canadians don’t care about the wording of motions and political manoeuvres, they care about their economic well-being and the standing of Canada in the world”. How arrogant of you to assume that Canadians don’t care about parliamentary procedures! Many “ordinary” Canadians I know do care about such things (and we support the arts, too), but this is clearly doubletalk for you.
Listened the Habs final game of the season, a decent 4-1 win over the Leafs.
Off to finish uploading to Lulu and then off to bed. I’ve been somewhat insomniac the past week, I think the election is getting to me. As Claudine says, politics does inform my art practice, so I guess during elections my brain fires up a bit more than usual.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 11:25 PM
subject Sondage: majorité en vue pour les conservateurs; Gov’t checking if mail from Japan a potential radiation ‘danger’
Dear Stephen,
Sorry, looks like I will be at least another day late sending you your personal art review. I just don’t have enough gas in the tank to do it tonight. I did visit a few exhibitions this weekend, but tonight after work I stayed late to shoot a video using a bunch of my old slides, and last night we watched the documentary Inside Job. It left me feeling sick and powerless. How is it that Paulson and Bernanke are still running things? How is it that Greenspan is not on trial somehow? It seems so obvious, perhaps in hindsight, but also there were so many signs. All that deregulation just leads to the greedy getting greedier.
Congressman Ron Paul has said, referring to Bernanke: “There is something fishy about the head of the world’s most powerful government bureaucracy, one that is involved in a full-time counterfeiting operation to sustain monopolistic financial cartels, and the world’s most powerful central planner, who sets the price of money worldwide, proclaiming the glories of capitalism.”
Ugh, already 11pm; how does the time fly like this? And how is it that you’ve climbed to 40% again in the polls? Are there that many insane decided voters? And how can you justify moving the date of the leaders’ debate because of the Habs-Bruins game but not fight for the inclusion of Elizabeth May? That just makes me want to vote Green even more. What if they get 10% support in the next election but no seats? When will the flaws of the First-past-the-post system be clear enough that people will demand electoral change? Why is it people just don’t seem to care about politics unless we are in the middle of an election?
That does it, next time I am going to run.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 10:11 PM
subject G8 et G20: Sheila Fraser refuse de publier son rapport; Harper forced to fend off opposition attacks
Dear Stephen,
You sounded well during the “debate”. I agree with one of Elizabeth May’s comments, that it sounded very canned. I often felt that not only were none of the leaders answering the questions, but you never seemed to reply directly (or honestly) to each other. Iggy did seem a little off at times, though his “bickering” comments were quite strong. Jack Layton sounded the most reasonable, and I hope that resonated with listeners. Unfortunately the discussion surrounding the “reckless coalition” went nowhere and I felt was redundant and downright stupid. Who cares what parties try to form a coalition? It is up to the GG to decide if a coalition can work if a minority government falls, period. Unless the NDP and Liberals realize that they should do what you did – merge. Form another mega-party. So Canada falls back into the tired, lame 2-party system, and democracy takes a back seat. Again.
But you stuck well to your talking points: the economy, and pivoting around words that could entice people to trust you with a majority. *shudder* And the opposition leaders just come across as oppositional. You certainly have the advantage of having been in power for 5 years, and you stick well to scripts and controlled environments, so I guess you “won” the debate, for whatever it is worth and whatever that even means.
Again, I’m not writing about the arts tonight; this election is burning a hole in my brain. Today at work I started downloading and printing off all the party platforms, but who has time to read all this stuff? The Green party platform seems the most detailed but it is over 100 pages long – which is what one would expect of a governing party, or maybe a leading opposition, not a so-called “fringe” party. Speaking of which, they called tonight for a donation so the $200 I’ve been promising the Conservative Party for well over a year now I decided to give to the Greens. Don’t worry: I’m still putting a cheque for your party in the mail, maybe tomorrow. Also I joined Tory Nation, a weird “social media” type website, where I set up my own donation campaign to help you raise the $30-billion for the fighter jets.
What was that Iggy said? That you’re ” the highest-spending government in the history of the country”. I wonder if he’s saying to himself, “how can I be losing to this guy?” Maybe it will just take more time for more people to see your government for what it is, not what you purport it to be.
The Globe has this comment on your performance: “The worst that could be said, and it’s a considerable offence, is that Mr. Harper at times preyed on the assumed ignorance of viewers – most notably with an insultingly simplistic explanation of how minority governments are supposed to work.” Amen to that! Maybe this speaks more to your support base? Or do you think most “ordinary” Canadians don’t understand our system of parliamentary democracy? Maybe you’re right.
You know what disgusted me most? How dismissive you are of the contempt of parliament ruling. How for something so historic you show no shame or remorse, you just say that it was something the opposition parties ganged up on
Back to the arts, I watched an interview with the actor Kevin Stacy last night regarding Republican proposals to not just make funding cuts to the arts but to cut ALL funding to the arts, including the NEA. I certainly hope you don’t have more arts cuts up your sleeve just to balance the budget a year early. Remember what Winston Churchill said when told during WW2 that he would have to make cuts to culture: “then what are we fighting for?”
Off to bed, where I need to get my head off politics. I’m currently reading Jacob Wren’s “Revenge fantasies for the politically dispossessed”. Strange, my dreams of late have revolving around politics, too.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 11:30 PM
subject Réjean Hinse reçoit une indemnisation de 13,1 millions; Canada mulls call for more jets for Libya campaign
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Douglas <scholes@sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 9:26 PM
Subject: Harper’s G8-Gate: Petition to release the Auditor General’s report
To: Scholes Doug <scholes@sympatico.ca>
Hi,
I just signed an urgent petition to call for the release of the G8 report that alleges the Harper government miss-used millions of taxpayer dollars! Click below to join me:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/canada_save_democracy/96.php?CLICKTF
Dear Stephen,
I’ve already received and signed this petition, though when I did (this morning) it was at 15,000 signatures and gearing for 30,000; now it is over 50,000 and gearing for 75,000. I imagine you place little stock in petitions such as this. After all, well over 100,000 people signed a petition demanding Jean Charest step down, but he didn’t. Now there is a movement afoot for Gerald Tremblay to step down from the “spygate” scandals. Is running a country / province / city really so hard that it depends on nefarious means? Pork barrels? Favouritism? Is this what politics really means to you and your ilk?
Today was a van and errands day, then meetings, and more plan development. Then tonight I met up with François and we bar-hopped our way around Villeray and Petit-Patrie watching the Habs surprise the Bruins 2-0 in their series opener. Still too close to call, though the Habs looked quite sharp.
After last night and Mme. Paille trending, tonight it is Carey Price. Twitter is just plain weird.
-chris
PS did the Conservative Party get my cheque yet?
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 10:12 PM
subject Ignatieff tend la main aux provinces; Would convene first ministers meet on health within 60 days: Ignatieff
Dear Stephen,
We had a great dinner party last night with the AC crew. Éli is visiting from Paris and we celebrated her birthday. Lots of drinks, wine and political whining / discussion. Good times. Talked about he pros and cons of strategic voting, vote-splitting, etc. Didn’t watch the Habs game but Laurent kept us updated with his phone (mine was dead and anyways I wouldn’t bring it to the table). Watching the Canuacks-Blackhawks game right now but I can’t stay up any later so will miss the third. I need to get some reading done. I bought a copy of Maissoneuve at the reading / launch the other night at Drawn and Quarterly. Jacob was reading plus another author was launching a book. Ran into Jacob again briefly at Silver Flag on Saturday. Clo and Rose and I had double brunch dates on Saturday; first, with Caro and François at a Spanish restaurant on Villeray, then with Sarah and Etienne and Femke at Le Pickup. It hailed / rained all afternoon and was cold and downright miserable. Today I took Rose to meet other Sarah and a couple of her friends after her half marathon and we ate at Le vieux velo. Before that I took Rose to the Biblioteque Nationale. They have a fantastic kids area, lots of low tables, cushions, tons of books, and it was full of parents and kids. I think Rose likes that kind of energy and lately seems to be really appreciating books. One of her latest favourites seems to be a recent purchase I made, called “Caca Boudin.” Rose showed off her walking skills with my parents and with Trev, Tamara and Jordyn this evening, via Skype. My folks are back from their vacation and seem well-rested, though my dad is sunburned. Also, Jordyn is walking a bit as well, already! They’re growing up fast.
I’m still considering going to Ottawa for Sketchup training this week, even though there was no response from head office. I’m thinking of paying my own way and then hopefully getting reimbursed later, either partially or in-full. I heard back from Kim, and I am getting a decent tax return this year, over $3000. Alright! I plan to put most of that on my debt, and therefore meet our objective of “Freedom 2012” and maybe even do it early, possibly by the end of 2011 or at the latest, early 2012. Alright!
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 9:26 PM
subject Gouvernement minoritaire: Ignatieff avance en terrain miné; Liberals could try to form a government if Tories win minority, and lose House support: Ignatieff
Dear Stephen,
I’ve been feeling depressed lately. I blame it on the election. I blame it on the weather. I blame it on the Habs close loss last night. I blame it on my job. I blame it on routine, the daily grind, convention. I blame it on you, your lies, your calm, your style. I blame it on the mainstream media, content to report on whatever spin seems to attract viewers. I blame it on apathy, and polls that still show you close to a majority. I blame it on the letter I received from the Canada Council today informing me that I have yet again failed to qualify for a grant.
And though I have been feeling depressed, I also know that it too will pass. And I have lots to feel happy about. I have an amazing little girl and my heart melts whenever I am with her. Today we hung out at the park again. She dumped a shovelful of sand in her face, poor thing. But we cleaned her up and she chased a dog from one end of the park to the other, squealing with joy. On a sunny day, hanging out with her is the best thing ever, and all the pettiness of politics disappears. Life is good. Claudine loves me, Rose loves me, what more could I ask for? Oh right, proportional representation, a little more diversity, variety and civility in the House of Commons. And maybe, just maybe, a Canada Council grant that would at the very least help bolster my confidence that what I have been doing all these years is not just a monumental waste of time but has some sort of validity. And would also help me get out of debt faster. On the bright side, my tax return this year will help a lot with Freedom 2012.
I saw a poster advertising an all-candidates meeting on Monday. I may try to go, it depends on our schedule. I still haven’t heard from the Conservative Party about a rally or whether or not they received my cheque. I did respond to a Green Party email asking for volunteers to call into Elizabeth May’s riding. I’ll do it tomorrow, if we can’t find a sitter for Rose. Tomorrow is a big art fundraiser for aid to Japan. We bought one $100 raffle ticket to get a piece of art.
And now I read that Yann Martel is back at the books to you thing, asking Canadians to continue sending you books. I’d also like people to send me their art reviews, which I’ll forward to you, since I can’t seem to get around to writing any of my own. I blame my depression.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 10:14 PM
subject Layton refuse de critiquer ses candidats absents; Growing NDP support ‘crystallizes’ coalition threat: Harper
Dear Stephen,
It is hard to believe my last letter to you was over a week ago. So much has happened since then. My parents came for Easter and stayed from Thursday until Monday. Friday night was Claudine’s big concert at l’Église St-Jean-Baptiste, on Rachel, which was amazing. The church is massive on the inside, with one of the largest organs (on the upper balcony in back!) that I have ever seen. It wasn’t used for the concert, sadly. On Saturday Clo and I went out for supper and a movie (La dolce vita, at Cinémateque Québecoise). I had a couple brief naps during the movie. I’m not used to being up late.
And of course there have been lots of hockey games. I missed a couple of the Habs matches, but am listening / watching right now. Plecanacs just scored short-handed to tie it at 2 in the 2nd. I’ll keep you posted, of course. I’m also puttering around the apartment, cleaning and washing laundry.
Monday evening I went to the all-candidates debate in my riding of Papineau. Neither the NDP nor conservative candidates were there, but the addition of the Marxist-Leninist candidate added a degree of unexpected comedy. I was quite impressed with our green candidate, Danny Polifroni. Justin was good, very polished, almost too polished: he was a bit like a caricature of himself.
Oh shit, my supper is burning.
I was re-heating turkey (yes, we had turkey for Easter) in the oven with roasted potatoes, but it was the steamed carrots on the stove top that burned. I had ignored the timer. The water boiled down to nothing and the pot, now black, is on the deck. The smoke detector near Roses’ room went off but she didn’t wake. She’s a deep sleeper, that one.
She had another crisis at the playground. On Monday it was because I took her off the swings. Today it was because they were all full and she couldn’t get on. How do you teach a 16-month old patience?
Third period just started. How could I best measure patience here? Continue to write to you, or go and watch? Or just go if there is a goal? Should I make some phone calls to Elizabeth May’s riding? Would I not be too distracted by the game in the background? Should I just turn it off, and save myself the stress? Funny, I’m not really all that wrapped up in it this year. It’s just sport, after all. The election has me far more keyed up. Recent polls are not only putting the NDP in second place nationally, but they are creeping up on you! It’s crazy! I know one cannot place a lot of stock in polls, but still, the “Orange Crush” has some great appeal.
Darn it, 3-2 for Bruins with ten minutes to go. I’m going to go watch, and fold laundry to keep my hands busy. Also, I am out of beer.
OMG, so Subban sends it to overtime, just as I was starting to look forward to not having to hear the annoying John Molson Ale commercial any more this season.
So back to politics, and in particular, the Green Party candidate in my riding. Danny Polifroni is a mechanical engineer working in the renewable energy industry. He is a graduate with honours in Mechanical Engineering from Concordia University, during which he was an active volunteer with Engineers Without Borders.
After joining the Green Party of Canada and the Green Party of Québec in 2008, he has since been an active volunteer for the Green Party of Canada in Montréal, organizing events and working with electoral district associations. Danny is also part of a citizen’s committee looking to implement a Transition Town model which encourages sustainable communities and provides advice on how to achieve them.
Danny’s priorities as a citizen and candidate are to contribute to the improvement of our environment, citizen’s quality of life, and to the ethical and social values of our economic activity. Danny believes that by implementing the right policies and being a good role model, our government can contribute to increasing the quality of life of all species on earth. In Danny’s opinion, the Green Party is the only party that seriously considers the web of interconnections that strongly govern our world.They are the only party that believes in seeking optimal ways to integrate the human race into the greater scheme of life.
It’s too bad the Greens are getting lost in the frenetic polling. “The poll shows the Tories losing considerable ground in the Atlantic provinces, where support has apparently slipped from 33% to 26% since April 21. There, NDP support rose 13 points to 35%. In La Belle Province, 40% of voters said they support the NDP, having usurped a small percentage of votes from both the Bloc and Liberal parties there”.
And there it is, Bruins 4-3 in overtime, and aside from periodic late-night Canucks matches, I can ease out of hockey and back into spring. Maybe, after the election, I might actually start making some art again. In my studio, once I clear out the plants and superlative furniture.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 10:21 PM
subject Layton doit encore défendre ses candidats; For Canadians, envy as British cheer royals as one
Dear Stephen,
I finally received what I think was a telephone message invitation to a Conservative Party rally on Friday. The problem is that the message was truncated, and I don’t know where or at what time the rally begins. I tried to find it online but cannot find any local info, even on the “Tory Nation” social media page I joined a few weeks back. I see that some info about the candidate in my riding has been added, but no office, address, email or web page. All head office. I sent an email but don’t think now I will get the info in time. I have to plan for a babysitter if I go out.
Today I drove the truck around all day running errands. Picked Rose up from daycare and she had an overtired fit. We ate a mix of leftovers and baked chicken. She can now climb into the bathtub on her own. Also, her communication and elimination are getting more and more synced-up. Less accidents this way.
Tomorrow is the last work day of my contract for 2010-11, so I think I will take a sick day. My new contract begins on Monday, and with it, a raise. Not big, but a few extra bucks can always help out.
You’ve been out on the attack against Jack today, calling a potential NDP-led government a “disaster”. What absolute arrogance and fear-mongering. Who do you think you are, God’s gift to Prime Ministers? And I listened to a debate on Q with James Moores’ parliamentary secretary who constantly lied or inflated the conservative track record on funding for the arts. On the one hand, he made it sound as if you were running a Liberal government, he was so proud of all the publicly-funded programs. On the other, there was no mention of all the cuts you have made, nor of the infamous Canada Prize. Remember that? After chopping up a ton of important infrastructure and funding programs you announce a weird Prize to be worth thousands and thousands of dollars…and still nothing. Mr. Moore says you “want to get it right”, so I guess re-inventing the wheel must take a bit of time. But you lost the trust of artist and cultural workers a long time ago, and I don’t think you’ll get it back through lies and half-truths. Not even a nice try; your party hasn’t even responded to any surveys about your arts and culture programming.
You might be wondering what I think of the Royal Wedding. Royal pain in the arse. And I received my third (or fourth?) rejection from Eastern Edge, so I need to find some other way of getting my own butt to Newfoundland. After the election, I’ll stop procrastinating and get some more applications off. Oh yeah, and make some work. Right.
Off to watch a bit of TV, between the Canucks game and a translated version of Brian De Palma’s Blow Out from 1981.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 11:48 PM
subject Ouvriers agricoles: pas le droit de se syndiquer en Ontario; NDP surge puts Conservative majority at risk as Liberals collapse: poll
Dear Stephen,
For my last sick day of the year I decided to replace our bathroom sink with the one we bought at IKEA last weekend with my parents. Despite its Lego-like approach to product assembly, the job took a little longer than expected. First problem: the water intake hoses for the tap assembly were too short, and didn’t reach the connections. Second problem: the connections didn’t match anyway, and required adaptors. After a couple trips to Rona, a third problem: one of the connectors in the tap assembly is stripped, or blocked, or just plain poorly-made, and doesn’t screw tight, and leaks water. I tightened it as much as I possibly could, even applied the Teflon tape properly (counter-clockwise) but still, it leaks. So tomorrow I might disassemble it and return it to IKEA and never, ever buy appliances from that place ever, ever again. I’ll go to Home Depot instead, ha! Seriously, where is a good place to buy a bathroom tap? Someplace with ethics.
What do do on a Friday night when the wife is working late (Oboro has an opening tomorrow)? I made some phone calls into Saanich to try to help gauge support for Elizabeth May. There seem to be lots of retirees there, or perhaps that was just the neighbourhood I was reaching. Also I donated to Rob Moir’s campaign in Saint John. Even though Project Democracy is promoting Stephen Chase (lib), I have a feeling that Rob could ride the Orange Crush wave to victory. After all, both the incumbent and Chase are widely disliked, and Rob is super-nice, as well as a bright economist. Those factors are difficult to poll. Heck, aside from putting your desired majority at risk, what if the NDP actually beat you? Wow, that would be a shocker. What is more likely to happen is more vote-splitting, probably, and unfortunately, to your benefit. Why can’t we have some form of proportional representation that would better reflect the votes of the population?
I turned on the TV tonight thinking that there might be a hockey game on, only to see reruns of the Royal Wedding. It almost made me vomit in my mouth. What utter bollocks. All the pomp and circumstance, I just can’t get behind it. Isn’t a monarchy basically a type of dictatorship? I guess in Britain they don’t have a lot of power, except as expensive figureheads just “being there”.
DEAR PM 