from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, May 2, 2011 at 8:36 AM
subject «Une satisfaction sobre» – Stephen Harper; Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces; body buried at sea
Dear Stephen,
I had terrible post-election dreams all night long and slept fitfully. Tonight we plan to have supper with Jean-Michel and Kim and watch the election results unfold. In my dream there was a real-time computer program displaying results not only riding-by-riding, but polling station by polling station. It was a bit hard to watch. It was like my dream was affected by the Brad Todd exhibition at Oboro on Saturday and the BNL-MTL yesterday. Rose wuite enjoyed the Jean Dubois interactive video and sculptural installation. Unfortunately she fell off the curb just before our visit and has a nasty raspberry on her nose and upper lip, poor thing. It’s amazing how children have such resilience; she didn’t fuss after the initial fall, and doesn’t even seem bothered by the wound.
I’ll write to tell you more about the art, maybe tomorrow, but for now, just before work, and before we all vote, I thought I’d reprint twenty-five reasons why voting for you is a bad idea for Canada.
1. Contempt for Canada
The reason you’re being called to vote again, is because on March 25th, 2011, the Harper administration was found to be in contempt of Canadian parliament. This is the first time in the history of any commonwealth government that this has happened. The Speaker of the House of Commons had to rule three times that “the Harper government” appeared to breach parliamentary privilege.
2. Cheated in the 2006 Election
In Spring of 2011, a federal court found that Harper’s Conservatives wilfully violated the $18.3 million election spending limit, during the campaign which originally brought them to power in 2006. 4 Conservatives (including 2 Conservative Senators) currently face charges and possible jail time.
3. Turned Canada’s Surplus into Debt
In 1993, the Conservative’s chalked up a $38 Billion deficit. By 2006, under non-conservative leadership, this had been turned around into a $16 Billion surplus. Four years later, and Harper’s Conservatives have returned Canada to a record $56 Billion deficit.
4. Wants US-style bank deregulation
When Harper was president of the National Citizens Coalition, founded in 1967 to oppose Medicare, he supported US-style bank deregulation. Nevertheless, since the 2008 Financial Crisis, he has been taking credit for the relative strength of our financial sector, based on a system he inherited, but didn’t support.
5. Opposes Medicare
Harper believes that Medicare should be provincial, and wants to break it up. While heading the National Citizens Coalition, founded to oppose Medicare, he said “the feds” should scrap the Canada Health Act.
6. Harper shut down Parliament. Twice.
One of the Conservative platform promises was more accountability. Since making this promise, Harper has shut down Parliament twice. Once for several months to block an inquiry into Afghan detainees and to stall government bills, and a second time to avoid a vote of non-confidence which he was expected to lose.
7. Wants to replace the stable CPP with the untested PRPP
Although seniors’ incomes have dropped for the first time in decades, it is clear that the Harper government was laying the groundwork to replace Canada’s well-run, cost-effective, and stable CPP with a private, more expensive pension scheme – the Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP), run by the bank, mutual fund, and insurance industries. This new plan would mean Canadians would have to work for longer, or to retire on less.
8. Shut down Women’s and Minority advocacy groups
Since coming into power, Harper has cut funding for women’s advocacy by 43 per cent, shut down 12 out of 16 Status of Women offices in Canada and eliminated funding of legal voices for women and minority groups, including the National Association of Women and the Law and the Courts Challenges Program.
9. The Economic Action plan has been to the benefit of the super rich
Harper’s economic ‘recovery’ favoured the extremely wealthy. Over 321,000 Canadians lost their jobs in 2008 and Canadians’ average wages fell. Meanwhile Canada’s 100 wealthiest persons became richer, reaching an average net worth of $1.7 billion each, up almost 5 per cent from 2008. The majority of those surveyed by the Parliamentary Budget Office reported that the program has had either a neutral or negative impact on jobs. Even the conservative Fraser Institute has criticized it.
Canada.com & The Tyee & The Fraser Institute
10. Fraud.
One of Harper’s top aides, Bruce Carson, had been convicted of 5 counts of fraud, and is currently under investigation by the RCMP. Most recently he was lobbying the government to buy water filtration systems, from a company where his wife was employed.
11. Loosened regulations to allow more chemical residues on your food
Since taking office, Stephen Harper has weakened regulations so that more pesticide residues can be left on your fruits and vegetables. The plan is to bring Canadian regulations in line with U.S. Levels, which can be up to 100 times higher. Under additional new regulations, corporate food producers will be allowed to conduct their own safety inspections. In 2008, when Luc Pomerleau, a biologist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency with a flawless 20 year record with the agency, leaked these plans, he was immediately fired. Since then, the listeriosis meat outbreak killed 17 Canadians.
Canwest News [1] & Canwest News [2] & The Ottawa Citizen
12. Wasteful G20 spending, and a record number of arrests
At the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, Harper spent $1.9 million building an artifical lake and nearly $1 Billion on security for the 3 day event. 1,105 arrests were made – the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Of those 1,105 arrests, only 99 criminal charges were laid.
13. Report an unsafe nuclear reactor; get fired.
In 2008, Linda Keen, President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, reported that the aging Chalk River nuclear facility was at a risk 1000 times greater than the international average. Harper quickly fired her.
14. Stephen Harper has shut down Canadian aid to the world’s most impoverished countries
Despite consistently pointing out that Canada’s economy is a global leader – Harper used the excuse of poor economic times to freeze aid to some of the world’s most impoverished countries. An example of this is the African nation of Malawi, one of the 10 poorest nations in the world. Before Harper, Canada was the 6th largest aid donor to Malawi, and the largest supplier of school books. After coming into power, he closed the Canadian embassy in Malawi and took the country (alongside 6 other African nations) off of Canada’s aid priority list. Harper cut aid to Africa in half, before finally freezing all foreign aid in 2010.
15. The Harper Conservatives want to buy 65 stealth fighter jets using $29 billion of tax payers’ money
That works out to around $1000 per person in Canada. The Conservatives initially reported the cost would be $9 billion, plus $7 billion in maintenance costs. In March, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page warned Canadians that the Harper Government was low-balling the cost by more than $12 billion.
16. Refusal to sign UN declaration designating clean water as a human right.
In the 2011 budget, the Harper government failed to allocate any new funding for drinking water on First Nations reserves. 100 First Nations communities currently have water advisories, including 49 communities which are high risk. He also refuses to sign the UN declaration designating clean water as a human right.
17. Harper tried to quietly eliminate the Canadian long form census
The long form census is how our government determines the state and needs of the country, and is used extensively in various fields of research. In eliminating the census, many projects would be affected negatively, and it will become much more difficult to understand the needs of the country.
18. Never kept promises of cutting $1.4 Billion in federal subsidies given to oil companies
In 2007, Harper cut $1.2 Billion from the establishment of national childcare, but failed to keep his promise of cutting the $1.4 billion in tax breaks he gives to oil companies, which continue to see record profits.
19. Sabotaging efforts to deal with climate change
Protecting the interests of large oil companies, Harper has fought global efforts to deal with climate change. In 2009, he cut science research funding by $138 Million, and imposed limitations on scientists at Environment Canada, requiring that they obtain permission to do interviews, and often screened their responses. The result is that Canadian media coverage of climate change science has been reduced by 80%. His efforts here have been so destructive, that in 2009 prominent politicians and scientists called for Canada to be removed from the Commonwealth. The last time this mark of shame was used, it was against South Africa while it was still under racist apartheid rule.
20. Cancelled the Kelowna accord
The Kelowna accord was a $5 billion breakthrough agreement to improve the quality of health and education for Canada’s First Nation’s Peoples. Harper cancelled it in 2006, immediately after taking office.
21. Tarnishing our international reputation as Peacekeepers.
‘We detained, and handed over for severe torture, a lot of innocent people.’ in 2009 Canadian Diplomat Richard Colvin shocked the nation with these words. In Afghanistan, Canada captured 6x more prisoners than the British and 20x as many as the Dutch. Colvin explained that ‘Many were just local people: farmers; truck drivers; tailors, peasants…the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured.’
22. Wants more power, less oversight
The Conservatives have vowed to implement unprecedented levels of monitoring on Canadians’ internet activities. Harper has tried and failed (4 times) to create a law that would implement mass scale internet surveillance, and that would allow the government access to private information without any warrants, and without any court oversight.
23. Wasteful prison spending increases, and shutting down rehabilitation centres
Even though crime rates have been falling for a decade, the Harper administration plans to implement tougher laws, and to incarcerate more Canadians than ever before. Plans are to double annual prison spending by 2015 (an increase of $5 billion annually). Meanwhile, Six Prison farms, considered by some to be Canada’s most effective rehabilitation programs, where inmates produced food for themselves and other prisons – have been closed. This is in spite of having support from the majority of Canadians. Observers say that this will result in inmates being hardened, instead of healed.
24. Breaking traditions
Traditionally, the lobby in parliament has been decorated with photos of former Prime Ministers. Since taking office, Stephen Harper has broken this tradition, decorating the lobby with just photos of himself.
25. Renamed ‘The Government of Canada’ to ‘The Harper Goverment’
In late 2010, public servants from various departments confirmed that Stephen Harper has indeed renamed ‘The Government of Canada’ to ‘The Harper Government’.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:41 PM
subject Layton ambivalent sur son nouveau pouvoir; Conservatives, NDP look to fill centrist void left by Liberal collapse
Dear Stephen,
Well, I guess some form of congratulations is in order. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting a majority; the recent polls made it seem another minority would be the likely outcome. Do you think your scare tactics brought soft-Liberals into your fold in Ontario, or was it just a classic NDP-Liberal split? In any case, you have your majority, and there is not a whole lot to do now except start to better prepare for 2015. We all know what happened after the last Conservative majority in Canada. Also, the Conservatives have won 54.22% of the seats with only 39.62% of the votes, one of the least legitimate majorities in Canadian history. So please, try not to get cocky or arrogant about it. Again, it is so obvious we need electoral reform, and a system of proportional representation. Do we have to be dying in the streets to get it?
Spent the day nursing a post-election hangover. I didn’t drink too much, but didn’t leave Kim and Jean-Michel’s until 2:30. I still think I am in a state of shock, a little bewildered. I think I’ll finish this letter with a series of my recent Twitter posts, in order of most recent to yesterday, the notorious day of Election 41. It reads a little wonky, starting with a drunken and very brief backwards rundown of your acceptance speech. I’ll add a couple of your own tweets as well, if for no other reason than to remind you of all the great promises you’ve made, such as “completing” the economic recovery. Or to remind you that you do indeed have a Twitter account.
- A little economic stimulation with a van rental for work. To go and get stuff and move it around. http://4sq.com/kCSWS8 8:23am May 3
- Big election hangover, but the market life goes on. @pmharper have you started working on the economy yet? http://4sq.com/jPYIl5 8:21am May 3
- @acoyne I can’t even watch anymore 1:33am May 3
- RT@pmoharper: Can’t wait until I pass an omnibus crime bill to create new criminals and make up for the steady decline in the crime rate. 1:30am May 3
- @pmharper good, glad we can look forward to more security a la G20, with what values at it core? Now you take credit for QC sending NDP in 1:28am May 3
- @pmharper past tense props to LPC and more lies re Bloc QC, your speech makes me want to smoke crack #elxn41 ##elxn42 1:25am May 3
- @pmharper reduce crime? But the crime rate is already falling! You speak bullshit 1:23am May 3
- @pmharper “decisive endorsement of so many Canadians” still 40 per cent of 60 eligible voters makes me somewhat queasy 1:21am May 3
- “Building a great nation for all of us” does that include artists? The working poor? Sick? Immigrants? @pmharper 1:20am May 3
- “Great conservative victory tonight” @pmharper Lorainne crying 1:18am May 3
- @pmharper giving props to Preston Manning first thing 1:16am May 3
- Strong stable national majority conservative government : OMG 2015 can’t come soon enough 1:16am May 3
- @pmharper you got your majority, but at what cost? At least 3 QC cabinet ministers gone: huge rejection from Quebec 1:14am May 3
- “@jellerton: RT @brockm: Conservatives have won 30 of the 44 seats in the Toronto area tonight.” Why? What were you thinking? 1:12am May 3
- 43.8 per cent in NB voted Conservative. What’s wrong with you? 1:00am May 3
- RT @jianghomeshi This is why many dislike our “first past the post” system. Fact is, majority governments have been elected w/ lower % than Cons got tonite. 12:59am May 3
- RT BreakingNews Elizabeth May becomes first Green Party candidate to win seat in Canadian Parliament – GlobeandMail http://bit.ly/mTqWUN 12:47am May 3
- #emayin elected! Aside from huge gains by NDP, another bright spot 11:59pm May 2
- “@globepolitics: #elxn41 popular vote % results: CON 40 NDP 30.9 LIB 19.4 BQ 5.5 GRE 3.5 http://bit.ly/kNiPvE” ugh, I feel sick 11:33pm May 2
- #elxn42 in october 2015; please, can we please kick the cons out then? Please? Coalition 2015! 10:55pm May 2
- RT @Cyberpresse Lawrence Cannon, ministre des Affaires étrangères, est défait dans Pontiac. Un néo-démocrate est élu dans la circonscription. 10:51pm May 2
- NDP declared official opposition by Radio-Canada #elxn41 10:14pm May 2
- Damn, Rodney Weston re-elected in Saint John, but Rob Moir NDP a solid second #elxn41 9:45pm May 2
- #elxn41 results Maritimes so far: 18 CPC, 12 PLC, 9 NDP 9:38pm May 2
- Daniel Lessard from Radio Canada needs to ditch the flesh-coloured microphone 9:27pm May 2
- @justinpjtrudeau just swung by to say hi, see how the polling stations work 5:18pm May 2
- Voting! #artsvotecan #elxn41 dearpm.ca 5:16pm May 2
- Medium lineups at polling stations, but starting to get busy (@ Ecole Primaire Ste-cécile) http://4sq.com/mn3oQ3 5:15pm May 2
- A quick swing n slide before voting (@ Parc Victorien-Pesant) http://4sq.com/k6btJJ 4:52pm May 2
- RT @pmoharper Vote for me today: I will give your tax breaks to corporations, spend tens of billions on military/prisons & kill Cdn democracy #elxn41 1:42pm May 2
- Off to work, dearpm.ca last #elxn41 letter with 25 good reasons not to vote conservative (@ Station Jean-Talon) http://4sq.com/lnkvXW 8:56am May 2
- @pmharper «Une satisfaction sobre» – Stephen Harper; Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces; body buried at sea 8:37am May 2
- @pmharper I am still alive 8:37am
And now you:
- On May 2, I urge all Canadians to choose continued stability for Canada. http://ow.ly/4KRBA 10:11pm May 1
- Our campaign event in London, ON today at 2:00 p.m. EDT will be live streamed on www.conservative.ca/live. Tune in! 1:06pm May 1
- Our campaign event in Stratford, PEI this morning at 9:00 ADT will be live streamed on www.conservative.ca/live. Tune in! 7:08am May 1
I have to go eat something, and wash dishes. Tomorrow we head to Toronto for visits with friends, visits to museums and galleries, some shopping, some restaurants, general R&R. When do you get back to work on the economy?
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, May 5, 2011 at 10:09 AM
subject Les libéraux veulent éviter une course au leadership trop hâtive; Blood test touted for early detection of Alzheimer’s
Dear Stephen,
We’re in Toronto. The drive went well, though I would have preferred to take the train. When I spoke to someone at VIA rail a while back he said the prices were as high as they are because they receive far less subsidies than railways in the US. It would be nice if the train were more affordable, because the highways are clogged with huge trucks, and periodic slowdowns from constant construction. Isn’t promoting public and shared transportation a good thing?
So we’re off to see the MoCCA, AGO and shop along Queen West today. Melissa cooked us a wicked supper last night and will hang with us today. Rose was up at 5:50am because there was too much light coming through the window.
I’ll leave you with a letter I sent you from Leadnow.ca:
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
Nearly nine million voters cast their ballots for change. Nine million voted to strengthen our democracy, protect our environment and increase our equality.
Yet, because of our broken electoral system, you have gained near total control of our government with the support of less than 6 million voters.
You have a majority of seats, not a majority of support. In your acceptance speech, you said that “…we must be the government of all Canadians, including those who did not vote for us.”
We expect you to follow through with this commitment, and we will be here, from coast to coast to coast, to hold you accountable, build support for electoral reform, and achieve real progress on the issues that a majority of Canadians care about.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, May 9, 2011 at 9:48 PM
subject L’acte de candidature de Denis Coderre suscite aussi des interrogations; Nevada hunters recall finding ‘amazing’ B.C. woman alive
Dear Stephen,
We came back from Toronto a day early. We were having a good visit, but in the end we felt a bit like we were imposing on our host, Melissa, and also Toronto is really noisy, and big, and spread out, and noisy. We spent Friday mostly at the ROM, which was long, interesting, and slightly exasperating. The Liebeskind additions look striking from the outside, and from certain vantage points on the inside, though I found a strong resemblance to the Holocaust Museum in Berlin. It feels like he CC’d a bunch of concepts and designs from that very particular project and recycled them for the ROM. Many of the displays felt odd int he sharp angular spaces, though the custom partitions in the contemporary culture section were very well done and provided flat falls for hanging objects, such as Edward Burtinsky’s photos about oil. We’d seen most of those photos before – he had even taken photos of the Saint John refinery last decade – but some of the newer ones were quite striking, albeit a bit depressing. The end of oil, we’re living it, living it large, living it out.
Hey, an artist whose work I really admire is long-listed for the Sobey: http://zekemoores.typepad.com/
There is a peaceful protest scheduled for this coming Sunday in front of the Chinese consulate in Toronto. It is called 1001 chairs for Ai Weiwei. He has been detained by Chinese authorities (on vague, probably trumped-up charges of tax evasion) and unreachable for over thirty days now. I would protest myself but there doesn’t appear to be a Chinese consulate in Montreal, at least not yet. One is planned to be complete by July of this year. Which also happens to be the same month my Telus 3-year contract expires, hooray!
So today was back to work. Back to floorplans. Tomorrow I am chauffeur and driving the rental truck around for all sorts of little film shopping projects. Sarah is here for supper and relationships talks with Claudine. Rose woke up hungry and we fed her a second supper at 8pm, which was strange. She is cute and wonderful no matter what she does.
Sunday I spent a good hour waiting in line at IKEA (aka Hell on Earth, or #hellonearth on Twitter) getting our bathroom tap replaced. I installed it and realized I broke the water hose adaptor while trying to tighten the defective one, so now need a new adaptor before we have hot water there. Not a big deal; we use that sink mostly to brush teeth.
Hmm, after 1/2 bottle of wine, I think I might go watch the Canucks/Predators match. Just for the hell of it. And just the first period, maximum two.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, May 13, 2011 at 9:37 AM
subject Prix du premier ministre: 64 000$ pour une étude menée auprès de 89 répondants; Buoyant Layton seeks to ‘build a better country’ as Opposition leader
Dear Stephen,
Figured I can sneak a letter off to you during the day. I am not working today, but I still have lots to do. First is to finish a job application for curatorial assistant at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery at Concordia. I am not feeling intellectually-stimulated at my job. Yesterday I was at work until 8pm finishing Sketchup plans of the galleries and converting them to animations so that John can take a “virtual tour” down to New York and show John Currin how spatially bizarre our spaces are. As much as I like this part of the job, having zero say in curatorial decisions is a bit of a bust. I don’t expect to get the job at the Ellen, but it is probably a good idea to get my name out and get into the practice of applying for other jobs. I still have 2 years in my contract with DHC but I spend most of my days driving rental vans and moving random gear around for various PHI productions.
Also this morning I have to drop off a pile of signed forms for Rose’s new daycare. We secured a spot at Les Turbulent for end of August, when we come back from vacation. It is a great little CSE near metro Jean-Talon, a couple floors, bigger and more structured than at les Cavaliers. But we really, really like Latifa and her rapport with Rose and the other kids. Now that the weather has turned nice they are also going outside more and spending time at the park, which is why Rose has been exhausted at the end of the day. Les Turbulents will provide more socializing for Rose, it seems more like a school. There is a good ethnic mix of gardiens and children.
The other night Stacy babysat while Clo and I went to see the last OSM Symphonic production a the Salle Wilfred Pelletier. They gave 2 encores, it was a thrilling performance. They move into the new digs in a few months, when the construction is finished.
OK, enough procrastination (you hear me, Twitter?). I really have to finish this letter. Then there are the other items on my To-Do list: finish compiling my letters to the PM from 2010 and publishing on Lulu.com; finish adding the letters from the recent election campaign and re-formatting the book of campaign letters; work on illustrations for the Bovinities; hang the laundry; wash the dishes; clean the apartment (dusty!); visit Les Turbulents; buy groceries…the fun never ends.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, May 17, 2011 at 10:15 PM
subject Le NPD demande plus d’argent pour les arts, sans avancer de chiffres; 5 Libyan diplomats expelled from Canada
Dear Stephen,
Had a good weekend, we went to the opening of the new location of Galerie Division, in the Complex Arsenal, near the Lachine Canal. The artist was Allison Schulnick, who was presenting large paintings in the gallery and a video in the projects room. This “room” is a former factory for building boats. It’s not only huge, it is absolutely cavernous. It is immense. The video was rear-projected on a forty-foot wide screen near the middle of the space. It was entitled forest but was made as a music video for a song called Ready, Able by the Brooklyn-based band Grizzle Bear. How was it that I hadn’t heard of them before? Because I am not a hipster, I work too much and I spend all my free time hanging out with my little girl. I haven’t been to a live music show in I can’t even remember when. Seriously, I can’t remember. In any case, I bought their most recent recording, Veckatimest, from iTunes. It’s good, ethereal and folksy-pop-opera-ish. You might find them a bit strange.
Allison’s paintings are large and use a heck of a lot of paint. Clowns, hobos, destitute old men, forests and flowers are recurring motifs. She has a way of making paint look like cake icing. Rose’s favourite was The Funeral Party #2, which is 82″ x 136″, and was hung so low to the floor that Rose could easily reach i and in fact tried multiple times to run into it. It’s a game we play; I always rush over and scoop her up just at the last second. Our game probably gave the artist and the gallery owners multiple heart attacks but those are the risks of fine art. Not fire, theft or humidity, but small streaking toddlers. She can run quite quickly now.
I haven’t yet decided if Schulnick’s paintings are naturally quite good at being “bad” paintings or are just plain awful. Her technique seems to involve smearing as much paint on, gooping it up in key areas, applying paint direct from the tube, gauging into it, smearing some more, then sculpting bizarre clownish, elfish faces into them. The clumsiness seems even-handed somehow, even though the surfaces may not be, and compositionally things come together. Ultimately they feel a bit like a live acid trip unfolding before your eyes. There is a rawness and immediacy that is almost stunning, and the paintings seem fresh. Maybe they were still wet? I guess I like them.
The de-install for the Ceal Floyer show began today. Spent most of the day wrapping the photos with Karen and DA6.
I hear you and Parliament are back to work on June 2. Does this mean gas prices wil remain high or can you get those down beforehand? I seem to recall at one point near the end of the election campaign you suggested an NDP government would send prices through the roof. I guess we might not be talking about the same roof? I guess this will all get figured out as you work on the economy.
Richard Bergeron of Projet Montréal had this to say about the recent $108-million emergency loan to BIXI: «Ce ne sera jamais rentable. Ça, on va le découvrir en 2012 ou en 2013, quand Gérald Tremblay aura pris sa retraite.» I had a heck of a time with a BIXI on Friday, as I rented one with a lame tire and the station didn’t recognize that I had put it right back. As a result it wouldn’t let me take another and was charging my credit card for hours. Also, it was impossible to speak to a technician; it took 3 messages and 4 attempts, and holding the line for over twenty minutes, before I could get through. I was pissed off, but I’ll still get a membership. They are great fun in the summer. If summer ever arrives.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, May 18, 2011 at 9:27 PM
subject Quatre Québécois au nouveau conseil des ministres; New Tory cabinet is larger, more diverse
Dear Stephen,
Hearing about your new cabinet and yet more senate appointments gave me terrible gas tonight. It is going to be a long four years. Why didn’t you just make all your Quebec MPs Cabinet Ministers?
And Larry Smith, back in the bullpen? Even after he said that there wouldn’t be a place for him there? You’ve become so fast and loose with the Senate it is downright sickening.
From one of many anti-Harper sites:
“And how have those unelected Senators—who were appointed despite the fact that Mr. Harper said he wasn’t going to appoint unelected Senators—been spending their time? Well, for one thing they have been acting to thwart the will of our only democratically elected body of Parliament, the House of Commons. For example, they killed a climate change bill that had been duly passed by our elected Members of Parliament. And, to add insult to injury, they killed it without a debate. According to a Toronto Star article published on November 17, 2010, that was “the first time in at least 70 years that the Senate has killed legislation from the Commons without a hearing, according to parliamentary experts.”
’nuff said, for tonight. I’m going to try to make some real art.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, May 20, 2011 at 11:38 AM
subject La vague orange s’explique par le goût du changement; Harper, Stelmach to tour fire-devastated Slave Lake
Dear Stephen,
I took the day off work so I can write to you during the day. Hahaha, not for that reason alone, more so I can have some studio time. Of course, procrastination being a fundamental part of my being, I am currently finding all sorts of things to do apart from my studio. Built a system of shelves for our shoes in the hall closet (we moved our freezer there a few weeks back to give Rose more play room in the salon); bringing plants outdoors; watering the plants; loading the car with giveaway items; figuring out if our car insurance covers windshields and breaks. The crack in the windshield is getting larger. Is this dangerous? And Monday morning we found out our car had been broken into, thieves had broken the small rear window and taken our GPS unit. There was glass everywhere, it was raining, it was a hellish morning. Hell on earth. Might be a bit of what Slave Lake looks like right about now.
But tonight I am doing something art-related. I am meeting Jonathan Plante to discuss options for a proposal for VOX and the projects space in their new digs at 2-20 Ste-Catherine, which will be opening in the fall. It would be great to have a show in Montreal, but I can’t decide yet to pitch PM-related work, or branch out, maybe show the frottages.
Speaking about hell on earth, according to some the Judgement Day, or the Rapture, is going to occur tomorrow, May 21. Does your Church believe this? Do you personally? How would it affect your ability to govern if you think the world is going to end on October 21, 2011? And what does this have to do with the Mayan calendar? Or our own Freedom 2012?
Last night I watched part of a documentary on CBC about new technologies and our attentions spans and abilities to multi-task. Apparently, we don’t actually multi-task. When we think we are, we are actually switching between focused tasks very quickly. And numerous studies show that we can only really concentrate on one thing at a time, which is why using cell phones while driving is incredibly dangerous. When you are working on the economy, are you focusing on just one part of it at a time, or do you multi-task between all the various parts? How many parts does the economy have? Is it a hard thing to work on? Gas is down to $1.30 or so, have you been working on that part of the economy? And when you hear that “Le coût de la nouvelle génération d’avions de combat américains, le F-35, est devenu incroyablement élevé, selon le Pentagone”, how does that impact how you work on the economy? When you work on the economy, do you also think about the end of the world?
OK, gotta go get some of those items on my To-Do list crossed off. Maybe I’ll try the bathroom sink again. I’ll try a new adaptor this time. Did I tell you that the replacement IKEA taps still don’t connect properly? Have I told you lately how much I hate that place? It really is hell on earth.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, May 25, 2011 at 10:20 PM
subject Montérégie: l’armée reste «pendant la période d’urgence»; Outgoing AG issues call to arms on climate change, aboriginal poverty, aging population
Dear Stephen,
Work has been good, making progress on floorplans, maquettes and wall-building and repairs. Next up: lighting! The weather has been great as of late, which helps improve spirits. And Vancouver made its way to the finals on a bizarre, bouncing puck.
Today was Rose’s 17-month anniversary as well as her cousin Jordyn’s 1-year anniversary. I called my brother and Tamara to chat. They always seem to have a full house of guests!
Speaking of visits, I hear you are in Deauville, France for the G8 Summit. Coincidentally, one of the John Currin paintings that we will be showing is called Deauville. Here is a link to the image:
Thought you might enjoy that. What do you think of John Currin? Art-Star Bad-Boy, Gratuitous Inflammator, Renewed Renaissance Man, or a blend of all three?
I thought I’d share with you a little of my progress so far in becoming a delegate for the Conservative Party for the Papineau Electoral Riding. I haven’t registered for the conference yet but may do so tomorrow, in time for the Early Bird special of $760. How come only $600 of that counts as a political donation?
From: Maxime Lévesque <levesquemaxime@hotmail.com>
Date: 2011/5/24
Subject: RE: Congrès conservateur
To: dearpm@gmail.com
Bonjour Chris,
J’aimerais que vous rencontriez les membres de notre exécutif pour qu’ils puissent signer votre veuille; je suis à l’extérieur de Montréal pour la période estivale et je ne peux m’occuper de cet aspect. Tout d’abord, je vous mets en contact avec les personnes en question. Ensuite lorsque vous les rencontrerez, ils pourront discuter avec vous des enjeux dans Papineau et signer votre feuille. Une fois cela fait, veuillez m’en aviser et me joindre le document pour que je le voie et de mon côté, je pourrai envoyer un formulaire de notification au parti signalant que vous serez délégué.
Cordialement,
Maxime Lévesque
Voici les personnes à contacter:
Michel Dubé (vice-président)
(514) 796-3139
Jerry Pawlowsky (agent financier)
514-728-2149
Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 13:06:14 -0400
Subject: Fwd: Congrès conservateur
From: dearpm@gmail.com
To: levesquemaxime@hotmail.com
Salut Maxime,
J’ai eu un réponse de la partie de Marc-André Leclerc, responsable des opérations politique, que c’est possible d’être délégue, si vous avez les places disponible. Il faut que vous remplissez le formulaire. J’ai branché l’information sur le candidat. Appelles-moi quand vous pouvez, 514-295-3048, je voudrais envoyer mon inscription pour le congrès avant le 27 mai. Merci,
-chris
From: Marc-Andre Leclerc <MarcAndreLeClerc@conservative.ca>
Date: 2011/5/24
Subject: RE: Congrès conservateur
To: chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>
Bonjour,
Oui, il est toujours possible de vous ajouter sur la liste des délégués. Le président de votre association doit remplir un formulaire à cet effet.
Merci.
Marc-André Leclerc
Responsable des Opérations politiques – Québec / Political Operations Officer – Quebec
Parti conservateur du Canada / Conservative Party of Canada
Bureau : – Cell : 613.301.2503 / marcandreleclerc@conservateur.ca
From: chris lloyd [mailto:dearpm@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 mai 2011 11:19
To: Marc-Andre Leclerc
Subject: Fwd: Congrès conservateur
Bonjour Marc-André,
Je vous écrire pour savoir si c’est toujours possible d’être délégué pour le Congrès conservateur, même si j’ai manqué le réunion de mon association de circonscription électorale.
Merci,
-chris
From: chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>
Date: 2011/5/24
Subject: Congrès conservateur
To: levesquemaxime@hotmail.com
Bonjour Maxime,
Je voudrais assister au Congrès conservateur le 9-11 juin. Je sais que le date limite pour sélectionner les délégués et les suppléants/remplaçants était déjà fait, mais je t’écris pour savoir si il y encore les places disponible. Sinon, je vais aller comme observateur. Je suis membre de partie depuis 2008. Merci,
-chris
So at the moment I am waiting for a call back from either Michel or Jerry, as I was only able to reach their answering machines. I have to meet with them and have them sign my delegate form. I’ll keep you posted.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, May 26, 2011 at 9:32 PM
subject État palestinien: Harper sur la même ligne qu’Obama; No real need for pipeline between oilsands and West Coast: Bureaucrat
Dear Stephen,
Congrats to Bob Rae for becoming interim Liberal Leader. Now let’s just hope he can get around the silly rule imposed by the executive that dictates the interim cannot run for the full-time job.
So I registered today for the Convention, and it appears as though I will be the sole delegate representing Papineau. I spoke with Michel, the VP of the CPC Riding Association, and he and Maxime are working on the paperwork to have me confirmed as a delegate. I am now waiting for him to contact me to arrange a time to meet and go over all the necessary paperwork. Ironically enough, we will probably meet at the Tim Hortons on the corner. I say ironically because it seems as though my Tim Horton proposal that Jonathan took to the programming committee of VOX was among those accepted. We are still awaiting final confirmation from Marie-Josée, but hopefully it will pass and turn into an exhibition in their new space at some point in the coming 2 years.
One thing that Michel seemed quite taken aback by was that I was an artist and cultural worker. I guess there haven’t been too many of those in the CPC, at least not in Papineau. We’ll see where it all goes, but I feel like a major chapter is about to unfold in this whole art-politic-sport triad.
I see from a photo in La Presse the following quote: “Le temps d’une photo, Stephen Harper et Nicolas Sarkozy ont échangé leurs épouses respectives, ce jeudi, à Deauville”. Did you guys really do a wife-swap? Was this influenced in any way by the John Currin painting of the same name? Heck, if I may say so with no offence intended, Carla is a super-hottie, but Laureen is not half bad at all. I’d do them both. Of course, lately my sex-drive seems in depression. Do you think it has something to do with the Stanley Cup playoffs? Or my interest in the CPC Convention? Or is it just age?
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, May 28, 2011 at 9:09 PM
subject Corvée de nettoyage: l’objectif de 5000 bénévoles dépassé; Worst appears to be over in High River as water levels recede
Dear Stephen,
This morning I met with Michel Coté, VP and Jerry , Treasurer of the Papineau Electoral District Association. Guess where we met? At the Tim Hortons. The Papineau EDA is too poor to have an office. Did you know that the Conservative Party does not even have an office on the Island of Montréal? They explained the entire electoral history of Papineau. The last time the riding was not Liberal was Vivian Babot from 2006-08, and before that is was Alphonse Verville, a plumber for the Labour Party from 1906-1911. And that was when the riding was part of Hochelaga. So it seems Papineau has never had Conservative, PC or CPC representation.
Aside from the history, we also talked about the proposed amendments to the PCP constitution, in particular the amendments coming mostly from Ontario or the West that will try to give the EDAs more votes and therefore more clout in electing the leader or the executive. If those go ahead it really will seem like the PCP is turning its back completely on Québec.
On the plus side, I noticed that Tim Hortons has a new cup for camp day, so I collected a couple. Should make an interesting paper colour, to accompany the Xmas, regular and Roll up the Rim cups.
Yesterday I ran a ton of errands, including a trip to #hellonearth, IKEA, to return that busted tap. I bought a new one, a Grohe, at more than double the price, but double the quality, too. Bought some drawing materials (to finish those illustrations for Bob’s book of Bovinities), as well as some pricey linen (for a new edition of street frottages). Found 3 pyjamas for $10 and a playpen for Rose for $25, an incredible price. It was the last floor model. Perfect as we needed one for Ottawa in 2 weeks. I’m bringing Rose with me when I go to the Convention and she will stay with her Papi and Mami, but she needs a place to sleep.
OK, must get back to work, those drawing are due at the end of the month. Last minute Lloyd!
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, May 31, 2011 at 9:49 PM
subject Des conservateurs du Québec se sentent abandonnés; Layton least civil MP during Parliament: Researchers
Dear Stephen,
I had a message on our answering machine from Conservative Party headquarters when I came home from work. Maxime, the Papineau EDA president, has not yet sent in my delegate papers. I think maybe he is waiting for me to send him a copy of my signed delegate form. I will do it tonight, as we have a scanner and so it is no problem. Maybe I’ll post it on my blog, too. There is supposed to be a regional meeting tomorrow in Montreal to discuss the disastrous election results here in Québec, and the perceived abandonment of Quebec by the National caucus, but I haven’t received notice of it yet.
Today it was so hot I had to stop at H&M and buy some shorts and flip-flops for the Bixi ride home. I love it!
I hung out with my old buddy Rae-Seung the past couple nights. He had emailed me on Sunday and so I went downtown to meet him, and we watched the last ten minutes of the Saint John Seadogs Memorial Cup final. Last night he met me after work and we Bixied home and I made barbecue chicken, potatoes and veggies. Then we went to Parc Dante and played petanque. I have to try to remember to bring the petanque balls to work, as it would be fun to play during lunch.
Off to have a cold shower now, in between sketches for the Bovinities. I must email Bob and tell him my samples might be a couple days late. He is expecting them tomorrow. D’oh!
DEAR PM 