Courtesy of Paul Wells

[c9]

... But here's an ad I'd run this weekend, if I was a Grit and seriously worried I was about to lose big:

BLANK BLACK SCREEN

TYPE APPEARS ACROSS SCREEN AS DEEP, URGENT VOICE READS TEXT:

"Foreign Minister Stockwell Day"

SCREEN DARKENS; RELIGHTS ON LIBERAL LOGO; BRIGHT WOMAN'S VOICE READS:

"On January 23, Vote Liberal."

Comments

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

can you explain this joke to an american?

[c9.livejournal.com]

Sure thing!

The more right-wing predecessor to the Conservatives was the Canadian Alliance. Their leader was Stockwell Day, a born-again Christian who believes in Creationism, etc. He bounced between "really scary to most Canadians" and "really ridiculous." He's now the Foreign Affairs critic in the opposition's Shadow Cabinet, meaning he'd likely be Foreign Affairs Minister in a Conservative government.

Hope that helps a bit.

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

Hope that helps a bit.

:: nod ::

[c9.livejournal.com]

More Stockwell Day trivia: one of the big planks in the CA platform was a willingness to allow voter-sponsored ballot initiatives, like in the US. He said (paraphrased) "if 3% of Canadians sign a petition, we'll hold a binding referendum on the subject." First, that's hugely scary -- re-open abortion? (Canada has no abortion laws, pro or con) Re-open capital punishment? We're all about the "don't offend and don't argue" on huge huge issues, most of the time, so that idea bothered a lot of people.

Secondly, Rick Mercer (comedian you'd probably seen on CBC) started a website petition to force Stockwell Day to change his first name to Doris. Within about 72 hours he had enough signatures to meet the 3% requirement. After a month or so, there were almost two million, if I recall correctly.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/11/17/bc_dorisday001116

[ratonil.livejournal.com]

Secondly, Rick Mercer (comedian you'd probably seen on CBC) started a website petition to force Stockwell Day to change his first name to Doris. Within about 72 hours he had enough signatures to meet the 3% requirement. After a month or so, there were almost two million, if I recall correctly.

THAT WAS BRILLIANT!

[nihilicious.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention the Sea-Doo and the "Doris" incident.

[nihilicious.livejournal.com]

Ah. And by forgot, I meant "half-forgot".

[c9.livejournal.com]

Both appear later.