Even Stevie H. thinks Obama would be good for Canada

Election Notes: Oh Gary, where art thou?

• Almost 200 people took to the streets of Sidney on Saturday to demand firm commitments from Saanich Gulf-Islands federal election candidates about where they stand on the issue of oil-tanker traffic being permitted to troll the waters of British Columbia’s north-central coast.

Representatives from the Liberal, NDP, Green and Canadian Action Parties were all on hand to address the rally—and all endorsed a ban on tanker traffic in the waters around the Great Bear Rainforest. Yet, despite the fact the march terminated at his constituency office, and despite the fact that the microphone was open to him should he decide to join the celebration, Conservative MP Gary Lunn was a no-show—which has become something of a campaign strategy for the natural resources minister.

Also absent from the event was the media. (Monday included. Oops).

“ We thought that considering there were 200 people there, and considering it was the first time the roads ever closed in Sidney, and considering it was a big issue that concerns the biggest-ever infrastructure project in the history of Canada, which is the Enbridge pipeline, we thought it really deserved a bit of press,” said Dogwood Initiative’s Charles Campbell.

• A Victoria resident is the brains behind a website that’s been generating widespread attention for it’s not-so-subtle message that perhaps Canadian politicians could be a little more charismatic in their quest for high office.

Sean Kane’s website, barackobamaforpm.com, has been generating several hundred hits a day, and has received mention on the Tyee Online and the CBC for its quirky images of Canadian politicians sporting Obama gear tailored with their party logos.

“Really, the purpose was to inject some light-hearted humour into the election landscape here, and propose that maybe a little more personality in our own election wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing,” Kane told Monday. “At the same time, if it got a few people excited about what’s going on here in our own election, maybe people who weren’t paying attention otherwise, that might not be a bad thing. And of course, if [Canadian politicians] spiffed up their wardrobes a bit during the process, that might not be a bad thing either.”

Kane is selling the shirts through his website, with $1 from each shirt donated to the Canadian Red Cross.

• While he may not be winning any points from the left for his preoccupation with law and order, Victoria Conservative candidate Jack McClintock is certainly winning the sign wars—downtown at least—with his fields of blue and white and cadre of over-exuberant supporters that greet commuters making the morning trip into the city centre.

• Esquimalt Juan de Fuca Liberal incumbent candidate Keith Martin reiterated this week his contention that the region’s municipalities should be free to opt out of any region-wide sewage treatment scheme.

“The largest infrastructure project in Victoria’s history will add up to $700 to the taxes on every household in our community with minimal benefits,” Martin said in a release to media. “A wiser course of action is to do a cost-benefit analysis of the project and allow municipalities to work with the CRD, or opt-out and develop their own projects such as what has been proposed in the Westshore.”

• A crowd of nearly 100 politicians, artists and their supporters filled the Metro Studio for a September 21 town hall meeting hosted by ArtistsVOTE, a local committee dedicated to getting arts issues at the forefront of the upcoming federal election.

But there was one sector that decided the meeting wasn’t worth their time: the Conservatives.

While all candidates were invited and representatives from the Liberal, Green and NDP parties from the three South Island ridings came to participate in a discussion around the recently announced cuts to arts funding to the tune of $45 million, the lone representation from the Conservatives came in the form of a letter drafted by Victoria candidate Jack McClintock, which rattled off the Conservative party line regarding funding restructuring.

Despite—or perhaps because of—the absence of Conservative candidates, the two-hour meeting was a civilized discussion where 14 politicians and artists, including, among others, Liberal MP for Esquimalt/Juan de Fuca Keith Martin, Saanich/Gulf Island candidates Briony Penn (Liberal) and Andrew Lewis (Green), actor Jackson Davies, Theatre SKAM’s Matthew Payne and MediaNet’s Grace Salez, presented their views and plans for supporting the arts.

“The cultural climate and political climate have forced action,” Sandy Mayzell of ArtistsVOTE said at the beginning of the meeting. “The cuts have cut us.”

The federal cuts were universally condemned by artists and politicians alike, with Victoria NDP MP Denise Savoie saying “the Conservative policy seems to come right out of Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale.”

All candidates promised to restore the cuts and then some if elected, although Martin did stress that fiscal responsibility would be a priority for a Liberal government. Also raised were issues of vote splitting and possible coalition governments—a hot topic in an election where the Conservative strategy seems to be to keep quiet and let the left tear itself apart.

For more information on other ArtistsVOTE activities leading up to the federal election, visit artistsvote.ca.

• Alas, media focus on a 1996 nude romp by Saanich-Gulf Islands NDP candidate Julian West was too much to bear and West bowed out of the race on Tuesday. The naked truth is hard to hide.

—Jason Youmans and Amanda Farrell