Snow Way That’s Cool

My bad. I put away the snow shovel before June. Sorry Regina.
I saw snowflakes flying in the street lights as I left the Lawson Thursday night.

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As you may have noticed, I’m now an aspiring politician as well as a political blogger. We’ll see how my political blogging insight/baggage/humour serves me in my upcoming race to become a Regina City Councillor. You’re invited to enjoy the show too. If you’re in Regina, I hope you’ll offer to support my campaign too, and help show it’s possible for young people who grew up blogging/facebooking to win political office (despite all of their hilarious hijinks indexed in Google). For instance, did you know I twice sold half eaten sandwiches (the first buyer has already endorsed my campaign, via Twitter)? True story. It’s also true that I can be serious when the time calls for it, so I hope my online personality is taken with a grain of salt if you’ve not met me in person.

If you want the same old Saskboy bloggin’, you’re in the right place. If you want primarily press releases and campaign updates, try my campaign website. A right wing, former SK radio producer sparked an interesting discussion on Twitter the other day about my two accounts. I described them as “channels” so viewers of Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff don’t get too much Regina civic politics.

@tammyrobert It's not like @saskboy could tweet something and not have it known that it was John who said it.

— Ryan Holota (@ryanholota) May 23, 2012

Here’s a handy list of declared candidates for the Regina civic election.

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In important news I’ve not had time yet to blog about, the RoboCon investigation proceeds out of view of the media. As the Etobicoke Centre election nullification demonstrates, EC has been incompetent [paperwork, and enforcing, and not losing it] on at least one front, and appears to take too much time to convict guilty Elections Act violators in other serious circumstances. Four lead investigators will never sift through the 800 serious reports of illegal phone calls made, in time to punish the benefactors and perpetrators of the crimes.

The other Elections Canada investigator whose name has surfaced in connection with the robocalls investigation is Mr. Charbonneau, though he appears to be focused on investigating possible instances of fraudulent phone calls being reported to Elections Canada outside the riding of Guelph, Ont. Based on media reports, Mr. Charbonneau has interviewed people in Thunder Bay, Toronto, and the riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont.

Once the Elections Canada investigation is complete, the findings would be turned over to Commissioner of Canada Elections William Corbett, who would then decide whether charges should be laid.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Ted Optiz’s 2011 federal election win last year was declared null and void by an Ontario Superior Court judge on Friday, May 18. Mr. Opitz won the election by 26 votes, but former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj challenged the election result in court over voting irregularities, according to the CBC.

Justice Thomas Lederer set aside 79 ballots in his ruling in Toronto. Mr. Optiz has eight days to appeal, according to the CBC, and if he does, the case could be heard by the Supreme Court by June.

Meanwhile, the federal Conservatives reportedly want the Federal Court to throw out the Council of Canadians’ legal challenge that claims misleading telephone calls were made in the last election in seven ridings, including: Elmwood-Transcona, Man.; Winnipeg Centre, Man.; Don Valley East, Ont.; Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Sask.; Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont.; Vancouver Island, B.C.; and Yukon.

Will we see the Ontario Tories implicated in a new Robocalls scandal? LaRue says yes. If that happens, it’s interesting to note who the PCs’ current president is, and who he worked for prior to his latest gig organizing for Hudak’s Tories. A bit of homework for you, if you don’t know.