Rogers Cable has some great on demand candidate election video available. If you’ve got digital TV, you should definitely check it out. More details here.
They’ve got on-demand video profiles and panels with candidates from each of the ridings organized by riding and party affiliation. For my riding, Parkdale/High Park they also had an all candidates panel from a “Goldhawk Live” episode featuring Peggy Nash, Jurij Klufas, Rob Rishchynski – and that horrible Sam Bulte.
The mini-scandal surrounding her fundraising hijinks inevitably came up and she again made a reference to Michael Geist and those “pro-user extremists”. She spit out those words in a way that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
She also let slip that for her, the extremists are only in it “because they want to download”. Downloading? Excuse me? This has nothing to do with downloading. This is about you being a paid instrument of big business, Hollywood and a threat to my fair use rights.
How is it that someone so insolent, disrespectful and misinformed can actually be involved in key legislation that so fundamentally affects the fair use rights of Canadians?
At one point, the candidates were asked if they lived in the riding. She looked right into the camera and completely evaded the question. Only when pressed did she admit that she didn’t live in the riding but “…spent enough time in Parkdale/High Park” so that it didn’t matter where she lived.
Sam Bulte lives in Forest Hill in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding –
One of Toronto’s most affluent neighborhoods. According to the 2001 census, 38 per cent of the population are immigrants. A significant number of residents list Italian or Jewish origins. Average family income is $116,715, the fourth highest in Canada. The unemployment rate is 5.7 per cent.
High Park/Parkdale?
It is home to a mix of longtime and new Canadians, with an immigrant population of 42 per cent. It also has a large Polish-speaking community. Primary employment sectors are manufacturing and service sector. Rentals outnumber homeowners, 62 per cent to 38 per cent. Average family income is $76,648 and unemployment is 6.6 per cent.
See – the reason Sam ducks the questions because she doesn’t really fit in too well with those that she governs. Coming from such a nice rich and privileged part of town, its no wonder that she fits in so well with those Hollywood big shots that are funding her re-election campaign.
She was also asked why she held her fund-raiser at the Drake Hotel – a venue outside of the Parkdale/High Park riding. Her response? Couldn’t find a venue large enough. Well Sam, a quick search of Google tells me that Royal Canadian Legion #101 seats 220. The ballroom at the Boulevard Club? 450. I didn’t even bother to check into the numerous churches, halls and other facilities in the area. BTW – the Drake? Only seats 150.
My guess? The Drake is trendy cool and much more in line with the expectations of her hoity-toity contributors from Big Media – Sony, Warner, Universal – you know the gang. So rather than bringing her friends (and valuable business) into the riding she represents, she’d rather send the money elsewhere and then lie about it on TV. Couldn’t find a room big enough indeed.
Sam – spend some time in area, you’ll be quite surprised at what we have to offer. Heck, you might even learn something about us. You’ve proven yourself clueless about technology, copyright and my fair use rights, but I’ll bet you’ve got some capacity to figure something out about the people and businesses in this area that have supported you for the last few years.
Anyways, there’s some hope here. In 1993, the Liberals won the riding by a commanding 16,000+ votes. This fell to 11,000 in 1997, rose to 12,000 in 2000. In 2004, the gap was 3500 votes.
I bet there’s another thing that Sam doesn’t know about her riding – that there’s at least 3500 pro-user zealot extremists that won’t be voting for her in this election.
