The Black Rod

With a barrage of insults aimed at the leader of the Manitoba P. C. Party, millionaire moocher David Asper has politicized the Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team. Asper was spitting mad at Opposition leader Hugh McFadyen on CJOB last Thursday for expressing doubt that Asper could repay the $90 million that the NDP is lending him to build a new stadium and become the team's owner. "Everybody needs to stay focused... and not get distracted by Mr. McFadyen's cheap slogans , " hissed Asper. "It's so incredibly disappointing, frankly, to hear the scope of how uniformed or ill-informed he is ." " You really have to wonder the value of his contribution to this debate." "It's a fundamental, fundamental, misunderstanding by Mr. McFadyen of what this deal is all about." "I just find it very disappointing and, you know, I think that Mr. McFadyen certainly has the education to be a smart person but......

It had all the perverse fascination of a two-headed calf. Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk, who can barely speak English at the best of times, was mumbling and bumbling her way through her first budget. Her shellshocked NDP colleagues sat in stunned silence. They could barely rouse themselves to slap their hands together once or twice at the obligatory applause lines. You hear more enthusiasm at a funeral. The government of unelected Premier Greg Selinger was laying out its vision for Manitoba for the next five years: SPEND. SPEND. SPEND. Yup, the NDP is going to spend its way out of the recession. Gone is the pragmatic social democrat Gary Doer. In his place is doctrinaire socialist Greg Selinger. Deficits are good, balanced budgets are bad , said Wowchuk, his handpicked finance minister. In the good times past, the NDP spent every cent they could get their hands on. And in the current hard times, they're going to spend billions of dollars (they don't have...