| by Jim-beau Lieyeah

| STAFF GONZO Tuesday, Feb.2nd, 12:25AM- Priorities, priorities, priorities. Mine are obviously misplaced right now as] really should be taking on other forms of “housecleaning.” Sometimes though, it is better to wait till the last minute to feel a sense of urgency... and I am here now. So here we go with a look at some of the big political stories of last week...

See Cap. (CCRAP)...

Stands for the Canadian Conservative Reform Party Alliance (CCRAP). I can not believe that in this day and age of spin doctors, one could actually proclaim to the world a new party name, CCRAP, and expect to be taken seriously. That only begins to give an insight into how far out of it Preston Manning is. The new party had problems convincing its own Reform founders that this would be the new party that would lead the right. They managed to poll only 74.6% of the original 1100 delegates. The party proudly proclaims itself to give every member a vote yet somehow 1500 votes were counted. Now that sounds like the work of a spin doctor. But even with arm twisting going on all over the place the right wing rainbow coalition of Conservatives and Reforms are being divided into two camps... those for it and those who will not oppose it. For those who oppose it

will etijoy the same fate as | To our governing Liberals,

House Leader Randy White from Langley /Abbotsford, BC. He got shitcanned because he stood opposed to this as_he thought it would further fracture the right and jeopardize gains made to date. The only one with enough brains to see what is going on is relegated to the back benches in Preston’s version of an open, democratic party. A party whose philosophies include a proposal for a federal flat income tax of 17% as wellas the tried and true western values of smaller government, law

tase lie CITT ee Ti Breton and

reliefdoes not look like it is coming STIL

and order. All this was done to try and con vote rich Ontario and try to make it a little less bitter than the previous Reform pill. But when Ontario Conservatives wake up and see Joe Clark (too chicken to run in Charlie Powers Conservative St.John’s, Newfoundland seat he stepped down from), have a look at CCRAP, stop laughing, then they will probably cry. For they know that they will swing their balance of power (over 100 of 300 federal seats) to the least threatening alternative... and it ain’t Alexa McDonough.

> *Wt° =

<i

not much (to Islanders it is everything that is produced on the Island in a year'!). That is the amount that an audit of 459 projects revealed was lost. How did this happen? Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) wrote checks for $1 billion without doing proper checks on the recipient companies administration or accounting practices. Right now the Minister, Jane Stewart, is getting hung out to dry for it. Jean Chretien, an old family friend, is standing behind her for more reasons than her uncle. He sees her in a type of (I hope not) Kim Campbell leadership role. She already has a lot of baggage before this debacle (what with her old pot problem and not being married and all- which is sure to offend Conservatives everywhere). Things are so out of control in her Department that when Tory Critic (her opposite number) Gilles Bernier requested information on the audit, they sent the whole thing over. To compound things they realized their error and asked for it back. When Bernier and company stopped howling, they started looking more carefully at it. And what ‘they saw was ghastly. Heads will certainly roll at HRDC and it could, probably should, cost Stewart her job. The interesting thing about this mess is that Pierre Pettigrew (another future Liberal leader hopeful and big

Politics ) continued on page 8 _- ;