If you’d like to see what Canadian bloggers are saying about the sponsorship scandal, head over to BlogsCanada’s group political blog.
Lots of posts up, including some good political cartoons by John Fewings.

It is rare to see a member of the governing party leave it.
Although some former Progressive Conservatives ‘crossed the floor’ in the recent merge, it’s unusual to see this. Liberal MP John Bryden quit his party today because wants the ‘idealism’ back that ‘motivated’ him as a back bencher Liberal.

Bryden, 60, represents the riding of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot near Hamilton. He sat on the Commons public accounts committee which is reviewing the spending of the sponsorship scandal. Watching denominations fight is becoming a regular pastime.

The Conservative Party was caught a bit off guard.
Isn’t 60 a bit old for political idealism?

Seeing Paul Martin ‘outraged’ on the CBC this weekend didn’t cut it.
Martin has wanted the PM’s job since he cut his baby teeth. I understand the scrambling in Ottawa. This is a crisis and well it should be. So, Martin gets what he wants and gets sideswiped.
Spinning will probably take hold eventually, but we can hope Canadians see more than PR tactics, and demand the government be accountable.

I find what Pierre Bourque has to say interesting…

The governing Liberal Party is nothing, if not pragmatic. Its one and only reason for existence is to govern. Period. Leaders, as a recent succession of leaders have sadly found out along the way, come second … unless they are potential winners at the ballot box. Bourque can reveal that, as the Party continues to free-fall (internal party numbers now show the Libs at 30%), a growing number of disgruntled Liberals, already unhappy with their leader for a variety of reasons (Chretien/Copps/Rock supporters, still-on-backbench Martinites, sponsorship-shocked trench warriors, ordinary members disgusted by the $1/6 Billion CSL scandal, etc), have begun pondering the imponderable: if not Martin, then who to lead the party into the next election ? The basic issue is this: Martin is a one-trick pony, integrity. If he loses that, he loses the party. A critical mass is forming around the shocking notion that the incumbent leader is a lame duck who will have to go before the next election. Developing …

Paying the Price
According the the Vanier Institute of the Family’s fifth annual report, economic growth has been hard on families.

The study says Canadian household spending has increased an average of 17.4 per cent in the past 15 years.

Disposable incomes have risen only 2.9 per cent in the same period, contributing to a 35 per cent surge in their debts.

And the bulk of that spending is not on luxury items, but on high-priced necessities including electricity, and insurance, tuition and user fees.

82% of families with children have two income earners and 83% of single mothers work.
Poverty law experts have been saying for quite some time now that the cost of living has gone up 7 percent the past fifteen years, while minimum wage has gone up 2 percent.
The full report can be found here.

Baptists
Too be perfectly honest I don’t understand the differences in Baptists. I just know there are a lot of different kinds of them. I know some Independent Baptists are kind of ‘out there’, and I think Southern Baptists wield a fair bit of political power. Some of their churches down south look expensive.
I see this story is starting to make the mainstream media in the US.
The Southern Baptists want to leave a group of world-wide Baptists and take the piggy bank with them.

The executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention voted Tuesday to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance, saying it has become too liberal and advocates “aberrant and dangerous theologies.”

The Anglicans are battling and splitting, the US Catholic church is still reeling, and I suspect we’ll be hearing more about Baptists in the days ahead.

“We want to underscore that our departure is not intended to cast aspersion upon the many godly and enthusiastically evangelical Baptist fellowships that are members” of the Alliance, said Morris H. Chapman, president of the convention’s executive committee.

Nevertheless, a task force report in December claimed the Alliance showed a “decided anti-American tone.”

The report also said the Alliance promoted women as pastors, frequently criticized the Southern Baptist Convention international missions board, refused to talk openly about abortion and funded “questionable enterprises.”

I counted 190 churches in the Canadian Southern Baptist directory.
The Baptist World Alliance was founded in 1905.
Well. Ok. I know a few more things about Baptists than I did five minutes ago.