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Brian Gallant and Karine Lavoie aren't the only ones getting engaged.

The New Brunswick Liberal party is using the news of the premier's impending marriage to "engage" with voters by gathering their email addresses.

But it's not to invite them to the wedding. It's to send them pro-Liberal messages.

The party is asking people to use a form on the Liberal website to "join us in congratulating" the premier on getting engaged to Lavoie.

The form doesn't work unless the well-wishers submit their email address, and Liberal party president Joel Reed acknowledged Thursday it's so the party can send them Liberal promotional material in the future.

"It's probably evident that if you submit your email address voluntarily to a political party, we're going to assume that you're interested in our activities and try to stay in touch with you," Reed said.

Reed said "all parties" place a lot of importance on gathering email addresses.

He noted that Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau have both used "these sorts of outreach tools quite effectively and extensively. Gathering information is now vital to everyone's campaign strategy."

Reed also said most visitors to the Liberal website "are most likely supporters, or at least interested in the party. A very significant proportion would be existing members, and this allows us a quick and convenient way to update their contact information."

The web page includes a photo of Gallant lifting Lavoie off the ground in an apple orchard, the same photo he tweeted on March 13 when he revealed the couple was engaged. There's no date yet for the wedding.

The request doesn't break any rules, and it doesn't use any government funding.

Liberal party president Joel Reed said all political parties place a lot of importance on gathering email addresses. (LinkedIn)

The page also has a link to the party's privacy policy, which clearly says an email address can be used "to communicate with you about the New Brunswick Liberal Party and its activities, as well as to provide you with news and information."

Reed said people who submit engagement congratulations can also unsubscribe from the Liberal emails once they start getting them.

He said the premier's office wasn't involved in the decision to solicit the congratulations and emails but said Gallant was probably asked for permission.

A few hours after the New Brunswick Liberal party tweeted a link to the congratulations page, Gallant used his own Twitter account to thank people who had sent their best wishes. He didn't link to the Liberal web page.

Author Susan Delacourt says Gallant is "following in the path of many other political leaders who do this."

In 2014, the president of the federal Liberal party went online to ask for congratulatory messages for Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie on the birth of their third child messages that required the senders' email addresses.

And then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper invited visitors to the Conservative party website to wish his wife Laureen a happy mother's day in 2013, while submitting their email addresses and postal codes.

"It's all about the same thing. It's about collecting email addresses, which are way more valuable to political parties than membership fees," said Delacourt, the author of Shopping for Votes, a book about how political parties have adopted retail marketing technique.

"Once you've got an email address, you've got a foot in the door to their lives," she said.

Journalist Susan Delacourt believes Canadians' relationship with their politicians has changed since the consumer boom of the 1950s. Consumers have wants, she says. Citizens have needs - a theme she explores in her book Shopping For Votes. (Adam Scotti)

Delacourt said parties are especially interested in engaging with voters with only a passing interest in politics, because they're easier to sway with direct, targeted messages.

"Often email and Facebook and all those places are where politicians are finding people," she said.

Reed said he didn't have any numbers on how many people have used the web page.

Delacourt said people who wish Gallant and Lavoie a lifetime of happiness are likely to receive a lifetime of emails from the Liberals, including requests for donations, notices of what Gallant is doing as premier, and information on his election platform next year.

"Data is now the way people win elections, and email addresses are the way they collect that data," she said.

And despite Reed's assertion that recipients will be able to unsubscribe to the emails, Delacourt said "it takes a lot to get off" party email lists once you're on them.

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Premier's engagement used by Liberals to woo email addresses - CBC.ca

Published 8:03 a.m. ET March 16, 2017 | Updated 24 hours ago

In todays turbulent political climate, its more important than ever that you stay on top of the issues of the day and become engaged in those you care about. Toward that end, we present Stay Informed, Get Engaged." Wochit | Randy Bergmann

The more hysterical liberals become about Russia, the more your antennae should go up.

Their selective misgivings with Russia are just like their selective alarm with (our ally) Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the nationalist Chinese government, and (our ally) Ngo Dinh Diem, president of South Vietnam.

As explained in lavish detail in Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, liberals instinctively lunge toward treason.

They say Putin is a thug and a bully who kills journalists. Liberals never used to mind Russian leaders killing journalists. Nor millions of scientists, writers, Christians, Jews, kulaks, Ukrainians and the entire 1980 Soviet Olympic hockey team.

Have you guys heard of the Evil Empire? Now Democrats are hypersensitive to a Russian leaders flaws?

Liberals were cool with the show trials, the alliance with Hitler, the gulags, the forced starvations, the shooting down of American planes and goose-stepping through Eastern Europe.

But that was when the Russian leader was Joseph Stalin or Nikita Khrushchev not the beast Putin!

Back then, liberals were spying for Stalin (Julius Rosenbergs code name: Liberal), the U.S. president was calling the bloodthirsty dictator Uncle Joe, and The New York Times was covering up Stalins infamous crimes. In the storied history of fake news, the Times Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize for his false reports denying the Ukrainian famine, in which more than 7 million people were deliberately starved to death.

As far as the Times is concerned, those were Russias halcyon days!

Back when Russia was actually threatening America with nuclear annihilation, Jimmy Carter warned Americans about their inordinate fear of communism. Sting sang that the Russians love their children, too.

But now liberals are hopping mad with Putin. They could never forgive Russia for giving up communism.

To add insult to injury, Putin embraced the Russian Orthodox Church! This was deeply offensive to fiercely Christophobic liberals.

Russias descent into insanity and madness was clear when Putin refused to allow LGBTQ marches through Red Square. For having the same position on gays as Obama did, circa 2008, Russkies were walking on the fighting side of liberals!

Trumps election victory was the capstone of the lefts rage with Putin. To explain the inexplicable, Putin was made the center of liberals axis of evil, the mastermind of a malevolent plot to steal the election from Hillary Clinton.

Thats how liberals became born-again John Birchers, seeing Russians under every bed. Now, no fear of Russia is inordinate. The Russians do not love their children, too.

We really could have used some of this fighting spirit about 50 years ago when the Soviet Union sought total world domination and Stalins spies were crawling through the U.S. government. But back then, liberals were blackening the names of Whittaker Chambers, Richard Nixon and Sen. Joe McCarthy. (Later proved 100 percent correct by the top-secret Venona Project.)

Russias loss of the lefts esteem happened very quickly. As recently as 2008, The New York Times editorial page was demanding that Obama signal to the Russians that he wants better relations, and complaining of the alarming deterioration of Russian-American relations under Bush.

It was considered the height of statesmanship when Obama was caught on a hot-mic in 2012, telling Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility. I understand you.

To hoots of laughter at the Democratic National Convention, Obama said: You dont call Russia our number one enemy not Al-Qaida, Russia unless youre still stuck in a Cold War mind warp.

MSNBCs Rachel Maddow couldnt contain her hilarity over the GOP offering an extra bonus of threatening Russia.

But today, Democrats (and two especially showboating Republicans) are horrified that Trump wants to get along with Russia.

When the same people who hailed Stalin as a beloved American ally are happy to threaten Putin with thermonuclear war, we may deduce that the lefts newfound Russia-phobia has some seditious objective.

Historically, liberals show their manliness by demanding war with our friends and allies, while methodically undermining Americas ability to fight the wars its already in.

The No. 1 enemy of Western civilization today isnt non-communist Russia. Its Islam.

And who is a key ally in that fight? Russia has been dealing with these troublesome Muslims for centuries. It was Russian officials who tried in vain to warn our blind, incompetent government about the Boston Marathon bombers.

The lefts hysteria about Russia isnt just an attempt to delegitimize Trump. Its the usual Christophobic fifth column rooting for the Islamization of the West.

Ann Coulter is a syndicated columnist.

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COULTER: Liberals singing different tune on Russia - Asbury Park Press

The spring session of the B.C. legislature ended Thursday with the Liberal government failing to pass its own bill to require more frequent reporting of political donations.

The Election Amendment Act, which was introduced Monday, died on the order paper as MLAs left town to prepare for the May9 election campaign.

It was the only piece of government legislation that failed to pass after a session dominated by questions about Liberal fundraising tactics.

Premier Christy Clark had promised the bill in response to persistent criticism of her partys cash-for-access dinners in which donors pay thousands to dine with her and her ministers.

Government house leader Mike de Jong said Thursday that the Liberals had hoped to pass the bill, but were unwilling to use a closure motion to end debate and force a vote.

It was our intention, but we werent going to impose closure, thats for sure, he said, adding: I think, generally speaking, these issues, these statutes, bills deserve to be debated.

Besides, he said the Liberals already practise what the bill would have required by releasing lists of donors every few weeks. Every party can do this if they wish to. We are.

Opponents, however, said the Liberals never had any intention of passing their bill or any of the private members bills to ban corporate and union donations.

Thats how committed they are to election finance reform, said NDP Leader John Horgan.

They were so committed that they left it until the last minute to table a bill that was dead on arrival and theyre not even going to bother to pass it. So that speaks volumes.

Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver called the Liberal bill a cynical ploy to give the appearance of taking action, while doing nothing.

It was a ploy designed solely to try to get British Columbians to believe that theyre taking steps to deal with big money, he said. Its a talking point, but there was no intention that this was ever going to pass. Frankly, the bill doesnt do anything, anyway.

Horgan said he expects fundraising to be a major issue during the campaign because voters have serious concerns about the influence of big money on provincial politics.

They see donors to the B.C. Liberal Party getting government contracts, he said. They have a problem with that. The B.C. Liberals have been doing deals with the same people that have been giving them money for the past 16 years.

But de Jong said the public is more interested in jobs and the economy than the fundraising debate that dominated the legislative session.

Actually, the economy, job prospects, thats all people are talking about, he said.

Its easy over here to become preoccupied with the discussion that takes place back and forth.

lkines@timescolonist.com

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BC Liberals fail to pass their political donations bill - Times Colonist

More and more liberal Americans are embracing socialism. Unfortunately, it seems many of them arent aware of the realities that citizens in countries like Venezuela face. Filmmaker Ami Horowitz spoke with Americans who call socialism great. Then, he traveled to Venezuela to speak with men and women actually living in the horrific environment that socialist policies have created.

In this video, we meet Venezuelan citizens who struggle to find enough food each day and live in the middle of spiking crime and violence. As one woman told him, Most of the time we are starvingwe cannot find food, we cannot find milkwe cannot find basic things like sugar.

Another woman, who was pregnant, described standing in line all night for food to come away with only a can of milk. Other people described the extreme dichotomy between rich and poor in the country, talking about those in government have all the power and money. The video also showcases an epidemic of violence. The country has less than one-tenth the population of the United States but three times the murder rate.

Near the end of the video, Horowitz asks the Venezuelans what they would say to Americans who want to bring socialism to the United States. The responses were telling, as they warned people not to invite chaos and hunger into their lives.

They would have to live what we are living so they can see for themselves that nothing is good, so they see this is a nightmare for us, a terror, said one woman.

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WATCH: Liberals Love Socialism But These Venezuelans Should ... - National Review

The Ontario government's plan to dramatically cut hydro rates did little to boost support for the Liberals ahead of next year's provincial election, a new poll suggests.

The Mainstreet research poll, commissioned by Postmediaand released Wednesday, suggeststhe Ontario Provincial Conservative party remain in the lead despite the announcement, though more respondents saythey are undecided about who they would vote for if an election were held today.

Earlier this month, Premier Kathleen Wynne unveiled a plan that would slash residential and small business hydro bills by an average of 17 per cent andsee billions in costs lifted off customers in the short term.It meant that some $28 billion in costs would be refinanced, with futureratepayersshouldering the interest.

The move came as the Liberalgovernment was found to be trailing the PCs by some 14 per cent in a range of polls, and nearly even with the NDP.

According to the poll, which captured the views of 2,531 Ontarians on March 11-12, the move was received by 41 per cent of respondents as a political one. Even so, 47 per cent of those polled approved of the hydro plan, with 35 per cent disapproving.

For comparison purposes only, a random sample of this size would yield a margin of error of plus or minus 1.95 per cent.The poll was conducted by interactive voice response and included landline and cell lineresponses.

"Right now, it looks like Wynne has succeeded in expanding the number of Ontarians who might vote for her," Mainstreet Research executive vice-president David Valentin said. "But that doesn't mean they will."

Demonstrators unhappy with the price of electricity protest at Queen's Park on Wednesday, November 23, 2016. (Mike Crawley/CBC)

"Everywhere I go I hear from people worried aboutthe price that they are asked to pay for hydro and the impact that it has on their household budgets," Wynne said, making the announcement at Queen's Park almost exactly two weeks ago.

The Liberals don't appear to have garnered any new support following Wynne's announcement, the poll shows. In fact, it notes they dropped two percentage points within the margin of error.

"Anger over hydro prices doesn't just work like a light switch. You can't just turn it on and off," said Valentin. "I think if people begin to see a real tangible change in their hydro bills come September, then maybe we'll start to see more traction."

But with the number of undecided voters up among every demographic in the province, the numbers do indicate they've managed to "knock voters away from the opposition parties for now."

The largest jump in undecided voters came from southwestern Ontario, while the GTA's undecided rate was largelyunchanged, it found. And among all those surveyed, the PCs posted a 10-point lead.

However, all bets were off on the issue of Ontario's hydro plan alone, the poll found, with PC leader Patrick Brown's lead disappearing altogether when respondents were asked who had the best plan for the province.

"When asked which provincial leader has the best Hydro plan, the results point to a three-way race," Valentin said.

"ButI think the question is not how many people are going to base their vote just on who has teh best hydro plan but has the premier been able to change the ballot question to not focus on hydro at all. If she can focus Ontarians on her plan for free tuition for low-income students in September or on upcoming job reform... she'll be doing a lot better."

The PCs have so far presented no plan for cutting hydro rates.

And earlier this month, Ontario's New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath released a plan to reduce rates by as much as 30 per cent for some households. The cornerstone of her plan was buying back shares of Hydro One sold by the government to private investors.

And earlier this month, Ontario's New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath released a plan to reduce rates by as much as 30 per cent for some households. The cornerstone of her plan was buying back shares of Hydro One sold by the government to private investors. (CBC)

That plan appears to have resonated with voters, the poll found.

Horwath's score on the question of hydro alone was four percentage points higher than her score overall on voting intentions.

On Wednesday, Horwath issued what she called a challenge to Wynne:To table the details of her plan at the legislature for debate Monday.

"Show the people of Ontario what your $40 billion dollar borrowing deal really means... People deserve to see it in black and white."

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Ontario Liberals' hydro rate cut plan did little to spark voter support, new poll suggests - CBC.ca