It may take me a while to get back into the groove here. I started this blog sometime ago as a backup and it has come in handy since the previous server was extremely unstable and ultimately failed in every sense of the word.
So please be patient while I become reacquainted with this format. Thanks!
Blue Like You2 
I hope whatever the problem was with your previous ‘comeback’ post has been resolved.
LikeLike
Thanks Gabby. Glad you found your way here. This venue should be a bit more stable and secure. We will hang out here for now anyway. 😉
LikeLike
I hope you decide to stay … there are fewer & fewer venues where one like me — who hasn’t mastered Twitter & is reluctant to do Facebook — can vent.
LikeLike
Well please feel free to vent here anytime! I’m not sure when I’ll get the next post up but hopefully it will be something topical.
I have some work to do here and on the home front – as always. 😉
LikeLike
I don’t want to take up too much of your valuable time … but something gnawing at me is the social conservative “secret agenda” label that the media & opposition hung on Stephen Harper has now been revived for Andrew Scheer. His critics simply will not accept what he says, i.e. he will not bring forward legislation on divisive issues like abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage. Despite that, a local radio talk show host has gone so far as to state that politicians who do not fully support same-sex marriage should not be allowed to serve as politicians. Because it’s 2017, he keeps reminding his audience. And he calls on Michael Coren as his “expert”. People like him & his “expert” mouthe the “and I respect that” — meaning people who have a different opinion, yet they absolutely refuse to accept that those who don’t share their POV on conscience issues have as much right to hold & express THEIR POV.
LikeLike
Oh boy I hear you on that Gabby! I’ve been thinking the same thing. My sense is that this is all they’ve got for ammunition and it’s pretty thin gruel. I suspect the Liberals would have been much happier with Bernier. From what I hear they were all prepared for him to win.
It’s clearly a case of one party trying to define the leader before the country gets a chance to know him or her. Well Andrew Scheer needs to get out there! No doubt about that.
LikeLike
Once again, it boils down to effective communication. I hope Mr. Scheer forcefully affirms his position on issues & rebuts assumptions and/or misrepresentations of his position on all issues.
LikeLike
Absolutely!
LikeLike
Agree 100%, Scheer needs to define himself before the Liberals do. I think the biggest challenge is one term governments are rare, the last majority one term was RB Bennett back in the 30s, that being said that doesn’t mean it cannot be done. And even reducing the Liberals to a minority is preferable to another majority. Scheer was not my first choice, but he doesn’t seem too scary at the moment although I think next year’s policy session in Halifax will be important and my understanding is he is fairly good at listening to the grassroots. As you’ve probably seen from other posts, I am fairly moderate myself and had Leitch or Trost won I don’t think I would be able to support the party, but with Scheer so far I see no reason not to support them although I never make any guarantees (just in case one does something stupid, I am thinking about the recent Montana special election where the GOP candidate assaulted the reporter the day before, otherwise something like that where I would withhold my support) until I actually do vote for someone. I won’t be voting for the Liberals though as long as Justin Trudeau is their leader, that is one thing you can bank on as he is the most fiscally irresponsible PM I’ve seen in my adult lifetime (I was pretty young when Trudeau sr. left office who was even worse). My advice to Scheer would be get out and meet ordinary Canadians, not just Conservatives but average people who the Liberals are ignoring. He won’t beat Trudeau on selfies, but can beat him on having actual policies to help make life better for ordinary Canadians.
LikeLike
What a pleasure to have you back, Joanne. Like Gabby I have been unable to find myself comfortable with Twitter or Facebook and have sorely missed your site since the election. I do, however, follow your twitter feed which led me here. I am so glad the CPC leadership has finally been decided and will gladly support Andrew Scheer as long as he stays true to conservative principles. He has gotten off to a good start in his first few days.
LikeLike
Thanks Anne! I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to put up new posts but we’ll see how it goes. At least WordPress.com is stable. There may be ads popping up but that’s how they pay the bills.
LikeLike
For Miles Lunn:
I did not have a strong opinion on any of the candidates, primarily because I’m still trying to get over the loss of Stephen Harper. I know, it’s about time I did.
But it does bother me that people like Kellie Leitch and Brad Trost are maligned for holding the views they do. Don’t get me wrong, their prospects for winning the leadership and leading the CPC to an election victory in 2019 were practically nil. Ms. Leitch because of her whiny nasal voice and her views on “Canadian values” — the latter phrase being questioned with nonsensical quizzical questions like “What ‘Canadian values’?” as if they are non-existent. Yet the very people who mock Ms. Leitch mouthe “Canadian values” constantly. Google finds about 123,000,000 results for a supposedly non-existent notion. I guess they exist only if held by those on the left.
Brad Trost’s position on matters of conscience as well as on the CBC & on climate change are also not winning positions. However, the few times I saw him being interviewed he seemed very well-spoken, not coming across as abrasive, showed clear thinking AND most of all I appreciated him correcting the interviewer (Rosie Barton ?) when she misrepresented what the CPC had done vote-wise on same-sex marriage. It was IMO a real conversation, not merely a recitation of talking points rattled off for fear of forgetting some of them.
Anyway, I hope Mr. Scheer is thick-skinned, because if the media treat him the way they did SH the attacks are going to be merciless.
LikeLike
Generally concur. No doubt not just with the media, but social media too and the fact the left seems to at the moment be doing a better job at winning the battle of ideas, it will be tough no matter who we choose. Heck even Michael Chong who is the reddest Tory of the bunch probably would have been attacked for his income taxes favouring the rich. I think the main thing we have going is it does seem in recent provincial elections, win or lose, the main centre-right party outperformed what we did in 2015 so if we can get those who are voting centre-right provincially to vote Conservative federally we could at minimum knock Trudeau down to a minority if not defeat him outright. Obviously our goal is to win in 2019, but if not at least improve our vote share and seat count. Certainly the last few years have not been great for those on the political right, but things always swing back eventually and there are some positive signs that both Alberta and Ontario will swing rightwards next provincial election and considering how close we came in Nova Scotia, despite being the most difficult province to win, I wouldn’t rule out us picking up one of the other Atlantic provinces provincially in the next round.
LikeLike
I confess I’m not as optimistic as you about a possible tilt rightwards. Not only because of what I consider the left’s superior communications strategy but also because of the number of people in the entertainment field who support leftist causes. Like it or not, they have a powerful means of persuasion.
In any case, I hope the Conservatives concentrate on a few issues that are truly important to the Canadian public.
LikeLike
gabbyinqc – I think it depends what type of right wing party. I think a more pure conservative probably won’t work at the moment, but I think a Red Tory/Blue Liberal type is still winneable, off course as per next posting, things go in cycles and so eventually they will swing back. Celebrities are part of it, but I think also too it’s considered more cool and hip to be on the left while the right is wrongly portrayed quite poorly. Agree we should focus on a few big issues that are important to Canadians and perhaps maybe address some of the challenges the Liberals are ignoring like how to deal with an aging population, increased automation, changing workforce and find a conservative answer to those.
LikeLike
I tried to post a comment addressed to Miles Lunn but once again the comment has disappeared. I decided to re-post it via a different browser because my original browser is older & needs to be updated, which my system cannot accept. However, once I posted the comment I got the message “Duplicate comment detected; it looks as though you’ve already said that!”
Sorry Joanne, hope I’m not causing you any headaches.
LikeLike
That’s strange alright. Thanks for letting me know Gabby. This is a work in progress. Obviously some comments are still getting through which is puzzling in itself.
LikeLike