This will be more of a rant than a blog post but I am seriously disappointed in the conservatives both provincially and federally (with the exception of Brad Wall, and now he’s leaving).
Both Andrew Scheer and Patrick Brown have been less than inspiring to date. I want to see some fire in their bellies! Things better improve soon especially in Ontario with the election less than a year away!
I will support the leaders when I see something to support. Until then I remain a disillusioned Canadian drowning in a sea of politically-correct virtue-signaling and not seeing any way out of the mire.
Thank you for listening.
Update:
“Instead of naming them “critics,” Scheer is calling his team “shadow ministers” because…he’s trying to position the Tories as a government-in-waiting.”
I like it!
And Sandy has a very thought-provoking column here: ALL Canadian Conservatives need to support Andrew Scheer to win in 2019!
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I think conservatives just in general need to do a better job of promoting conservative ideas. I feel like not just on social issues, but even economic ones the left is starting to win the war of ideas. We need to counter many of their claims which can be done. As for Patrick Brown I think he is trying to play it safe and doesn’t want to risk losing an easily winneable election. Still hopefully after November once the policy convention is held he does bring out some good ones. While the PCs have a strong advantage next provincial election it is not a given so they will have to work for it and I am hopeful they will. Many were skeptical about Brian Pallister next door in Manitoba and he won handidly. As for federally, I think the fall session will be telling. I also think on economics as opposed to immigration is where the Liberals are most vulnerable and Scheer needs to hit them hard. A good ad in 2019 would be Liberals are running a $30 billion deficit which is $1,500 for every adult Canadian being added each year meaning less money for you in the future, did you get a $1,500 raise last year. Otherwise this personalizes it rather than makes it abstract.
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All good points, Miles. Yes hopefully both Brown and Scheer will hit the Liberals hard on economic issues.
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It’s summer and I would guess that the majority of people don’t even know who Scheer is yet. They are busy with summer things and holidays. It will change once the Fall comes and things get back in gear.
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That’s true, Ruth. And then the liberal media will have to cover Trudeau being grilled in Question Period instead of the summer fluff and selfies.
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Yes Ruth, that’s what I’m thinking too, summer is over…not sure if we had one…but people were off anyway!
We have to hope Scheer and Brown were doing homework during the summer and come out with policies that will grab attention on bread and butter issues affecting our lives in Ontario and broader issues on the federal front like sorting out the immigration mess the Liberals have going.
We have to keep in touch with our MPP’s and MP’s too, do our part, tell them how we feel on issues and hopefully they get to the leaders and they listen!
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Then we have such great leadership from our PM! How about his latest shuffle….two women doctors looking after the “Indigenous”, (newly named Indian Affairs),file cum files…he has apparently created another for Carolyn Bennett who has done very little so far.
Appointing two doctors to the files has a connotation all it’s own…..they may not catch on but we want doctors when we are sick!
Are we really in the best of hands?
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It has started MSM attack on conservative leaders if you choose to be skeptical then who do you see as a better platform.
I realize that I am conservative and will always vote for the conservative common sense platform.
I feel we contribute to the negative of the MSM. Sorry Jo that you are having a hard time supporting Scheer and Brown.
I hope that as Election Day arrives you will have the same faith that you had for P M Stephen Harper when he was our Best Prime Minister of Canada
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I guess I’m still missing Prime Minister Harper.
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I’ve never missed a PM…until Stephen Harper!
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Yes I still follow him on Twitter. Every once in a while he’ll post something and then I’m reminded how blessed we were to have him as PM.
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While it’s true Brown has been vague, I think that is deliberate as he doesn’t want to give the Liberals 9 months to attack him and if a good idea he doesn’t want the Liberals to adopt it and claim credit (which we’ve already seen them do with NDP ideas). Lets remember Trudeau hadn’t put out many ideas even 6 months out and Harper going into 2006 released his platform in December 2005 so if anything is better to keep the powder dry. The main thing he has to do is watch the Liberals don’t try to destroy him in attack ads, but so for Brown seems to avoid being tripped up as much as the Liberals have tried.
As for Scheer, Trudeau has only been in power for 2 years so he doesn’t have the kind of baggage Wynne has yet, but lets remember a year ago he had a 20 point lead in the polls and approval ratings over 60% whereas now it’s only a 7-9 point lead and his approval rating is only +10 (50% approve, 40% disapprove, and 10% don’t know) so at least things are moving in the right direction even if slowly as things take time. Also the strong uptick in the economy is probably making it somewhat difficult to gain traction, but we are due for a recession sooner or later and when that happens if when Trudeau will become vulnerable. It takes time to weaken a leaders approval so the main thing for Scheer is just keep chipping away at his weaknesses as it will take time.
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I’m wondering if Brown has been advised to lay low, have little to say and let the Liberals defeat themselves..It might work if he doesn’t come out with some bimbo statement in the dying days of the campaign…case in point, Hudak and job loses. Then, not to forget John Tory before him who did the same on the funding of all faith based schools.
The Liberals are very good at campaigning , they watch for something to latch onto and play it up and it works, people have very little time to check out the nitty-gritty of all policies, they vote on one or two issues.
I’m looking forward to the alleged bribery trial in Sudbury, Wynne will be testifying.
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Good point about Hudak. He gave the Libs ammunition. Hopefully Patrick Brown will avoid doing that.
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In many ways he is running a front runner campaign which is don’t do anything to mess up. Also the party would have internal polls that are much more detailed than what we see publicly so it’s possible (at least I hope, but don’t know) their internal polls show them well ahead in over 63 ridings (the number to get a majority). Also much of the focus now might be on door knocking and getting out supporters as that is where elections are won and lost is by GOTV. Off course I think it would be foolish to count out the Liberals or as a matter of fact even the NDP, but I do think this is one that is even more winneable than past ones, but I like many always worry we will blow another winneable one, hopefully this time we get it right.
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Glad to see Leitch and Trost weren’t included while good to see Lisa Raitt as deputy leader and that Michael Chong and Erin O’Toole were included. I think that probably will help blunt some of the criticism he is bound to face that he is a right wing extremist which no doubt will be thrown around a lot. While I know some here want the party to take a more right wing turn, I guess I am one of those so tired of constantly losing to the left that just having a centrist government or slightly right of centre would be a huge improvement. It’s been a long time since the left has had as much power as they do now in Canada (not just federally, but provincially and municipally too) and ironically once you leave Canada’s borders the left has never been so weak globally so in many ways we are offside with the direction others are going in.
Anyways on a side note, I started my own blog, https://afiscalconservativepointofview.com/ I hope to post something once or twice a week. Nothing yet, but hopefully by Friday something should be up. I plan to work on my introduction today.
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Excellent about the blog! Please keep me updated. Thanks.
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Just posted my first. Only an introduction, but hope to have something later this week on the tax changes as well as Wynne’s disastrous reforms.
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Excellent! For some reason your comments are getting stuck in the filter but the situation should hopefully correct itself soon. Otherwise I’ll have to check the comment settings.
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Very important to be a team player in any party and this is a good move by Scheer.
In the Harper administration It was very obvious Michael Chong was not a team player……a reason I couldn’t support him for leader.
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Well, no need to worry about gender on passports…just mark an [X]…progress or ?.
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I am fine with the change itself, although I would never recommend someone doing it if they wish to travel outside North America and Western Europe. Of the 49 countries I’ve visited so far, I suspect there are few where this would have resulted in me being refused entry. At the end of the day I suspect the number of people who do this will be very small anyways. Certainly the visa applications I have filled out as well as many of the customs forms for visiting others don’t give this option.
On other news, I’ve heard a number of Liberal MPs are getting an earful on the small business tax changes and are pushing back so should be interesting. I think the whole tax the rich thing is silly. Yes we should have a social safety net to help those who fall through the cracks, but shouldn’t punish success. Top marginal rates exceed 50% in 7 out of 10 provinces and exceed 45% in every province so I suspect many do income sprinkling as the top rates are unreasonably high. If they weren’t so excessive there probably wouldn’t be the same push back. Unlike a decade ago when the Liberals were generally pro-business it seems at least in both Ontario and federally the Liberals are becoming increasingly hostile to business
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The combined effect of both Federal and Provincial government policies are just punishing for small business in Ontario. It’s just one thing after another, when they’re barely able to keep their heads above water as it is.
Yes Liberals used to be pro-business but both the Trudeau Libs & Wynne Libs seem to be moving to the far left.
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Maybe their strategy is to wipe out the NDP. Not sure it would make sense but in their attempt to hold onto power anything goes. Voters are getting heavier on the what’s in it for me mode so it might work….for a while, until they run out of money.
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I think the whole occupy wall street around 2011/2012 was the turning point as it seems it was around then that public opinion started to swing left. Since then the whole soak the rich thing has become popular without understanding how economies really work. Contrary to what many say, the rich don’t spend their day thinking how they can screw the poor, most are people who have a strong passion for something and are very successful at it. I understand some people are struggling but I don’t think adopting anti-business policies is the solution. If anything I think the biggest problem is our education is not well aligned with our job market as well as with automation and globalization we are going through an adjustment period which will be tough but we need to look for realistic answers. This is an area where I think there is a strong opening for conservatives.
On side news I heard the Ontario PCs are trying to talk Doug Ford out of running. He would win us Etobicoke North but worried he would cost us elsewhere. His strong support for Trump would be an easy attack ad for the Liberals when the next election shouldn’t be about Trump (yes I know from my blog we may have different views on him, but he is irrelevant in the 2018 Ontario election) as he is not running, it should be about the Liberals and their sorry record and what the PCs will do better so any distraction we are best to avoid.
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Agreed about Doug Ford. I would rather see him run for mayor.
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Forum just confirmed with me on twitter, they are releasing on Ontario poll tomorrow. I’ve seen the raw numbers from their August 25th one so the PCs are in front, but not the weighted so the breakdown should be interesting. Hope other pollsters weigh in soon as while I know polls are often wrong, at least positive ones give me hope.
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Did I hear this right…Wynne is now going to offer before and after school child care? What the blank is that in dollars we don’t have?
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smacks of desperation to me, throw everything and hope something sticks. It will make a mess for the PCs to clean up. I wonder if she has figured she is going to lose next year so leave the PCs as big a mess possible in the hopes when they clean things up, they become unpopular enough to be a one term government. It’s obvious this is not about good policy, but political desperation.
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Absolute populism desperation without one iota of responsibility.
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On the minimum wage she is worse than our NDP government in BC. They originally planned to phase it in until 2021, but after Weaver of the Greens protesting instead will let an independent commission set the timeline. If Brown promised to set up an independent commission to establish a living wage without unduly harming businesses this would be a great attack against the Liberals showing they are more left wing than the NDP and Greens in BC.
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An independent commission is a great idea.
Both the Wynne Libs and Trudeau Libs are just ramming stuff through without any care of the consequences. It’s so irresponsible!
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I will have another blog post in the next few days up on Wynne and Trudeau’s policies being harmful to business stay tuned. Just getting it proofread as I always ask someone else to look over anything I write since I find you tend to miss your own mistakes more than others whereas a second set of eyes will usually catch them. At my last job we had to have every transaction authorized by a second person for this same reason.
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Looking forward to your next blog post. I must say that’s very conscientious of you to have someone else do the proofreading.
I guess I write more from feelings than facts, so it just comes from my stream of consciousness at the moment. 😉
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Have to say the NDP leadership race is a real yawn.
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I agree Liz, and too bad because we need a strong NDP presence federally.
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I think Jagmeet Singh could do well amongst millennials and he looks like he is the frontrunner. Still in the long-run we need to not rely on splits but find a way to get our support back into the low 40s. Otherwise we need to bring back the Red Tories we have lost and also appeal to the Blue Liberals who are upset with Trudeau’s tax and spend policies. The real worry I have is the vacuum in Quebec as if the Liberals gain 20 seats there it will be tough to beat them even if they lose in the Rest of Canada so hopefully someone can challenge them in Quebec. Still I am at least hopeful that by 2019 we will have a conservative government in Ontario and Alberta and also the centre-right BC Liberals in BC whenever the government falls. While winning in 2019 will be tough, you never know and never mind I could easily see the Liberals being reduced to a minority meaning we could return to office then in 2021 instead of 2023. Trudeau’s arrogance on business tax changes is the type of arrogance if seen across the board could hurt him.
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I think Jagmeet Singh could make gains amongst millennials and he is the frontrunner. On vote splitting, I think we need to rely less on this and instead find a way to get back into the low 40s in support. Otherwise we need to bring back the Red Tories we’ve lost and win over the Blue Liberals who are upset with Trudeau’s tax and spend policies. I think the real concern now is the Liberals could gain 20 seats in Quebec meaning they have to lose 35 seats elsewhere in Canada just to lose their majority as opposed to 15 seats. It seems there is a real vacuum in Quebec and someone needs to step up and challenge it there. I still though think there is a reasonable chance Trudeau could be reduced to a minority in 2019 and then defeated in 2021 and even if he wins again I am at least hopeful we have more conservative governments provincially (especially Alberta and Ontario) as a strong counterweight. His arrogance on the tax changes is the type of attitude that if seen on other issues will eventually defeat him. Maybe not before 2019, but that is the type of attitude that usually defeats governments.
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Remembering Harper won a majority without Quebec. That was a huge hit to their ego.
I’m holding off on predicting another win for Trudeau on the premise people can’t be out of the loop enough to vote on visuals with no substance.
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I don’t think another Trudeau win is a foregone conclusion, far from it, I just know historically one term governments are rare, otherwise Canadians as a rule of thumb tending to be quite forgiving in the first five years but once you hit the ten year mark it doesn’t take much to turn on one.
I think though the Tories realistically need to get around 20-30 seats in Quebec to win a majority and that is not impossible to do as Quebec tends to often swing en masse and often in the final two weeks of the campaign so if Scheer gives an amazing speech that the Quebec media picks up on this could happen. After all it was Layton’s interview on Toute Le Monde that led to the NDP surge. Harper managed in 2011 to win a majority due to unusual circumstances which will be tough to repeat.
In Atlantic Canada, it will take a few election cycles to recover so I think we can win 3-5 seats there, but 14 seats is really pushing it. In Ontario we can win a majority of seats, but 2/3 like Harper got will be tough, although Brown might be able to achieve this provincially. The Tories have a ceiling of 45% in Ontario and in 2011 Harper got 44.4% while the NDP was 25.6% and Liberals 25.4% so he got the ceiling with perfect splits and while the former is doable the latter I think is unlikely to happen. In the Prairies, Harper won all but five seats and that will be tough to repeat as in the urban ridings millennials are lot more progressive than Boomers, Gen Xers and Silent Generation voters as well as in the Northern ridings I think Trudeau’s efforts with the Aboriginal community will make winning those tough. Otherwise out of the 62 Prairie seats, I think 52 is doable, but I suspect at least 10 seats will not go Conservative. British Columbia is a wildcard as while it seems to be tilting leftward at the moment, it might swing rightward in 2019 as often does when we have a left wing provincial government so in a year’s time we will have a better idea of our chances there.
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For some reason this comment ended up in the spam filter. Sorry about that Miles.
BTW I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now so I’ll probably not be able to check things here too often for the next few days. Thanks for your understanding.
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Posted another one. No mention of Trump, but on Trudeau and Wynne. Nothing yet on our provincial government in BC, but until the legislature returns tough to write anything on them.
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Good job Miles. You are very thorough and detailed.
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Scheer can call it a “Shadow Cabinet” but the media is still calling them as critics.
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Actually the term shadow cabinet comes from the UK which is where the Westminster system was invented and they still use the term there. Critics is commonly used here, but technically critics of the official opposition are referred to as shadow cabinet, while those of third or lower parties as critics. In the UK, they use shadow minister if from Labour Party (who is the official opposition) while critic if from SNP or Liberal Democrats who are in third and fourth place.
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Noticed a lot of Liberals lashing out at O’Toole’s virtual signaling comment. I felt O’Toole was quite fair and reasonable, it seems a lot of Liberals just blindly hate anything from the Tories, read the ipolitcs comments to see what I mean. On women and First Nations, I believe those rights are very important and should be dealt with but those are domestic issues, not something you would normally find in a trade agreement. On the environment, we all know Trump thinks climate change is a hoax so I hope the Liberals trying to include this is simply a bargaining chip they are willing to trade away if the US drops other things, not something they realistically expect to be part of it. One can disagree with Trump, but generally NAFTA unlike the EU stays out of political issues realizing different countries at different points will have different governments and those are best dealt with by them, we don’t create a massive bureaucracy to override national laws like the EU does.
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Catherine McKenna is the worst of them all! https://twitter.com/sunlorrie/status/904902457330995200
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What are your thoughts on Erin O’Toole’s virtual signaling and Catherine McKenna going after it. My view is I think O’Toole is right although the Liberals are in a frenzy on this. Regardless of what one thinks of climate change, as long as Trump is president that will not be in NAFTA. Maybe it can be added with some future president, but not the current. Now if this is just a bargaining chip then okay, but so far it doesn’t seem like that, but I guess we will find out.
On Women’s and indigenous rights, those are important but they are not trade related. The UN, not NAFTA is where those should be addressed. NAFTA unlike the EU is strictly a trade agreement, it doesn’t deal with broad issues which is a good thing IMHO since as a small country while it may feel good to promote our values globally if we can ask others to adopt ours, others can ask us to adopt theirs which I don’t really want.
The final one is the Liberals want the US to get rid of right to work laws which is just plain silly. The US Supreme court has already ruled the federal government doesn’t have the authority on this, only states do so they would need all 50 states to sign on for this to happen. Likewise even in Canada, there is nothing to stop a provincial government from bringing in right to work laws for areas under provincial jurisdiction (unlike the US Labour is split depending on sector but for most workers it’s under provincial) the reason we don’t have such laws is political rather than legal since any party who tried to do it would likely lose. I am thinking they are more doing this as they will realize with the tax changes the business community won’t back them and will probably run third party ads outside the writ period against them so they want to pander to the unions so they will run anti-Conservative ads much like Ontario since if only business is running anti-Liberal ones that puts them at a disadvantage.
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You raise lots of interesting points here Miles.
I’ve been reading on Twitter that these climate change/women’s and indigenous rights/ right to work NAFTA demands are meant for the home audience to either give cover if negotiations fail, or as you say draw more leftist support to the Liberal party – or both.
Nothing else makes sense.
I do think the big story is the proposed tax changes though:
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Agreed and while I doubt it will hurt them in the polls right away, it could bite them later in that in the past usually the Liberals have been on good terms with the business community, but I would not be surprised if in the months leading up to the writ, you see the business community plaster the airwaves with anti-Liberal ads (In BC, they run anti-NDP ones so you anger them enough they do strike back). Third party advertising restrictions only applies during the writ period not before.
I am actually myself fine with closing the loopholes, but until tax rates are brought down to more reasonable levels this is ridiculous. People do income sprinkling as top rates range from 47.7% to 54% and no rationale person is going to want to work where for every extra dollar they earn above a certain percentage, over half goes to the government. I do also think we should encourage entrepreneurship and due to the risks involved in creating a business I am fine if rates are a bit lower especially considering most small business owners are not rich and for the few they do make it big, nothing wrong with it. This is just class warfare which may win votes amongst those with envy of those who are more successful but it is not good policy.
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Will be interesting to see how Wynne does at the Sudbury bribery trial. Wonder if she will beat a loss for words?
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It will be very interesting to watch.
Great article here by Mike Crawley who isn’t too bad even though he’s a CBC reporter.
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I don’t foresee any of the accused going to prison nor do i see anything beyond a slap on the wrist type penalty if any are found guilty.
What could they possibly gain from Wynne, she can distance herself from the whole thing with some convoluted talk. She won’t be squealing no matter what she knows unless she is forced by some direct questioning where she can’t avoid a direct answer. It will all boil down to local politics.
I do think the present government is as close to corrupt as we’ve seen in memory in this province and the country. The fact they get reelected is a sad testament to the people who support them.
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Interesting on the small business changes there is even backlash amongst some Liberal MPs who are small business owners. Just listened to Warren Kinsella on Charles Adler show who is critical of the Liberal business tax change plans. While I understand there may be a few high end people abusing it, it will only bring in a mere $250 million (which is 0.1% of the budget) and the vast majority of small business owners make under 150K so just hurts our growth for little revenue. Liberals federally have a spending problem, not a revenue problem so they need to stop spending like crazy.
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Bad news on the West coast. Darryl Plecas of the BC Liberals ran for speaker so now it is 44-41 for the Green-NDP alliance (will probably be 42-44 once the by-election in Kelowna West is held), but definitely a betrayal of the party. We almost had the same thing in Ontario when Frank Klees wanted to take the speaker’s position. The good news is in BC unlike Ontario we have recall so hopefully we can recall him and at least one NDP MLA and that can be done after 18 months from the election so November 9, 2018.
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Wynne’s next boneheaded move was a Marijuana government monopoly. Seems like a bit of a weird idea and not getting a good reception. I do support privatizing the LCBO although with the loss a revenue and potential job losses probably better to just open to competition, otherwise let all supermarkets sell beer and wine and likewise allow private liquor stores like we have in BC. For Marijuana better to have highly regulated private stores but with limits on numbers and locations. My worry is government will get addicted to the revenue and will start promoting it like the LCBO so better to separate regulation and retail. Government will still make lots of the taxes on it.
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Be prepared for trial and error long term with marijuana, they are all flying by the seat of their britches.
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Might want to check this one, Patrick Brown’s speech after Caroline Mulroney was nominated for PC candidate https://www.facebook.com/carolinemulroneyPC/ He starts off rough, but really hits it out of the park later. Also think Caroline Mulroney will be a great cabinet minister. Her riding is a very safe PC one so hope that if polls stay strong she can help out in other ridings which are more competitive.
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Also in Norway today, the centre-right was re-elected so while many on the left here say we need to be more like the Nordic Countries, it looks like their residents (4 of 5 Nordic Countries have centre-right governments) and those elsewhere in Europe too are moving away from Social Democracy realizing it doesn’t work. It’s easy to believe the grass is greener on the other side but I believe moving towards social democracy like Europe was in the past would be a big mistake. I am suggesting we be as conservative as the US, I think our position in the past of being more conservative than Continental Europe (questionable if that is the case anymore) and more liberal than the US served us well. I hope to have another blog post up mid week. It will be on the speaker issue in BC and Wynne’s dumb idea of government monopoly on Marijuana.
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Sorry for continued post, but here is another one with Erin O’Toole vs. Catherine McKenna on NAFTA. Erin O’Toole wins this one hands down. As much as it would be tough to do, I would seriously consider voting NDP if I lived in Catherine McKenna’s riding (I cannot stand the NDP, but in Ottawa Centre they are the only ones who could realistically defeat her, the Tories are competitive in the suburbs and rural parts of the National Capital region, but not the central parts of the city). http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/tory-argument-that-progressive-nafta-chapters-should-take-a-backseat-to-jobs-crazy-mckenna-1.3581951#_gus&_gucid=&_gup=twitter&_gsc=oAMZ5mF
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No problem posting. I’ve been preoccupied with family stuff the last little while so I’m glad you guys are carrying on here. 🙂
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And BTW I would seriously consider voting NDP too if it meant getting rid of any Liberal, but especially McKenna.
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McKenna was touted as one of the big brains of the “outfit”, I see no evidence of that. I’ll give her a A+ on the annoyance scale. I’ll borrow a jargon type phrase she used, “I’m so done” bothering to listen to anything she says. She’s in over her head IMO.
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My biggest problem with Climate Barbie is her condescending attitude towards anyone who disagrees with her. I’m beginning to have the same visceral reaction to her as I do to Trudeau – and it’s not a good one.
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Yes, her condescending attitude is palpable..she’s “so done” with anyone who doesn’t accept what she’s pushing on the climate file. Like her “boss” she’s emoting like an actor playing a part, she’s no expert in the field of Climate /whatever they’re calling it.
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Well said Liz.
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Does anyone really believe anything will come of the court cases re the gas plants and the Sudbury alleged bribery scandals?
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No, I think they’re merely going through the motions. Still, it can’t be good optics to have the Premier testifying.
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Whatever the cost of taking Wynne and her entourage to Sudbury to tell us she knew/remembered nothing much was not of any value beyond a side show, she had her wife for support of course.
Some reporters asked if the Liberal party of Ontario were paying the bill…that was a walk away, felt no obligation to share that info. That non answer means we all paid, she couldn’t tell a lie.
I can’t see government underlings taking the blame if they were under the direction of their bosses in the gas plant fiasco either.
Whither Dalton McGuinty these days?
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And Wynne’s threat to sue Patrick Brown is hilarious. As Miles pointed out to me on Twitter, Warren Kinsella thinks it is a bad political move.
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Found this in my Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/katewerk/status/908110293565267969
She’s right. Appeasement never works.
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Nice schoolyard threat from Wynne’s lawyer….apologize “or else”…Wynne and company are starting to look more and more like a gong show.
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You probably heard yesterday Arnold Chan, Liberal MP from Scarborough-Agincourt passed away at age 50 of cancer. Despite my political differences with him, very sad. Also liked his last comment of more political civility which I feel we are losing and despite the left blaming the right for it, I find the left at least in Canada is every bit as bad if not worse. I remember in my university days when I served on the student union, I was the only one on the political right yet I still got along well with others and it was respectful despite our political differences whereas today it seems many on the left hate the right with a passion and would rather they didn’t exist. As per earlier post, I don’t agree with the left but I believe in a healthy democracy you need people on both sides to get a strong debate and also when hearing both sides you get better outcomes. Hopefully his words are heeded, but somehow doubt it.
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Yes very sad about Arnold Chan. He seemed well-liked by colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
The problem these days is that the extreme left seems to be trying to shut down the right, and as you say both sides are needed to be strong in a healthy democracy.
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So true, both sides need to be strong but somehow we went off the rails. Not sure what’s to blame but the Liberal/Left seem to think only they have the right to govern and they pull out all the tricks to make that happen, no holds barred.
A big factor seems to be more people not informing themselves or voting on the what’s in
it for me principle. The way Wynne is passing out goodies she’s counting on that.
A lot of politicians seem to be using old snake oil salesman tactics and that’s always from the Left from my observations.
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I agree that in the last five years as conservatives we’ve really done a bad job of attacking the left and we just assumed that many ideas that wouldn’t fly in the 90s wouldn’t now and thus things like raising taxes and running deficits used to be political suicide are now political winners. Otherwise if someone ran on the platform Trudeau did, Notley did, or Wynne did in the 90s, they would have lost badly whereas I fear Gordon Campbell in BC, Klein in Alberta, and Harris in Ontario would be unelectable today despite turning their respective jurisdictions around and even Chretien would have faced much stronger opposition to his cuts in the 90s than he did and his main challenge would be on the left instead of right like it was then. Otherwise it seems way too many have drank the left wing Kool Aid thus the difficulties we are in. If you look at the poll tracking by age last federal election, you will notice amongst seniors, the Tories were 10 points ahead prior to Thanksgiving but then went into a tie so it seems over the weekend many millennials convinced their elders to go Liberal so hopefully next time they don’t make that mistake. I bring this up because in Ontario right now, PCs are leading 2 to 1 amongst over 55 voters but amongst millennials are in third in the 20s. As we saw in the most recent British election, Theresa May got the same percentage amongst millennials as Harper did, the reason she hung on and Harper didn’t is she was able to cancel out that deficit with a strong showing amongst older voters which Harper failed to do thus until the millennials come to their senses that socialism doesn’t work, its important older voters go heavily conservative to cancel them out. In the US part of the reason Trump won is many millennials stayed home whereas with Sanders I think a lot would have showed up and his ideas sound great to many on paper, but are totally pie in the sky unrealistic ones and most older voters understood this thus why he did poorly in primaries amongst them, but many younger voters fell for it. At least in the US unlike Canada you have congress and senate so even had Sanders won all his policies would have been DOA there whereas in Canada you don’t have that check. Heck across the pond Corbyn is talking about re-nationalizing some formerly privatized firms and Niki Ashton is bringing this up so I hope that this policy does not become mainstream in another ten years or we are in big trouble. Maybe having Corbyn win in Britain or Melenchon in France and wreck the country would be worth it as it wouldn’t hurt us in Canada but could be a good learning lesson why socialism doesn’t work although unfortunately with Corbyn our left will probably blame Brexit knowing how they always blame someone else.
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Thanks for the post Joanne. IMO we have to support our Conservative leaders, even if we don’t agree with them on all things.
Remember John Tory and that one issue of private school funding. That was 2003. The private school public funding would never have happened and yet tons of PC supporters stayed home and didn’t vote. Meaning, they let that one issue influence the last 14 years — negatively!
I said then and I say again, one issue complaints or our one issue views of what the leader should do leaves Cons in opposition forever and yet so many possible Conservative voters don’t seem to care.
It really is only about power to govern and that alone. I learned that working for a Mike Harris MPP. Liberal supporters get that.
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Hi Sandy! Yes I think the only way we will get rid of those horrible Liberals both federally and provincially is to support the conservative leaders. However I also think it’s healthy to have frank discussions within the party.
And if you’re not affiliated with a party, get out and vote for the leader, party or person who will best advance that which you believe to be in the best interests of the country.
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Sandy, your statement that “so many possible Conservative voters don’t seem to care” or fall prey to “one issue complaints” or “one issue views” may not necessarily encompass a great many of us who are watching that one complaint or that one view increase in number until we no longer recognize as palatable the party we once identified with. I have not been a member of any party for quite some years and owe no allegiance to any of them.
At this point there is no conservative leader, federal or provincial, in whom I’m willing to place my trust. I continue to struggle with the notion that votes are needed FOR one person in order to stop another. I suspect there are many of us who find ourselves in this position. In short, it would be most unfair to label us as uncaring. I do hope that was not your intent.
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Anne, I watched and listened in 2003 when the blogs I was reading were lambasting John Tory. That went on for the entire election. Many Tories said they didn’t care if McGuinty won. The proof was in the result — in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2014. Like Joanne I pray that won’t be the case next June. But already I am reading that Brown is too progressive.
I agree debate is good but not if the outcome is always the same — Liberal!
As I just wrote on my blog, having worked for a Harris MPP there is a tendency for Conservatives to forget politics is a very human endeavour and some things can get done.
So I care a lot!!
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And only “some” things can get done.
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Sorry your comments are getting stuck in the filter Sandy! Nothing personal. I guess it’s still learning.
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Jo — Jack put up my post today and I just left a comment that BLY readers might identify with. Part of what I wrote was regarding my working for an elected ONPC MPP back in the Harris years. I believe this may be the reason so many were ticked off with Mr. Harper or elected Conservative MPs now. Once elected, MPs, no matter what their Party affiliation, represent every single citizen in their riding, no matter how they voted.
Here is my quote:
“I remember an ONPC Riding President coming into the Constituency Office, wanting to put up a poster for a PC BBQ fundraiser. I had to tell him we couldn’t allow that because it was against the law. Constituency Offices were NOT Campaign Offices. He was furious with me and called the MPP who had to confirm what I had said.
In fact, as the EA, I was the only employee who could have party communications in my brief case. Nothing “party”” was allowed in the filing cabinets. The only posters we could put up were gov’t type posters.
Anyway, I think that is where most of the misunderstanding comes in between what elected politicians are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do. Or, why not all party promises can be kept once elected.
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We have British PM May here meeting with Trudeau today. That should be constructive!
Trudeau hasn’t a clue and it appears May is close behind.
Britain could use a Maggie Thatcher and we could use Stephen Harper!
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We won’t see another Thatcher or Harper until we hit bottom and judging by the state of countries like Sweden, Germany and Belgium nobody has a clue where bottom is.
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That is exactly what it’s going to take I’m afraid. People don’t seem capable of seeing anything past their own door. it’s a what’s in it for me era and who better than Liberals to fill that bill?
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Yes it’s “what’s in it for me”, and “who am I to judge?”
Moral values seem to have been tossed to the curbside.
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I actually think we are living in an age at least in Canada, less so elsewhere where people are all about equality so if not wealthy, you feel you are entitled to what others have earned and if successful many almost feel guilty that they owe others and if you are successful and seen as complaining about taxes you are called selfish. I think a lot of people are all caught up on a creating their ideal fair and just society rather than looking at reality and realizing their utopian society never has and never will exist and where people have tried to create it, it just ends in misery.
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Very astute observation, Miles.
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Theresa May is at least still a conservative, yes more of a Red Tory but better than Trudeau and way better than Corbyn who is a rabid socialist. As for another Harper or Thatcher, I suspect it will be a while probably due to the fact it seems millennials are a lot more progressive, but certainly a bad recession and negative impacts from left wing policies could change their views.
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Anyone watch question period in the HofC today? I just saw a few clips. Scheer seemed to be doing very well!
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I would expect Scheer to do very well in the HOC. I would think his time as Speaker gave him some insight.
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Problem is few other than political junkies watch question period. What he needs to do is find a way to get under Trudeau’s skin so he loses it and does something stupid like swear. I’ve heard Trudeau is someone who is very easy to get under his skin unlike Harper or Chretien so it will probably be whenever that moment happens he will get more attention. Besides I think the rebuilding will be a slow gradual one and it won’t be one week or one event that changes things, but rather a slow steady erosion of the Liberals and slow steady rise of the Conservatives.
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Blue Like You is back!!! Wow, fantastic, great news!! Hi, Joanne and to all the regulars on this great blog. I hope everyone is in good health and doing well. Heading to 2018 already, where does the time go!! Let’s go, Conservatives. Never say die, never quit!!
ed
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Hi Ed! Good to hear from you.
Well we are back in a sense. I’m trying to carry on in terms of allowing a voice for regulars. Still trying to balance it with a lot of issues on the home front though.
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Yes, issues on the home front. Same here, it’s been terribly tough for us these past few years and it continues. However, we have no choice but to be tough and carry on. And, to make matters worse, having to endure Trudeau on TV all the time. — and the one-sided media here and in the USA. LOL
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I can’t even stand looking at his face or hearing his voice. I immediately change channels when he’s on.
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