With Peter MacKay as front-runner in the Conservative leadership race, I dared hope that finally with a leader who wasn’t from the Prairies the party might have a responsible climate policy. The early signs are mixed. Although he has not outright abandoned Canada’s Paris commitment to reduce 2005 greenhouse gas
Continue readingTag: Conservative Party
The Maple Monarchists - Blog: Conservative Leadership Candidates and the Monarchy: Aron Seal
Photo Credit: Aron Seal Hard to believe that it has beenthree years since I last surveyedthe prospective leaders of theConservative Party of Canada. Asin 2017 there is a large number ofcandidates. Also, like 2017, there isa second race later in the year fora different federal party (this timeit is the
Continue readingThe Maple Monarchists - Blog: The Canadian Monarchy in the Year Ahead
While 2019 has been an exciting year politically, the CanadianMonarchy has been low-key in a lot of ways. The GovernorGeneral seems to have adapted to her new role and put hermark on it. The government’s questionable decision to cancelthe free royal portrait program was balanced out by the recentappointment of
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Federal Election 2019 Reflections
The big surprise of the election has to be the Bloc Québécois resurgence, although I am sure they probably saw it coming even if the rest of us didn’t. This certainly makes leader Yves-François Blanchet’s position secure. The other surprise was the late campaign resurgence of the New Democratic Party
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Can Boris Johnson do what some of history’s most notorious villains failed to do – destroy the U.K.?
Is it likely Boris Johnson will accomplish something neither Napoleon nor Hitler could manage – to wit, destruction of the United Kingdom? Perhaps it’s not likely. States like trees, even badly broken ones, possess a powerful life force. But it’s definitely now within the bounds of possibility. The Royal Navy,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Bill for Thawing Permafrost? Try 70 Trillion Dollars (USD)
This is one we’re not going to be able to duck. We can’t kick this can down the road. It’s already underway, one of the knock-on effects of existing global warming. It is the thawing of the permafrost across the far north. And it’s going to cost us dearly. Dmitry
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Liberal Democracy Cannot Survive Undefended.
Since the advent of the neoliberal era, the reign of Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney, liberal democracy has been left to its own devices. The warning sign, the red flag, was the extinction of any meaningful vestige of progressivism from the body politic. The last defender of liberal democracy we knew
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Conservative Pandering to the Alt-Right
A poll released earlier today says that about a quarter of those Canadians polled want a Donald Trump (attempted) type travel ban. This is who a large segment of the current Conservative Party leadership crop is pandering to. It’s why they endorsed an Anti-Islamaphobia motion by Tom Mulcair last Fall
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Tory Race #nlpoli
Ches Crosbie announced last week he is going to take another shot at entering the family business. The son of former Mulroney cabinet minister John Crosbie will spend some time travelling the province, getting to know provincial Conservatives and building a campaign for the party leadership in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Tory Race #nlpoli
Ches Crosbie announced last week he is going to take another shot at entering the family business. The son of former Mulroney cabinet minister John Crosbie will spend some time travelling the province, getting to know provincial Conservatives and building a campaign for the party leadership in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: What it Means to Join a Political Party ( #cdnpoli )
A lot of people believe joining a political party means getting together and advancing policies and ideas that they collectively believe in. The truth is – the more important part about joining a political party is a willingness or a flexibility in advancing policies and ideas that you do not
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: What it Means to Join a Political Party ( #cdnpoli )
A lot of people believe joining a political party means getting together and advancing policies and ideas that they collectively believe in. The truth is – the more important part about joining a political party is a willingness or a flexibility in advancing policies and ideas that you do not
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A spectre is haunting Alberta, and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean wants to assure you it’s not him!
PHOTOS: The plot thickens … like the gravy at a certain truck stop restaurant. The spectral presences of Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper eating breakfast are not quite visible in the booth. Below: Mr. Jean, plus the real Mr. Kenney and the real Mr. H…
Continue readingThe Conservatives’ shameful motion
Late last week, the Conservatives made a motion in the House of Commons that was unworthy of the place. The motion was to "reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel, and call upon the government to condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Canadian Conservative Interim Leader – The RMR
The Conservatives are without their Uncle Joe now – who is next big Conservative Leader to be? Rick Mercer’s advice, don’t be the first one… 🙂 Filed under: Canada, Humour Tagged: Canadian Politics, Conservative Party, Post Harper, RMR
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What’s next? F-35 boondoggle to land on the deck of a Canadian Mistral carrier?
PHOTOS: The F-35, possibly the worst military aircraft ever made, dollar for dollar or pound for pound, photographed to make it look less like a brick. A hovering version of the same plane. A not-quite-finished Mistral-class helicopter carrier. SANTA FE, N.M. I suppose a hotel in the desert, just down
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Can Mulcair work a miracle and gain unlikely victory?
From the very start, the main issue in the federal election race has been as obvious as the beard on Tom Mulcair’s face, but it’s been largely ignored by mainstream media. The big time journalists are rushing from the leaders’ pre-planned news conferences day after day, but the majority of
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Can Mulcair work a miracle and gain unlikely victory?
From the very start, the main issue in the federal election race has been as obvious as the beard on Tom Mulcair’s face, but it’s been largely ignored by mainstream media.
The big time journalists are rushing from the leaders’ pre-planned news conferences day after day, but the majority of voters have said in opinion polls that by far the biggest issue for them is to have either the NDP or Liberals emerge as the party that can soundly defeat Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.
During the fourth week of the campaign, it looked like the NDP might be the chosen party. They were at 33.9 per cent in the polls. The Conservatives were at 28.4 per cent, and the Liberals 27.9.
It looked like the NDP might jump to, say, 36 or 38 per cent in the polls and become the party to stop Harper. But it didn’t happen. Instead, the NDP fell back a little.
The NDP might be suffering because of Mulcair’s misguided promise to balance the budget. This is not playing well with Canadians who question how the NDP is going to both balance the budget and pay for all the promises they’ve made. Meanwhile, many progressives who believe the government should borrow to stimulate the economy – as Trudeau promised to do – are upset with the NDP for adopting an overly-cautious position.
If you believe Monday’s opinion polls, the NDP was at 31 per cent, and the Liberals and Conservatives tied at 30 per cent.
This week the NDP faces two big hurdles. On Wednesday, Mulcair will release figures showing how the party would pay for its election promises. And on Thursday he will join the other two leaders in a televised debate on the economy. If Mulcair survives the attacks he will face during Thursday’s debate, the NDP should still be in the race.
Harper hopes ‘dirty tricks’ let him win
Some analysts have written off Harper – largely because they thought the Conservatives took a big hit during the frantic Syrian refugee acrimony. But in Monday’s Nanos Research poll, the Conservatives were back to 30 per cent.
As in past elections, Harper hopes to benefit from a couple of new “dirty tricks”:
- When the Conservatives oversaw the rejigging of ridings and the addition of new seats for Parliament, they rigged the system in their favour. The Globe and Mail analysis of Elections Canada data shows that if everyone who voted in the 2011 election cast their ballots for the same political parties in 2015, the Conservatives would pick up 22 of the 30 seats that are being added in a riding redistribution. NDP would pick up six ridings and the Liberals two.
- The big sleeper in the campaign that could mean victory for the Conservatives depends on whether hundreds-of-thousands of people who favour the NDP or the Liberals can manage to vote. According to the Council of Canadians, the so-called Fair Elections Act makes it more difficult for at least 770,000 people to vote.
There are other factors favouring the Conservatives. A huge percentage of people who say they will vote Conservative do so. But a lot of people recorded in the polls as favouring the other parties end up not voting.
Secondly, the right wing reacted gleefully when the government announced a phoney surplus for last year of about $1-billion. That’s a surplus of $1-billion on a budget of $290-billion.They created the surplus out of thin air by grabbing funds from the unemployment insurance fund and other financial tricks.
Harper’s prayer is for the NDP and Liberals to stay tied in the polls so he can sneak back into power with just a few more seats than either of the two.
Will strategic voting work this time?
Conservative opponents believe they have a powerful weapon in their back pocket: strategic voting. Unions and public interest groups used strategic voting to help defeat Tim Hudac’s Progressive Conservatives in last year’s Ontario election and, including the work of small groups, there will be a much larger effort to unseat Harper.
But can the anti-Harper campaign really do the job? There are a few problems that must be overcome.
First of all, there are two anti-Harper camps. One group consists of strong NDP loyalists who dislike the Liberals just about as much or more than they hate the Conservatives. The other group is supporting either NDP or Liberal candidates in different ridings.
Given that just about everyone agrees that Harper is the Public Enemy Number One, the two camps should avoid feuding that could reduce the chances of defeating the Conservatives.
Strategic campaigning got off to a bad start when Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and an NDP loyalist, blasted Leadnow’s approach of electing either New Democrats or Liberals in 72 ridings where the Conservatives are believed to be vulnerable.
Unfortunately, Moist supports the NDP over the interests of the country: an analysis of the 72 target ridings shows that Leadnow will be supporting Liberals only in ridings where the NDP has no chance of winning.
Campaign truce urgently needed
The two sides need to have a truce concerning their campaigns. In fact, they should figure out where there are any strategic ridings where New Democrats oppose Liberals and decide how to resolve the issue. Given the importance of stopping Harper, perhaps they could support the same candidates in a handful of ridings.
More needs to be done. With only five weeks left in the campaign, there’s practically no cooperation among the more than a dozen large and small groups working to elect either New Democrats or Liberals. Some groups have the impression that the Elections Act prohibit them from co-operating, but this does not appear to be the case as the Act concerns itself only with advertising.
For the New Democrats, if Mulcair performs reasonably well and does not “out his foot in it”, strategic voting could bring the party a minority victory.
Groups need to co-operate to make sure that local polling is carried out in all ridings where Harper is vulnerable. Results must be shared and made public a few days before the advance polling dates, which run from October 9 to 12.
Groups also should co-operate to publish a list of the target ridings indicating which candidate has the best chance of defeating the Conservative. Just publishing information on their own websites will not be enough to inform the hundreds-of-thousands of potential voters.
If either, or both, of the NDP voting campaign and the strategic voting campaign are successful, the Harper government will fall on October 19. If the NDP wins, Mulcair has promised to launch a process to introduce proportional representation. PR could bring us the kind of democracy we deserve and, thankfully, the end of strategic voting.
Voting guidelines and, if you want to,
you can vote now.
A Different Point of View....: Can Mulcair work a miracle and gain unlikely victory?
From the very start, the main issue in the federal election race has been as obvious as the beard on Tom Mulcair’s face, but it’s been largely ignored by mainstream media. The big time journalists are rushing from the leaders’ pre-planned news conferences day after day, but the majority of
Continue readingMs. Harper supports the NDP position on marijuana
Speaking at a Conservative campaign office last week, Laureen Harper, the prime minister’s better half, declared that when it comes to marijuana possession, “You don’t put people in jail.” On the other hand, she also said marijuana use was worse than smoking or alcohol and she opposes full legalization. Nonetheless,
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