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#elxn2019

Wednesday October 31, 2019

November 7, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 31, 2019

Scheer faces more criticism as Conservative caucus reminded of new rules that could trigger a leadership review

On a day when three prominent conservatives publicly criticized Andrew Scheer’s leadership, a note went out to the Conservative caucus reminding them of new parliamentary rules that could allow a leadership review to be held as early as next week.

Peter MacKay Gallery

Peter MacKay, one of the co-founders of the modern Conservative party, told a Washington audience Wednesday that in the face of Justin Trudeau’s stumbles, the Conservative leader’s failure to win the Oct. 21 election was “like having a breakaway on an open net” and missing the chance to put the puck in.

Appearing on a panel at the Wilson Centre’s Canada Institute, MacKay — who up to now has said he supports Scheer — nevertheless took his own shots at the Conservative leader and the campaign he ran.

“People didn’t want to talk about women’s reproductive rights, or revisiting same-sex marriage,” said MacKay, but it was “thrust onto the agenda” and “hung around Andrew Scheer’s neck like a stinking albatross, quite frankly, and he wasn’t able to deftly deal with those issues when the opportunities arose.”

MacKay said it “created a nervousness” among women who might have considered voting Conservative.

October 16, 2019

But MacKay, who left politics in 2015, may not be as big an immediate threat to Scheer as those sitting inside Scheer’s Conservative caucus.

Le Devoir has reported Quebec Conservative senators Jean-Guy Dagenais, and Josée Verner, a former Conservative cabinet minister who sits in the Senate as an independent, are publicly calling for Scheer to step aside. Dagenais told the paper that Scheer’s social conservative beliefs hurt the party in Quebec, and suggested it might be better for Scheer to bow out. Verner said it was time for the party to “change the recipe.”

As the political pressure continued to build Wednesday, the Conservative caucus was reminded of new parliamentary rules that could conceivably enable a vote on Scheer’s leadership as early as next week.

In an email sent to all MPs and obtained by the Star on Wednesday, Conservative MP Michael Chong reminded his parliamentary colleagues of the “legal obligations” of each caucus to vote at its first meeting on a number of questions of protocol, including what powers it has for ousting its leader. The first Conservative caucus meeting will be held Nov. 6 in Ottawa.

Chong spearheaded parliamentary reforms in 2015 that allow every caucus to, among other things, empower itself to oust the party leader. If Conservatives decide to do so, a leadership review could be triggered if 20 per cent of all Conservative MPs and senators call for it. In other words, should the caucus choose to adopt the new rules and then 30 members vote for a leadership review, a secret ballot vote would be held on whether Scheer can continue as leader. (Toronto Star) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: #elxn2019, 2019-38, Andrew Scheer, Canada, cemetery, grave yard, Grim reaper, Halloween, horror, Night of the Living Dead, parody, zombie

Tuesday October 29, 2019

November 6, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

October 29, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 29, 2019

Ontario will champion a united Canada: Premier Doug Ford

November 20, 2018

Ontario needs to “step up” and help heal a country fractured after a federal election campaign, Premier Doug Ford says.

“I’ve never seen the country this divided,” Ford said in a one-on-one interview Thursday with the Toronto Sun. “I think it’s time that Ontario steps up and unites this country. We’re so much stronger when we’re united.”

Ford said he gets along well with several other premiers, including those in Alberta and Quebec, and strongly believes that the provinces should be competing against the world, not each other.

Ontario does well in a strong Canada, and Canada does well with a strong Ontario, he said.

“I understand their concerns out west; they’re putting $20 billion into the federal government’s pockets and they’re frustrated,” he said. “(Albertans are) upset; they’re really upset, actually.”

March 24, 2009

The same is true for folks he spoke to in Saskatchewan, he Ford.

One of the issues dividing some provinces and the federal government is carbon taxes.

The federal government’s lead voice in favour of carbon taxes, Liberal MP Catherine McKenna, found the windows of her constituency office spray-painted with a vulgar, sexist message Thursday.

Ford said he continues to oppose carbon taxes, believes that they put the province at an international economic disadvantage, but called for political points of views to be expressed peacefully.

“That’s totally unacceptable what they spray-painted,” he said. “I don’t care what political stripe you are.”

His own constituency office was occupied by protesters recently, terrifying his staff, he said.

February 1, 2018

Ford and his government head back to the legislature Monday for the first time since June.

Many have suggested that Ford was keeping out of the public eye for fear of hurting Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s chances of winning Monday’s federal election.

Ford said he told Scheer at the start of the campaign that he hoped the Conservative leader won but he was staying out of it, focusing on pressing provincial matters.

Asked if he minded that his name kept popping up in the campaign — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly told Canadians they could expect Ford-like cuts from Scheer — the premier said it didn’t bother him.

However, in a phone call with Trudeau the day after the election, he touched on the topic, Ford said.

“I told the prime minister that ‘enough of the politicking now, people expect us to work together and make sure that we build on infrastructure and other areas,’” Ford said. (Toronto Sun) https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/ontario-will-champion-a-united-canada-premier-doug-ford

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: #elxn2019, 2019-38, Canada, Captain Canada, costume, Doug Ford, Halloween, Ontario, superhero, unity

Thursday October 23, 2019

October 31, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 23, 2019

Canada election: Did Doug Ford laying low work for Andrew Scheer?

Young Doug Ford Series

A day after the federal election with the dust still settling, Ontario Premier Doug Ford resurfaced with an announcement of more money to fight crime across the province.

Ford made the announcement of $6 million over three years away from reporters and cameras.

“When we invest in our men and women in uniform, we get results,” Ford said in a statement.

The media have had limited access to the premier since the election campaign began. Ford was available twice to the Queenʼs Park press gallery over the past several weeks, and both times were a great distance from Queenʼs Park.

October 4, 2019

One appearance was in North Bay during the International Plowing Match and the second was last week in Kenora, located nearly 20 hours driving distance from the legislature.

The question political pundits and pollsters have been chewing over is whether or not Fordʼs noticeable absence had an impact on the campaign.

“I canʼt imagine that having the premier allegedly lay low for a couple of weeks had much of an impact one way or another,” Sean Simpson with IPSOS Canada said on Tuesday.

However, Simpson said a poll done for Global News on election day of 10,000 people showed a slim majority of Ontario residents said Ford as premier “had at least some impact on their vote.”

September 26, 2019

“Some of those are conservatives more likely to vote as a result of Doug Ford. Of course others are supporters of the Liberals and the NDP maybe voting against,” he said.

While most GTA ridings did not change parties, Milton did. Long-time conservative MP and former Harper cabinet Minister Lisa Raitt was unseated by the Liberal candidate and Olympian Adam van Koeverden.

When asked Monday night if she believed Fordʼs negative approval ratings had an impact, Raitt said she didnʼt know.

A spokesperson for Ford said he called Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau on Tuesday to offer congratulations on his re-election.

April 17, 2019

“They discussed shared goals for the province and agreed to work collaboratively to move important projects forward,” Ivana Yelich, Fordʼs press secretary, said.

Ford later issued a statement and said the provincial and federal governments need to work with municipalities to build “hospital infrastructure, create long-term care beds for our aging population, address gridlock and congestion on our roads and to build affordable housing for young people and families.”

“The Premier thanked the Prime Minister for his support of the Ontario Line and his recognition of this important project that will help end gridlock and get people moving across the Greater Toronto Area.” (Global News) 

 

Posted in: Canada, Ontario Tagged: #elxn2019, 2019-37, Andrew Scheer, Doug Ford, Ontario, sandbox, Young Doug Ford

Wednesday October 23, 2019

October 30, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 23, 2019

Justin Trudeau’s Anemic Victory

Sure, he eked out a “win.” But it shouldn’t have even been a fight.

This should not have been a competitive election.

Justin Trudeau 2015

When Justin Trudeau won a healthy majority government in 2015, it seemed as if destiny itself had cleared the way for the scrappy scion of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to dominate Canadian politics for years to come. Neither the Conservative Party nor the New Democratic Party nor the Green Party had any leader in the hopper who seemed able to compete with the Kennedy-esque Mr. Trudeau, who scored photo shoots in Vogue and his own comic book cover. He should have been untouchable for an election or two, at least.

And yet on Monday, Mr. Trudeau’s government was reduced to a minority. His party lost the popular vote to the Conservatives. Canada’s electoral map is now disturbingly divided between the Liberal-dominated east of the country, and the Conservative-dominated west. Mr. Trudeau will likely depend on the support of the other parties to keep his hold on power.

Justin Trudeau’s First Term

What happened to Canada’s progressive idol? The short answer is that Mr. Trudeau came to power when Canadian politics was dominated by issues like deficit spending, electoral reform and whether a local Conservative candidate peed in a cup on television. At the time, he presented a happy contrast to incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who seemed stodgy, cynical and petty by comparison. Mr. Trudeau’s campaign promised “sunny ways” and at a time when the future looked rosy for Canada, voters responded warmly to the change of tone.

But the world has grown much scarier and more uncertain since the 2015 election. And Mr. Trudeau has done little to convince voters that he is the right man to manage it.

November 12, 2015

Take, for example, the refugee crisis. Mr. Trudeau won in part in 2015 after striking a compassionate stance on the global crisis in the wake of the death of Alan Kurdi, the little refugee boy whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey, inspiring horror and outrage around the world.

It was a moment for Mr. Trudeau to distinguish himself. Canada has always seen itself as welcoming toward refugees, and the Liberal Party responded by promising Canada would take in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year. But Canada’s once-easy consensus on matters of asylum and immigration has been shaken over the past four years. Canadian openness was sorely tested shortly after Mr. Trudeau’s election by an influx of asylum seekers using loopholes to enter the country at unofficial border crossings. Perhaps as a result, reporting about asylum seekers; far-right groups have even taken to protesting near the border. 

March 9, 2016

Mr. Trudeau was also elected in 2015, just as President Barack Obama was in the twilight of his term. Relations between Canada and the United States seemed warm. The relationship between the two leaders was even described as a “bromance” (Mr. Obama endorsed Mr. Trudeau via Twitter in the closing days of this campaign.)

The warm feelings did not last long. In 2016 came the election of Donald Trump. Whatever Mr. Trump’s election says about the state of the liberal world order, or of America’s political and economic insecurities, none of it has been particularly comforting for your friendly neighbors to the north.

November 12, 2016

Mr. Trump broke with recent tradition by visiting other countries ahead of Canada early in his term. Mr. Trudeau went from being one-half of a bromance to the guy whose firm handshake became a matter of international scrutiny. A relationship that once seemed unshakable now seems vulnerable to partisan whim.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau might be considered political foils — except one man represents a global superpower and a country ten times Canada’s size. Down south, the revised North American trade agreement  may be a petty partisan affair that scores a few laugh lines on the stump; up here, that trade deal was a matter of obsession on national political talk shows for months.

April 11, 2018

Canadian domestic politics have also taken an ugly turn. The drop in oil and gas prices, amid difficulty building pipelines, has resulted in depressed economies in the western provinces, raising the specter of an angry new separatist movement in Alberta. Paradoxically, Mr. Trudeau’s attempt to head off that movement by purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline was seen as a betrayal by progressive and Indigenous communities who believed Mr. Trudeau would be a champion of climate change.

All of these incidents have shaken Canadian’s faith in our alliances, our economy and ourselves. Though Canada’s economy is strong, according to monthly polls conducted by the polling firm Ipsos Public Affairs, more than half the country believes a recession is imminent. The firm’s barometer of consumer sentiment and sociopolitical stability has registered a steady decline since the end of 2016.

June 22, 2018

Just a few years ago, Mr. Trudeau’s charisma and progressive bona fides were everything Canada wanted to say about itself to the world. But symbolism and optimism alone feel thin when the risks to your institutions and economies grow material.

In Mr. Trudeau, we have a leader whose major legislative achievements include legalizing marijuana and putting in place a carbon tax. His greatest hits in power include gallivanting across India in an outfit so outlandish he could have served as a cast member in a Disney remake.

February 9, 2019

He demonstrated the hollowness of his progressive virtues during what became known as the SNC-Lavalin scandal, in which he allegedly sidelined Canada’s first Indigenous attorney general because she refused to subvert the independence of her office by granting a politically well-connected engineering firm a pass on corruption charges. The episode betrayed a government that is just as centralized, controlling and cynical as the one it replaced.

Time magazine’s discovery and publication of photographs depicting Mr. Trudeau in painted brownface and wearing a garish Aladdin costume was the perfect encapsulation of the man’s faults.

September 20, 2019

No one seriously believes that Mr. Trudeau is or was a racist — at least not in a way that intends active malice. Rather, this prime minister, who has apparently lost track of how many times he darkened his skin for fun, is a blinkered frat boy. A child prince who, in the past, has sometimes “been more enthusiastic about costumes than is sometimes appropriate.”

The Liberals themselves tried to capitalize on a growing sense of insecurity among Canadians during the election by portraying the Conservatives as racist Trump-lite populists. However bad this tactic made the Conservatives look, it did as much to highlight the Liberals’ key weakness — that if Canada is facing some kind of ascendant far-right threat, this lightweight who wore blackface may not be the one best equipped to meet it.

Given the domestic and global factors that influenced this election, no doubt many Liberals will see securing a minority government as a success. This is the victory of low expectations. Mr. Trudeau will now struggle to pass budgets and maintain confidence in the House of Commons in a divided country.

The only factor saving Mr. Trudeau from a disastrous outcome on Monday was that none of the other parties convinced the electorate that they were better equipped to deal with the future that lies ahead. That was their failure. But Canadians should expect to be back at the ballot box before too long. And if you were a Canadian voter suddenly troubled by such uncertainty, honestly, is this the guy you would pick again? – Jen Gerson (Source: New York Times) 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: #elxn2019, 2019-37, Andrew Scheer, Canada, disguise, Elizabeth May, Jagmeet Singh, Justin Trudeau, Minority, Yves-François Blanchet

Tuesday October 22, 2019

October 29, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 22, 2019

Canada’s divisions have been thrown into sharp relief

December 13, 2018

The 2019 federal election confirmed deep rifts in the country – from reinvigorated Quebec nationalism to Prairie anger over stalled pipelines and a suffering economy. But the results also revealed divisions that rarely get the same attention, such as the widening gulf between cities and the aging populations of rural areas.

Returns Monday night showed the Bloc Québécois, once considered a spent force, competing for the plurality of Quebec’s 78 seats with the Liberals, powered by nationalist sentiment and greying voters; and Alberta and Saskatchewan stayed a deep shade of Conservative blue, with two isolated NDP and Liberal islands among the 48 seats.

December 1, 2016

Vast northern regions of Ontario, Manitoba and and the territories with large Indigenous populations were shades of red and orange, along with downtown Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, where there was a smattering of green. Mid-sized cities and the suburbs were the swing riding checkerboards that decided the election in the end.

The Liberal victory pitted big cities against rural regions, the North against southern cousins and the old against the young. Younger urban and northern ridings largely remained with the centre-left parties, while aging rural areas were resoundingly Conservative and Bloc Québécois.

December 20, 2018

Renewed leadership has helped drive Quebec nationalism and more robust Prairie demands, turning Quebec to the Bloc and keeping the countryside blue.

In Alberta, Jason Kenney has suggested that another term of Trudeau government would threaten national unity, while Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has been a reliable wingman, pushing Prairie interests with Ottawa.

“It’s certainly true that a Liberal victory of any kind will not be well perceived, especially by the two premiers who have gone to war against Justin Trudeau,” said Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, who taught for 17 years at universities in Alberta and Saskatchewan before moving to the Montreal think tank last year. “It will increase the tension with Ottawa with Justin Trudeau remaining in power, even as a minority [government]. A majority [would have been] a scream fest.”

July 12, 2019

Both Quebec’s second-year Premier François Legault and rookie Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet rose by promising to add urgency to provincial demands for more autonomy.

“The big winner of this election is François Legault,” said Jean-Marc Léger, founder of the polling firm that bears his name. “He was at the heart of the campaign, and after what happened in this campaign he’s going to carry a much greater weight when he makes demands.”

Mr. Léger also noted that separatist and nationalist parties garnered 70 per cent of popular support in the 2018 Quebec election and were still well over 50 per cent during most of the Liberal years, from 2003 to 2018.

August 30, 2012

“There is always a strong nationalist sentiment in Quebec,” he said. “It’s just not always apparent.”

During those Liberal years, the province was led by Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard, two of the “most federalist and least nationalist premiers in Quebec history. You have to go back to Adélard Godbout in the Second World War to find a Quebec premier who had so little interest in nationalism,” Prof. Béland said.

The rise of Quebec nationalism and deep Prairie grievance do not pose immediate existential threats to national unity. Separatism is unpopular, and Quebec nationalism and Western alienation have been part of Canadian identity for most of the country’s history.

“Regional differences may be growing at the moment, but in Canada it’s cyclical,” Prof. Béland said. “I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of regionalism or Quebec nationalism. Sometimes they go dormant or are less active, but they are always there.” (Globe & Mail) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: #elxn2019, 2019-37, Alberta, alienation, alligator, beaver, Canada, crocodile, division, nationalism, Quebec, separatism
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