wedge

Friday September 17, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 17, 2021

‘Mad Max’ and why his party is on the rise

August 17, 2018

In 2018, after a falling out with his party and amid a backlash over statements he made about immigration and multiculturalism, then member of Parliament Maxime Bernier quit the Conservatives and formed his own federal party.

Mr Bernier, a former Canadian foreign minister, is a populist with a libertarian bent who supporters have nicknamed “Mad Max”. He has previously described his upstart party, the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), as a coalition of people “disenchanted with traditional politicians”.

The PPC has a wide-ranging platform that includes limiting immigration, an end to corporate welfare, a pro-firearms stance, and a rejection of what it terms “climate change alarmism”.

April 27, 2021

However, one issue above all has come to the forefront in the 2021 election: vaccine mandates and lockdowns.

Mr Bernier, 58, has been a vocal opponent of the what he calls “authoritarian” restrictions, claiming in an August rally, for example, that vaccine passports “will create two kinds of citizens, some with more rights than others”.

Such statements are “a huge part of the story behind the surge [for the PPC]”, said Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, a political studies professor at Queens University.

“A lot of this has been generated by the party seizing on the sense that anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine passport sentiments exist in the population.”

September 15, 2021

Polling data suggests that this message is gaining momentum among some Canadian voters even while the country has some of the world’s highest vaccination rates – over 80%.

Recent tracking poll numbers from CBC, for example, ranked the PPC in fourth place nationally at 6.5% – ahead of the Green Party and the Bloc Québécois, which only runs candidates in Quebec. (The Liberals and the Conservative are in a statistical tie at around 30%).

In the 2019 election, by comparison, the PPC earned just 1.6% of the popular vote and Mr Bernier lost his own seat.

A significant portion of the party’s swelling support base comes from first time or irregular voters, as well as siphoning support from the Conservatives in parts of their western Canada political strongholds, said Prof Goodyear-Grant.

Federal Election 2021

“They are taking some support from all the other parties as well, which suggests there are people across all parties that are opposed to some of the [pandemic] measures that have been put in place,” she said.

Provinces like Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia have all in recent weeks brought in vaccine passport systems that limit access in certain settings as cases rise in a fourth pandemic wave. (BBC News) 

 

Wednesday October 7, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday October 7, 2015 'Trade wins hands down': Why leaders may seize TPP as a wedge issue With the announcement of a tentative deal on the Trans Pacific Partnership landing at the tail end of a marathon federal election campaign, voters can expect the party leaders to use it as a wedge issue, says one polling expert. Canada is one of 12 nations that came to a tentative agreement Monday, following five days of round-the-clock negotiations. The TPP trade agreement would encompass about 40 per cent of the world's economy, and eliminate barriers for certain Canadian exports. While the agreement will still need to be ratified by national governments, all of the main party leaders have already staked their positions on the agreement. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has hailed the deal as a way of opening up new markets for Canada and creating new jobs. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has reserved judgment until more details are revealed, but has said his party is "pro-trade." Meanwhile, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair has stated that his party won't be bound by the sweeping trade agreement, which he accused the Tories of negotiating in "secret." Shachi Kurl, senior vice-president of the Angus Reid Institute, said the tentative agreement will be seen as a major win for the Conservatives among their base. "This is a winner with Conservative supporters," she told CTV's Canada AM from Vancouver, noting that Canadians are generally supportive of trade. "When you stack it up against other foreign policy imperatives that Canada should be pursuing, looking at foreign aid or humanitarian efforts or beefing up our military or trade Ð trade wins hands down with Canadians," she said. Mulcair is also looking to win support with his stance on the deal, Kurl said, noting that the NDP leader appears to be using the agreement to differentiate himself from the other leaders. (Source: CTV News) http://www.ctvnews.ca/po

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 7, 2015

‘Trade wins hands down’: Why leaders may seize TPP as a wedge issue

With the announcement of a tentative deal on the Trans Pacific Partnership landing at the tail end of a marathon federal election campaign, voters can expect the party leaders to use it as a wedge issue, says one polling expert.

Canada is one of 12 nations that came to a tentative agreement Monday, following five days of round-the-clock negotiations. The TPP trade agreement would encompass about 40 per cent of the world’s economy, and eliminate barriers for certain Canadian exports.

While the agreement will still need to be ratified by national governments, all of the main party leaders have already staked their positions on the agreement.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has hailed the deal as a way of opening up new markets for Canada and creating new jobs. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has reserved judgment until more details are revealed, but has said his party is “pro-trade.” Meanwhile, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair has stated that his party won’t be bound by the sweeping trade agreement, which he accused the Tories of negotiating in “secret.”

Shachi Kurl, senior vice-president of the Angus Reid Institute, said the tentative agreement will be seen as a major win for the Conservatives among their base.

“This is a winner with Conservative supporters,” she told CTV’s Canada AM from Vancouver, noting that Canadians are generally supportive of trade.

“When you stack it up against other foreign policy imperatives that Canada should be pursuing, looking at foreign aid or humanitarian efforts or beefing up our military or trade – trade wins hands down with Canadians,” she said.

Mulcair is also looking to win support with his stance on the deal, Kurl said, noting that the NDP leader appears to be using the agreement to differentiate himself from the other leaders. (Source: CTV News)