Federal Politics – Page 62 – Babel-on-the-Bay

Defeating democracy, drilling down to dismal.

January 5, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Are Canada’s conservatives making the same mistakes in their June, 2020 leadership contest as gave them Andrew Scheer last time? Some people never seem to learn. We are hearing that they are trying to defeat democracy again.

In what should be a one-member-one-vote contest, we understand that they have declared all electoral districts to be equal. It means that, as in the last contest, each riding is allotted the same weight. It means that a city riding with over a thousand members has the same weight as a rural riding with fewer than a hundred members.

Add to this imbalance a preferential ballot and you have doubled down on what caused the problems in choosing ‘Chuckles’ Scheer. A preferential ballot is a poor substitute for sequential balloting. You are asking people to number all the candidates. If there are ten candidates, you have to number them one to ten. Your last three or four choices might be based on very shallow opinions.

And, don’t forget, in the last contest there were 13 candidates and the voting went down to the 13^th ballot. Andrew Scheer won by being the 13^th choice of some of the voters. How is that for a consolation prize?

But please do not consider preferential voting as democratic. It is the lazy thinkers’ solution. You would be amazed how simple and secure it could be to have national voting over the Internet. You can vote over a smart phone or at a school or library.

And you will never beat the one-person-one-vote approach. It is definitely democratic. The voting results are easy to count and easy to verify. If you believe in democracy, you will demand it.

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All federal parties need new leaders.

January 4, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Canadians are going to be seeing a number of national political party leadership contests in the coming year. The conservatives are blowing smoke and fire as they warm up to their winner-takes-all contest in June. The greens are having another cup of green tea and considering who might replace the wonderful Elizabeth May. Jagmeet Singh is foolishly waiting for the 2020 meeting of the NDP that will fire him. Meanwhile the federal liberals are drinking Mr. Trudeau’s Kool-Ade while he tells them how great it is going to be.

I was laughing at an editorial cartoon in the Toronto Star the other day that suggested that the conservatives were debating whether to go with a social conservative or a progressive conservative leader. Our Canadian conservatives obviously consider progressives passé. They are looking for a populist like Doug Ford but with the management style of Stephen Harper.

I think the greens have the toughest problem in they might have to clone Elizabeth May.

The new democrats have an entirely different problem in that their form of socialism really is dead. All they are sure of is that Jagmeet Singh is not going to lead them anywhere. The NDP have to make the move to be seen as social democrats and that could be awkward with so many liberals already occupying that ground.

Mind you, I would never include Justin Trudeau among the social democrats. He is an elitist and is barely a liberal. He lied to liberals when he ran for the leadership saying that he was going to restore the party’s roll in policy and candidate choice. Instead, he has interfered in riding’s candidate choices and ignores policy input.

Trudeau has treated the lists of party faithful as a piggy bank that he inundates with e-mails asking for money. He has no understanding of the role of the party between elections and ignores the need for party development in the electoral districts. He fails to understand that you govern from Ottawa; you win elections in the ridings.

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Trudeau hears from Harder.

December 31, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Former government leader of the senate, Peter Harder had some advice for Justin Trudeau as he retired from the senate. He expressed the hope that the prime minister might consider more people with political experience be appointed to the senate. That is the point I have been making for the past five years.

But I would hardly have included someone such as Frances Lankin from Ontario, who was in the cabinet of NDP premier Bob Rae in the 1990s. In my experience, she ran the most politicized and worst ministries in the Rae government. Her presence in Canada’s senate might not be a plus.

And for an elitist such as Justin Trudeau, her appointment might not be the smartest thing he has ever done.

What Harder was complaining about in his farewell to the senate was that there were already too many senators with their own agendas. He thinks the PM should consider adding more people with some political experience. The former senator thinks they would better understand just why the senate exists and what they are expected to do there.

Of course, there are millions of Canadians who also wonder why the senate exists and why we should be wasting tax money on it. After all, why did we elect all those people to the house of commons if an elitist senate is going to pass judgement on what they do?

Even if Justin Trudeau might agree with that, he has absolutely no intention of opening up the Canadian constitution to make any changes. He is hardly his father’s son. He has neither the wisdom nor the intestinal fortitude to tackle the task of updating our constitution.

The younger Trudeau has seemed to be more of a political dilettante and an elitist. His elitist committee that chooses people from which Trudeau can choose independent senators probably does not know of any particularly deserving politicians.

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Kenney warns “Canada oil, gas sector has no future.”

December 29, 2019 by Peter Lowry

The Canadian Press quoted Alberta premier Jason Kenney recently on his pessimism about federal approval of the proposed Frontier mine in Northern Alberta. The proposed open-pit mine, north of Fort McMurray, would be Canada’s largest and could produce 260,000 barrels of bitumen per day for processing into synthetic oil. It would also produce more than four million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year for the next forty years.

The choice for the federal government is considered quite simple. The feds can blow their way past any hope of meeting any “Net Zero by 2050” emissions standards. What makes the decision even tougher is the giving up of $12 billion in federal tax revenues and another $55 billion in Alberta tax and royalty revenues.

Mind you, Jason Kenney doesn’t give a damn about the federal government’s problem. Just pass him the money.

This new Teck Frontier mine will eventually take up 292 square kilometres (112 square miles) of wetlands and boreal forest. It will require 7000 employees to get it up and running and then 2500 employees for the 40-year life projected for the mine.

The only approvals awaited are those of the federal-provincial task force studying the deal and then the federal cabinet.

The only question mark that remains unanswered is when is Kenney going to tell us that he could do a better job for Alberta in the house of commons in Ottawa. The guy seems to spend more time polishing his federal profile than taking his job as premier seriously. With some 18 years of experience in the house of commons, he was not only Stephen Harper’s go-to guy but he built a strong campaign base for himself in that time.

The Trudeau government has until late February to make a decision about the Teck proposal. That also might be the logical time for the cut-off on candidates for the federal conservative party leader. An experienced campaigner such as Kenney could handle that.

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How much is too much, Mr. Trudeau?

December 28, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Justin Trudeau has obviously not had a really wonderful 2019. As far back as September 2018, the prime minister asked his justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould to reconsider her position on not interfering in the upcoming prosecution of SNC-Lavalin for corrupt practices. Trudeau insisted that the intent was to save jobs in Quebec. Wilson-Raybould appeared to have no idea how tight large corporations are with politicians in Quebec.

It was mid January, 2019 that Wilson-Raybould was replaced as justice minister by former law professor David Lametti, an MP from Montreal. She was demoted to veterans-affaires. And the prime minister’s year went side-ways. It brought his support for feminism into question.

He was already in enough trouble for his dress-up antics on his trip to India the previous year. He hardly needed to have someone dig up old pictures of him in black-face at a party in Vancouver back when he was teaching there.

And it was in Vancouver where he was facing the most objections to his support for the Trans-Mountain pipeline. It was a red flag to environmentalists from coast to coast.

Throughout the year, the prime minister was under constant direct attack by conservative provincial premiers. The only one that laid back was Ontario conservative premier Doug Ford. It was the federal conservatives who asked him to hold back his criticism as it was hurting the federal conservatives more than the liberals.

But despite all the good vibes, Elizabeth May did not capitalize on her best chance to grow the greens in parliament. She only grew her caucus by 50 per cent and she gracefully resigned.

Conservative Chuckles Scheer grew his caucus, won the popular vote and then succumbed to the savagery of his caucus. He resigned.

We are waiting for the guy who lost a third of his caucus, Jagmeet Singh, to do the honourable thing and resign.

But the guy who really blew it and should have resigned back before the election is sitting in the prime minister’s office in Ottawa. It is a temporary position. He is the one who really should resign.

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It’s your turn Jagmeet Singh.

December 27, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Luckily there was not too much blood spilt when the conservatives divested themselves of the embarrassment of Chuckles Scheer. Surely the leader of the new democrats can now consider what is the honourable thing for him to do.

The point has been made that Chuckles did his best. He won the popular vote across Canada. (Basically because of the overkill of liberalism across the barren Prairies.) He reduced the liberals to a minority. No matter. His job was to win and he failed, Scheer is toast.

Where does that leave Jagmeet? After what that party did to Tom Mulcair, Jagmeet should be lucky to get out of the next party meeting with his pants. He lost a third of his parliamentary caucus and the two thirds he has left do not like him.

Maybe Singh will lobby the party to move its 2020 gathering from Charlottetown to Brampton, Ontario. It might give him a better chance to hang on to his job.

But even if he could win, what future can Singh offer the new democrats? Do they even have a role to play? Does the party have any plans for the future?

The caucus has seen no such plan from Singh but they are not the rank and file. The Leap Manifesto is still being carried as some sort of cross by the party but so far it is only words. The most active aspect is dental and prescription medicine care to be championed by Ottawa but that also requires provincial support. Without a strong and coordinated campaign at both the federal and provincial levels of the party, the NDP initiative is a waste of time.

The NDP would be far better to deregister as a political party and sign up as liberals both federally and in their respective provinces. They would hardly swamp the individual parties but another 10,000 or so left-leaning liberals could pull the liberal party much further to the left than it has been in the past. It would be a party with a sharper edge and more of a ‘let’s do it’ attitude.

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Our royal watchers are in a tizzy.

December 24, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Doesn’t it make you feel all warm and fuzzy to know that we have royals visiting Canada this Christmas? Yes, our prime minister welcomed them. He gets a selfie with Meghan and Harry. Why can’t you get a selfie too?

Because you aren’t supposed to see them. They are incognito and where they are in this country is a state secret. Would it not be simpler if we were not told they are here? That way, if you happen to see them, you would just say that nice couple remind me of some other couple. I am not sure who.

So instead of having a pleasant little visit with friends in Canada, the Duke and Duchess are the subject of a treasure hunt. We have spies for the media hunting high and low for where they might be. You can imagine how many media people are camped out in the cold near certain Mulroney family households in Toronto.

There is a prize for the first news photographer who gets pictures of the couple with their togues pulled down over their ears. Get Archie in the picture and you get a bonus. And check for the baby bump when you see the duchess. Rumour has it that its another royal on the way.

But it all seems so very foolish for Canadians to get excited about British royalty. The whole thing smacks of Hollywood press agentry. It is all so trite and inconsequential. Is it not unusual that certain people can be born to be oohed and awed over? It seems overdone Kardashian!

I think it is overdone foolishness for Canada to pretend it has royals. Are we that desperate to have a head to put on our coinage? I can think of many worthy Canadian prime ministers we could put on the $20 bill.

And we have certainly had enough foolishness with the $10 bill. Sir John A. Macdonald deserves better treatment.

It is good that we are part of the Commonwealth and it is a trading opportunity that we should maintain and extend. We might be better to dump relations with the Brits until they can get their act together in relation to the European Union.

But if you want to be so loyal and curtsy to British royalty, it really does look silly.

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Lest we forget, Charest.

December 23, 2019 by Peter Lowry

It is likely to be a frosty Friday when Canada’s conservatives turn to former Quebec premier Jean Charest. They are just not that desperate, yet. It will be a while before the full field of candidates emerges for the race to replace Chuckles Scheer.

Canada’s conservatives want a winner to lead their party. Scheer brought them to more seats in the house of commons, he brought them to winning the popular vote across Canada, he reduced the autocratic Trudeau liberals to a minority and it still was not good enough for his party. He was torn from office like by a pack of wolves. He was culled from the herd as though he was found wanting.

But can Charest be that winner? The former conservative, former liberal, is penned in at the gate, ready to rumble in the rodeo.

He brings strengths and knowledge and backers. He is not the new kid in town. He was the wunderkinder from Sherbrook of the Mulroney conservatives of 1984. In two years, he was in Mulroney’s cabinet. When the conservatives where left with two seats after the rout of 1993, Charest was leader of the progressive conservative party. He fought the independence referendum in Quebec as an official of the ‘No’ side. The slim win for the ‘No’ convinced many of Quebec’s major business concerns to look for someone to take on the ruling Parti Québécois. The pressure was put on Charest to move to provincial politics as leader of the Quebec liberals.

And, if you have ever wondered, the conservatives of Quebec are mainly members of the Quebec liberal party. The party there spans the middle ground of politics. It was an easy move for Charest and he took it. He made the move in 1998 but it took him until 2003 to win a majority government for the liberals. He left provincial politics after his liberals were defeated in 2012.

Charest is not going to win followers in the West with his strong stand on environmental issues and his support for Quebec’s special status. And, quite honestly, I think the former wunderkinder, in his 60s, looks tired.

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The accidental Newsmaker of the Year.

December 21, 2019 by Peter Lowry

“Tread lightly friend around a lady of a certain age.” You have been warned. Her fecund years behind her, she might be seeking the honours of her peers, the sisterhood, in new fields—and woe to the mere man who stands in her way.

And prime minister Justin Trudeau tells us he is a feminist? A feminist has empathy and understanding. A male feminist seeks to empower women and helps raise their sights.

And now, may we introduce the newsmaker of the year for 2019, as chosen by news editors across Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould. If you had told her where she would be at now, this time last year, she would not have believed it.

She is a former liberal, a former cabinet minister and now an independent member of parliament. There is no power or prestige to her lonely seat in the far corner of the temporary house of commons. Will she find it adequate? Not for long.

Just wait until the house starts to debate fixing her signature bill on the right to dying. In 2018, she helped former health minister Jane Philpott steer the original and faulty bill C14 through the house of commons, when they were both liberal cabinet ministers. The original bill was in the nature of a compromise and, of course, nobody liked it, least of all the courts. Jane Philpott has left the house. The bill still has to be fixed.

But there is no committee appointment scheduled for an independent MP and no time allotted for speeches in the house. She brought down a senior official in the prime minister’s office, she brought down the country’s senior civil servant and she almost brought down the prime minister. Maybe, he has learned to quietly walk around her.

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Redefining conservatism: A zero sum game.

December 17, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Our conservative friends are all in a tizzy. They think they are going to get to redefine their party. Fat chance, is the only answer for them. In a party that was defined by conservative Stephen Harper, 20 years ago, there are few progressives.

Conservatism in Canada is where you wear your credentials as a medallion on your chest. The social conservatives, the right-to-lifers, hold their prayer books high and beat a heavy drum. The fiscal conservatives want balanced budgets, smaller government and more respect for the almighty buck and those who have plenty of them.

But where does the balance tip? What is the middle ground? Does the country divide at the Ontario-Manitoba border? There are few saviours-in-waiting on the Prairies. Those western conservatives are hard core and take no prisoners. They are not about to let the Eastern effete—tree huggers and worriers about global warming—get in the way of them making money.

While the eastern progressive conservatives and their LGBTQ friends can embarrass themselves marching to make their statements and try to save our planet, the west will continue making demands.

It is a thin field of candidates so far, as people dredge up names from the past to pose as saviours: Peter MacKay, the failed last leader of the progressive conservatives; Erin O’Toole, who lost to Andrew Scheer and Maxime Bernier last time out; Michelle Rempel Garner from Calgary, might appeal to the Easterners; and then there is Pierre Poilievre from the Ottawa area, who served as an attack dog for Harper, who could appeal to the west. There are even more possibilities but there you have it: a party of many divisions, searching for a saviour.

My guess is that the party is reaching out to premiers such as Jason Kenney in Alberta and Doug Ford in Ontario who have shown their ability as winners. Winners only need apply.

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