Federal Politics – Page 63 – Babel-on-the-Bay

Chuckles Chucks It.

December 13, 2019 by Peter Lowry

We are going to miss Chuckles. Sure, it is customary to think of something nice to say about the guy now he has announced he is quitting as leader of the conservative party. The first problem with Andrew Scheer is to think of something nice to say.

The hair looks good. Most leaders start to grey right away in that job. Maybe the wife has been doing touch-ups for him. Here he is at 40 with his career behind him.

It was easy to see why Justin Trudeau was so effusive in thanking Scheer. Scheer made Trudeau look good despite the liberal leader’s problems. Scheer might not have cared whether he was being entirely truthful in criticizing the liberal leader but Trudeau found him to be delightfully ineffective in his criticisms.

Even NDP leader Jagmeet Singh jumped into the round of people saying nice things about Chuckles. It was a lovefest in the house of commons. The circle was complete when bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet also praised his service.

Chuckles was probably lucky that the green party members are not recognized as a party and were not allowed to speak. The new interim green leader is new to this old school hypocrisy and might have mentioned Chuckles’ less than admirable concern for climate change.

But the good news is that the federal conservative party is going to have another leadership contest. There are lots of people who might like the job but the smart ones should be wary. This is a party that only likes winners. You can win the popular vote, you can increase the number of seats held by the party in parliament, you can leave the incumbent liberals in minority and you will still be crucified.

It sure is fun living in turbulent times.

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Does Kenney prefer Ottawa?

December 10, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Alberta’s Jason Kenney spends an inordinate amount of time in Ottawa. This is hardly the norm for premiers—especially western premiers. It just maybe that the real prize tantalizing Mr. Kenney is Mr. Scheer’s job. Maybe this stretch at the funny farm in the Edmonton legislature has just been a means to an end?

It would be far too early for him to be measuring for new curtains at Stornoway or even Sussex Drive. Those who know Kenney, know he plans ahead. His determined takeover of the united mess of Alberta conservatives and the Wildrose showed how hard nosed and ruthless he can be. He takes no prisoners.

It was particularly interesting last week when Jason left the ranting and roaring on behalf of the west to his dear friend Andrew Scheer. Here was Chuckles standing up in the hallways and the house claiming the liberals were to blame for “fomenting a national unity crisis.” And all this, he declared, was at a time commodity prices were stagnant and the prime minister’s climate policies were fanning the flames of western alienation. It was a heavy load, of something.

And all the time Chuckles was carrying on in this way, Kenney and the prime minister were quietly making a deal to split the climate change financial action. Kenney got the big players out in the tar sands and Trudeau got the users who would actually get their money back. I have not heard what Kenney is going to do with his province’s share.

I have this funny scene going through my mind of Jason Kenney visiting his friend, former foreign affairs minister, John Baird, while in Ottawa, sitting on John’s lap and telling him what he wants for Christmas. Would you not like to tap into those secrets?

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Singh sings Scheer’s song.

December 9, 2019 by Peter Lowry

One of the questions we have always wanted to ask new democratic leader Jagmeet Singh is what makes him think he is a politician? When you have a question such as that, it is always best to just watch for a while. Now it can be asked. What ever gave this guy the idea that he had a career path in Canadian politics?

Singh has had more than enough time. His years in the Ontario legislature, including two years as deputy leader, was more of a comment on how poor a job provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath was doing rather than anything Singh did to help. And his first two years after swamping the federal NDP with Sikh sign-ups were wasted until he found a safe seat to contest in Burnaby.

It appeared that NDP MPs and benefactors were less than impressed with Singh, until into the 2019 election. It was during the federal election that the news media discovered him. He was colorful, controversial and convenient. He was usually off topic and accommodating, anyway. He could not afford to rent a plane and was more available.

But his response to the throne speech was his least political action to-date. He followed conservative Scheer’s lead and attacked it. He complained that the speech only paid lip service to the needs of Canadians. “What we’re seeing is a lot of pretty words but not concrete actions,” was his complaint.

But what did he expect? A throne speech is about expectations, not action. It is direction, not doing.

The problem in the NDP leader’s reaction to the speech is that he was giving no quarter. He was still in the nagging attitude of the NDP’s approach to electioneering. He wanted more but did not know how to get it. He wanted to show off for his voters but acted as though he was still campaigning.

This was the guy who lost the NDP’s previous gains in Quebec. He saw his caucus whittled down. He wanted to shout louder than the conservative leader. Instead of taking advantage of the liberal’s minority, he stayed in an attack mode instead of making himself useful. He gave what little ground he had left to the Bloc Québécois.

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A stealth pipeline?

December 8, 2019 by Peter Lowry

You do realize, do you not, that the Trans Mountain pipeline is being twinned as you read this? Yes, the federal cabinet has obviously, and quietly, given the pipe people the go ahead. There are still some legal issues to resolve but the cabinet is acting as though they do not matter.

I like to think of it as the Justin Trudeau Memorial pipeline. There is some question as to which will do him in first: His amateur approach to Canadian politics or his hypocrisy about global warming? You simply cannot send tar sands bitumen off-shore for processing and not be responsible for the additional global warming that it causes?

Bear in mind that the old pipeline over the Rockies to Burrard Inlet is not just being twinned. This will not be the old pipeline when finished. The twin pipelines will have gas heaters to keep the gunk moving and under higher pressure—putting more stress on both pipes. Any leaks or spills will be harder to clean up and can be ecologically ruinous.

Despite Trudeau’s Quisling-like betrayal of liberals who care about the environment, Jason Kenney’s pal ‘Chuckles’ Scheer accused Trudeau of “of fomenting a national unity crisis.” I must have missed what Scheer refers to as Trudeau’s attack “on the Western Canadian economy.”

It was left to conservative MP Michelle Rempel to sum it all up as “finishing the job that the prime minister’s father started in the 1980s.” She was, of course, citing the conservative interpretation of Pierre Trudeau’s National Energy Program. It’s funny, this liberal had always thought the idea was to give Canadians greater control of their own natural resources.

But here we are, more than 37 years later, with ignorance abounding as Trudeau The Younger betrays us. And our only real defence against pipelines in the current house of commons is the Bloc Québécois and three greenies.

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There has to be a pony in there.

December 7, 2019 by Peter Lowry

You cannot have all that cast-off material from a barnyard without a pony in there somewhere. The speech-from-the-throne writers must have figured that if you have to use weasel words, you might as well use a lot. So, if you could stand one more reading of that speech, that the governor general struggled so gamely through, please tell us where it is taking this country?

The most positive thing that the prime minister has done this past week, was to comment on the American president’s presumptuousness. And here, all this time, I would have assumed there was respect for the sanctity of the pre-dinner cocktail gathering—at Buckingham Palace for God’s sake! Next thing we know, the media will be following the world leaders into the washrooms!

But I doubt that the prime minister did himself any damage making fun of the American president. In fact, I would bet that his overall approval rating by Canadians has gone up a few degrees.

I would certainly not say that for ‘Chuckles’ Scheer. He must think he is on permanent ‘attack dog’ duty, as leader of her majesty’s loyal opposition to the liberal minority. And for Singh of the NDP to make it a duet defaming the throne speech, is just ludicrous.

Why doesn’t somebody tell those two that the election is over and everyone has to catch their breath, beg for more money from their benefactors and plan ahead. To rush pell-mell into an ill-considered election will hardly solve their parties’ leadership problems.

And why would those guys want to make the point to Canadians that the leader of the Bloc Québécois just might be the smartest politician in that troubled house of commons.

Frankly this situation reminds me more of the Joe Clark government in 1979 than anything more recent. The Clark people could not count and it cost them a government. It makes you wonder if school teacher Justin Trudeau ever taught any mathematics?

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Building bridges west?

December 1, 2019 by Peter Lowry

I am not a fan of Toronto member of parliament Chrystia Freeland. While properly impressed by both her CV as a journalist and her books, I do not see her as a politician or deputy prime minister. I do not think she understands Donald Trump, Jason Kenney or Justin Trudeau. She might not be working to her strengths.

Maybe the answer to her is the answer to the question, ‘Why is she in politics?’ The answer could also shed some light on her appointment to be some sort of a go-between for the West. Her bridges seem tenuous.

Jason Kenney has his political agenda and it is fair to ask if Ms. Freeland understands it? If she does, good on her! What is she going to do about it? Kenney is looking for a political answer and neither the prime minister nor his deputy has that political answer. Does Kenney think they would be foolish enough to give in to all he demands? Those demands could destroy Alberta as a liveable part of this country.

And please do not suggest that Ms. Freeland got NAFTA(2) up and ready to run by understanding Donald Trump. She got that job done by working around Trump. Could he even pick her out of a line-up?

And will somebody please tell us where Chrystia Freeland was hiding during that SNC-Lavalin fiasco early this year? She might not have seen it as her place to intervene, but she was a senior cabinet member back then. You cannot tell us that nobody in that cabinet last winter could see where the Wilson-Raybould fiasco was taking them.

And that leaves us with the relationship of Ms. Freeland and her boss. Her appointment was hardly to add a female to his cabinet, we hope. He promised a gender-balanced cabinet and the word is that someone counted and said, ‘Yep, it’s half women.’ And now we know where some of those creative portfolio titles came from.

Anyone who puts gender ahead of competence is headed for trouble. And, there is the rub: Justin Trudeau’s lack of political smarts also spells trouble. It is hard to imagine his government lasting a year before we are into a new election.

We live in interesting times.

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Chuckles is doing a listening tour.

November 28, 2019 by Peter Lowry

He should have listened before the recent election. We heard the other day that Andrew Scheer is on a tour to hear what the conservatives have to say about his election effort. The words he is hearing are not all that positive.

Luckily, he has just fired his chief of staff and communications director. His campaign manager has already headed back to private practice. Chuckles can just blame any of the three of them anytime anyone complains about the recent effort.

And, if you are fair in your analysis of the recent effort, you will admit that Chuckles did a decent job. First of all, he won the popular vote—no mean feat. He booted a few of the traps laid for him by the liberals but he should hardly expect them to play nice when his people were so busy digging up dirt on them.

But it is hard to believe that three such staff experts would be blind-sided on global warming. Surely one of these so-called experts should have been able to see the trap ensnaring them. Quebec alone, was a path straight down hill.

And for another thing, a federal leader who is outflanked by his party’s provincial premiers is a sorry sight. Personally, my money was on Alberta’s Kenney doing more damage to Scheer than Ontario’s Ford.

Scheer is obviously enjoying the thought of all the money he is socking away while living rent free at Stornoway, the leader of the opposition’s residence. And that is not even considering the extra $80 thousand, he is paid, as leader of the opposition.

But the real danger for Scheer is the April 2020 conservative party meeting. His job is on the line and he will not pass the test easily. Between now and then, he has to find a rationale for him to be allowed to keep his job. The conservative party is waiting.

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Liberals think they won?

November 26, 2019 by Peter Lowry

There seems to be a new definition of winning. There was a lengthy Insight article in the Toronto Star last weekend on how the liberals think they won the last election. Signed by the Star’s Susan Delacourt, it must have been dictated by the liberal campaign head Jeremy Broadhurst. Even with that amount of bias, the most you can say is that the election was a draw. Nobody won.

Broadhurst (blushingly) gives the credit to the troops doing the grunt work on the ground game. What stunned me of all the figures kicked around in that article was the figure he used to show the liberal ground strength. He talked about 90,000 volunteers across Canada. We used to have more than that just in southern Ontario—and that was back in the day when you paid a membership fee to be considered a liberal.

And then he points to the 250,000 Canadians who signed up to be a free liberal. I would like to know how many got sick of all the pleas for money and hit the ‘unsubscribe’ button?

Maybe the lists needed some culling as there was likely a preponderance of seniors in the previous membership lists. And what have Justin Trudeau and his team ever done for seniors, other than ignore them?

During the campaign, I had a demonstration in the local liberal committee rooms of the smart phone app used in this campaign by liberal workers. I found the system to be too impersonal and too subject to interpretation. As a campaign manager, I often had to chase down canvassers the next day to get their comments on what they were hearing at the door. There were also times I would grab a canvass kit and spot check an area to verify what was being heard.

I am not sure where the party is getting its campaign managers today but building the competence of the party to win elections is a task that begins the day after the previous election. Technical gimmickry aside, you cannot leave team building for after the writ comes down.

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And now for some slow news?

November 22, 2019 by Peter Lowry

It is now revealed. The Toronto Star tells us that what we write as instant commentary on a news event is called a ‘Hot Take.’ This was the same day as there had been something catastrophic at the Star’s out-of-town printing plant. The news about Hot Takes and Slow News came at the same time as an e-mail from the company telling subscribers that they would be receiving two copies of the Star Friday morning.

Actually, I was impressed. For the first time that I can recall, TorStar fessed up to having a problem before I could call to complain. Good on them. I warned the wife that I might require two cups of coffee today, to get through two days of comics.

But I really like this ‘Hot Take’ idea. It sounds so much better than ‘carping.’ I have often felt that Babel-on-the-Bay might reach greater numbers of readers if it was just more positive. People need good news.

But we live in confused times. Trump in the White House! Brexit in the offing. Big mouth Doug Ford at Queen’s Park. I think of it as the displeasure of our times.

And I am sorry that Justin Trudeau does not seem to know what he is doing. He seems to have some hate on for political parties. He thinks of us liberals as a financial resource. He has some idea that the party should be a cult and do what he tells it.

His father knew better. Pierre Trudeau used to laugh when he saw me and ask how the ‘Get Off Your Ass’ club was doing. He had no problem with the liberal party pushing for progressive policies. He found it challenging.

The liberal party is a resource that Justin Trudeau could have made better use in the last campaign. We lost ridings that we could have won with a stronger party organization.

But I better get busy. This new liberal cabinet is going to need a lot of Hot Takes.

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But who’ll fix the marijuana mess?

November 21, 2019 by Peter Lowry

Swearing in the new cabinet at Rideau Hall was a painful process. Maybe it would have worked better if all the retreads with the same portfolios got sworn in together. It was only the cabinet changes that the media and public wanted to examine. And I, for one, think a cabinet member should get one thing right before he (or she) gets a chance to screw up more serious matters.

I’ll bet you think I am going to bitch about Carolyn Bennett being kept in her ineffectual role of looking after aboriginal affairs. Well, I am not. I figure if the various councils and tribes, and pow-wows and reconciliations cannot come to grips with our aboriginal needs and wants, who am I to complain on their behalf.

While I am willing to give the new cabinet an opportunity to show its stuff, I do have one small caveat. I think that people such as Toronto’s Bill Blair should clean up the mess made in his pot-promoting lily pond before he goes on to more serious responsibility in a larger pond.

And what idiot thinks a police background is suitable experience to become a spy master? I think Bill Blair is the last person who should ever be in charge of intelligence. Admittedly, the Canadian Intelligence Security Service has always been a bit of a tongue in cheek affair but it is hardly a bunch of Keystone Kops! CSIS relies heavily on technology today to give it the leg-up it has among intelligence operations.

Blair has none of the technical background necessary to discuss clandestine surveillance in Five Eyes meetings. He is just not the sort of person you trust to protect our rights and freedoms. He was the person in charge of the police who broke trust with Canadians in June, 2010.

But the latest problem we have with Blair is the crock-up he has made of marijuana sales across Canada. By not understanding basic merchandising and a marketing rollout, he set the provinces up for a marketing disaster. I think it is fair that Blair should wear the dunce cap for the pot problem.

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