Did you notice the change in conservative leader Andrew Scheer? I was watching a Blue Jays game the other day and they had a political commercial between innings featuring him. It was not smoke and mirrors but make up. His prominent cheek bones had seemingly disappeared. I walked over to the high definition large screen TV and had a close look. That was it, just make up.
It probably will not help. He is still ‘Chuckles’ to many Canadians. We first noticed him when he was chosen house speaker for Stephen Harper’s last four years as prime minister. It was a time of unruliness in the commons for the conservatives, the insulting answers to serious questions in question period, the lack of decorum, and the uncontrolled conservative members of parliament.
It was not a surprise that the conservatives would compromise on Chuckles when choosing a new leader four years ago. The tide for Justin Trudeau’s liberals was still running strong at the time. Nobody seriously thought of Chuckles as a threat to him. Scheer was the stop-gap leader. He was just someone to hold down the job and to be replaced after this coming election.
Imagine the consternation when the tide for Justin turned to the ebb. He is hardly as smooth and as ready for being prime minister as so many thought he was. He makes foolish promises, he can be arrogant and he can make mistakes—even if he doesn’t admit it!
But imagine the consternation in conservative ranks when the polls started to say Chuckles could be the next prime minister. That blew the sleep out of many conservative eyes. What the hell were they going to do now?
But not so Kenney, Curly (Ford) and Moe. The three premiers thought that the Prairie religious conservative Scheer would be very cooperative with them—and they liked that idea. They were throwing their weight with Chuckles.
As the old Looney Toons cartoons used to say: “Th-Th-That’s all folks.”
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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