01.25.2014 09:50 AM

Governments defeat themselves

Yep.

It’s a real poll, from a real pollster. And it suggests that Trudeau isn’t particularly doing anything – he’s simply doing a good job of not being Stephen Harper.

Am I right or am I wrong? Outlier poll? Trend? Justin Bieber? Bueller? Bueller?

29 Comments

  1. steve says:

    Just look at last weeks headlines

    Harper spends a quarter of a billion on a clown car tour of the middle east.

    Tony Clement will spend half a billion dollars on consultants to tell the goverment sick days are bad.

    Private members bill will impose a Soviet style loyalty test on Government hires.

    Neil Young gets the CAPP admission that the Oil sands create on a daily basis half the pollution as all the cars in Canada. This gets people to thinking thats half the energy used by all the cars in Canada, so are the Oil sands some kind of giant resource ponzie scheme? Are the Conservatives orchestrating a Sopranos style bust up of Alberta?

    The impartiality of Elections Canada, the RCMP and the Bank of Canada are all under question. If our institutions become echo chambers for the Government, there is a word for that kind of rule.

    • dave says:

      Thnx for the soviet reference.

      After the upper echelons of the RCMP leaked that income trust baloney during the 2006 election campaign and gave us a Cons minority, rather than a Lib minority, I watched the first few days of the House of Commons on tv.

      What struck me was that any Con cabinet minister or back bencher who was allowed to speak had to spend the last half of his or her time speaking lauding the assorted tough leader attributes of the PM (Sometimes I thought that contributed to Solberg quitting…I wondered how long a relatively independent guy like him would put up with that stuff. Moore, another guy I thought ok, knuckled under and stayed on.)

      The effusive praising reminded me of propaganda cartoons I remember from when I was a kid in the 1950’s: any cartoon making fun of USSR had in the background a wall picture of a fellow with bushy moustache, an officer hat with a big star on the front, and the logo “#1 Comrade Hero.” It struck me, that, as in Yevtushenko’s poetic warning, stalinism is lurking, always lurking. To me, though, fascism and stalinism are not the property of any one people or nation.

      Thinking that a stalinist mentality (secrecy, corruption, bluster and bullying, paranoia, desperate centralization of power, the end justifies the means) was in charge in Ottawa has helped me make sense of the past 8 years.

      (If it a consolation to any balking at my using the term ‘Stalinist mentality,’ almost nobody agrees with that…but a lot of people agree with the list in the parentheses.))

      • Kev says:

        Sounds like some Premiers, too. Duplessis, smallwood, Williams. Even the stupid “McGuinty Government” comms directive in Ontario.

  2. .. unfortunately, this Harper Government is unique .. Not content to execute a Rapturesque Buffalo Jump in Albertawa .. this animal farm/lord of the flies Party wants to take the Country called Canada down with them ..

    Its the ultimate Malignant Omnipotent Narcissism .. Add it all up.. every single transgression Harper et al have undertaken, might take hours to type into a chronological list.. Lies, broken promises, Deceit, more broken promises revealed, dirtbag omnibus legislation, pompous denial, more obstruction, taxpayer funded obstruction, denial of benefits, secrecy, scandal, sellout, broken promises, conflicts of interest, deceit, cronyism, more scandal revealed, more cover ups .. another omnibus bill with hidden law changes, denial, fresh scandal, obstruction, outright refusal to release required budgets, more deceit, fraud, bluster..

    Goodness.. !!

    And what was that outrageous conceit ? The icing on the Conservative Cake – We Con Eat It Too ???

    “Conservative Values are Canadian Values …”

    Snack on that shite Canada … eh !!

    • Dave Kurgen says:

      But the real question is this will you be willing to team up with Justin’s team in 2015 ( ea volunteering, blogging, making contributions to the party, doing independent investigative work) to take Harper down and do something more than just plain vote for Trudeau. For me, that will be the real test of whether or not these polling numbers stick.

  3. Sean says:

    Warren wrote:

    “Trudeau isn’t particularly doing anything – he’s simply doing a good job of not being Stephen Harper”

    …exactly.

  4. Ridiculosity says:

    “Poll suggests 68% of Canadians believe Harper is not honest, accountable.”

    The remaining 32% are obviously so delusional that they shouldn’t be able to vote. Or procreate, for that matter.

    • sezme says:

      I’m sure you’re just venting steam, but that’s pretty extreme language. Not cool, no matter what part of the political spectrum you find yourself on.

      • Ridiculosity says:

        Alas, your funny bone appears to be broken. Try not to take everything quite so seriously. Including our Prime Minister. Otherwise, you’ll give yourself nightmares. Regardless of which part of the political spectrum you find yourself on.

    • Canada Joe says:

      Eugenics, it’s a “progressive” value.

  5. frmr disgruntled Con now happy Lib says:

    “shik….shik…shik”

    I cant wait for the palace coup from those who don’t want to go down with “Dear Leader”……nothing would please me more than to see this poor excuse for a Prime Minister given “the heave” unceremoniously…..

  6. Houland Wolfe says:

    A real poll from a real pollster? Perhaps, you should reflect on the last sentence of the news report. “There is no margin of error for the survey since the selection of respondents was not random.” It was an on-line survey, where respondents self-select themselves. Bieber, Bueller, Bullshit.

  7. David says:

    Most people aren’t partisan. When the federal Libs were in power for so long people in Ontario usually elected Tories, provincially. A Justin government will bring about a solid Premier Hudak government! So maybe I’ll vote Justin to help drive Wynne out of office.

  8. Brad Young says:

    Clearly the is something wrong with Stephen Harper. He behaves like a sociopath who believes his lies are justified as he is the only person that can rule Canada. And his judgement, hanging out with the Fords, that says it all.

  9. Sezme says:

    To me the poll just shows that the race is wide open with a general trend towards fatigue with Harper’s government.

    I would not discount Mulcair’s chances. The talking point about him being angry all the time is a dead end once people see him actually debating and campaigning outside of question period. I still think Trudeau has an uphill climb because I haven’t seen too many signs that he really has the gravitas most Canadians expect a PM to have. But hey, GWB won (?) in the USA and he had no gravitas either.

  10. david ray says:

    update

    as an aside here is how devastated Neil Young is (NOT) after his asinine treatment by the PMO and Ethical Oil with their ridiculous neilyounglies.ca website and Levant and Wall and Murphy et al. This speech was made 3 day’s ago. this makes the Harper haters look so small and petty and fodder for mockery. OK Matt you can chip in now about Neil’s bus and jets and California and wealth and blah blah blah….

    http://www.americansongwriter.com/2014/01/neil-young-awarded-presidents-merit-award-delivers-astounding-speech/

  11. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    It’s no fun ever being a long-serving incumbent prime minister: Trudeau and Mulroney left just in time. Chretien quit but might have won again.

    Martin dealt with his problems one way and it failed miserably. It remains an open question what Harper will ultimately do but like most of the others, the odds aren’t stacked in his favour.

  12. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    The broad insider consensus is to hold substantive policy for the campaign and not give the other parties either a target to shoot at or one to steal outright. It’s not my view but it may work.

    I’d rather see Justin carving his policy profile now than let another party possibly do it for him. Control the message. Never let it fall by default into the hands of your opponents. Add the layers of confidence yourself or risk seeing the tide turn in someone else’s direction.

  13. !o! says:

    looks like more downward momentum ahead for the CPC.

    Interesting to me is the 25% and 27% who think that Trudeau/Mulcair will do a poor/very poor job. Conventional wisdom characterizes the CPC bedrock base at 30%, this is lower.

  14. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    !o!,

    Ask any of your friends who are CPC if Justin is ready and you may get one answer. Then ask them if Justin will win. You may get mostly one answer on the former, but not likely on the latter.

    • !o! says:

      possibly, it’s not an interesting question to me though— the first question is basically asking what their opinion of him is, which is okay, relevant. The second is asking them to give their assessment on how people will vote, how parties will move etc, which, if they’re not particularly informed, isn’t really interesting.

      Also, re: your previous point on why it’s a bad idea to hold substantive policy for the campaign, It’s conventional wisdom, and inside consensus for good reason. Voters forget what people say now, but opponents’ war rooms don’t. Why telegraph your strategy 20 moves ahead when it only gives your opponent more information, and besides, the situation on the ground between now and then can change so much that what you say may be irrelevant later.

  15. Al in Cranbrook says:

    First, will remind of everyone of last year’s election here in BC. Bottom line: Economy over environmental nonsense.

    Prediction:

    Next federal election will be much the same: Economy and jobs over trashing oil sands/carbon taxes/green subsidies/high energy costs/assorted Kyotoesque crap.

    Liberals and NDP will trip over each other rushing to be “green” enough to suit Young/Suzuki/Gore/Obama/polar bears cubs.

    Envirowingnuts will march in the streets demanding a return to shivering in darkened little huts…and Trudeau and Mulcair will fight each other to be first to the podium to proclaim, with appropriate doses of frowning in a concerned manner, “We feel your pain!”

    Meanwhile…

    Harper et al will point to the economic chaos in Europe wrought by largely by massive subsidies to wind/solar farms that don’t produce squat when the wind ain’t blowin’ and/or the sun ain’t shinin’ bright, (not to mention the rush back to coal for affordable energy so people don’t have to freeze in the dark), or maybe the thorough thumping of the green agenda in Australia’s last election by severely pissed off, carbon taxed up the arse voters, or perhaps an America where upwards of damn near half the population depends on one form or another of government assistance just to pay the rent…

    When it will finally, with about three days left before the vote, dawn on at least enough of the Canadian electorate (aside from Quebec) that, hey, things are going pretty good here, eh, and give him another majority.

    Keeping a sock stuffed in a leader’s mouth so he can’t put both feet in it yet again, is not likely going to carry the day when push comes to shove.

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