, 09.18.2019 08:07 AM

Scheer is running a boring, bland, basic campaign – and it seems to be working

I think there a few factors at work here:

  • Doug Ford decided to lay low for the Summer and the federal campaign, and it’s helping Andrew Scheer in seat-rich Ontario
  • Scheer is offering stuff (pocketbook-related), as is May (climate-related) and so is Singh (anti-corporate-related) – but Justin Trudeau just isn’t
  • It’s incredible, but Trudeau is running the same sort of disastrous policy-free “Land is Strong” campaign his Dad embraced in 1972, after his first term – and with likely the same outcome
  • As John Moore said to me on Newstalk 1010 this morning, Twitter is not where the campaign is happening – and Scheer, who has more money and a bigger organizational reach than Trudeau, is focussing on the real world, with aggressive voter ID and GOTV


Get ready for Team Trudeau to go neg, big time.

21 Comments

  1. bhsk says:

    I have known Andrew Scheer (and Jill) since before he ran for politics.
    He is a genuine “nice guy” steady Eddie personality – hard to hate. Also smart. He is big change from the current PM
    The Liberals will need to beat him on policy not on personality

  2. Vancouverois says:

    But if I’m reading those numbers correctly, the Liberals do still have some forward momentum; just not as much as the Conservatives. It’s not ideal for them, but it’s much better than the negative trends that have taken 3-4 points each from the NDP and Greens.

    It’s still early yet, though. And if memory serves, the Conservatives were ahead at one point during the 2015 election too, but peaked too early.

  3. the real Sean says:

    I think 05-06 is the best historical analogy.

    Liberals: infighting, ridiculous spending announcements, arrogant, out of touch, pretending everything is great when it isn’t, serious scandal, desperate attacks on obscure statements from obscure candidates…

    Tories: Boutique tax credits that people actually will remember at the ballot box. Keeping it bland. Keeping it Tim Hortons crowd. BUT Scheer has nowhere near the ridiculous baggage Harper had in 2006. He also has a very seasoned front bench which will easily slide back into power right where they left off 4 years ago.

    PS – when the polls are bouncing around – believe Nanos. They are the Moneyball of polling IMHO.

  4. The defining issue in this campaign is this Prime Minister’s mouth. It’s no longer about what he says about SNC (although that’s bad enough) but the slow, sinking feeling that every utterance Trudeau makes has to be at least taken with a large grain of salt. Once you blow the trust factor with Canadians, you’re done as dinner. And make no mistake: ALL OF THIS is Trudeau’s OWN doing.

  5. Luke says:

    I hate this damn election. We are here with the major alternative to the government offering ill considered tax breaks that, of course, only benefit those already earning enough to pay fucking taxes, it’s going to cost a fortune (billions) so people already earning non-poverty wages (including all wealthy people) can get what amounts to a pittance, meanwhile actual poor people are ignored. This sort of fundamentally flawed idiocy is what really irks me about the Harper/Scheer types, not the socially conservative statements the libs are dredging up from the ancient past. I don’t fear a social conservative agenda, because I don’t believe it has traction. I do fear visionless, foolish vote buying that will accomplish nothing whatsoever except maybe remind selfish small-minded types that they can get a few hundred extra dollar a year that they don’t goddamn need in the first place when they are in the voting booth. Why does this inane shit work? Politics. Mainly dumb, I guess.

    • The Doctor says:

      I think they’re all pretty much engaged in shameless vote-buying at the moment. There’s plenty of blame to go around.

      The especially shameless hoovering to Quebec really has me pissed off. It’s like the bad movie that goes on forever.

      • Fred from BC says:

        “The especially shameless hoovering to Quebec really has me pissed off. It’s like the bad movie that goes on forever.”

        I know. I thought we were past that, after the Harper years proved that no, you actually *don’t* need to win Quebec to form government.

  6. Jeanbatte says:

    Look for the Libs to recycle the health care scare, gutting of social services, and wait for it: THE HIDDEN AGENDA!

    • Fred from BC says:

      They’ve already brought out the old “in the pocket of the gun lobby” (really? We have a ‘gun lobby’ in Canada? Who knew?…) after abortion and SSM failed miserably to gain any traction. That’s the Big Three right there; the NDP also use number four (Tax the rich!) but the Liberals are loathe to use that one right now.

  7. PK says:

    A big issue not being as discussed, but prominent in centers like Calgary, is propaganda. Not just the kind directed at politicians, but the kind they use in Calgary to harass and malign folks who like the liberals more than the conservatives. It’s like the kkk reborn. They stoop so low as to confuse reputations – this is such a serious issue because we aren’t free anymore living at the whim of whatever misguided loser feels like pumping out horseshit propaganda just to fuck with you and the reputation you earned

  8. PK says:

    Or more broadly, this idiotic god complex so many have developed to disrupt reality with propaganda and social media to feel better, to pretend they’re better, to attack harass and malign people they’re jealous of – in job applications and everyday life – that’s a crime that disrupts every facet of existence for a losers esteem issues or overzealous ambition – that is a huge issue that should be addressed – this toxic cyber terror every loser depends on to feel better that is terror to the people they target – it amplifies during elections or in tight job applications – and i wonder if the catalyst is illegal surveillance

  9. PK says:

    You can talk about fascism as an abstract concept, but some of us experience cyber fascism everyday, for standing out, for working harder, for believing in something better, for being informed, for overcoming more, for having an education – for having been sporty, or intelligent or liked – they target individuals with a steady stream of horseshit just to quell their human potential – that’s terror and it happens in Calgary every fucking day. Huge crime that goes to the fabric of being Canadian and it’s regular fair in these parts –

  10. Nick M. says:

    The radical centrist is gaining traction, which is crazy given the negative click bait media coverage of him.

  11. Fred from BC says:

    “Racist nutball Cons.”

    Bigoted, self-righteous Libs.

    “How soon we forget the utter rubbish that harper was!”

    He looks pretty good in comparison to the hapless bumbling fool we have now.

    “Censoring public scientists paid for by the taxpayer, not him, ”

    Funny thing about that….

    https://torontosun.com/2016/08/08/muzzled-scientists-trudeau-carries-on-just-like-harper/wcm/8455b4ba-1759-43d1-a904-16c5e3e761bf

    Seems that the scientists are under the *exact same* restrictions that they’ve always been under. RCMP, Canadian Forces, health care personnel and the Civil Service, too. Imagine that…none of them are actually allowed to go on social media (or be interviewed by journalists) and express their concerns about what the government is or is not doing or criticize government policy. The government, you see, IS THEIR EMPLOYER, and just like any other employer they take a very dim view of their employees overstepping their bounds (and rightly so). All the research those ‘scientists’ do? The government OWNS all that research, along with all those laboratories and research facilities they use. They publish, or publicize, only what they are expressly told to.

    Now maybe there are independently wealthy “free range” scientists out there who can freely speak on their work any time they choose, but I have never heard of any (Dr. Fruit Fly could be one, but he hasn’t been an actual ‘scientist’ for decades, sorry).

    “The only good thing I see in the man Scheer beyond his apparent low level of intellectuality”

    Again…compared to what we have now? Too funny…

  12. Pedant says:

    The scientists have been “uncensored” since November 2015 and we’re still waiting to hear all the earth-shattering and groundbreaking things they were previously prevented from saying.

  13. Pedant says:

    Just imagine where the polls would be if the seasoned and brilliant Tom Mulcair were still around. Such a shame. THIS could’ve well been his election.

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