— Feature, Musings —12.12.2019 11:47 AM
BREAKING: Andrew Scheer resigns
Wow. Justin Trudeau’s life has just become more complicated.
From the Globe:
Andrew Scheer has decided to resign as Conservative leader after a disappointing election loss and facing internal party divisions over his ability to lead the party, sources say.
Mr. Scheer called a special caucus meeting Thursday morning where he announced he was stepping down.
The decision comes as former Conservative cabinet minister John Baird tabled a highly critical report on the party’s election campaign to Mr. Scheer’s office on Wednesday.
From the Ken Burns epic “The Civil War”: When an old freed slave returned to his former plantation, he greeted his former master with: “Bottom rail on top now, Massah”….and then shot him dead.
I suspect the new leader to be will be from the PC side…or a least a more centrist Refoormer…….
Agree with your comments that CPC have a shot with the right pick…
Rona Ambrose, Lisa Raitt, Michelle Rempel, Caroline Mulroney can win back Ontario.
Mackay would do better than Scheer, but more of a gamble.
Completely out of the box, Rachel Notley… Alberta NDP is essentially a centrist party. It’s not like Alberta/Sask would be at risk of voting Liberal.
My 2 cents.
Thank you.
Notley centrist-ha ha.
What would be risky about McKay? He’s a good speaker, socially progressive, and highly experienced.
Gary,
In a word, Orchard.
David who?….
Orchard was a nutcase, basically Trump before Trump. The fact that McKay stabbed him in the back makes me like him even more.
Hell – I’d have bladed David Orchard on general principle, even if there was nothing in it for me. He’s someone who you ought to go out of your way to make his life miserable.
Also: Orchard was a sucker for thinking that the agreement meant anything. He got what he deserved.
Anything else?
Gary,
Either your word is your bond — or it ISN’T…
A good ole-fashioned Conservative principle.
You’re not much of a politician if you fear Orchard.
Douglas,
It’s definitely not about the here and now. It’s really about the then and there. (That nodding is from CPC members.)
Notley despises conservatives and the vast majority of Alberta conservative supporters blame Notley for making a poor Alberta economy much worse. She will never be forgiven for trying to work closely with Trudeau on any number of issues only to be forsaken for votes in Ontario and Quebec.
My early guess is that Ambrose has the best odds.
Rachel Notley! My stars that is funny.
Not unexpected. It must be admitted that since the departure of Mr. Harper, it has been complete amateur hour at the CPC.
Christoph: I can’t let this web site be used for you to accuse people of crimes. WK
It kind of looks like Global News might have a scoop here: “Senior Conservatives allege that Scheer used party funds for his children’s private school education”
https://nationalpost.com/news/andrew-scheer-resigns-as-conservative-leader
This is the reason he resigned. Big ethics issue. Quite a laugh after all the hoop law over Trudeau. Conservative hypocrisy.
There is no scoop. Just a lie. End of story.
They have admitted it is true, explaining that they are covering the increased cost of private school in Ottawa over private school in Regina.
Definitely some liberties taken with the truth, by the looks of it. Quoting from the newly updated article, which no longer uses the above text:
“Sources told the National Post that the resignation was pushed forward by the revelation Scheer was using money from the Conservative Party to pay for his children’s private school tuition, which was first reported Thursday morning by Global News.
The Conservative Party pushed back on the allegations shortly after Scheer spoke in the House of Commons, saying it was “normal practice” for parties to cover costs associated with relocating the national leader to Ottawa.
“This includes a differential in schooling costs between Regina and Ottawa. All proper procedures were followed and signed off on by the appropriate people,” said Dustin van Vugt, the executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada.”
I accept that I was wrong about this. That this is a non-story and an unfair slur against Scheer that I bought into.
The Party approved, in advance and through normal channels, paying for the difference in school costs for their leader when he moved to the capital. Normal.
I’m glad Scheer resigned because he’s milquetoast and ineffective, but there’s no evidence he was financially corrupt.
Leaders often get perks as part of a negotiation. It is not inconceivable that, however privileged and distasteful it may seem to us, it was legitimate and approved. “Entitled to my entitlements’ as its been played. And it could be a smear, innuendo to push him out. We’ll know soon.
Speaking of entitlements…
Independent MP Jody does not feel like she should have to vacate her office suite in Ottawa. Too funny…
Sam,
A winning hand JWR hasn’t got. But she’s totally blind to it.
Her stance on this is completely ridiculous. My feeling is she is blind to a wide range of things when they conflict with what she wants.
Party politics has its ups and downs, but in the long run, offers IMHO a stronger form of governance. She rejected this by playing turncoat to the Liberals, then running as an independent (in lieu of joining any other party).
Imagine if every elected MP acted like this? The house would be a madhouse.
She all about herself. That’s why she only spoke up after being demoted. Philpot acted out of misplaced ethics in my opinion but JWR not so much.
Sam,
You can’t call JWR a turncoat. THEY kicked her out of caucus.
What would be risky about McKay? He’s a good speaker, socially progressive, and highly experienced.
Duplicate comment, sorry.
No worries….Agreed….he’s also a nice looking chap, has a stunning wife and is a family man….all bonuses when attempting to end the Trudeau “reign o’ error”…..
“What would be risky about McKay? He’s a good speaker, socially progressive, and highly experienced.”
Not really a conservative, is he?
Choose another Red Tory and you boost the popularity of the PPC (or their replacement).
Q:Why did the Canadian chicken cross the road? A:To get to the middle. Elect a Red Tory and you will have a big tent party that will appeal to a great number of Canadians as a viable alternative to the Liberals….The PPC and its self appointed messiah are finished(if you happen to remember the results for the PPC in the last election)…Those extreme hard core So-Cons will return to their natural home….the Christian Heritage Party.
PJH,
The membership simply won’t go that way. Many claim Rona is a Blue Tory with considerable crossover appeal. We’ll see.
There’s no more room in the middle…that’s Liberal territory.
Center-left belongs to the NDP and center-right *should* be the province of the CPC. Hardcore So-cons and the Christian Heritage Party are far-right by their very nature; they only vote CPC because it is closer to their own views than any other party (with a chance) at winning, just as the Communists vote NDP where they don’t have their own candidate.
I’ll say it again: any Canadian Conservative party MUST HAVE predominately conservative principles. The ‘Progressive’ Conservatives no longer exist because Canada did not need two Liberal parties (Michael Chong, take note)…
I understand. I’m just going by the Global News reporting that Scheer is alleged to have used CPC funds to pay his children’s private school tuition.
I was one of those urging conservatives to vote for Scheer, despite his boring and milquetoast nature, and not split their vote with Bernier.
Anything to get Trudeau out of office and provide some principled leadership for Canada. I will be mighty disappointed if it turns out Scheer was behaving unethically in a financial sense, which has not been proved.
Maybe if they pick someone with a brain they’ll be able to take back Ontario and Quebec. Well, forget quebec. Just shoot for a few seats more south of the Soo.
In all seriousness, though. There was no reason for scheer to have won at the convention, so it simply follows there would be no reason, or chance, that he win the nation. He’s a Never-Was. And the terrible thing about a Never-Was, is that he just simply Wasn’t.
Good luck, Michelle/Lisa/Rona.
The Conservative party has terrible policies that lead to money leaking from people who do the work and flowing to the people who don’t, but just own everything. Not only that they like foreign wars started by the USA. That’s why they only get an isolated third of the vote and everyone else votes for parties with more or less progressive parties. Trudeau just needs to re-introduce electoral reform and the cons are reduced to a rump for the next three generations, at least.
Terence,
Overly broad generalizations. Harper’s Iraq position, while in opposition, is a lesson well learned. It won’t be repeated. Funny how you mention electoral reform, an issue on which Trudeau already has absolutely no credibility…he’s just another guy who doesn’t even try to keep his word.
Wow. Did not see that coming, not at all.
I thought they would at least wait until the leadership review.
How is John Tory’s french?
ER,
Warren K-N-O-W-S but he ain’t telling! LOL.
I remember John Tory addressing a PC convention in a “keynote” address. He was being touted as a possible successor to Joe Clark at the time. Capable civic administrator as he may be, his speech and speaking style left the room underwhelmed. Sominex comes to mind.
Front runners: MacKay, Poilievre, Ambrose, perhaps Deltel, all working the phones.
Looking for money.
Calling in favours.
Agreed: Justin’s world just got more complicated. Snap election?
Doubtful, before the fall.
Douglas,
They have to let Trudeau go at least a year otherwise it blows up right in their faces. He must be given a legitimate opportunity to govern. And from the CPC’s perspective, if Trudeau royally fucks it up, so much the better.
Referring to the Liberals, calling a snap election. Economic data, showing we’re heading for a recession by mid-2020.
If I were the Government, I would want to call a vote before being in a recession.
Douglas,
That might be right but it would come off only as deliberately cynical if Trudeau quite deliberately pulled the plug while the CPC was still only under Scheer’s interim leadership. IMHO, that would be fatal.
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman now that he has retired from the Canadian Forces.
The tuition story is a non-story; makes sense the party paid difference in school costs between Regina to more expensive Ottawa. Scheer had to relocate family to capital so he needs to be compensated. I’m sorry the witch hunt from the media gained momentum; very biased coverage of post-election analyst. As Scheer has resigned, though, I give my vote in leadership race to Erin O’Toole; intelligent, articulate, interesting resume, central Ontario MP
Get serious. He got a huge jump in pay to move to Ottawa.
FM,
This may ultimately be proven to be unmitigated bullshit but here goes: the 2019 leadership wars will again be tribal in nature. But this time, it won’t be Social Conservatives vs. Libertarians. Instead, it will be The West vs. Ontario for party control. That’s why Kenney lining up so early in Ambrose’s favour is key. It signals the way forward to maintain control.
I hear that a Poliz has announced he’s stepping down as governor of the bank of Canada. I’ll throw that name out there as a misdirect.
I can also think of some names (nice people but they are the type of conservatives liberals want because they always do what liberals tell them to) that should be denied entry into the race.
Joseph,
The CPC, last time I checked, was a democratic party. They aren’t about to put up road blocks to prevent anyone from running for the leadership. They’re Conservatives, not totalitarians.
Poloz is a Harper appointment, and the Liberals need to appoint their own governor before the next election writ is signed. If an election call manifests sooner rather than later the new appointment will be a hot button issue. Best to show Harper’s appointment the door early in the cycle.
And as an informed Financial Intelligence buff Poloz is a first rate incompetent BofC functionary of the Federal Reserve.
RW
Robert,
With a statement like that, you really need to put some solid facts on the table to come off as credible. I’ll bite but not if it’s only based on a personal opinion.
In Finance I am ultra-opinionated given that I have been looking at it since 1971. I will heed your advice for future comments given that you seem to be well versed in politics from what I have been reading of your comments over time.
RW