, 02.02.2022 02:49 PM

My latest: two parties in one

The problem with the Conservative Party of Canada is that it is the Conservative Parties of Canada.

That’s the real dilemma facing the Official Opposition. That’s the real reason they ousted Erin O’Toole as leader. And that’s why they are unlikely to win any elections anytime soon.

The Conservative Party of Canada isn’t singular. It’s plural. It is literally two political visions — one Western-based, rural and angry. The other: central Canadian, urban and progressive.

They weren’t always like that.   But now they are just that: two warring factions pretending to be one political alternative — the Reform one, and the Progressive Conservative one.   Two siblings living under the same roof, hating each other, resenting each other, unable to agree on anything.

Erin O’Toole made many mistakes.   That’s clear.   

But ignoring the civil war within Canada’s conservative movement wasn’t one of them.   In fact, O’Toole regularly attempted to be on both sides of the civil war — on carbon taxes, on vaccinations, on assault weapons, on social issues.   On everything.

His big mistake was that he was up and down like a toilet seat.   He tried to make everyone happy, and thereby ended up making everyone unhappy.   Just this week, we saw yet more evidence of that.

First, he said he wasn’t going to meet with the Omniconvoy truckers.   Then he said he would.   Then he condemned them for desecrating the War Memorial.   At the end of it, you couldn’t be certain if he wanted to arrest the truckers, or drive a rig onto the Hill himself.

His predecessor, Andrew Scheer, made the same mistake. He’d profess to be a tolerant, diverse, modern conservative – and then he’d sit down for an interview with Faith Goldy, who the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith has termed a “white supremacist,” quote unquote.

Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, the modern-era Conservative Party was two parties, too. Harper — being the guy who brought together the warring conservative factions with Peter MacKay (more on him in a moment) — knew that he was the father of two siblings who hated each other’s guts.

Not so subtly, he’d signal which side he favoured — expelling MPs who tried to reignite the abortion and gay marriage debate.   Spending like a proverbial sailor during the great global financial crash of 2008-2009.   Reaching a residential school settlement with Indigenous victims.

But occasionally, he’d throw a bone to the troglodyte faction, to keep them in line: stuff like the “barbaric practices” hotline (which cost them power and should still serve as a lesson they still haven’t learned).

But mainly, Harper kept the two conservative parties in line with fear.   Members of his caucus were afraid of him.   They knew he was smarter and more strategic than they were, and they knew what would happen to them if they got out of line.

Erin O’Toole didn’t inspire fear.   He inspired contempt and derision.   

He was, as I liked to say, remarkably unremarkable.   We never knew what his passion was.   We never got to see what was inside his heart, in his gut.   He tried to be all things to all people, and ended up being nothing at all.  

Where does the Conservative Party go from here?   

I suspect they’ll reject urban, moderate, experienced choices like MacKay — who was always a better choice than O’Toole — and embrace anger.   They’ll go with one of the Opposition MPs who are good at opposition, but you can’t ever picture in government.   As prime minister.

As he packs up at Stornoway, O’Toole can comfort himself with one thing: it was never going to work out.

Because the one party you ran to lead, Mr. O’Toole?

It’s two parties.

Kinsella was special assistant to Jean Chretien

64 Comments

  1. Derek Pearce says:

    Well, this Fall it’ll be 7 years since they last held power. I suppose it’ll be what, another 5-6 before they re-learn to appeal to more than their base? The Conservatives seem to go in roughly about a 12-15 year cycle where they lose power and then get their shit together enough to win again. Of course most of that strategy relies on Canadians following their own 12-15 year cycle of having had enough of the Libs and tossing them out. Caveat: if the Libs are smart enough about replacing JT in the near-to-medium term. He might be able to squeak out another minority for them but I think it’ll take a blue Liberal to win a majority for them.

    • Honkin' Tom says:

      EVERYBODY…

      ‘Cause Margo’s got the cargo b’y and Reggie’s got da rig!

      Reggie’s got the rig, Reggie’s got the rig;

      Margo’s got the cargo b’y, and Reggie’s got the rig!

  2. Westguy says:

    Its kind of funny. What I saw in the US in 2016 I’m seeing in Canada now. A vocally angry segment of the population disparaged by the so-called progressive segments. What were referred to as deplorables down there are called, troglodytes and other things up here.
    Problem is, these people seem to forget about how democracy works. The guy waving a swastika flag has the exact same number of votes as the latte-sipping progressive – one. While society may attempt to minimize one and elevate the other, (barbaric practices hotline – bad. Hate crime hotline – good) the ballot box does not. And if you get enough of those angry people who feel they aren’t being listened to or are being dismissed, election outcomes can be affected.
    We saw what can happen when enough angry and dismissed people voted in the US in 2016.It’s a lesson the US still hasn’t learned from and neither have we. But keep it up, progressives. It seems some lessons can only be learned the hard way. I’ve been of the opinion for a while that the first political leader that runs on a “Fuck Quebec” platform will form government. I suspect there are many who might think that’s inconceivable but all it takes is enough votes.

    • Derek Pearce says:

      Guess what? Quebecers get to vote too! The Refooooooorm party ran Ona platform of “fuck Quebec” and how’d that work out for them?
      Also if you recall, Hilary won more votes- 3 million more-& than Donny. Plus Canadians vote in higher percentages than Americans. Progressives are going to keep on pissing you off thanks.

  3. Phil in London says:

    Warren you are more capable of reading my mind and interpreting/articulating it than I can myself.

    Pulease form the war party to attract enough moderate voters under your leadership to hold the balance of power for the next decade. I don’t care if you call it the real Liberal party I’m in.

  4. A. Voter says:

    The “two parties” is already a factor with the PPC. The Trudeau Liberal’s received the lowest support of eligible voters and of actual votes cast in history in the last federal election, but still hold power. I read recently that the Conservatives would have won 50 more seats with 5000 votes spread the right way. I think someone like Michael Chong is what the party needs, with Pierre P playing pit bull in the house. The Mad Max voters aren’t likely to go for someone like Chong, so the split may continue for some time.

  5. IMHO the Progressive Conservative Party was destroyed by Brian Mulroney. They never recovered from the results of the 1993 election. I think most of their supporters have gone to the Liberals, or NDP. The current federal version has very few of what people would consider PC’s or Red Torys. I don’t buy the “us vs them” narrative either; Canada is not like the US, it is more regional with regional grievances. There were many ridings in Western Canada that voted for the NDP provincially and Reform federally. The Liberals will always be the default choice of Central Canada, which, as I am sure Mr. Kinsella would agree, is where federal elections are won, or as the case may be, lost. I don’t think it really matters who the Conservatives have as a leader. When people are fed up with the Liberals, they will vote them out of office. So far, when that happens, the Conservatives get elected. (That being said, I cannot conceive of a situation where the NDP will ever form a government federally). As I have pointed out on previous occasions in this esteemed forum, since the election of Trudeau Sr., the Liberals have governed federally for about 36 years. The conservatives I believe were in charge for around 18. Additionally, if we look at successful leaders, all of them were from Quebec, with the obvious exception of Stephen Harper. So it seems pretty obvious to me that if you aspire to the highest office in the land, make sure you are a Liberal and Quebecois. All of the current shenanigans with the Cons on Ottawa are entertaining of course, but really don’t amount to much. Once the current Trudeau Jr. regime has run its course, whomever is the Conservatives leader will have had the good timing to be the next PM. My two cents….

  6. The Doctor says:

    Well, I and many others can say I told you so. This all traces back to the founding of the Reform Party in the 80s. I thought that was a face-palmingly stupid idea back then that would only benefit the Liberal Party. It fatally weakened the old PC party, permanently damaged the conservative brand in Canada and made Conservatives unelectable in places where they used to be electable (e.g., Vancouver Centre).

  7. Westguy,

    Funny how so many in the West are always crying boo-hoo for being scapegoated by the rest of the country, including Quebec, but think it’s just peachy to give Quebec the same treatment. Man, they need to look up cognitive dissonance and fast…

  8. Put another way, it’s high time for both the West and Alberta in particular, along with Quebec, to finally find some balzies. Let the West, AB & QC bite the bullet and leave the federation. That should work out just great for all of us…

    You think the CPC is divided? Well, I’ve got a news flash for all of you: this country is at least 100% times more divided than the party ever will be. So…either stop squawking and MAN UP or just leave the goddamned federation. End of story.

  9. I don’t give a fuck if you’re Reform, Alliance, Progressive Conservative or a blue eunuch, get with the program: WINNING isn’t everything, it’s the ONLY THING. We get our collective head around that and we win. If we don’t, then we lose badly from the very moment that the writ is dropped. Period.

    • Andy Kaut says:

      Maybe the CPC doesn’t want to rule the nation. Maybe their representatives are ok just representing the deplorables in their ridings, and that’s going to have to be enough. The Omicronvoy has laid bare the regional disparity we live with here. The Ottawa police are gearing up to silence folks from out West (and Far East) that are fed up with not being heard.

      Let me know if you ever find a place in history that continuing to marginalize a vocal minority has ever worked out.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Andy,

        If that’s the case, the party can count me out. Sure, the West and the Far East are likely tired of not being heard. That’s supposed to be bad but it also not supposed to be bad that we in this province have never got a constitutional accord and nobody in the West, Far East or anywhere else in English Canada gives a tinker’s damn about that so…all I can say is, welcome to the club! It’s either address ALL region grievances and cleavages or to be fair, address none of them. That’s what we’ve been doing since 1982.

  10. PJH says:

    Just for fun, I dug up and old post from May 2020, months before the actual leadership vote…..I wasnt too far off…..but of course, Mr. Kinsella was spot on, as usual: PJH says:
    May 6, 2020 at 8:57 pm
    I suspect once the CoVid19 crisis is over, M. Trudeau will pull the pin(taking advantage of the dire financial state of affairs of their current bedmates, the NDP,) and call a snap election, while a hapless new Conservative leader Erin O’toole struggles to meld a coalition of socon antiabortionists/anti homosexuals and moderate Cons. It will not work, resulting in a huge win for M. Trudeau and the Liberals. Mr. MacKay, whose leadership campaign suffered the death by a thousand wounds, and the virulent ABM socon anti-abortionist/anti homosexual cult, will continue to remain popular. A a little wiser, he will try for the leadership once again when it becomes abundantly clear to the membership of the party that electing Andrew Scheer 2.0 is a recipe for remaining in the political wilderness forever. Jagmeet Singh will return to his law practice. Western Separatists will continue to piss and moan, and threaten to secede…only to remain a rump of disgruntled old balding white farts. It will be 1974 all over again…only the players are different.

    Reply
    Warren says:
    May 6, 2020 at 9:07 pm
    That’s pretty accurate.

    But what if the pandemic goes for three years?

    Reply
    Ronald O’Dowd says:
    May 7, 2020 at 2:52 am
    PJH,

    Let’s get down to brass tacks: this leadership is about winning. In fact, it should only be about winning. Canadians are, by and large, moderate centrists. Those with crossover appeal win elections. If MacKay and O’Toole run truly as themselves, as Blue Tory Moderates, they can win. Conversely, if they try to run as someone they aren’t, they won’t see the forest for the trees and will lose badly.

    I’m with MacKay because he’s been a leader before and along with Harper, is solely responsible for the foresight and magic recipe that took this party out of the political wilderness. Unlike me, MacKay correctly said Yes, opening the door to a win. Without MacKay, we’d still be spinning our wheels in circles in two competing opposition parties.

    NB: I hope Mr. MacKay stays out of this soon to be no holds barred grudge match of a leadership race….

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      PJH,

      You won’t see any spin from me tonight. I don’t know if Peter will run. My guess is that it’s 50-50 but I’ll tell you this: if Peter goes for it, he has my support right out of the gate — leaders are made, not born and MacKay remains my choice.

  11. PJH says:

    Requirements of the new leader: Sage like wisdom and gravitas of a Rt. Hon Robert Stanfield. Charisma, likeability(by his MP’s, at least initially), facility with French and speech giving like Brian Mulroney, and the power to invoke fear in MP’s like Josef….er….Stephen Harper….My recipe for success in leading the CPOC….you’re welcome…..

  12. J says:

    Michelle Rempel – she may be diminutive but she is a force to contend with. I do not know her political history in detail, but after meeting her a few years ago… I have always felt she’s a legit contender that might be able to take on the blackface, two-face, privileged, prat, selfie-smitten, man-child.

  13. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Hum. Candice Bergen, a fine choice. She has always been leadership material in my book. She deserved far more positive phone calls than she got previously. We are damned lucky to have her now as interim. Damned lucky.

  14. Sean says:

    I am celebrating the fact that MPs – yes, ELECTED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT dumped a leader today. This is how parliament is supposed to work and good for them.

    • [Notice how Sean is not holding his breath waiting for the Liberals to dump TRUDISASTER TM.]

      Somewhere, Carney and Freeland are probably blubbering like a baby.

      • Yet Another Calgarian says:

        I have to say I cannot see Carney blubbering given his position at Blackrock.

        Order(s) of magnitude more power and responsibility in that role than running the Liberal Party clown car. Why would he ever even contemplate it.

        • YAC,

          In a word, E-G-O.

          • Yet Another Calgarian says:

            Can’t argue with the ego comment Mr O’Dowd but I would assert that him giving speeches about and then coordinating spending 150 trillion dollars on “climate change” over the next thirty years is going to stroke more ego for him than the LPC ever could.

            Entirely different strata than Canadian penny ante BS.

    • Andy Kaut says:

      Not acceptable; the question should have gone to grassroots. If this leadership contest goes awry, the reasoning may well be that a majority of CPC members didn’t believe it should be happening.

      Or should have happened 5 months ago. Either way, I find it interesting that democracy (representative democracy, as we call it), so often distills itself to sweeping decisions to close barn doors while the horses are mere specks on the horizon.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Andy,

        I too think the leadership choice should come only from members going forward. So it’s up to members to demand from each leadership candidate where they stand on this. If a candidate doesn’t agree that this should be permanently etched into the CPC platform, then don’t support them. It’s up to members to either pave the road to power or do the exact opposite — it’s up to them and all of us will live with the political consequences. For my part, a crappy platform that does not put us in at least a competitive position and I go dormant. I won’t waste my time in a preordained losing election campaign.

  15. Sean says:

    Justin is so f&%king stupid that Tory leaders get exactly one shot at beating him and if they can’t do it right away…. we’ll see ya in hell!

  16. Sean says:

    Should John Tory give it a shot? What the hell, he’s popular in a diverse urban center… and has legit Conservative street cred… But he seems too at home in his current job.

    • The Doctor says:

      Didn’t he suck as Tory leader in Ontario?

      • Doc,

        That’s one of the things I like about you. You’re so polite. LOL.

        • The Doctor says:

          Don’t get me wrong — I actually met and casually knew John Tory many years ago, and I think highly of him. But there are lots of good and capable people who are not cut out to be successful provincial or federal party leaders. As I recall, John Tory as PC leader in Ontario got sucked into the same kind of culture war crap/vortex that seems to be eating federal Tory leaders alive these days. Something about funding religious schools (which the overwhelming majority of normal people couldn’t give a flying fuck about, thus a classic stupid culture war issue).

          • Derek Pearce says:

            Except the majority of normal voters DID care about, that’s why he lost.

          • The Doctor says:

            Derek, I agree with you that the religious school thing ended up being an issue that damaged the PCs, but that’s because they took the issue up in the first place. People ended up caring about it because (a) the PCs stupidly took it up when they didn’t have too (and that’s on JT), (b) the Liberals realized the gift they’d been given and mercilessly milked it and (c) the media also played it up for all it was worth. Thus the PCs got viciously out-politicked on it.

            But that’s the thing: in recent years Conservative parties in Canada constantly get tempted by these culture war-type issues because superficially they see something that has a constituency behind it. They’re too stupid to see that just because a bunch of loudmouthed, fanatical activists care deeply about something, that does not mean that the issue is a winner with the electorate at large. It’s related to the problem that politicians are attracted to any constituency that seems vocal and engaged, because politicians often measure success in terms of what boosts membership and donations. They look at what’s in front of their nose rather than taking a longer view.

    • PJH says:

      I saw John Tory give a speech once at a PC convention…..where he was touted as a possible candidate for leadership……The speech was about as exciting as watching paint dry, a sentiment that was shared round the room….’Nuff said….

      • The Doctor says:

        I agree with you. The appropriate role for him in any federal Conservative Party would be akin to Michael Wilson’s role in Mulroney’s PC government.

  17. As if things couldn’t get worse. Rumours here in Ontario are that Patrick Brown is all in.

    • ER,

      He probably just got confused and turned the wrong corner — after all, Bernier is waiting on the other side and watching his watch…

    • PJH says:

      I wonder if anything’s changed from his PC Youth days….Where at convention the “enfant terrible” was followed constantly by an entourage o’ groupies. I think he was such a pain in the ass, one of the first things Stephen Harper did upon merger was ensure there was no youth wing of the Conservative Party….But hey, the man can sell memberships like no other….much to the chagrin of old line Ontario Tories to it would seem…

    • PJH says:

      The bean counters at Conservative Party HQ will be elated. Whatever Mr. Brown’s other failings, he can sell memberships like no other……bodes well for all non SoCon candidates methinks…..

  18. Arron Banks says:

    You need someone like a Rona Ambrose or Michelle Rempel who is more socially progressive/libertarian but is based in western Canada. I think if Peter MacKay had the same stances, policies but was from Drumheller instead of Halifax he wins. Stephen Harper got respect of his caucus because he was from Calgary (yes, by way of Toronto) but he was “one of them” not one of these central Canadian elitist types slamming oil and gas. I even think Naheed Nenshi would stand a better chance as a candidate in the CPC leadership race than a non-western Red Tory candidate.

    • Arron,

      Well, the membership stats are certainly weighted in a certain direction.

    • The Doctor says:

      Sadly (for me), I heard on CBC this morning that Ambrose is already out. I also heard what I thought was a very accurate observation re the CPC’s exestential dilemma on the At Issue panel last night: the people who vote Conservative in federal elections are a much broader, moderate and diverse group than the people who belong to the CPC (and thus select its leader and form its caucus).

      • Doc,

        Sometimes these serial no thanks are related to lobbying and the steady flow of major cash in DC that goes with that and sometimes not.

        Sometimes someone takes a decision and sometimes a decision is taken for someone…pretty lame.

    • Steve says:

      Naheed Nenshi will run as a Liberal in an upcoming federal election.

  19. O’Toole will stick it out as an MP. At least he’s not a quitter so he earns a gold star for that.

  20. Yet Another Calgarian says:

    Willing to agree with a large part of Mr Kinsella’s premise on two parties in one for the PCs but I’m expecting Trudeau’s adoption of American style racial essentialism for everything and everyone to eventually drive more blue collar types and their votes out of the Liberal Party just like its doing in the US with the Democrats and Latinos.

    to borrow a direct quote from an Indian Muslim coworker “I moved here to get away from that shit”.

    Where they land might be yet to be determined but on a related point 60% of Canadian truckers are of Punjabi descent so from a helping your brand standpoint I fail to see how tarring all of them… or anyone else who disagrees with you on any topic ever… as “White Nationalists” like Singh and Trudeau have done is going to be productive. Don’t see them stopping talking like that either which is probably great for their activist donor base but not so much for regular people.

    Say speaking of activist donor base what ever happened with We?

    Also I honestly have to laugh at Ottawa dwellers. Protests occur routinely in every single Western capital city. Trying to imagine them living in Paris, Berlin or London and failing miserably. Laughing, but failing miserably.

    • Arron Banks says:

      “I’m expecting Trudeau’s adoption of American style racial essentialism for everything and everyone to eventually drive more blue collar types and their votes out of the Liberal Party just like its doing in the US with the Democrats and Latinos.”

      To be fair, both major U.S. parties practise so-called identity politics; the GOP courts white working class voters at the expense of African Americans, Asians, and Latinos and the Democrats do the inverse. If people don’t vote for you, that’s your fault not theirs. The GOP had a post-mortem after 2012 that told them to court the Latino vote and people like Paul Ryan spent time in inner city neighbourhoods and areas and even personally softened their stances on various issues including prison and immigration reform. You Know Who of course came in an basically blew that all up and what’s crazy about Trump is he could’ve won the popular vote and the election in 2020 by running his xenophobic, “America First” platform by including African Americans (who are largely not immigrants) in that fold (he feebly attempted to do this too late into his presidency and after too many bridges had been burned after blunders like Charlottesville, etc.)

      • Yet Another Calgarian says:

        Will not argue with the statement that both parties in the US practice identity politics. Cannot for that matter.

        What is concerning to me is that its the establishment left doubling down on the racial crazy which is way more damaging than an outsider over the long run.

        Establishment left are supposed to be the adults in charge to borrow a quote and now listening to them speak is like listening to mirror universe David Duke giving a lecture on race.

        Any multi ethnic pluralistic polity cant be reifying race as a concept and survive.

        Also as a counterpoint to your comment about the orange haired one blowing things up for the GOP with minority voters is that he did better in almost all categories than traditional gop candidates have done. If the GOP manage to get a sane guy that runs on some of Trumps platforms it could be an increasing shift as the Dems move ever leftward in rhetoric.

        Again a huge if but also applies to the Conservatives here.

        I dont expect them to handle it that way though so more likely we end up seeing stuff sloshing back and forth between extremes till something external breaks us out of the cycle.

  21. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Candice,

    One day on the job and it’s already a teaching moment for you. I like the second part of your answer but it comes with risk. You know, where Trudeau turns the tables, breaks it up and the largest group of Canadians side with him, not us.

    Focus your mind instead on who is a part of that fifth column that publicly ambushed you today. And figure out the why. What do they already have against you as interim? Hope you have a better Day Two. Be more circumspect, at least for now.

    • Haven’t we had enough blood-letting in the party just getting rid of O’Toole? Who the hell are these MPs seemingly taking repeated DAILY swings at Bergen? OK, there were “good” people on both sides but if that was a problem for caucus, then why the hell did all of you choose Candice for interim? Now is not the time for caucus members to leak like a cowardly sieve. We’ve got to put this behind us and concentrate instead on an early leadership run. Those sniping at Bergen are doing the Trudeau Liberals’ work for them. For Christ’s Sake, shut the hell up and unite behind Candice until we choose a new leader, period.

  22. Steve says:

    There is no doubt the CPC has some serious fractures within the party that need to be united before they can take a serious run at forming government. Having said that, I see this week’s turmoil with a little more optimism than I am seeing in Warren’s article, and the comments above. With Trudeau having just called the “most important election of our generation”, it would be very tough (not impossible) for him to orchestrate another one in the near future to take advantage of the CPC disarray. If the CPC can get the right leader in place, they likely have some time to get the ship righted before the next election. I would think PP is one of the politicians that Warren feels are good at opposition, but you can’t ever picture in government. I respectfully disagree with that assessment. I think PP is smart, media savvy, strategic and aggressive. There is also no one on earth who is as successful getting under Trudeau’s skin and throwing him off his game (that is generally true for the other Liberals as well). As far as CPC members being punished by voters for supporting the truckers within the protest convoy, I highly doubt it. We have a PM who groped a woman, wore racist blackface too many times too remember and oozes condescension with every woke breath so I doubt supporting truckers disqualifies anyone, no matter who tries to spin this as support of Nazis and right wing nuts. In fact I believe voters are starting to tire of mandates and governments of all stripes are going to have come to terms with this, whether they like it or not. I’m sure Trudeau’s highly paid pollsters have already advised him of this. I believe there may be a ray of light peering through the clouds for the CPC but they are going to need some luck and unity to topple the Liberals.

    • Steve,

      Conservatives, are like women in general, subjected to an unfair double standard where almost perfect performance is expected from them to reach the same standard that men are perceived to have reached, when in fact most men never reached that standard…

      Toss in the media who expect the other parties to be Julius Caesar, while demanding that the CPC be Calpurnia.

  23. Phil in London says:

    Just a fun little exercise here, how does Jagmeet Singh’s NDP fair in an election where their only opponent is Justin Bieber’s Liberals?

    They cannot outfrancofy the Bloc, Cities don’t need them if they have a Liberal choice and of course the people out west will have no problem electing every bunny from the Pil label as MP if they promise to be right wing enough for their movement.

    Without a conservative bogey man, I’m pretty sure the leader of the next loyal and official opposition is either a western crank who manages to reform the reform movement or a Quebec nationalist.

    If NDP does makes a solid second how important are they to the Liberal party if they hold a massive majority?

    How united could western populists and french nationalists become if they combined hold the only real balance of power?

    Do liberal policies shift to the centre from the far left?
    Do the PPC shift into focus as the only right of centre alternative?

    It’s not that any outcome is beyond possible.

    Just to add a little more entertainment supposed Queen Betty dies and King Chuckles the clown’s first regal act is to have advice from our governor general that the colony held an election and either no-one can tell who won or that there is need for two more governor’s general in the separate states. Maybe he’s asked to send over some redcoats to repel the American invasion after the US midterms bring a bunch more redneck to the congress.

    And you all thought the CPC under Harper, Scheer or O’Toole was scary.

    • Yet Another Calgarian says:

      Does JT having looked in his twitter trunk and deciding to playing dress up as an American progressive politician drag the Liberal party left whether it wants to be or not?

      Do Canadians really want American politician’s screechy culture war imported to here now?

      Do they bleed more seats from the red blue side of the party than they gain on the red pink side?

      There is definitely a lot more going on than just whats happening in the CPC right now.

  24. Derek Pearce says:

    So Bergen wants the convoy to stay and continue making Ottawans’ lives miserable and demands, in the House of Commons no less, that the govt extend and olive branch to these nuts.
    Does the party not know it has to reach apolitical middle of the road voters, or has it just decided to become the PPC in all but name and not care about actually forming government?

    • Derek,

      Bergen has already recognized that a turning point is not far off but I agree with you that the CPC has to get this albatross behind it and fast. Otherwise, it will be used as a de facto excuse by everyone and his brother not to vote Conservative for at least one, if not two election cycles. She wants Trudeau to wear it. Fine, but don’t sink the opposition in the process. Bergen has to move on to other things and do it yesterday.

  25. Kevin says:

    I don’t agree that the main problem is a “war” within the Conservative Party. I can’t be sure, because I’m not a party member, but I think it is more a lack of a clear and consistent vision. It is the lack of a clearly communicated pragmatic conservatism that Stephen Harper was able to show (until he wasn’t, cf the “barbaric practices hotline”), that is hindering the Conservatives.

    Also, “progressive” and “angry” are not opposites. Similarly, categorizing people as either “progressive” or “troglodyte” is wrong, and insulting. A person can be principled, careful and wary about “woke” causes and perspectives, without being angry. Sadly, nuanced and respectful dialogue is absent. But this is how the current Liberals have been able to sow fear and division. The Conservatives fell into it for the last 3 elections – by reacting negatively, or adopting Liberal perspectives or, worst of all, doing both.

    Gone are the “sunny ways” as JT now recklessly sows division. The tactic has kept him in minority governments, but I think it is now wearing very thin with the electorate.

    I still think that a pragmatic conservative who articulates a clear vision for the country, and addresses the things that really matter to people (like the increasing cost of living), without buying into the Toronto Star’s view that only progressive positions are acceptable, can win.

  26. Gilbert says:

    The key to defeating the Liberals is to unite, to appeal to rural and urban voters, and present a vision for the country.

    The Liberals are good at finding issues to attack the CPC. Andrew Scheer’s American citizenship and Erin O’Toole’s position on guns come to mind. The Conservatives have to find issues to turn voters against the PM.

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