, 12.06.2022 11:43 AM

My latest: dummies, dumped

Spare a thought and a prayer, if you will, for the convoy types. Because they are sad and lonely, these days.

Their suitor and champion has abandoned them, you see. Pierre Poilievre has ghosted the convoy folk.

It’s no small thing. Poilievre won his Conservative Party’s leadership in a landslide – not despite the convoy folk, but partly because of them. During happier times, Poilievre marched with the convoy enthusiasts, he sang their praises, he brought them coffee and posed for selfies.

And then, the Tory leader became invisible during the convoy cabal’s time of need. Poof! He was gone. Poilievre dumped them, much like Brad Pitt dumped Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie, except with much more skill and a lot less drama.

The inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act was a lot like a criminal prosecution, even if it will make no finding of criminal culpability. But it had all the trappings of one: a judge, a witness stand, court reporters, and an army of lawyers, stacked up like cordwood.

The Public Order Emergency Commission, as it was more formally known, conducted court-like hearings at the federal Library and Archives on Wellington Street. No media reports can be found to describe what would happen when the doors would open there.

Did the convoy leaders turn around in their seats, like in Hollywood movies, expecting Pierre Poilievre to stride in, and take over the conduct of the defence? Did they expect him to arrive like Perry Mason, and free them all from the chains of Trudeau-stan oppression?

Well, he didn’t. In fact, he said nothing as the hearings got going. He did not utter a word – not one, single solitary word – about his relationship with the convoy gang.

And, in so doing, he revealed – to this writer, at least – that he’s a lot smarter than we thought he was.

Consider the evidence, because there was a lot of it. For six weeks, more than 70 witnesses appeared at the inquiry. Hundreds of thousands of documents were submitted. Videos were played. Examinations and cross-examinations took place.

The evidence, for the convoy types – those who occupied Ottawa for weeks, those who blocked border crossings from B.C.’s Pacific Highway to Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge – was very, very bad. Vandalizing the statue of Terry Fox. Desecrating the War Memorial. Defecating and urinating in public. Yelling abuse at masked Ottawa residents, many of whom had not slept in weeks because of truckers leaning on their horns – which is 115 decibels, several times over.

Oh, and the waving of swastika flags. Ironically, it was the convoy folks’ top-notch lawyer who repeatedly tried to make that into an issue. No one else.

And through it all, with the convoy types getting hammered for day after day, where was Pierre Poilievre? Gone, baby, gone. Oh, sure, on an early November B.C. trip, he said he’d have something to say when all the evidence was in – except, the evidence is all in, and he still hasn’t said anything to defend the convoy-ers.

The Conservative leader did say one thing that was interesting, however, when touring the Left Coast. Poilievre said he “condemned” anyone who “broke laws, behaved badly, or blockaded critical infrastructure.”

“Behaved badly.” Which, of course, was pretty much all of them. You don’t hold a major city hostage for weeks in the name of “freedom” and then get a gold star, boys and girls. Ditto crippling border trade, or any of the other clearly-bad behaviour.

So, why was Pierre Poilievre smart to abandon Tamara Lich and her bridesmaids – Chris Barber, Pat King, James Bauder and Benjamin Dichter – at the altar? Well, Nanos has the answer.

The pollster did a poll, released this week, and found that nearly 70 per cent of Canadians fully supported the Trudeau government’s use of the Emergencies Act. Fifty per cent said the inquiry left them with an even worse impression of the convoy participants.

And the Poilievre Conservatives’ lead in the polls? Gone. Evaporated. Disappeared. As Nanos top guy, Nik Nanos put it, in an understatement for the ages: “If there continues to be a focus on the convoy…it could be a potential risk for Pierre Poilievre.”

No kidding. And you know who knows that most of all? Pierre Poilievre does.

Which is why he’s ghosted the convoy folks. Which is why he’s kept quiet. Which is why he’s not dumb.

And which is why the convoy types are feeling sad and lonely, these days.

41 Comments

  1. Douglas W says:

    Clinton strategist James Carville: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

    This should be Poilievre’s never ending narrative: the economy + the hurtful cost of living.

    Liberals will try to sidetrack Poilievre with the Freedom Convoy/far right connection. They don’t want to talk about the cost of living.

    Whoever controls the narrative will form the next government.

  2. Merrill Smith says:

    A pity he wasn’t called to testify.

  3. Sean says:

    This was very predictable. He knew the convoy folks would put him over the top right at the moment of the leadership…. and that’s all he needed them for. Which, actually, is how all internal party leadership / nomination / primary campaigns work.

    For people who use phrases like “wake up sheeple” etc., the convoy folks have exposed themselves as possibly the most gullible collection of rubes in recent Canadian history. Their opposition to facts and appetite for fast answers made them easy prey to be taken advantage of by savvy political hucksters.

    The convoy was about nothing, they stood and fought for nothing, they achieved nothing. No one serious is standing up for them, least of all Pierre Poilievre.

    The organizers took their money and Pierre took their votes. Their movement has nothing to call its own, but embarrassment and shame.

    Oh, yeah… Get your fucking vaccination shots, you fucking morons.

    • Martin Dixon says:

      People are continuing to buy the MSM nonsense that the convoy protestors put him over the top and all he did was cater to them. He said the same things during the campaign that he is saying now but no one is honest enough to report that or they just didn’t bother to listen to hm. Why he won’t talk to the MSM. I have been telling my tory MP friends for years that they should have stopped doing that a long time ago. And that Harper should have pulled that “secret agenda” out of his toolbox and shut down the CBC “news” division. But I guess he was too busy bringing back the death penalty and eliminating the right to choose…oh wait…

      • Martin,

        This is almost 2023…Harper wasn’t Putin or Xi. You simply can’t shut down the public broadcaster because you don’t like their biased reporting and analysis. Not ever in a democracy. SO…you do the next best thing and formally divest by selling off The Mothercorp to the private sector. Now that’s perfectly legitimate and defensible. Why should the government still be in the television news business? CBC TV is now as biased as Fox.

      • Doug says:

        Agreed that PP didn’t need to have an opinion on the convoy in order to win the leadership. He won by running by far the most disciplined campaign.

        Any attempt to link one brand with another is risky. PP should have known better than to appear in images with people who might do things he can’t control (ex. waving combo maple leaf/swastika flags that are open to interpretation). It was a rare lapse in judgement from someone who appears to appreciate message discipline. He should have offered to engage them verbally or even better, through text.

        The MSM challenge is more challenging. Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole failed to introduce themselves to the electorate, allowing the Liberals to define them before they defined themselves. PP has earned much higher awareness amongst voters, largely without engaging the MSM. He runs the risk of an antagonized MSM running stealth campaigns against him, much like it did to Harper. Perhaps he needs to engage MSM on a very controlled basis so that he doesn’t appear afraid.

        Fully agree that CBC should be at the top of the list following the absolutely necessary program review that will be unavoidable in avoiding inflation and debt spirals. A future CPC government will need austerity that will make the 95 budget, the only positive measure taken by the Chretien-Martin government, look minor

    • william shakesfeare says:

      Who in their right mind came up with this idea of a convoy in winter? In Canada?
      Doomed from the beginning but hey it sold a lot of papers and got a lot of clicks but now we know we’re just as full of rubes as our neighbors to the south.

  4. Gilbert says:

    It’s about the economy and about giving Canadians the right to choose what they put in their bodies. Not many people know what’s in the injection or what the long-term effects are. I know many people who got the injection and now have health problems. The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t care because it’s making money and is immune from prosecution.

    • Gilbert,

      Of course, vaccination should always be a choice. But what should never be a choice is going out in public while unvaccinated as the unvaccinated will discover so well in the 8th wave. Personally, I’d much rather be vaccinated five times, which I am, and develop health problems vs. not being vaccinated and ending up with irreversible health problems or dropping dead in the ICU. But that’s just me. Remember that it has been statistically proven that you can take an ASA tablet and actually drop dead. Some people have. It’s all relative.

      • Gilbert says:

        My wife and I never got the injection. We haven’t been sick since the start of the pandemic. Exercise, sleep, sunlight, fresh air and a healthy diet are so important.

        • Martin Dixon says:

          I followed all the guidelines but only because I was playing the odds and didn’t care much because I had lots of other shit going on. Surgery, lost a brother, lost a partner, etc. etc. If my life depended on it and I cared, no way would have I have relied on the government recommendations. I deal with them regularly and have seen them in action. We SAW them in action. It was a shitshow. Total sympathy for those that refused to get the shot and I STILL say, there is NO difference between those rights and the right to choose. None. Period. Full stop. I am still shocked that the left wold not agree. The whole it is my body argument went flying out the window. Everything has flipped. The Man(read big Pharma and the government) used to be the enemy. No way would any of this stuff withstand a court challenge. The 60s are calling and wondering WTF is going on. And, apropos of nothing, although it kind of is, I literally burst out laughing when the auditor general was explaining yesterday how the average federal salary of 130k a year wasn’t really 130k a year because of all the benefits. She was answering questions about why the public sector salary increases were so much higher than the private sector. The problem is those people are the third rail. Witness them all giving JT a standing O when he first got elected. Beyond nauseating. PP has to fight them and the MSM.

          • Martin,

            As I said before, my right to choose when pregnant does not risk adversely directly affecting the health and well being of a spouse. Not so for the unvaccinated who choose to go out in public, mostly unmasked. We’ll never, ever, agree on this one. Thems the breaks.

          • Martin Dixon says:

            Sorry, hearing was from November 30th. Snippet below. And it was Annie Boudreau. Assistant Secretary – Expenditure Management Sector at TBS. And NONE of these people paid a financial price for Covid. Quasi vacay for many. And many in Ottawa! You can buy a LOT of earplugs for $130,000 a year.

            https://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20221207/-1/11608?mediaStartTime=20221130191337&viewMode=3&globalStreamId=3

          • william shakesfeare says:

            It’s time to take down those pix of Stevie Harper. You’ve been staring at them too long. The damage he did is done. He ain’t coming back any more than Pee Pee McPeePeepants is going to get to run the country.
            Fuggedaboudit

          • Martin Dixon says:

            They were well rewarded for that standing O(text of the video in another post-google translate is amazing-this was in French):

            “Senator Gignac: I welcome the witnesses.
            Ms. Boudreau, it’s always a pleasure to see you again. My question is going to be for you.
            The Parliamentary Budget Officer came to meet with us. I understand that we are analyzing expenditures (B), but there is also the economic statement. There are so many measures announced between last spring’s budget and the economic statement. We were still talking about 20 billion dollars. I understand that these are not always expenditures, but they are also tax measures. This evening, we are talking about expenditures (B), that is, expenditures over $20 billion that we must approve.
            There is also a point that I would like to raise with regard to the remuneration of civil servants. If I understand correctly, in expenditures (B), there is an amount of $12.3 billion, that is to say the authorization expenditures for the additional remuneration that we must approve. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has given us some statistics that are a bit…I wouldn’t dare say disturbing. Can you enlighten me on this?
            Since 2015, since the Liberal government has been in place, the average annual growth in personnel expenditure has been 6.7%. We have gone from $39.6 billion and will reach $67.7 billion. A percentage of 6.7% is still a fairly rapid increase in compensation expenditure. If I understand correctly, the 2.3% represents the number of employees. Let’s take 6.7% minus 2.3%, if my figures are correct, we are talking about 4.4%. However, 4.4% is still a higher growth rate than the private sector.
            Can you analyze these percentages? Because the number of staff is increasing. On average, we are talking about a cost of $130,000 per full-time employee. I need clarification on compensation management. I believe this is a Treasury Board file.
            Ms Boudreau: Thank you. I’ll start answering your question, and then I’ll give the floor to my colleague.
            One thing we must not forget is that the figure of $130,000 also includes social benefits, in particular the pension fund, dental care, health care. Once you break it all down, the amount is smaller.
            We also looked at the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report. We attach great importance to this. The numbers in the report are a little different from our numbers, but at the end of the day, we agree on his assessment. We will meet again in the next three to five years.
            I will give the floor to my colleague, Ms. Bidal, who can give you more details.
            Senator Gignac: I would like us to break down the amount of $130,000, namely what corresponds to the salary and what corresponds to the benefits. If you ever have statistics or other information, could you send them to us in writing?
            Ms Boudreau: I will send the information in writing.”

            I love math and bumping this again.

            https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/imt/2009/01/20/the-mathematics-of-bureaucracy-explains-how-they-grow-and-at-what-point-they-become-inefficient/

          • Robert White says:

            Ever hear of _Informed Consent_ legislation?

            I was taught Behavioural Medicine by Canada’s Chair of Neuroscience Professor H. Anisman as I was completing my B.A. Honours in Experimental Psychology degree at Carleton University.

            RW

        • Gilbert,

          Glad to hear it. I hope your luck holds straight to the end. But be exceedingly careful, given your level of vulnerability.

  5. EsterHazyWasALoser says:

    Politics as usual (IMHO). Just like all the promises Prime Minister Trudeau made back in 2015. Once you are in office, you don’t have to return their hone calls. What are they going to do?

  6. Warren,

    I’d love to take credit for the turn around. After all, I’ve been banging that one home on this very website since Jesus was but a family ambition but in truth, Poilièvre didn’t listen to me. Maybe it was the threats against his wife. And secondarily, it was also likely the demise of his polling lead. All politicians want power above all else. Even Pierre Poilièvre.

  7. the salamander says:

    We all saw what we saw & we knew what we knew ..
    The EA Inquiry really just supplied layers of overlapping details confirming my first sentence

    Here’s something we don’t know – or the way & how of it
    We don’t & won’t get the down & dirty conniving parasitic shit that went down behind closed ‘Conservative’ doors.. And.. don’t underplay the truly coincidental circumstances / realities of 3 different Leaders of The Official Opposition since the very first rumblings of the ‘Freedom Convoy & Occupation Clusterfluck

    I doubt anyone is ‘Loyal’ to the original stand/in – Andrew Scheer.. or Ms Candace Bergen but she’s the venomous middle filling of the Oreo Cookie ie Erin O’Toole / Pierre4PM (Jenni Byrne lurking in the underbrush always)

    Collectively, they all look like seething Partisan political Parasites.. because they ARE

    We will likely NEVER KNOW.. what Security Agency Intel revealed to the Federal Government from Day One to Today. I believe they relayed collected solid data, fringe evidence, cold ass Grade A analysis of Communications by CPC Elected ‘Public Servants’, the Membership & Backroom Operators (‘Actors’) back & forth with The Convoy/Occupation.. plus Actors downstream of Jason Kenney, Scott Moe, Doug Ford

    In a nutshell.. ‘LETS MAKE IT TRUDEAU’S PROBLEM !’
    .. So just game that out.. when a quiet tête-à-tête offers Ms Bergen & the rest of the CPC parasitic Hive an ‘OUT’.. ie ‘we won’t compel you to TESTIFY.. as that would ‘Rock the Casbah’ in ways.. none of us are going to fluckin ENJOY !

    Please note the SUDDEN urge of dear Ms Candace Bergen for ‘more time with family’ .. which presumably means More Time With Stephen Harper & Ray Novak et al INC
    The complete silence of Pierre4PM & the scandal of renowned GOP/Trumpist Doug Ford hiding out at the cottage until Reality Blows Over.. and selling out The Greenbelt to stay busy

    PS.. & Alberta now has a Premier no real Albertans elected & that great patriot Jason Kenney has left Dodge .. headed East.. he just don’t ‘Hear Alberta Calling’ .. eh

  8. TS,

    Are we in the CPC, at the very least political hypocrites on COVID-19? Of course we are. But then again, so is the governing party. In Ottawa, it’s two peas in a pod on COVID-19.

  9. william shakesfeare says:

    Believing in PeePee McPeePeepants as a convoy supporter after the fact is as good an idea as staging a convoy protest during a Canadian winter.

  10. Martin Dixon says:

    Ronald-your argument falls apart when we are discussing the father of the child who does not want the mother to have an abortion. Impacts his health and well being I am sure. It takes a massive pretzel like twisting of logic and rationalization not to say there is no difference. No one is saying that the unvaccinated had the right to make you sick but they had a right not to be forced to stick something in their bodies and they were not accommodated, the opposite actually. Basically made out to be criminals. Some guy all alone in a truck is of no risk to you.

    William-who has picture of Harper on their wall? Hardly my point. And I have no idea what you are saying above.

    • Martin,

      I’m showing my age now but we had the Chantal Daigle case in Quebec quite a while back and exactly, the boyfriend tried to prevent her from aborting the fetus. If memory serves, she left Quebec and had the abortion anyway and then the court ruled on the matter after the fact.

  11. Jason says:

    Pierre Poilievre is a lot of things. A self-righteous asshole, a greasy little weasel, a conniving bastard, a man willing to sell each and every one of our principles and beliefs for a buck (or a vote)…. but one thing he is not is stupid.

    • Jason,

      Please be careful. You don’t want to end up being sued for libel. Discretion on the web tends to be the better part of valour.

      • Martin Dixon says:

        We will put him down as undecided. Pierre took a few questions yesterday. There were a few people trying to throw him off message and they weren’t successful so this is actually kind of hard to find(and I can’t find one with a translation-highlights of the french Ronald?) If he would have taken the bait, the MSM would have played it far and wide. And, just for the record, the fact that he is not stupid is a massive step up from the current situation. And everyone knows(and knew) it. It’s just a classic example of blindly voting for your tribe. That is the most charitable explanation for anyone with a functioning brain. We see what that led to south of the border.I said at the time that precisely the same dynamics were at play. Butts and Bannon were buds and basically used the same tactics.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCEfaqEhUlI

  12. Martin,

    The definition of actually having a functioning brain is definitely not being buds with Bannon.

  13. Martin Dixon says:

    I keep typing and deleting this. I hesitate to post this because of the potential blowback but Justin literally just threw every teacher that this country has ever had under the bus-labelling them as a bunch of racists. That would include my dad who would be especially guilty since he spent most of his career in administration and teaching teachers how to teach, my grandmother and many of my siblings. It certainly wasn’t my experience growing up unless I missed those classes. In Brantford, we celebrated(and celebrate) all the Six Nations athletes, academics, artists, writers, business people, musicians, professionals, judges, etc.

  14. Derek Pearce says:

    Whenever the next federal election is, even if it’s a full 2 1/2 years from now, there will be ads featuring exhausted, near-tears (or actually tear-stained) healthcare workers in their scrubs, shown doing their best under horrible circumstances, contrasted with pics of a smiling Poilievre with the Convoy leaders.

  15. Warren,

    Well, this Prime Minister is still consistent when it comes to a legion of poor-excuses-decisions taken by his pathetic government. Here’s their latest predictable disaster:

    Buying F-35 Fighters ‘Biggest Mistake’ Of Australia; US Jets A ‘Total Disaster’, Can’t ‘Stand Up’ To China — Aussie Critic

    https://eurasiantimes.com/buying-f-35-fighters-biggest-mistake-of-australia-us-jets/

    • I was against this purchase from Day One. You simply don’t go along to get along in defence matters, not at these prices, nor with the alleged troubling maintenance and operating costs. Think Thanksgiving, think Christmas. Not Alice in Wonderland.

  16. Martin Dixon says:

    The federal civil service is talking about going on strike because they are being asked to show up for work a couple of days a week. Please, please, please do it. Even the CBC was scratching their collective heads at insanity of it. Please, just do it.

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