— Feature, Musings —02.05.2023 10:57 AM
— Feature, Musings —02.05.2023 10:57 AM
Remember all the times Dalton McGuinty, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin hugged private sector consultants on stage in front of the media?
No…. You don’t.
Sean
All this hugging plus jobs for friends and families reminds me of the Sopranos.
How about a new TV series ? We could call it “The Libranos”?
Hey PW:
Justin is Jackie Aprile Jr…..
but don’t get me started… I could easily assign a dozen Canadian politicians to characters from that show:) LOL:)
How about The Godfather? Not quite the same since there was 48 billion in new spending but Michael’s offer to the senator about the gaming license reminded me of the health care “summit”. And Leblanc was singing Ford’s praises. Clearly wants Ontario to save their asses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPmTp9up26w
We know how that ended.
Or Harper. The Tru-Anon/Harper Derangement Syndrome types went after Harper for shaking hands with his son. And it bothered him and I believe it:
https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/harpers-handshake-with-son-book-claims-pm-was-hurt-by-reaction_n_4136852
I am all over the map on the hug especially given the cringeworthy hugs that accompany Warren’s article in the Sun, particularly Obama’s who has never struck me as a hugger-that was Michelle’s job. When I heard about the hug, I looked for more details, maybe a video. But all I could find was the pic. It is very difficult to see but it looks to me that maybe Barton reached out to just shake his hand(you can see their hands if you look carefully) like a normal person would and JT pulled him in. You have to wonder at what point that kind of behaviour becomes assault.
https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.6722718
But then I saw an article about the dinner and I swing back to the fact that they were friends:
https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corocoran-i-barely-survived-a-night-inside-the-liberal-partys-undrained-policy-swamp
Really difficult to pick a side. If Barton’s testimony was truthful(big if), I would have wanted to tell most of the MPs on all sides where they could stick it. None of them had a clue how big business works.
MD – interesting comparison but Harper received reverse criticism… he SHOULD have hugged his kids but he treated them as if they were staff from a foreign consulate.
Yes I get it. But, to me, JT’s behaviour is way creepier but it isn’t to his cultist groupie defenders. I am making a point about them. And Harper responded to the criticism like a normal non narcissist would.
Warren,
I wonder if the SNC guy got a hug? You know, the one who lined up the prostitutes.
Way beyond funny how any Prime Minister would WILLINGLY want to be even indirectly associated with these type of crème de la crème companies. Thought provoking, isn’t it.
Oh yeah, and of course, the brothers got a lot of hugs too. At least he’s consistent…
Ronaid-because he could never aspire to even get to THAT level.
Poilièvre seems to be a fast learner as leader. As one pundit put it: as long as he isn’t hopelessly naive, this polling trend should continue.
Lilley makes a good point on the CBC. Treat them as basically politically irrelevant when they’re in question-mode. Otherwise, you come off as intimidated by them and worse yet, thinned-skinned. Remember what Truman said: if you can’t take the (CBC) heat, stay out of the kitchen. The last thing you want to do is help The Mothercorp score points against you in favour of TeamTrudeau. Don’t react like a political amateur or worse yet, a guy wearing a huge chip on his shoulder. Laugh them off. They long ago sold their impartiality cred to the Liberals and all of Canada already knows it.
Ronald, I have been telling my conservative friends for years that they needed to treat most of the media, particularly the CBC, as the enemy. Absolutely nothing to lose. Goldstein on the same point Brian makes:
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/goldstein-freezing-out-the-national-media-hasnt-hurt-poilievre
Martin,
With respect, that ultimately comes off to Joe and Jane as all tin foil hat. Remember Nixon’s enemies list. Pierre should never go down that road ever. It’s always a lose-lose proposition. I don’t recall Harper ever going there.
Harper regretted defunding the CBC and it works if you do it properly. As he is doing it now. Worked out basically just fine for Ford when he did not provide the press with access during the last campaign.
I mean NOT defunding.
Martin,
Ford = huge difference.
Remember they are Progressive Conservatives, so they are automatically already seen as centre-right, unlike our party who has to work for it — to be seen as centre-right. We have too much Reform-Alliance baggage to make it stick automatically like the Ontario PCs.
Can’t reply directly to Ronald’s post. Disagree Ronald. The CBC(and much of the rest of the media) is basically the “enemy” politically. How can they not be? There are studies that indicate how they vote. That doesn’t mean you treat them the way Trump did, but you have to recognize and manage the problem and that is what PP is basically doing and, so far, it appears to be working.
Martin,
And then there’s the painfully obvious: only totalitarian countries, or banana republics, close down media outlets or cut their funding when they don’t like their reporting. You don’t want to go there in a constitutional monarchy or a democratic society. Defunding the CBC, Radio-Canada or anyone else would cross that line for sure.
As long as he can defund without coming across as petty, vindictive and ham-fisted.
Again, Ronald-we are ALREADY in a totalitarian regime and the media is playing along. Just look at C-11. And far as being ham-fisted, there are lots of ways to do it without looking that way(keep parts of it, more advertising, etc.). And you might as well because the “non-partisan” media keep screaming form the rooftops for years that is what Harper would do.
Example number one million. Danielle Smith is walking into the premier’s meeting the other day. Some dumbass western reporter says “what do you tell the “people”(the famous Trump term) who think that giving 250k to reformer Preston Manning to study the covid reaction is not money well spent when it could have been better spent on health care”. That was not a question, that was an editorial. She answered with a smile on her face but that kind of nonsense needs to be managed. I listen for that sort of thing. Most people have been listening to that crap so long, they don’t even realize it is happening and when you start to question it, all of a sudden you are compared to a totalitarian that wants to shut down the press. PBS should be the model. Only 15% funded by the government and their Newshour doesn’t make you want to burst out laughing(like CNN and Fox by I digress). Is that too much to ask? That is versus this:
https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/impact-and-accountability/finances/annual-reports/ar-2018-2019/financial-sustainability/revenue-and-other-funds
Lilley also on point.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-cbc-wants-to-be-a-digital-streamer-good-we-can-stop-the-subsidy
Trump…long ago needed to have his head examined but no psychiatrist in the United States is competent enough to ever successfully treat this stupid SOB.
Adler is dead on, as usual. This comes off as Quebec Bashing and is a gift to the BQ and to a lesser extent the CPC.
Pierre needs to borrow from the Harper playbook in Quebec: remember when Harper said over and over again in Quebec how vital it was for him to have Cannon and Verner by his side when we formed government? Québécois got the message about how important Quebec was for Harper and so they gave him enough support to help him win government.
Ronald,
Poilièvre needs to showcase his Quebec team and ask: how many Quebec MPs do you want at my cabinet table because … there won’t be BQ MPs sitting at any cabinet table.
Now you know why Pablo is no longer government leader in the House…his bizarre comments won’t stand as government policy for long.
Trudeau will have to put up or shut up and come off as an imbecile: after all, who made the big splash about the paramount importance of moving the Senate to basically a non-partisan model? Who kicked Liberal senators out of caucus? And now this guy says the government will reject Senate amendments? I guess Rodriguez never got the memo.
This is a great speech on C-11.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sen-david-richards-liberals-bill-c-11-is-censorship-passing-as-national-inclusion
Guy has a functioning brain. Kind of refreshing.
This Prime Minister is the weakest PM in Canadian history. His frontbench since 2015, ditto. Harper threw away government in 2015, while Scheer and O’Toole blew the CPC right out of the water in each of their campaigns.
I get a laugh listening to Jagmeet Singh complaining about Trudeau spending lots of money on consultants.
Who has been supporting team Trudeau and their wasteful ways?
The NDP has been complicit with team Trudeau, in Parliament and in committees.
Jagmeet, stop whining and shut down Trudeau. Or at the very least make Trudeau sweat a little.
Peter,
Jagmeet is on his own planet. He’s no Jack, the guy who joined in a non-confidence motion against Martin. Singh wouldn’t do that even if God begged him…need I say more?
Jagmeet is the latest incarnation of a Bob Rae New Democrat. Draw your own conclusions.
I am sure I mentioned before. Said to an anarchist, communist Scottish running friend of mine in 1990 that was gloating about the NDP win that the upside was that once their term was up that we would basically never hear from the NDP again in Ontario. Must remind him of that at our next visitation. Almost 33 years and counting.
That was clearly a case of be careful what you wish for. Rae is a bright guy and I am sure this was the discussion he was having after the results came in. And he knew how it would end too.
https://youtu.be/myEpap3TxVs
Canadians won’t vote Reform save for a few regions in the west. That’s what PP offers; Reform style government and ideology. It was obvious in their leadership contest that he detests any reasonable policy – away with public health care, and the Canadian Pension Plan, and to hell with immigrants and big city problems. That’s a taste of Reform policy. No matter how he spins it, that’s where he and his base are, and that’s not gonna motivate urban voters to vote for him. You can tire of Trudeau, and he’s made some mistakes, but people aren’t interested in the extremes of the Reform Party.
Yes, that is certainly what the MSM is reporting he is doing and we may just be stupid enough to fall for it again. See all my posts above on that issue. “Some mistakes”! That is beyond hilarious.
It’s not like Trudeau has to be the best of the best to win the next election – people will vote strategically, some might have to plug their nose to do it, but they’re going to vote against the Reform part because that is where PP’s heart, and ideological instincts lie. Had they elected Charest, he’d win a majority.
On one thing I will agree, at least he does have a heart. I don’t agree that is where it lies but at least he does have a heart. Only one of our major leaders doesn’t.
Curious V,
Our last two leaders were duds. It was thanks to their policy that we lost. Pierre won’t make the same mistake. Our polling runway is already longer than Scheer’s or O’Toole’s was. We definitely won’t blow it or squander our lead thanks to stupid rabid right-wing policy positions. Liberals can pray until kingdom come and it still WON’T happen next time.
It’s WAY down on the list of things the Liberals need to back off on given guns, MAID and C-11 but accountants across the country are starting to see the nonsensical unintended consequences the feds have created with the new Underutilized Housing Tax forms that need to be filed by 30/04. I have told my MP though! Resident corporate farmers with seasonal worker residences, etc. Shades of the the idiotic T1135 foreign property form brought in by the Liberals in 1996 and got people caught up with prohibitive penalties that were already reporting the income.
As I was saying. Not just accountants with the problem:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ban-on-foreign-homebuyers-hits-commercial-real-estate-deals/
“Canada’s foreign homebuyer ban is wreaking havoc on commercial real estate deals.
The law, which took effect in January, bans foreigners from buying residential real estate for two years. It was designed to help Canadians access more housing by halting competition from outside the country.
But industry and legal experts say the law has inadvertently ensnared commercial property deals involving land, malls, grocery stores and office buildings that do not include any single-family housing.
That is because the law’s definition of residential property includes land that is zoned for residential use or mixed use, which covers huge swaths of commercial land across the country. As well, an entity is deemed foreign if a non-Canadian owns a minimum of 3 per cent of the entity.
“A lot of players, all of a sudden, are out of action,” said Kevin Lee, the head of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA), which represents about 9,000 construction companies including land developers, trade contractors, homebuilders and manufacturers.
Mr. Lee estimates that hundreds of commercial real estate transactions have been scuttled so far. “These deals are falling through on a daily basis,” he said.”
Genius. The law will have the opposite of its intended impact.
And on and on it goes. No thought goes into these things.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/underused-housing-tax-brian-higgins-1.6749185
The GG is off again, flying onBeef Wellington 1 to Finland.
a) How much will in flight meals cost?
b) How much booze will be consumed per person?
c) what will be the most expensive hotel room?
d) was the trip a McKinsey recommendation?
And best of all? It’s being done with borrowed money. Your children and grandchildren will pay for it.
Peter,
As much as I like His Majesty The King, I’m already prepared to flush him and this constitutional monarchy. What we need is a national referendum with all 14 governments agreeing on paper ahead of time to respect the result. Then it’s bye, bye, sovereign, GG and LGs. Problem solved.
April coming up soon, which means it’s time for the annual raises for Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland, the GG, etc.
With the way they jet about, stay in luxury hotels, enjoy fine dining, they’ve definitely joined the Plutocrats.
And we are asked to make do with less, and even take a pay cut.
Curious V,
No leader of any party will do away with publicly funded health care or the CPP. Not in a million years, period. That is definitely not a credible argument against Poilièvre and the CPC. It’s fucking bullshit. As for immigrants and big cities, last time I checked agreements were already in place between Ottawa and the provinces. That would not change under a CPC government.
Yes. it is bullshit:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/a-conservative-government-would-uphold-federal-provincial-health-care-funding-deals-poilievre-1.6264822
Next.
Maybe he isn’t advertising his ideological preference, but his preference, from his Reform party roots, is to do just that. He also shies away from his fetish for bitcoin. Also, there’s all the neo-fascist conspiracy theorists he fawns over, you know, the convoy crowd. He’s veered to the right to recruit from the People’s Party, the Reform party’s off spring. People, when they see his history of ideological fervor, it’s gonna turn them off. I’m not a member of any party, but I think a lot of PC’s, and NDP, will vote Liberal to stop him, and that will be the last dance for Justin.
Oh for gawd sake. Now it sounds like you are trolling. The hidden agenda nonsense again. Harper(a reformer) had a majority and the CBC survived, as did abortion and the death penalty was not brought back and to your point about health care, you need to refresh your memory as to the deal he struck on health care with the provinces. Of course there was similar hysterical screaming from the media he would do all of those things. It didn’t happen and PP was there the whole time. And the Liberals would NEVER have screwed over the people who were invested in income trusts the way Flaherty did. He had to do it because the Liberals wouldn’t screw over their rich friends. Nothing ever changes.
Curious V,
Elections after many mandates are almost always a referendum on the incumbent: Harper painfully learned that lesson in 2015 and we all know why — it’s called abandoning the centre-right in that election. And so it will be with this unethical and corrupt government. That’s the big picture issue likely on the minds of at least a plurality of voting Canadians. IF I’m right, Trudeau’s Liberals are already defeated. Put another way, Pierre won’t cut his or our own throats by repeating Harper’s mistake. You can take that one to the bank.
With Justin now supposedly focusing on health care will he put Omar Alghabra in charge?
Warren,
Jesus Mercy, what a great night! Our Joe made monkeys out of the so-called Freedom Caucus and its nutbars on sunsetting Social Security and Medicare. Those turds fell right into the trap. Too fucking funny. Had a big O right there in front of the TV and I didn’t have to use my hands.
As of now, I revise my position and can live with Joe as our nominee. Fucking Republicans, as clueless as ever. They ain’t in Joey’s league.
Of the three candidates since Harper, PP is the most unlikeable, extreme and unelectable – a gift to Trudeau.
Curious V,
Unlikeable and unelectable are in the eye of the beholder. So far, we have ONE “No” on the board. Next.
He’s unlikeable to a plurality of Canadians, a significant Plurality. The NDP, and a boatload of PC’s can’t stand him. Like I said earlier, I don’t have any skin in the game, I’m just an observer, but if the PC’s and a good number of NDP decide to stop him, they’ll stop him in his tracks.
IF. Don’t bet the farm on that. It’s far from a certainty. Our job in the CPC is to push both the incredible incompetence of this government and the unethical and corrupt nature of same. I like those odds. For now at least, the polls seem to agree with Poilièvre and his team. This government is also the Emperor of Cronyism. It’s so blatant, self-evident and from the top on down, they see absolutely nothing wrong with their behaviour while in office.
Yes, you have made your views clear. And then there is that disgusting hair.
As someone who has been the victim of a guy with a similar record as the guy that killed that cop in December(and from very similar circumstances but I digress), I don’t really consider PP’s views on bail reform “extreme” but your mileage may vary.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lametti-bail-reform-conservatives-legislation-1.6743317
Maybe others know who you are but I don’t so it is difficult to analyze credibility or agendas when there is no actual name behind the posts. We just have to take your word for it that you “have no skin in the game”. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.
Martin,
Only his or her hair stylist knows for sure. LOL.
On the CBC again. Comedy gold by Rex. I thought he had signed a NDA.
“That’s not stepping on a rake and getting it in the mug with the hardwood handle.
That’s searching for a moving bulldozer before you lie down for a nap.”
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/cbcs-delusional-pieties-is-the-real-reason-behind-cbc-bashing
And, sorry Cathy, it isn’t just PP. That’s funny. Not Rex level funny but still funny. Maybe put a junior Jimmy Olsen on the case and find out what the heck is actually going on.
The end of P and P tonight, they stumbled onto what I keep saying, after PP’s “have yacht” quote. The Liberals are the only party left defending big business. Big business is being attacked from the left and the right. The Liberals are NO friend of either the middle class or poor. But they are VERY GOOD at sucking people into believing that.
Polls are just a snapshot, and national polls usually aren’t a good indicator in terms of converting the numbers to seats. Of course in Alberta and other western provinces PP is way ahead, and that reflects in national polls, it just doesn’t translate to seats, especially when voters vote strategically.
Curious V,
True enough. If voters cast their ballots strategically that can mean more than one outcome. And then there’s what happened to Michael where plenty of Liberals sat out that election.
Not to mention that 338Canada is an aggregate of polls and it DOES convert those polls to seats and at this point PP is doing fine.
Martin,
And to quite literally BORE TO DEATH readers of this website, Poilièvre will do just fine going forward as long as he doesn’t pull a Scheer or an O’Toole. I keep hammering that one home, because to my knowledge, no one else is hammering it home, especially not in his OLO.
They’re basically tied, as far as I could se anyway. In an election it all changes and folks will vote strategically. PP does too much to impress the convoy crowd he’ll lose PC votes, and too much for the PC’s he’ll bleed to the people’s party, all the while a big chunk of the NDP will vote Liberal.