04.17.2023 06:48 AM

Preaching to the Con converted

23 Comments

  1. Sean says:

    They made some good announcements re. fast tracking foreign nurses and addiction recovery. They need to spend more time on simple middle of the road policy . Silly fights with CBC will never be a vote mover.

  2. Peter Williams says:

    We borrow money to fund a broadcaster that very few if any people watch.

    Why?

    • Gary says:

      You have never heard of CBC Radio? Many Canadians depend on this service especially when compared to the dreck that is modern commercial radio.

  3. Robert White says:

    Right wing fringe lunatic snake oil salesmen like Poilievre know that their only chance of success exists
    in a populist base that grows via fascist word of mouth.
    Not unlike Tupperware(tm) or Amway they grow via investors in the rhetoric espoused by leadership that sells snake oil by the barrel.

    Bitcoin is the perfect example of their Libertarian grift technique utilized to sell memberships to the confidence gamers who are betting on margin where margin doesn’t exist.

    Poilievre wants all Conservative adherents to bet on margin that he can grow the Conservative base via the masses of ignorant Canadians that are baffled by his bullshit instead of his brilliance not unlike Mango Mussolini does it too. It’s the art of the con.

    RW

  4. Douglas W says:

    Step One: Poilievre needs to recruit from Doug Ford’s inner circle: you know, the ones who figured out what electorally works in the 50-plus GTA ridings.

    Step Two: Poilievre needs to do what these strategists tell him to do.

    • Pedant says:

      The Boomers in the GTA suburbs won’t vote anyone other than Liberal after Trudeau doubled their unearned housing wealth over the past 8 years. These gains are short-term of course. This govt is creating a whole young generation of “never-Liberals”, especially the guys, that could have significant electoral consequences for decades to come.

    • Douglas,

      No kidding. At least to both of us it’s patently obvious.

      • Martin Dixon says:

        Ronald/Douglas, Pedant is bang on. PP could have a policy plank delivered from on high and my fellow embarrassing, overrated, army-calling Boomers in Toronto would NEVER vote for PP. That is what is patently obvious and what I keep saying. They are all going to vote with their inflated overstuffed wallets. We don’t want policies that will get their vote. Kind of like the Groucho Marx joke about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member. They can justify not voting for PP with all kinds of silly woke nonsense but that is the dirty little secret. PP is catering to their kids and he seems to be making some headway.

        • Martin,

          No one is arguing otherwise. Everyone knows that almost all of those people would never even entertain voting CPC but that’s not my point: I want them to be so disillusioned with this Prime Minister’s personal conduct to elect to stay home and sit on their duff on election day. That’s what happened to Michael. When we go out of our way to bring up stupid bullshit like defunding the CBC, we are by ricochet encouraging Liberals to vote at all costs. This defunding bullshit is like quite deliberately waving a red flag in front of your typical Trudeau Liberal voter. God, when will the fucking OLO finally get that?????

  5. Martin Dixon says:

    During Member Statements in the House, Scheer just called everyone upset about this issue a bunch of pearl clutchers and he did it with a great big smile on his face. Reasonably funny but, again, I would only last 10 seconds as a politician.

  6. Peter Williams says:

    Is the CBC Izvestia or Pravda?

  7. Curious V says:

    Because he’s an ideologue obsessed with sameness. The CBC is a credible, and pragmatic news outlet and an important part of balanced and informed national conversation – that’s too much for Pierre Poison – he’s an ideologue first, and foremost. That’s why I won’t vote for him – He’s an ideologically motivated guy who only feels comfortable surrounded by his base. Any hope of a pragmatic thoughtful take on national, or international events or concerns from this guy – hopeless.

    • Martin Dixon says:

      Balanced? That’s funny. If it was balanced, shouldn’t they have reported on this resignation and explored the reasons behind it? Whether you agree with her views or not? So we can have an “informed national conversation” about it? Repressing that story is ideological. They decide what the conversation should be about. The point is not even debatable.

      https://tarahenley.substack.com/p/speaking-freely?r=9dpfg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

      • Martin Dixon says:

        Example number 2. If you watch the CBC, you would get the impression that the PSAC strike action that could start tonight is purely about the 13.5% they are asking for over 3 years. Sounds pretty reasonable? So what is the problem? Why don’t they just sign? Why have they been negotiating for two years? Has to be more to this. Since the CBC won’t actually delve into the issue and since the CRA work stoppage will have a direct impact on my life over the next couple of weeks, I thought I would do their job and look into it. People should have a boo at this and report back. It is more than the 280 characters that Twitter allows so it will take a bit of work but you should have quick look anyway. Some interesting stuff in there that an actual investigative balanced journalist should report on:

        https://psacunion.ca/sites/psac/files/final_brief_en.pdf

        If the fight was only about a 13.5% raise, we would not need a 224 page report.

        My view, after actually doing the work the CBC should have done is don’t let the door hit you on the way out no matter the impact on me personally. And perhaps the CBC employees that are funded federally might have a vested interest in how this ends up? Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.

  8. the salamander says:

    This is the ERA of those ‘needy for attention’ constantly

    Entire CPC War Room slaves did away at Stornoway & CPC Headquarters desperately seeking the next fringe ‘slight’ to grind up as fish meal & fling feed to the common carp in the Partisan Pond..

    I love when they insult my fundamental intelligence..
    because I know they insult Mr Kinsella’s as well..

  9. PJH says:

    As someone who was raised on “The National’s” Knowlton Nash, “The Journal” (or as Greg Malone called it “The Jugular”), “Hockey Night in Canada” Wednesdays and Saturdays, “Market Place”, “The Fifth Estate”, and of course wonderful Canadiana like “The National Dream”, I have a soft spot for the CBC. The only part of the CBC I would be happy to see defunded is Rosemary Barton, aka “The Liberal Bugler.”

    PBS has “The American Experience”. I never understood why the CBC never borrowed the concept and made “The Canadian Experience”. We have just as many captivating historical tales to tell as our neighbour to the South.

    PP calls for defunding of the CBC, and yet again, appears to be throwing the baby out with the bath water. With proper management, Mother Corp could be great again…..please, just no sitcoms, thankee.

  10. Warren,

    As usual no policy sophistication: defunding is for fringe kooks. What needs to be done is debloat the CBC. Not at all the same thing — cutting their budgets will keep them in line re: a future degree of impartiality. In lots of Canada, CBC is the only broadcaster. It simply cannot be totally defunded.

  11. Martin Dixon says:

    https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2023/04/17/compared-to-last-three-conservative-leaders-poilievre-has-a-much-more-favourable-political-environment-to-unseat-trudeau-but-still-has-a-hell-of-a-fight-ahead-of-him-say-veteran-political/384931/

    This is being discussed on P and P tonight. Host said:

    “There tends to be a tendency in the Ottawa bubble to dismiss PP because he can be sharp and angry at times”.

    Bingo. That would be the same tendency that dismissed T when it was patently obvious he would win in 2016 after Brexit.

    • Derek Pearce says:

      It was not patently obvious T would win. Hilary got 4 MILLION more votes than he did, remember. Like with Brexit, people were so assured that the saner choice would prevail that they didn’t vote and learned a hard fucking lesson in both cases.

      However, in this case, people have Justin-exhaustion and are going to “actively” stay home and let PP win, is my hunch. Although I wouldn’t put money on it lol.

  12. EsterHazyWasALoser says:

    I’m not sure what Mr Poilievre has to gain by CBC bashing. I doubt it will get him any more votes, and he has already won the leadership (so he doesn’t have to convince the base of his bona fides). The CBC has its fans (admittedly not a very large segment of the viewing public), but I see them as primarily a make-work project for Canadians in the radio and TV biz. I stopped watching and listening years ago. Too many other options.

    • Doug says:

      What is the point of CBC anymore? Way back, the carrier, aggregator and creator were one and the same. Now that most content is delivered over the Internet, the best way to service rural areas is to subsidize high speed Internet rather than legacy radio and TV broadcast technology. If CBC’s alleged mandate is instead to provide non-commercial content, that too has been solved by technology. The barrier to producing a YouTube video or a podcast is several hundred dollars. Government already offers tax credits for media production, so if the alleged mandate is to promote employment in media industries, that challenge has also been solved through other, more efficient means. CBC only lives as a symbol of the culture wars.

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