— Feature, Musings —09.14.2025 09:13 AM
— Feature, Musings —09.14.2025 09:13 AM
Ever since I started to post online on a couple of track and field message boards 25 years ago, I have always maintained that if you have an opinion, you should stand behind it with a real name. Even those sites would get contentious if you can believe it. One site literally shut down because of all the controversy about this:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/guelph-university-track-program-call-for-investigation-1.6199173
I knew all the players and opinions were pretty strong.
Given this week’s events, if I were Shannon, I would have used a different metaphor than saying Pierre was basically calling Trudeau the Antichrist.
I have never worn a fancy watch and never will. 39.99 Timex was my go to when I was competing(30:59 10k and 2:25:08 marathon-decent times but I would never use them as proof I am any good at my job like many folks were implying the PM is (vs Poilievre)because Carney finished a trail run-Churchill would like a word-I know a lot of REALLY dumb athletes-look at the MP from Burlington North—Milton West ) and it was fine for all other purposes. And, actually, wearing one like that is pretty well reverse snobbery if anyone who likes to floss fancy ones is smart enough to get the point. And it drives me nuts when one of my partners drives around in a fancy car especially if the license plate has the name of an out of town dealer. Zero self-awareness. Looks like Crombie might have the same problem(and as I type this, she better hope someone will take her calls about a post).
Lots of funny memes about Carney at photo ops banging in the first spike of the CPR. I read Pierre Berton’s two books on the matter when they came out in 1970 and 1971 and don’t remember him playing a role.
At least our host is consistent about his views about Smith. It is hilarious that many on the left are quoting her in their feeds when ten seconds ago they said she was a **** (even calling her Satan!). Shades of quoting John Bolton and Dick Cheney that the left literally thought were war criminals 10 seconds ago.
And it doesn’t look like Pierre is taking the advice of our host to cool it. This was today:
https://x.com/PierrePoilievre/status/1967232414339715446
The problem, of course, is that he is not wrong. Elbows up! If we really are in the middle of an existential crisis, should we really be cooling it? Look at how fast governments across the country delivered initiatives at the start of the plague. If this last 6 months is what Carney considers warp speed, then given my large interest in various Brookfield entities(nice tax dodge but I digress!), I am glad he is no longer there.
It feels like the Elbows Up government is running out of steam
In never had steam.
Douglas,
Martin is exaggerating. It was effective for about the first two weeks of the Carney government, but shortly thereafter it very quickly became a joke. Carney can’t successfully negotiate his way to your average White House restroom…
Ronald,
Carney is not comfortable, acting fake.
I’m actually starting to feel sad for the guy.
He’s trapped, and he knows he must continue to do what the puppet masters tell him to do
Bittany Howard track a banger. Had Stay High which has a real Motown feel. Alabama Shakes just reunited and issued a new single recently:
https://youtu.be/vGQTZkIhORo?si=CscNMUbpvmxjbm91
The Mysterines track great too. Their first release(Take Control EP) was amazing.
Warren,
In short, we are who we CHOOSE to become…
Warren,
Crombie’s 57% isn’t 67%. Pretty much says it all. But she’s staying, for now at least.
Warren,
Too many people are proudly idiots on both spectrums of the political world. Got no guns, so when it’s my time, it will be my time. Pretty much it.
But none of that will stop me. Ever.
Warren,
Oh boy. Bonnie is gone. Smart decision.
Warren,
You won’t see Pierre doing that after his leadership review in January. Not in a million years because PP is all ego and self-preservation. He doesn’t give a shit about the CPC and its future. All he cares about is himself and his failed career as a politician. He’s got nothing else to fall back on, so he stays. Lucky us.
Reminds me of that other guy in Quebec City.
Some people think I will do my bit to get these two bozos elected. Nope, no thanks.
Warren,
Nope, he isn’t a progressive conservative. I’m a progressive conservative. Carney is a big business liberal who loves large corporations and multinationals and can’t wait to do their bidding with gusto!
And Palestine. He won’t be in the HOC later this month so he can be in the UN for the general assembly when they recognize Palestine.
Martin,
Warren and I agree on the fact that this is a bad move right now but we disagree on its applicability: he says it includes Gaza and I argue it’s limited to the West Bank. One of us is right! LOL.
And the other thing that thrills me beyond measure is how the UN has thoroughly fucked the Trump dipshit: the General Assembly vote will take place at the UN in Geneva so that Abbas can be present for the vote. If memory serves, it’s in the old League of Nations building. Simply wonderful. I hope POS gets a stroke.
Warren,
Bullshit. The FBI did dick. It’s his old man who turned him in.
Patel IS an idiot and a moron on his best day.
That dipshit has no idea that Christian Conservatives in the States don’t exactly dig Valhalla…another MAGA one-watter.
Warren,
Issues won’t beat Carney. Likability is the only issue that can beat Carney and PP has none of that. End of story. We can raise 1000 issues and most progressives, red and pink Liberals and PCs will vote LPC next time.
And besides, Pierre ran the issues gauntlet last time and LOST. Einstein’s definition of insanity in CPC and media circles.
An inability to improve the economy, no pipelines, no real ideas, soft on crime policies, divestment instead of investment and the perception PM Carney is working for Brookfield and doesn’t care about the working-class could really hurt him.
And listen to this nonsense? I have news.
https://x.com/therealmrbench/status/1967340070161236387
I don’t think the average voter gives a flying fuck about the Brookfield thing. The average voter has no idea what the fuck Brookfield even is.
Gilbert,
Well, it hasn’t affected the Liberal number so far. In a plurality of polls, the CPC number has decreased, while the NDP number has increased. The LIBERAL number stayed in its usual range without deflating to any significant degree. Some of the working-class individuals who moved to us have now returned to the NDP. This isn’t rocket science. That could change going forward, but so far, there is no evidence of it.
Ronald,
Bravo: one of the best political observations of 2025 — Likability is the only issue that can beat Carney.
Conservatives’ problem: if they go too hard at Carney, then it’s perceived to be personal.
And you know the Conservatives can’t help themselves, getting personal.
They’re just not savvy enough to do things right
Other problem the conservatives have is Carneys competence – he’s a lot more intelligent than pp, no offence, and in Canada we’re in the mood for brains over bravado.
I’m not a fan of PP, but I don’t think he’s a dumb guy. Carney obviously has the more impressive resume, but I don’t think they’re that far apart in terms of raw intelligence. You listen to PP talk about issues, yes he spews out his share of soundbites but he knows the issues, he doesn’t tend to say outright stupid stuff (unlike Trump for example).
I ask people what they think, and they all tell me Carney is way smarter than pp –
“They”? Person with a handle tells us about this mysterious they. You do know who you sound like? “People tell me all the time…”
Martin,
You got Curious this time. LOL.
Curious v: “A lot of people are saying . . .”
His obsession with the word “catalyze” doesn’t prove he’s more intelligent.
He uses a bunch of C-Suite buzz words that will fool and did fool folks like Curious. But better to call Pierre less intelligent than Satan(or to throw around words like the Antichrist but I digress).
Neither does tranche.
Curious,
I have my reasons for not liking Pierre and for being opposed to his continued leadership, but his mind is impressive. Add to that the way he easily masters a multitude of files without error, and it’s obvious that he would be ready on Day One to be PM. I won’t bother repeating my points that would normally follow that last sentence.
Facts not in evidence.
Smarter?
Slicker, for sure
Douglas,
Thanks. Pierre is who he is. He thinks he can still win, while I expect him to lose because of who he is.
Scheer and O’Toole were both considered more likeable than Pierre, and yet they also lost with lower personal negatives. People forget that but for sponsorship, Harper would likely have lost in 2006. People were shit mad with the Martin Liberals, and so they held their nose and voted CPC. Without sponsorship in the mix, Martin would probably have won again. Right, Curious?
Yes you’re right Ronald – I agree. Harper got lucky – fluke !!!!
You’re both forgetting Harper’s promise to cut the GST from 7 to 5 percent in the 2006 campaign. That was a big factor in his victory too.
Doc,
I did forget that. Thanks.
Agreed.
Despite many claims to the contrary, it looks like Hodgson is just a silly shiny overrated bauble like Morneau. He looks like a moron with all the silly sports analogies he is giggling his way through. Prompted me to check out his background. He was the head of Goldman Sachs Canada at the same time as Carney while that bank played a major role in the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Of course he was! Elbows up! That is a bug not a feature. A lot of those folks should have gone to jail:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/goldman-sachs-to-pay-billions-in-fines-related-to-the-financial-crisis-but-nobodys-going-to-jail/
Yes, the NDP could pick it up with the polling numbers, especially if they elect a great communicator like Lewis, but those numbers, when an election hits, and with PP as the conservative leader, will drop. The fear of a Trump-like politician winning an election in Canada will motivate a huge swath of NDP voters to go with the Liberals. Look at Alberta, with a Trump-like premier if you want a taste of PP – they want to get rid of the RCMP, get out of the CPP, pandering to separatists, picking on transgendered youth, picking on the disabled population etc. etc. etc. – Canadians know better than to elect a wing-nut from the extreme right. If the Conservatives want a chance they have to get rid of PP and elect a PC as leader – problem with that is they’ll shed votes to the peoples party – they’re in a bit of a pickle.
As far as Carney being a PC, well, I disagree. He’s a blue liberal – and that’s the strength of the Liberal party. Being the centre party means we can pivot depending on the current needs of the country. Canada needed Trudeau after years of Harper, and then after years of Trudeau Canada needs Mark Carney – it’s a balance that leads to the best government available.
You have no idea what he is. We have not seen a budget yet and all we have are a bunch of announcements.
Curious,
Got to disagree. If Warren was still a party member, HE would be a blue liberal. And Carney is no Warren. Not even close. Carney remains the handmaiden of big business and multinational corporations. The BrookfieldBuddyTM!
Yes having no principles has its advantages.
Flexibility is a principle – separates us from the ideologues.
You score high on the ability to employ comfy euphemisms. You should enter politics.
Curious,
Why don’t you admit that you and I are progressive ideologues? We have our red lines that we will not cross. Our core values, if you prefer. We may want to window dress it up, but that makes us ideologues as much as those on the right. We’re the progressive center.
Well, if I’m going to be labelled an ideologue, I guess my preference is a progressive ideologue. You’re right that we have core values. The progressive center sounds good to me.
Who helped elect a guy that will keep the party going for the one per cent. Elbows up!
While using the same tactics as other progressive ideologues like Potemkin that got banished to the ash heaps of history.
https://x.com/BryanPassifiume/status/1969056242401231080
I get a kick out of politicians who bully, or pick on vulnerable people and talk like they’re being tough. If you want to be tough tell your multi-millionaire buddies that their tax breaks aren’t going to happen because we need the money for the vulnerable population – that would require courage and leadership. Cutting the lives of the vulnerable population is not an example of toughness – it’s a display of weakness – It’s the weakest and most cowardly who target vulnerable people.
Pro-tip, Carney is literally in the pockets of the multi-millionaires as was Trudeau. I have the receipts.
Curious,
True.
What the right-wing is doing when they target people is fascism. I don’t like the use of the word either. It’s not to be taken lightly – but when I consider the stress all this anti-immigrant talk is causing my father, then I have to call them fascists.
When my dad was 70, he was in a line-up at the bank, and the person in front of him, a man much younger than my dad, started complaining about immigrants. My father, in great shape at 70, challenged him right there in the line-up. He wanted to fight the young man talking shit about immigrants. The guy ended up apologizing, and said he wasn’t referring to my father – not immigrants like you he said – because my dad had worked so hard and contributed so much to the community.
Fast forward and my father is frail at 87. His voice is light. He’s still very much aware of what’s happening in the world around him, but he can’t fight back anymore. He’s frustrated when we talk. He hears and sees anti-immigrant sentiment coming from the right, and he feels like they’re targeting him, and he wants to fight but he’s too frail and aged now. Think about all the kids of immigrants, and the immigrants themselves and the damage this anti-immigrant sentiment causes them. The associations to crime, welfare etc – this is all bullshit but it’s a consistent theme targeting immigrants and it is fascism. My father might be too old to fight, but his kids will do it for him. And the kids of all those immigrants who came to Canada, worked their asses off – we’re all ready to fight this nasty upsurge of fascism that targets us and our parents. If you think you know something about immigration, and you attack people like me, or my family with this shit you can go fuck yourselves, and you should be ready to lose if you start a fight with us.
Hyperbolic nonsense.
Curious,
These MORONS refuse to admit that but for First Nations and Inuit, we’re all immigrants. Personally, I favour firing squads for dummies like that. They’re so efficient, and they help society by preventing those dummies from reproducing offspring even dumber than they are! But I can dream, can’t I?
Day two of the sitting and no Carney and he will be traveling all over the world in the next few weeks. Elbows up!
Martin,
From the looks of it so far, Carney is infinitely better in the House when he’s not there so there is that. His shadow does a better job in the House than he does. Sooner or later he’ll get royally planted by Pierre.
Everyone who is saying that we have not had a budget in 507 days is forgetting to point out that the centerpiece of that budget which they lied about from day one(the .13%-Tru-anons were so cute defending it!) was cancelled.
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/will-the-capital-gains-tax-change-affect-you-only-if-youre-part-of-canadas-0-13-per-cent/
Trudeau had the lie pinned to his X feed for months. 6.2 million views.
https://x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1790021255845773705
Martin,
Those of us who are well beyond comfortable thank him! He sold us out as a society but hey, I benefit personally so he gets a pass. You know what human nature is really like.
The dirty little secret that folks like Curious don”t understand but, hey, why would we spread it around!
I guess we are slowly finding out the price Carney had to pay to have people like Blair, Guilbeault and Freeland stick around for the last election. Nice scoops by Lilley. Trouble is Carney won’t pay the same political price as Turner even though there is no difference.
And Wilkinson.
Warren,
The moron-in-chiefTM sues the NYT in his personal capacity. Too fucking funny! Can you say D-I-S-C-O-V-E-R-Y. It should be both lively and incredibly interesting! He’s about to get everything he so richly deserves politically. Made my day.
WTAF! Shades of the USSR and Potemkin villages.
“As per my convo this morning w/ @BenMulroney
on @gregbradyx’s radio show, I took the NewsCycle to the site of the PM’s housing announcement last weekend. The construction was all just a backdrop-today there’s just an excavator & bulldozer working the site”
https://x.com/BryanPassifiume/status/1969056242401231080
That’s hilarious!
They did it again. I thought Carney was supposed to be a serious person:
https://x.com/FoodProfessor/status/1969384179478524195
Warren,
Nanos: Liberals + 7;
Research: Liberals +5;
Ipsos: Liberals +4.
In addition, two Nanos polls have the NDP at 13%, with that support coming from the CPC. The trend continues except for morons who refuse to acknowledge or believe it. God doesn’t want that Pierre guy to be our next prime minister. Great!
Who cares what the polls say right now? The NDP doesn’t have a leader, and the media is very friendly to the Prime Minister. I thought Pierre was great in the house and expect it will continue.
Gilbert,
It will be my pleasure to deconstruct your argument in four parts: a) who cares about the polls: I recognize your point that polls this far from an election are somewhat irrelevant, but tracking significant momentum trends is always advisable and worth exploring; b) no NDP leader: However, both of us probably agree that any party that gets a new leader usually ends up with a honeymoon period of little to considerable length. That, at least for a certain period of time, strengthens party numbers in the polls; c) media friendly to the LPC: always has been and always will be. However, I will concede that Pierre was smart to finally wake up and go on CBC News Network. That was a baby step in the right direction to court legacy media and, more importantly, to consider them as politically relevant; d) Pierre being great in the House was the case before my birthday, and we still lost. It is the case now and will be going forward, but polling trends seem to be negligibly influenced by this factor, so it won’t likely work for him in most polls going forward.
Gilbert,
It’s relatively easy to STOP the bleeding of our young people to the NDP, but our illustrious leader hasn’t got a clue. Hope it stays that way.
Pierre in stark and grave political terms: quite a few steps below LandslideLyndonTM!