What happened?

Erin O’Toole looked like he was doing good. Justin Trudeau looked like he was doing badly.

What went wrong?

Well, as a public service, Yours Screwly put together a few random, linkless thoughts.

There are 10. Here they are:

1) As I opined in these pages mid-campaign, the assault weapon thing hurt O’Toole. It was in his platform, and it was therefore pretty hard to erase. When the Conservative leader realized it would hurt him with urban women, he tried to execute a pivot, but it was too little, too late. The assault weapon thing hurt him.

2) The unvaccinated candidates issue hurt O’Toole, too. Why? Well, the pandemic is the biggest economic, cultural and political event of our lifetimes. Eighty per cent of Canadians favour vaccines, masks and tough rules. O’Toole was offside on vaccines. People noticed.

3) But — if you are fair — you have to admit O’Toole otherwise ran a good campaign. He came across as decent and relatively centrist. He was positive, he wasn’t angry. The fact that he couldn’t improve his seat count means something important.

4) And what it means is this: There isn’t a Liberal media conspiracy. There isn’t even a political Liberal conspiracy. But there are Liberal voters in Canada — lots of them. As it becomes much more urban and diverse, Canada is much more Liberal. That presents a structural problem for the Tories.

5) A lot of Tories will think the solution to that is changing their leadership, yet again. But that’s superficial. That’s stupid and knee-jerk. That’s what they always do, and it never really works, does it? Their problems go a lot deeper than that, Virginia.

6) Consider this: Justin Trudeau was accused of groping a woman. He indulged in racist tropes, many times. As prime minister, he obstructed justice and leads a deeply corrupt administration. But he still clings to power. How?

7) The fact that a corrupt, allegedly groping, parlour-room racist could win again says more about us than it does about him. It says the country’s attachment to the Liberal brand is real and deep. It says Canadians are usually going to give Liberals (and a celebrity Liberal leader) the benefit of the doubt.

8) Lots of folks are saying that the election was about nothing. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. It confirmed something pretty big: The country has changed. And if you want to defeat Liberals, you need to change, too, Conservatives.

9) That means making no mistakes, at all. That means campaigns that are micro, not macro — fight in regions, inch by inch. That means getting life-and-death issues — guns, vaccines — right the first time. That means having the very best candidates and the very best policies and the very best strategy.

10) But here’s a final thought, folks: The sun is up, where I am. The birds are chirping. Prime ministers come and go, but the country always goes on. And it’s a pretty great country, Justin Trudeau notwithstanding. If you want to change it, do that. There’s no time like the present.

Yours sincerely,

Warren

— Warren Kinsella was Jean Chretien’s Special Assistant

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Dear Female Voters:

Yes.  This is a guy writing an open letter to you on the weekend before the big vote.  I’m a man, with all of a man’s (many, many) faults. 

I am writing to you because, if it wasn’t for you, Justin Trudeau would have been a historical footnote by now. Sorry, but it’s a fact. Without your support in 2015 and 2019, the Liberal leader would have been consigned to memory long ago.

He wasn’t.  He won, and won again.  Mainly because women stuck with him.  Men didn’t.

Was it because he claimed, repeatedly, to be a feminist?

Personally, I’ve never believed a man should ever, ever say he’s a feminist. That’s a coveted designation that women, alone, are entitled to hand out. Not men, and certainly not men talking about themselves.

Best case, men can and should be allies to women – for equality in and out of the workplace, for reproductive rights, for everything, really.  

But a man calling himself a feminist? That’s arrogant. And when a man gropes a reporter at a beer festival – as Trudeau did, according to a female reporter whose allegations were never refuted – he’s worse than arrogant.

He’s a liar.

On the #MeToo movement, too, Justin Trudeau claimed to be onside.  All dewy-eyed, he said he believed in #MeToo, and it again seems like not a few Canadian women believed him. 

Personally, I am generally pretty unenthusiastic about hashtag campaigns. Most of the time, they are just slacktivism.  You know: the false belief that posting something on social media is enough. It isn’t.

And, most of the male responses to #MeToo have been completely idiotic. Stuff like: I have daughters, and now I understand, etc. Or: Sure, but don’t blame me, etc.

Mostly, I resisted writing or saying anything about #MeToo because I felt men should just shut up and listen, for once. But Justin Trudeau couldn’t. He can’t help himself.

So, when asked about #meToo by Paul Wells of Maclean’s in 2018, Trudeau solemnly declared: “There is a massive shift going on in our society and our workplaces and important conversations that are really, really overdue.”

Fine.  Pretty words.  All true.

But when Wells referenced the groping incident, Trudeau didn’t deny it. He just smirked.

And therein lies the problem, Canadian female voters. Justin Trudeau’s rhetoric soars. It glistens. It lifts hearts and minds.

But then the grim, gritty reality intervenes.  Over and over and over.

Examples of that ugly reality abound: knowing about the General Jonathan Vance sexual harassment allegations – but claiming, with a straight face, that he didn’t know they were about sexual harassment.

Knowing about allegations of sexual harassment and assault by Liberal MP Marwan Tabbara – and allowing him to run anyway.

Knowing about recent examples, too. Such as: a member of Trudeau’s Liberal caucus had been the subject of multiple complaints of sexual misconduct – and one of the complainants actually attempted suicide in the MP’s office.

Trudeau’s response? He said he believed the MP.  Later on, the MP resigned his campaign – but his name is still on the ballot.

Then, this week, yet another one: Kevin Vuong, the Liberal candidate in Ontario’s Spadina-Fort York, was revealed to have been charged with sexual assault in 2019 (no trial took place because the alleged victim could not participate in the prosecution, the Toronto Star reported).

Trudeau’s reaction? He smirked, again. And he refused to rule out permitting Vuong to join the Liberal caucus, should he win on Monday.

It goes on and on and on.  Justin Trudeau says he is a feminist.  But does act like one?

He says he believes in #MeToo.  But does he, really?

No, no, no.  And you know it, female Canadian voters.  You know it.

Time to act on it.

Sincerely,

Warren

 

 

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