Rosie on last night

My Lord, she is fierce. Read.

He is, sadly, as arrogant and tone-deaf and narcissistic as ever. Which does not auger well for minority governing traction in Trudeau’s second term, the PM presumably intending to steer forward with his centrist-left policies to an extent the NDP can tolerate in exchange for propping-up, while simultaneously, as required, not alienating the Bloc Québécois, thus allowing the province to spin off into its racist Bill 21 orbit with no pushback from Ottawa. Quebec will doubtless be seeking more power over immigration matters.

How in the world does Trudeau expect to navigate this contentious political landscape, with the Prairie provinces doubling down on their Liberal-loathing, completely disconnected — only one Alberta seat rejected the Conservatives, it went NDP; shut out in Saskatchewan — from the political biorhythms of Canada? How can Trudeau reconcile his party to the stark polarization between urban and rural voters?


Who lost

Well, everyone did, pretty much. This morning, it’s hard not to feel that way.

Justin Trudeau was supposed to easily win a second majority. He didn’t. Blackface, broken promises and scandal – LavScam and Aga Khan, to name just two – have sullied his name, and reduced him to a minority.

Andrew Scheer was running against a Liberal leader less popular than Donald Trump – a Liberal leader who was even hit with a massive scandal mid-campaign – and he still couldn’t win. The talking points about popular vote are sophistry – most of that vote came from the prairies, where it didn’t result in enough seats to win. We all knew he wanted to get rid of Trudeau – but we didn’t know what he’d do if he won.

Jagmeet Singh was supposed to be the Jag-ernaut, the one everyone would turn to. But it didn’t work out that way. He lost Quebec seats and was shut out of places like Toronto, where he needed to win. His response to Trudeau’s blackface scandal was pitch-perfect – but he couldn’t translate that into a big victory.

Elizabeth May lost, big. After multiple elections, after multiple tries, all she could do is add a single seat. As with Trudeau and Trump, it’s always dangerous to let your political party morph into a single person. She needs to go. And her party wants her to move on, too.

Maxime Bernier is done, as my friend Brian Topp put it on TV last night. He’s done. And good riddance. Me and my firm were honoured to campaign against Bernier, who made common cause with racists, anti-Semites and white supremacists. His loss, his humiliation, was complete. May we never see his likes again.

The West, my home, is again relegated to margins, as it was during the reign of Trudeau’s father. Trudeau didn’t seem to care about Alberta’s plight before, and he’ll care even less, now. Anger is rising in the West. There will be consequences.

Unity, which wasn’t even on the ballot, lost. The separatists are back – visibly, in Quebec, less so in the West (for now) – and they intend to hold the future for ransom. The word “constitution” was used by the Bloc leader last night. Get ready to hear it many more times, in the weeks ahead.

Canada lost. As in 1980, as with another Trudeau, Canada is deeply, deeply divided – with the West feeling powerless, and the East completely indifferent to that. We often claim to be better than America, but we’re like America, now – a nation divided, a nation moving apart.

Not very sunny ways, I know. And a (typical) overstatement, maybe. There are glimmers of hope in the detritus: Jody Wilson-Raybould’s huge win, Jane Philpott’s extraordinary dignity, the pollsters were finally right, the complete rejection of racist populism. But that’s about all I can see, on this rainy and cold morning.

I’m not sure where all of us are headed.

But it doesn’t feel like many victories await us there.


Daisy Group election night in tweets


Nice letter. Thank you.

Sir,

I am a Permanent Resident from Nigeria, a lawyer educated in the UK, completing a PhD, and currently writing the NCA exams. 
I love politics, and have followed you religiously on Twitter until you left yesterday. I know the great work you do in politics, and really sympathize with you for the noise from opportunists looking for somebody to blame for their poor performances in the elections.
I admire your achievements, work and mind.

E.O.


Statement

It’s been quite a day.

So, a few things.

After a decade or more, I’ve deactivated Twitter and Facebook. I’ve had it. I may be back on social media, I may not. I don’t know.

I’m pulling back from other media, too. My family and my work colleagues don’t deserve what they’ve been going through. One of them even had to change her cell number today, it got so bad. Also, I’m sick. So, enough is enough.

I’m a lawyer; I’m not interested in getting disbarred. As Jody Wilson-Raybould knows too well, lawyers are not permitted to simply break vows of confidentiality. Only the client can let you do that. The client, here, hasn’t.

I’ve been researching, writing about, and opposing racism for more than three decades. Maxime Bernier and his People’s Party are indisputably racist. They are bigots. They have anti-Semitic and homophobic members. If someone wants to join forces with me to beat Bernier, I will always welcome it.

I’m proud to oppose bigots like Bernier, paid or not. And the client who wanted to expose and oppose bigotry? They deserve credit, not criticism.

The work we were doing ended many months ago. It was always going to be disclosed, by law. It was in no way inappropriate or wrong. Opposing organized bigotry is always appropriate and right. We were and are fiercely proud of the work we did.

We hired someone. That person made anti-Semitic, intolerant remarks and stole from our company. We got rid of that person. It doesn’t surprise me, in the slightest, that person would do something that would later assist Bernier’s intolerant political party. It’s what a hater would do.

All the journalists calling and texting: I get it. You have a job to do, and it’s the final weekend. But I’m just not going to respond anymore. So stop trying. Sorry.

Finally: I hold no party membership with anyone. I regard myself as an independent. As a firm, we have worked for every single political party – or candidates running under the banner of every single political party. Every one, except Bernier’s. We don’t help racists.

Any of you who are depicting Maxime Bernier as in any way a victim are assisting a racist. You are helping him. You should stop doing that.

That’s all I’ve got to say. (I had originally kept comments open, below, but I had too many people inviting me to kill myself. So comments are turned off.)

The picture above? It’s of my favourite places on Earth. It’s where you’ll find me.

Thanks.


“The source”

The source was terminated for making anti-Semitic remarks about a colleague, and for theft.

That’s who the Globe and the CBC relied upon: an anti-Semitic thief, now working for the Trudeau government.

What an election.


My latest: Trump trumps Trudeau, and why

Justin Trudeau is less popular than Donald Trump.

Say it aloud, so that those still considering voting for Trudeau can hear you.

Because, you know, Donald Trump. The most sexist, most racist, most dishonest US president is more highly regarded than the Canadian Prime Minister. That’s hard to do, but Justin Trudeau has done it.

As far back as March, Trump was doing better than Trudeau. In that month, Ipsos found Trump’s approval rating was 43 per cent. Trudeau’s was 40.

In August, it got even worse. Zogby Analytics revealed that Trump had an approval rating of 51 per cent. Trudeau was “underwater,” Zogby reported, at 43 per cent.

And Toronto Sun pollster John Wright, of DART, has analyzed the data, and come up with the same conclusion as the others. “Trudeau’s personal approval numbers are below Trump’s,” says Wright. “So more selfies won’t help.”

And therein lies the rub. Wright has put his finger on the zeitgeist: this election isn’t remotely about issues. It’s a referendum on Justin Trudeau. And he’s been losing it.

What went wrong? How is Justin Trudeau – once the darling of international media, the beneficiary of Trudeaumania II, and the guy who propelled his party from a Parliamentary third place to first – now facing what HuffPo’s Althia Raj, no less, has declared the “possibility he won’t be Prime Minister much longer.” How did that happen?

Three reasons. The first: he over-promised and under-delivered.

Trudeau did that a lot. On electoral reform, on balanced budgets, on ethical reform, on being the feminist champion and the Indigenous reconciler: in every case, he promised the Earth but delivered only dust.

Trudeau’s true legacy is seen in the LavScam scandal, where he obliterated his credentials as the ethical paragon and liberator of women and Indigenous peoples. There, he cravenly tried to rescue a Quebec-based Liberal Party donor facing a corruption trial – and, along the way, revealed himself more than willing to brutalize two women, one Indigenous, who bravely stood up for the Rule of Law.

Second reason: he thinks he’s far more charming and entertaining than he actually is.

Some time ago, a member of Trudeau’s insular inner circle told this writer that one of their biggest problems was Trudeau’s unshakeable belief that he is funny. “He thinks he’s a comedian,” said this man. “He isn’t.”

Thus, making blackface his go-to party favour. Thus, his puerile penchant for dress-up, even when it humiliates Canadians, as in the infamous Griswolds-style Indian vacation. Thus, his utterly bizarre penchant for making jokes – remember “peoplekind?” – that aren’t merely jokes. They’re jokes that render him one.

Recently, this writer was told by a very senior Grit that Trudeau referred to NDP leader Jagmeet Singh as “Marge Simpson” – presumably a reference to Singh’s turban. (A Liberal campaign spokesman declined to comment about the allegation; an NDP war room member said they were aware of the “joke.”)

Why, why would Trudeau say such a thing? “Because he thought it was funny,” said this Parliamentarian.

The third and final reason that Justin Trudeau is less popular than Donald Trump is neatly, and expertly, mirrored in the Conservative Party’s shrewd attack ad slogan: “Justin Trudeau. Not as advertised.”

That pithy catchphrase, more than anything else, is why Trudeau is plumbing the polling depths, even more than Trump. Canadians have grown to believe that the former drama teacher is, indeed, just an actor.

Donald Trump, as detestable as he is to so many, is at least truthful about who he is. He doesn’t hide it.

Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, wears blackface to parties.

Because he’s never as comfortable as when he is wearing a mask.