Mike Robinson
Sad to hear about his sudden passing.
Last time I saw him was on election night at Global TV in Toronto. He got up and shook my hand and was very friendly. Those who know the back story will know why I remember (and appreciated) that.
My condolences to his family.
Adler-Kinsella Show: Brexit, Conservatives and Franklin the Turtle
The former Minister of Curry in a Hurry should Worry
…because his prospects are blurry.
Jason Kenney, who I genially detest, is apparently heading back to Alberta, because he knows his flavour of conservativism – socially, fiscally and politically antediluvian conservativism – is dead as a proverbial doornail in Ottawa.
He apparently thinks that his political future is found in Alberta. I think he’s wrong about that. Reasons:
- Pretty much everyone – even political adversaries – agree Rachel Notely is doing a good job with a bad hand. Her performance during the Fort Mac fire, in particular, shows that only a fool (cf. Kenney, above) would underestimate her.
- Stephen Harper – and, later, Justin Trudeau – have moved Alberta into the mainstream of Canadian politics. My home province is far, far more diverse and progressive than it was when I was growing up there. Kenney’s style of politics is retrograde everywhere – and in urban Alberta, too.
- The yawning chasm on Alberta’s Right shows no sign of repairing itself anytime soon. The PCs and Wildrose detest each other. How will Jason Kenney bridge that gap that in one election cycle? More to the point, which party does he intend to run? The corrupt, discredited one? Or the one with lumbering dinosaurs in it?
- He’s been in politics a long, long time. People – and people in Alberta in particular – now know who he is in his essence. The defeat of the Conservative Party in 2015 wasn’t Stephen Harper’s alone – it was also a defeat for Kenney and his ilk. Canadians, in Alberta and everywhere, wanted no more of Jason Kenney-style politics.
Will he run anyway? Of course he will. He’s never held a job in the real world, and he thinks he’s a genius.
I therefore look forward to his humiliation in the next Alberta provincial election.
Impressed
I’m not naming names. But I can tell you one ministerial office in Ottawa received one ticket to Obama’s speech.
And you know who they gave it to? Not the Chief of Staff. Not the head of comms or the LA.
They gave it to the Summer intern.
I cannot tell you how great that is. It says plenty about that Minister’s staff – all of it good.
Impressed.
Obama who?
Here are the top online stories for the major media outlets right now:
- Globe: Real estate industry in BC
- Star: billing by doctors
- Post: mass murder in Texas
- Sun: Mississauga house explosion
- Times: Boris Johnson exits
- Any other US media: something stupid Donald Trump said
Rule of thumb: if Ottawa decides something is important, it probably isn’t.
Dumber than a sack of hockey pucks
This Subban trade is the dumbest decision since Harper decided to have a 100-day campaign about a veil worn by two women.
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) June 29, 2016
We get letters: a fan writes
When Barack comes to town: a highly-scientific poll™
Barack Obama is coming to Canada today. Did you even know that? I had actually forgotten about it, to be honest.
If you were advising Justin Trudeau – or, if you were Justin Trudeau – what would you tell the soon-to-be-departing U.S. president? Vote early, vote often!
[polldaddy poll=9458045]