Trudeau delivers a smart move

I said, some time ago, that eliminating mail to-the-door delivery was dumb, dumb, dumb.

To wit, my made-up Tory Talking Points about the move:

“One, two-thirds of Canadians don’t get home delivery anymore. Why should that last one-third? We think everyone deserves to pay more and get less!

Two, the postal service can’t afford to provide postal services anymore. And those many years where we were reporting that we were doing well? Er, never mind. Now we’re doing poorly.

Three, no one will care, no one will notice. And your disabled, 90-year-old grandma, who can barely get to the front door, let alone a “community mailbox” several blocks away? Well, she needs the exercise.”

The Liberal leader has now wisely said he will restore it. I think that’s smart because:

  • It’ll be popular with seniors, who (a) vote more (b) have drifted away from the Grits (c) see mail delivery as something they’ve already paid for with their tax dollars
  • It’ll be popular with those who (rightly) see community mail boxes as places that are inconvenient, messy and often inaccessible and/or dangerous
  • It’ll be popular because elections are, you know, sort of hard to win when you are promising to do less for more

After Eve Adams and Bill Blair and Chrystia Freeland, after the “open nominations” farce, after forcing candidates to vote his way on matters of conscience, Justin Trudeau’s democratic reform proposals are simply not credible.

But with his wee Canada Post idea, he’s delivered a winner.

USPS-01


The Orwellian double-speak of (some) pollsters

Check it out: Trudeau has “collapsed” – but it’s “reversible”!

I love Will’s comment.

But, on the horse race stuff, it’s clear. And it means Trudeau needs new advisors, among other things:

Nationally, this latest poll shows the NDP slightly edging the CPC, with 36 per cent of decided support among likely voters (see notes on methodology at the end of this report), just ahead of the governing Conservatives (33%), while the Liberals pull up third at 23 per cent.


Jennifer Heard

I was shocked and saddened to hear of her passing, and I am so, so sorry for Ray and Gillian. I met Jenn at many political events, and always admired her determination. She will be missed. 


From this guy, this is a big deal

Apart from Bob Hepburn – who has taken to writing fiction – Den Tandt was the only commentator they had left. 

Either way, Liberals cannot gild this lily, and their supporters would be better off not to try. They may conceivably wind up in a fight to hang onto what they now hold, which is 36 seats. Having the leader cut a lower profile while he bones up on his debating skills will not cut it. I would venture a guess that Trudeau either embraces his underdog status and scraps it out, mano a mano, or he loses, big.

Have the feeling this is all going to end badly? Me, too.