09.02.2021 10:06 PM

The French language debate, in eight words or less

22 Comments

  1. Joe Calgary says:

    That’s good enough for me coming from you. Not being the loser in a French debate is definitely a win.

  2. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Léger seems to indicate that there is some receptiveness to O’Toole and the CPC in Quebec– and not only around La Capitale Nationale. In short, Erin could generate a mini but respectable BlueCrushWave in Quebec. Has he ever worked on his French. Truthfully, I’ve never seen it this good and it strikes me to be at the very least on par with Jack’s or Harper’s. He’s not a lightning rod or as polarizing as Harper was so that’s also a big plus. So, expect the unexpected, yes even in Quebec.

  3. Peter Williams says:

    JT; if I don’t get a majority in this unnecessary election, I’ll call another unnecessary election in 18 months.

    What legislation does JT want to introduce that none of the opposition parties would support? What is Trudeau’s secret agenda?

  4. Sean says:

    Walked by an incumbent Liberal campaign HQ on my way to work this morning…. lights out. no one there. 8:30 AM. Winning campaign offices are humming by about 6:00 AM.

    • Sean,

      I hear you. My sense of it is exactly like yours: the Liberals either feel or think they are or may already be the walking dead in this campaign. That’s how it feels with them merely going through the proforma motions for appearances’ sake. They likely won’t get a second wind — look how little of a first wind they were able to put out.

      • Sean says:

        It was also phenomenally stupid to make this a short campaign. There will be time for only one arc in the polls and that will be that. The next two weeks will be about keeping O’Toole to a minority…. or not. I don’t for a moment think that he’s crested or peaked yet either.

        • Peter Williams says:

          O’Toole won’t get to form a minority government; Trudeau will strike some sort of official or unofficial coalition deal with the Bloc and NDP.

          • Sean says:

            PW: I know that’s been the scuttlebutt… however:

            Would JT put NDP MPs in Cabinet? How would Liberal MPs react to that? Can’t see any coalition happening without that. Would be a shit show just as bad as 2008.

            I know its antithetical but O’Toole’s platform has tacked waaaaay left for a Tory. I’d defy anyone to state a Tory platform more to the left / center than this one. Not convinced that Jagmeet wouldn’t prop up O’Toole instead.

            I could see NDP propping up a normal Liberal PM but JT is just far too toxic now / has way too much baggage. There’s just no way the NDP rank and file are going to put up with that.

          • Fred J Pertanson says:

            Nope. Most seats gets first try.

          • Depends. Jagmeet told us once again that he’s running to be prime minister. That, of course, is the complete antithesis of propping up Liberals. Let’s hope Singh and his party finally get that.

          • Fred,

            I’m really dating myself but poor old Stanfield was two seats behind…the rest is history.

          • Sean says:

            Responding to Fred below. Not to be too nitpicky but technically the most recent Government gets first try. As in the pre-amble to King-Byng.

          • Peter Williams says:

            Sean,

            JT wouldn’t have to put a Bloc or NDP member in cabinet. He’d just have to agree to regular meetings with the Bloc and NDP leaders.

          • Phil in London says:

            I am not so sure there is a formula there about supporting the groper party at all cost.

            Singh is in an extremely delicate position with the trudeau gang . He can make a lot of demands to support them if the cards deal that way. What if he does finish third and the demands made are not met? What if the Bloc finishes ahead of the NDP in seats?

            His best bet is to continue to run as the best choice for progressives to vote for in the race to become prime minister. He would be in a much stronger position to negotiate with either party ahead of him if his seats come from liberal losses that he campaigned on the grounds of replacing.

            I am not saying his heart does not feel that the defeat of conservatism is a goal. If he campaigns that way the default position is rarely for liberals to switch to the NDP. It is all but one time the other way around.

            In fact the orange crush did not take seats away from the conservatives it ate liberal lunch. The 2011 election saw the NDP take opposition but the conservatives gained a majority.

            What happened next was definitive of orange failure thereafter – Jack died.

            Let that sink in a moment. The movement to crush the liberal dominance of the left died. The competence of his replacement was not an issue.

            Intelligent, fluently bilingual,experienced likeable, Thomas Mulcair had one glaring weakness, he was not Jack Layton.

            His strategic weakness was that he forgot who Layton ate for lunch in 2011 – Michael Ignatieff, NOT Stephen Harper.

            It would not have been very sexy to lose to a conservative majority, but as a solid opposition to a conservative government minority or majority, people in liberal land would pretty soon have dispatched of third place trudeau and started looking for the next saviour.

            IF you take your eye off the long term goals your short term will catch up to you. IF the NDP believes that being the conscience of parliament is okay then by all means campaign against every conservative leader, but don’t expect the liberals to thank you.

            When an opponent is on the run, you have to push to bury them. Had Mulcair begun his leadership at war with the liberals things look a lot different today. (Nathan Cullen who finished behind Mulcair to lead the NDP proposed a truce amongst progressive Green, Liberal and NDP to only run one candidate against conservative.)

            My conclusion, Singh is liked and young and hopefully can be around for another term or two or three. If he can get his party to look at the election after next he can position himself as the true progressive choice and let a bunch of out of touch libs see if they can get Mark Carney, or some other celebrity to sit as leader of the third party.

            Singh could sit in opposition to O’Toole and vote against the government daring the liberals to defeat a minority while reminding people of how they stand up on principal.

            He could also support the tories if they need him more than he needs them and can extract some demands.

            Politics is about survival perhaps more than anything else. To survive as leader of the NDP – Singh must increase his seat count and the best way to do that is go after trudeau 100%. If the libs and conservatives both finish substantially in front of the NDP Mr. Singh very quickly becomes the former leader of the party.

  5. If I’m O’Toole’s people I’m thinking…

    Just don’t blow this thing. Let’s keep all hands on the tiller and coast to the finish line.

  6. Gary says:

    Let’s just hope that the Butts-Blarton-Telford disinformation axis doesn’t have the wearwithal to concoct some BS entirely out of whole cloth now that their Shiney pony has broken it’s little hoof.

  7. Campaign: Conservatives +3

    EKOS: Conservatives +5

    Mainstreet: Conservatives +5

    NANOS: Conservatives +5

  8. Sean says:

    Trudeau made a huge disclosure when he said there could be another election in 18 months. This has opened up his pandora box. It reveals that he’s not interested in a functioning minority which reflects a much wider swath of the Canadian public. It states in very clear terms that another Trudeau minority won’t value a government which works for Canadians via mutual cooperation. And it strongly suggests that Trudeau needs a majority in order to have sufficient elbow room for his cottage industries: WE, Aga Khan, China etc.

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