Tag Archives: Conservative Party
Not Your Ordinary Denial
Of course they believe in climate change – most of them anyway. They aren’t stupid. But they are upset. They decided to make a point. Last weekend, delegates to the Conservative Party of Canada policy convention defeated a motion that acknowledged climate change as real. It was embarrassing for leader Erin O’Toole, who has been […]
Was Donald Trump Right For Once?
I had expected today to talk about the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. He or she was supposed to be announced before 9 p.m. Ottawa time Sunday. Yet as I write this at 8:30 Ottawa time (2:30 a.m. where I am), due to mechanical issues with the machines that opened the mail-in […]
Counting The Ballots
It’s the biggest turnout for a party leadership vote in Canadian history. A day before the deadline more than 150,000 ballots had been received at Conservative Party headquarters. (Don’t tell Donald Trump – it was a mail-in contest.) When the leadership contest started I had intended to devote the occasional post to the campaign. That […]
Highly Debatable
The four contenders for the leadership of Canada’s Conservative party square off in an English-language debate tonight, as they did in French last night. Why should you care? If you are a Canadian you should be interested; one of these four will be the next leader of the Official Opposition, and possibly Prime Minister […]
Democracy In Action – Your Turn
Today is an important day for Canadian democracy, though my guess is most people in Canada are unaware of it. Not surprising given the usual level of political awareness and engagement. In a presidential system the leader of the country is elected directly by the people. In the Westminster parliamentary tradition the Prime Minister is […]
Stepping Down
Andrew Scheer resigned as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Thursday, the same day I received this Christmas card from him. I guess he remebers me from when I worked on Parliament Hill. He really had no choice. After the October election Scheer said he was staying on the job and would fight the next […]
An Act of Bravery or Political Suicide?
In 2015, as I remember it, a young woman running as a Liberal candidate in Calgary had her candidacy revoke by the party. Some old Facebook posts had surfaced, anti-Semitic statements she had made at 16. She said she no longer held those views, but that wasn’t good enough for the party. They replaced her […]
The Balancing Act
It is an unthinkable move for a conservative. And a brilliant piece of political strategy. Canadian Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer has announced that if his party wins this year’s federal election, they will not balance the budget. Fiscal responsibility is one of the cornerstones of conservative policy. Putting the nation in debt, with future […]
Loose Lips
It’s happened again. Politicians spouting their mouths off and (presumably) regretting it later. It probably happens everywhere, but it is the Canadian examples that gall me. During the Second Word War there was a poster found in many places that read “loose lips sink ships.” It was a reminder not to talk about any war-related […]
Random Thoughts While Watching The Convention
I was originally planning on attending last Saturday’s Conservative Leadership Convention, but a change of schedule meant I couldn’t make it to Toronto. So I watched on television. I jotted down some thoughts as the show progressed. Since I already had a number of posts scheduled, this is the first opportunity. There were, as I […]
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