Great interview. I'm the same age as Kuruc, though my life has taken a different path, and I get a Sliding Doors vibe from reading these kinds of things. I begin to empathize. But then, as often happens, they valorize the Convoy, and being from Ottawa and having grown up in Centretown, with friends and family who were terrorized by the experience, the gap widens again.
Cards on the table: I love Bob Bratina (less right now than an hour ago, but still). I've never known if he was left out of cabinet because he was a maverick, or if (tale as old as time) he became a maverick because he was underutilized.
I mean, this guy might have the best pre-Parliament political resume for an MP who didn't make it past the backbenches in my lifetime. You're a prime minister with zero governing experience, almost nobody in your caucus with any governing experience, and the guy who ran Hamilton doesn't even get to be a parliamentary secretary, never mind a minister, because you've got plenty of people who'd previously run for mayor and lost who you'd rather put in? I'm not saying this is sour grapes on his part. But if it were, he'd sure be justified.
One reason governments rarely get a fourth term is because at some point over the first three terms, they alienate most of their Bob Bratinas---whether with policy or with personnel moves. And, sure - the power of incumbency brings new people in, which can sometimes offset this phenomenon. But eventually, it adds up.
The problem was simply that there was so much raw talent that it was impossible to include everyone.
I mean were you going to appoint Bratina ahead of towering geniuses like Ministers Maryam and Mona or multiple Victoria Cross recipient Minister Harjit?
Yeah, this is exactly the problem with long-serving governments. Probably every active Liberal has a list of twenty people we feel have been snubbed, and it's a different list for each of us. It's impossible to run a long-serving government without alienating somebody's supporters.
This really sums up that Liberal weakness...when they talk to mirrors instead of windows...if the PM and his Katie were paying the least bit of attention to what is going on here and at so many places in Canada right now...perhaps they could get a grip.
But, when you have been in power for years and your meetings are just your friends...
Meanwhile, PP doesn’t meet anyone outside his rally, especially not anyone who oppose his views or journalists who can ask him tough question, but he is still popular. I guess meeting only your friends can work
Pierre is usually answering only five questions per new conference like Harper was doing with no follow-ups allowed. I guess it could happen sometimes that a difficult question was part oh the five.
I love the not paying attention comment when it's just fired up rhetoric from PP as he lies his way across the country. WEF has had cons attend forever and he knows the story he tells is pure BS.
Axe the tax is another one that will bite him hard when the libs wake voters up to reality in the next year or two. Congrats for being down in the rabbit hole.
Eventually people get tired of being told what they think and that is one of the things Justin Trudeau and his government love to do - tell people what to think. If they don't like that, he lectures them that they are not only wrong but morally bankrupt or worse. Mssrs Kuruc and Bratina get that and a lot of people are feeling the same.
There is an interesting reference to the Convoy, and that perhaps we may look back to see it as a watershed moment in Canadian politics.
One of the underdeveloped aspects of the Convoy was the HUGE, eye watering amount of money raised in no time flat. And no, it wasn’t dirty money from abroad but donated by average citizens from all across Canada and from all walks of life. $20 and $50 buck tosses in the hat that turned into staggering millions. It’s telling that political analysts aren’t spending any time thinking about this grass roots support and what caused people to become involved.
I’m no political scientist, but I would look at the money raised as a sign of trouble in the trenches for those who have a comfortable existence and prefer to look down on people who are working hard and paying for the culture wars battles of the elites. The Hamiltonians are sensing it too, and whether the trend holds or recedes is anyone’s guess.
Yeah, Darcy, one area where we absolutely agree is that everyone is done a disservice by this "everyone I don't like must be a dastardly foreigner!" discourse that's taking root all across the political spectrum. I don't have a lot in common with convoy types, but they're real Canadians with real concerns - as I am, as you are. It'd behoove our political class to reckon with their sincerity and not assume they're a bunch of Russian bots.
Some day, someone with some power and skin in the game will have a light bulb switch on and discover that in many ways we all have lots in common. Our political discourse works far too hard to point out the differences, and people are sick of it.
Agreed! I'm a big believer in finding common ground where possible, and, where there's no common ground, at least respecting the sincerity of different perspectives. Like, a perspective can be different from mine - even completely morally abhorrent to me - while still being sincerely held. As a society, we're losing the ability to disagree constructively.
A guy I grew up with was very into the convoy. I am...not. But I can easily look at the life he's led, the life I've led, and say, "Okay, here's where we diverged. Here's why I believe what I believe. Here's why he believes what he believes. Here are the different experiences that shaped us. Of course it makes sense that we think differently., and even though we disagree, that doesn't make him un-Canadian." That empathy piece is missing from our political class. Easier to just delegitimize any opposition.
I can only report on what I saw when the fledgling Convoy rolled through my neighbourhood and discern who was motivated to get in their vehicle and drive to the TCH to wave and lend support. The people I saw were young, old and in between. Young children tagged along with their parents and there was a collage of skin hues and ethnicities.
In other words, a cross section of Canada was involved and it was observed in the Public Inquiry that the vast majority of donations were sourced from Canadians, and it too a computer hacker to mine the data and give the Government a short cut to trace where the funds came from.
Teresa, I respect your opinion but I respectfully disagree.
Having said that, have you checked the source of those articles? It is my recollection that JT and the sunny ways crew made that claim and seized people's bank accounts, etc. but that subsequent analysis suggested that it was really, really predominantly Canuck bucks in small amounts, i.e. from the you and me of Canada.
I certainly know that many of the folks in my neighborhood were supporters of the convoy; on the other hand, there aren't a lot of LPC supporters around here.
Increasingly I dread the arrival of your latest essay. My chosen antidote is to postpone reading it and first go for a long walk so that I will have the strength to open it. Your hard work is excellent and very much appreciated. I chuckle that today you send a double dose. It will require a very long walk. Guess I should add thanks for the motivation to exercise.
Excellent article, Paul. In my opinion, this is where you are at your absolute best. Getting out of Ottawa and having coffee with some “outsiders” is exactly what we need more of in this journalistic environment. There’s an absolutely massive chasm between what the media and the general public on so many issues facing our country right now. This piece was well done, keep it up.
I live in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas (HWAD) and have helped on several Provincial PC and Federal CPC campaigns and have met Pierre several times. Minister Filomena Tassi was the Chaplain at my kids’ Catholic high school but now espouses all things Liberal. I can’t wait to see the back of her as she loses in the next election. She has failed on every file she’s had and never responds to constituents. She has been invisible in the riding since 2015. Good riddance and I’ll be sure to volunteer again...for HWAD and for Ned!
I live in his riding, and have met him several times. He often shows up at any gathering of people in his riding, and is willing to listen to any concerns, on any level. He does try and deal with any issue that he can influence, federally.
Agreed. There is much I dislike about the guy's values, views, and style, but credit where it's due, Poilievre is a hard worker. You don't get elected MP at 24 over a senior cabinet minister if you're not, and I've seen no sign his work ethic has abated.
Before woke who knew that there are no biological differences between men and women?
Before woke who knew that the white male forklift driver in Peterborough, laid off in his early fifties, and never going to find a job again is the holder of privilege while the GG flying around the world on useless junkets noshing away on the finest viands is a victim of oppression?
You will see a lot more of this in the next few years. Many Canadians are concerned about economics and freedom not the cultural issues our prime minister keeps pushing.
I was a seven time Green Party candidate (1993 to 2002). Recently I was asked to run as a candidate for the BC Conservatives, and to help the federal Conservatives in my riding. I said no in August as I am still leery of all political parties in Canada.
There are a surprising number of center left Canadians that I know that are politically homeless or drifting to the Conservatives.
True, Canada has a lot of freedom compared to China or Saudi Arabia.
However, if one was Covid unvaccinated the vaxpass limited one’s freedom of movement during the pandemic. All based on scientific statements that were later proven to be wrong regarding the spread of the virus.
Secondly, if you protest the government you can end up with a very lengthy drawn out legal process including detention in jail or at home. This has happened to environmental protesters like Howard Breen in BC, and Tamara Lich (and others) from the truck convoy.
In summary, if you are unwilling to follow dominant narratives you can lose your freedom pretty quickly. Free societies with codified human rights are a relatively new thing and must often be defended.
Kevan: Not going to get into a lengthy argument with you on this comment board. Suffice it to say - I am a scientist and Dr. Theresa Tam, who is a physician and public health expert was my guide to understanding SARS-CoV 2 transmission and the dire necessity of vaccines. I hope Convoy leaders, Tamara Lich, Chris Barber and Pat King will spend time in jail.
My dad is a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC so please do not pull the “I am more accredited than you card.”
You are not the science and neither is my dad or myself. None of us have all the answers as research on the vaccine and virus are ongoing. Fun fact: the origins of the AIDS crisis are still in dispute according to my dad so the science is never settled. And astronomers are still hotly debating whether Pluto is a planet or not.
The science is *never* settled. Really? The smallpox vaccine eradicated smallpox. Childhood vaccines have managed to almost eradicate childhood illnesses such as diphtheria, pertussis, measles and mumps. Science shows us that when parents stop vaccinating their children, these diseases reappear in the population. As far as AIDS is concerned, we may not know the origins, but we DO know the virus that causes it and we now have a cocktail of drugs that keep AIDS patients alive for decades. Science and medicine at work. Finally, Covid vaccines have saved millions of people around the world from deadly acute infections and Long Covid.
Never said the science is never settled on any issue whether it be the earth rotating around the sun or the usefulness of the smallpox vaccine.
However, on the Covid virus and vaccine things clearly are not fully known. Hence, why the what is known keeps changing with new studies coming out all the time. You are entitled to your opinions as I am mine. The only caveat I will add is that anyone who asserts they know the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine or the origins of the virus 100% whether Anthony Fauci, Dr John Campbell, you or me is wrong.
The relevant question re vax mandates is does being vaxxed protect others. And the scientific answer is no, it doesn’t, and this was clear by summer of ‘21.
I was at a political chamber of commerce breakfast with two Lib cabmins and at least three known conservatives told the ministers they could no longer support the CPC due to PP. Nanos has a poll out saying that 48% of the population want PP gone. And that's only one year into his reign of terror. There's a reason progressive cons are starting a new party. He hasn't killed off Bernier and the party progressives are threatening a new party. That should resonate with the faithful who are looking at recent torqued polls from Abacus who are now run by the "Calgary school" that Tom Flanagan ran. The country's preeminent pollster Nanos has had the libs close to level over the last few weeks.
Regretfully I don't move in circles that would lead me to have breakfast with the high and mighty of the Liberal government.
But since you do, maybe you would be kind enough to ask them if the fancy limo and chauffeur really makes up for the self-abasement that comes from taking orders from their gormless leader and having to try to keep a serious face and head bob while listening to his breathy, nasal and interminable speeches. I mean surely there must come a point when the servility becomes just too much?
It would also be fascinating to learn who choreographed the recent swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall that had all the cabmins standing at attention, hands respectfully folded in front of them waiting for Junior and then bursting into roaring applause that would embarrass even Kim Jong when the Father of the Nation strode to the microphone.
Reminds one of congresses of the Communist Party under Stalin when people were afraid to be the first to stop applauding.
So thanks for inquiring and looking forward to your insights.
I am thinking Mr. Poiliviere is on speed dial with Mr. Harper several times a day, taking strict orders from above. Lots of slavish servility there, I’ll bet. We just don’t see it.
With all due respect, dear fellow reader, even the Father of the Nation has stopped the 'blame it all on Harper' schtick.
Instead, if you haven't been following the news, we are now into the 'blame it on the 'wreckers'' mode, so beloved of Stalin with the executives of grocery chains the newest iteration.
And, as in Stalin's Russia, 'wreckers' are everywhere guaranteeing that wherever our Dear Leader directs his gaze he is sure to find a nest of them!
Sure - make up whatever absurd claim you like, and then use it to bash Poiliviere. Sorta like "I bet Justin is on the phone with Putin every day - we just don't see it."
Politics are pretty topsy turvy so many outcomes are possible.
My only pushback is calling Pierre Poiliviere’s leadership “a reign of terror.” Sounds like people on the right calling our Prime Minister a communist. Both are laughable and hyperbolic. No leader of any Canadian party at the federal level is a communist, fascist or a Nazi even though I dislike all of them..ha..ha.
This is a valuable, if disheartening, look at the creep of Republican-style conservatism from south of the border. Substitute “liberty” for “freedom” and you’re pretty much there. And it seems to go beyond a throw-the-bums-out impulse that wafts around a nearly 10-year-old government. The appearance of John Diefenbaker in this column is probably not accidental. Nor should it be.
I almost never post twice in a day, partly because I don't want the second post to bury the first. Make sure to check out this week's podcast episode, which I dare say is a good one. https://paulwells.substack.com/p/how-bill-c-18-is-threatening-a-local
Great interview. I'm the same age as Kuruc, though my life has taken a different path, and I get a Sliding Doors vibe from reading these kinds of things. I begin to empathize. But then, as often happens, they valorize the Convoy, and being from Ottawa and having grown up in Centretown, with friends and family who were terrorized by the experience, the gap widens again.
Cards on the table: I love Bob Bratina (less right now than an hour ago, but still). I've never known if he was left out of cabinet because he was a maverick, or if (tale as old as time) he became a maverick because he was underutilized.
I mean, this guy might have the best pre-Parliament political resume for an MP who didn't make it past the backbenches in my lifetime. You're a prime minister with zero governing experience, almost nobody in your caucus with any governing experience, and the guy who ran Hamilton doesn't even get to be a parliamentary secretary, never mind a minister, because you've got plenty of people who'd previously run for mayor and lost who you'd rather put in? I'm not saying this is sour grapes on his part. But if it were, he'd sure be justified.
One reason governments rarely get a fourth term is because at some point over the first three terms, they alienate most of their Bob Bratinas---whether with policy or with personnel moves. And, sure - the power of incumbency brings new people in, which can sometimes offset this phenomenon. But eventually, it adds up.
The problem was simply that there was so much raw talent that it was impossible to include everyone.
I mean were you going to appoint Bratina ahead of towering geniuses like Ministers Maryam and Mona or multiple Victoria Cross recipient Minister Harjit?
Let's get real here.
Paul needs to implement a laugh option for these posts.
Nicely done sir!
I share your view. Another guy who’s a great MP that has been overlooked is John MacKay of Scarborough Guildwood.
Yeah, this is exactly the problem with long-serving governments. Probably every active Liberal has a list of twenty people we feel have been snubbed, and it's a different list for each of us. It's impossible to run a long-serving government without alienating somebody's supporters.
This really sums up that Liberal weakness...when they talk to mirrors instead of windows...if the PM and his Katie were paying the least bit of attention to what is going on here and at so many places in Canada right now...perhaps they could get a grip.
But, when you have been in power for years and your meetings are just your friends...
...you become irrelevant..
Meanwhile, PP doesn’t meet anyone outside his rally, especially not anyone who oppose his views or journalists who can ask him tough question, but he is still popular. I guess meeting only your friends can work
I have seen Pierre in many news conferences being asked tough questions and he answers.
Pierre is usually answering only five questions per new conference like Harper was doing with no follow-ups allowed. I guess it could happen sometimes that a difficult question was part oh the five.
At least he gives answers, not word salad.
I saw him take questions from a CBC reporter and others at a press conference in Vancouver last year. Lasted about 20 minutes iirc.
I love the not paying attention comment when it's just fired up rhetoric from PP as he lies his way across the country. WEF has had cons attend forever and he knows the story he tells is pure BS.
Axe the tax is another one that will bite him hard when the libs wake voters up to reality in the next year or two. Congrats for being down in the rabbit hole.
I'm actually a Lib and not down any hole, rabbit or otherwise, I've been through a lot of elections and I know navel gazing whe I see it.
Eventually people get tired of being told what they think and that is one of the things Justin Trudeau and his government love to do - tell people what to think. If they don't like that, he lectures them that they are not only wrong but morally bankrupt or worse. Mssrs Kuruc and Bratina get that and a lot of people are feeling the same.
There is an interesting reference to the Convoy, and that perhaps we may look back to see it as a watershed moment in Canadian politics.
One of the underdeveloped aspects of the Convoy was the HUGE, eye watering amount of money raised in no time flat. And no, it wasn’t dirty money from abroad but donated by average citizens from all across Canada and from all walks of life. $20 and $50 buck tosses in the hat that turned into staggering millions. It’s telling that political analysts aren’t spending any time thinking about this grass roots support and what caused people to become involved.
I’m no political scientist, but I would look at the money raised as a sign of trouble in the trenches for those who have a comfortable existence and prefer to look down on people who are working hard and paying for the culture wars battles of the elites. The Hamiltonians are sensing it too, and whether the trend holds or recedes is anyone’s guess.
Yeah, Darcy, one area where we absolutely agree is that everyone is done a disservice by this "everyone I don't like must be a dastardly foreigner!" discourse that's taking root all across the political spectrum. I don't have a lot in common with convoy types, but they're real Canadians with real concerns - as I am, as you are. It'd behoove our political class to reckon with their sincerity and not assume they're a bunch of Russian bots.
Excellent comments.
Some day, someone with some power and skin in the game will have a light bulb switch on and discover that in many ways we all have lots in common. Our political discourse works far too hard to point out the differences, and people are sick of it.
Agreed! I'm a big believer in finding common ground where possible, and, where there's no common ground, at least respecting the sincerity of different perspectives. Like, a perspective can be different from mine - even completely morally abhorrent to me - while still being sincerely held. As a society, we're losing the ability to disagree constructively.
A guy I grew up with was very into the convoy. I am...not. But I can easily look at the life he's led, the life I've led, and say, "Okay, here's where we diverged. Here's why I believe what I believe. Here's why he believes what he believes. Here are the different experiences that shaped us. Of course it makes sense that we think differently., and even though we disagree, that doesn't make him un-Canadian." That empathy piece is missing from our political class. Easier to just delegitimize any opposition.
Not a 100% sure that it wasn’t ‘dirty money’. Have read that a staggering amount of money that supported the Convoy came from dark US sources.
I can only report on what I saw when the fledgling Convoy rolled through my neighbourhood and discern who was motivated to get in their vehicle and drive to the TCH to wave and lend support. The people I saw were young, old and in between. Young children tagged along with their parents and there was a collage of skin hues and ethnicities.
In other words, a cross section of Canada was involved and it was observed in the Public Inquiry that the vast majority of donations were sourced from Canadians, and it too a computer hacker to mine the data and give the Government a short cut to trace where the funds came from.
Teresa, I respect your opinion but I respectfully disagree.
Having said that, have you checked the source of those articles? It is my recollection that JT and the sunny ways crew made that claim and seized people's bank accounts, etc. but that subsequent analysis suggested that it was really, really predominantly Canuck bucks in small amounts, i.e. from the you and me of Canada.
I certainly know that many of the folks in my neighborhood were supporters of the convoy; on the other hand, there aren't a lot of LPC supporters around here.
The POEC and FINTAC both found there was no dirty money given to the convoy.
That's been asserted and disproved several times over. Generally the claim is made by people who wish to discredit the convoy, for whatever reason.
It's a valid point, especially in bringing in donations from people who stay out of political donations.
On the other side, the ~3-1 swamping of a convoy-esque protest nationwide shows that what gets $$$ doesn't necessarily get votes/shoe leather.
Increasingly I dread the arrival of your latest essay. My chosen antidote is to postpone reading it and first go for a long walk so that I will have the strength to open it. Your hard work is excellent and very much appreciated. I chuckle that today you send a double dose. It will require a very long walk. Guess I should add thanks for the motivation to exercise.
Excellent article, Paul. In my opinion, this is where you are at your absolute best. Getting out of Ottawa and having coffee with some “outsiders” is exactly what we need more of in this journalistic environment. There’s an absolutely massive chasm between what the media and the general public on so many issues facing our country right now. This piece was well done, keep it up.
Anyone who uses the word *woke* leaves left me cold.
It leaves me more woke because the real definition of woke makes me a caring nice person..
“And people are tired of that. Just that whole woke agenda. People are tired of it”
Amen to that.
I live in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas (HWAD) and have helped on several Provincial PC and Federal CPC campaigns and have met Pierre several times. Minister Filomena Tassi was the Chaplain at my kids’ Catholic high school but now espouses all things Liberal. I can’t wait to see the back of her as she loses in the next election. She has failed on every file she’s had and never responds to constituents. She has been invisible in the riding since 2015. Good riddance and I’ll be sure to volunteer again...for HWAD and for Ned!
Ask people in Carlton the last time they saw PP, which was during the last election,and he will get re elected. Just saying.
I live in his riding, and have met him several times. He often shows up at any gathering of people in his riding, and is willing to listen to any concerns, on any level. He does try and deal with any issue that he can influence, federally.
Agreed. There is much I dislike about the guy's values, views, and style, but credit where it's due, Poilievre is a hard worker. You don't get elected MP at 24 over a senior cabinet minister if you're not, and I've seen no sign his work ethic has abated.
Yes like a lot of Canadians I am very tired of Woke agenda politics. It’s very divisive and confrontational. Canada needs stability
I just got called woke half an hour ago by an anti vaxxer so called friend. I thanked him for the compliment.
Ah, yes, the wonders of woke.
Before woke who knew that there are no biological differences between men and women?
Before woke who knew that the white male forklift driver in Peterborough, laid off in his early fifties, and never going to find a job again is the holder of privilege while the GG flying around the world on useless junkets noshing away on the finest viands is a victim of oppression?
Woke has so much to teach us!
You will see a lot more of this in the next few years. Many Canadians are concerned about economics and freedom not the cultural issues our prime minister keeps pushing.
I was a seven time Green Party candidate (1993 to 2002). Recently I was asked to run as a candidate for the BC Conservatives, and to help the federal Conservatives in my riding. I said no in August as I am still leery of all political parties in Canada.
There are a surprising number of center left Canadians that I know that are politically homeless or drifting to the Conservatives.
What ‘freedom’ are you missing? I was under the assumption that Canada is a free country.
True, Canada has a lot of freedom compared to China or Saudi Arabia.
However, if one was Covid unvaccinated the vaxpass limited one’s freedom of movement during the pandemic. All based on scientific statements that were later proven to be wrong regarding the spread of the virus.
Secondly, if you protest the government you can end up with a very lengthy drawn out legal process including detention in jail or at home. This has happened to environmental protesters like Howard Breen in BC, and Tamara Lich (and others) from the truck convoy.
In summary, if you are unwilling to follow dominant narratives you can lose your freedom pretty quickly. Free societies with codified human rights are a relatively new thing and must often be defended.
Kevan: Not going to get into a lengthy argument with you on this comment board. Suffice it to say - I am a scientist and Dr. Theresa Tam, who is a physician and public health expert was my guide to understanding SARS-CoV 2 transmission and the dire necessity of vaccines. I hope Convoy leaders, Tamara Lich, Chris Barber and Pat King will spend time in jail.
My dad is a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC so please do not pull the “I am more accredited than you card.”
You are not the science and neither is my dad or myself. None of us have all the answers as research on the vaccine and virus are ongoing. Fun fact: the origins of the AIDS crisis are still in dispute according to my dad so the science is never settled. And astronomers are still hotly debating whether Pluto is a planet or not.
Stay healthy :)
The science is *never* settled. Really? The smallpox vaccine eradicated smallpox. Childhood vaccines have managed to almost eradicate childhood illnesses such as diphtheria, pertussis, measles and mumps. Science shows us that when parents stop vaccinating their children, these diseases reappear in the population. As far as AIDS is concerned, we may not know the origins, but we DO know the virus that causes it and we now have a cocktail of drugs that keep AIDS patients alive for decades. Science and medicine at work. Finally, Covid vaccines have saved millions of people around the world from deadly acute infections and Long Covid.
Never said the science is never settled on any issue whether it be the earth rotating around the sun or the usefulness of the smallpox vaccine.
However, on the Covid virus and vaccine things clearly are not fully known. Hence, why the what is known keeps changing with new studies coming out all the time. You are entitled to your opinions as I am mine. The only caveat I will add is that anyone who asserts they know the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine or the origins of the virus 100% whether Anthony Fauci, Dr John Campbell, you or me is wrong.
Wish you the best.
The relevant question re vax mandates is does being vaxxed protect others. And the scientific answer is no, it doesn’t, and this was clear by summer of ‘21.
Hmmmmm....... would that be the freedom to contribute "freely" to the legal convoy and to then have your bank account frozen?
I was at a political chamber of commerce breakfast with two Lib cabmins and at least three known conservatives told the ministers they could no longer support the CPC due to PP. Nanos has a poll out saying that 48% of the population want PP gone. And that's only one year into his reign of terror. There's a reason progressive cons are starting a new party. He hasn't killed off Bernier and the party progressives are threatening a new party. That should resonate with the faithful who are looking at recent torqued polls from Abacus who are now run by the "Calgary school" that Tom Flanagan ran. The country's preeminent pollster Nanos has had the libs close to level over the last few weeks.
Two Lib cabmins!
Regretfully I don't move in circles that would lead me to have breakfast with the high and mighty of the Liberal government.
But since you do, maybe you would be kind enough to ask them if the fancy limo and chauffeur really makes up for the self-abasement that comes from taking orders from their gormless leader and having to try to keep a serious face and head bob while listening to his breathy, nasal and interminable speeches. I mean surely there must come a point when the servility becomes just too much?
It would also be fascinating to learn who choreographed the recent swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall that had all the cabmins standing at attention, hands respectfully folded in front of them waiting for Junior and then bursting into roaring applause that would embarrass even Kim Jong when the Father of the Nation strode to the microphone.
Reminds one of congresses of the Communist Party under Stalin when people were afraid to be the first to stop applauding.
So thanks for inquiring and looking forward to your insights.
Very thoughtful comment. Thanks. 🤔
I am thinking Mr. Poiliviere is on speed dial with Mr. Harper several times a day, taking strict orders from above. Lots of slavish servility there, I’ll bet. We just don’t see it.
With all due respect, dear fellow reader, even the Father of the Nation has stopped the 'blame it all on Harper' schtick.
Instead, if you haven't been following the news, we are now into the 'blame it on the 'wreckers'' mode, so beloved of Stalin with the executives of grocery chains the newest iteration.
And, as in Stalin's Russia, 'wreckers' are everywhere guaranteeing that wherever our Dear Leader directs his gaze he is sure to find a nest of them!
Sure - make up whatever absurd claim you like, and then use it to bash Poiliviere. Sorta like "I bet Justin is on the phone with Putin every day - we just don't see it."
Politics are pretty topsy turvy so many outcomes are possible.
My only pushback is calling Pierre Poiliviere’s leadership “a reign of terror.” Sounds like people on the right calling our Prime Minister a communist. Both are laughable and hyperbolic. No leader of any Canadian party at the federal level is a communist, fascist or a Nazi even though I dislike all of them..ha..ha.
This is a valuable, if disheartening, look at the creep of Republican-style conservatism from south of the border. Substitute “liberty” for “freedom” and you’re pretty much there. And it seems to go beyond a throw-the-bums-out impulse that wafts around a nearly 10-year-old government. The appearance of John Diefenbaker in this column is probably not accidental. Nor should it be.
Great reporting, Paul, really enjoyed this post. Great insights.
Another excellent article Paul !!! Hope springs eternal..