The Maple Leaf Lounge

[Marc]

so we have a pile of names for the federal tory leadership.

poliverve - heir appareant to harper who's going to be pulling strings and getting involved with things to help him win. hopped into bed with the convoy protestors, career politician (remember the tories trying to paint Mulcair with that brush?)
charest - from my wife's reaction, his association with mulroney could be a liability (well that and being from Quebec) but he's moderate
leslyn lewis - second attempt, claims she'll unite people but is pro-life/anti-LGBTQ+ so her unification will probably only been the social conservatives. Also being sued by her campaign manager from the last go around for unpaid monies.
roman barber - anti-vaxxer, booted from the Ontario tory caucus by Ford.
patrick brown - moderate, former Ontario tory leader dumped after a claims of inappropriate behaviour. Not convinced that wasn't an inside job to get rid of him (the claims of his accusers don't match details of his house at the time plus the speed and manner of his dumping)

Toronto Star had a story that the brown and charest have down a backroom deal which could deliver one them the leadership.

 

[Owain Taggart]

The one I'm surprised by the most is Charest. Wow, he's been out of the limelight for so long I'd thought he'd given up politics, but seeing him up on the screen kind of gave me nostalgia. Didn't he also switch parties at some point? I'm not big on conservatives, but I think he'd be one of the nicer ones.

Here in North America society has had a rather easy ride since WW2. The first half of the century was a lot rougher for society as a whole (Influenza, WW1, Great Depression, WW2) than the second half. Yeah, there was the Cold War and 1960’s era civil movements, but those weren’t really keep you awake situations. Even 9/11 was largely a blip along the way. Shit is always happening, but Covid is something all encompassing that was reaching everyone in some capacity or other for a protracted period.

Maybe what we need are more roadbumps to shake some sense into these people.

 

[Warped9]

Funny.

People I know got all excited because the Trucker Convoy was addressed by Michael Cohen in The Globe And Mail. Then they got pissy when they realized the article was actually critical of the convoy. They started claiming the media was corrupt and got everything all wrong.

 

[Marc]

People I know got all excited because the Trucker Convoy was addressed by Michael Cohen in The Globe And Mail. Then they got pissy when they realized the article was actually critical of the convoy. They started claiming the media was corrupt and got everything all wrong.

yep - and they are the same people who believe everything that comes across their social media feed.

Mean while the cost of the protests in downtown Ottowa as ranging from $44 to $200mil.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/economic-impact-freedom-convoy-downtown-ottawa-1.6376248

so when you then factor in the cost to police them, the interruption to international trade, workers being laid off etc and those pricks have cost Canada into the billions.

So I really don't have any sympathy if drivers find themselves black listed.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, so for the protesters to say they haven't harmed the city in any way, it's a load of bull. It's what they haven't thought about that is coming back to bite them. And I think the economic and social impact will be something felt for a long time. Another aspect too, are the foreign funds. I mean, how do you grapple with the fact that they could have foreign funds pour in while Canada as a whole has had limited means in fighting back. That is just not fair to a Country that's been a good neighbour to where most of the funds are coming from. if anything, I think it should be an eye-opener that we need to protect our cultural identity better.

Like for instance, I know people joke about the Cancon requirements and mostly loathe them, but I think this only shows how necessary they are.

 

[Marc]

so polling is showing that Charest would be the better choice for leader when it comes to an election but amongst tory supporters - esp the hard right and social conservatives poilerve is leader.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/angus-reid-poll-conservative-leadership-race-1.6392674.

So they'll probably pick the later and then wonder why the lose the next election.

 

[Warped9]

The Federal PCs have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot.

 

[Marc]

The Federal PCs have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot.

not so long ago they were claiming trudeau would send us to another early election.

now they are bleating this agreement with the ndp is a power grab designed to stop an early election.

 

[Warped9]

The era of Trump and his influence on the Republican party has been a godsend to the Canadian left. It has given them a way to scare voters by painting any Conservative in Canada as a Trump wannabe or hiding some dark agenda that will come to light if elected. It doesn’t always work as was the case with Doug Ford.

The irony is that if anyone in Canada is Trump like it’s Justin Trudeau, only he has better hair and a better vocabulary.

 

[dupersuper]

The Federal PCs have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot.

Thank goodness...

The irony is that if anyone in Canada is Trump like it’s Justin Trudeau

 

[Warped9]

The era of Trump and his influence on the Republican party has been a godsend to the Canadian left. It has given them a way to scare voters by painting any Conservative in Canada as a Trump wannabe or hiding some dark agenda that will come to light if elected. It doesn’t always work as was the case with Doug Ford.

The irony is that if anyone in Canada is Trump like it’s Justin Trudeau, only he has better hair and a better vocabulary.

Yep. Authoritarian. Pretends to be something he’s not. Shallow as a rain puddle. A hypocrite. Likes to demonize anyone who disagrees with him in the slightest. Likes to play identity politics and divide the public. Doesn’t really like democracy. No one outside of Canada takes him seriously.

Last good Federal Liberal we had was Jean Chretien. Justin is a putz.

 

[Marc]

Yep. Authoritarian. Pretends to be something he’s not. Shallow as a rain puddle. A hypocrite. Likes to demonize anyone who disagrees with him in the slightest. Likes to play identity politics and divide the public. Doesn’t really like democracy. No one outside of Canada takes him seriously.

the one conclusion from the comment is that you have no idea what you're talking about.

trudeau hasn't put himself above the law, hasn't tried to stay in power longer than he should (October 2025 is when the next election is due), hasn't tried to sieze extra powers for himself.

and unlike the U.S president, he can be removed. He can be expelled from the parliament (and yes the commons has debated such an approach in the past - dean del mastro jumped before he was voted out which would have stripped him of his benefits), he can be dumped by his own party or he can be sacked by the Governor-General.

 

[Warped9]

the one conclusion from the comment is that you have no idea what you're talking about.

The one conclusion from your remark is that you’re not paying attention.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It has given them a way to scare voters by painting any Conservative in Canada as a Trump wannabe or hiding some dark agenda that will come to light if elected.

Happens all the time down here too.

 

[Warped9]

Happens all the time down here too.

I think there is a distinction. Up here most of the Conservatives are not in the far right column. The Liberals try to paint all of them that way. But there is a Social Conservative minority that is pushing to become a majority, but most Canadians are not skewed that way. On the flip side there is a far left thats trying to portray themselves as the mainstream viewpoint, but that isn’t representative of the country as a whole either. I would say the majority of the country is left of centre, but not far left. The centre has edged left over the decades and thats where most Canadians are. The Conservatives would do better to focus on the centre rather than worry about alienating a minority voice. Meanwhile the Liberals currently look to be abandoning the centre.

In the U.S. it looks like conservatives have surrendered to the far right. Certainly the Republican party as it now stands is there. They have nothing to offer, but being against whatever the Democrats stand for. In the U.S. the Republicans have successfully dragged the political centre ever further right over the decades and anything left of that is decried as evil socialism, scaring people who don’t really know what that means. It’s how they repeatedly get people to vote against their best interests.

There are dangerous nuts on both the far right and far left. They’re both dangerously full of shit.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Anytime something like this is talked about, I always feel we have it quite good in Canada. Especially in light of what happened last month. It might not be perfect, but then, what is? We have our ideals, and we stand by them, and we don't like having our democracy invaded by foreign influence. We are Canadian.

 

[Marc]

so tamara lich is appealing her bail conditions in particlar the ban on social media usage.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/20....html?li_source=LI&li_medium=thestar_politics

the organisation that is backing her is rather interesting. claims to be non-partisan but is pushing a decidely social conservative agenda with the typical use of name that doesn't really apply.

 

[Avro Arrow]

so tamara lich is appealing her bail conditions in particlar the ban on social media usage.

Facebook addiction is real, I guess. Maybe she needs a twelve-step program.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Can't say I'm surprised, but what's to stop her from regrouping and doing something similar in the future if she were allowed social media? This went way beyond peaceful assembly.

 

[Marc]

Can't say I'm surprised, but what's to stop her from regrouping and doing something similar in the future if she were allowed social media? This went way beyond peaceful assembly.

she’s probably feeling a attention deprived too.