[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[crazy canuck]

And just when one might be tempted to think the Cons are acting reasonably

when would that be?

Whenever I look too closely at the rest of the field.   

CC: I would imagine these flyers were put out by the campus club, not the actual party or campaign.

Yeah, I am sure that is true.   But this sort of US style university bashing nonsense feeds misgivings about whether the party is centre right as it tries to portray or more hard right wing.  Which of course leads us back to the basic issue that this election is really about - who can we trust with the big decisions that are going to be made in the next four years.

[Barrister]

CC, you can spare us the drama.  There is no chance you were ever going to vote Conservative in this election.

[crazy canuck]

CC, you can spare us the drama.  There is no chance you were ever going to vote Conservative in this election.

Actually my vote this election is between the Cons and Greens.  But thank you for making my choice easier 

It is that failure of the Cons to attract people like me back to the fold that means they are always going to be stuck with no more than their base.

[Malthus]

So far, the Cons seem boringly center-right, thankfully, and not pulling out moves from the Trump playbook. My problem with them is that their environmental plan appears absurdly thin. Given the importance of environmental issues, that's a bit of a deal-breaker.

Problem with the Liberals is that they seem to have leaped straight into corruption with the Lavalin affair, dropped the ball on election reform, made a hash of the Native affairs brief, etc.

Problem with the NDP is that they seem incapable of doing anything.

May have no choice but to vote Green. 

[Grey Fox]

Can't vote Green, May is too old.

[Barrister]

Elizabeth May had the rather ludicrous idea last night that SNC Lavalin should be punished by making it go build infrastructure on native reserves.  There was also that mess out in New Brunswick.

I can understand voting Green as a protest vote (since, you know, I'm thinking about it) but they are wholly incapable of forming a government at this time.

[Malthus]

Elizabeth May had the rather ludicrous idea last night that SNC Lavalin should be punished by making it go build infrastructure on native reserves.  There was also that mess out in New Brunswick.

I can understand voting Green as a protest vote (since, you know, I'm thinking about it) but they are wholly incapable of forming a government at this time.

There is that.

I was thinking more as a way to send a signal.

As to actually governing ... yeah. Not so much.

[Malthus]

Great. Now I'm getting convinced I can't vote for anyone.

I'd almost welcome the Cons going full Trump. Then I could with clear conscience vote Liberal as the lesser of two evils. 

[crazy canuck]

Elizabeth May had the rather ludicrous idea last night that SNC Lavalin should be punished by making it go build infrastructure on native reserves.  There was also that mess out in New Brunswick.

I can understand voting Green as a protest vote (since, you know, I'm thinking about it) but they are wholly incapable of forming a government at this time.

There is that.

I was thinking more as a way to send a signal.

As to actually governing ... yeah. Not so much.

Yeah, that is actually what I had in mind when I made the comment about the Cons starting to look like a reasonable option again.

btw, BB and I were wrong.  The idea for the university posters came directly from the Conservative party.  Reading the Globe article more closely - here it is but behind a paywall https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-conservatives-on-campus-flyers-maligning-left-wing-professors-anger/:

A Conservative spokesman said the advertisement was made at Conservative Party headquarters and distributed to campus clubs "as a way to reach conservatives on campus."

James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University in Toronto, said it was Mr. Scheer who first introduced the campus free speech debate to the mainstream of Canadian politics during his run for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Mr. Scheer said at the time that federal funding for universities should be cut if universities fail to protect free speech. It was a policy that had proved popular in U.S. Republican circles.

As someone who advises a number of universities my experience is that universities are full of faculty who have many and diverse views.  To characterize that group as simply spouting "left wing talking points" is not only inaccurate but a revelation of the character of the party that would make such a simplistic anti-intellectual attack.  As the article notes, it plays well to Republicans. The Cons should be careful about following the Trumpist playbook here.

[crazy canuck]

Great. Now I'm getting convinced I can't vote for anyone.

I'd almost welcome the Cons going full Trump. Then I could with clear conscience vote Liberal as the lesser of two evils. 

I hear you 

[Barrister]

Scheer promises to bring back my favourite tax policy: the public transit tax credit.  Never quite sure why Trudeau scrapped it in the first place - it encourages public transit use (which is environmentally helpful) and it predominantly goes to lower and middle income people.

[crazy canuck]

Scheer promises to bring back my favourite tax policy: the public transit tax credit.  Never quite sure why Trudeau scrapped it in the first place - it encourages public transit use (which is environmentally helpful) and it predominantly goes to lower and middle income people.

I like that policy.  I also like making maternity EI benefits tax free.  He is going to have to explain how his climate change plan will work to really get my vote though.  I am hoping he is going announce something much more meaningful during this election.  Frankly I trust him to do what he says he will do.  But he is not saying he will do much on that front atm.

Mrs. CC is looking forward to what he has to say about foreign policy and especially China.

[Malthus]

Scheer promises to bring back my favourite tax policy: the public transit tax credit.  Never quite sure why Trudeau scrapped it in the first place - it encourages public transit use (which is environmentally helpful) and it predominantly goes to lower and middle income people.

I like that policy.  I also like making maternity EI benefits tax free.  He is going to have to explain how his climate change plan will work to really get my vote though.  I am hoping he is going announce something much more meaningful during this election.  Frankly I trust him to do what he says he will do.  But he is not saying he will do much on that front atm.

Same.

What the Cons need to do to get my vote:

1. Stay out of the Trump playbook; and

2. Come up with a significant environmental plan.

[Barrister]

I like that policy.  I also like making maternity EI benefits tax free.  He is going to have to explain how his climate change plan will work to really get my vote though.  I am hoping he is going announce something much more meaningful during this election.  Frankly I trust him to do what he says he will do.  But he is not saying he will do much on that front atm.

Mrs. CC is looking forward to what he has to say about foreign policy and especially China.

What you see is what you get with Scheer.  He's going to propose a number of small (one could even say conservative) policy proposals, like the public transit credit, that would have positive effects on Canadians.  This includes on the environment.  He's not going to do anything dramatic, which is what I know you're looking for.

[crazy canuck]

I like that policy.  I also like making maternity EI benefits tax free.  He is going to have to explain how his climate change plan will work to really get my vote though.  I am hoping he is going announce something much more meaningful during this election.  Frankly I trust him to do what he says he will do.  But he is not saying he will do much on that front atm.

Mrs. CC is looking forward to what he has to say about foreign policy and especially China.

What you see is what you get with Scheer.  He's going to propose a number of small (one could even say conservative) policy proposals, like the public transit credit, that would have positive effects on Canadians.  This includes on the environment.  He's not going to do anything dramatic, which is what I know you're looking for.

Just knowing what he is going to do would help, that policy statement they released a while back was long on pages and very short on detail.

edit: if he does not at least do that, then the the choice is between a known and proven strategy of carbon taxes and a policy that might in some way create market incentives of an uncertain nature that might cause companies to perhaps alter their behavior and does nothing to impact consumer behavior.