[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[viper37]

Buried in all the noise is the report that Trump wanted to move the border 50 miles north and annex that territory.

What stopped him was his respect for King Charles. Apparently Trump did not realize that Charles is also the king of Canada and that is what made Trump back off.

I will call bullshit on that, even if it sounds plausible for him.

That's just something he invented on the spot.

I'm not sure who the he is in that sentence. The source of the information is from an author of a book that was just published which recounts the relationship Trump has with King Charles and the meetings that they had.

he= Trump.  It's a quote from Trump.

I don't doubt the author's truthfulness.  I doubt Trump's truthfulness.

[viper37]

Marylin Gladu from the Conservative Party has joined the Liberals.

She was a supporter of the trucker's convoy.  She is/was anti-vax against covid-19 vaccines, at least.  She was a former candidate to the succession of Andrew Scheer.

She also deposed a petition to the House of Commons in support of conversion therapy.

We can officially say there's no more differences between the Conservatives Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada. Every religious extremist zealot is now welcome in both.

I've been saying this for a year.

Yeah, but Stephen Harper's Conservatives = good.  Pierre Poilièvre's Conservatives = bad.

I don't mind a return to the economic philosophy of Harper's govt.  I mind a shift toward even more obscurantism.  The Libs are famous for their pandering to religious & hardline immigrant communities, they see them as bag of votes.  Trudeau was extremely bad on this.  It seems like we're going to shift toward pandering to Christian nationalists too now.

I would never expect Canada to walk the line of secularism, but still, there are limits.  Anti-vax and welcoming Christian fundies with open arms for the sake of having a majority is one step too many.

[viper37]

Buried in all the noise is the report that Trump wanted to move the border 50 miles north and annex that territory.

What stopped him was his respect for King Charles. Apparently Trump did not realize that Charles is also the king of Canada and that is what made Trump back off.

I will call bullshit on that, even if it sounds plausible for him.

That's just something he invented on the spot.

Just learn to love your king already

Thanks.  Pass.

[viper37]

Does this make the liberals conservative or show that Mr. P  is so bad that even the crazies are running away?

Why not both?

[saskganesh]

Gladu is gross. Hopefully, she will enjoy the Liberal Whip.

Carney wants his majority. and Gladu will get to enjoy the perks of power. Both are following self interest. All that said, it's quite the surprise.

Rumour is that Poilievre will resign once Carney gets his majority. This will likely be after next week's three byelections, two of which are in Toronto.

Poilievre's newish communications director also resigned today.

[crazy canuck]

I have a couple of thoughts about the crossing.

First thought is that if somebody like Gladu crosses the floor, that signals that there is an irreconcilable split within the Conservative Party between the maple magas and conservatives who are never Trumpers.

Second thought is that PP is probably on the lettuce watch.  His attempt to bolster his popularity by going on podcast shows like Joe Rogan have obviously not worked.

So here is a prediction, PP will need to step down as leader and when he does, the conservative party will follow its reformed party roots and split into different parties seeking ideological purity.

[Bauer]

One thought from Carney perspective is that he's showing the liberal party can be a big tent, something conservatives struggle with.  Could be a political maneuver to suck the wind out of PP's divisive sails.

Or he could just be lazer focused on his majority 

[crazy canuck]

I'm not sure why he would be so focussed on the majority right now.  If I was him, I'd be welcoming the opposition parties forcing an election.

Allowing this floor crossing is a bit of a puzzler.

[saskganesh]

If he has a majority in 2026, he won't need an election until 2029. That's a solid from a government perspective.

Floor crossings will continue. If he undermines the cons further, forcing PP's resignation, the conservatives  will choose another mediocrity, so Carney will be PM until 2038. That's a long haul.

[saskganesh]

People who work for traitors, will continue to be too embarrassed to post. But it's never their fault of course. They have a career to think about. And the Kool Aid is delicious (one gets used to the bitter taste).

[crazy canuck]

If he has a majority in 2026, he won't need an election until 2029. That's a solid from a government perspective.

Floor crossings will continue. If he undermines the cons further, forcing PP's resignation, the conservatives  will choose another mediocrity, so Carney will be PM until 2038. That's a long haul.

And if an election was cold today, he would have a massive majority.  So again, why focus on a narrow majority?

Bird in the hand I suppose.

[crazy canuck]

People who work for traitors, will continue to be too embarrassed to post. But it's never their fault of course. They have a career to think about. And the Kool Aid is delicious (one gets used to the bitter taste).

Whenever somebody crosses the floor, they're called traitor. Back in the Harper years when people crossed the floor to his government, the conservatives defended it. Now, when people are crossing to the liberals, liberals are defending it.

Nobody crosses the NDP because they never have a chance forming government. So the NDP and their supporters get to be holier than thou but for sure if they were ever in a minority government position, they would allow people to cross the floor to them.

Crossing the floor is actually an important part of our parliamentary democracy. People who think otherwise are confusing our form of government with an American form of government where party affiliation means everything. I don't blame people for making that mistake, we have drifted closer and closer to the American model over the years.

[crazy canuck]

We have six wild fires in BC. Historically low snow pack in the interior and the coast means this is going to be a bad wild fire year.

[viper37]

If he has a majority in 2026, he won't need an election until 2029. That's a solid from a government perspective.

Floor crossings will continue. If he undermines the cons further, forcing PP's resignation, the conservatives  will choose another mediocrity, so Carney will be PM until 2038. That's a long haul.

And if an election was cold today, he would have a massive majority.  So again, why focus on a narrow majority?

Bird in the hand I suppose.

Carney does not like politics, he likes working.  

He likes what he's doing now: traveling the world, meeting world leaders, paving the way for trade & defense negotiations to take place, pushing a modernization agenda for the public sector back home, finding ways to depend less on the US while stalling for time until CUSMA is gone, that sort of stuff.

He's almost never in the House for question period, barely talks to the press, likely does not read novels before going to bed but it's all good, it's not Stephen Harper at the head of a Conservative government, so no one will really complain.

Medias are scared to lose their grant money if the Conservatives come back in office, so they are really complacent toward the Libs compared to what they were under Harper's similar policies and tone.

I don't mind the economic agenda, I think the public workforce grew too much, and even if I'm likely to be personally (albeit indirectly affected) I still think we admitted too many asylum claimants and immigrants during Trudeau's reign.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, that's a good point.  Now that you say that he probably is thinking about this in terms of what he can get done in the next three years without having to worry about the disruption of an election.