Politics in 2018

[mariomike]

Who would have voted for him, or be "fawning over" him now, based upon his abilities, were he bald and named "Smith"?

Change your name and find a hair specialist? 

 

[Journeyman]

... at some point they are going to need to convince people of reasons why to vote for them other than we aren't the liberals.

???  Hmmm, yet "ABC - Anyone But Conservatives" was an acceptable platform 18 months ago.

 

[Altair]

???  Hmmm, yet "ABC - Anyone But Conservatives" was an acceptable platform 18 months ago.

If it's ABL, one can easily shift their vote to the NDP, no?

CPC still need to try show people why they should vote for them, and not just focus on being a group focused of raging against the liberals.

Say what you will of the NDP, but they have their message back on track and a bunch of policy ideas out. The conservatives...no carbon tax, liberals suck, anything else?

 

[Underway]

If it's ABL, one can easily shift their vote to the NDP, no?

CPC still need to try show people why they should vote for them, and not just focus on being a group focused of raging against the liberals.

Nope.  Governments change only when Canadians want to vote someone out.  I can't think of a single government change since Mulroney where Canada voted someone in.

Say what you will of the NDP, but they have their message back on track and a bunch of policy ideas out. The conservatives...no carbon tax, liberals suck, anything else?

Conservatives don't need anything until election time.  No one pays attention too opposition platforms until an election is called.  Then approximately 20% of us always vote Conservative, 22% always vote Liberal,  12% always vote NDP,  10% minds can be changed and remainder don't vote.  So how does a platform matter right now again?

 

[Altair]

Conservatives don't need anything until election time.  No one pays attention too opposition platforms until an election is called.  Then approximately 20% of us always vote Conservative, 22% always vote Liberal,  12% always vote NDP,  10% minds can be changed and remainder don't vote.  So how does a platform matter right now again?

If that's the case, nothing really matters before the election campaign starts.

Regardless, I guess no real hard can come from yelling you suck for a few years, but I don't think that's the best way to go about things personally.

 

[pbi]

Lumber, I think that that we are doing  a lot worse if we also just dismiss this as just what he is wearing and an "accidental invite" given to a convicted criminal.

I could care less about what he is wearing (he is looking a bit ridiculous though).  I won't put the accidental invite on him but I am concerned that he might be hurting relations with India.  India is a major player and emerging economy seen by some as a foil to China.  Accidental invites and other gaffes are not acceptable.  Not at that level and not when a lot is at stake.  Things like this can come back to haunt.

I share Remius  concern that this silly, almost patronizing behaviour could harm relations with India, one of the world's most important countries, and a coming economy we could tap into. What is the point of this Mr Dress Up business? When an Indian PM comes to Canada, do we hope to see him wearing a plaid shirt, or a curling team windbreaker, or snowshoes? It seems like another case of quite bad judgement.

And I voted for his government!!  Yow. That stings.

 

[mariomike]

When an Indian PM comes to Canada, do we hope to see him wearing a plaid shirt, or a curling team windbreaker, or snowshoes?

"When in Rome..." 

 

[Lumber]

I share Remius  concern that this silly, almost patronizing behaviour could harm relations with India, one of the world's most important countries, and a coming economy we could tap into. What is the point of this Mr Dress Up business? When an Indian PM comes to Canada, do we hope to see him wearing a plaid shirt, or a curling team windbreaker, or snowshoes? It seems like another case of quite bad judgement.

And I voted for his government!!  Yow. That stings.

I think it would be awesome if a foreign head of government or state put on a flannel jacket and got photographed in line for a double-double at tims, or was scene sporting a québec style toque while eating poutine, or wearing a stetson and cowboy boots, swigging a Keyston XL.

I'm proud of our Canadian stereotypes and our cultural garb, and to see a foreign dignitary sporting it in good fun would make me smile.

 

[ModlrMike]

There's a difference between symbolically experiencing cultural touchstones, and dressing up like a parody of someone's culture.

 

[Underway]

What matters politically is the opposition making the gov't look bad.  All gov't have a best before date.  The opposition tries to hasten that timeline.  Platforms matter during an election year and right after the election.  In between those times they don't really matter, except to those who are politics watchers or party members.  Policy conventions can be useful in that they can create a "feel" for the public/press but generally the part brass throw those ideas out to run a campaign.

québec style toque

Avec les pom pom?

 

[Lumber]

Avec les pom pom?

'ben oui! Toujours avec les pom pom!

 

[Loachman]

When an Indian PM comes to Canada, do we hope to see him wearing a plaid shirt, or a curling team windbreaker, or snowshoes?

Not in a completely different costume at each of several different locations every day over and over and over again. Once is fine, and also enough.

His son looks like he's had enough in some of these as well.

Are there any still-living FLQ members that this hypothetical Indian Prime Minister could invite to dinner while here? If not, maybe Omar could be available.

Somebody's going to photoshop a clown nose and smile onto the brighter-coloured get-ups in this portfolio. I can't be the only one who's thought of that.

 

[George Wallace]

I think it would be awesome if a foreign head of government or state put on a flannel jacket and got photographed in line for a double-double at tims, or was scene sporting a québec style toque while eating poutine, or wearing a stetson and cowboy boots, swigging a Keyston XL.

I'm proud of our Canadian stereotypes and our cultural garb, and to see a foreign dignitary sporting it in good fun would make me smile.

I think that it would be just as insulting to Canadians if a foreign Head of State came here and dressed up as an aboriginal, as much as this costumed 'actor' is insulting the populace of India.  He and his family are being ridiculed in the Press all around the world now.  If his socks didn't do it before, this visit to India has made him a laughing stock; a National embarrassment.

Making matter worse is the inclusion of a convicted assassin, whom he has been photographed with at least three times in the past decade, in his entourage.  Not taking responsibility; but blaming one of his Cabinet Ministers for the inclusion on the trip is yet another failure on his part.

 

[Loachman]

Bonus cartoon included:

https://www.surreynowleader.com/news/surrey-mp-apologizes-for-inviting-criminal-to-trudeau-reception/

Surrey MP apologizes for inviting criminal to Trudeau reception

Posing for photos with controversial people has been a bane for politicians

Amy Reid/Tom Zytaruk

Feb. 22, 2018 1:11 p.m.

"Surrey Liberal MP Randeep Sarai has offered in a prepared statement an “apology without reservation” for his role in what is proving to be a public relations disaster for the federal Trudeau government."

http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/guest-column-still-clueless-in-ottawa

GUEST COLUMN: Trudeau's trip to India lacks purpose

By Arthur G. Rubinoff, Special to Postmedia Network

"Prior to Prime Minister Paul Martin’s visit to India in January 2005, I was approached by the Privy Council to provide a rationale for his trip and explain to the Indians why he was going there and what he should say.

"It was clear that the prime minister did not know the reason for his trip, other than to escape Ottawa in the middle of winter. I suggested that Mr. Martin commend India for “being a responsible nuclear power,” and he did just that. I reported this in an article for the McGill International Review Vol. VI., No 2. (Spring 2006) entitled “Clueless in Ottawa, Canada’s Need for an India Policy.”

"It is evident in the tepid reception that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has received that Canada still lacks a policy to engage India. There does not seem to be any purpose for, or proper planning to, his visit. The Indians do not seem to know why he is there. Is Mr. Trudeau merely reliving his childhood visit to the Taj Mahal with his own offspring? An equivalent visit by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi would be coming to Canada to see Niagara Falls."

 

[George Wallace]

If it's ABL, one can easily shift their vote to the NDP, no?

CPC still need to try show people why they should vote for them, and not just focus on being a group focused of raging against the liberals.

Say what you will of the NDP, but they have their message back on track and a bunch of policy ideas out. The conservatives...no carbon tax, liberals suck, anything else?

I don't know.  The leader of the big Orange Machine has been making quite a few gaffs in the media lately, as well.  I am not sure that all those ABC crowd will have many alternatives next election.  Both the Red Machine and Orange Machine seem to have very similar leanings when it comes to recognized "terrorist groups/organizations" and how we handle anyone affiliated with them here in Canada.

 

[McG]

This seems to be a constant problem for what I like to call "moderate conservatism" (or maybe Red Toryism  ;D ) in the last few years. There appears to be an almost irresistible temptation to begin drifting towards the right wing and angry populism.

You don't have to look as far as the US however to see the issue. We had our own "divide/reunite" the right period with the Reform party. (which I do not put in the same category as the Tea Party, Alt-Right etc.). The trouble is that conservatism is a numbers game and one constantly has to enter into unholy alliances. The best thing would be if the more conservative Liberals and the more liberal Conservatives could create a true centrist party and leave the NDP and the more extreme right to the fringes where they belong.

I don’t think a new centrist party is what we need.  I think it would be better to roll-back/undo the Unite the Right merger. I think there were a lot of “blue Liberals” who could regularly be counted upon to vote LPC but would have comfortably voted PC given any dissatisfaction with their usual party, and there were a lot of “red Tories” who could regularly be counted upon to vote PC baring any specific dissatisfiers.  With the merger of Progressive Conservatives and social conservatives, the CPC is now far enough right so as to no longer compete for the centrist vote against the Liberals. With his right flank secured, Justin Trudeau was free to lead the Liberals to flank the NDP to the left during the last election.

So there is a void where red Tories and blue Liberals. I think that void is best filled not by dropping a new party into it but by getting the old parties to start fighting for it again.  Split the CPC back into its old parts.  Ignoring the fringes: on the right would be Libertarians and a social conservative party, at right of centre would be a revived PC party, on the left of centre would be LPC, and on the left would be Green and NDP.  And to avoid the split vote problem that gave rise to the Chrétien majorities, ranked ballots using a condorset system.

 

[Rifleman62]

The "leader" of a G7 country making chappati on an eight day vacation. Do you think the PM is missed by anyone in Ottawa? Butts probably just wanted to get rid of him for a while figuring he could do no harm.

In this photograph released by the Amritsar District Public Relations Officer on February 21, 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (second from right), his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau (left), daughter Ella-Grace and son Xavier prepare chappati for a communal vegetarian meal known as 'langar' at a community kitchen at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.HANDOUT / AFP/Getty Images

I have asked around for someone to find out how much all these different items of dress are costing us.

Duffus he is.

 

[jollyjacktar]

I just read a comment on CBC that stated " I just hope he goes next to one of those countries that put a big disk in their lip"

:rofl:

 

[Altair]

http://nationalpost.com/commodities/b-c-to-seek-reference-case-in-courts-over-pipeline-dispute/wcm/875e4768-b85a-4d67-8aab-a8085cb59a11

After weeks of mounting tensions, Alberta and British Columbia moved Thursday to cool off the trade war that had threatened to escalate into a full-blown constitutional crisis.

“In a small way today, B.C. blinked,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said after B.C. softened its stance on the most controversial of a five-point plan to boost oil-spill preparedness on the West Coast. As a result, she said, Alberta would lift its ban on B.C. wine.

B.C. Premier John Horgan denied that he was backing down from a fight with Alberta when he announced earlier Thursday that his government would proceed with the first four points of his environmental protection plan but send the fifth and most controversial point – restricting the flow of diluted bitumen from Alberta – to the courts in a reference case.

To that end, Horgan said he was assembling a legal team to make the case that B.C. does have the jurisdictional power to limit the interprovincial trade of oil, which Ottawa and Alberta both dispute.

Crisis over.

No need for the feds to get nasty. Everyone happy?

 

[jollyjacktar]

http://nationalpost.com/commodities/b-c-to-seek-reference-case-in-courts-over-pipeline-dispute/wcm/875e4768-b85a-4d67-8aab-a8085cb59a11
Crisis over.

No need for the feds to get nasty. Everyone happy?

But your pal didn't save the day...