Roundup: Another candidate distraction

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While Justin Trudeau was making campaign stops in Quebec, with no announcements or stump speeches, the Liberals did release a new campaign ad voiced by Chrystia Freeland to talk about how they fought “tooth and nail” for Canadian workers in New NAFTA talks and got a good deal from the Americans.

Andrew Scheer was treating yesterday as the campaign’s “down day” (which is normally Sunday), but he did stop at an Ottawa-area event by one of his local candidates, and was confronted with questions about her past comments about Francophones, and her friendship with noted white supremacist Faith Goldy. (Said candidate apologised for the comments but said nothing about Goldy). She fled from reporters, and Scheer said the Liberals were simply trying to distract from their record, and another Conservative claim of Liberal anti-Semitism was circulated (though apparently the courts have stated that it wasn’t anti-Semitism regarding that case). Nevertheless, that’s the fourth candidate that the Liberals have found damaging information on when Scheer has visited their ridings.

As for Jagmeet Singh, he went to Oshawa to accuse the Liberals of not standing up for auto workers, which is a curious charge given how much they’ve given to the industry to date, but there we are.

Other election stories:

  • Here’s a look at how Trudeau’s early campaign stops were about targeting NDP seats in the opening days, and his cautious moves in Quebec.
  • While the Liberals currently hold all seats in Atlantic Canada, here’s an exploration as to whether they can hold Nova Scotia, post-Scott Brison resignation.
  • Here’s a look at the NDP’s first few days on the campaign, as Jagmeet Singh made a campaign stop at Olivia Chow’s house in Toronto.
  • CBC’s fact-checkers try to sort out the rhetoric on whether middle-class taxes were cut or were raised, but missed the context of disposable income (thread here).
  • Another Conservative candidate was redlined by the provincial PCs and forbidden from running for spreading online conspiracy theories, but is running federally.

Good reads:

  • As would be expected, our Five Eyes allies are anxious to see if there was any of their information leaked in the case of the RCMP intelligence director.
  • Quebec nationalism is resurgent and playing a role in the election.
  • Here’s a look at how religion is playing a bigger role in this year’s election than in previous ones.
  • My weekend column looks at Samara Canada’s “democracy platform,” and why it has more problems than it aims to solve.

Odds and ends:

I’m doing weekly election recap videos for Loonie Politics, and you can see my first one here.

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One thought on “Roundup: Another candidate distraction”

  1. Maya Angelou said when someone shows you who they are, believe them. The fact that Andy Sneer and his 4chan-troll “IT guy” are just fine giving a platform to bigots and keeping them in the party ranks shows that they are bigots themselves. The media downplays it and debates the merits of “campaign strategy” and “messaging” and “optics,” like there aren’t real people’s lives at risk from what these stochastic-terrorist freaks are advocating and are clearly salivating to legislate for their own benefit. The bubble doesn’t care because they’re insulated by their privilege. Meanwhile, Quebec has an outright white nationalist in charge who has launched an all-out war on visible religious minorities, and there are yellow vest lunatics wreaking havoc all over Alberta where the petro-patriot dictator is persecuting LGBTQ kids. But “optics.” But SNC emails. It really is an indictment upon where we are as a society if defending the defenseless lands you in hot water and even poses a risk of costing you your job. Justin Trudeau is a human rights defender. Andy Sneer and Francois Legault are lying, racist “pieces de merde.” But the media that enables them for purposes of “objectivity” are their partners in slime.

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