Talk about what Justin Trudeau is going to do about his Alberta/Saskatchewan problem continues to swirl, with few answers so far. Alison Redford says she’s willing to help in some capacity – not that she’s been asked yet – but I guess we’ll see if there has been enough time and space from her aura of power problem that led to her ouster. Meanwhile, here’s Philippe Lagassé with some important thoughts about the issue:
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1188550490084257792
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1188551735398277121
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1188554137232990211
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1188555710851878914
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1188558518300872704
Meanwhile, Carla Qualtrough says all options are on the table which can include some changes to equalization, but as this piece explains, there is so much misinformation about how equalization works that it’s important we separate facts from lies about it – and there are a whole lot of bad actors, Jason Kenney chief among them, lying about the programme in order to stir up anger that he hopes to use to his advantage.
That doesn't mean the equalization formula is perfect as is. But to whine about how much tax revenue goes out vs comes in in a diverse federation is to depict your own province as an autonomous fiefdom, esp when its better fiscal situation rests on geographic luck.
— Emmett Macfarlane 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 (@EmmMacfarlane) October 27, 2019
Good reads:
- The federal government has been ordered to pay $1.12 million in legal fees over class action lawsuits related to prison segregation.
- Germany and the EU are welcoming the continuity of Canada’s climate action after the last week’s election.
- Canada is holding off on condemning the presidential election pending an audit over the vote counting.
- Now that the election is over, business leaders from across the country want more focus on growing the economy, as that was largely overlooked in the campaign.
- Here’s a comprehensive look at how candidates engaged with Twitter over the campaign, and how it was remarkable how few bots were involved in the election.
- Here’s a look at the toll that losing an election can take on sitting MPs, and what resources are offered them to help them adjust.
- Andrew Scheer says that Stephen Harper called him after the election (but won’t discuss what he said), and said the leadership review is still going ahead.
- Here’s another recounting of when the Conservatives knew they had lost the election, and how some of them feel they know the reasons why.
- Conservative leaders, particularly provincial ones, may be trying to leverage supposed separatist sentiment to their benefit. Shocking, I know.
- Here’s an examination of what happened to the NDP in Quebec.
- There have been more protests in Quebec related to Bill 21.
- Stephen Saideman, who was a separatism scholar, looks at the conditions in Alberta.
- Trevor Tombe takes Scott Moe’s three demands and makes three more constructive suggestions instead.
- Susan Delacourt has some thoughts about the need to keep one’s emotions in check in politics, citing how this election played on them for voters.
- Heather Scoffield wishes for a Jim Prentice-like figure to help smooth Alberta-federal relations (but neglects his “look in the mirror” advice to the province).
- Chris Selley has some thoughts on how the media handled themselves in the election (but I’m not sure he goes far enough).
Odds and ends:
Here’s my post-election recap video for Loonie Politics, with a few thoughts as to what happens next.
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This time around the Liberals must find a way to disprove Kenney’s lies and expand on a positive approach to perceived problems in Alberta. I agree that business must take an interest in building for the future. The Liberals have an opportunity to steer the conversation to building a more environmental business model with tax incentives and disincentives. There cannot be business as usual in Canada. Also companies must be forced if necessary to work closely with schools to educate and train our young in skills for this new economy now! Recognizing that not all students will have the aptitude for high tech endeavours it will be crucial to train these students in areas that will be helpful in the sustaining of Canada’s infrastructure and urban development.
They are doing that. The problem is that their comms are bush-league and the Postmedia war room combined with AM hate radio is an echo chamber of cult propaganda. They embarked on a historic economic diversification platform. The petro-patriots revolted in disgust because O&G is a religion, anything else is heresy to the tribe, Pierre is the living antichrist in spirit and Justin is the demon seed. Kenney is a less ascetic version of Abu Big Daddy, the dearly-departed Daeshbag. Nobody nurses a grudge like a petro-state religious fanatic, and the most popular ritual is cursing the name Trudeau. Nothing matters to the cult but familial hate and oil.
What needs to happen is for the Liberals to develop some kind of samizdat ground game — maybe through social media or just #GoKnockDoors throughout Albertan communities — as a sort of underground resistance, and get their message out to sane Albertans who don’t buy into the BS. It would help if the federal and provincial Dippers could get on the same page, and Singh could listen to Rachel and get with the program instead of pushing his let the western b*stards freeze in the dark eco-populist tripe. He’s not helping and if this government is to be workable, he needs to meet Trudeau in the middle. Now, the Kenney Kudatah Kult members might be a lost cause unable to be deprogrammed. But the progressive pockets are still salvageable *if* — and that’s a BIG IF — the relevant players can come together and reach them by cutting through the C.R.A.P. The medium is the message.
There’s wide speculation that Kenney is gearing up to shiv Scheer at the leadership review, and is riling up this separatist nonsense as a crude “platform” to run on should he head back to Ottawa for his dream challenge to Trudeau (which he was too chickensh* to pursue when he first had the chance). There are those who say Pierre’s boy doesn’t have the chops of his old man, but if the rumors are true about Kenney’s long-game aspirations, he would do well to keep in mind how Pierre dealt with Rene Levesque and, on a more extreme scale, the FLQ. For that matter, Trudeau fils would do well to revisit his father’s approach to the sabre-rattlers of his day. The boxing match, the 2015 election and even the slightly bruised 2019 redux prove that a Trudeau does best when underestimated. Kenney is playing with fire and he’s going to get burned. Don’t believe me? It’s Trudeau. Just watch him.