Roundup: Ambrose rules out a return

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It was a day of a lot of movement within the Conservative leadership race, with big repercussions to come. Early in the day, we got word that two more names were added to the Conservative race – rookie backbencher Derek Sloan, and failed leadership candidate (and aspiring narcissist) Rick Peterson. Sloan has already come out and said that he’s open to having a debate over abortion, and he’s putting forward this absurd notion that they need to stop being apologetic about being Conservative – which would be great if the party actually put forward conservative ideas like market-based solutions to problems rather than just populist pandering. Shocking. Peterson, meanwhile, is continuing his schtick that his business success is going to translate to political success, even though he did abysmally in the last election and couldn’t secure a nomination to run in the election, which shows you just how profound his organizational skills are. Nevertheless, expect him to position himself as the “Western” candidate in the race.

And then the big bombshell – Rona Ambrose announced that she is officially out of the race. It wasn’t a surprise really, especially as word has been circulating in Conservative circles that she hasn’t made any phone calls or secured any kind of organization while she considered her options. Nevertheless, it now opens the race wide open because a lot of people who had been holding their breath and waiting for Ambrose to make a move can now make their own moves. It also means that currently, Marilyn Gladu is the only woman in the race, which can’t be healthy for the party either. (It also makes me wonder who the Red Tory in this race is going to be, because it’s not actually Peter MacKay).

And just minutes after Ambrose made her announcement, another would-be candidate, former staffer Richard Décarie went on Power Play to expound on his social conservative views. It went as well as can be expected.

While most of the other candidates quickly came out to condemn these comments, there are a few things to note here – Décarie is worth following because he has attracted some organizational heft, particularly from those who were behind Tanya Granic Allen in Ontario, and it’s not insignificant, and when you recall that Brad Trost did come in fourth the last time around. There is a particularly strong social conservative organization within the party, and they do a lot of fundraising and organizing, and that can’t be overlooked when it comes to a leadership race, where those to factors are going to count for a lot more.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau named a new national security advisor yesterday.
  • The remains of two Canadian victims of PS752 have been returned to Canada so far, but more are apparently on the way.
  • Public health agencies across the countries are making preparations for a possible coronavirus outbreak.
  • At the federal-provincial meeting of justice and public safety officers, the topic of rural crime is coming up, with demands for (ineffective) harsher sentences.
  • The government continues talks with the OECD about implementing taxes on digital giants, despite the Americans threatening retaliation.
  • The federal government has agreed to help fund the establishment of a French-language university in Ontario.
  • The Parliamentary Budget Officer produced a report on their election costing services, and suggested some improvements for next time.
  • Here’s an update on the renovations to Centre Block, and some of the surrounding buildings.
  • Here’s a look back at the career of former Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache, who has released his memoirs.
  • Jagmeet Singh is demanding lengthy debate and committee study of the New NAFTA.
  • Singh has also set the ambitious goal of paying off the party’s $7 million campaign debt by the end of the year.
  • Kevin Carmichael parses the Bank of Canada’s latest Monetary Policy Report on how our economy is underperforming and is more sluggish than anticipated.
  • Heather Scoffield talks to Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz about his term in office, and the resilience of our economy to repeated shocks.
  • Susan Delacourt pleads with new MPs to be more than partisan robots when they return to Parliament.
  • Chris Selley castigates everyone for trying to make a Thing out of Trudeau’s doughnut purchase.
  • Colby Cosh dissects the perverse way in which Prince Harry has chosen to extricate himself from royal life, which only increase his celebrity.

Odds and ends:

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: Ambrose rules out a return”

  1. It will be interesting to watch conservative try to move to the left in their perennial attempt to prove to Canadians that they are true conservatives, progressives, socially kind, modern, concerned about the environment and concerned about the state of economics in our country. I can feel their muscle aches as I write as they wrap themselves up into tiny little pretzels.

    • Décarie is a kamikaze candidate meant to make the rest of them look “tolerant.” The problem with the party is that their overfocus on social issues being the sole reason Scheer lost neglects the fact that, among other things, they’ll never develop a viable climate strategy as long as their power base is in the petro-denialist west. LGBTQ+ people don’t want to die in floods and wildfires any more than anyone else.

  2. It doesn’t matter what puppet they run. It’s still Harper’s cult of personality with Harper’s retrograde, I.D.U. agenda. He went from being front-and-center on stage to the director, the man behind the curtain. Teneycke admits it; the Liberals are fundraising off it, and everybody knows it. They’re just a western rump of quasi-clandestine bigots who love guns, oil, and war; hate Trudeau; and don’t want to pay taxes. Conservative Republican American Party.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-teneycke-stephen-harper-conservative-leadership-1.5435815

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