Roundup: Poilievre first out of the gate

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First out of the gate to declare his intention to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party was Pierre Poilievre, who opted not to run the last time citing family concerns. Of course, numerous Conservative MPs and partisans have immediately lined up to support Poilievre, while others over social media have been digging up his long history of petulance, racist comments, and outright fictions, not that this will dissuade those who think that he’s just the guy to “own the Libs,” and move the party even more in a populist direction. Brace yourselves for an onslaught of outright fiction, because that’s the kind of politician Poilievre is.

https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1490119318981562372

https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1490121403127021568

Grifter Occupation: Day 11

The occupation by grifters, extremists and conspiracy theorists continues, but there have been some developments, and police may finally be taking some action. Despite GoFundMe cutting them off, hundreds of thousands of dollars continue to flow their way through alternate funding mechanisms, as have supply convoys into the occupation site. At an emergency Police Service Board meeting, police chief Peter Sloly made plenty of noises about not thinking this would turn into an occupation, his inability to police the way out of the problem, and was borderline contemptuous of the meeting when they asked him for a plan, and he retorted with a plan to end COVID globally. Yeah, the money they paid for Navigator really helped.

https://twitter.com/DavidWCochrane/status/1490104284201074688

Also on Saturday, the lawyers representing the class action lawsuit against the truckers were at a virtual court session to get an injunction against the air horns, which the organisers of the occupation insisted didn’t happen past 8 PM (a blatant lie). The judge didn’t seem to know how to issue an injunction for this kind of event, even though the police supplied a draft of one they could enforce, and he opted to put the matter off until Monday, and suggested that the parties try to work it out until then. Right. The lawyers for the class action did put out a separate video late Saturday which said that they had forms which would release any truckers from the claim if they were gone by Monday at 10 AM—otherwise, they are part of the lawsuit. We’ll see if there’s any take-up of that.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1490044931884425219

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1490048904838234115

On Sunday, Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency, which unlocks certain powers, and finally on Sunday evening, police moved saw to it that some of the structures the occupiers erected were moved, along with their fuel sources, which were relocated to a staging area that had been set up near the train station. Police later moved in on said staging area and confiscated 3200L of fuel, which should help starve out the occupation as police claim they will now arrest anyone trying to resupply it. We’ll see if that holds (because it hasn’t so far), but it sounds like the people at said staging area couldn’t believe that the police were moving against them and not joining them. Because remember, they all think they are some kind of freedom fighter in a righteous crusade.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1490497472304750593

As for Conservative MPs reading the changing of the winds, some of them have started to backpedal and insist that they really don’t support the lawlessness, but keep pretending that this is some kind of bad actor infiltration rather than the fact that no, the bad faith actors organised this affair, and you were being useful idiots in offering it the façade of legitimacy it was looking for. They are still, however, trying to pin this on Trudeau, and what they want more than anything is for him to call in the military (which he can’t—only the premier can do that) and crush the occupation that way, so that they can paint Trudeau like a tyrant. It’s transparent, and it’s where the discourse has sunk to.

https://twitter.com/Lazin_Ryder/status/1490510566368055296

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1490084072416284677

Platinum Jubilee

For a change of pace, here are a few tweets about Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, along with some thoughts from Canada on her legacy, and her relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.

 

Good reads:

  • There were other anti-vax protests in Toronto, Vancouver, Quebec City, and Edmonton, but none managed to form an occupation.
  • It looks like Veterans Affairs may lose a number of the temporary staff hired to help tackle the disability claims backlog, as funding may not be renewed until the budget.
  • The Conservatives’ interim deputy leader and Quebec lieutenant quit his post to support someone yet-unnamed in the leadership. Luc Berthold is the deputy leader.
  • The NDP have put forward a private member’s bill to ban the sale of swastikas, KKK symbols, and Confederate flags.
  • Chantal Hébert warns the Conservatives that trying to court the Bernier crowd won’t get them to power, but rather will confine them to the fringes.
  • Heather Scoffield is not optimistic about the tone of debate that will greet the new broadcasting bill considering how things have been in Ottawa of late.
  • Althia Raj highlights the various hypocrisies that support for the grifter occupation has laid bare, particularly among Conservative MPs.
  • Andrew Coyne hopes that O’Toole’s ouster will bring a revival of backbench power in Parliament, while savaging the Conservatives’ pattern of failure.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Poilievre first out of the gate”

  1. The Cons have more likely already selected their anti-Trudeau pit bull and that should come as no surprise. He will probably be the great unifier of the far right, however Canadian conservatives will have to cover more than their noses against the stench of Polly’s lies and the deception of his alternate reality. Of course. the fractured and failed coalition that is this iteration of the party now is like rat in a bag, starved of policy, truth, moral grounds and yet, wet knowing that there is no escape from the bucket of water. Any real acceptance of those Canadians who are appalled at the inclusion of right wing extremism as evidenced in the so-called truckers demonstrations will prove difficult by Polly, the dis-unifier in chief. The vast majority of Canadians still want adherence to law, a time after the ravages of Covid where hope exists, opportunities abound with governments who have the basic interests of them at heart. Polly will not unify Canada. He will lie his way through his time. It is clear that what is left of the conservative party is prepared to use the tactics of Trump to try to achieve power. I don’t think that will work in Canada. Yes, as always there will be the fringe neos that will continue to sow deceit for their own ends. That is what makes democracies different from authoritarians, their right of freedom. Polly is an authoritarian and Canadians will not eat the stew he is stirring. The road ahead will be fraught, given the propensity of many to seek simplistic solutions offered by those who know rightly that they won’t work. It is up to all of us to weather the idiocy that unfortunately is coming our way, courtesy of the ignorant prevaricating Poly and his gang.

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