Roundup: Calling for the moderates to re-engage

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Over in The Line, former provincial Progressive Conservative (and former federal Conservative) comms staffer Chisholm Pothier goes though Blaine Higgs’ downfall in New Brunswick, and in particular how his obsession with “parental rights” as a cover for oppressing trans youth was one of the main drivers of that collapse, particularly because the Liberals in that province were talking about the things people were worried about, like housing and healthcare. He eschewed the usual partisan nonsense and congratulated Suan Holt on a deserved win. But that wasn’t the important part.

The most important takeaway from the piece, however, is that Pothier calls on Tories in New Brunswick to get memberships and get engaged with the party if they want to take it back from what Higgs turned it into, which is a narrow little cult catering primarily to Christian nationalists. This is something I have written columns about in the past—that it’s extremely important for ordinary people and moderates within a party to take out a membership and get involved at the grassroots level, because if you don’t, the crazies absolutely will and they will take over your party. This is what happened with the UCP in Alberta—when Jason Kenney engineered the hostile takeover of the PC party there, and then its merger with the Wildrose to form the UCP, it was done very much by getting the swivel-eyed loons to engage with the process at the expense of the moderates, whom they didn’t want in the party. This was to be a small-c conservative party and not the amorphous centrist mass that the PC party in Alberta had become, constantly reshaping itself and its beliefs to follow those of each successive leader. And now, it’s a party of hardcore fanatics, who turned on Kenney, and whom Danielle Smith is terrified they will do the same to her, so she is becoming increasingly radical in how she is governing as a result.

I cannot stress enough that ordinary people need to be engaged with parties at the grassroots level, or things get really bad. A party that only consists of Kool-Aid drinkers, regardless of the party, becomes toxic pretty fast (especially if they start going on with the purity tests). While the PCs in New Brunswick have a chance to reclaim their party, which is probably too late in Alberta (and couldn’t happen at all with the sudden capitulation of BC United to the BC Conservatives). It also may not be possible for the federal Liberals, who did away with party memberships altogether in favour of sign-ups that will populate their voter database while all power centralized in the leader’s office. Pothier’s advice should carry for all parts of the country, not just New Brunswick—if you want to keep your party from falling prey to fanatics of any stripe, you need to get involved as a member to push back against them.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched two waves of drone attacks over Kyiv, and one of them struck an apartment building, killing one and injuring five. A missile attack struck residences and a medical facility in Dnipro, killing three. G7 leaders announced $50 billion in loans to Ukraine to be repaid with seized Russian assets.

Good reads:

  • There are calls for Mélanie Joly to seek an investigation into the death of a Canadian woman that the government refused to repatriate from a Syrian detention camp.
  • The Fiscal Monitor shows a deficit of $9.8 billion from April to August (but that changes drastically at the end of the fiscal year).
  • The RCMP say they haven’t ruled out any connections between the six expelled Indian diplomats and other cases of violence (or homicide).
  • Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the move to cut immigration levels could have an economic impact, but it’s too soon to see how much.
  • Business groups are already grousing about the planned immigration cuts, citing that increased immigration helped us avoid a recession last year.
  • Journalist David Pugliese is defending himself from accusations he is a Russian agent as proffered by former MP Chris Alexander (while shielded by privilege).
  • Quebec is moving ahead with advanced requests for medical assistance in dying, essentially daring the federal government to stop them.
  • Ontario has a group tracking MAiD cases, but there are concerns that atypical cases are sparking fear-mongering (which is absolutely happening).
  • When the Alberta legislature returns next week, it will kick off with bills on revamping the Alberta Bill of Rights, and restrictions on trans rights.
  • Thomas Juneau and Vincent Rigby argue that transparency needs to be a key component of reforms around combatting foreign interference.
  • My weekend column looks at how the Liberals’ capitulation on the immigration targets will embolden some of the worst possible elements.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look at a recent report that lays out a roadmap for the government to create a Gender-Based Violence Commissioner.

This video piece looks at the restoration of grotesques and gargoyles from Centre Block.

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