I was not at the front of the line when the gift of prophecy was handed out. Of this however, I am reasonably confident: Neither were all the clever people back east who think Pierre Poilievre is already a busted flush..There's been a bit of a pile-on lately but as Parliament wraps up for the summer, Poilievre's supporters everywhere should take hope. It is probably not as bad as they say, because when personal disdain for a politician is coupled with wishing that the world is other than it is, there's a tendency to overlook things. Remember, twenty years ago, the same kind of people were saying the same kind of thing about Stephen Harper. He then went on to be prime minister for nearly ten years. .First, the disdain: Here's a sampling of the latest jeremiads regarding Poilievre's chances. .Women don't like him, writes the Globe and Mail's Marie Woolf: "Pierre Poilievre must do more to win over women voters, including pressing 'the anger button' less often.".He is a liability to the party. Thus, Chantal Hebert in a column in the Toronto Star. Hebert, also a regular on the CBC's Power Panel gabfest, says he is "wasting his chance to become prime minister.".And not that the Washington Post is likely to move critical swing votes in Canada, but its reliably progressive Canadian correspondent David Moscrop greeted Poilievre's election as leader with shock, horror and scorn: "A phony loudmouth... who doesn't know what he's talking about.".Andrew Coyne: "God Poilievre is a thug.".One could go on. For weeks after last year's CPC election we had people writing to The Western Standard saying, 'Should have gone with Charest, you know.' Sadly for his campaign, Mr. Charest didn't generate the heat necessary to light a candle. Worse, if he's a Conservative at all, it would be in the style of Brian Mulroney. In other words, no principled conservative foundation, just brokering interests. People with interests like that of course, and it's politics 101. But people who say whatever they think people want to hear, even if they know it to be untrue, are a bore... indications are that Poilievre does actually believe what he's saying..Speaking of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, he recently heaped praise upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership while conspicuously neglecting to mention any mention of the leader of his own party. Which raises the possibility that perhaps Mr. Mulroney no longer regards the Conservative Party of Canada as 'his' party. This must be seriously entertained. It was, after all, his actions regarding a certain CF-18 maintenance contract that should have gone to Winnipeg and instead went to Quebec, that famously triggered the rise of the western dissent, the Reform Party and therefore ultimately the CPC with Harper at the helm. Not to devalue the importance of Mulroney's signature free trade accomplishment, it is nevertheless a conspicuous fail to blow up your own party..Now, to concede the smoke that is assumed to indicate the presence of a raging fire, a recent Léger poll suggested that if an election had been held in May, Trudeau would have had a sporting chance of forming another minority government and a fourth consecutive term. It is not impossible and pundits have also decided that the failure of the Poilievre team to break through in any of the recent bye-elections represents a stalled party. However if a week is a long time in politics, the more-than-two-years before the next scheduled election is a really long time, and bye-elections in safe seats with a 40% turnout seldom produce surprising results..Which leads us to those wishing of the world to be other than it is..For example, perhaps the issue is less that Poilievre is too angry, than that Canadians are not angry enough — women especially, we're told. The soothing words of Mr. Mulroney notwithstanding however, what should you feel other than anger when the prime minister apparently failed to heed security warnings about Chinese electoral interference... doubled the national debt to look like a COVID hero... insults hard-working Canadians who pay their taxes and play by the rules... sets out to destroy an energy industry that funds equalisation and represents 10% of Canada's GDP? Again, one could go on... the F-35 debacle, the ethical violations, the strong-arming of a solicitor-general, prancing about in blackface, paying off a terrorist but telling Canadian veterans that there was no money for them... and then weaving and dodging in Question Period under Poilievre's skilful interrogation. Thuggish? A phony? A loudmouth?.Not at all. Just time somebody asked the questions that need to be answered. .Let us just remember that 20 years ago, it was Preston Manning’s efforts to draw the PCs into his United Alternative that were rebuffed, first by PC leader Jean Charest, then by former prime minister Joe Clark when he took over leadership of the PC party. Clark himself was utterly dismissive of a united conservative movement under Harper. It would have wonderful debates he said, but could never form a government. It's hard to remember that we ever listened to these people but with the well-know attraction of reporters to conflict and personalities, a discouraging word from Clark was a story, and Belinda Stronach’s defection — a wound from which the party recovered by bedtime — was a sensational development. And, when Stockwell Day famously conducted a lakeside presser, his wet-suited arrival on a jet-ski was the story, not what he said..And we all know what happened. Harper won..History doesn't always repeat itself. But, you'd be foolish to disregard it.
I was not at the front of the line when the gift of prophecy was handed out. Of this however, I am reasonably confident: Neither were all the clever people back east who think Pierre Poilievre is already a busted flush..There's been a bit of a pile-on lately but as Parliament wraps up for the summer, Poilievre's supporters everywhere should take hope. It is probably not as bad as they say, because when personal disdain for a politician is coupled with wishing that the world is other than it is, there's a tendency to overlook things. Remember, twenty years ago, the same kind of people were saying the same kind of thing about Stephen Harper. He then went on to be prime minister for nearly ten years. .First, the disdain: Here's a sampling of the latest jeremiads regarding Poilievre's chances. .Women don't like him, writes the Globe and Mail's Marie Woolf: "Pierre Poilievre must do more to win over women voters, including pressing 'the anger button' less often.".He is a liability to the party. Thus, Chantal Hebert in a column in the Toronto Star. Hebert, also a regular on the CBC's Power Panel gabfest, says he is "wasting his chance to become prime minister.".And not that the Washington Post is likely to move critical swing votes in Canada, but its reliably progressive Canadian correspondent David Moscrop greeted Poilievre's election as leader with shock, horror and scorn: "A phony loudmouth... who doesn't know what he's talking about.".Andrew Coyne: "God Poilievre is a thug.".One could go on. For weeks after last year's CPC election we had people writing to The Western Standard saying, 'Should have gone with Charest, you know.' Sadly for his campaign, Mr. Charest didn't generate the heat necessary to light a candle. Worse, if he's a Conservative at all, it would be in the style of Brian Mulroney. In other words, no principled conservative foundation, just brokering interests. People with interests like that of course, and it's politics 101. But people who say whatever they think people want to hear, even if they know it to be untrue, are a bore... indications are that Poilievre does actually believe what he's saying..Speaking of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, he recently heaped praise upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership while conspicuously neglecting to mention any mention of the leader of his own party. Which raises the possibility that perhaps Mr. Mulroney no longer regards the Conservative Party of Canada as 'his' party. This must be seriously entertained. It was, after all, his actions regarding a certain CF-18 maintenance contract that should have gone to Winnipeg and instead went to Quebec, that famously triggered the rise of the western dissent, the Reform Party and therefore ultimately the CPC with Harper at the helm. Not to devalue the importance of Mulroney's signature free trade accomplishment, it is nevertheless a conspicuous fail to blow up your own party..Now, to concede the smoke that is assumed to indicate the presence of a raging fire, a recent Léger poll suggested that if an election had been held in May, Trudeau would have had a sporting chance of forming another minority government and a fourth consecutive term. It is not impossible and pundits have also decided that the failure of the Poilievre team to break through in any of the recent bye-elections represents a stalled party. However if a week is a long time in politics, the more-than-two-years before the next scheduled election is a really long time, and bye-elections in safe seats with a 40% turnout seldom produce surprising results..Which leads us to those wishing of the world to be other than it is..For example, perhaps the issue is less that Poilievre is too angry, than that Canadians are not angry enough — women especially, we're told. The soothing words of Mr. Mulroney notwithstanding however, what should you feel other than anger when the prime minister apparently failed to heed security warnings about Chinese electoral interference... doubled the national debt to look like a COVID hero... insults hard-working Canadians who pay their taxes and play by the rules... sets out to destroy an energy industry that funds equalisation and represents 10% of Canada's GDP? Again, one could go on... the F-35 debacle, the ethical violations, the strong-arming of a solicitor-general, prancing about in blackface, paying off a terrorist but telling Canadian veterans that there was no money for them... and then weaving and dodging in Question Period under Poilievre's skilful interrogation. Thuggish? A phony? A loudmouth?.Not at all. Just time somebody asked the questions that need to be answered. .Let us just remember that 20 years ago, it was Preston Manning’s efforts to draw the PCs into his United Alternative that were rebuffed, first by PC leader Jean Charest, then by former prime minister Joe Clark when he took over leadership of the PC party. Clark himself was utterly dismissive of a united conservative movement under Harper. It would have wonderful debates he said, but could never form a government. It's hard to remember that we ever listened to these people but with the well-know attraction of reporters to conflict and personalities, a discouraging word from Clark was a story, and Belinda Stronach’s defection — a wound from which the party recovered by bedtime — was a sensational development. And, when Stockwell Day famously conducted a lakeside presser, his wet-suited arrival on a jet-ski was the story, not what he said..And we all know what happened. Harper won..History doesn't always repeat itself. But, you'd be foolish to disregard it.
