Barely Three Weeks to Election Day, What Does Trudeau Need to Do to Win?
Truth is there's not one of them I want to win. Not one of them has a compelling policy to fight our worsening climate breakdown and, yes, that goes for the Greens too. That said, I don't want the Conservatives to form the next government. Despite O'Toole's progressive facade, there remains too much Manning and too much Harper in the Tory ranks to trust the Conservatives.
Blame Justin. Why not? He couldn't resist the polls that showed him easily winning at least a minority and with almost even odds of bagging another majority. Canada didn't need an election in the midst of 4th wave Covid. Trudeau already had one majority and did little with it. He did, however, use his majority to renege on a couple of solemn campaign promises that, if he had implemented them, would have cemented his legacy and bolstered his party's fortunes.
The Liberals, six years in power, still haven't released a campaign platform. That's not expected until just before the September debates. With the voting public already turning away from the Liberals it's hard to see what an 11th hour unveil will accomplish. You would have thought the party calling the tunes would know better. Apparently not.
Mr. Trudeau is simply not up to the job. He won a majority because Canadians had their fill of Stephen Harper. The next time out Canadians returned the Liberals with a well-deserved minority. Scheer got more votes than Trudeau but not where they were needed. That setback should have been the Liberals' wake-up call.
Is there a way for the Liberals to win that doesn't involve a coalition with the New Democrats on humbling terms? Justin might have to do a bit of groveling. For now, however, he has to stop the slide.
Two emails from the Libs today, both begging for donations. One was eager to tell me about the bold new actions the party is planning. Wait a second. They've been in power for six years. It would be better if they just told us about the bold actions they've already taken. Oh, never mind.
Jr messes up and we get the shaft?
ReplyDeleteHard to disagree with anything you say on this one Lorne, at one point or another I have voted Lib, NDP, and Green (never Con) over the past 20 years or so but its looking more and more like 'non of the above' come September. Here in this part of SW Ont there is no chance of the incumbent Con not getting returned with the alternatives split between a number of previously unheard of candidates only now just getting registered, whats the point!
ReplyDeleteO for that voter reform ….... but would any new system be any better than the current system were we vote for the individual but the partys (or one or two at the top) have all the power?
Perhaps the best we can hope for is another minority parliament but with the NDP leading this time …... what a tangled web we weave.......
It's a fantasy, to be sure, but I would like to see a coalition in which the Libs are forced to support electoral reform. This might end the days of majority governments but I saw little in either the Harper or the Trudeau majority to warrant its continuation. When you seize 100% of the power with support in the upper 30% range and then claim you have a "mandate" to do whatever you bloody well like you have disenfranchised the 60+% who didn't support you. A "false majority" still leads to a full-throated power grab. Enough.
DeleteI'm confident enough that some form of preferential vote is not the only democratic option in a multi-party state but is the key to breaking the hold that powerful groups such as the fossil fuel industry have over governance in Canada. With the problems looming or already at our doorstep, the public needs to hold sway again.
Sorry, you are not Lorne....old minds and too many thoughts whirling to brain....
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNo worry, Rural. At my age, half the time I'm not really sure who I am either. And, like yourself, I too am sorry I'm not Lorne.
DeleteThe two most realistic choices are the Dippers and the Libs -- depending on who's doing better in your own riding. I doubt the Greens will do well.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Vancouver Island will again become the redoubt of the Green Party. I've seen no sign that Annamie Paul is inspiring Canadians coast-to-coast. The clock is running out and there won't be too many more elections where a Green breakthrough might matter.
DeleteI came across an article yesterday, an opinion piece, that predicted Western nations won't act in time to respond to the climate breakdown on the public's terms which means we'll leave it until much harsher measures must be imposed. Shun the vaccine, wind up on the ventilator sort of scenario.
Just look to Ford and Kenney to see where O'Toole policy takes us
ReplyDeleteIf their scam worked there
It can work Canada wide
Canadians have traded down every PM this century
A friend who knows these things far better than I believes that politics in Canada has become so degraded that A-list talent no longer wants anything to do with it. Look at Andrew Scheer, whose private sector experience, comprised a stretch as a part-time counter clerk at some mom & pop insurance office. Our prime minister also came with a sparse and unimpressive resume.
DeleteWe no longer have the leadership of Mike Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, David Lewis, John Diefenbaker or Robert Stanfield.