Monday, June 05, 2017

Michael Harris On The Cheating Party of Canada



As I'm sure you know Andrew Scheer, the smiling religious fanatic is trying to give himself a saintly image.

Or at least portray himself as an aw shucks, gee whiz, Jimmy Stewart version of a priest or a farm boy.

So there he was the other day at the Press Gallery dinner, chugging milk out of a carton, while all the others got drunk.

But sadly for him it's just not working.



He's still looking like a flat can of Harper Lite.

And those embarrassing questions about whether he really is the new leader of the Cons just won't go away.  

An official from the Kellie Leitch campaign is raising new concerns over the voting process used in the recent Conservative leadership race, fuelling questions over Andrew Scheer’s razor-thin victory.

Not when Maxime Bernier is demanding answers.

In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Bernier said the party must step forward and offer clear explanations on the voting process to all members. “Is this a minor issue, is this not a minor issue? I want answers from the party,” Mr. Bernier said. “I think members have a right to know what happened and why there is a difference between the numbers of votes.”

And who can blame him?



He's not very bright, but he is very desperate. 

And this does sound suspicious.

One of the major concerns in the Bernier camp is that some Conservative members may have voted twice, once by mail and once at an in-person voting station. 

In addition, the Bernier camp wants to know why David Filmon, the party's chief returning officer, ordered that all the ballots be destroyed immediately after the vote and why scrutineers were not informed of the discrepancy. 

Like something you might expect to hear about in a place like Zimbabwe, or Harperland...



So I guess nobody should be surprised that Michael Harris is now calling the CPC, the Cheating Party of Canada.

Andrew Scheer has begun his stint as Conservative leader with a Howdy-Doody smile — and an epical face-plant. Despite serious questions being raised about whether the vote that put him in Stornaway was rigged, the 38-year-old political lifer maintains it’s a party matter.

Sadly for Scheer, nothing could be further from the truth. One of the reasons that Stephen Harper’s regime was turfed in 2015 was that the Canadians had had enough lies, corruption, and ideology imported from the U.S. Republican Party to last them a lifetime.


I mean, where did those rogue votes come from?



How could there be a 7,466 vote discrepancy between the ballots cast and the final number announced at last weekend’s finale to the leadership? And how did those ballots get counted, precisely? Whatever the answers, the number of rogue votes was more than enough to change the result.

And yes, for a party with an ugly record like the Cons, it does seem so depressingly familiar.

In a party that has never seen an electoral process it doesn’t want to fiddle, this has all the hallmarks of wiping the fingerprints off the murder weapon, and all too much like deja vu all over again.

And the best news?

Unless the Cons can bury this scandal, like they have buried so many others.

Scheer is going to lose his halo in a hurry.

And this scandal will help bury them...


24 comments:

jrkrideau said...

Real class. I hope he drinks the entire litre because the milk is contaminated now.

Anonymous said...

I have a newfound respect for Rona for leaving the party. I thought she wasn't that bright but it seems she can at least identify a shit show when she sees one.
Imagine the cons (and dippers who are now having problems in their leadership race) bash the Liberals all day long for their "coronation" of Justin Trudeau. So yes, their criticism of him is that he won by a lot of votes. Clean up your own mess you fucking dunces.

Anonymous said...

Of course the party leader was going to be the candidate best able to cheat. Cheating at election time is what Cons (and their GOP gurus) are all about.
Whenever you hear a Con banging on about election fraud and the need for voter ID, it's all projection. When Elections Canada is in charge, the incidence of double voting is infinitesimally small and certainly nothing to worry about. But in Con-run elections look out! One of the major concerns in the Bernier camp is that some Conservative members may have voted twice, once by mail and once at an in-person voting station. This is why they keep trying to handcuff Elections Canada. They want a partisan system like in the US that they can rig to their advantage.

the salamander said...

.. hi Simon .. Hope your recovery is complete ! Not sure what ailed you or happened.. but all that matters is recovery.. aka the 'prime directive' - Truly tough times on the Islands too.. !
I started life over there with my older sister.. but was migrated to Cabbagetown & Moore Park then Orton, Ontario as a farm lad.

I wanted to point out the wondrous conundrum of Harper & Scheer as perceived or trumpeted by sadly mistaken mainstream media.. That being if..

Andrew Scheer is simply Stephen Harper with dimples - and/or a smile
therefore
Stephen Harper must simply be Andrew Scheer sans dimples or smile
comparisons, especially foolish ones, cut.. or collapse in both directions

At this point, it seems dear mr Scheer is missing an alter ego..
a Robin to his Batman.. ie a Ray Novak.. or a Jenni Byrne or a Nigel or a Duffy
As a matter of fact.. Scheer seems adrift currently - with no rotund knights
no steely eyed 'rainmakers' no Poutine (that we know of, anyway)
and possibly, no mysterious red goateed data wank guru election fraudmeister

There are clues though.. and the odd dull but shrill ReformoTories lurking..
To wit.. the witless coward Peter Kent, the poisonous toads Van Loan & Poilievre
and the former Rob Anders flunkie Dustin Van Vogt.. quick with a match
and a supply of lighter fluid when ballots need to be disappeared quickly..

And who knows what unholy alliances might be struck with greasy western
thugs & madams.. such as Jason th Kenney or Clingon Christy Clark
the pipelines for Asia's Energy Security Uber Alles twins

Beware the 3rd or 5th coming of the crude Boessenkool..
or crustaceans like Manning.. Mad Tom Flanagan et al
or anyone else who signed the Alberta Firewall Manifesto
Who knows Simon.. Toews or Fantino could be resurrected !

I'm still unclear how flushing Tar Sands Dilbit or fracked LNG
to 'tidewater' & pumping Asian owned & purpose built supertankers full
for immediate transit to Asia.. somehow provides 'Energy Security'
for Canadians.. Once landed in Asia.. to feed those economies..
a miracle is too occur.. that Canadian homes will be heated,
vehicles fueled, machinery lubricated.. jobs ensured, Economy grown

It must be a 'loaves n fishes' miracle.. that a lapsed altar boy
like me.. is just too jaded or uneducated.. to comprehend
Yet Canada will gladly poison its freshwater resources in perpetuity
and exterminate species, their habitat, food chains & ecosystems
to 'stimulate' said miracle ..

Maybe Justin Trudeau will enlighten us all.. Halleluja ! Eh !

Steve said...

I just finished the latest season of House of Cards. Must see reality tv.
In Ontario we have Patrick Brown another Con in the closet, and Federally another bible thumper, meanwhile the Liberal party in both arena's seems stuck in the mud.

Anonymous said...

If anyone ever figures out how shipping Dilbit to Asia increases Canada's energy security please let me know. Perhaps the Asians have a miracle refining process that escapes Canadian engineers or perhaps the environmental legislation is so lax that it becomes profitable. Nothing like shipping your problem elsewhere if only we didn't have to ingest the same poison to produce it.
RT

jrkrideau said...

Whenever you hear a Con banging on about election fraud and the need for voter ID, it's all projection.

A quote from a now-defunct blog

I guess we now know why right-wingers are so paranoid that lazy, self-interested gits are ripping off the welfare system. That’s what they think is going on, because it’s exactly what they do when given the opportunity.
Sixth Estate


John B. said...

How could the chairperson and committee entertain a motion for ballot destruction without resolving such a glaring discrepancy in the reconciliation? if this isn't a fix it should have been. Bums. Does the general membership understand the problem or even care? I wonder how many of them will or have been party insider nominees for returning office jobs on E-days. Probably more bums.

During the TV broadcast it became apparent by listening to party members participating in the CBC panel of "experts" that some of them didn't understand the selection process that the party had adopted.

First we had O'Leary, the self-proclaimed "numbers guy", stating that he had naturally advised his supporters to plump their ballots by leaving the succeeding choices blank after they had named him as choice number one. We don't know how long he kept handing out this advice, but we do know that he withdrew around the same time that balloting started and we can assume that, from among those of his supporters that voted for him anyway, at least some of them followed it.

Breaking News April 26, 2017: “I’m going to throw my support behind Maxime Bernier because I think it’s the right thing for the party.”

Voting Rules Leadership 2017: "16. The Party will mail a ballot to each eligible voter by April 28, 2017."

Those votes disappeared after the first ballot. They weren't reassigned to anyone.

Next was the remarkably sober Michelle Rempel suddenly coming to the realization after the second or third announcement of results that the absence of ballots that had been plumped could produce an unexpected effect on the decisive rounds. She tried several times to explain this effect to the "numbers guy", but he didn't seem to get it and each time she made the attempt he just kept looking at or fidgeting with his electronic device and blathering on convincingly and most self-assuredly about his expensive polling and the price of eggs.

I can't understand why the "numbers guy" gave out this advice. Once he had obtained a vote, that's where it would have stayed until he had either won or was out. it would have had no effect on the fortunes of other candidates in relation to his. Plumping is a relevant tactic only when from a number of candidates a smaller number other than one are to be elected and more than one selection to a stated maximum is allowed but not mandatory. He must have become confused by some absentminded weighted-average assumption. Let's put him in charge of electoral reform.

Anonymous said...

When you're as corrupt as the Cons are, cheating becomes a business as usual method of getting your own way. It's in their DNA through and through.
It is so sweet to see that this time, instead of cheating their way to running the country, they may have finally sunk the stake in the heart of the ReformaCon party forever.
JD

Anonymous said...

The Reform-A-Cons have to be extremely good at voter manipulation and political disguise in order gain power. At best they represent 50% of the PC voters and at best the PC party represents 40% of Canadians. Overall they represent 20% of the total Canadian voters or equivalent to the political tail wagging the Canadian dog. Platform honesty would be political suicide so they have to be content with first electing and then manipulating a smiley faced leader to execute their agenda in the background. It is a waste of creative problem solving talent at the taxpayers expense but that's democracy.
RT

Anonymous said...

The boy on the milk carton is missing his Joker makeup. Android looks like the kind of guy who'd ask you if you like Huey Lewis and the News.

Anonymous said...

A little story about Mr Scheer:

In late Spring 2015 I accompanied my daughter in her move across Canada from metro Vancouver to St. John's Newfoundland. Travelling along Highway 1 through southern Saskatchewan we encountered a massive billboard in Conservative blue colours informing us we were in the riding of the speaker of the house, Andrew Scheer. It was so big I feared for low flying aircraft. There were maybe other signs further along or behind us informing us of other wondrous Conservative MPs but I don't recall seeing any. Scheer's was the only one that screamed, "Look At Me!" and probably on the taxpayers dime as well.

mr perfect

Simon said...

hi jrkrideau....well it could be worse, they could lead in a cow and have Scheer milk it with his mouth... ;)

Simon said...

hi anon...I don't know if I could ever have any respect for Ambrose, but it does explain why she's fleeing the country, before she goes down with those Con clowns. She may be an idiot but at least her survival instinct is still intact...

Simon said...

hi anon 9:54am...exactly, it is all projection. They try to drag us all into their pig sty and then try to make us believe that only they can clean it up. Like the Republicans in the U.S., or the ones in Britain, they're always trying to suppress the vote, and make it easier to cheat to harder. I don't care what they say about their leadership race, it should be clear to everyone that it was riddled with corruption....

Simon said...

hi salamander...I was injured in a motorcycle accident in the Scottish highlands, but I'm almost 100% now. And still determined to keep the Cons out of power hopefully forever. As for Trudeau he only made those promises about pipelines to keep the country together i.e. keep Alberta from separating. But he must surely know that they will never be built. Too many challenges, too little time to flog that tarry goodness in a rapidly greening world. He can't come out and say that for obvious reasons, but it's obvious to me what the plan is. This country is balanced on a knife edge, there are not enough jobs for the young, and unless that changes there could be a Trump-like uprising in this country. So Canadians should be careful what they wish for and avoid falling into a Con trap.

Simon said...

Hi Steve...the Ontario Liberals Party may be stuck in the mud, although they have closed the gap with the PC's a bit in the last month.
But the federal Liberals are as popular as the day they were elected, and with Scheer as Con leader, and the NDP going nowhere, the next election should be a repeat of the last one....

Simon said...

hi John...I watched the coverage of that shabby event as well, at least as much as I could bear. And I agree with you the whole thing was a sham. We are sill waiting to find out what campaign bought all those fake memberships, and as I said in my post, the vote was so farcical only Robert Mugabe could have liked it. The Con media is trying to polish that turd, but a turd is a turd, is a turd...

Simon said...

hi JD...yes, the problem with the Cons is that winning is everything, and what they do to win is just details. Harper was a prime exponent of that philosophy and he has tainted the party he created with the same ethos. I think Scheer is a candidate with feet of clay, the party is badly divided between the social conservatives, the Trumpling wannabes, and the libertarians. So it's only a matter of time before they start tearing each other to pieces...

Simon said...

hi RT...yes the Reform-A-Cons do have to be good at voter manipulation for all the reasons you mention. They have to be able to hold their shabby coalition together, and do all they can to split the vote. If progressives were united the Cons would have great difficulty ever winning another election...

Simon said...

hi anon...that was funny. I had to Google Huey Lewis and the News, but I see what you mean. And I found an even better name for the Con band, ...Soundhole ;)

Anonymous said...

They'd have even greater trouble winning another election if Trudeau hadn't reneged on his promise of electoral reform. Just saying...

lagatta à montréal said...

My mamma would have slapped him for such bad manners.

However, I do hope that we don't have to be Liberals to comment here.

Simon said...

hi lagatta...as I have told you before, you don't have to be a Liberal to comment here. And you are free to criticize Justin Trudeau as much as you like. But you also know my position. I don't criticize other progressive leaders, and the main reason I support Justin is that right now he has the best chance of keeping the Cons at bay. Should the NDP or the Greens ever have a leader more capable of doing that, I would be happy to support either him or her....