Joe Oliver and the Con War on Justin Trudeau

You might think that Joe Oliver would have stayed missing after the Cons lost the election, and he lost his seat.

Or sought refuge in his private Bay Street Boy's Club...



So he wouldn't have to answer questions about what him and Stephen Harper's oily policies have done to our economy.

But no, now he's everywhere, accusing the Liberals of blowing the surplus that never was.

And going after Justin Trudeau's plan to bring in electoral reform.



As only a Con zombie could.

The Liberal government’s stated intention is to transform how we elect our Members of Parliament, without seeking the approval of the people in a referendum. That’s bad enough. But it looks like its unstated objective is to brazenly manipulate the electoral system for its partisan advantage, while avoiding public consent. While that may not be unconstitutional, it would be profoundly offensive to our democratic principles and must be stopped.

Claiming that it could blow up in Trudeau's face.

If the Prime Minister does not back off, this could well blow up in his face. An otherwise supportive press seems to be drawing a line on the issue. Journalists take seriously matters of political integrity and will not tolerate manipulation of our democracy. Also, public opinion has not yet focused on the subject. When it does, watch out. Political winds can shift dramatically if people believe the Liberals are trying to rig the system for their partisan advantage.

And all but calling for a popular uprising...



Even though Trudeau has a democratic mandate to introduce electoral reform, there is no legal requirement for a referendum.

And no party ever tried to rig the system for partisan advantage more than the Cons did, or had less respect for democracy.

But what strikes me above all is the contempt Oliver and his Harperite cult have for the new government and its young leader.

Who they attacked in a such a depraved manner for so many years...



And now seem to believe they can drive from power long before his mandate is over.

Just like groups of crazed rednecks in Alberta are trying to overthrow Rachel Notley. 



As if, as Gerald Caplan points out, the Cons had a divine right to rule this country forever.

They have learned nothing. They have understood nothing. They are the Bourbons of our time, though with rather less monarchical glamour. They are Canada’s own Conservative Party, already making clear their determination to recover what only months ago they believed might be theirs in perpetuity. So blinded are they by this sense of entitlement that they remain heedless of their own uncontrollable drive to self-destruction.

As if the rule of the mob should prevail over the rule of Parliament and it's duly elected representatives.



Something like this warped sense of morality infects all the tattered remnants of the parliamentary Conservative Party. No more definitive evidence is needed than that revealed in the Globe’s final front-page headline of 2015: “Tories vow to block electoral legislation.” The Official Opposition party, we learn, having been unceremoniously turfed out as government, “is vowing to use any means necessary, including a Senate blockade, to keep the Liberal government from forcing through electoral-reform legislation without first holding a referendum.”

“Any means necessary”? “Including a Senate blockade”! These people have taken complete leave of their senses. As they were so often in government, the Conservatives in opposition remain tone deaf when it comes to hearing their own malarkey.

What are those Con teabaggers thinking? And how far are they prepared to go?

But yes, there can no longer be any doubt, they are trying to overthrow Justin Trudeau by whatever means necessary...



And if we want our dreams to survive we are going to have to defend them.

And the good news?

We beat them once, and we will beat them again.

We will fight those monsters, those treasonous tea baggers.

Until the day we bring in electoral reform.

And the day we finally bury them...



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