Saturday, May 14, 2016

Jason Kenney and the Con Apocalypse



As you must have realized by now, there is nothing but nothing that scares the Cons more than electoral reform.

Because they know it would be the death of their Zombie Party.

And now that the Liberals have kicked off the process, they're absolutely desperate.

So desperate in fact they've even recruited Andrew Coyne.



Who must be so proud.

Or so relieved....



But the Con who seems to be the most desperate, or the most stirred up, is the ghastly Jason Kenney...



Who knows all too well, that scrapping the first-past-the-post system, would mean the end of the line for him as well.

So he has come charging out, and put out a video calling on the Liberals to hold a referendum.

From which I took this excerpt from the ghastly Rebel...



And while Kenney seems in such a righteous frenzy, you'd almost expect him to start doing a snake dance.

Like the old PMO gang used to do before their morning meeting... 



And has the nerve to proclaim the virtues of democracy, which that foul Com gang violated over and over again for almost ten nightmare years.

Kenney fails to mention the real reason him and his Cons want a referendum. Not to approve electoral reform but to KILL it.

As Tom Clark decodes here.

Finally the Conservatives. Their code is the easiest to break. They look at any and all reform options with horror. Proportional representation would only encourage divisions in what is, afterall, a party of political alliances. The social conservatives might strike out on their own to win some seats where they wouldn’t have to feel bound to a party of convenience. Red Tories might feel the same. 

As for ranked ballots, there lies oblivion, or at least a permanent banishment to the fringes. To compete in that forum would mean having to become a party of the centre, which sort of isn’t their thing. 

So here’s the code. They need to kill any change, so they are trying to make this debate all about the need to hold a referendum. Why? Because when electoral reform was put to referendums before in B.C., Ontario and P.E.I., it failed, in some cases miserably. If past is prologue, a national referendum may produce the same result and be just the thing to make all these ideas go away.

And what Kenney also fails to mention is that there would almost certainly not be enough time to organize a proper referendum campaign.

Elections Canada needs about two years to prepare for the next election if the system changes, meaning the decision needs to be made by early fall 2017. The deadline to report for the committee established Wednesday is Dec. 1, leaving a very small window for the House of Commons and Senate (which itself could be unpredictable in its newly independent ways) to consider and pass any legislation, let alone organize a referendum.

Or if one was held, not enough time to win it.

And if the Liberals wanted to win such a referendum, they would need the campaign to be long enough to give them the time to sell the new electoral system to Canadians who, in the past, have been reluctant to vote for change.

Which would make it even more likely that voters would opt for the status quo, and that the next election would also be held under the old rules.

And if the Liberals became less popular, and NDP was also to rise from the dead, the Cons could hope to split the vote again, and even win themselves another majority.

And bury electoral reform for a generation....



Which to me means simply this:

While we throw ourselves into the process to determine what system is best, we also need to fight the idea of a referendum as hard as we can.

Remind the Cons that they lost the election.

And use the power we now enjoy to bury THEM forever...



First we stop them, like we stopped Harper.

And then we destroy them...

Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if any other referendums included Ranked Balloting but I voted against Prop Rep in Ontario because a) it meant political appointees, b) because it meant more politicians (32) and c) because I look at other political situations (the senate and Harper's PMO) and conclude that such appointments are deadly. I tried to convince everyone I spoke to that they should reject the ON proposal for those reasons.

GreazedLitenen said...

Unfortunately for the Cons, the Liberals won the election of part of their platform was to change our electoral system. I agree with the idea of having a committee and hashing out the best system to move into the for future, but as soon as they give their recommendations, they should enact the new system. After watching and living through Harpers total disdain for any other opinion, on any subject, other than his own, just brings home the fact that they owe these clowns no respect or do they have to give any regard to their opinion. Ram it through, Mr Trudeau, as soon as the committee gives it recommendations, and lets finally drive a stake through the heart of the cons ideology driven politics.

Anonymous said...

The video isn't working for me Simon.

e.a.f. said...

was not in favour of "reform" here in B.C.

I support a committee looking into it. Do want my own M.P. for my riding. However, agree that some parties are not being fairly represented. Just don't know how the extra M.P.s might be "elected", i.e. Greens having 5% of the popular vote but only 1 M.P. Perhaps the electorate will be willing to give another system a try, but I suspect the majority of Canadians will want to continue to have first past the post, because they have their "own" MP for their riding. Perhaps a run off system, where candidates need to achieve 50% of the vote or there is a run off.

Anonymous said...

Jason Kenney needs to get through his numb-skull that the Libs campaigned on reform, not a referendum for reform. That would have allowed the ReformaCons to play the only card they know, the boogyman. Or absurdity at its best, their use of the term anti-democratic, the democracy they were so good at giving the finger to during the Harper reign.
Like you Simon, I say bury them, strike while the iron is hot. They need a harsh lesson for what they did to this great country and vanquishing them for a generation is a great way to start.
JD

Simon said...

Hi anon...yes, that is one of the drawbacks of proportional representation, the option I presently favour. And one of the reasons I hope that Canadians can be properly educated and have a real debate. I know a lot of people are complaining about the make up of the committee, but if we are going to make it a real democratic exercise we all need to get involved...

Simon said...

Hi GreazedLitenen....I completely agree with you. Now is the time to stop arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a needle, and act ruthlessly to change our system. If progressives get bogged down in petty politics, they will only play into the hands of the Cons. So yes, ram it through by whatever means necessary, and make sure the Harper Party never gets anywhere near power again...

Simon said...

Hi anon....I'm sorry about that, Tube chops sometimes don't work on devices like cell phones. I probably shoul have just run the YouTube video, but I wanted to spare readers from from the whole Rebel media production, which wasn't exactly "premium content." I'll bear that in mind next time, and sorry again...

Simon said...

Hi e.a.f....in this case I don't care what the majority of Canadians want or not. I want the Liberals to ram through the reform and destroy the Cons forever...

Simon said...

Hi JD...Yup, Kenney has a nerve lecturing anyone about democracy. And the Cons need to be reminded that they lost the election, and that we are now going to teach them a lesson they will never forget. What disturbs me is that some seem to have forgotten the Harper nightmare already, and their pathetic mewling risks a return of more of the same...

Ben Burd said...

How many times do you people have to be told - there will be no closed lists and ranked balloting favours the Libs - they will game the system with these machinations