I didn't watch the latest Con leadership debate in Vancouver yesterday afternoon, for two very good reasons.
One, I couldn't find it on any TV channel I get, or anywhere on the dark internet.
And two, it was too nice and warm outside to waste even an hour of my life.
Which turned out to be a good call, because the debate was a total farce.
None of the frontrunners even bothered to attend the sorry event.
Only nine of the 14 candidates attended the event in Vancouver on Sunday. Frontrunners Kellie Leitch, Maxime Bernier and Kevin O’Leary were among those absent, and manage to evade targeted criticism.
Kevin O'Leary was apparently too busy flogging his reserve wines on an American home shopping channel...
Even if that makes it even harder to convince people that he's more Canadian than American.
While Kellie Leitch was no doubt more interested in going after Michelle Rempel for trying to steal her thunder.
Than she was in trying to win votes in British Columbia.
While Maxime Bernier was probably trying to round up some more support in Quebec...
Because he's not going anywhere either.
And Lisa Raitt had to leave early to catch a flight back East.
But not before making a complete fool out of herself...
Lisa Raitt cast doubt on the current government’s ability to legalize marijuana before the next election. But she said if legalization happens, measures need to be in place to protect youth under the age of 25 and control illicit sales.
“Sometimes marijuana is laced with fentanyl and it can be deadly to people,” Raitt said.
By spreading some fake news about marijuana.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark came under fire last year after making a similar claim that the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl was being laced in marijuana. Vancouver police responded to premier’s comments in November saying there have been no incidents of fentanyl-laced marijuana.
Or as I like to call it, pulling a Rona...
And to make matters even worse, the Cons couldn't even spell RECRIMINALIZATION...
So who can be surprised that even though the old Con Andrew Coyne did his best to give Raitt a boost...
Before she rushed to the airport.
His colleague Kelly McParland was just about throwing in the towel.
At some point pretty soon, some high-ranking, thoughtful Tory – if such a thing is out there – has to step back, survey the Conservative landscape and call a halt to the party’s self-destruction. As in: “Hold on, what are we doing here? This is nuts. Let’s try again, from the beginning. All together now: who are we, why are we here, and what do we stand for?”
Criticizing the Cons for attacking a motion to denounce Islamophobia.
They won’t return to respectability by pandering to the mob, the disgruntled or the most alienated elements of society. There may be a Bozo in the White House, but it’s unlikely Canadians are eager to have a clown of their own. The Conservatives need to sort out what they have to offer and present it in a responsible fashion. So far they don’t seem even reasonably close.
And all but predicting that Justin Trudeau is going to Prime Minister for a long, long time.
In the weeks after their 2015 election loss, party elders claimed to have absorbed the need to leave behind the anger and divisiveness of the final Harper months, and re-engage with more positive, higher-minded supporters. If they knew it then, they’ve forgotten it since. They should go back and check their notes. They’re making it far too easy for the Liberals to get complacent about their prospects for a long, unthreatened run in power.
Which is of course what I have long predicted...
When Stephen Harper took the party down.
He took them all down with him...
The only reasonable one with a bit of principle is Michael Chong. Which of course immediately disqualifies him and has the crazies screaming "CLOSET LIBRUUUUUUUUL."
ReplyDeleteThis was a really funny posts though, your con leadership cartoons get me every single time.
hi anon...yes, Chong does seem to be a cut above the others, which as you point out means he doesn't stand a chance. To bad for him, and lucky for us. And thank you, I'm glad you like my little Con leadership cartoons, because I enjoy making them... ;)
DeleteI mean, what do sane people expect?
ReplyDeleteThe problem? This would be great news of they were a marginal party, but the media and everyone still thinks they might have a chance.
The real problem is that Justin's betrayal of Canadian voters will pretty much guarantee that one of these clowns will take the helm of Canada in 2019.
hi anon...well they do still have a chance of forming the next government. At a time when Trump is president anything is possible. But it won't have anything to do with electoral reform, for as I keep reminding people if a referendum had been held the FPTP system would have almost certainly won, and electoral reform would have been buried for a generation...
DeleteI never thought I'd see you spouting Con talking points about the need for a referendum on electoral reform. Trudeau won a majority running on a clear promise to make the 2015 election the last one under FPTP. Canadians expected him to follow through on that promise and no referendum was needed.
DeleteDo I need to remind you that the antiquated and unfair FPTP is what gave us a Harper majority and our neighbours to the south a Trumpov presidency?
hi anon...I'm afraid you misunderstand what I'm trying to say. I was dead set against a referendum, but the NDP went for it like a trout goes for a fly. And had a referendum been held the whole idea of electoral reform would have been buried for a generation. By putting the issue on ice Trudeau actually kept it alive, while the NDP and the Cons were the ones who would have killed it. How hard is it to understand that? How desperate is the NDP?
DeleteOMG that is funny, coming to B.C. and trying to preach the evils of m.j. B.C. of all places. hell the economy in the areas outside of the lower mainland were for decades sustained by small mom and pop grow ops. Why do you think rural areas selling homes on acreage first start by mentioning the large garage, outbuilding with 220 wiring. Once the 1970s hit and unemployment officially was up to 15% in the Kootenay, lots of people went into agriculture. Not in a big way, just enough to hang onto the homes and cars. (unemployment during the 1970s and early 1980s was closer to 30% in some areas).
ReplyDeletehi e.a.f...I thought that was bizarre too, preaching against marijuana in a place like B.C.
DeleteAnd worse spreading fake news about weed, after having belonged to a government that did absolutely nothing to fight the heroin or fentanyl epidemics. Hypocrisy is a Con value...
Did some of them feel reassured that Franklin graham is coming to town? Didn't their advisors tell them to keep the anti marijawana rhetoric at their previous debate closer to the Bible Belt. Where incidentally has their own huge drug problem they keep unloading on east downtown. If regulation of unwanted ingredients in pot is their concern then the dispensaries is the way to go. The current system exposes the soft drug users to the harder drugs. At one time many of today's addicts were content in smoking heroin only but were priced out of that option. "Synthetic" opiates. Nobody is ready for this.
ReplyDeletehi anon...Franklin Graham is coming to Canada? Great. Just give thanks that he apparently turned down the job as Secretary of Education. As for the tainted marijuana, it is yet another reason the Liberals should hurry up and legalize it...
Deletedid any of them state that they're going after wealthy tax evaders, with convictions and jail terms imposed, not just financial penalties? After all, the CPC is tough on crime, right?
ReplyDelete