It's hard to believe that only a month ago I was hoping that Elizabeth May and her Green Party would do well in the federal election.
Win a few more seats to help push the Liberals in the right direction, and boost the fight against climate change.
But not any longer.
For first came Warren Kinsella.
To corrupt the soul of the party.
Which was scary enough.
And now May is scaring me with this.
Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May would work with any other party in a minority Parliament with a serious climate plan—and even thinks she could influence Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives to drop their crusade against carbon pricing “if it means the difference for them between governing or spending more time in opposition.”
For as much as I like Elizabeth May, I find that offer hopelessly naive.
Or out of touch with the real world.
But then that's the problem with single-issue leaders and candidates. They can't see the forest for the trees.
As Karl Nerenberg points out, we need to know exactly what May's price would be for propping up a Scheer government.
Would it be sufficient for Scheer to maintain the Trudeau government's carbon tax as is? Is that all it would take for the Conservatives to win Green support?
And what about other Conservative policies, such as imposing tougher restrictions on asylum seekers, or killing the Liberals' fund for local news while radically cutting funding for the CBC? Those are not climate-change related. Would the Greens be comfortable supporting them?
For while the fight against climate change may be the most important issue we must confront, there are a lot of other issues that are also very important.
Issues like women's rights, gay rights, indigenous justice, the battle against bigotry, and our medicare and pension systems.
I can't trust the Cons not to assault every one of those issues and rights that have helped define this country.
I can't be sure the Greens even know what they would be doing:
An experienced leader such as Elizabeth May should know that what constitutes a government, in our system, is a lot more than the legislative agenda it submits to Parliament.
If she and her party were to vote confidence in a Scheer government, they would be giving that government, and that prime minister, carte blanche to take all kinds of crucial decisions over which Parliament would have no say.
And so, voting confidence in Andrew Scheer would mean you were ready to support not only the legislation he might present to Parliament, but the way he would run that vast and powerful entity we call the federal government.
And since that could lead to the destruction of this country, I'm afraid I can't trust the Kinsella Greens not to collaborate with the Cons.
So my advice would be that except in ridings where only they can beat the Cons, don't vote for the Greens anywhere else.
And instead support the only leader who can defeat the sinister Con clown Scheer.
Fight climate change AND defend the rights and values that make Canada the country we know and love...
I hope this Jill Stein wedge-vote bullshit craters them in the polls once and for all. Kinsella's only motive is using the party as a vessel to fulfill his obsessive anti-Trudeau vendetta. He just wrote another juvenile screed in the Sun titled "Liberals need to be kicked in the Butts." (I gotta say, I feel bad for anyone whose name can so easily be turned into a sophomoric joke. "Turdeau" is bad enough but at least it requires modification. Gerry really is a nice guy and he doesn't deserve any of this.)
ReplyDeleteThis Kinsellification of the "Cons with composters" party is blatantly obvious to anyone who has been paying attention. But the mother of manure seems to have pulled a con on us all. Recall the book review with excerpts from party insiders. When Manila Envelopes Muldoon says you're untrustworthy, you're really, really bad.
Sadly, if the goddamn bought-and-paid-for M$M isn't going to do proper vetting it's up to actual progressives to get the word out and say no to Lizzy Mayhem and her dark prince Wormtongue. They may be disappointed on a number of fronts with Trudeau but who else is an option at this point? Everyone needs to strategically vote ABC to give JT at least a minority government. Preferably a majority, but even a 1972 result is acceptable as long as JT stays in the top job. He's the only adult in the room and the only one who isn't in this for himself. The rest are craven hacks, enablers of fascism or outright fascists themselves. Green slime.
What I find mindblowingly laughable is that Kinsella is STILL pushing the Conservative Party while working...for the Greens?
DeleteDidn't the contract with the Daisy Group carry a rider that Kinsella had to write, you know, pro-Green tracts?
Not voting for Greens anymore, that is for sure. It shall be red at the Federal level for the foreseeable future.
Their policies/beliefs are bad enough even without Kinsella and this unholy alliance with the Cons. If people actually took the time to look into it and/or the media bothered to do proper vetting, they'd be at PPC levels in the polls. Wifi conspiracies, men's rights activists, fluoridation phobia -- May is a complete nutcase. I wouldn't be surprised if she's an anti-vaxer too. She really is Canada's version of Jill Stein.
Deletehttps://twitter.com/KikkiPlanet/status/1153476737545564160
Hi Jackie....Yes, if Trudeau can only win a minority it could get quite ugly, with the Cons reaching out to the Kinsella Greens and the Bloc Québécois, which sadly is doing better than it has for years. For years I tried to get progressives to unite, but now we could be about to pay the heaviest price for our partisan ways. Ten years of Harper it seems wasn't enough...
DeleteHi Pierre....I also find that totally bizarre, and I'm afraid it's yet another example of May's weak political skills. Her party was in a position to make some serious gains but by hiring Kinsella she has done it more harm than good. She should have known that Kinsella is only interested in trying to elect the Cons, and her failure to realize that has made her look like an idiot...
DeleteJagmeet Singh supports increased economic dependence on fossil fuels and subsidies for shale gas in this January 2019 interview https://youtu.be/2PqAxH8B8wk
DeleteWhen asked how he can be both for and against BC's Horgan NDP plan to build a giant LNG terminal, a pipeline and subsidize shale gas fracking AT THE SAME TIME, Singh avoided answering the question in this cringe worthy interview
https://www.burnabynow.com/opinion/blogs/jagmeet-singh-s-interview-about-lng-made-him-look-evasive-and-weak-1.23823992
This criticism of the Greens is rich coming from the party that propped up the Harper minority government in 2008. Does anyone remember the price the Libs exacted for that support? Yeah, neither do I.
ReplyDeleteHi anon....I can't remember what happened back in 2008, and I couldn't care less. It's 2019, our country is in danger of being taken over by the far right, and I humbly suggest you worry about that rather than ancient history....
DeleteOT but the latest Con outrage about 24 Sussex has raised a couple thoughts.
ReplyDelete1) I don't think they really give a shit about the cost of upkeep at all. They certainly didn't when Harper was letting his 8,000 cats roam free and piss all over the place. I think they just hate Justin so much that they want to literally demolish the place where he grew up. Preferably while he watches, and from the point of opposition so they can call him a loser while they do.
Which is really sick, and also a pathetic betrayal of the national heritage how they don't seem to care that it's a Crown property belonging to all Canadians. I don't think Justin ever had a real "attachment" to it though, perhaps even a hesitation or ambivalence considering how tumultuous his upbringing was, and how his mother used to call it "the crown jewel of Canada's penitentiary system." He's fully aware that it's not "his" house.
But I'm sure if they could, they'd burn it down while the Trudeau family was in it, they hate the man and the name that much. It'd be like Republicans calling for the White House to be destroyed if Chelsea Clinton was president. (Democrats' joke about Canada burning it down because of Trump is just that, a joke. Republicans would be serious.)
2) The bigger question: cui bono? Considering who funds Canada Proud... anyone consider the possibility they have plans to outsource construction of a "new" 24 Sussex to Mattamy Homes?
Anti-cat prejudice is OTT. They have as much right to live as you and I do, and there were never so many felines at Sussex Drive. Obviously not saying that to defend Harper or Madame, but I did see her concern for homeless cats as a spark of life in the Con hatred of nature and sentient beings.
DeleteHi Jackie....This flap over 24 Sussex Drive is so absurd II makes us look like a banana republic, or the Duchy ofvGrand Fenwick. Honestly just thinking about it makes me cringe with embarrassment...
DeleteNo surprise. Lizzie's allied with petey peckerhead and ndp nate to vilify Butts although she knew she spoke not the truth. With her little self promoting interviews she threw out any remaining integrity. Throwing in with Sheer-nonsense is certainly a Kinsellout type betrayal of Canada.
ReplyDeleteIf Bannon calls himself a Leninist, I guess it's possible Lizzie is a (Groucho) Marxist.
Delete"These are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others."
Hi rumleyfips...I agree with you,. I don't think that Elizabeth May is a bad person, but her actions at a time like this one are a betrayal of Canada and it's values. I remember how she was willing to offer JWR her job, so maybe she just wants out...
DeleteIn the selfish political game the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The Green strategy that would benefit Canadians the most would be to denounce the Con climate destroyers for what they are and criticize the Liberals for not going far enough. The problem for the Greens is that would also help the Liberals obtain votes from borderline Cons and possibly result in a Liberal majority which would end visions of a minority government with May holding the balance of power. Faustian deals is the downside to proportional representation where the tail pretends to wag the dog in exchange for a few single issue table scraps strategically laced with a hallucinogen and slow acting poison.
ReplyDeleteRT
But of course the opposite side of the coin is that those of us who would never vote for either of the standard issue capitalist parties would never get any say, except through protest. At least it isn't a problem where I live, where the winning parties are (left-wing) NDP, Québec solidaire et Projet Montréal. Liberals a distant third after NDP and Bloc, Cons after the Greens and probably other leftoid or single-issue parties. They got 5% here last time. I remember my invective towards the local con. Later he lost his candidacy as it was proven that he had made racist comments about Indigenous people.
DeleteHi RT....Both the Greens and the NDP should be trying to win votes by claiming they can fight the Cons as hard or harder than the Liberals, and offer more on the environmental and social justice front. But no, they both prefer to take aim at the Liberals and could end up giving the Cons a majority. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and can only lead us to disaster....
DeleteHi lagatta...please keep the red flag flying in your riding, and try to forget that red is the colour of the Liberal Party. And before you vote for the Bloc try to remember that they will be pushing both the NDP and the Greens out of the way to join up with the Cons and get back to power. Seriously though I understand your man Alexandre Boulerice may be one of two NDPers favoured to hold on to their seats in Quebec, so you should be happy...
DeleteAs soon as Elizabeth May hired Kinsella I knew the game was over. All he's interested in doing is splitting the progressive vote, and we must make sure that never happens. Think of the Greens as poison ivy and avoid them at all cost.
ReplyDeleteHi anon....It takes some doing to turn the Greens into poison ivy, but by hiring Kinsella I believe May has done just that. As I said in my post, if in two or three ridings they are the only party that can defeat the Cons then by all means vote for them, if not avoid them like the plague, or poison ivy....
DeleteAnother Kinsellout handmaiden just announced a shameless publicity stunt.
ReplyDeleteJudas Wilson-Raybould is releasing a book -- on September 20.
There are no words to describe how much I hate this narcissist's guts.
Ooh I can't wait. I'm going to pre order a dozen on Amazon and give them out to my Liberal friends who are on the fence about voting Green.
DeleteHi anon....yes that sounds like a good idea. I'm sure that after reading that book no serious person will ever vote Green again. Or vote for Jody. But just wait two weeks before the book's price is reduced by 90% and you can save yourself a lot of money. I think I may hire a helicopter and drop them over Jane Philpott's riding...😉
ReplyDeleteThe Green Party is not a threat to the Liberal Party.
ReplyDeleteSince before Confederation Canadian voters have switched back and forth between a Liberal and a Conservative Party. For the last century they have done so in a very predictable fashion. They gave the NDP some hope twice (just twice) that they were breaking a century old voting pattern only to smash that hope to pieces at the next opportunity.
The Green Party is and it has always been a fringe party. Since Ms. May took over the leadership they have never won more than her own seat and 5-7% of the popular vote during a general election. That includes when the Liberals were at their lowest ebb, when they came roaring back in 2015 and everywhere in between. Some think that maybe changing because they polled a little better in the Spring and the party won a by-election. That is pretty weak tea. The Greens seem to have a small but loyal following but that is it and even that loyalty may be challenged by Ms. May's decision to retain the services of Mr. Kinsella.
The Conservatives know that they cannot win unless the progressive vote splits. In the past it was the NDP that did that for the Conservatives. The fact that they now seem to be pushing the Greens as the party to split the vote this time is telling. It tells me that they do not believe the NDP is up to the task and now they are hoping that the Greens can somehow do it. There is small hope of that. It remains to be seen but it looks like the NDP are in a little trouble. They are in danger of losing all of their seats in Quebec and they do not seem to be doing well in other traditional NDP regions in the country either. They lost big in 2015 but they could have lost bigger and I was surprised they hung onto as many seats as they did. The implosion of the NDP could be completed this year.
The other fringe party in this election is the PPC. It will not fare any better than the Greens but it has the advantage of being based in the voter rich heartland of the country. Mr. Bernier will be able to campaign in the 60 or so Conservative ridings where his message would resonate very easily and cheaply by riding a bus. If he enjoys similar success to the Greens he could be a real fly in the ointment of the Conservatives.
Pushing the Greens as the party to split the progressive vote is a desperate play. Even when the Liberals were at their lowest the Greens did not benefit from it. The Liberals are riding rather high now so it is a pipedream to believe the Greens will somehow split the vote enough to change that.
Hi Ottlib....I agree with you when you say the Greens have always been a marginal party, and they have neither the organization and the money at this time to mount a national campaign. However, the climate emergency could give them a boost, so I wouldn't rule them out. Everything is so fragmented, and progressives are their own worst enemies, that I believe anything could happen. And then there's the Bloc Québécois that hasn't received much publicity but is stronger than it has been for years. So again, I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for an election which could be the dirtiest and the worst...
Deletesounds like one needs a crystal ball to predict the future.Rather than criticizing the Green Party,get behind it as it is pushing the other parties to look solidly at the climate issues and the voters are also going to call the shots here as they want positive action toward change.Our future is at stake if we play political games.Time to grow up and stop acting like children on the playground.
ReplyDeleteFine if the Green Party actually was serious and not playing political games of their own, #1 of which is Kinsella's sick vendetta against Trudeau. She just said that the solution to Attiwapskat was to make SNC do "community service" bringing them water. Guess what? They can't do that without a DPA!
DeleteAfter she spent 5 months bitching and moaning about JWR's "integrity" in "standing up to Liberal corruption" and all that shit now she changes her mind? And has just alienated a shit ton of Indigenous voters with this trial balloon full of hot air. Does she even have a mind to change or is it damaged from all the *hic* *hic* fluoridated wifi?
This is Kinsella talking, to keep the name SNC alive in the headlines as a mantra to remind people of "Crooked Hillary Trudeau". As if that wasn't bad enough, he's now retweeting concern trolls who attack Ontario autism families, thus sending his own attack mob after them as a bandwagon effect. That's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it works out for him.
They're not even a one-issue party anymore. They're the Blue Green party, the Bloc Turquoise. Just like the others, they have no platform other than Trudeau sucks and is bad because reasons. Their credibility even on the environment is shot to shit.
You may not like the pipeline but the fact of the matter is the party led by the schoolteacher is the only one behaving like adults in the room. The children on the playground (or in detention) are Dizzy Lizzy (with Warmonger Warren), Oil Can Andy (with Disaster Doug, Kudatah Klux Klanney, Hamster the computer chipmunk and Scumbag Steve), Jag Who? (with Angry Angus and Narcissistic Niki), and of course Mad Max (with... Mad Max). Might as well Trust In Justin if "adult behavior" is your metric for support. The rest have gone off the rails and need to be put in time out.
Breaking: Schrodinger's Kinsella. Dizzy Lizzy supposedly done with Wornout but retains Nuclear Daisy Group on campaign team.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/07/30/warren-kinsellas-green-party-work-is-done-elizabeth-may-says.html
Telling that she still has SFA to say about Oil Can Andy but prefers to attack Trudeau on the climate file and the tired old saw of election reform. She's a Con hypocrite through and through. I hope she gets properly scrutinized and Canadians don't fall for her vote-splitting bullshit.