I must admit that at times during the nightmare year of 2019 I wondered whether I would be able to make it, even on all fours, to the year 2020. The burning planet, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, the rise of grubby right-wing populists all over the place, like Jason Kenney and Doug Ford. The monstrous sight of the ghastly Republican style Cons and their Ugly American leader Andrew Scheer bombarding us with attack ads 24/7, while their media stooges clapped like penguins. Let's face it, it was bad, really bad. But for me all of that ugly stuff was more than compensated for by this really great night.
It's an ugly little farce. A Home Alone 2 horror show, starring Donald Trump. With the increasingly deranged Trump blaming Justin Trudeau and the CBC for allegedly editing this brief cameo role out of the movie.
It's Christmas Day in Canada. A day for me to give thanks for living in a country still so peaceful and so beautiful. And a day when I rerun a post I wrote years ago to try to explain what Christmas means to me. I don't know why I felt the need to explain that, the reasons have been lost in the mists of time, somewhere in Canada or somewhere in Scotland. But it still speaks for what I believe in, and it does sum up why I fight every day for a better world. So here we go again.
I wasn't planning to write about politics today. It's Christmas Eve, I've totally surrendered to the spirit of the season. And with all the goodies that arrived from Scotland in the last few days, including TWO Christmas puddings (after my Mum thought the first one had got lost in the mail) my buddy and I have enough food in the house to feed ourselves, our friends, and the whole neighbourhood. But despite that, and the big blue box under the tree with my name on it, I still can't help thinking about how different things would be if the Cons had won the election.
It couldn't be a more disgusting spectacle, Jason Kenney and Scott Moe laying siege to Ottawa, trying to blackmail the federal government into giving them more money. And threatening that if the government doesn't pay up, Alberta and Saskatchewan might separate. It's an ugly argument from two very ugly Cons. So I'm glad that Justin Trudeau is finally putting the Western separatists in their place.
For days Andrew Scheer was able to dodge reporters, who wanted to ask him about this potentially explosive, Con on Con probe. The Conservative governing body is asking why the expenses filed to it by the office of former leader Andrew Scheer are roughly $700,000 over their usual amount. As well as dodging Stephen Harper who is said to be absolutely furious, especially since Scheer is going to be Con leader for longer than he or anyone expected. So I was glad to see that someone finally tracked down the Ugly American, in an airport, and forced him to explain himself.
As I'm sure you know, Jody Wilson-Raybould has been refusing to vacate a suite of offices on Parliament Hill that were assigned to her when she was a cabinet minister. Even though now she's just a humble independent MP, and the new minister and his staff need them. She didn't say no, she just didn't budge. She even had the place blessed. The new Common's Speaker said he was prepared to evict her, if necessary. For a moment it looked like it could end badly.
It's a truly bizarre situation. After two years of assaulting the eyes and ears of Canadians with one depraved attack ad after the other, Andrew Scheer has gone silent. He's disappeared from public view, he isn't giving interviews. And this lonely attack ad that makes Justin Trudeau look like a criminal is the only sign that the Ugly American is still out there somewhere.
He has been a professional politician for fifteen years, and is now one of the most right-wing members of a party more American than Canadian. He is said to be worth about $9 million and counting, and must carry his bloated pension around in an armoured car. He has offended the dignity of Parliament over and over again by yapping like an enraged hyena, and going after his opponents in the most disgusting manner But still Pierre Poilievre isn't satisfied.
Once upon a time Andrew Scheer's Twitter feed pumped out a grotesque anti-Trudeau attack ad about every six hours, seven days a week. But now that torrent of Con diarrhoea has all but dried up, along with Scheer's creepy smile which has apparently been replaced by a look of sheer terror. As he comes to terms with the reason he was forced to resign so suddenly.
On Thursday, Andrew Scheer announced that he had decided to resign as Con leader claiming that he wanted to spend more time with his family. But yesterday he decided to skip Question Period. And as it turns out, for a very good reason.
As we all know Jody Wilson-Raybould has always had a very high opinion of herself. So high in fact that some say she believes that she should be Prime Minister, not Justin Trudeau. And who can forget how for months during the SNC "scandal," the Con media hung on her every word, made her look like a secular saint, and inflated her ego like a hot air balloon? So naturally, she has a highly developed sense of entitlement. But this is beyond belief.
Andrew Scheer tried so hard to look like a winner, instead of a sad loser. He vowed to continue as if he hadn't lost the election. He vowed to lead the Cons to victory in the next one. He vowed that this time he would DESTROY Justin Trudeau. But apparently behind the scenes he was a total wreck, a broken man. He couldn't believe what had happened, and wherever he went he heard the sounds of knives sharpening. Until he finally surrendered.
I see that Maxime Bernier is threatening to go after Warren Kinsella, not on Twitter this time but in the courts. Maxime Bernier is preparing a defamation case against political consultant Warren Kinsella for calling Mr. Bernier a racist and a bigot. During the federal election campaign, The Globe and Mail reported that Mr. Kinsella’s company, Daisy Group, had been hired for an assignment called Project Cactus. Documents revealed the goal of the project was to “seek and destroy” Mr. Bernier’s party. And while I have no idea who will emerge the winner, nor do I care. I do know who the big loser will probably be.
I knew that Andrew Scheer would absolutely hate the Throne Speech, because it never mentioned the holy words "ALBERTA, SASKATCHEWAN, OIL, and PIPELINES. But did promise that the Trudeau government would step up the fight against climate change, which Scheer doesn't believe in. And I knew that he needed to make as much noise as possible to remind Canadians that he's still the Con leader, or still had a pulse. But this is ridiculous.
Well just as I predicted, the Trudeau Trump fake scandal went nowhere in Canada, and expired shortly after it was born.
Despite the frantic efforts of Vassy Kapelos, and other CBC minions, who blew that teeny tiny fluffy story until their faces turned blue, to try to bring it back to life.
But although the Trudeau Trump story was a bust in Canada, in the U.S. it went viral. With millions of Americans using what happened at the NATO summit, to laugh at Trump and call him a clown.
In Montreal this evening fourteen light beams will rise from the top of Mount Royal, one by one into the sky. One for every woman murdered in the École Polytechnique Massacre 30-years-ago. Murdered just for being women, by a man who hated feminists.
They were so young, they were so full of hope in the future.
Only to have their dreams of being engineers, so long reserved for men, brutally extinguished in a few murderous minutes. And then have their legacy defiled by Stephen Harper and his bestial Cons. Who like the Scheer Cons cared more about god and guns, than they cared about women and girls. And didn't give a damn about the effects of gun violence.
The bastards. I remember how angry I used to be to see the gun lobby treat the murdered women as The Enemy for making them look bad. I remember how they insisted that the massacre was the work of a madman not a misogynist. And how some of them threatened to kill me for refusing to believe that cowardly lie. So I can't tell you how relieved I am to see that after thirty years, attitudes are finally changing. At last, 30 years later, the reluctance of officialdom to call what happened what it was has been made right. A new sign has just gone up in the Place-du-6-décembre-1989, a memorial park at the base of the U of M campus, on the corner of Decelles Street and Queen Mary Road.
The old sign said only that there had been a tragedy.
The new sign states that 14 women were murdered in an anti-feminist attack at École Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989. It condemns all forms of violence against women. And that the legacy of the Montreal Massacre is finally being rescued. It also makes me happy to know that we now have a prime minister who supports women's rights, and is proud to call himself a feminist.
Who is working to curb gun violence. And who will be on Mount Royal tonight when those fourteen beams of light rise into the sky.
So after so many years I can at last feel sure that the legacy of those murdered women will live on. Always remember their names. Geneviève Bergeron, 21 - Hélène Colgan, 23 - Nathalie Croteau, 23 - Barbara Daigneault, 22 - Anne-Marie Edward, 21 - Maud Haviernick, 29 - Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, 31 - Maryse Laganière, 25 - Maryse Leclair, 23 - Anne-Marie Lemay, 22 - Sonia Pelletier, 23 - Michèle Richard, 21 - Anne St-Arneault, 23 - Annie Turcotte, 21 Always honour their memory...
And keep their precious legacy alive. By demanding an end to the violence against women and girls. And fighting forever for a more equal world...
For more than two years the CBC program Power and Politics has been a television playground for Andrew Scheer and his foul Cons. A place where Vassy Kapelos and her mostly right wing panellists use one fake scandal after the other to try to destroy Justin Trudeau, while allowing Scheer to corrupt our democracy with one big lie after the other. Well now Gassy and her gang are at it again. Trying to turn a gossipy 25 second video into a huge, or yuuuuuuge fake scandal.
The Cons had their Christmas Party in Ottawa last night, and as you can imagine it was a grim affair. With no doubt many of those who attended wondering who would be the next to knife their loser leader in the back. For as I mentioned the other day there are so many of them they practically have to take a number.
There is something deeply disturbing about Andrew Scheer's grim determination not to surrender his job, after being humiliated by Justin Trudeau, the man he hates more than any other. For this is pathetic. “Some people have asked why am I still fighting. Why I don’t just give up?” he said.
“Because I can’t and I won’t.” And this is desperate.
I have no idea why Andrew Scheer made the Liberal defector Leona Alleslev the deputy leader of his demoralized Cons. But if I look at the poster the Con propaganda department made to celebrate her defection just over a year ago, it's clear she is easily impressed. And not too bright. For anyone who believes that the increasingly desperate Scheer is a strong leader must either be REALLY dumb, or living in a parallel universe, or simply out of their minds. And sure enough, when Alleslev was asked some simple questions about climate change and carbon taxes, she looked like an absolute Con clown.
