Tag: pierre-poilievre

POILIEVRE. AGAIN

How do I talk about Pierre Poilievre without sounding like, well, Pierre Poilievre?

I started this article on Friday and tossed it in my trash bin Saturday morning, mostly because of the tone I was taking, and because I had let him get under my skin again.  So I walked away.

Maybe I should just have confidence in my fellow Canadians to discern for themselves what kind of person he is.  And maybe they already have.  Maybe that’s why he’s not prime minister.  

But that said, he’s not gone.  Not yet.  Not by a long shot.

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A KINDER, GENTLER PIERRE?

After sorting through the “carnage” of the last federal election results, Conservatives have been busy trying to figure out what exactly the hell happened.

The party won more seats, grabbed a bigger share of the popular vote, and made in-roads into areas and ridings where Tories once dared not walk.

Oh, and their leader lost his seat.  Badly.  No recounts needed in Carleton.  The boss got bossed right out of town.

Not long ago, snagging over 40% in public opinion surveys and the popular vote would signal a Conservative majority government, something everyone, including myself, was predicting not long ago.  And not just a simple majority, but a massive one.  Yet even with all the gains the party posted, the Liberals got more of all of the above, in seats, vote share, and their leader actually winning his own riding, interestingly the riding next door to the Tory leader’s.

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POILIEVRE, BY-ELECTIONS, AND OFFICIAL RESIDENCES

Rideau Cottage, Stornaway, and 24 Sussex Drive.

Three of Canada’s official residences, two in stages of disrepair, while the third is, well, a cottage.

The Americans have their White House, the South Koreans have their Blue House, and most of the world’s nations have some form of presidential palace, although the word palace doesn’t really have a good Canadian feel to it.  That said, the point is that most countries have an official residence for their head of state, although I’m not counting Hitler’s Führerbunker, since that place wasn’t really big on splashy amenities and I don’t recall any elaborate state dinners being held at the place that served as home for the Nazi dictator’s final days.  To fit into my discussion, I’d prefer there not be bullet-hole pockmarks in the brickwork, bomb damage to the exterior and the grounds, and the torched remains of the owners in the front court.  Decidedly not the look and feel I’m going after here.

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THE CAPTAIN WHO WENT DOWN WITHOUT HIS SHIP

Pierre Poilievre exhorted voters to “Bring it Home.”

The voters in his riding responded with “Send him Home.”

And so they did, those very wise people of Carleton, a riding in the South Ottawa area.  They gave the seat to Bruce Fanjoy, the Liberal, instead.

It was an election that defied explanation, and yet I understand pretty much everything about how it went down and came to pass.  But understanding is not the same as agreement.

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CONSERVATIVE TV ADS ARE BRILLIANTLY BRUTAL

I’m a little disappointed at the craftsmanship, the tone, the acting, and the messaging.

Disappointed in a professional sense, in that I come from a history of political marketing, promoting, and advertising.  But that said, from a personal point of view, I’m equally encouraged that the failings alluded to in the first sentence are all to be found in the latest round of Conservative election television ads.

The usually sure-footed Tories have completely lost their way in an area where they were once kings.  They now look like the cut-rate hired help.  I suspect when they kick Pierre Poilievre out of the leadership of that party, they’ll be putting the boot to his communications guy, Sebastian Skamski, as well. 

So these ads, while terrible, are beautiful.

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SMITH AND BYRNE

One is an angry Alberta populist, and the other is, well, just angry.  The first was an old-school prairie radio talk show host in Alberta, the other was someone who attended two post-secondary education entities, but left both before graduation.  The former is the former leader of the Wild Rose Party in Alberta, about as close as we can get, and it’s pretty damned close, to the red-hatted morons of MAGA.  The latter served as a chief advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but was chased out of the party after losing a Conservative Party power play with Eganville’s Ray Novak.

One is Alberta premier Danielle Smith.  The other is Pierre Poilievre’s chief strategist and former romantic partner, Jenni Byrne.

Both have their political origins on the far right of the political spectrum, where dystopian anger is the watchword.  Both are MAGA acolytes.  One kisses Donald Trump’s fat ass, while the other has the red hat and wears it.  

Both are dangerous to Canada.

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FEDERAL ELECTION APRIL 28, 2025

April 28, 2025.

Not long ago, I shared my thinking on the political lay of the land federally, and in my view, it was pretty bleak.

The wolves outside were huffing and puffing, puffing and huffing, and there was a very real prospect that they were going to blow the entire bloody house down.

Trump in the White House again, and a massive Conservative majority government led by Pierre Poilievre up north, where we are.

Poll after poll after poll as much as confirmed the scenario, until the polls started to change, and not even incrementally really, but dramatically.  But those changes in polling results are something I’ve seen plenty of times before, so I wasn’t ready to go out and buy party balloons and streamers.

And then poll after poll after poll started to come together to form what appeared to be a verifiable trend, that the Liberals were closing ground on the Conservatives, in many cases bouncing back from a 20+ point deficit to within 6-7 points of the leading Tories.

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POILIEVRE “NOT A MAGA GUY”

“He’s not a MAGA guy.”

That’s what U.S.President Donald Trump said this week about Canada’s Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative party and assumed next prime minister after the next federal election, something that can happen sooner rather than later if the political environment versus the United States remains hot or heats up even more.

All razors have two sides, and that’s what makes them dangerous, especially in the hands of little kids, who have a better chance of hurting themselves than others, I guess depending upon what they do with the thing prior to inflicting damage upon themselves.

Things have not been going well recently for Poilievre, as his fortunes appear to be tied to two large things that he may not have accounted for, but really ought to have seen coming:  the resignation of Justin Trudeau and the ascendence of Trump as a de-facto dictator wannabe in the United States.

I can’t understand how theres’s not a 4’ x 8’ bulletin board in the war room over at Fort Tory that prominently features two big-idea questions:

What would we do if Trudeau were to resign?

What would we do if Trump came out swinging at us (Canada) like he intends to cause harm?

I guess those questions somehow eluded the big-thinkers in the Tory War Department, that hothouse of Conservative campaign-fighting, complete with its own rhyming section and slogan machine.  

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ANGER AS A CHOICE

My tone can be harsh, and my barbs can be sharp.

To read my material, one could reasonably assume that I was one miserable human being.  Depending on the day and the topic, one could reasonably be correct in that assessment.  And I completely get that.

By my account anyways, I’m kind of a good guy.  If this was a movie, I’d want to be one of the fellers riding along with the loveable but crusty old  sheriff in pursuit of Black Bart, that bastard who robbed the bank and shot up Miss Kitty’s saloon.

So why the tone?

It’s sometimes an uncomfortable reality that, when you’re fighting the “bad guys,” even the good guys have to employ the kind of tactics that the opposition use to advance their own causes, to use language that they might not appreciate. 

If these were people who could be reached through rational, good-faith  discussion, then sign me up, I could do that all day.  But many of these types are well below that bar, are dismissive of rational argument, and couldn’t give a fig about what we may think. 

To get their attention, you have to piss them off.  And to piss them off, you have to get under their skin, expose their anger, flush them out of their smug certainty that being the loudest voice in the room is the one that ultimately prevails.

It’s tough to land a punch on people like this.  And sometimes, with some of them, you have to take the elevator to the basement to even get within range of landing a punch.

So welcome to the basement.

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POILIEVRE

Am I detecting a little bit of discomfort with Pierre Poilievre?

I sure hope so.

The adolescent leader of the federal Conservatives had the prime minister’s chair all sized-up and had already pictured the office furnishings and drapes, although there are blinds in the prime minister’s Parliament Hill office.  But what a corker it would be if this guy gets nowhere near that office, ever.  But that might be asking an awful lot.

That I don’t like him is obvious.  That I’ve never liked him is more obvious still.  That’s because there is absolutely nothing to like about this man, who behaves like a miserable little bully who loves to throw insults and taunts on the school yard but somehow manages not to get beaten up.  Or reined in by whoever has yard duty or answers the phones in the office.

He’s had a bit of a crisis recently, but not one that he’d ever admit to.

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