Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, back from an ill-timed and seemingly mostly fruitless trip to Washington D.C., pleaded for federal Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole’s political life yesterday at a typical Alberta Government news conference about nothing in particular.
“I would just say this to my friends in the federal Conservative party, I don’t think in the long run it makes sense to change leaders after every election,” Mr. Kenney said in response to a reporter’s question about whether he still supports Mr. O’Toole in the face of an uprising by the national party’s large social conservative caucus.
But he had to have been thinking about his own predicament – unpopular with voters, undercut by the United Conservative Party’s COVID-denial caucus, and facing a leadership review of his own in April, when he went on to opine that, “I think stability, continuity are important Conservative principles.”
“I also would just encourage my friends in the federal Conservative Party not to do or say things right now in the heat of the moment that they might end up regretting on either side of this debate,” he said, a little pleadingly, undoubtedly worrying that the federal party risks fragmenting again into multiple factions.
If that happens, as conservative columnist John Ibbitson observed in the Globe and Mail last night, it’ll be “a glorious time to be a Liberal.”
Stability and continuity will be at the heart of Mr. Kenney’s pitch this spring to carry the UCP’s standard into the next battle against Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP despite his current deplorable approval rating and the problematic news yesterday the New Democrats had crushed the UCP at fund-raising in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The NDP raised $2.1 million to the UCP’s $1.2 million between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, Elections Alberta reported.
It was the fifth consecutive quarter the NDP out-raised the UCP and left the Opposition party led by former premier Notley ahead by $6.2 million to the UCP’s $3.8 million for the year.
The anti-abortion activists of the Pro-Life Political Association – the very social conservatives who helped Mr. Kenney win the UCP leadership in 2017 just as they helped Mr. O’Toole win his in 2020 – placed third in fund-raising, as they did in the third quarter, posting $121,500.
Flanked by acting justice minister Sonya Savage and Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney, Mr. Kenney’s main topics on his news conference agenda were convoys and COVID, with a side of whom he managed to talk to at the weekend state governors’ convention in Washington.
The fact anti-vaccine-mandate truckers with an extreme rightward tilt had been illegally blocking Alberta’s southern border with the U.S. and rampaging through Ottawa for three days while the premier partied in Washington put Mr. Kenney in an awkward position.
After all, like the members of the Pro-Life party, the scofflaw truckers are undeniably part of the original coalition that helped Mr. Kenney beat Brian Jean for the UCP leadership in 2017.
This required the premier to simultaneously suck and blow, something that seems to come naturally to him, begging them to stop their illegal activities while praising them as mostly very fine, law abiding people.
“There have been no good choices in any of this,” he complained of his government’s response to two years of pandemic, an argument unlikely to arouse much sympathy among the truckers still defying the RCMP as they continue to block the border at Coutts.
“So to folks that are motivated by that frustration, I totally sympathize with that, but please express that in a way that is lawful, and peaceful,” Mr. Kenney begged. “You know, don’t make a bad situation worse!
“I’m out there tryin’ to campaign to end the quarantine requirement for unvaccinated cross-border truckers. I went down to Washington in large part to make that case. … I will continue to. So for those who feel that way, I’m on your side!”
“But part of the argument we’re making there is that the restriction on unvaccinated truck drivers doesn’t make sense and it’s going to further force up food prices and create challenges for supplies, including food. So that’s exactly what’s happening at the Coutts border crossing right now.”
Work with him, sure, but Mr. Kenney also made clear he’s not actually willing to meet the protesters in person. Well, it’s hard to blame him for that. They appear to be violent thugs, notwithstanding his protestations to the contrary. But it’s worth keeping in mind the next time Conservatives condemn Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the same thing.
At least Mr. Kenney, like Ontario Premier Doug Ford, firmly disavowed any plans to seek the federal Conservative leadership himself.
And what did he accomplish in Washington, other than a few awkward photo opportunities with miscellaneous Republican governors? Not much, it would seem.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Democrat with whom he wanted to discuss keeping the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline open, refused to meet him. That’s what you get for calling someone you disagree with “brain dead,” presumably.
So someone else will have to make the case for keeping open Line 5, which crosses northern Michigan to supply much of Eastern Canada with petroleum products from Alberta.
Speaking of Michigan, Mr. Kenney did manage to score bragging rights to an audience with a couple of powerful U.S. union leaders, including Detroit-born Jimmy Hoffa Jr., who was until last year the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
If only Mr. Kenney would agree to talk to Alberta union leaders like Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith or United Nurses of Alberta President Heather Smith.
You know Kenney, when the going gets tough his first inclination is to run or hide, so that US trip fit perfectly with his mode of operating. Asas, one does have to come back eventually and things may be just as bad or worse.
So, Kenney has two tricky and pressing problems now. First, the ongoing protesters blockade of Alberta border traffic. I guess those guys are not buying Kenney’s “hey I’m on you side, work with me” act anymore. Second, the Federal Conservatives are apparently about to get rid of their leader. Now, normally that wouldn’t necessarily affect a Premier.
After all the UCP is technically a different party with a slightly different name to prove it. However, Kenney never really took his finger out of Federal politics and he must worry if the Fed Cons develop a taste for Regicide it could spead to the Prov Cons, a number of whom are also quite uneasy with their leader.
If that’s not bad enough, more bad news about fundraising. So to summarize, protesting truckers, pro life activists, political funders, caucus members and Albertans in general are not very impressed with Kenney any more.
Maybe he should just have stayed in Washington and tried harder to make up with the Michigan Governor. Gee, I wonder why she gave him such the cold shoulder. Was it something he said? On second thought, it would probably be no better there for Kenney. He seems to have developed an amazing ability to alienate everyone, everywhere.
And it seems that Kenney’s announcement that the restrictions will soon be lifted completely and all mandates scrapped, could save his hide from his own angry base. It looks like Kenney is in such a panicky mood, he is likely to lift the restrictions ASAP (Like right now!) and take the denialist approach to the pandemic that he once championed over a year ago. It’s a great time to do it, now that the COVID variants appear to be piling up. Maybe this will save Kenney’s skin? Or maybe there will be a truckers’ protest in Red Deer during the vote for his leadership review?
As for Erin O’Toole, it looks like a lot of CPC MPs are looking for his head, among them Michael Cooper and Garnett Genuis. Watching O’Toole in the H of C he really did look like a dead man walking. He stuttered through Question Period, looking less and less like someone who’s in control of his destiny. The CPC side of the House was largely empty, because they were working the phones trying to get the rebel MPs to change their minds. Sure, they will change their minds, for now, meaning O’Toole is mortally wounded. O’Toole, now sounding more conciliatory, putting aside his more belligerent “You want a piece of me?!” tone of recent days, says he is willing to do everything and anything to keep his leadership. If that’s the case, O’Toole will be even less of a leader than he was before.
Yes, these are truly great days to be PMJT. He must be falling on his arse laughing at his insanely good luck.
DJC, it was exceedingly kind of you to call Kenney’s stateside trip “seemingly mostly fruitless”, as if were possible to shade some doubt on the fact that the trip, to judge by the rest of your excellent blog post, was entirely useless and a waste of time. But, I suspect you were being ironic judging by the rest of your excellent blog post.
As for Gretchen Whitmer refusing to meet Bumbles, there is likely more to this than Bumble’s calling her brain dead. Let’s not forget that Kenney is trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth to placate a bunch of right-wing, violent group of nutbars who have been infiltrated by a bunch of tRump-loving, swastika waving fascists. He is not trying to put as much distance as he can from these folks. That might worry someone like Governor Whitmer, who, let’s not forget, was the target of a domestic terrorist kidnapping conspiracy by a bunch oftRumpian, gun-loving, fascist nutbars. Why would she want to meet with someone who insulted her and who is vaguely associated with authoritarian-loving groups, dog whistles to them, and does not disavow them in the strongest terms?
Bumbles appears willing to meet labour union representatives when they have all the power and he has none, as is the case with the still powerful Teamsters Union in the US. He has no respect for unions or the plight of the ordinary worker. For Bumbles, it is all about money and power.
John Ibbitson had another memorable quote in his piece in the Globe and Mail:
“The Conservatives could be evolving into an untenable contradiction, in which no one who could lead the party can win the country, and no one who could win the country can lead the party.”
The same thing appears to be happening here in Alberta. One can only hope.
Phlogiston: Indeed, many of these people are violent fascists. But they did not come from nothing. Let’s recall Mussolini said the essence of fascism was to put the power of the state at the service of big business. One of his first acts was to seize farm land from its owners for his friends in big business. Then he went after the labour unions and others.
In Alberta, one law for the fossil fuel crowd and another for the rest of us has been the rule all of my adult life. In fact, the few times farmers and ranchers have managed to use the courts in Alberta to stop the rape and pillage of their land and our environment, the Conservatives have changed the laws to allow the impunity to continue. That has sent a clear message to the energy sector and its beneficiaries manning those blockades that the rule of law is optional when it comes to them. It also sent a clear message to farmers and ranchers that the Courts and Government are unreliable at best and enemies at worst.
So, it should be no surprise a bunch of fossil yahoos think they are above the law. In fact, they have been so for decades. It is not even mildly surprising there are no camo-clad RCMP stormtroopers with helicopters, assault rifles, dogs, and snipers as on Wet’suwet’en territory. You urbans and rurbans voted for it over 40 years and few of you spoke up when the fascists were taking our land, wrecking our cooperatives, and everyone’s environment. To pay homage to your pen name: when these fascist social forces are empowered by law, soon they devour the very law and society that empowered them. You reap what you sow.
I dunno the good people of Michigan have made it pretty clear how they feel about line 5, I’d say it has more to do with than than anything. Whitmer would definitely like to keep her job in politics.
That also. No one wants our dirty dilbit polluting their land and water.
@Phlogiston: the only thing wrong with Mr Ibbotson’s comment on the CPC leadership is that he is a few years late in recognizing this. For a long time, it’s been fairly clear that the Conservative Party of Canada’s biggest problem is … the Conservative Party of Canada. They are fundamentally incapable of broadening their appeal to those Canadian voters that live in large urban centres — which is WHERE MOST OF THE SEATS ARE!!!
They have also gradually driven from their party all of the moderate conservatives, i.e. former PCs & so-called “Red Tories”. All that are left are that weird amalgam of social conservatives and libertarians — social conservatives when it comes to individual people & their families, behaviour & relationships, libertarians when it comes to business & the economy.
“If only Mr. Kenney would agree to talk to Alberta union leaders like Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith or United Nurses of Alberta President Heather Smith.”
As with his late campaign on behalf of Keystone. Jason Kenney only likes good union jobs when they’re elsewhere. Albertans, on the other hand, can just put on their paper hats and smile behind him at McDonalds’ ribbon-cuttings.
The Coutts border standoff is pure insanity. But no more insane than JT telling everyone to get vaccinated like he did so they won’t catch Covid like he did.
Insanity is posting the same drivel
Every day and expecting a different outcome.
Insanity is believing vaccines are going to take you to the promised land when they don’t prevent infection or transmission. They don’t even prevent you from getting sick. The only immunity associated with these vaccines is the legal immunity Pfizer and the other vaccine makers have.
Covid vaccines do not make you immune to getting covid. They make you more likely to survive getting covid. Bulletproof vests don’t make us bulletproof, yet we still wear them if we think we’re going to get shot. If you want to be treated as an adult, please take some responsibility for the “facts” you choose to believe.
This is straight from the Moderna vaccine fact sheet:
“WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE VACCINE?
The vaccine has been shown to prevent COVID-19. The duration of protection against COVID- 19 is currently unknown.”
https://www.fda.gov/media/144638/download
This is the most current fact sheet, from January 31 of this year.
The question is not one of maturity, but ignorance and magical thinking. Although I personally do not put any stock whatsoever in case counts due to the unsuitability of PCR testing as a diagnostic tool, if we accept the stated prevalence of Covid in Alberta, less than 4% of cases are severe. This stat has been more or less stable for the last twenty months, after the massacres in long-term care subsided, although it’s dropping with the “omicron” testing protocol changes.
For people without a pre-existing condition, 1.3% of cases are severe. This figure is actually lower in reality because about half the Covid hospitalizations are for something other than Covid.
For a person without a pre-existing condition, the chance of surviving after a positive test is 99.99985%.
https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm#pre-existing-conditions
I’ve been struck by the level of condescension from Covidian believers since the outset of the hysteria campaign. It is matched only by the general ignorance among Covidians of the actual available data.
The vast majority of Covid deaths since day one have been seniors in their 70’s and beyond. Vaccines make perfect sense for them. The vast majority who get omicron will have no more than a few sniffles and be laid low for a few days.
RONMAC: Sorry, but omicron isn’t just the sniffles. It’s worse than that. It also lasts longer than a few days.
Even Jason Kenney has recommended that everyone be vaccinated, not just Trudeau. For myself, who is triple vaccinated, I fortunately do not have school age children in my household, and, because I have comorbidities, I still, mask, distance, do not gather, stay home as much as possible, do fastidious hand hygiene (I have hand sanitizer gel in my vehicle)…..
And yes, the Coutts illegal blockade and other blockades is less about vaccines and masks, and more, about racism, white supremacy, hypocrisy, and the hatred of Trudeau. I am well aware of these characteristics in my area of southern Alberta here and the factored influence by supporters here, of the People’s Party of Canada, a disturbing ultra right wing neo-liberal Trumpism style of politics…a very sad state of affairs here.
If Kenney is recommending it, you know it has to be good.
I think it is pretty safe to say that if our premier had managed to accomplish anything of significance during his trip he would have been crowing about it. Thus, David is probably correct – the trip was little more than a junket that make Jason Kenney feel important.
Kenney’s junket to Washington was just a free vacation courtesy of Alberta taxpayers and nothing more. Look for many more of these getaways on our dime before he is punted from office or charged with fraud whichever comes first.
Pussy Kat, Pussy Kat
Where have you been?
“Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Democrat with whom he wanted to discuss keeping the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline open, refused to meet him.”
Why would she waste her time giving Kenney a photo op for the folks in Alberta?
Line 5 is a 65 year old pipeline carrying 540,000 barrels of western light crude daily beneath the Straits of Mackinac reaching Michigan and Ontario and linking Lakes Michigan and Huron. Accidents have happened before. Should the pipeline rupture, drinking water, shoreline and wildlife of Lake Huron and the rest of the Great Lakes Basin would be severely impacted. Naturally the Michigan Governor is concerned.
Opponents of the shutdown include Enbridge, the White House, the Government of Canada, the Fraser Institute and lots more. The oil will continue to flow, Jason’s brain dead insults aside.
Now he’s got a big problem on his hands. Those 10,000 truckers at the Coutts border, who are really only 100, declared on CBC radio this morning that they do not answer to anyone but God. Their spokesperson is someone with the surname Elzinga. How will Kenney deal with religious zealots holding a province hostage? The coming days will be interesting. Pressure is on from the meat packing industry to end this blockade now.
Happy Year of the Tiger!
I have to admit Gretchen’s side of the line 5 dispute has merit’s. Anyone who can read a map can see the pipeline route was based on economic and not enviromental concerns. The pipeline crossing at Maskinaw is 4 miles. That’s 4 miles of high pressure ( 200-300 psi) high flow ( 540,000 bpd) Alberta crude flowing under the Great Lakes. Actually at the crossing the pipeline splits into 2 20 inch lines instead or the regular 30 inch line. How is that for mitigation. From what I can see the Canadian Shield determined the route south at this point but they still could have avoided the Shield and the crossing by taking a longer route. Money. The enviroment of the Great Lakes wasn’t a paramount concern when line 5 was built in 1953 that much is certain.
Add this to the way Enbridge handled the Kalamazoo pipeline rupture where the operators in Edmonton disregarded their own instruments and restarted pumping the ” Texas Tea ” twice. EPA estimated at least 3800 cubic meters of heavy crude into the water ( guaranteed low estimate
At any rate Gretchen’s stock went up even higher to me when she refused to meet our Samba dancing,vacillating,authoritarian,cunning Premier of Alberta and apprentice oilman.
A lot of people, including me, have compared the tolerance shown to these protestors to the treatment of environmentalists blockading a rail line, or access to a work site. While I continue to think the tough talk from politicians vis-a-vis environmentalists compared to truckers is nothing short of pure hypocrisy, I do respect the police’s more cautious approach regarding moving the truckers out.
Ottawa police has said they are not willing to clear the protestors out of the city because the threat of violence is too high. Given the antics of the protestors in Southern Alberta, I think their caution is justified. It really isn’t difficult to imagine some of the truckers being armed, especially since some of them routinely drive in the US. The mental image of these hooligans, inspired by some Joe Rogan-type podcasters, and their own self image as a freedom fighter like in the movies, committing all kind of violent acts is very easy to bring up.
In comparison, environmentalists are much more likely to let themselves be arrested, and take their martyr status from being led away in handcuffs.
Jason Kenney would be well advised to think about that when he decides who to categorize as terrorists.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-convoy-protest-organizers-end-1.6336289
I understand where you’re coming from, but the double standard really sticks in my craw. When militarized police goons with their faces hidden came in with dogs and automatic weapons in a media blackout zone covered by snipers with orders to shoot to kill against the Wet’suwet’en, they justified it by saying “they were afraid there would be violence.” Now police officers are refusing to do their jobs and enforce the law because “they are afraid there will be violence.” I can only imagine the sense of helpless fury that the citizens of Ottawa must be feeling right now.
I understand that the risks are different and the situations are different, but I still think that the real cause of their reluctance is a combination of two factors – one, some police officers are ideologically aligned with the “freedom loving patriots” who provide aid, comfort and camouflage to swastika waving thugs, and two, police don’t want to use violence against white right wingers.
If the Police are afraid to enforce the law, they are admitting that this is not a “peaceful” protest. This is not what “rule of law” looks like.
“It’s not clear whether the Ottawa police took a permissive approach with trucker protestors because they sympathized with them or were scared of them” asks Max Fawcett in the National Observer. I say “Why not both”.
He links to images and videos of cops being chummy with protesters. Is this what a fascist coup feels like? We will find out when they start invading government buildings like in the Maidan.
It is hard to run a province when one is with one foot in the lunatic world but trying to impress the normal world.
The smartest people on this planet rarely make it when in that kind of environment. Jason Kenney not being the smartest crayon in the box is a complete failure but managed to get another vacation in the US before he confronts his leadership review.
Imagine Kenney succeeds in getting his own army, I mean police force. He can then allocate or withhold resources as he sees fit. Rural farms being broken into? Send in the troops! Anti-oil and gas protesters? Lock ’em up! White truckers blocking a highway? Oh sorry Mr. Mayor. All my boys are busy.
“Free speech” is the idea that the government cannot arrest you or censor you for what you say.
“Speech acts” are when, by saying things, we perform actions. Wedding vows, promises, and declarations of war are all types of speech acts. Note that we hold people to account for speech acts in a way that we do not for free speech.
“The Harm Principle” states that we ought to be free to do whatever we want, provided it does not harm others.
People spreading covid misinformation (among many others) are using free speech as a justification to perform speech acts which violate the harm principle. If those of us who consider ourselves “responsible adults” want to have a functional society to live in tomorrow, we need to find a solution to this problem.
Nobody is going to rescue us from the consequences of our actions.
Would you agree that Covid misinformation includes official proclamations that SARS CoV-2 will produce 800 000 cases in Alberta by mid-May 2020 in “most-likely” scenario?
How about the claims that natural immunity is woefully inadequate compared to the immunity provided by the vaccines? That was simply a giant lie that flew in the face of all that was known about immunity, and has since been acknowledged as yet another con job to convince people to take the experimental vaccines.
Unless of course, this guy is just another Rebel Media personality:
“Marty Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health
Natural immunity to covid is powerful. Policymakers seem afraid to say so.
The incorrect hypothesis that natural immunity is unreliable has resulted in the loss of thousands of American lives, avoidable vaccine complications, and damaged the credibility of public health officials.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/15/natural-immunity-vaccine-mandate/
Just another kook Joe Rogan fan, I suppose.
Yep, to say the least.
I suspect that Kenney must keep a bag packed in his office so that he can quickly leave the country when the going gets tough or when he is challenged.
UCP donations are in the doldrums yet again for Q4 and for 2021. Backroom boys, movers and shakers will not like this.
Now that another CON leader has been sent to that metaphorical farm, one must wonder what in the world is going on in the CPC?
Cummings’ report was clear: the CPC leadership and election campaigns have done enormous damage to the party’s image among new Canadians. Communities that are ethnically and culturally diverse look at the CPC and see nothing but hatred and indecent behavior. Judging by so many CPC MPs’ embrace of the unruly and the hateful, one must wonder if the CPC intends to be the Canadian version of the Trump GOP: all-white and pro-white.
Garnett Genuis is on record as saying O’Toole’s leadership and policies did not reflect HIS values. Nor did they reflect the values of Michael Cooper and pretty every MP from the Western Canadian factions. They are unapologetically pro-life, pro-gun, and anti anything that has even a hint of progressivism. They are against anything that is alien and does not come from their Wonderbread mega-church world. In other words, they want to live in their echo chamber and let the rest of the world go by. They are the definition of what it is to be backward.
The CPC will become a rural rump. There’s no room for Red Tories or anyone from the GTA in this party. The CPC is truly the party of hate, violence, and death.
Here’s the kicker. There are UCP and conservative fanatics who are upset at Justin Trudeau being in “hiding”, but aren’t saying anything about the head honcho of the UCP not being there. The trip to Washington DC was a waste of money. It did nothing. Typical for these pretend conservatives and Reformers in the UCP.
Kenney, like O’Toole today, is done time to move on. It will be interesting to see how the so called left deals with a true worker uprising, federally Singh has decided to finish the destruction of Jack Layton’s once proud and inclusive party. Here in Alberta Notley is going down the same path unfortunately, out fundraising other parties is no surprise when you look at who the base is. Those in blue collar professions did not have the luxury of working from home during this pandemic and have really suffered under the restrictions. The divide between those who sat at home collecting their full salary getting food and packages delivered and those doing the delivering will be exploited by the next Conservative or UCP leader. The more the trucker protests and protests in support of them are smeared as far-right and racist the more the NDP shows itself as a party of elites.
Accountability. Well well! Shall we roll his “deplorable” polls? His choices that in the land of Trump would lead to lawyer suits? Maybe. But right now I just want to bathe in what should be in any good universe in our new self inflicted multi-verse, what for me is good and kind news! Jason *f***ing* *j***off* has finally returned home! Good luck boy!
https://youtu.be/rQ6sh8Fcoi0
So now that O’Toole is done, wonder what Kenney will do? Do we dare hope that he ends up trying for CPC leadership?
Pretty, pretty please!
Because then someone else will become premier and will continue to fuck up everything and the UCP will be truly done next year.
My suspicion is Premier Bumbles N’ Stumbles is being encouraged by his advisors to go to any old foreign clambake to distract him from sticking his foot in his mouth. Also he looks better in the distant horizon, but alas not much better.
If I remember correctly, Jason Kenney did plug for O’Toole’s leadership. After all, O’Toole has been described as a mini-Harper. It remains as to whose strings are still being pulled by the puppeteer Harper. As it is, the federal Conservative Party of Canada is doing an exquisite job of self-imploding, as is the Kenney UCP.
I wonder when these phoney conservatives will wake up and realize that their Reform Party Policies aren’t’ what conservative people want. Helping their rich friends steal our oil and tax wealth in order for them to buy votes has become stale and Canadians aren’t buying it anymore.
So not being on social media, only “Google” sites are saying Tamara Lich is MIA ???
And Ottawa police chief ( according to CBC) says that money coming from the US and “some” of the supporters are American — this is my surprised face ○○¿
So all those trucks carrying the pretty banners that covered their liscence plates..○○¿
I have known Mike Lake , who is our MP, since he was six years old. He went to school with our daughter in Devon through to grade 12 and I have had a lot of respect for him but was always disappointed by the fools he worked for. There was nothing conservative about them. It was great seeing him on tv showing no support for O’Toole the fool. One more Reformer to add to the list of the defeated, just like the former MLAs I knew predicted. “Canadians will defeat these Reformers when they learn what they stand for” was their theory and boy were they right.
I wonder when CSIS/RCMP is going to start checking out Facebook, Twister, Instagram (other platforms are available) for posts supporting these protests. From before the protest started rolling?
I like the idea that some Ottawa Councillors has come up with … to sue that Go Fund Me acct which would sure cover a ton of the extra expenses in policing that the various forces where these protests have taken place will need to pay. It is so nice of the Go Fund Me acct organizers to get the money together to help with the policing bills.
Seems the word is that the CPC MPs will accept any leader who is an outsider. In other words, someone not in government. This is the sort of nonsense that caused the Trump GOP to emerge.
Looks like the CONs are on the Highway to Hell.
Its so funny when NDP laugh about having the richer supporters. Well of course they do.
When nobody else can make money governments still pay their workers.
Thats why there is a Freedom rally.
Pretty ironic the NDP is against freedom.
BRET LARSON: What Albertans are paying for is the very costly shenanigans of these pretend conservatives and Reformers. These pretend conservatives and Reformers then take it out on everyone else. That isn’t a laughing matter.
I assume that you were peaking when you wrote this since it can’t be squared with reality again (still).
When nobody else can make money then tax receipts drop to zero and the government goes bankrupt and can’t pay their workers. I’m sure you’re thinking that all it takes is for the government to visit a bank to get all the money that they need, but I hope that you know that this is not true in any way that doesn’t already apply to private commerce. Banks will loan governments money but they demand collateral, and Alberta doesn’t really have any. We’ve given away our oil and gas and raised tuition (we’re getting more tax dollars from students than from millionaire/billionaire oil and gas companies).
I wish I could suss out the point you’re supposed to be making, but “Thats (sic) why there is a Freedom (sic) rally” seems to be answering a question you never asked. Is there a freedom rally because nobody can make money? Is there a freedom rally because the government still pays their workers? Is there a freedom rally because you believe that the NDP are laughing about having the richer supporters? Look up the term “non-sequitur” and perhaps try again.
I’m glad that you informed me that the NDP is against freedom. They’ve done an incredible job of hiding that. I can’t find a single reason to believe it’s true!
RE: O’Toole being shown the door – I’m more than a little worried that a certain fork-tounged partisan pit bull from Carleton is going to take this opportunity to become Canada’s Trump. As much as I completely detest this individual, they are probably the most talented, eloquent, and accomplished candidate that the Conservatives have left (which ought to be cause for alarm).
For anyone needing some catharsis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzaZLiYcQxw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnmgL5CZqfs
Very amusing to see the “F” word bandied about in these chats. There is no question that Tailgunner Jay and co. embody and his supporters are fascists. But Lil’ Magus and pals are likewise fascists. The difference is the TJ panders to the traditional type of fascist in the fading hydro-carbon-fed industrial capitalist model, whereas JT is a priest in the newfangled global digital capitalist model.
It’s not a conspiracy theory that JT and friends are put through the World Economic Forum training, and ain’t none of it rooted in representative democracy nor any economic viewpoint other than global neoliberalism:
Here’s that great champion of democracy and equality, Klaus Schwab, explaining how proud he is of JT and friends. And he name-checks Pooty-poot, too!
Tailgunner Jay and pals are just the Ernst Rohm set in the Thousand Year Digital Reich.
“What we are very proud of, is that we penetrate the global cabinets of countries with our WEF Young Global Leaders… like #JustinTrudeau”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B1Mc0PbXjw
Keep on penetrating in the Free world!
Mr Murphy: clearly supply chains are under some strain … apparently you’re having trouble getting tinfoil (actually aluminum, but who really cares) from which to construct hats & cover the windows in your home.