Something new is happening in the 2025 federal election campaign now under way.
After a couple of years of polls suggesting that a Conservative victory was a deadbolt cinch and Pierre Poilievre would soon be prime minister, no sooner did Justin Trudeau quit as PM than public opinion began to turn back toward the Liberals now led by former central banker Mark Carney.
This seems to have pushed some prominent Alberta Conservatives right up to the edge, maybe right over it.
Even in the best of times, of course, Alberta Conservatives tend to be bad losers. Maybe that’s because, at the provincial level, they just don’t get enough practice.
So we’ve seen Conservative post-election tantrums before. They’re a phenomenon that appears most frequently after federal elections, in which the Conservative party under whatever name it calls itself hasn’t been the country’s Natural Governing Party practically since John A. Macdonald departed the scene.
Once, though, we whipped one up right here in Wild Rose Country. The unexpected election of an NDP provincial government in Alberta in 2015 provoked a spasm of anger that radicalized the conservative base, destroyed the venerable provincial Progressive Conservative Party, and continued even after the return to power of the so-called United Conservative Party under Jason Kenney in 2019.
What’s new, though, is this:
First, the 2025 tantrum is happening before the ballots have been counted.
This seems like proof, if you ask me, that Canadian Conservatives have already given up on Mr. Poilievre as the leader who can finally bring them back to power. It sure seems as if they assume he’ll soon follow in the footsteps of Erin O’Toole and Andrew Scheer, the first two leaders the party chose after Stephen Harper’s election loss in 2015 and dumped when they failed to replace Mr. Trudeau.
Second, that since the rise of Donald Trump in the United States and the MAGAfication of a significant subset of the Canadian conservative voting base, the party’s commitment to democracy, as we used to say in pre-metric days, is a mile wide and an inch deep.
The times when Conservative leaders like everyone else would proclaim after an election loss that “the voters are always right” are gone. Now they say instead, “if you won’t vote like we tell you, we’ll bust up your country!”
Consider the recent threats by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and former federal Reform Party leader Preston Manning about what will happen if they don’t get their way on April 28 and the Liberals are instead re-elected to a fourth term.
As University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young cleverly put it in her Substack yesterday, Ms. Smith and Mr. Manning have “decided to get out in front of the issue … and give the rest of Canada a chance not to make the terrible mistake of thwarting Alberta’s wishes.”
On March 28, Premier Smith huffed, “I provided a specific list of demands the next Prime Minister, regardless of who that is, must address within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis.” (Give me plastic straws or give me death!)
“After the election’s over,” she vowed on her fortnightly radio program last weekend, she’ll create “what I’ll call the ‘What’s Next Panel.’ We just wanna go around the province, see how people are feeling, and see if there are any other referendum issues that they want us to put on the table.”
A referendum about what? “Those in positions of power in Alberta know there will be a populist prairie fire if it’s four more years of the same-old Liberals,” warned Postmedia political columnist Rick Bell, surely the premier’s favourite commentator, often used to run her worst ideas up the flagpole.
“The Smith government is not putting a separatist referendum on a ballot,” Mr. Bell wrote on April Fool’s Day, although he was not joking. “But the smart money … says Smith is going to make it easier for Albertans to put the question on the ballot.”
But it’s Mr. Manning who has sailed the closest to outright sedition in what he has to say.
In a screed shamefully published yesterday in The Globe and Mail, under the headline “Mark Carney poses a threat to national unity,” Mr. Manning came right out and warned, “Voters, particularly in central and Atlantic Canada, need to recognize that a vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession – a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it.”
“Understand that separation of the resources-based economic engine of Western Canada from what’s left of the rest of Canada will have dire economic and social consequences for the latter,” he continued, channelling Mr. Trump’s tariff treats.
“The next prime minister of Canada, if it remains Mark Carney, would then be identified in the history books, tragically and needlessly, as the last prime minister of a united Canada,” Mr. Manning concluded.
What cheek! The man should really turn in his Order of Canada lapel pin. And he should probably take a look at some recent polling from British Colombia too.
Well, maybe Mr. Manning, once the premier’s son who was seen as heir apparent to the rat-free Social Credit Kingdom, is just irked he’s never going to inherit the old man’s crown. I imagine if they hear his latest bluster, folks in the rest of Canada will just roll their eyes.
Of course, this kind of threat will evaporate if Albertans push up the popular vote for the Liberals on April 28, and especially if they manage to elect a half a dozen or more Liberal MPs and a few New Democrats, as some polls suggest might happen.
A few strong progressive Alberta voices in cabinet would do more for national unity than anything this province’s increasingly radicalized and cranky Conservatives demand.
In the middle of an election, while Canada is in a trade fight with a bloviating Nero, Alberta has decided to throw endless tantrums. Looks good, right?
Of course, they had to roll out Presto Manning, because he is the worst prime minister Canada never had. I mean, dodging a bullet is one thing, but nearly falling into a tiger pit is something else.
All things considered, Manning lost the leadership of the political party he founded to Stockwell Day, no doubt with some help from Jason Kenney, so it’s fair to say that he’s one of the many not so sharp tools that have been in Alberta’s shed. But rolling him out at a time like this just proves Alberta is not a place of serious people.
Doug Ford looks like a nation-builder, while Queen Danielle runs to Florida every chance she gets, and on Alberta’s dime, to hobknob with the alt-right meatheads from Breitbart et al. I’ve noticed Skippy Pollivere is becoming weirdly conciliatory and more like an adult these days, which is pretty weird in itself. Carney must be beside himself as the Leaders Debate approaches.
Mo’ popcorn.
The circus in Alberta is craving attention in the shadow of the Federal election run by grown-ups like Carney, and it is driving them crazy.
Please know this isn’t all of Alberta. Not even close. It’s just a bunch of whiny blowhards who don’t want to pay taxes and feel endlessly victimized for reasons they can’t even articulate. I am in S. Alberta, and while staunchly conservative (not me) thata doesn’t necessarily mean anti Canadian.
Actually they do articulate their “victimization” regularly. It’s the long-dead National Energy Programme, and its not quite as long-dead author Pierre Trudeau. It’s equalization, which they wrongly claim means Alberta is funding Québec, and reveals a deep streak of anti-francophone bigotry underpinning that animus. It’s environmental stewardship, and the fact Canada won’t streamline the construction of pipelines in every direction by running roughshod over the valid objections of those through whose territory they would be built. It’s climate change and any policy that seeks to reduce Canada’s carbon footprint.
I live in Grande Prairie, and Liberal is a four- letter word here, with NDP despised almost as much.
Unlucky to live in a place so full of hate
Best of luck to you.
This is true, I am right smack in DS district, both Liberal, NDP and Conservative are NOT anti Canadian. In fact seems like Liberal has their vote. A few who voted NDP are now voting Liberal. I for one would really wish people on social media, wish that the rest of our great provinces would stop the retroric that Albertans love Danielle Smith, even if the Conservative party does win.
THIS!
The only way to deal with bullies is to call their bluff. This is true of Putin and his nuclear threat, Trump and his tariffs, and the cabal that runs the Alberta government. Bring it on. If the threat is real then better it be executed now than after a decade of cowering and appeasement. Bullies are enabled cowards and the sooner they are exposed for what they are, the better.
Exactly. Bring it on. The “separatist” movement in Alberta is a cabal of the same people who have been agitating for years. They do not have the power or leverage that they imply. Bring it all out into the open. Call their bluff. That is what many of us in Alberta want. We need your help. We have not had any Liberal candidates to vote for in a long time.
Like the USA, we have a lot of people who don’t vote. Young people don’t vote because we give them nothing to vote for. We FINALLY have an EXCELLENT candidate for Prime Minister who hears them and everyone else. He intends to make Canada strong, take us out of the shadow of the USA and focus on a Canada that works for all of us. Not through social programs (we do need strong social programs) or social engineering, through growing the economy and letting us decide our own lives.
Affordable homes
Canadian companies
Good jobs with defined benefit pensions
Strong public healthcare
Strong public education
A strong military
A prepared public
Continous free training and education as jobs evolve
Excellent daycare
Talk to the under 35s in your life. Ask them to please vote. If all Americans had voted they might not be destroying themselves.
If someone is trying to make you angry or scared rather than offering you solutions, you know they are going to waste your time and money. They will go through the motions, but nothing real will change.
Don’t let their anger, outrage and threats sway you. This is a moment in history that can be very good for all Canadians. We waste that if anyone but Carney takes the wheel.
Vote Liberal. Decimate the fake “Conservatives”. They have not been fiscally conservative in forever.
They certainly do not hold the moral high ground. Quite the opposite these days. Start a new Conservative Party that does not have room for radicals. As the official opposition (assuming its not the NDP) has a specific job. They should offer good alternatives and sober second thoughts on what the party in power is suggesting.
Preston Manning had his 15 minutes of fame. He could not cut it in Canadian politics and this temper tantrum shows why. Like PP, Manning is not a serious person. He’s strategic. There’s a difference.
We didn’t like him then and age has not improved him. He’s not an elder statesman, just a talking head brought in for shock value.
Dont buy it. We Albertans are staying in Canada. We need good Liberal candidates please.
This is a very good point, Helen. Both the Liberals and the NDP need to put some effort into finding good candidates who are based in their communities here in Alberta. DJC
In my riding, the NDP has a good, credible local candidate, Jennifer Villebrun, a teacher by profession who is originally from Valleyview and who has run before.
https://jennifervillebrun.ndp.ca/?_gl=1*10ng2xq*_gcl_au*MTczODg5NDYwNi4xNzQzOTQ5MDQ0*_ga*NjEyNzgwODE3LjE3NDM5NDkwNDM.*_ga_97QLYMLC56*MTc0Mzk0OTA0NC4xLjEuMTc0Mzk0OTA1OS40NS4wLjA.
The Liberals have a name to go on the ballot — one Maureen McLeod — but she isn’t from the riding and her name isn’t even on the Elections Canada website.
https://maureenmcleod.liberal.ca/
https://www.elections.ca/Scripts/vis/candidates?L=e&ED=48026&EV=62&EV_TYPE=1&PC=T8W2G7&PROV=AB&PROVID=48&MAPID=&QID=8&PAGEID=17&TPAGEID=&PD=&STAT_CODE_ID=-1
Helen, I wanna see YOU run.
That’s more clarity and common sense than entire parties running in this country can muster.
Yeah, they are getting very cranky and the threats sound a bit desperate as well as belligerent.
I suppose Federal Conservatives and their provincial supporters are somewhere between anger and denial now when it comes to their current electoral prospects and perhaps the threats are their way of trying to bargain.
Of course Smith with her frequent recent trips to the US is hardly the poster child for Canadian loyalty to begin with and I doubt the Alberta populist right wing crowd even understands or knows the old Ontario motto of “Loyal she began, loyal she remains”.
However, I would have expected a bit better from Manning, who at one time actually had national leadership aspirations. I suppose that was a long time ago, so perhaps he has forgotten or maybe at this point he doesn’t have much of a reputation any more to be concerned about losing.
The outbreak of petulant behaviour certainly contrasts the more sanguine approach of Quebec separatists. It may be that they are more classy, in putting up with, sometimes supporting or even closely working with Federal Conservatives, but I suspect they realize having the CPC in power may actuallt help them get closer to their goals.
In their defense, I suppose the sudden change in polls has been surprising and upsetting for Federal Conservatives who were really expecting to win. Perhaps in a bit of time they will get past denial, anger and bargaining to a better state of mind. We can only hope this happens soon for the sake of our national unity.
I suppose the UCP expected him to do a bit more for the quarter of a million they paid him for the fake Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel report.
Who is running? It’s so quiet.
If you look at the Liberal Party’s website, you can find a list of the candidates they’re going to be running in Alberta. Here’s the list so far….https://liberal.ca/your-liberal-candidates/
If you don’t find your riding mentioned, do a Google search and it might come up there as I think some are not added to the official list yet.
In Grande Prairie, currently held by longtime CPC stalwart Chris Warkentin, there is no Liberal candidate listed here or on Elections Canada’s website, although DJC’s colleague Dave Cournoyer has reported one Maureen McLeod is running for them. Other candidates listed are:
– NDP: Jennifer Villebrun, who is local and has run before
— People’s Party: Shawn McLean
– Green: Traci Yanishewski
– Rhino Party: Donovan Eckstrom
https://daveberta.ca/canada-federal-election/
When I first heard Smith had the “give me what I want or I’ll leave and take Alberta with me” routines it really brightened my day. Wondered what she was on. Does she not know how many voters there are in Ontario. B.C. isn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard Post Media seems to be trying. People have a real sense of pride in Canada right now and they will stay and fight. Trump made his pronouncements today and gee, it seems some of his bluster has disappeared. Maddox did a real fun opening this evening. then Corbert. The Govenor of Illinois’s speech certainly didn’t mince words today. Cory Booker has people noticing. Smith is a day late and a dollar short and dumb as a turd.
Maddox’s opening reviewed all the places Trump is imposing tariffs on. Her comments about the tiny islands with no one living on them except wildlife were funny. No one lives on them and they have tariffs now.
I’d say a lot of countries are going to tell the U.S.A. where they can go and how to get there. some are pointing out the stock market took another dive after the tariffs were announced along with this was the worst it had been since 1930 and referenced the world wide depression which followed. when four Republican senators vote with the Democrats you know something is up.
The E.U. told all citizens to prepare supplies for 72 hours. Germany advised as much as they don’t want to they will be building their military and will be having I think it was about an additional 100K soliders added to their armed forces. Norway is looking at re opening the very large bunkers they used in WW II. Zelensky has said, the war will be over soon. Putin is old and going to die.
Trump is 78, he is going to die also. sooner than later. He is just dam old. After his telephone call with Carney, Trump looked a tad deflated, there was something about his eyes. Don’t know what Carney said to him, but he didn’t impose the full set of tariffs he had threatened to. Today also, his shoulders were just a tad more stooped.
Smith is a day or two too late to hold anything to try to take Alberta out of Canada. She and whats his name may find themselves arrested yet. Any one know what she and the Republicans at mara lag on talked about.
Some one on CBC mentioned since Carney has become P.M. Trump has not referred to the P.M. as Gov. nor about Canada becoming the 51st State.
All those billionaires may think again, as their stocks take a dive and their businesses start to flat line.
It’s Maddow, not Maddox
Sorry, everyone. I should have caught that. DJC
thanks for the reminder. perhaps its time I checked what I wrote prior to pushing the send button
There are plenty of Albertans who are fine with Dani going to Florida if she would just please stay there! We’re proud Canadians even if she isn’t.
So the most salient issue in the lives of Canadians is not a desire for some form of economic democracy? It is rather a decision between the hardcore neoliberal globalist rent-seekers who want to maintain the us empire by eliminating access to fossil fuels and the hard core neoliberal globalist rent-seekers who want to maintain the us empire through greater control of fossil fuels?
Yeah, that’s kinda it, I’m afraid.
*Not one* candidate even bothered to mention housing councils for affordable housing.
Y’know, where everyone gets to learn the democratic basics from the ground up (literally) by voting in their landlord. Where people living in them get an actual say on how their rent money gets spent for repairs, new units and community, trains bright young politicians and is a cheaper system to run than our present Overseers Of The Poor and Poverty Industrial Complex.
Yeah, can’t have dem po’ folks havin’ any input into their economic futures or their housing or their future aspirations.
I miss the days of actual conservatives like Diefenbaker. Not that I liked him either but at least he was rational and not a card-carrying member of LoonyTunes United.
I blame our endless diet of American editorial-opinion-passing-as-news spewing all over the airwaves for the kool-aid drinking, Rupert Murdoch/Newt Gingrich garbage-can-politics that have obliterated any semblance of sanity coming from the right-wing in Canada.
Used to be the real populist radicals were lefties here–y’know, yer average commies and anarchists that sometimes had good ideas to adopt with a wee bit of modification such as y’know, unions, pay hikes, affordable housing, better healthcare, childcare and less censorship in the arts. They were fun to debate with, as were old-fashioned Red Tories that could at least string together a full sentence, present an argument on restricting government spending and not just gish-gallop at full volume over-top of the debate and call it “ownin’ da libs”.
Stop hanging out with Stephen Harper. His idea of looking intelligent was wearing sweaters and hiding from the media and he doesn’t want anybody smarter than him to ever run, again. That bar is lower than an ant scurrying under gravel.
***When Preston Manning comes crawling outta the crypt–ya know yer done fer, Fergus.***
Find some intelligent politicians, an actual platform, pass an “argumentative essay” class, understand basic world economics topped with public speaking courses then throw your bowler hat into the ring.
This is high-school-level-class-president stuff, kids.
That is, if they were serious about doing anything for the country rather than whinging and grandstanding to feed their narcissistic supply.
Rural Albertans are ridiculously easy to manipulate.
So dumb I don’t even talk to them any more, they’re like a weird religious cult that will not accept fact
Yes they are , but they are also well organised and fanatical .
Beware of the Christo fascists.
As a rural Albertan your opinion is more than insulting. Where do you think your yearly equalization payments come from. Wait, maybe we are manipulated, by Liberal users.
OK, keep cool, Xenu. Let’s keep the tone civil here, everyone. “Equalization is financed by the Government of Canada from general revenues, which are largely raised through federal taxes. Provincial governments make no contributions to the Equalization program. All Canadians are subject to the same federal income tax system and its progressive rate structure, regardless of where they live.” DJC
Shhhh don’t tell them the facts, David. It blows holes in Dixie Dani’s victimhood narrative.
Remember “facts don’t care about your feelings”? Funny how the manipulation by Americans (note: very few were on there pushing Americans to protest) of the truckers and Alberta separatists on Zello during the Trucker’s protest nary gets a mention. I sat there for countless hours, listening. Was pretty eye-opening.
I actually agreed with not mandating vaccines for the obvious reason that vaccines did not stop the spread so mandating their use was not relevant in the same way polio vaccines, were. Thus, I arrived on the side of “my body, my choice”. Thus, my soft spot for the truckers–*but not their leadership* who had a different agenda, entirely and were from the Alberta separatist movement just glomming onto a cause.
The reason Quebec separatism was not this strident was simple. American podcasters, manipulators and public influencers generally can’t speak French.
Plus, it was before da interwebz.
I’m in the “Just STFU Dani and call a referendum, already” camp. Then get my popcorn and watch her political career…implode.
Here’s a convenient primer on equalization brought to you by the well known Marxist-Leninists at—check notes—The Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
I humbly suggest you try to being informed rather than just opinionated.
https://calgarychamber.com/equalization101
Shhhhh, next thing ya know, here in Ontario we’ll join the USA due to our Economic Engine, status. Then where ya gonna plant the TSX?
Stop citing credible sources…yer messin’ up our super sekrit nefarious game plan, Cujo!
i really don’t give a shit. you rural folks don’t matter, because the real power is in the cities.
oh and by the way, the liberals are the ones that allowed you rural people to get government support. if you get any payments for your farms, liberals did that.
vote conservative, and youll lose all that, and probably get no rights whatsoever under american rule.
You city folks need to eat. Your ridiculous comments do not help the situation. While they may be correct, they are inflamatory and, again, ridiculous.
Rural Albertans contribute much less than you seem to think. You do not personally own the enerygy resources distributed over your thinly to entirely-unpopulated barren heaths. Hectares don’t vote, nor to they pay taxes.
Whoa, please temper it leave it out entirely Xenu. That reads as an overt example of the divisive tactics practiced by simplistic, lower grade politicians. The capacity to make thoughtful and reasoned decisions is reliant on neither community or occupation. There are easily lead and easily fooled urban dwellers
Agreed, Jimmy. It explains Doug Ford.
I must object. As a 40 year resident, former mayor, and life long New Democrat, of Athabasca, I can say there are many progressive people in rural areas. Yes the loud brash types are there and in greater number, but don’t count the rest of us out. We have even voted in two NDP MLAs. And we are not alone.
Yeah I’m kinda not gettin’ the rural hate. I grew up in a small town and the farmers there were NDP all the way. Mostly cuz back then–OHIP wasn’t fully formed yet and farmers were prone to all kinds of accidents that could bankrupt them. Y’know, getting kicked by horses, trampled by cows, arms stuck in machinery, etc etc. And their kids were going off to the city to join unions in industries and sometimes sending money back home.
Their numbers are small too–not enough to counteract urban areas where rich people congregate squawking for “less taxes” and “free da markets” cuz they can afford privatized healthcare and invest in massive amounts of financial transactioning and stocks–unlike the rest of us, peons.
Well said, the babies are walking around with full diapers.
Dave, what if we all chip in and pay off Preston if he finally promises to go away? It could be Preston’s Personal Provincial Pension Plan. The PPPPP. Heck let’s give him his own province. It could be on land ruined by a tailings pond. We’ll call it Prestonia and he can have referendums every day of the week on private healthcare, private schools, private water, private air, private privates, and equally electable effectively Sonatas. Er, Senates. He might enjoy himself! I know it would make the rest of us a lot happier.
Sorry, Kalgree, I can’t agree with gifting Preston any money for retirement. He’s got enough already, and I don’t believe for a second that he’d honour a promise to keep his nose out of politics. It’s his main hobby, after all.
The land of Prestonia, now…that’d be worth doing. It might be a perverse incentive for the UCP to “do something” about tailings lakes. Preston’d be bitching about the smell before the end of the first day.
Preston was given a nice fat fee for consulting on something or other that went into the ether. The money came from the Government of Alberta slush funds set aside from the taxes we thought were for programs for the benefit of Albertans. He won’t get off that gravy train at the first stop.
$253,000 Alberta tax dollars for handpicking the members and running the Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel. It was a pet project of Danielle Smith as preparation to sue probably the feds, of course, about human rights that were severely violated by vaccination and other orders during the pandemic.
Because Preston is such an unbiased public health expert .
As we all know unvaccinated people have suffered more discrimination than anyone in Danielle Smith’s lifetime!
They are a tad out of touch but always first in line to play victim.
The outcome of the report was known the minute he was hired. Conservatives don’t like the truth.
No wonder Presto turned out the way he did with a “father” like Ernest. Shame runs deep in that family.
Preston and the Alberta MAGA crowd notwithstanding, in Ontario the main focus is on job losses in the manufacturing sector reportedly in the hundreds of thousands. Recent polls indicate that in these perilous times Mark Carney seems the better choice rather than a dude with slicked down hair pushing his daughter on a swing.
Well said David. Scary times.
When it all hits the fan, will we be able to count on the media to present the truthful facts? My guess is no they won’t judging on how the CTV caved to the right wing extremist troll army and cancelled Rachel Gilmore’s election misinformation segment after her first appearance. The CBC would not have given in to the troll army, this is why the right have the CBC in their crosshairs.
When Bell owned CTV News cancels airing a news segment on election misinformation at the behest of Conservative Party of Canada operatives, you just can’t explain that, eh? I have cancelled my Bell mobility account largely because of this CTV news debacle (they also charge way too much).
I suspect the right wing extremist troll army is not angry–they’re scared! Certainly Pierre Poilievre is. So is Jenni Byrne, if she has a lick of sense:
https://macleans.ca/longforms/jenni-byrnes-big-gamble/
That’s a big “if,” I agree.
The reason the RWETA is so angry is that Rachel Gilmore is smart, honest and–worst of all–correct. That makes her a threat to the CPC generally, the Poilivre/Byrne faction in particular, and their diminishinig chance of forming the next Federal government.
Truth will out, so the old saying went. The modern question is, “Who’s gonna listen?”
“We just wanna go around the province, see how people are feeling, and see if there are any other referendum issues that they want us to put on the table.”
May I offer a suggestions, Danielle?
1. Do we want an Alberta Pension Plan?
2. Do we want more coal mines?
3. Do we want to break up AHS?
4. Do we want anti-transgender legislation?
I am curious to see how many other commenters suggest the same things.
Yup, those are some of the key questions, I agree. I would also add “Do we want to continue to underfund education?”
Preston Manning will find a way to pocket more taxpayer dollars no matter what happens and Marlain-a-Lago will be happy to pay him.
In Stormy Danielle’s world, democracy only works when people vote the way she wants them to. She is happy to throw Canada under the bus if it helps the fossil fuel CEOs.
“Marlain-a-Lago”
Love it.
“that Canadian Conservatives have already given up on Mr. Poilievre”
In the the course of a week Pierre Poilievre made two campaign promises that I thought were really telling, and also totally tone deaf. Those promises were to
1. Increase the TFSA limit by $5000, if the money was invested in Canadian companies and
2. There will be no capital gains tax if the proceeds of the capital gains are invested in Canadian companies.
These promises will only be appealing to people of significant wealth, who have a spare $5000 to put into a TFSA or are already holding investments that have incurred a significant increase in valuation.
So, David, I would propose a bit of a clarification to your premise. Conservative support comes from three demographics: social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and right wing nut jobs. Of the three, I don’t think the so-cons or the nut jobs have moved, but I am guessing that the CPC’s internal polling is telling them that the fiscal conservatives are migrating away, now that Justin Trudeau has been replaced by a banker, and these promises are a pathetic way to draw them back.
I think the promises are also tone deaf because of the effect they will have on the ‘boots, not suits’ crowd that Poilievre has been targeting. Really, the promises translate to tax breaks for the rich.
Does it matter? Preston Manning is a washed up has been…or rather a washed up never was.
He has become rather a pathetic soul always looking to recapture some print lines of his very distant past. Or perhaps a consultancy of some sort as a reward from the current Alberta Government.
I suspect the only voters he reaches are those who are already plan to vote for Poilievre. It could even backfire. He may well turn off those all important undecided urban voters so much that they decide to get out and purposely vote Liberal.
Danielle is pushing the Alberta separation button to draw attention away from her complete failure as premier. She’s a disaster and she knows it. So, she’s decided to destroy Canada to save her political ass. And before anyone asks, does the woman have no shame? No. She doesn’t.
As Mark Knopfler wrote:
“Imelda, baby, what to do?
All the poor people saying
That they got to quit paying for you.”
My comment in response to Manning’s Globe diatribe was this:
1. Call a referendum NOW.
2. Make the question a straightforward Yes-No one, without any maybes or options.
3. Collect and distribute the results within 48 hours.
4. Respect the results or refer to the Courts.
And 12-year olds with guns are ineligible to vote!
Lefty: An honest question? Not a chance. The UCP will ignore the Clarity Act by using Alberta’s “citizen” referendum legislation as a dodge. Just watch. DJC
“Give me plastic straws or give me death!” – Brilliant! Alberta’s Conservatives are a bunch of whining weaklings.
Guess they don’t shop at AliX where you can get permanent luxury stainless steel straws in fashionable carry cases and flexible silicone, permanent straws if the paper ones bother you.
You’d think they’d at least order the gold or silver ones for fashing out on their financially embarrassed friends.
Parson Manning is so yesterday’s man, a cranky old holdover from the ‘50s who thinks he still matters! Maybe to a few convoy truckers, anti-vaxxers and assorted other poorly educated, easily manipulated malcontents! But in these parlous times, Canadians want unity, experience and stability! None of which Poilievre offers! Carney would do well to dismiss Manning’s ideas as the ravings of an angry old man shaking his fist at the clouds! As for Double Crossing Dani and her bosses over at Take Over Alberta, Carney should remind progressive centrist Canadians that she is facing FIVE corruption probes and is desperate to change the channel from the CorruptCare.ca scandal!
This coming from Preston Manning who wasn’t able to make it as prime minister because eastern Canadians weren’t that stupid. They knew what he stood for Privatization of our Public Healthcare system. It got Harper kicked out and Trudeau elected didn’t it? Lawyers have warned us over the years about what a disaster separation would be for Albertans. There is no way a population of 4 million could survive without the help of 40 million considering how up, and down our oil industry is and our weak employment record is. Just one more stupid idea of these Reformers and the idiots who support them, who are so stupid they can’t figure it out.
I was just watching the CTV website and they were mentioning the contradiction of the polling numbers currently, compared to the numbers of people turning out at PP rallies. Apparently he’s having rallies of 5-6000 people turning out for him. And with Carney being so repeatedly tied up with sitting down to figure out the tariff reactions and such and having to pull out of the campaign, it just made me realize that we have to make sure that we vote!
I’ve been watching videos non-stop of both these men, listening to reliable opinions of many political watchers like David here, and I’m convinced that Mark Carney is the man we need at a time like this.
Living in this Conservative loving province, I’m not sure how good an idea lawn signs are, but make sure we all vote when the time comes to cast our ballots. Don’t stay home because the polls are looking so good for Carney. And if you’re undecided, spend the next four weeks watching their speeches, weighing those details intensely and look up Poilievre’s voting history! Please don’t vote because that’s the way mom and dad always voted or because that’s the way you’ve always voted, make sure you understand what these two men are capable of! We don’t want to end up like the USA did when undecided’s or fence sitters who didn’t like one policy of Biden’s, refused to vote for him and then they ended up with Trump. It’s our future we’re voting on here.
Debra: I agree. My interpretation of the phenomenon you note is that the only people attracted to Mr. Poilievre’s rallies are the MAGA nuts, of whom there are a significant number in Western Canada. This is a problem for the Conservative leader. If he attacks Donald Trump, which most Canadian voters want him to do, he may lose his base and even, God forbid, be publicly booed. The PPC stands ready to welcome back these voters. If he doesn’t, he will lose voters who might in a normal election vote Conservatives. The technical political science term for such a situation is “caught between a rock and a hard place.” DJC
Excellent suggestions. Thank you.
So they get crowds of 5,000+ in certain locations. They’re a major party, this is a federal election with much a stake, and they command between 30-40% of the popular vote in recent decades. Good crowds are not unexpected. They’re certainly not evidence that they have enough support to form a government. But this line of argument is percolating these days. I imagine this is a straight from the Rethuglican play-book: lay the groundwork for disputing the election results should the lose, which God, please.
The three bad “Liberal positions” Mr. Manning identifies as priority targets if the bad guys want to reverse so-called Western alienation?
1. “east-west pipelines”
2. “identity politics”
3. “climate change” (yes, seriously).
Stop talking about climate change and the West will be happy!?? No mystery about Manning’s agenda here. Remembering also that his foundation shunted Kenney aside when he turned out to be too much of a federalist, and recalled the more malleable Smith from the political wilderness.
I don’t know what went on at Manning’s candidate school, but I suspect it involved making faces in a mirror: dazed, confused, angry, scowling, plus a lot of exaggerated hand gestures.
Preston Manning just won’t go away. That must be the other thing they teach at candidate school: stick your head in the public trough and never, ever remove it. I kind of miss the days when all he and his cronies did was screech about “the economy” in a contrived “Alberta” accent and pass around an empty chicken bucket at rallies like an offering plate at church to drain the pockets of the gullible.
Abs: Holy Moley! I remember those fried chicken buckets. DJC
Someone tell private Citizen Manning that he doesn’t speak for albertans, he doesn’t have a mandate, and albertans; outside of Maga Chongos with an axe to grind, want to be citizens of Canada, not the United Snakes Of America.
After that tell him to shut his fool mouth for once.
I’m saddened to see a great man like Preston Manning endorsing the UPC extreme views.
Hearing Daniel Smith’s rational for defending her rights to speak to whom ever, does not justify the support of the “PragerU” organisation or their cause. Their cause IS a threat to our nation. That she didn’t explicitly say something that may qualify as treasonous to Canada, is a dangerous game of semantics.
However, her involvement and support for such an organisation by her actions, is leaning dangerously close to treason. As a Premier in Canada, paid by the public purse, she has an obligation to help defend our nation. Silence is not a defence, it’s capitulation.
Ontario to it’s credit, has as much to loose for it’s population as Alberta. Premier Ford, for all his reputed history, has vigorously defended his economy and made us all proud in his defence of Canada.
Smith has chosen not to stand up for our nation, by standing with her minority Alberta MAGA base. This is not the time to be talking separation, justifying her actions as looking out for Alberta’s interest at a time when our common strength and mutual support as Canadians is needed.
I’ve heard a friend referred to Smith as “Stormy Daniels”, I’m usually more respectful, but I can’t disagree with his sentiment. She’s been compromised. One wonders how she personally has benefited from this alliance and how it benefits her party.
For any who remember when she was the leader of the Wild Rose party, she turned her back on the party she led, by making a deal with the then Alberta PC Party of Jim Prentice. She turned her back on her Wild Rose base in exchange for a seat at Prentice’s cabinet table. Will her past inform her future actions?
Alberta, the well spring of Democracy! Don’t you get it? What? Let’s have a plethora of referendumbs!
How will Pollievre ever erase the dots that connect him to the Covid-19 convoy cartel leaders Lich and Barber?
Wind Girl…..The only way he can erase the dots is by “firing himself ” the way he said he >fired< M.Mackenzie for previous comments; just as the Con's are 'erasing' social media accounts, changing access to Facebook and Instagram.
We're already @3 or is it 4 candidates that have been "dropped" for their past comments. Given the criteria, the leader of his majesties loyal opposition should have fired himself a long time ago….the things he and his crew have posted ,imho would not pass the scrutiny test that he has suddenly implemented. Especially since the 'party' seems to have chosen these candidates, in the first place.
Given that he said MPs shouldn't run more than 2 terms, he has gone way past his 'best before date' and is now way past the expired date, as has his old boss Preston.
As to crowd sizes at his rallies, well if you go by the picture in Western standard, split screen with Skippy and Anaida not facing either crowd and 3500 to 6000 ??? And media not allowed to travel on the Pierre Poilievre plane, (but not at all like d'rump) the numbers are biggly according to his media supporters. The only question I heard worth noting(Burnaby( was from D. Akin about why were candidates being parachuted into ridings when people had already put their names up to run. Which of course he didn't answer.
Also from Edmonton, Global called 9 Con candidates, only 1 answered with a "no comment"
the rest mysteriously unavailable. So Mr "I'm going to make Canada the freest country in the world " has effectively put a gag order on his caucus & new candidates.
And with a little more work, I would think the pressure on Aaron Gunn, Con candidate for Campbell River, will be next on the 'almost ran' file.
Skippy and the Cons don't seem to realize that there are alot of Rachels ,Joes, Freds, Cindys, Charlies etc. etc. who have been & are paying attention and are after the truth.
All of those dots may have become blurred, but they haven't been erased. Same can't be said about watching the "ordinary Joe" trying to make pizza— even the photo ops have become more cringey.!!
Just as a sidebar—-
Since Hearld Island is part of Australia, if I was Australian, I would go and collect 10% of what the locals produce and send it to Washington.
Just saying!!
Preston reminds me of Barney Fife — Mayberry series. As to Carney with regard to Canada and foreign policy: I think it is best to keep in mind Cockburn’s quip that you can only believe a politician when he/she denies whatever is at hand, because when he/she is denying something, whatever it is, the denial is hollow and grounded in fact or truth. In Canada focusing on Trump and tariffs has been a godsend to the Liberals in the current election. 10 years of lacklustre minimal change in social benefits (dental care, daycare and pharmacare), the Liberals have structured these concrete improvements in people’ lives to take years to actually be meaningful for most of the population. Carney said today that all policy options are on the table and all policies are to be reviewed, except NORAD. As to armaments and Canada participating in Europe and with Europe keep in mind that this official NORAD document 2022“NORAD modernization project timelines Fact sheet: NORAD modernization project timelines” dictates right down to the size of a screw and where it will be used and this policy welds Canada to the US military industrial complex and foreign policy. Buying European arms means that Canada would have to have these weapons, etc. integrated with all US weapons, big or small, in the air, in the water and on land. Now how likely is that? If anything Canada is Trojan Horse for the US to maintain its hegemony in weapons specs and production and OAS and NATO. As to the Canadian election, Pierre “Skippy” Poilièvre’s (Barney’s right hand man now) best and only asset in Conservative circles is that he is really, really angry, and that Skippy is authentically angry, the core of his being, but for the electorate Skippy is not proposing one policy which is feasible or practical which make make people’s lives better.
Ginger: Speaking of Barney Fife, one hot summer evening I was walking down a street in Halifax. I walked past a comedy bar, windows wide open, and as I went by, I heard the comedian tell one joke, a freebie. “Have you ever noticed,” he said, “how every year Mick Jagger looks more like Don Knotts?” The crowd roared. But that was a long time ago, when most people knew who Don Knotts was. Other readers: If you don’t get this, you can look up either Don Knotts or Barney Fife. DJC
We know. Boomers are the libleft in Alberta.
Ahhh, Don Knotts/Barney Fife starring in “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” one of my all time favourites. Fun for the whole family, even Preston’s.
As I recall, in The Ghost and Mr Chicken, in the haunted house the organ keyboard was stained with blood, and they couldn’t get it out: “And they used Bon Ami”.
@djc
Please insert spit take warnings! Snorting morning coffee is unpleasant (though the mental image juxtaposition of Jagger/Knotts was worth it).
As for “Presto” Manning – I took his measure in the 80’s when he ran against Joe Clark, and found him lacking even then. I helped him to lose, actually told him to his face that I was voting for Clark.
Time for Preston Manning to stay out of politics for good, and keep his yap shut. He is very bad, and his ideas are unacceptable.
The cognitive dissonance Cons, like Manning, Smith, and Polievre, should feel requires them to be able to cognitate.
I gotta hope the voters are smarter than these traitors. Evidence to the contrary…
Donald Trump thinks bankruptcies are a fact of life so the USA can also go down the drain. Danielle Smith has walked across the floor a few times now and survived, actually flourished. Just step on whoever is in the way.
Danielle Smith was not given a mandate by Albertans to try to extort the Federal government and make threats of secession if she doesn’t get her way. And Preston Manning? Who the h3ll does he think he is, “speaking” for our province. I’m so tired of Smith catering to her Christo-fascist base, she definitely doesn’t speak for most Albertans. 2027 can’t come soon enough.
Fed up Albertan— the irony is that in the press conference, she also said she was given the mandate to save Canada ,that’s why she was going to the U.S.
EXCUSE ME???
I wonder, in this brave new world Preston Manning imagines, if the lifelong cost of care for a brother with a developmental disability would also be picked up by the taxpayer? Seems kind of “socialisty”.
Careful what you wish for, Preston.
It is telling that Preston Manning has any credibility. He advised Danielle Smith er, as Wildrose Leader, to cross the floor and join the Prentice PCAA party and take several of her MLAs with her. That led to the loss of both the Wildrose and the PCAA in the election called early by Prentice thinking the opposition would be caught off balance. After that ill-advised act, she never even won her nomination in the next election. which led her to her years in the yada, yada wilderness. That he still has any influence over her particularly, but any conservative in Alberta is astounding and shows, perhaps, the gullibility of Danielle Smith and Alberta conservative voters.
Quit calling these bfreaks conservatives. They are the alt right, neofscists of Canada. Charge the effer with sedition. This screeching at Canadians about leaving Canada has to STOP. We’ll tear her from her ill gotten throne if she tries anything like she’s been threatening. Why is she still here?
MI Citizen: Basically, Danielle Smith will likely not be premier for much longer. The MHCare scandal will end her political career.
It is like waking up every morning in the Twilight Zone, from a nightmare in which you are scheduled for surgery and realize Presto has the knife!
That’s right. They aren’t Conservatives. George Grant would be spinning in his grave, as would ol’ Dief, who was at least genuine. And let’s get off the culture wars BS. Rural Albertans are not a homogeneous passel of MAGA nuts. And if you want to stop Skippy here in Alberta, vote NDP, not Liberal.
There is a broad streak of anti-democratic sentiment that pervades conservative political circles in Alberta, dating back decades. The whole notion of voting for anyone else was — and in some places, still is — seen as disloyal. Who remembers 2015 and the right’s ranting about Rachel Notley’s “accidental NDP government”?
The path to influencing government decisions during this years was to vote for the conservatives and then, after they were re-elected with metronomic regularity, lobby them hard. It’s no wonder that in the bad old days of King Ralph, Ed Stelmach, and the rest, municipalities actually bought tickets to Conservative Party fundraisers in order to be able to provide input into provincial decision-making. I don’t think this goes on anymore, but that attitude persists.
In contrast, elsewhere in Canada, the path to influencing political decisions is to threaten their jobs by voting for someone else, which other Canadians tend to do on a fairly regular basis, both provincially and federally.
Manning and Smith and the rest are revealing their one-party-state aspirations for all to see, and my guess is that Pierre Poilièvre would prefer they sit down and shut up until after the election. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t agree with them, only that he doesn’t want Canadian voters to hear them.
Just wanted to jump in here with a quick comment about your first sentence, the anti-democratic sentiment that goes back decades in the west. Douglas Lamont posted an excellent article on his excellent substack just this past week about the origins of the CCF, Tommy Douglas, Elon Musks granddaddy and a little organization called the KKK.
https://dougaldlamont.substack.com/p/in-the-1930s-elon-musks-saskatchewan
When you realize, as he argues, the most significant political organization in the history of the west is not a party, but a terrorist organization, the current demographic starts to make a lot more sense. The klan had 25,000 members just in Saskatchewan in the 20’s, and they despised the folks living in the east, because that’s where the Jews, Leftists and Catholics all lived. It’s depressingly uncomplicated. The klan was incorporated in alberta until 2002 I believe and they still exist, they just got tired of doing the paperwork.
Delightfully, Preston Manning just told CBC’s The House, that he’s gone ‘around the bend’.
American institutions assisting the Republican efforts –
https://www.maga-collaborators.net/
Ms. smith and other like her have conveniently forgotten a couple of major points.
Firstly, if Alberta DOES separate, they would have to establish their own independent currency, an independent military, their own highways and infrastructure, their own healthcare system, and their own taxation and revenue streams. An Alberta dollar would likely not be accepted anywhere outside of Alberta and might be worth 5c on the dollar.
But more importantly, a good chunk of Alberta belongs to the First Nations and Indigenous people who have entered into treaties with the Canadian Government. Not with the Alberta government. There’s no chance that Alberta will be able to take that land with them, it will remain in Canada and will remain under treaty with Canada.
They want to join America. They don’t say it out loud but it’s what reactionary conservatives on both sides of the border want. Look at in on a map, if they can get alberta, a tiny sliver of bc, and possibly pull Saskatchewan as well they have a HUGE unbroken swath of new Red States, from Alaska basically to Mexico, not to mention the resource wealth. They think they’ll be welcomed as kings, but they’ll be relegated to lapdog status before they even get started.
I have not voted conservative since the traitor McKay broke his written promise and killed progressive conservative party and handed the bodies to the CRAP neo nazi Preston Manning.
And even though O’Toole hardly ever lied i still would not have voted for him because our PCs are gone forever. In any case he was fired for being truthful.
There were other liberals that would have been appropriate for leadership but they pixie our current one because the Conservatards have not spent twelve years lying about him.
Here’s an idea… if you want a conservative government find a progressive leader who does not lie more than Trump. If we banned the Conservatards from office I might even reconsider my votes. For now it is ABC all the way.