Prime Minister Mark Carney showed both grace and calculation in his decision to call a by-election as soon as possible so that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, deprived of his seat in the House of Commons by the unexpected good sense of voters in his former Carleton riding, can remain leader of the Opposition and a resident of quality subsidized housing in the nation’s capital.
For those of us who would have liked to see a little justice for those guilty of campaign malpractice at the highest level, to borrow a phrase, this is a small disappointment. In a more just world, Mr. Poilievre would have been given an opportunity to wander in the political wilderness eating locusts and wild honey long enough to contemplate the many errors of his ways.
Alas, we’ll just have to settle for his brief election-night humiliation. Mr. Carney has generously chosen to be merciful and grant the Conservative leader a mulligan, something that would never have happened had the shoe been on the other foot.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith provides as excellent illustration of the modern Conservative approach to such a situation. She refused to call a by-election for Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi when former premier Rachel Notley resigned her seat in Edmonton-Strathcona at the end of December. She continued to ignore the need for a by-election when Mr. Nenshi was nominated as a candidate in the riding on Jan. 22. And she has refused to call a by-election ever since. She will likely do something soon only because the law demands she do so.
At least in the case of Mr. Poilievre’s stumble, we can enjoy the limited schadenfreude of knowing he is going to have to suffer through one or two visits to Battle River-Crowfoot, where a low-profile MP was found who could be told to volunteer to make way for the leader. The vast riding northwest of Calgary was once home to herds of dinosaurs and, if you go by political affiliation, arguably still is.
As a big-city boy with sophisticated tastes, I am sure Mr. Poilievre will find Castor, Acme, Oyen and Tofield (the subject of a famous Alberta joke about a guy who lost a toe there) a dreary prospect after many years basking in the bright lights of Ottawa.
But he can take comfort from the fact that in our Westminster Parliamentary system there is no requirement for him to buy a house in the riding (or anywhere, really, as long as he can live rent-free at Stornoway) and the fact that it is literally the safest Conservative riding in the Dominion. That may not be evidence of the sagacity of its voters, but it gives the place a mention in Canadian history.
Notwithstanding the way Conservatives would have conducted themselves, Mr. Carney’s generosity is the right thing to do, and I for one at least believe the prime minister is doing it in the right spirit, the unlikely hope that the Opposition party will play an honourable role in solving the gravest economic crisis of the postwar era. Therein lies the grace.
“I will ensure that it happens as soon as possible,” Mr. Carney told reporters yesterday. “No games. Nothing.”
But it is also clear that the result of last Monday’s federal election shows that Mr. Poilievre is more of a liability than an asset to the Conservative Party of Canada and allowing him to return to the House of Commons quickly is a kinder, gentler version of Napoleon’s famous dictum that one should never interfere with an enemy when he’s in the process of destroying himself.
Mr. Poilievre, whose near success was achieved by casting himself as the Antitrudeau, rapidly lost his limited appeal the instant the real Trudeau departed the scene. If he doubles down on his strategy of constantly declaring Canada to be broken in three-word rhyming slogans, the Liberal suspicion is that his popularity, such as it is, will slip further.
Mr. Poilievre’s statement accepting Damien Kurek’s “offer to resign” suggested not much has changed. “Damien’s selfless act to step aside temporarily as a Member of Parliament shows his commitment to change and restoring Canada’s promise,” he said. “I will continue to hold the Liberal minority government to account until the next federal election, when we will bring real change to all Canadians.”
Had the Conservatives been led by former leader Erin O’Toole, a decent person largely untainted by MAGA ideology, it is said here the CPC would have won handily on April 28, notwithstanding the replacement of Justin Trudeau by Mr. Carney.
This year at least, Canadians were not willing to hand the keys of the country to a leader with a Trump-like agenda of revenge on a long list of people and groups despised by his party’s extremist base.
Mr. Carney’s calculation is that Canadians will continue to be put off by Mr. Poilievre. The risk he is taking on behalf of all of us, of course, is that many of our compatriots may be used enough to it not to be as bothered the next time there’s an election. We shall learn about this in the fulness of time.
Who imagined right-wing Canadians would be furious at the king?
The online MAGAsphere convulsed with fury again yesterday upon the news King Charles will visit Ottawa on May 26 to deliver the Carney Government’s Speech from the Throne.
Readers will forgive me if I express some personal satisfaction at this development, having asked in February what the hell had become of our head of state. “One would think, wouldn’t one,” I ruminated at the time, “that in a grave national crisis, a real head of state would speak up for the state of which he was head?”
In the face of the threat of a Trump takeover of Canada, I went on, “even a short visit would be nice, with a few anodyne platitudes tossed around.”
So now that His Majesty has come through for Canada, if only symbolically and not for long, let me say a hearty God Save the King! I imagine this won’t be the last time he’ll be called upon to stand up for Canada.
I have already explained why a constitutional monarchy is a better way to solve the problem of the need for a head of state in a democracy than most of the available alternatives – particularly the one south of the Medicine Line.
But the Internet is an unforgiving place, especially when the folks refusing to do the forgiving are MAGAfied Conservative supporters obsessed with the woke, the culturally Marxist, and the otherwise diverse. King Charles’s willingness even to pose in a photograph with Prime Minister Carney, let alone read a Liberal government’s Throne Speech, appears to have thrown many of them into a paroxysm of republicanism.
If you doubt me, just read the comments beneath Mr. Carney’s tweet yesterday morning.
I can remember a day when young reporters at Canadian newspapers were warned never to say anything mean about dogs or the sovereign, because readers just wouldn’t stand for it. Apparently this is no longer the case.
I am not at all certain this indicates we are living in a better world. If Canadians are prepared to give up on the monarch, can the pups be far behind?
I am hoping that the recent reappearance of Jason Kenney means that he is skulking in the CPC shadows with a knife out for Poilievre and a chance for leadership and the PM office for himself.
Poilievre must have been quite rattled by his personal loss, which he probably didn’t expect, to pick such a safe seat. Although if he didn’t give his nearby Ottawa area constituency enough attention, he will have a harder time giving it to one so much further away from Parliament Hill. Although perhaps the voters in his newly chosen constituency will be more forgiving.
An unexpected benefit to the Liberals of this move is it may make it clearer that Poilievre, who was masquerading as a central Canada MP for many years, does not really have Ontario’s interests at heart.
Poilievre does not seem one for much contrition or reflection, so a quick byelection will probably ensure even less time for that and Carney again appears gracious.
Inviting the King reminds us of Carney’s world wide connections and clout. For those who don’t know our history well, we are not the 51st state largely because of our past loyalty to our Kings and Queen’s and their support of our defence (which of course was in their own interest at the time). Times have changed, so I realize this symbolism may escape some now, but many Canadians will still get it.
Lastly this is a good way to send a message to our southern neighbour, whose leader does not seem to respect many institutions, but seems at least to have a high regard for the monarchy. MAGA or not, no doubt this good strategy by Carney will greatly frustrate the more extreme parts of the CPC.
The contrast between dignified leadership with Carney, giving Poilievre a second chance, and Smith’s reluctance to give Nenshi any chance is striking. One leader actually leads by holding the high ground, being thoughtful and pragmatic; the other leader (in name only as Smith is the opposite of leader and is in fact an authoritarian dictator) is an agent of chaos and does not give a tinker’s damn about people, save her MAGA friends and their oligarch fanatical masters.
Great to see King Charles III step up for Canada. I remember my father who served in WWII being so happy and proud that Queen Elizabeth had stood strongly for Britain against the onslaught of fascism and the Third Reich. I suppose Canadians at the time felt a sense of relief that the monarchy opposed the global movement of fascism by staying in England during the Blitz when they could have easily left to safer locations. But no, Princess Elizabeth stood up for what she believed in and volunteered during the war. True leadership. Leadership of any kind is completely lacking by the UCP party of Alberta. We have nothing more than a group of malcontents in the UCP running this province into the ground.
David makes a convincing case defending Mark Carney’s decision to call an early by-election. Excellent analysis, as always.
Mr. Poilievre has chosen essentially the same riding that Don Getty chose after Percy Wickman deprived him of his seat in the Edmonton riding (Whitemud) he originally ran in, in 1989: Drumheller – Stettler. Getty was gone before the next election.
Getty built a house in the riding, right at the north edge of it. It will be interesting to see if Pierre Poilievre makes the same token gesture, and if so where in the riding. I looked at a map of the riding yesterday; it is essentially a rectangle, running from Edmonton to Calgary, then east to the Saskatchewan border, so there are lots of places for the hapless CPC leader to choose from.
If one is judged by the company one keeps, the riding will be a good fit for the Pierre Poilievre façade he portrayed when he took coffee to the truckers convoy, not the prime ministerial façade he put on during the election campaign.
Canadians gave up on actual Marxism, which was the impetus behind essentially all reforms achieved by the Canadian labour movement up to the point when the Canadian economy was fully integrated into the US national security state. This freed the superstitous and greedy to focus on the non-existent phenomenon of “cultural Marxism”. We now live in a world in which the “reasonable” Canadian chooses a party headed by a guy who spent thirteen years at Goldman Sachs, literally a criminal enterprise bearing significant responsiblility for the 2008 disrobing of the speculative finance emperor, because the alternative is a party headed by the product of fifty years of puppy-mill inbreeding at the University of Calgary. Good times.
Murphy, that about sums up where we are now, in a single paragraph.
The problem with Marxism, or Communism of any flavour, is not the economic model per se — I think it has merits we ought to give greater thought to. It’s that as far as I’m aware, it has never in history been implemented without massive intrusions into individual human rights and freedoms.
China is a case in point. It has largely abandoned the communist economy of Mao, and become a capitalist society — but it has retained the authoritarian governance model of single-party rule with sham elections, and a police state.
Just one, I’d like to see the exact opposite: a communist economic system that retains a free, multi-party democracy, with genuinely free and fair elections, a free press, the rule of law, and all the other civil rights we enjoy here in the capitalist West.
Jerry: The Hutterites seem to make it work in Alberta, although I grant you they operate like the corporate sector in the sense that they practice communism for themselves and capitalism for everyone else. DJC
Regarding massive intrusion into individual human rights and freedoms. Surely capitalism does likewise. The primary functions of its armed muscle are to invade and pillage another group’s territory and resources, and at home to ensure that an unequal distribution wealth is maintained in favor of the elite and privileged. Communism’s forces are derided as thugs whist capitalism’s are afforded hero status.
PP’s loss in his home riding of Carlton is not as bad as it looks. What happened is the NDP vote moved over to the Liberals putting them over the top by 4000 votes. The NDP got 1222 votes on Monday: in the 2021 election they polled 8012 votes.
There were whispers that PP was going to run in Edmonton Griesbach but that would have left him vulnerable to a vote shift. The Cons got 22,225 votes on Monday; the combined Liberal-NDP vote totalled over 25,500 votes. No such worry in Battle River where Kurek sailed past the finish line with a 46,000 vote lead over the second place Liberals.
Yeah I dunno bud. He was the twenty year incumbent widely favoured in the polls to not only keep his seat but form a majority. Parachuting into the safest seat in the country is exactly the climb down it looks like, and in my opinion, seems like the CPC just ceded all of Canada east of Winnipeg to the liberals. Western alienation party here we come; it’s certainly AN election strategy Im not convinced it’s an effective one. Looks like those coffees and donuts cost a bit more than the sticker price huh ?
No doubt the locals will display palm branches and passionate Hosannas as Pierre deigns to visit these tiny bergs. Will K.D. Lang be campaigning with Pierre if he drops in on Consort?????? What do the cons promise a guy like Kurek when he is voluntold to give up his riding, salary, pension and perks?
I too, was wondering what they promised this guy, could be he’s dyed in the wool enough he just took it like a good boy in his short pants, I’m willing to bet they promised him they’ll definitely win the next election and he’ll be appointed to some nice committees, if not cabinet. We’ll see how that works out.
“Quality Subsidized Housing”
OMG I spewed my tea out, David. ROFL.
Well done
Mark Carney acts like a leader. His magnanimous offer to call a byelection as soon is the absolute opposite of Marlaina’s petulant refusal to do the same for Mr. Nenshi. Stormy Danielle could learn a thing or two about mature, rational leadership from the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, she is blinded by incoherent rage and greed. Her fanning the separatist flames is exactly what we don’t need right now, but she doesn’t care. She has never been about what’s good for the country; only what she can grab for herself.
Welp not being a monarchist meself, I do admire a clever political play when I see one.
Trump got two meetings with the King–now Carney will have two in his pocket–one of which is the old Royal fella coming to see *him*–Trumpy must be seething in his orange face paint over the slight.
Pretty sure the cons realize this too, even if they’re not smart enough to put their finger on why they’re so mad about it.
They’re so far gone, next they’ll be complaining about huskies sledding by and not stopping to salute PP or something.
Aren’t cons the party of “God, King and Country” or something?
B…I totally concur with clever political play. As ‘our’ gracious host points out, the Magasphere are swatting at shadows; but imo , so were the majority of the post conference media.
I watched the conference start to finish and enjoyed listening to the ‘adult in the room’. I’m also sure that the Magasphere were not just slapping at shadows, but are still chasing their tails over the Q&A after his speech. When you can make a ROOM FULL of media burst out laughing, it not only sets the tone for future pressers, it also sent a clear message to Mr avoid the media at all costs.
There is a large percentage of people across the country that know what the right wing propaganda is all about and endorsements for Skippy by convicted felons and ilk are not a good look, especially the d’rump supporters.
IMHO, the one most miffed is going to be the > former .. leader of his majesties loyal opposition < Though I'm sure that the view from the public gallery up above should be quite nice, if he were to go.
Again the dilemma, appease the base by staying away or saving yourself for a possible future. Tut tut !! Quite a conundrum.
@randi
PP is a gift for Carney at a time when Canada is facing a growing fascist threat on our border. I know everyone wants to be hopeful but once fascism gains hold of a country historically, it does not let go until through the loss of a war or revolution its grimy hands are forcibly yanked off the levers of power.
Why do I say PP is a gift to Carney? Because PP’s stupid. And I don’t mean in the “oh gawd, what an eejit thing to say” kind of way, I mean genuinely unintelligent and unable to grasp any nuance or sense of what’s needed in the moment. Harris and Harper were the same way. This will make Carney even more popular than he might otherwise, be.
PP is loathsome to much of the country when we face the insanity that’s gripped our southern neighbours. This makes over-riding his talking points very easy for someone as experienced in the Halls of Power as Carney, is.
As I’ve said, I don’t have to agree with Carney to appreciate his political and policy astuteness. Someone smarter than PP could poke some serious holes in his plans–while I might enjoy that show, not sure I want that when the USA is snidely threatening an invasion.
If Carney actually manages to develop half a million housing units in the next year and each year thereafter, PP is cooked. Forever. He’ll spend three of the next years bloviating in Parliament about non-essentials to the point of public boredom and sink beneath the seas of public oblivion.
Also, WTH is this “Cultural Marxism” the Maple Maga keep complaining about?
Marxism is an economic stance not someone’s cultural affinities.
Do these people like to just stick two words together and gish gallop past what they’re actually talking about?
Hey the NED, CIA, radio free liberty, and Hollywood spent a lot of good money making people fear the word Marxism without a clue of what it means, they’re not going to drop it that easily. You’re right though, it’s ridiculous, there isn’t a single component of identity politics that has anything to do with Marxism, or dialectical materialism, which is far too complicated a term for the propagandists to demonize.
It’s a made-up term originating from the American right. It’s basically a label that they use for all things woke (when the term ‘woke’ just isn’t pejorative enough for a particular audience). Of course, your average American is easily fooled, having little idea what Marxism actually is.
Let’s not tell them Marx’s books are just economic observations based on empirical evidence and questioning economic stances that lead to poverty.
They’d lose half their vocabulary.
My brain sees Oprah pointing to the audience, pointing and shouting, “YOU GET A MARX, AND YOU GET A MARX and YOU GET A MARX!”
A lot can be said about the virtue of grace but I think this is a call PM Carney will soon regret. The sooner Skippy returns to Ottawa the sooner his games resume, his end goal of course being able to table non-confidence in our just-elected government and topple it ASAP. Skippy is basically a political cockroach, completely devoid of any sense of humility or introspection, and he simply will not stop until he is PM. Our only hope is for the CPC dump him as leader but we might as well believe in Santa Clause for that to happen. At the very least we should pray that Carney will learn from the mistakes of the Trudeau government in that taking the high road with this brand of Canadian conservatives is simply not an effective strategy. It’s time to bring a gun to a gun fight.
I can’t understand what the right-wing Alberta separatists want. While expressing anti-monarchy, pro-republic sentiments not long ago, one of the more vocal ones wanted the king to be head of state for the nouveau Alberta Republic. That’s not how it works. Maybe it was an attempt to please everyone? In any case, Mark Carney’s invitation to King Charles has been accepted and they’ll be angry about that. What aren’t they angry about?
Now Pierre Poilievre can show us yet again how any fence post painted blue can win a seat in parliament in rural Alberta. No offence intended to fence posts. What will Danielle Smith and Poilievre get up to when they combine their immense egos in one province? It’s easy to imagine the perpetual truck convoy encampments cluttering up Alberta’s ditches until autumn rolls in. But what if there’s something more? That Battle River-Crowfoot seat in rural Alberta sits on mineral resources including vast supplies of lithium and calcium chloride, vital for batteries and battery storage systems. Leverage against Canada for Alberta separation? Resources the US would do almost anything to get its hands on now that they’ve poisoned their relationship with China? Something toxic this way comes. Two enormous egos intent on iron-fisted control over the land and the people who occupy it can only mean big trouble, at least until they fight each other for supremacy in a battle to the end.
I can’t find where the PM has anything to do with the by-election process barring personal favors or electoral interference.
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&document=ec90700&lang=e
Alberta remains true to its promise of keeping its electorate as ignorant as possible with the worst freedom of information act in Canada by following up with various sites where actual information on electoral subjects such as a Premiers role in a by election, if there, may never be found.
https://www.elections.ab.ca/
OM#G. Just when I thought we’d seen the last of this guy, he shows up in MY riding. And as if it wasn’t bad enough having a rabid yard dog for a premier. I don’t even know where to begin. I have long believed that a cadaver could run for the CPC/UCP here in Battle River-Crowfoot, and it (the cadaver) would win. I will leave it at that. Like Kermitt the frog’s song goes, “It Ain’t Easy Being Green,” I have to say it ain’t always easy being among the 18% who did not vote Conservative. I have already heard that gas prices have gone up because….Carney.
Janet– commiserations from NDP & Liberals across Canada.
Unfortunately there are people who don’t understand that if his own constituents didn’t want him, there’s a reason for that.
Especially when they said why they voted him out. No representation and d’rump style politics, but given Marlaina’s strategy, Damien’s supporters may not notice.
Comments I’ve seen are that it will be great advertising for the town. No words!
Personally, it could become another dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner, the uninvited guest that the daughter brought home, the one she eloped with and now the family is divided on what to do with him.
Sorry!!
Do what was done to him the last time.
Run everyone and their dog on the ballot to split the vote into meaninglessness. I bet one of the dogs, wins.
Did I say that out loud?
I argue the real reason maple magist’s knickers are in such a twist is they can’t abide by the fact the sovereign or his vice-regal representative can actually punt an elected official given enough cause. They have real authority, unlike the toothless impeachment/conviction process in the excited states.
While I don’t think Smith is actually stupid & petty enough to delay Nenshi’s by-election past the legally mandated date, who knows. She does have a history of bad decisions, after all. I’m quite sure Lt. Governor Lakhani is watching, and given her rare past statements, she would act quite quickly given irrefutable cause.
I was unsurprised but disappointed to see Skippy given a chance once again to be an vacuous three-word slogan maker, but perhaps the residents of his new riding will realize before the by-election that the asset they think they’ve gained has the letters e and t missing from that description; however, I grew up in the area of dinosaurs and ancient skeletons so I’m doubtful.
Let Poilievre carry on. As Bruce Fanjoy said, he is uniquely unlikeable, I hope to the point that even the constituents in the newly gerrymandered riding of Stornoway-Crowfoot realize that while Skippy may have inherited the Atlas Coal Mine, they got the shaft. (I just couldn’t resist using that one.)
As for David’s observation, “never interfere with an enemy when he’s in the process of destroying himself,” I enjoyed watching it happen in Carleton and I’m looking forward to similar results in Oyen West.
Let it work;
For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petard
(Hamlet, Scene 4 Act 3)
If the NDP presented a motion in the Legislature commending Mr. Carney’s commitment to democracy by holding a prompt by-election, to allow the Leader of the Opposition to take a seat in the House of Commons, would the UCP support it?
Like some others I am surprised that Pierre Poilievre chose an Alberta riding with the risk of being written off as a Western Canada whack job to be ignored, but I suppose as DJC points out he’ll rarely be seen in Battle River – Crowfoot. How many people could name his riding before he lost it anyways?
Maybe Mr. Carney isn’t completely magnanimous – get Mr. Poilievre back into the House while he still smells like loser. But also if Mr. Kurek is replaced before Oct he will not have his 6 years in as an MP thus not entitled to the pension. I imagine though that Mr. Kurek will be offered his nice safe seat back next election…
Erin O’Toole a decent person? The same Erin O’Toole that ran a campaign ad gleefully pointing to a port-a-potty and calling it Trudeau’s next office?
The enshittification of the Conservative Party is now complete. I can understand why Carney won’t stand in the way of this clown embarrassing himself again in the House. What I don’t like is that Carney was far less gracious when someone asked if he would consult with the NDP about a possible confidence-and-supply agreement. “No”, he said, “is the short answer”. He is just going to dare everyone else to bring his government down.
Alfredo: Maybe I’ve been doing this too long. I think the Porta-Potty gag was dumb, lame, undignified, and beneath Mr. O’Toole. But I don’t think it was immoral or dishonest. DJC
Alfredo, mebbe I’m not reading the tactics correctly here but I suspect that on *any* legislation Carney can get passed with the Bloc–he’ll start with them, first. Because they put his butt in the chair.
Then, if the Bloc is being obstreperous, he’ll fall back on the NDP.
So he’s unlikely to officially agree to any coalition with any party. Coalitions and agreements come with costs–give something, get something.
PM Carney comes out of this election only three seats short of a majority. That’s the strongest minority government since the Pearson Liberals of 1965-68, who were two seats short of a majority in a much smaller House of Commons than we have now.
Pearson’s two successive minority governments have been described as among the most productive in postwar Canadian history. Some of its more trivial accomplishments were:
– nationwide medicare
– the Canada Pension Plan
– the Flag
– bilingualism & biculturalism
– some of the first halting steps towards women’s equality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_B._Pearson
Pearson did have NDP support for many if not all of these measures, but there was no coalition government, nor even a formal, written supply & confidence agreement.
Jerry: I’m not going to check just now but, if I remember correctly, with the possible exception of the CPP and maybe that too, the Conservatives opposed all of those things. DJC
Pierre Poilievre is getting away with murder again. That is what he is used to and I think Carney is doing the right thing but I doubt that he will get anything in return. Pierre Poilievre is going to continue with the same slogans and Canada is broken garbage and he will make our lives miserable.
If it was me I would not give him a millimeter. What an opportunity to get him wrapped up in burlap.
Carlos– you just brought up an interesting point. Skippy’s campaign slogans for the last 2+yrs, can’t work in the riding of 100,000 + people/ I believe it was 72,000 (?) voters , unless he starts attacking the local NDP, LIBERAL & PPC candidates who have run against Damien Kurec in the last 3 elections . We shall see if he tries another pivot.
Ironically, the AFF posted a clip showing Jagmeet, Justin & Max running against him in Battle River…Lol
Of course, the move to return Skippy back into the H of C is more about has far more angles than just mere etiquette. It’s to remind everyone that Pollivere failed to win re-election in a riding he held for over twenty years because he was a terrible MP. I mean worse than terrible. Pollivere was at Rob Anders levels of disinterest and shallowness concerning riding business. Like Anders, he considered the business of local politics to be beneath his intellectual capacity and personal dignity. In the end, becoming leader of the CPC reminded everyone in Carleton that Pollivere was their MP, and giving him the heave-ho would surely improve things in their riding.
Another angle MCPM has in mind is to remind everyone that Pollivere is such a lightweight, he will look like an unserious flake next to a PM who takes his work seriously. Considering that Andrew Sheer has been making the rounds trying to defend Pollivere only proves how hard it for CPC leadership when they fail to win elections. Blowing a twenty-five point lead in the polls is one thing, but blowing your own riding’s re-election and the best change to win a majority government since the Big Bang strikes at a level of incompetence that is breathtaking.
It will be hilarious when Pollivere stands in the House and, when, he makes some kind of statement, is instantly crushed by but a chorus of catcalls of “Have you found your riding yet?” It will make for a very memorable session.
Considering that a number of the more moronic CPC MPs were shown the door, the house cleaning is underway. Strangely, we can thank Doug Ford for that.
“Safest Conservative seat in the Dominion” indeed. In fact, there are five (5) seats in Alberta where the Cons got over 80% of the votes. Here is the list, in descending order:
– Battle River-Crowfoot: 81.84%
– Ponoka-Didsbury: 81.81%
– Grande Prairie: 81.7% (my riding)
– Lakeland: 80.9%
– Fort McMurray-Cold Lake: 80.2%
Two SK seats were just as lopsided for the Cons.
Jerry: OK, safest Conservative seat in the Dominion by 4/100th of a percentage point, maybe? DJC
I like dogs but I have no use for old burnt out chuckle. He should stay home and save us a fortune.
Good lord, I sure hope not.
So the M.P. stepping aside for PP, what does he get out of this? He had a nice safe seat which he could have continued in for some time. Is he in a position to collect a pension? Given the salary for M.P.s it is doubtful he is giving up his job out of the goodness of his heart.