This goes deeper

I am a Canadian by birth, not by choice. In Canada, as a conservative, the wins are unfortunately much more rare than they should be. Right before the recent federal election, where Canadians were scared into voting Liberal AGAIN, after 10 stunningly bad Liberal years under the idiot Trudeau, we had a snap provincial election in Ontario. It wasn't time for one, but the conservative premier called for one because he was doing well in the polls. Doug Ford won re-election with almost no change in support or representation in parliament from his previous majority provincial government.  All in all, a waste of time and money.

But Doug Ford leveraged the same fear of the boogeyman Donald Trump that now prime minister Mark Carney did, to win.  Everyone in Canada seemed to know Mark Carney was an empty suit, a total dud, except for senior citizens who immediately panicked and got him re-elected.  In Ontario it was a different story.  Doug Ford,  while seemingly good on some issues, was pretty flat on others.  I voted for Doug Ford.  My whole family voted for Doug Ford.  While it was no deep-seated endorsement of the man, it was the knowledge that a provincial Liberal win, or worse a provincial NDP (the socialist party that is officially and ironically called the New Democratic Party) win would doom the province.  Both parties have won in the past and the province has paid the price.  We haven't had a conservative leader since the 1990s.

And we still don't. 

I voted for this completely imbecilic boob of a man who might as well be a provincial Liberal party leader. I voted for  Pierre Poilievre for prime minister. He's a common sense conservative who would have been able to work with president Trump (if only), I expected stupidity and failure from Mark Carney and he did not disappoint.  With Doug Ford, this goes deeper.  I didn't expect great conservatism from him but he has really betrayed conservatives, the province of Ontario and all of Canada with his absolutely buffoonery.  His blustery "I'm tough and I'm going to stand up to Trump" attitude is fake.  He's weak and it's obvious.   Not only that, it's so painfully misguided. Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, is making deals with the president and Alberta is doing a lot better than Ontario these days.  She happens to be a real conservative, not for nothing.

It's not just the bluster, it turns out, he can't run a province.  That aside, this latest attack on Trump was pointless unless the objective was to derail trade talks.

I may actually abstain from voting in the next provincial election. A few months ago, I wrote to my local member of provincial parliament, commending him on the job he has done but calling for new provincial party leadership. I never heard back. Either he didn't care, was too scared to respond, or doesn't check his emails. Either way, they've lost my support until something changes. 

Ontario's status quo has implications for president Trump

A snap election in Canada's most populous province of Ontario results in the status quo.

At the end of a four-week election snap election campaign, votes have been cast and counted resulting in a legislature that is a near carbon copy of the one dissolved at the end of January.

On Jan. 28, Premier Doug Ford triggered an election campaign more than a year ahead of schedule saying he needed a larger mandate from the electorate to inject tens of billions into the economy if U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs.

By the end of the election night on Thursday, however, it was almost like the campaign hadn’t happened. The Progressive Conservatives were elected and leading in 80 seats compared to the 79 they had at dissolution, while the NDP was official opposition with 27 seats compared to 28 they held a month earlier.

The Liberals saw the biggest gains of the night moving from nine seats to 14 — mainly absorbing seats previously held by independents. The Greens kept the two ridings they had at the end of January and independent Bobbi Ann Brady was also re-elected.

The only major upset of the night was Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie who failed to win a seat in Mississauga, the city where she was mayor for almost a decade. No cabinet ministers were unseated and none of the other party leaders lost.

There is one thing that has changed, Ontario's premier has turned on Trump. Trump has made enemies of a few former friends in and Doug Ford is one of them. American's might say well, that's a fair-weather friend, but it is in response to tariffs being imposed by Trump. I get Trump not being able to stomach Justin Trudeau but in going after Canada instead of just Justin Trudeau, he's throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Canada despises Trudeau as well. Canada is trending heavily conservative and an election is imminent. There will soon be a prime minister who, if things do not escalate, will be a willing and great partner for president Trump who will work hand in hand to benefit both countries. 

Not all geopolitical relationships are comprised of zero sum game. One country can only benefit at the expense of another. Most things in life, and certainly in capitalism (not crony capitalism) are in fact not zero sum game situations.  The relationship between the U.S. and Canada is most definitely NOT a zero sum game. It is more typified by the idea of "a rising tide lifts all boats." Trade can be mutually beneficial, and it should be so. 

As a Canadian who has vociferously supported Trump since 2016, even I am irked. That's not to say that I have stopped supporting him. I remain optimistic about what he will do for America, and as a spillover effect it will help Canada. But I have gone from robustly optimistic to merely cautiously optimistic. I hope Trump's America first does not result in making a bunch of enemies for the United States. America first does not need to result in America only.

Back to optimism; I don't believe it will. Trade can be mutually beneficial, and it should be so. Trump certainly knows this. I believe Trump is playing poker with Canada, with NATO, with Russia and the Ukraine, and even with Gaza. Or more accurately, he's staking out a position from which to start to bargaining. That's brilliant if that's the case, and I do think that IS the case. I'm irked but that is merely due to the short term implications, longer term I'm sure it will pass. Trump I'm sure is thinking long term. I'm also sure that there will be some unintended consequences. Let's hope those are kept to a minimum.

Canada's most populace province re-elects conservative government

This is a good sign for the coming midterms. Canada's most populous province, Ontario, one that federally has typically voted Liberal (think Justin Trudeau), yesterday re-elected a majority conservative provincial government.  Doug Ford was re-elected as provincial Premier.  It's a good sign.  Mostly.

For the first time in my political voting life, I did not vote in this election.  Doug Ford was as wacky as Justin Trudeau in calling the Freedom Convoy illegal and unacceptable.  While I'm happy the conservatives won, and I understand his position on the issue was a politically expedient one designed not to alienate a typically liberal province, the choice to slander those who were peacefully protesting a bad government decision was unacceptable to me.

Even many of the federal Conservative Party leadership candidates are supporting a repeal of the Trudeau COVID mandates, which was the impetus for the Freedom Convoy.   I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone in my thinking that Premier Doug Ford was being politically expedient when he badmouthed the Freedom Convoy rather than standing up for their concerns.  The basically status quo election had a miserable voter turnout for Ontario provincial elections, roughly 44%, representing the worst provincial election turnout in the province's history.  

I'm glad the Conservative Party won.  The alternatives were either a liberal or an outright socialist.  So the least bad option prevailed. Good.  But not great.  The best sign is that the mood of Canada is not rabidly liberal and it probably carries over into the United States as an existential truth at the moment. 

Tone deaf Premier of Ontario

Say it with me --  "I will never vote for the conservative party of Ontario as long as Doug Ford is the head of the party."  This man is the most disappointing leader I have ever seen.  With Justin Trudeau you expect stupidity.  Doug Ford was elected as a conservative but has been governing as a frightened child. 

In Canada a conservative premier has gone covid-woke

In Canada's most populous province Ontario, a province run by a nominally 'conservative' government (and one that got my vote), has extended a stay at home order. Our supposedly Donald-Trumpesque premier has gone covid-woke.

This is not healthy.  Society cannot exist if you cancel it. So, is that what this Canadian provincial government is trying to do?  Because the response is toxic, and at this point worse than COVID.

The premier is spinelessly following advisors to the detriment of society. And this is not the first time he has made a covid-woke mistake. This is not who I voted for, and he won't be getting my support in the next provincial election.

Ontario Canada goes conservative

A quick follow-up to yesterday's post on conservatism vs. liberalism vs. socialism in Ontario, Canada.  As I suspected, our ruling Liberal party was decimated.  As I suspected, our Hillary-Clinton-sounding-but-way-left-of-Bernie-Sanders NDP socialist party came second, and our conservative leader, tagged as our version of Donald Trump, won a majority government in provincial parliament.

He's pro-business, he's in favor of lower taxes for the middle class, he's hugely anti-government-waste.

I'm looking forward to four years at least of respite from the growth-choking liberal policies that have torpedoed our province.  In his victory speech, Ford did not disappoint:

In an emotional victory speech, Ford thanked his supporters and vowed to make Ontario “once again the engine of Canada.” He also paid tribute to his late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who died of cancer two years ago.

“I know that my brother Rob is looking down from heaven,” Ford said, as the crowd erupted in cheers. “He is celebrating with us tonight.”

Ford said his election marks the beginning of an era of economic growth “the likes of which this province has never seen before.” He also reiterated some of his marquee campaign promises, such as cutting gas prices and reducing taxes for middle-income families.

“Tonight we have sent a clear message to the world: Ontario is open for business,” he said, before pivoting to address those who didn’t vote for him.

“In those who didn’t support us, I will work even harder to earn your confidence.”

Maybe instead of dealing with our Prime Minister, Donald Trump should deal with this guy. 

Happening Now: Conservative vs Liberal vs Socialist in Ontario

My home province of Ontario (Canada's most populated province) votes today for a new premier (our version of governor).  After 15 years of Liberal party hegemony, fraught with scandal, corruption, inefficiency and some truly bad policy, voters are looking for a change.  Unlike the U.S. we typically have three viable options - the Liberal party (think Bernie Sanders), the New Democrats (think left of Bernie Sanders) and the Conservatives (which vary from people as conservative as Hillary Clinton, all the way over to Ronald Reagan).

Thankfully voters have finally had enough of the Liberals.  The provincial conservative party (sadly named the "Progressive Conservatives") held a strong enough generic lead to form the next government but in a snap leadership race months before the election (due to a sudden, not-so-surprisingly-ill-timed #MeToo-type scandal for their leader) they chose to elect the brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford (of crack mayor fame), as their leader.

He has no such scandal associated with him but he is not the most telegenic candidate.  He's been portrayed as Canada's version of president Trump by the media here.  They have attempted to smear him and his party.  Yet he clings to a slim lead in generic balloting.  The Liberals have not made a comeback - and risk garnering so few votes they may no longer qualify as a party if you can believe it. 

But this is going to be a change election.  The only other choice for change is the New Democrats (NDP) - the true socialists.  They have surged with a candidate who ironically speaks yells an awful lot like Hillary Clinton.  See for yourself.

She's also rude and exudes a sense of entitlement:

Just, wow. And apparently just HORRIBLE at basic math:

All that, said I expect our mini-Trump to win a majority government in provincial parliament as his votes are not so concentrated as the NDPs which will solidly over-perform in some areas, just as Hillary Clinton did in California, which did not help her one bit either.   Conservatives deserve to win because they are offering common sense.  They are listening to voters.

I'll report tomorrow on how it turned out.

Scandal - the liberal strategy on display

In Canada's most populous province of Ontario an election is approaching and defending their long held grip on power the provincial Liberals are facing a disaster, trailing the conservatives in the polls a drubbing has been expected for a long time.  The newly chosen leader of the provincial party has been crafting his image as a compassionate conservative for a long time now.  In the face of tanking numbers the governing Liberals have tried everything - crazy handouts to every imaginable interest group, rebates on electricity bills,

It hasn't worked so there was only one route left - scandalize your opponent. The conservative leader Patrick Brown has been hit with a sexual assault allegation for something that happened a long time ago.  Sounds familiar in the Roy Moore torpedoing, does it not?

Patrick Brown denied the allegations but has been left hanging in the wind, as has his party and the probably the chances for a conservative win in my home province. In the future it seems, unless you are a woman, as a conservative you cannot successfully run for office. This is the new modus operendi for liberals - dig up allegations from a long time ago and sit on them until necessary. It's the politics of personal destruction. It's Saul Alinsky's tactics in the extreme.

Patrick Brown has denied everything and it is just breaking so he has not had his day in court but for the liberals, courting public opinion, it doesn't matter.

In Canadian politics, if you erase emails, you pay the consequences

Unlike Hillary Clinton, In Canada the Ontario provincial liberals were engrossed in a gas plant scandal and some emails implicating top politicians were deliberately erased.  Today, someone paid the price with a conviction:

BREAKING: Laura Miller not guilty, David Livingston guilty in Liberal gas plan email scandal. #onpoli https://t.co/1fgpH5elWe

— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) January 19, 2018

Maybe someone in the Justice Department in America could perhaps buy a vowel on this notion?

That's government for you

Here in Ontario Canada, today was the day students in Grade 10 were supposed to write the provincial literacy test.  I'm not sure if this was the first year it was online or not, but why a government would have every student in the province login to write the test at the same time is beyond me.  Oh wait, it's the government.

The website crashed.

Ontario's Grade 10 literacy exam was cancelled

Canadian conservative trifecta has probably stalled

The Conservative government in Canada finally won a majority government this year after a couple of minority governments.  In Toronto, Canada's most populous city, a conservative won the mayor's race.  In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, there's a provincial election today.  The opposition Conservative party was 10 points ahead in polling a scant two months ago - now, they're likely going to end up second with yet a third term with a tax and spend Liberal government and a resurgent socialist NDP party creeping up in popularity as well.

Update: Proving my point on Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper.

I'm still reveling in the thrill of getting mentioned in Hot Air by Ed Morrissey.  In response to his painting the conservative party as center-left I drew a distinction between conservatives and the conservative party in Canada as opposed to the general electorate:

The conservative party of Canada is far less of a center-left party than you suggest. While it is not currently conservative in the sense of American conservatism, it’s still a center-right party. The way it governs is affected by the country as a whole. The conservative government is hampered by decades of liberalism and socialism, so moving the country back to the right will take considerable time. The country fears conservatives as being radicals and Prime Minister Harper has had to temper his lower taxes, stronger national defense, pro-business views to suit what is still a center-left country that is slowly testing the waters with a conservative government (three elections later).

Harper’s prudence isn’t as exciting as Reagan or Thatcher in a full on charge to the right, but it’s the smartest approach in a country ready to run back to the liberals at what it regards as the slightest hint of radical conservatism. If we are to get to a center-right nation, we unfortunately have to do it slowly.

Other than that, glad as always that you are paying attention to what’s going on up here.