An Early Voter’s Guide to Trudeau (Bad) and Scheer (Worse)
Don’t let negative partisanship trick you into backing Harper lite.
Wiser heads, including one senior diplomat, advised the PM to apologize to both Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott. It is called cutting your losses. Or as the old proverb has it, “No matter how far down the wrong road you go, turn back.”
Instead, Trudeau booted both women out of caucus, exacerbating his problems. Although the PM has set an apology record for Canadian leaders, he refused to say sorry for his role in railroading Canada’s first aboriginal justice minister out of office. Some reconciliation.
And now there is the case of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, and the botched criminal investigation by the RCMP that ended in disgrace for the government.
According to published reports in the Globe and Mail, it was the PM who set in motion this half-assed, politically inspired RCMP dig into Norman that led to a single criminal charge against him for breach of trust — and two years of gratuitous agony for the accused.
The investigation was essentially a charade. None of the key witnesses from the Harper era were even interviewed by the RCMP, even though most of Norman’s alleged wrongdoings occurred under the previous government.
Just as bad from a justice perspective, the PCO and PMO did not provide requested documents to Norman’s defence team. For that, Marie Henein, who is part lawyer, part honey-badger, handed them their asses.
The criminal charge against her client was stayed, but the opposition fury is just beginning. Nor is it at all certain that Norman is finished telling his story. Like a depth charge, further developments could explode during the election campaign.
In getting the Mounties involved, Trudeau apparently acted out of frustration and anger that a cabinet document had leaked involving the planned delay of a $668-million ship contract with Davie shipyard in Quebec.
Even after the Norman criminal investigation triggered in part by Trudeau was underway, the PM publicly commented on the case, declaring that he thought it would end up in court. The PM was in essence predicting that Norman would be charged.
More: https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/05/..._content=052319-1&utm_campaign=editorial-0519
Hardly an item to base an election on. Especially since the loony left tried the same fear tactic before Harper was elected and yet women are still free to chose.Republicans in the US are criminalizing abortion. Canada’s Conservatives want to do the same.
Canadian Conservatives want to follow the example of right-wing Republicans
Andrew Scheer’s MPs backing extreme anti-choice group
At least 12 Conservative MPs attended a recent anti-choice rally, including Dave Van Kesteren of Chatham-Kent-Leamington, Kevin Sorenson, former Minister of State for Finance under Harper, and Harold Albrecht of Kitchener-Conestoga.
“Some in Parliament, from both sides of the aisle, including our prime minister, claim that abortion is a human right,” says Matt Wojciechowski, vice president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a Toronto-based anti-choice lobby organization. “This is a lie. The killing of a child in the womb is not a right and no one has the right to kill another human being.”
He also said that the CLC wants women who face unplanned pregnancies to know that “abortion is not an option.”
Doug Ford’s MPPs pledge to “make abortion unthinkable”
At a Toronto March for Life on the same day, Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff said he pledges to “make abortion unthinkable in our lifetime” and is keen on raising the issue in provincial parliament.
“I have no problem talking about the importance respecting life no matter how small the child is,” he said.
More: https://north99.org/2019/05/15/repu...ion-canadas-conservatives-want-to-do-the-same
Yes the dreaded secret agenda .Hardly an item to base an election on. Especially since the loony left tried the same fear tactic before Harper was elected and yet women are still free to chose.
Hardly an item to base an election on. Especially since the loony left tried the same fear tactic before Harper was elected and yet women are still free to chose.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer on Friday plans to drop a previous pledge to balance the budget within two years if elected, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has made it impossible to do so responsibly.
Scheer, 40, is challenging Trudeau in an election set for October and polls show him leading nationally.
In a speech on his economic policy he will deliver at the Canadian Club in Vancouver, British Columbia on Friday, Scheer will promise to make a balanced budget part of his platform, but within about five years instead of two.
"In the last three years, Trudeau has made an even bigger mess of the budget than I thought possible... All of this has made it impossible for anyone to immediately and responsibly balance the budget," according to the text of the speech seen by Reuters on Thursday.
"Even the most optimistic projections don't have the Liberals balancing the budget for 20 more years ... But if Canadians elect a Conservative government this fall, we will balance the budget in about a quarter of that time," the text reads.
In 2015, Trudeau promised to balance the budget by this year, which he has not done. But even with the deficit, Canada's net debt-to-GDP ratio is lower than its G7 rivals and debt as a share of output is expected to decline over the coming years from about 31 percent currently.
Scheer's announcement on Friday will follow a major economic policy speech he gave in Toronto last week where he said he will rein in spending, build oil pipelines and put the country on a path to energy independence by 2030 if he is elected.
The decision also comes as Scheer's ally Doug Ford, the premier in Ontario, seeks to balance the budget of Canada's most populous province by 2023-24.
The Canadian Public Health Association and 10 former Ontario health ministers have complained that Ford's cuts undermine some public healthcare services, and pollster Frank Graves at Ekos Research said recent surveys have shown Ford's support is falling in Ontario.
"Ford has lost 11 percentage points since mid-January up to this week," Graves said, citing his own unpublished polls. "The Conservatives want to stop the bleeding in Ontario and keep it from spilling over to the rest of the country."
Canada's economy has slowed this year from last and the Bank of Canada late last month held interest rates steady and removed wording around the need for future hikes, while lowering its growth forecast for 2019.
"More moderate voters don't want there to be cuts in public spending that will lead to slowdown or a recession," Graves added.
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is pledging to get tough on crime with mandatory minimum sentences of five years for anyone convicted of abusing children.
Scheer, who made the announcement in a Montreal suburb this morning, says he will ensure sentences for sexual crimes against children take into account the length and severity of abuse.
He says wounds from sexual abuse last a lifetime, adding the penalty should "fit the crime" and that survivors need to be assured the federal government will ensure offenders are appropriately punished.
Scheer has been rolling out a series of policy announcements ahead of the October election as he works to define himself and his party with Canadians.
On Wednesday, he pledged funding for police, survivor services and public awareness to fight human trafficking, adding he will make changes to the Criminal Code to make it easier to convict people accused of it.
He's also in the middle of a five-speech series to lay out his views on issues such as foreign policy, the economy and the environment.
Republicans in the US are criminalizing abortion. Canada’s Conservatives want to do the same.
Canadian Conservatives want to follow the example of right-wing Republicans
Andrew Scheer’s MPs backing extreme anti-choice group
At least 12 Conservative MPs attended a recent anti-choice rally, including Dave Van Kesteren of Chatham-Kent-Leamington, Kevin Sorenson, former Minister of State for Finance under Harper, and Harold Albrecht of Kitchener-Conestoga.
“Some in Parliament, from both sides of the aisle, including our prime minister, claim that abortion is a human right,” says Matt Wojciechowski, vice president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a Toronto-based anti-choice lobby organization. “This is a lie. The killing of a child in the womb is not a right and no one has the right to kill another human being.”
He also said that the CLC wants women who face unplanned pregnancies to know that “abortion is not an option.”
Doug Ford’s MPPs pledge to “make abortion unthinkable”
At a Toronto March for Life on the same day, Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff said he pledges to “make abortion unthinkable in our lifetime” and is keen on raising the issue in provincial parliament.
“I have no problem talking about the importance respecting life no matter how small the child is,” he said.
More: https://north99.org/2019/05/15/repu...ion-canadas-conservatives-want-to-do-the-same
No will to fight the civil service .Exclusive: Canada's Conservative leader to drop pledge to balance budget in two years
Our largest federal commitments are debt servicing and federal payroll . Cutting or controlling the size of the bureaucracy is necessary to balance the budget .I think it is more about guaranteed monetary commitments than the civil servants, probably a lot to do with social infrastructure
Our largest federal commitments are debt servicing and federal payroll . Cutting or controlling the size of the bureaucracy is necessary to balance the budget .
An Early Voter’s Guide to Trudeau (Bad) and Scheer (Worse)
Don’t let negative partisanship trick you into backing Harper lite.
Our largest federal commitments are debt servicing and federal payroll . Cutting or controlling the size of the bureaucracy is necessary to balance the budget .
Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott will not run as Green Party candidates in the fall election, CBC News has learned.
The two former Liberal cabinet ministers spoke with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May several times about possibly running for her party.
Wilson-Raybould also attended May's wedding in Victoria at the end of April, stoking rumours that she might jump to the Greens.
Wilson-Raybould currently sits as an independent MP for Vancouver Granvillle and Philpott for Markham-Stouffville.
The two women quit the Liberal cabinet over the government's handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair — which went public early in the year after Wilson-Raybould accused senior officials in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government of pressuring her inappropriately to allow the Quebec-based engineering firm to avoid a trial on corruption charges. They were subsequently kicked out of the Liberal caucus on April 2.
Getting two high-profile ex-Liberals to run for the Greens — especially ones so closely tied to the biggest political scandal to face the Trudeau government — would have given May extra horsepower heading into this election season.
The Greens have been surging recently. On Monday, May will officially welcome the party's second MP into the House of Commons. Paul Manly will be sworn in after winning the recent Nanaimo-Ladysmith byelection in British Columbia with a comfortable majority.
The Greens also have seen an uptick in support in recent provincial elections. In P.E.I., the party took over as the Official Opposition after winning nine seats in April. Ontario voted in its first Green MPP this year. And in 2017, the party won three seats in B.C., giving it the balance of power in the province.
It isn't clear yet if Wilson-Raybould or Philpott will run as independents. Historically, about one-third of Canadian MPs have successfully been re-elected as independents after leaving their parties.
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says the Liberals' decision to name an anti-Conservative union to a panel that will decide which media outlets receive government funding is the latest example of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "stacking the deck" in his favour to get re-elected in October.
In an interview with The Canadian Press Sunday, Scheer said he believes the decision to include Unifor on the panel — which will determine eligibility for a $595-million bailout package — undermines the credibility of the panel's work.
"There's no reason for Unifor to be on this panel. They are a very aggressive, partisan group with very aggressive and partisan goals, even as late as a couple of days ago attacking Conservatives and me personally, and yet Justin Trudeau has decided to put this group on the panel," Scheer said.
"That is completely unacceptable."
Unifor has campaigned against the Conservative party and, in November, published tweets calling itself Scheer's "worst nightmare."
Earlier this week, the union's national president Jerry Dias said the Conservative leader is trying to undermine confidence in a free and independent press by raising concern about Unifor's presence on the panel. Dias compared Scheer's tactics to those employed by U.S. President Donald Trump...………...Much More