In Canada, are the Conservatives the Centerist Party?

Tecumsehsbones

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OK, gotta say. . . I know pretty much the square root of dick about Chretien, but ya gotta admire a man who gets that far in politics with a name that's so easily pronounced "cretin."
 
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Serryah

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You're probably thinking of it from a cultural identity perspective. Yes, Conservatives are still as discriminatory as ever. That hasn't changed.

However, they are not as libertarian as they used to be. Smaller, less intrusive government is no longer part of their ideology. They know it would be detrimental if they removed most of the socialist policies ushered in by the Liberals (with the help of the NDP). And they might preach 'axe the tax' with their rabid fanbase, but while the carbon tax is easy pickings, they're much less eager to remove the capital gains tax that will kick in later this month.

It's certainly not a 1:1 comparison with Liberals, but they have softened on the low tax, economic libertarian position from the past. That's why I call them Diet Liberals.

Okay that does make sense, yes.

Though I'd still not call them "Diet Liberals".

Maybe Confused Conservatives would be better.
 
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Taxslave2

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But no, if anyone considers the current Conservative Party of Canada "Centrist", they live in a state of mind that is nowhere CLOSE to reality.
They are pandering somewhat to the lefty vote. Hopefully they will see the error of their ways after the election and fix our finances before sticking the next generation with the bill for our extravagant social spending.
 

Ron in Regina

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Conservatives are more right than ever.

There IS no center party anymore.

Libs aren't.

NDP aren't.

Maybe - MAYBE - Green but they're also shit worthless so...

But no, if anyone considers the current Conservative Party of Canada "Centrist", they live in a state of mind that is nowhere CLOSE to reality.
Guess we’ll have to wait (until Oct 27th, 2025-ish) to see where the center of Canadian votes lay for the answer then.
Maybe we will just have to wait until 12-17 months to see where the majority of Canadian votes fall.

If 50% of voters want “X” and 30% of voters want “X & Y” but 10% of voters want just “Y” and 10% aren’t interested in “X or Y”…does that make those that only want “Y” the center in the Centerist concept (?) or does that mean the center has moved to somewhere between those that want “X” or “X & Y” and that those that want “Y” alone aren’t the center but are out (one way or the other) from that nations political center?

In the abstract, is that what we’re seeing in Canadian politics federally currently?

If you don’t like the abstract use of X and Y, substitute A and B above.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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Maybe we will just have to wait until 12-17 months to see where the majority of Canadian votes fall.

If 50% of voters want “X” and 30% of voters want “X & Y” but 10% of voters want just “Y” and 10% aren’t interested in “X or Y”…does that make those that only want “Y” the center in the Centerist concept (?) or does that mean the center has moved to somewhere between those that want “X” or “X & Y” and that those that want “Y” alone aren’t the center but are out (one way or the other) from that nations political center?

In the abstract, is that what we’re seeing in Canadian politics federally currently?

If you don’t like the abstract use of X and Y, substitute A and B above.
Can I use gamma and rho?
 
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Ron in Regina

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Can I use gamma and rho?
You can use “+” and “-“ or “😁”and”😕” or “L” and “R” or “👆” and “👇” or “0” and “1” (though binary might be seen as too binary) or whatever fills your boots and tickles your fancy so “Y” and “P” would be more than acceptable with my loose morals and lack of religious background.

I have to admit that I do appreciate mathematical humour. The only way that could’ve been improved upon would’ve been to find it in a meme because…
1717362654467.jpeg
 

Ron in Regina

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Hunh. I always thought "sucker fish" just meant the ones dumb enough to hit the bait. . .
Sucker here just means the guy who pays the power bill for someone else running the home equivalent of an aquatic puppy mill.😉
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And that’s just the breeding room and not the show tanks (six of those) the sales are made from:
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Etc…
 
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petros

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Maybe we will just have to wait until 12-17 months to see where the majority of Canadian votes fall.

If 50% of voters want “X” and 30% of voters want “X & Y” but 10% of voters want just “Y” and 10% aren’t interested in “X or Y”…does that make those that only want “Y” the center in the Centerist concept (?) or does that mean the center has moved to somewhere between those that want “X” or “X & Y” and that those that want “Y” alone aren’t the center but are out (one way or the other) from that nations political center?

In the abstract, is that what we’re seeing in Canadian politics federally currently?

If you don’t like the abstract use of X and Y, substitute A and B above.
If you lose your keys between point A and point B does that point became B with former point B becoming point C?
 

Ron in Regina

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Singh had a chance to distinguish himself from Trudeau on the identity politics file in the 2019 election when the prime minister’s extended history of blackface came to light. Singh gave Trudeau a pass then, and has ever since. So now he is trying on the anti-corporate elite role, which Poilievre beat him to years ago.

The decision by Jagmeet Singh to end his supply-and-confidence agreement with the Trudeau government, coupled with the Winnipeg federal byelection in nine days, invites the question of where left-wing populism fits today on the federal scene.

As Singh filed his “divorce” papers, he inveighed mightily against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as too much the defender of corporate interests. Trudeau might be accused of being the creature of corporate Canada, with his McKinsey-friendly administration, but Pierre Poilievre has rhetorically positioned himself as an enemy of the corporate elites. More than rhetorically; his Conservatives voted for the “anti-scab” labour bill that the NDP had pushed as part of its alliance with the Liberals.

The political energy in Canada today is with conservative populism, as it is in many places around the world. Where is the energy on the populist left in Canada? Now that the NDP has decided to become its own political party again, it’s a timely question.
The Trudeau-Singh alliance was congenial in part because both men are creatures of the new left, in which carbon taxes, contraceptives, plastic straws and pride flags are the great causes. The environment and identity politics have replaced the older populist left, which was about shop-floor issues and made space for cultural conservatives.

Western Canada gave expression to populism on both sides, the Social Credit on the right, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) on the left. Singh shows no particular interest in that old Prairie CCF tradition. The NDP is now an urban phenomenon. Singh, who grew up in blue-collar Windsor — attending an elite private American school across the border in Michigan — moved first to Brampton, Ont. and then Burnaby, B.C. to run for office.
 

Ron in Regina

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Liberals have gone so far left, they think the Chretien's Liberals were Conservative.
Despite Canadians growing weary of the Harper Conservatives at the time, McTeague said that without Trudeau, the Liberals wouldn’t have been much of a match in 2015 — to say anything about winning a majority government.

“Many MPs are now finally realizing, after a decade, that they went too far to the left,” McTeague said. Dan McTeague, a Liberal MP from 1993-2011, said the party hitching its wagon to the Trudeau name was an act of desperation.

“(Justin) Trudeau was a quick fix, it was all we needed,” he said. “For a generation, the name ‘Trudeau’ had been synonymous with the Liberal Party, and vice-versa. It got them out of third place and brought them to first, with a name everybody identified with.”

“This is the party that created social opportunity. This isn’t a socialist party, and yet it’s replete with socialists.”

Whatever the party chooses to do in the weeks and months ahead, their time is limited…& so is Canada’s because the clock is ticking.