Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Bernier


The number of Conservative leadership candidates continues to shrink. Erin O'Toole dropped out the other day. And, if the polls are correct, Maxime Bernier continues to lead the pack. But, if he wins the contest, Alex Boutillier writes that Canadians have cause to worry, because Bernier would make radical changes to the country:

Bernier would get the federal government out of health care, transferring the full responsibility to provinces and paving the way for more private delivery.

Bernier would tie Canada’s foreign aid to “morality,” and believes billions of it should be spent instead on tax cuts and healing the poor at home.

Bernier would end federal “welfare” for Canadian businesses, and axe popular tax credits for things like kid’s hockey gear and teachers’ classroom supplies in favour of across-the-board tax cuts.

And Bernier wants to do it all in a four-year term, should he become Conservative leader at the end of the month, and should he defeat Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2019. 

While Stephen Harper believed in many of the same things, he also believed in incrementalism. The Bernier diet, however, will be force fed:

Bernier is proposing dramatic change quickly — and his agenda certainly can’t be accused of being hidden.

“They’re conservative ideas, they’re conservative values,” Bernier said this week, discussing his libertarian-leaning platform.

“You want me to be a Liberal?”
He continued, after agreeing the interviewer doesn’t want anything in particular: “No, no, but yeah, I want change. I’m a Conservative, and I’m a proud Conservative.”

A Proud Conservative. But not a Progressive Conservative. If Bernier is elected to lead the party, it will be abundantly clear that the lunatics have seized control of the asylum. 


Image: The Toronto Star

10 comments:

Deacon Jester said...

Oh, let's have him. Let's elect his party. Let's have him as PM. With what's coming our way on this lonesome drying ball of blood soaked mud we need to learn to laugh in the face of self-inflicted tragedy.

Owen Gray said...

If Bernier becomes leader, Deacon, it will be a self inflicted tragedy.

Toby said...

What is the difference between Bernier and Trudeau? As near as I can figure, Trudeau speaks wonderful things but seems to be edging in Bernier's direction. At a time when we should be making massive change on so many fronts we are still saddled with troglodytes in charge.

The donkey is dead but we are loading the cart anyway.

Owen Gray said...

Well put, Toby.

the salamander said...

.. If one goes for groceries in Canada, or any neccessary purchases
what would we think if we handed the cashier two 50's or a hundred $ bill
for a 60$ purchase & the cashier said 'thanks, have a nice day.. take care' eh ?
No change provided..

My point is.. we have a dearth of 'public servants' among our elected public servants
What we do have is political parties deciding who shall be 'the one & only'
We elect one of them & in the majority of cases we get whipped political animals
I think Michael Chong is an exception for a 'conservative'
certainly there are others of integrity..

Bernier though is the perfect former Harper zombie
to free Rona from the burden of inhabiting the former Harper & Mulcair haunt
that we call Stornoway.. complete with chef, limo, security
& all the pomp n ceremony & faux outrage ya can stand
The rent is free.. so pretty hard to bear up under that duress

Bernier is a free pass for Trudeau to continue posturing through the next election
then retire in a burst of glory.. so fill in the blank can accept the torch blah blah woof woof
and duke it out with the staggeringly stupido next conservative or reformertory villain

It is... kabuki theatre
but the 'bad guys' aka Harper's Rump Remnants are doomed to stalk the planet
muttering 'you aint seen nothing yet.. cuz we have no knowledge of these things'
Until a great savior storms over the horizon on a great white horse !
And yea his name shall be Ezra.. or uh .. Hell n Damnation the horse just keeled over !
But hey hey.. here cometh Joan of Kellie Leitch !

Deary me.. Canada eh .. is hard ashore, pounded by the waves of Hurricane Donald
and we have no rescue patrol vessels, no choppers, military in complete disarray
and here come legions of Asian supertankers to the rescue.. but wait !
They just churned by.. holds stuffed with Asian zillionaires & TFW stevadors
here to purchase visas and Vancouver. hell, any property deed !
and sail away with the last of our raw BC forests, LNG or DILBIT !
.. and ideally any seafood we can spare before the holy Revelation .. ! !

Owen Gray said...

I just got off the phone with a Conservative friend of mine, salamander. He tells me he voted for Chong. But he said he has no idea who will win. If they do choose Chong, they have a shot at government. If they don't, they'll be still wandering in the desert.

Steve said...

This is a prime example of the reason we need to end the FPTP madness. We can no longer take a chance that the 37% winner is sane.

Owen Gray said...

Point well taken, Steve.

The Mound of Sound said...

I'm with Steve on this one. Our prime minister, sadly, intends to leave in place the flawed FPTP that will usher the next Harper or Bernier into absolute power with a false majority. Think of it as "Trudeau's perfidy."

Owen Gray said...

Trudeau made the promise, Mound. He could have delivered a ranked ballot. I agree with both of you.