Kellie Leitch is doing to the Conservative Party what Donald Trump has done to the Republican Party -- splitting it right down the middle. Michael Den Tandt writes:
Apparently, as far as Team Leitch is concerned, a new wind is blowing — a nativist wind, ripe for the harvest. Last week it was reported that a Leitch campaign survey had posed this question: “Should the Canadian government screen potential immigrants for anti-Canadian values as part of its normal screening for refugees and landed immigr
“Canadians can expect to hear more, not less from me, on this topic in the coming months,” she said Friday.
There has always been political hay to be made by stoking fear of "the other." And it's paying off for Leitch:
Why did Leitch decide to go all-in? One objective seems plain: donations. Last month it emerged she’s taken an early but significant lead in fundraising, accounting for about 60 per cent of the $376,377 raised by three then-declared leadership aspirants (Leitch, Chong, Bernier) in the second quarter, The Canadian Press reported.
Leitch is reaping profits. The party, however, isn't doing so well:
The takeaway is this: Leitch doesn’t care about upending the pluralist tradition of her party, or about how her latest gambit will surely be used by the Liberals to paint all Tories as xenophobes. Nor does she care about the evident risks in broaching a culture war, witness the career-ending losses of Harper last year and Quebec premier Pauline Marois in 2014. Leitch cares, it seems, about filling her campaign coffers.
She's taken a page from Donald Trump's playbook. Clearly she hopes to ride to power on waves of ignorance.
Image: nationalpost.com
6 comments:
Leitch's unfitness to lead is manifest, Owen, but in that she is not alone, considering the caliber of those who have thus far declared, Michael Chong excepted.
With the exception of Chong, Lorne, they all appear to be both blind and ignorant.
.. 'The road to hell is paved with ---- ----------'
You're among the very last on the planet, Owen
.. that need reminding ... or explanation ..
Your daily essays exemplary ..
Highly appreciated..
The comments often a riot ..
but always well rejoindered..
in the light vein of Twain
a hint o Shakespeare
a jab o McLuhanism
Keeping you top o the Canadian Values hall o fame
but it always seemed to me (mebbe not to Kellie Leitch)
we never ever keep score on those simple canadian 'things' stuff ..
Its kinda like the puck just finds it way into the net .. y'know ..
the salamanders have spoken ..
Thanks, salamander. I'm always appreciative of your erudite comments.
As you know, I wrote my own post on this awful woman and her racism. But It really depressed me no end because she is just one among many racist politicians who is popping up all over the Western world pushing a xenophobic, rightwing agenda. I am glad my dad didn't have to see this. He used to talk in sad amazement about how Europe sleep walked into fascism in the 30s and how it was like watching a slow-motion car crash that you are helpless to stop.
What worries me, Kirby, is that history may well repeat itself.
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