Andrew Scheer will not go down in history as the best and brightest of Conservative leaders -- nor will the people who want his job. Chantal Hebert writes:
It is totally possible to agree with the opposition rationale that no government — especially a minority one — should enjoy an open-ended pass from parliamentary scrutiny, but also to question whether what ails Conservative fortunes is really the party’s restricted capacity to hold the Liberals accountable face-to-face.
The NDP and the BQ have also lost a lot of visibility over the past few weeks, yet based on Léger’s polling, they both seem to be holding their own in voting intentions.
As matters currently stand, there is precious little appetite among the public for anything that smacks of partisan politics.
One of Scheer's biggest problems is that Ontario premier Doug Ford refuses to follow Scheer's lead:
The co-operation between a prime minister whose approval rating is currently on the rise and the Tory premier of Canada’s most-populous province makes it even harder for the federal Conservatives to credibly prosecute Trudeau’s management of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the contenders for Scheer's job keep shooting themselves in the foot:
Earlier this week, Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu called for an end to the social distancing measures that are keeping the Canadian economy on pause. Her rationale is that governments should focus on protecting elderly Canadians from COVID-19 and let everyone else get on with life.
And the Conservatives are still complaining about the SNC-Lavalin Affair:
Indeed, the most recent example of a tone-challenged official opposition performance goes back a little more than a month, on the very day the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic.
On that occasion, Scheer and his caucus were happy enough to relinquish the lead on COVID-19 to the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrats, the better to focus on a dead-on-arrival attempt to resuscitate the SNC-Lavalin affair.
We are reminded every day of why Scheer and Co. lost the last election. They bumbled through it. And they continue to do so.
Image: National Observer
8 comments:
This thing that calls itself the "Conservative Party" and all its antecedents have never had any more than what they're presenting now. That its becoming obvious is just that more foreheads than the usual number are being whacked. The remaining question is just how much more flattening the flattest ones can take before they implode.
What's most remarkable about the party, John, is just how far removed it is from most of the country.
Marilyn Gladu should read the Canada Public Health epidemiological statistics.
47.3% of cases to date are in the 30-60 years age group. In fact 50-59 year old make up 17.6% of cases, the most of any age group. Even 20-29 year olds make up 12% of cases.
60-69 year olds make up 13.4% of cases, 70-79 years olds 8.8% of cases - only children have a lower percentage - and over 80 year olds 13.6% of cases. So over 60 year olds make up 35.8% of cases.
Older people's lives may be more endangered, but people of all ages end up deathly ill and in ICU. Boris Johnson is absolutely typical for his age group.
Gladu is both ignorant and dangerous. She should learn to read a few statistics before spouting nonsense. Of course, many conservatives resent anything fact based or science based.
I like many Canadians connect the way Conservatives think with what is happening in the States. We have had enough craziness, enough pathology, enough cold-blooded indifference to life and don't want it in our country.
Your last sentence is spot on, ffd. Unfortunately, the Conservative Party is not where you are.
Oh, yes, the opposition, in the form of the Conservatives. Not much use to any one. If I speak to people I know, on the phone, they're all happy with Trudeau's actions to date. You see they're getting the money they need to feed their families, keep their houses afloat, etc. Right now that is all people want and to stay alive. Scheer can yammer on all he likes, but to date I haven't heard him say anything useful. The idiot loaded his 5 kids on a jet which was supposed to carry 3 M.P.s including himself. He's a selfish lout. No one who is running for the leadership has the qualifications. Wind baGS.
At the last sitting of the House, the leader of the bloc, said what needed to be said to represent their party as did Singh of the NDP. My take on it is both of them and the Greens want things to work, to make things the best they can be for the working people of this country and those who are unemployed or have small businesses. Scheer just wants his 15 seconds of "fame", which is going to leave him looking like an idiot. Like what does he think he can contribute except perhaps ask for tax breaks for the big corporations he thinks he represents.
Right now the business of the country is to keep as many alive as possible.
Well said, e.a.f.
I think that Scheer has not quite grasped the idea of "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition".
The opposition's role, especially in a pandemic is not to whing and carp and obstruct, it is to constructively criticize Gov"t policy and make useful suggestion re policy and to propose sensible amendments to legislation.
So far Scheer and the motley collection of "leadership" hopefuls have failed dismally. What a useless lot of wankers.
They still have not grasped why they lost the last election, jrk.
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