The Canadian political scene is being reconstituted. Some of its ugliest practitioners are leaving the stage. Susan Delacourt writes:
It appears to be sweeps week in Canadian politics — when troublesome political players get swept right out of the action.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals tossed an MP out of caucus on Monday amid controversy over conspiracy theories, just a few hours after Sen. Lynn Beyak decided to shut down her racism-infused political career, effective immediately.
These exits come hot on the heels of last week’s resignation of governor-general Julie Payette and the ouster of a neo-Nazi funded MP, Derek Sloan, from the Conservative caucus.
The Liberals made no bones about why they ousted Ramesh Sangha from their caucus:
Sent out as a succinct, “he’s fired” missive by Chief Government Whip Mark Holland, it said Liberals were shutting down that kind of trouble in its tracks, within its own ranks.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has been drawing some sharper lines too; not just with his own ouster of Sloan last week for taking donations from a neo-Nazi.
The Conservatives still have some toxic MP's:
On Monday, one of O’Toole’s Conservatives, Kerry Diotte, was standing up in the Commons to call Trudeau “wimpy” and Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner was being chided for shouting “what the hell” in the direction of the government. So this is clearly a work in progress.
There are lessons to be learned from what happened south of the border. The Republicans should have taken Donald Trump out of the game early. Now their collective I.Q. is a negative number. Political parties destroy themselves when they coddle the crazies.
Image: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
6 comments:
The Cons have always had trouble with "bozo eruptions" dating back to their Reform past. Harper ruled with an iron fist partly to prevent the public from seeing the clowns and bigots under the party's hood.
While the likes of Larry "Stay the Hell Where You Came From" Miller are now gone, the party is still full of the same kind of people. Many, like Michelle Rempel Garner and MAGA-cap-wearing Candice Bergen, are in senior positions and are difficult to silence. O'Toole will have a tough time finding the right balance of allowing some bozo eruptions to keep the base energized, while clamping down on them generally to keep the clown show out of public view. If he doesn't, he'll soon go the way of Andrew Scheer.
Cap
The old Progressive Conservative Party used to draw from the same base as the Liberals, Cap. When Stephen Harper took over the party, he opened the gates to the loonies. When he left, there was no one to keep them in tow.
Sloan and Bayak are beyond the pale; foaming at the mouth bigots. Probably need help from calm people in white coats, because their behaviour is abnormal. Who needs 'em wandering about in a hate haze? But I aslso really do find Rempel and Bergen hard to take. Bobble-head cheerleaders devoid of much introspection to my way of thinking, shallow, and slogan spouters. Adults you could straight-facedly introduce to grandma as part of the country's elite? Hardly.
Speaking of shallow, how's Andy Scheer doing these days? Paying all his own living expenses must be a downer -- he became Speaker in 2008 for a solid hop onto the gravy train before his epic mind slog as Oppo Leader which tired him right out, and where his schtick on being pressed for more info was to repeat what he'd just said even when it made no sense in the context of the new query. The dullest man I ever saw. The car salesmen must be happy when they saw him coming. Athough, a certain native cunning must exist that recognizes which side his bread is buttered on. A lifelong Conservative public servant seems like a contradiction in terms, but kenney does it too. Parasites on the body politic.
Morneau, well, a bit of a social misfit I always thought, awkward and prim and priggish, and he couldn't even make third round in the bid for OECD Director while Global Affairs staff helped him do those difficult things like phoning and promoting him to the electors, whoever in hell they might be. Yes, we paid for his full-frontal assault on a private plum post. Nice perq when you can get it. Now he's finding out what the gig economy is like and he's getting nothing but rejection letters on his first attempts to get a job, let alone hold it.
If the NDP had some oomph, which they entirely lack, they could have a good run at the Liberals who operate in dense mist where all is not as it seems, and the cavemen in suits and cavewomen in dresses of the CPC, woof, woof, arf, arf. Useless lot.
Is there a single pol out there with real merit in this country? If there is they must be being held incommunicado in a shack not 70 miles from Hay River in dense scrub.
BM
We live in an Age of Misinformation, BM -- a time tailor-made for crazies.
.. Is it just me.. or are we now in 'the zone of political desperation ' ??
American 'Politics' is certainly there.. Is Canada just as twisted ?
Politics today - to me - is warring gangs
in business suits behind the high school
checking in on portfolios.. no no, not ours
But their portfolios ! Gotta keep up with their wealth managers
Last time I looked that was not 'public servants' gathering
and doing their very best to serve their constituents..
You know.. in the hallowed halls of justice, democracy & reason
where the 'better angels' roam.. not a partisan freakshow
a la Trump 'rallies' for the dull, misled Qanon crusaders
We live in a time, sal, when thugs walk around in three-piece suits.
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