I’m not going to try to be “fair” in today’s column; instead, I will quietly attempt to discuss the recent actions of current Conservative Party “leader” Pierre Poilievre, who has become increasingly sickening to listen to, but devoid of any idea as to what his so-called “party” might offer should they form a majority government in the next federal election. Unfortunately, I will also have to reference recent materials posted in MP Randy Hoback’s “Herald” constituency newsletter.
There is no intention on my part to denigrate his service as an MP; I merely wish to illustrate that the information it contains, which is reviewed at the caucus level even before publication, more than amply illustrates why at this time in our history that the NDP is the ONLY party in Parliament capable of healing the deep wounds of hate left festering in our national bloodstream.
The hate-mongering diatribe we currently refer to as “political policy exchange” started under former CPC leader Stephen Harper, and has been carried forward as CPC “policy” by Andrew Scheer, Erin O’Toole, and the more extremist leadership candidate, Maxime Bernier. Pierre Poilievre is perhaps the most poisonous of any of these four.
Mr. Hoback’s “Herald” contains so much hokum it was almost impossible to read without bursting into laughter. In last week’s column, I already alluded to his comments about the Liberals “coming for your guns” being utter tripe. His assertion that the Conservative Party had led the fight against the C-21 amendments the Liberals were trying to append to the original bill is self-serving nonsense, as without resistance coming from a surprisingly powerful NDP caucus, those amendments would now be part of the final legislation passed by Parliament.
Mr. Hoback’s “Herald” also included some of the more standard talking points that Conservatives keep spewing in their social media outlets. For instance, Mr. Hoback’s missive contains the line that “a typical Canadian farmer will now face $150,000 in carbon tax alone.” However, when this Mathematics teacher divides that $150,000 by the $0.14/litre fuel costs for THIS year, that works out to the AVERAGE farmer buying approximately 1.07 MILLION litres of fuel in order to operate (280,000 U.S. gallons). This issue has already been resolved in Parliament, as in taxation year 2022 the inclusion of Form T-2043 allows farm partnerships and individual ownerships the ability to reclaim such taxes.
As usual, the CPC would like you AGAIN to believe that such a change in taxation was brought about by their constant drumbeating of the topic; however, AGAIN the “leftist caucus” wing of government in Ottawa, the federal NDP, were the party most influential in having these issues resolved to the satisfaction of non-corporate agricultural producers.
When I ran for Parliament in the last election, I have stated MANY times in this column that NO agricultural producer EVER approached me to voice objection to the carbon tax; instead, they preferred to show anxiety as to the prospects of climate and environmental changes potentially destroying their ability to profitably run a farming operation, a hypothetical issue that became a major concern in crop year 2021 following the serious drought conditions portions of this province underwent.
Now contrast these two points of discussion with the latest nonsense being broadcast by the man right-wing conspiratorial theorists hope will become Canada’s next Prime Minister – Pierre Poilievre. Mr. Poilievre’s media themes of late have demonstrated two things about his own personality; first, he does not tolerate dissent, and secondly, if a “problem” exists in managing the political affairs of Canada, it is ALL the fault St. Pierre’s chosen son, Justin Trudeau.
When it comes to media coverage, Mr. Poilievre is particularly abrasive. He will willingly field questions coming from “reporters” working for Ezra “The Rant” Levant’s Rebel News, but when it comes to the CBC, they’re somehow “fake news”, even though their broadcasts reach more Canadians than any other media organization in Canada. His reason for preferring the Rebel News approach is simply due to his knowing that the “message” he conveys to Canadians will not become “tainted” by “fake news” reporters working for in particular the CBC.
Most responsible reporters who are good at their jobs (the CBC’s Jason Warick, as but one example) know full well that Canadians do not speak with one voice, and so include such dissension in their coverage as a way of conveying some objectivity to their own coverage. Mr. Poilievre, on the other hand, would much rather have “fake news” generators whose bias is emblazoned upon their media message – as did former President and grifter Donald Trump.
When it comes to issues of policy differentiation with the government, I would naturally expect him to fault the Trudeau GOVERNMENT for their purported “offences”; however, were for instance a “disturbance” in Ottawa such as in some absurd way, say, see the sewage treatment plant suddenly fail in its treatment process, Mr. Poilievre would most likely blame this upon the Trudeau government allegedly printing too much money, which the “bloated” civil service bureaucrats now using as toilet paper.
Such an example is exemplified in his continuing harangue upon the Emergency Act having had to be declared . Despite a judicial inquiry RELUCTANTLY concluding that the federal government had NO choice but to use force to remove the Carbon Convoy “supporters” from Ottawa’s streets (a move that could have been avoided had Ontario premier paid more attention to our national interests as opposed to offending potential Carbon Convoy voters), Mr. Poilievre disgustingly continues to lick the boots of the Convoy leadership.
Here is the alleged “leader” of a major political party so devoid of principles that he literally “allowed” one of these Convoy “leaders” to publicly utter violent and sexually obscene comments towards his wife, said bloody well nothing, and then accepted a non-penitent “apology” from this moron.
Who does this sound like, if not American Senator Ted Cruz, whose wife Donald Trump not only insulted, but suggested that Mr. Cruz’s father was a Fidel Castro supporter and emissary?
And 30% of Canadians allegedly “want” this gutless hatemonger to be our next PM?
Right…