Hmm, recognizing Palestine, doubling down on gun confiscation, the upcoming $100 billion deficit budget. Maybe everyone who said that this would be another Trudeau government with beige window dressing really were on to something. "Just like Justin" was a glib slogan indicative that the CPC needs a better writer's room, but it was also a statement of bald fact.
I don't think these voters were behaving rationally at all, nor do I think they knew what they were doing.
They were caught up in an entirely emotional moral panic fanned by the CBC, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and all the TV news channels, who were following their self-preservation imperative, as well as an army of paid-for bots and influencers. That's why there was no reasoning these voters out of that position.
I also don't even necessarily blame them. I'm mostly just disappointed that there are so many stupid people out there, who got taken advantage of.
I stayed open minded until now that maybe carney would be the leader that was needed to bring things at least into a more serious focus.
However that open mindedness and goodwill is gone. If he was a strong leader he’d make the right decision rather than the easy decision. I was willing to give him a chance despite not voting for him. But he’s lost me fully and my respect. This decision doesn’t bode well for his ability to lead. Choosing perceived votes when there’s not an impending election on a file that most of Canada thinks he’s wrong on? That’s just bad politics too.
Conservatives have been handed their first gift by carney. I wonder how they’ll use it?
Matt you are correct, this was a clear and meaningful opportunity for Carney to distinguish between his government and Trudeau's poorly considered and ineffective policies.
He has chosen to not do so which leads us to conclude, given the gravitas he had thus far brought to his role, that either he doesn't care, or hasn't put his allegedly significant intellect to bear on the subject, or has decided that public safety is less important than the party's electoral prospects in the possibly many upcoming by elections.
My initial hope that Carney would bring thought and integrity to the office has thoroughly been dashed!
The Liberals might as well have hired an experienced character actor known for playing stern but thoughtful executives and world leaders. Nobody had any evidence of Mark Carney's competence other than what he and his handlers told us. His greatest political accomplishment was that he presided over housing bubbles in two different countries. It was obvious Canadians were being sold a bill of goods during that fucking travesty of an election. Oh, but now we start to figure it out.
If you don't like election travesties, look up the word sortition.
It's really the only alternative that has a hope in working. (Not that there's much hope in getting it implemented, but I'm doing what I can to get the word out.)
Political expediency on Palestine, now political expediency on Gun control. Once a leader puts political expediency ahead of doing what needs to be done, the only ones who suffer are the citizens and the nation. My hopes for a new kind of leadership , a new direction for Canada are dashed- all because of the lust for power at any cost and the loss of principles.
Not sure why people like Carney. I see a lot of talk and no results. Looks and feels very similar to the previous leader. Hs alignment with other troubled European countries on Palestine makes me sick.
Carney is liked for the resume, the graceful demeanour, and for the disciplined communications style. Whatever his flaws and despite this choice to inherit a bad Trudeau policy, Carney is still quite different *tonally*, i.e. Trudeau by this point already had made more distinct gaffes. But that's not to say that Carney is necessarily all that much better in policy substance, however.
I can't believe they're stupid enough to try and go ahead with it, when it accomplishes nothing but optics.....hardly what Carney promised for the country.
The strangest aspect of Liberal gun control policy is unwillingness to enforce existing laws. Why ban additional firearms or engage in a buy back program when so much crime is committed with weapons that have long been illegal? A reasonable assumption is that a large percentage of illegal guns enter from the US. Why don't the Feds co-operate more with ATF to target smuggling? I can think of only two motivations :
1) Cracking down on illegal possession and smuggling would inordinately target groups that the Liberals don't want to be seen as targeting
2) "Guns are American so inherently bad" sentiment drives voters to the Liberals. Headlines are stronger motivators than actual results
Bingo. There's a high correlation between legal gun ownership in Canada and being white, male, and driving a pickup truck. So a demographic group that, broadly speaking, isn't overly inclined to favor the Liberals and who the Liberal base appreciates putting the screws to.
So far, Carney is delivering a lot more word salad than actual results, but the country still seems to be lapping it up, because he gives good Technocrat Daddy energy.
Bless the Liberals little hearts, they will pick image over substance every single time.
All the major parties offered image over substance this past election. The Conservative platform was literally plastered with images of Poilievre while being surprisingly light.
Arguing that the Carney Liberals copied the Conservatives' policies, thus narrowing the gap of policy distinction, seems very compatible with my assertion that there were not meaningful or terrific options this past election.
They didn't actually steal the policies though - what they stole were the talking points.
In other words, they mouthed the words, but had no intention of actually doing any of the things they were saying.
For a random example, at the UN yesterday, Carney just said that Canada is an energy superpower, and bragged about our ability to ship oil and natural gas globally.
...but he has done nothing about the onerous Emissions Cap the Liberals have saddled the industry with, nor has he lifted the tanker ban, or the "No More Pipelines" law (C-69) - ALL of which a Poilievre government would have already done.
Carney talks a good game, but he promised urgent action, and has so far delivered none of it.
The catch is that Carney won, and he's now going to expected to deliver some substance instead of imagery. The Conservatives don't have to do that yet.
Your reference to Ont and Quebec voters is ,of course, to urban voters ( where the numbers are). Having spent almost 10 years living, working and traveling in the northern reaches of those two Provinces, i can attest to the fact that the gun demographics there are no different than they are in the rural areas of any of the other Provinces in Canada.
The buyback program is unequivocally urban and political in nature and will receive the same pushback from the residents of Rouyn as they will from the ones in Ft Mac.
Would it not just have been easier to say "Let's study this a bit more. I've been really focused on building the economy and dealing with the affordability crisis and protecting our Way of Life. In the meantime, we'll crack down on guns smuggled in from the US because elbows up fentanyl gun czar Trump bad man"? Then you could just leave the original study (assuming you actually bothered to commission it) collecting dust on a shelf somewhere, while at the same time doing something productive (!!) about gun crime.
I'm sure wedge vote urban liberals would be fine with this, Quebecois or not.
Carney had an option and has decided not to take it. Perhaps he has not studied history enough or has forgotten the famous quote "You had an option, sir" from former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney during the 1984 federal election debate.
So done with all the Liberal wedge issues for Quebec or whatever province. A trial in Cape Breton connect the dots to Liberal minister for that riding. Why not try pilot in GTHA or Vancouver where the majority of crime is happening.
Just like Justin except Carney spends more. The Nov budget will be the tell where the Liberals think they are the smartest people in the room and attempt to confuse everyone with the operational budget where spending will be capped at specified percentage and the capital spending or what they prefer to call "investment" explodes. Investment continues to move out of Canada much of it to US which is not at all surprising. Investment has no loyalty to one country just ask Brookfield!
Why not start this program in Stettler, AB or North-Battleford, SK? That would have been an interesting trial run! Then you would see who is really going to comply with this law. But they pick a liberal safe region of Canada that has traditonally towed the liberal line and done what big Gov tells them to, my guess is mostly for the optics of compliance. The interesting times will come when the western provinces don't go along with this law, the people also don't comply with this law, and police refuse to get invovled. What do the liberals do then? Ignore it all like its all good or escalate the situation even more?
The tea leaves around the gun buy back have been very readable since Mr Carney became PM. Cancelling the buy back seemed like a logical next step to me after he zeroed out the carbon tax. But you’re right … this presented another opportunity for him to cancel the program and it’s unlikely he’ll take it. Minister Anandasangaree‘s credibility is pretty much at zero for me now, as it is for most of the ministers from the Trudeau era.
Carney will sour on voters sooner or later, but it is doubtful that any of the "Tons of people" you refer to, i.e. big-C partisan Conservatives, will come out of the process the least redeemed in the credibility in their personal attacks.
Hmm, recognizing Palestine, doubling down on gun confiscation, the upcoming $100 billion deficit budget. Maybe everyone who said that this would be another Trudeau government with beige window dressing really were on to something. "Just like Justin" was a glib slogan indicative that the CPC needs a better writer's room, but it was also a statement of bald fact.
In their heart of hearts, everyone who voted Liberal knew this at the time. They just really preferred beige to rainbow.
If we want to get them to admit they were fooled, we have to manage our "I told you so" level.
I don't think these voters were behaving rationally at all, nor do I think they knew what they were doing.
They were caught up in an entirely emotional moral panic fanned by the CBC, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and all the TV news channels, who were following their self-preservation imperative, as well as an army of paid-for bots and influencers. That's why there was no reasoning these voters out of that position.
I also don't even necessarily blame them. I'm mostly just disappointed that there are so many stupid people out there, who got taken advantage of.
They thought they were voting against Trump.
Which was incredibly wild, because Trump wasn't running for Prime Minister.
Here here.
I stayed open minded until now that maybe carney would be the leader that was needed to bring things at least into a more serious focus.
However that open mindedness and goodwill is gone. If he was a strong leader he’d make the right decision rather than the easy decision. I was willing to give him a chance despite not voting for him. But he’s lost me fully and my respect. This decision doesn’t bode well for his ability to lead. Choosing perceived votes when there’s not an impending election on a file that most of Canada thinks he’s wrong on? That’s just bad politics too.
Conservatives have been handed their first gift by carney. I wonder how they’ll use it?
They will blow it. As is their wont.
Matt you are correct, this was a clear and meaningful opportunity for Carney to distinguish between his government and Trudeau's poorly considered and ineffective policies.
He has chosen to not do so which leads us to conclude, given the gravitas he had thus far brought to his role, that either he doesn't care, or hasn't put his allegedly significant intellect to bear on the subject, or has decided that public safety is less important than the party's electoral prospects in the possibly many upcoming by elections.
My initial hope that Carney would bring thought and integrity to the office has thoroughly been dashed!
The Liberals might as well have hired an experienced character actor known for playing stern but thoughtful executives and world leaders. Nobody had any evidence of Mark Carney's competence other than what he and his handlers told us. His greatest political accomplishment was that he presided over housing bubbles in two different countries. It was obvious Canadians were being sold a bill of goods during that fucking travesty of an election. Oh, but now we start to figure it out.
If you don't like election travesties, look up the word sortition.
It's really the only alternative that has a hope in working. (Not that there's much hope in getting it implemented, but I'm doing what I can to get the word out.)
Yep sortition is it!
You nice person, I never had that hope.
Political expediency on Palestine, now political expediency on Gun control. Once a leader puts political expediency ahead of doing what needs to be done, the only ones who suffer are the citizens and the nation. My hopes for a new kind of leadership , a new direction for Canada are dashed- all because of the lust for power at any cost and the loss of principles.
Not sure why people like Carney. I see a lot of talk and no results. Looks and feels very similar to the previous leader. Hs alignment with other troubled European countries on Palestine makes me sick.
Carney is liked for the resume, the graceful demeanour, and for the disciplined communications style. Whatever his flaws and despite this choice to inherit a bad Trudeau policy, Carney is still quite different *tonally*, i.e. Trudeau by this point already had made more distinct gaffes. But that's not to say that Carney is necessarily all that much better in policy substance, however.
Canada needs actions that are executable, not talk. There are many problems domestically to address. Let’s start getting it done!
I can't believe they're stupid enough to try and go ahead with it, when it accomplishes nothing but optics.....hardly what Carney promised for the country.
I wish I could say I was surprised
The strangest aspect of Liberal gun control policy is unwillingness to enforce existing laws. Why ban additional firearms or engage in a buy back program when so much crime is committed with weapons that have long been illegal? A reasonable assumption is that a large percentage of illegal guns enter from the US. Why don't the Feds co-operate more with ATF to target smuggling? I can think of only two motivations :
1) Cracking down on illegal possession and smuggling would inordinately target groups that the Liberals don't want to be seen as targeting
2) "Guns are American so inherently bad" sentiment drives voters to the Liberals. Headlines are stronger motivators than actual results
Bingo. There's a high correlation between legal gun ownership in Canada and being white, male, and driving a pickup truck. So a demographic group that, broadly speaking, isn't overly inclined to favor the Liberals and who the Liberal base appreciates putting the screws to.
So far, Carney is delivering a lot more word salad than actual results, but the country still seems to be lapping it up, because he gives good Technocrat Daddy energy.
Bless the Liberals little hearts, they will pick image over substance every single time.
All the major parties offered image over substance this past election. The Conservative platform was literally plastered with images of Poilievre while being surprisingly light.
... and the Liberal plarform was an image of an image that largely stole from the Conservatives
Arguing that the Carney Liberals copied the Conservatives' policies, thus narrowing the gap of policy distinction, seems very compatible with my assertion that there were not meaningful or terrific options this past election.
They didn't actually steal the policies though - what they stole were the talking points.
In other words, they mouthed the words, but had no intention of actually doing any of the things they were saying.
For a random example, at the UN yesterday, Carney just said that Canada is an energy superpower, and bragged about our ability to ship oil and natural gas globally.
...but he has done nothing about the onerous Emissions Cap the Liberals have saddled the industry with, nor has he lifted the tanker ban, or the "No More Pipelines" law (C-69) - ALL of which a Poilievre government would have already done.
Carney talks a good game, but he promised urgent action, and has so far delivered none of it.
Agreed. That being said, why reward the Liberals for a decade of stagnant economic growth, spiraling debt and needless wedge issues?
The catch is that Carney won, and he's now going to expected to deliver some substance instead of imagery. The Conservatives don't have to do that yet.
Your reference to Ont and Quebec voters is ,of course, to urban voters ( where the numbers are). Having spent almost 10 years living, working and traveling in the northern reaches of those two Provinces, i can attest to the fact that the gun demographics there are no different than they are in the rural areas of any of the other Provinces in Canada.
The buyback program is unequivocally urban and political in nature and will receive the same pushback from the residents of Rouyn as they will from the ones in Ft Mac.
This is correct.
Would it not just have been easier to say "Let's study this a bit more. I've been really focused on building the economy and dealing with the affordability crisis and protecting our Way of Life. In the meantime, we'll crack down on guns smuggled in from the US because elbows up fentanyl gun czar Trump bad man"? Then you could just leave the original study (assuming you actually bothered to commission it) collecting dust on a shelf somewhere, while at the same time doing something productive (!!) about gun crime.
I'm sure wedge vote urban liberals would be fine with this, Quebecois or not.
Mostly the same bunch from the Trudeau years. Why expect anything less?
Carney had an option and has decided not to take it. Perhaps he has not studied history enough or has forgotten the famous quote "You had an option, sir" from former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney during the 1984 federal election debate.
So done with all the Liberal wedge issues for Quebec or whatever province. A trial in Cape Breton connect the dots to Liberal minister for that riding. Why not try pilot in GTHA or Vancouver where the majority of crime is happening.
Just like Justin except Carney spends more. The Nov budget will be the tell where the Liberals think they are the smartest people in the room and attempt to confuse everyone with the operational budget where spending will be capped at specified percentage and the capital spending or what they prefer to call "investment" explodes. Investment continues to move out of Canada much of it to US which is not at all surprising. Investment has no loyalty to one country just ask Brookfield!
Why not start this program in Stettler, AB or North-Battleford, SK? That would have been an interesting trial run! Then you would see who is really going to comply with this law. But they pick a liberal safe region of Canada that has traditonally towed the liberal line and done what big Gov tells them to, my guess is mostly for the optics of compliance. The interesting times will come when the western provinces don't go along with this law, the people also don't comply with this law, and police refuse to get invovled. What do the liberals do then? Ignore it all like its all good or escalate the situation even more?
Which province wags the dog……still?
Really well written. If Carney is as smart as I think he is he will read the tea-leaves and treat this as a good opportunity to dump an albatross.
A big "if". I am not sure what odds I would give on that bet. But here's hoping.
The tea leaves around the gun buy back have been very readable since Mr Carney became PM. Cancelling the buy back seemed like a logical next step to me after he zeroed out the carbon tax. But you’re right … this presented another opportunity for him to cancel the program and it’s unlikely he’ll take it. Minister Anandasangaree‘s credibility is pretty much at zero for me now, as it is for most of the ministers from the Trudeau era.
Yet another hopelessly inefficient and expensive programme. I am surprised we are still afloat.
Why are people surprised about how Carney goes about the "governing for all Canadians " ???
They guy is a professional long-time shyster.
Tons of people warned against this guy, now they are entitled to say I TOLD YOU SO !!
Liberal voters made it clear that they are professional bullshit eaters.
Carney will sour on voters sooner or later, but it is doubtful that any of the "Tons of people" you refer to, i.e. big-C partisan Conservatives, will come out of the process the least redeemed in the credibility in their personal attacks.