Given the state of the election, the Liberals and the Conservatives are almost exactly where they want to be: tightening polls allows the Liberals to scare the beejuzus out of New Democratic Party supporters, none of whom could stomach an Erin O’Toole victory at the polls on Monday, September 20th — which will cause a wholesale defection of NDP voters to the Liberals, as occurred in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections.
Meanwhile, Erin O’Toole — who has spent an inordinate amount of time in Alberta, since campaign outset, shoring up the failing Tory vote in Alberta — given the record unpopularity of beleaguered Premier Jason Kenney, and his ongoing failure to responsibly address the pandemic, dating back to the inception of COVID-19 — by scaring the beejuzus out of voters for both the nascent, Alberta-based Maverick Party, which was polling at 20% in ridings outside of the urban and suburban metropolitan areas of Edmonton and Calgary, and for Maxime Bernier’s libertarian, anti-vaxxer People’s Party of Canada, which was polling at anywhere between eight and ten percent in the polls across northern British Columbia and the Prairie provinces.
Now, according to insider party polling for both the Liberals and the Conservatives, Erin O’Toole has been able to convince disaffected Tory voters that a vote for either the Maverick Party or the People’s Party of Canada is a vote for another Liberal government in Ottawa led by Justin Trudeau — who many on the right believe to be not only an apostate, but the devil incarnate himself, Tory voters as disdaining of the current Prime Minister as most progressives are of the much-reviled Donald Trump.
Unless Justin Trudeau and the Liberals can turn their lacklustre campaign around, and remind voters that their personal safety vis-à-vis government response to the COVID-19 pandemic depends almost entirely on re-electing a Liberal government — I mean, really, do you want what’s occurred in Alberta and Ontario to roll out nationally, under an Erin O’Toole administration in Ottawa, the kind of butchery we’ve witnessed down south under a Donald Trump administration, and continue to witness in Florida with Governor Ron DeSantis, or in Texas under Governor Greg Abbott?
No, I didn’t think so.
Not to mention that an Erin O’Toole administration would jettison the wildly popular national child care programme, to which eight provinces and territories have signed on, which will build hundreds of thousands of child care spaces over the course of the next five years — or what about preservation of the current Child Care Benefit programme brought in by the Trudeau government, which has reduced child poverty in Canada by 40% since 2015 — which would be cancelled by an Erin O’Toole-led government. Gonzo. Cuz Erin O’Toole and his band of regressives don’t care about families. Little wonder women are refusing to cast a ballot for the Tories.
Or how about old folks?
Only the Liberal party has a concrete plan to improve the living conditions and the safety of residents in long term care and assisted living facilities, which over the past year contributed to the deaths of more than 20,000 seniors across Canada. And why is Justin Trudeau not reminding Canadians that Erin O’Toole’s Conservative party voted against the bill that would outlaw conversion therapy, in a direct attack against the life and liberty of members of the LGBTQ community? Or the Tory plan to “limit” access to reproductive services for women living in the rural areas of Canada, access to which would be made near impossible thanks to the “conscience provisions” legislation Erin O’Toole has said he would introduce in Ottawa?
Honestly, ask yourself. Do you share Erin O’Toole’s values, do you hate members of the gender variant community, and women, seniors, children and the poor, who are struggling to get by, and lead a life of dignity?
Do you not care about these folks at all?
Then why, oh why, come late in the evening of Monday, September 20th, do you accept the prospect of an Erin O’Toole government in Ottawa, that would allow Mr. O’Toole to become Canada’s 43rd Prime Minister, offering a Stephen Harper-style return to Tory intolerance and rampant corruption.
Campaigns matter, they always matter.
And, if you feel you can do little else during the course of the current federal election, the very least that you might do as a Canadian is cast a thoughtful ballot at the polls, recognizing the impact of your vote matters, really matters. Please vote consciously, wisely and with compassion.
After a weekend break, the Curse of Politics podcast returns, with political apparatchik hosts David Herle, Scott Reid and Jenni Byrne …
The indispensable #elxn44 Curse of Politics podcast for Monday, August 23, 2021.
