John Chuckman
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ERIC GRENIER IN CBC NEWS
“How a Green breakthrough could redraw the electoral map
“Greens need to go through NDP and Liberal territory to reach official party status and the balance of power”
Interesting analysis.
But I think there is a caution with all such efforts and speculations.
Politics deals with human beings, who are, by their very nature, rather inconsistent and even volatile at times. A single unexpected event can generate a political earthquake.
Canada is in a bad way at present for leadership and fresh thinking, two qualities utterly missing from Justin Trudeau and, now we know to a certainty, after a couple of revealing speeches, also missing from Andrew Scheer.
In foreign affairs we are more closely tied to America than ever, with no independence of any kind perceptible, and this comes at a time when America behaves in the most aggressive and chaotic manner in its history, often demonstrating no respect for international law or indeed for the very rule of law.
The NDP's current leader is someone who seems never to even make the news, the way a Jack Layton or a Thomas Mulcair or even an Ed Broadbent did. That's not promising.
So, voters face grim choices. I can only wish Elizabeth May well. While I don't agree with her on some matters, her voice as been a consistent one on many large issues, a voice on the right side of history and representing traditional Canadian values.
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Response to a comment about “44% of the people that voted a Liberal in the last election disapprove of Justin’s leadership and Justin’s failures will keep that number will growing”:
I think you are right.
The fundamental problem with Trudeau, one many seems still not to have quite taken in, is that he just lacks the basic talents required for a strong, or even an effective, leader.
They are simply not there, no matter how nice or handsome you might think him.
And it is much the same for Scheer, who has a somewhat stronger voice, but a voice that serves some unhappy causes. His causes are re-stated old Conservative Party boilerplate stuff. He really has nothing to offer most Canadians.
But we live in a "democracy" where someone wins with the support of only the high-thirties percent of voters. That's just the way it works, the reality of our system.
Trudeau was supposed to remedy that sad fact with election reform, but, as with so many matters, he failed.
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Response to a comment saying, "one of the most negative and socially harmful aspects of the current political era is how hyper-partisan it has become":
I agree, and I think it is a reflection of something fundamental having taken place.
Few politicians even speak of real issues anymore, issues both at home and abroad. This even truer in America, but it is true enough in Canada too.
The void in our political life has been filled, almost like something unwholesome rushing in to fill a vacuum, by partisanship, partisanship utterly without meaning.
Constantly berating "Cons" or "Libs" is about as meaningless as political discussion can get.
It resembles a noisy crowd at a sports event shouting themselves hoarse over an entertainment that will be over in an hour or two and that can make no real difference to anything.
Yet we see evidence of it in these comment sections almost daily.
