Well………….. it’s the day after the federal election and Canada remains very much up a creek without a paddle. I predicted, with quite a significant level of revulsion, that Justin Trudeau would be re-elected PM, but with a minority government. And that’s pretty much how it unfolded even though I’m disappointed and a bit surprised he won as many seats as he did. So Justin Trudeau is free to once again rule over the land with his smugness, arrogance and his uncanny ability to call out everyone else on their bad behavior but avoid questions about his own character flaws. At least, this time around he’s going to require somebody to hold his hand and prop up his government so he can actually pass legislation.
But for me this election was very much about the best of a bad bunch. Yesterday morning I went to the gym and had one last workout to try and figure out which one of these ‘characters’ I wanted to vote for. And as I stepped into the voting booth my vote came down to which political party I disliked the least. While sitting on my couch last night, switching between the CBC and CTV to watch the election coverage, many things became abundantly clear about the current mood of the country.
The Liberals did extremely well in Toronto – the most diverse city in the country. The blackface scandal didn’t hurt Justin Trudeau at all. As a black man, all I can do is shake my head in disgust. But I’m not at all surprised. This just confirms what I’ve mentioned in some of my other blogs and puts me at odds with some of the so-called leaders in the black community. The reaction to the blackface scandal makes it abundantly clear that within the black community we do one thing extremely well…………… and that is ‘selective outrage’! When somebody we don’t like does something we perceive to be racist, we’ll call them out on it and protest until we are blue in the face. However when somebody we like does the same thing, we’ll make convenient excuses for them. I’m not accusing Justin Trudeau of being a white sheet wearing racist. However what he did – on numerous occasions (in fact he cannot recall how many times he wore blackface) – was a racist act. Given the fact he was 29 years old in one of the pictures and was at the time, a teacher at a private school, he cannot claim to have been a young and foolish child. He was a grown ass man! But the black community decided to give him a pass and continue to support him. As well as the South Asian community and all of the ultra-liberal lefties and millennials who like nothing better to accuse anyone with a differing opinion of being racist, yet laughed off Justin’s racist episode as ‘everyone’s made mistakes in their past’. Oh well, maybe Justin will repay Toronto’s kindness by finally handing over the cash for us to build all the damn subways we require in this city. Or maybe not!
Then there was Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives. Even though the Conservatives actually won the most number of votes, Mr. Scheer needs to resign and pass over the leadership reigns to somebody who can actually communicate to a wider audience. Given all of the baggage that came with Mr. Trudeau, you would have expected Andrew Scheer to take advantage by garnering support from all of the people tired of Justin’s scandals. But he was a flopshow! I didn’t like him at all! He came across as very wooden and stiff – just like his predecessor Stephen Harper. Maybe stiff wooden white men do well out on the prairies, but here in Toronto that doesn’t play well.
I’m wondering if anyone else who watched all of the concession and victory speeches last night scratched their heads as vigorously as I did? They were all completely delusional! Justin Trudeau was speaking as if he just kicked some ass, when in fact he got his ass spanked. Andrew Scheer was speaking as if he run’s things when he needs to just run away. And then there’s Jagmeet Singh. Was he high? Did anyone actually inform him what the numbers really mean? Did they mention the goal is to increase your number of seats in parliament and not have them slashed almost in half? He was giving some sort of victory speech when his party got destroyed. And Jagmeet Singh’s progress or lack thereof, gave credence to the allegations from Conservatives that the media is controlled by Liberals. TV and Radio hyped up Mr. Singh at every opportunity. But let’s face it, Jagmeet didn’t stand a chance of winning – for a number of different reasons. Reason number one was the fact he’s been an woefully inadequate leader for the NDP. I once happened to be on a political panel with him when he was an Ontario MPP and I found him to be very much a self-aggrandizing type of opportunist. He’s a good speaker and can relate well to younger voters, but I suspect he weighs each potential encounter and appearance with what’s in it for him. He tends to disappear from view unless he can do something to get in the national headlines. Reason number two that he didn’t stand a chance of winning was the fact he would have to do reasonably well in Quebec. And as much as I love taking little weekend trips to Montreal, the province of Quebec outside of the city of Montreal has racial attitudes that are a few decades behind the rest of the country. They just enacted a popular law outlawing the wearing of religious headwear by municipal workers and government employees. Therefore there was no way in hell they were going to elect a turban wearing Sikh. Jagmeet Singh could have been the most polished and competent candidate out there and the citizens of Quebec would refuse to look past his turban. Yet for all of this, the media in the last two weeks of the campaign had an intense love affair with Mr. Singh. Everyday was greeted with news about how the NDP were moving up in the polls while the other candidates were dropping. They fawned over his response to the blackface scandal – which I do think he handled very well. And they couldn’t stop gushing about his response to the miserable old racist Quebecer who told him he should get rid of the turban – another situation I think he handled extremely well. They praised his performance in the debates and by election day they had many suckers believing the NDP probably wouldn’t win but regardless would have a magnificent performance. The result……………… they dropped from 39 seats to 24 – an absolute ass-kicking whichever way you look at it. I suspect Jagmeet’s delusions about his party’s importance in the new parliament might be due to the fact Justin Trudeau might have to seek NDP support to pass certain legislation in a minority parliament.
Or Mr. Trudeau might instead choose to get support from the BQ. Which leads me to more head scratching. Why the hell do we allow a separatist party, that only fields candidates in Quebec to participate in federal elections? What idiot made this possible? And we all know Prime Ministers of all stripes like to kiss Quebec’s ass to keep them happy and quiet. So what little gifts will Mr. Trudeau be sending to Quebec over the next couple of years?
The Green Party is another party that needs to dump it’s leader…….. and fast. Elizabeth May seems like a nice lady, but she’s been a dismal leader for the Greens. You would think in this age of climate change and environmentalist movements, the Greens would fare a little bit better. It seems like a party that young people should flock to, yet I suspect they appeal more to middle aged, sandal wearing hippies who smoke pot all day and grind their own coffee!
Lastly we have the bit of comic relief known as the People’s Party of Canada, whose actual name translates to ‘The Angry White People of Canada Party’. Maxine Bernier should write a book entitled ‘How to flush your political career down the toilet’. He ran for the leadership of the Conservatives and lost to the lifeless, wooden party animal known as Andrew Scheer. Then he decides to revive his career by forming his own party and grasping onto the mantra of Populism (racism). Yet his political campaign was so bad he couldn’t even win in Quebec where they admire his brand of immigrant-bashing. He even lost his own seat.
My predictions for the new Liberal minority government are simple. Justin Trudeau has shown himself to be the spoiled rich kid who doesn’t like to play nice. I suspect the word ‘compromise’ doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. Therefore I think he will attempt to govern as if he has a majority. The thing is, he may get away with it. The NDP sure as hell wouldn’t try to bring down the government with Jagmeet Singh as their leader. What would be the point of another election they couldn’t hope to win? The same thing goes for the Conservatives. Andrew Scheer will never EVER be PM of this country unless the people of Toronto allow it. And from the beatdown he was given in the GTA, things won’t be changing anytime soon. Therefore it wouldn’t be in his best interest to bring down the government either. So until there’s a strong opposition in place we’re stuck with Mr. Blackface. Damn, were screwed!
Sane Ramblings in an Insane World 