An "early Christmas present" for Canada's Conservatives? (plus a few related 'toons)

Ottawa Sun - Canada ^ | Sunday, December 3, 2006 | Greg Weston

[fish hawk]

Why does the pig with lipstick cartoon remind me of Nancy Pelosi?

[GMMAC]

At the absolute minimum, it seems safe to stop worrying about the Libs taking back any seats in Alberta next time out.

As for Quebec and irrespective of how things shake down between the CPC & the Bloc, with Dion leading them, the Liberals can forget about being part of any 3-way races outside of maybe Montreal's Anglo ghetto & perhaps the odd seat in the Eastern Townships.

Anywhere else, for federalist voters, we're going be the only game in town.

[GMMAC]

"Not Iggy, Justin."

[dr_who_2]

If that's the case, then their biggest enemy is complacency.

[Don W]

Going by the article, perhaps the opposition that Canadian conservatives really shouldn't underestimate is the Bloc Quebecois.

The Bloc is a regional, as in Quebec ONLY party. It is NOT a concern for anyone outside that pathetic 23% (and declining) of Canada's population.

[dr_who_2]

True, but my thinking was that what the Bloc is good at is stirring up trouble for the ruling party to deal with. But I suppose that Harper's popularity would go up if he had a run-in with the BQ's.

[Don W]

If the BQ were stupid enough to pick a fight with Harper, he would be unstoppable. Being the gentleman he (and most conservatives) is (are), he'll allow the socialist twits to start the fight, and by all that's good and right, we'll WIN again.

The politics of emotion have run their course.

The politics of reason are once again on the rise.

Let's not let destructive and anti-intelligent factors force their misguided and pseudo-intellectual ideals upon our great nations any longer.

[GMMAC]

A few points with respect to Quebec politics which the msm likes to gloss over:

1. For a number of reasons including their historical anti-Catholicism, but most coming back to arrogance and a long history of sundry corruption, there is a visceral hatred for the Liberals in more than a few quarters of Quebec society well beyond anything you'll find anywhere else in Canada.

2. Particularly in the more remote rural areas, the Bloc has been the principal beneficiary of this anti-Liberal vote.

3. Elsewhere, primarily in the Greater Montreal Area & the Eastern Townships running South from the St. Lawrence River to the U.S. border, there are a considerable number of urban or semi-urban Anglophone & middle class (often bilingual) Francophone voters who hold their noses to vote Liberal because it's been their principal federalist option and perceived as more 'soft' left than the Bloc which they fear both for its separatism & the hard leftism of most - but not all - of its leadership.

4. Since both the Liberals & the Bloc favor extreme social policies (e.g. anti life, pro radical gay & feminist agendas), social conservatives - including, especially, practicing Catholics - have been effectively disenfranchised within most of Quebec's Ridings.

5. In many Ridings, the Liberals also tend to receive support from fiscal conservatives who would gladly vote CPC if it weren't for their fear of splitting the federalist vote.

Bottom line: there's a lot extremely soft support for both Parties & for reasons which generally play to Stephen Harper's strong suits.
French Quebec also had a history prior to the arrival of the Bloc of voting tribally in the form of massive electoral swings.
My guess: if we can break through much beyond what we already have (remembering virtually none of the pundits & pollsters called for the 10 CPC seats last January) it's more than possible there could be an even 1984-like shift to the right.

[GMMAC]

Lo and behold! Look what popped up this morning on this very same topic:

How PM shored up Quebec caucus ~ Simon Doyle, The Hill Times, 12/04/06

Stephen Harper? Positively Rovian!

[Lancey Howard]

Wow! Thanks for that update. Harper is amazing.

[GMMAC]

You're welcome.
Check these out:

Tories believe they can gain from Dion's hard line on unity ~ Bill Curry, Globe & Mail, 12/04/06

For Harper, a double-edged sword ~ CHANTAL HÉBERT. red Star, 12/04/06

Comment: if you read only one, go for the 2nd.
Sure Hebert is a gender-bending hard-core lefty but, you can't deny she's smart, knows Quebec inside out or that her analysis hasn't been bang-on many times in the past.
To me, the only spin from her here, is somewhat soft-peddling the CPC's up-side & the Libs' downside.

PING!

[headsonpikes]

Chantal Hebert makes an astute analysis, doesn't she? Only in the last sentence does she collapse into lefty dreaming.

I always enjoy watching her and Andrew Coyne discuss politics on CBC. Did you catch that moment Friday night when Mansbridge intro'd a shot of them on the Convention floor by saying,"Andrew's the one on the left." To be frank, she looked more like a man than did Andrew. He's going to have to butch it up a little more, I guess - wear a motorcycle jacket and grow a beard, perhaps.

Just kidding!

[concrete is my business]

Thanks for the thread on the Liberals GMMAC.

I found this link on Kate McMillans site, small dead animals.

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/11/30/Liberals/

Apparently Dion credits his win to his Vancouver organizer.

The Libranos in lala land is a story that is somewhat neglected.

The Tyee article is a good read. I am waiting for the "Spiderman" trial. (and waiting and waiting and waiting).

[GMMAC]

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/11/30/Liberals/

[goldstategop]

Nope. The Bloc will again sweep Quebec. If things are good, the Liberals would be lucky to pull up to second. Stephane Dion does nothing to solve the party's real problem: its lack of organization and appeal west of Manitoba. The days when the Liberals could put together majorities out of central Canada are gone forever. Whatever the Liberals once were, its clear they are not a national party and haven't been for sometime. The Conservatives have broken through in Quebec and are solid in Ontario and are only poised to make gains in Atlantic Canada. As a national party, they have come of age.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[goldstategop]

Exactly. Alberta is 28 for 28 Conservative. Even the Republicans in the U.S have never had an all-GOP Texas delegation!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[goldstategop]

Quebec matters to Prime Minister Harper more anything. They only have to win a third of the ridings there to secure a parliamentary majority in the next election, if everything else stays the same.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[GMMAC]

Agreed & even more remarkable in light of Edmonton & Calgary, Canada's 4th & 5th most populous urban areas, being within Alberta's provincial boundaries. And, on top of that, when both those cities are home to major universities!

[Candor7]

I hope Canadian conservatives do not underestimate this person. The Dims were so happy when Reagan won the primary. We were also so happy when Dean became the DNC chair.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have the same feeling. Dion was selected to pursue a similar strategy as that used by Pierre Trudeau: To get the seperatists beating their War Drums, create a "militant" Franch Movement ( oxymoron?), blow up a few mailboxes in Laval, and then scare the hell out of Canadians once again, so that the only policy seemingly possible is the placation and appeasement of a recalcitant Quebec. In other words, a try for 40 more years of liberal socialist moonbat French based rule of the entire country.

Can "Le Petit Professeur " pull it off? Well all we have to do is wait and watch the Parti Quebecois ramp up , and watch for a renewed FLQ presence dans La Belle Provence. That will be the sign that the Liberals will be up to their old tricks, and the question then is: Will Stephen Harper lay the boots to them? Will conservatives be saying:

"if you want to leave, you will have to bleed in a Civil War you cannot possibley win. No conventions, no amiable political parting of the ways, but only through blood and steel, the only way for Quebec to secceed. Will Stepen be able to call Dions bluff? I think if English Canada supports him, along with a sizable portion of Quebec francophone conservatives, Stephen will win the day, and win the country.

I do not discount Dion. He is a viper in professorial clothing, a former communist and Parti Quebecois member, a former professor at the Universite de Moncton, a pit of totalitarian vipers whose socialist ideals include the partition of New Brunswick for the existence of Le Republique de Madewaska.

Dion will be a serious threat to the unity of the nation, which he will attempt to barter for the Prime Ministership of Canada, and 40 more years of a "Quiet Revolution." If that happens Canada will never be able to realize its true potential economically or socially. That must not be allowed to happen.

[youngtory]

This Quebecker wants to keep the Albertan in 24 Sussex Drive. No way am I voting for Dion.