Why The Rush? Is Conservative Panic Driving So-Called "Scandals"?

For awhile I thought that it was Andrew Scheer... That he had convinced himself that if only he could lie loud enough and hard enough and often enough, he might topple the government and the CPC would let him stay and he could be PM... 

But then other pieces began to come together. Why do you suppose the CPC is engaged in a say-anything, do-anything hell-bent panic-stricken drive to get the Liberals out? Power, certainly. But they had power before... 

They didn't do nearly half of what they wanted to, and much of what they did has been reversed. Quite a bit of legislation has been overturned in constitutional challenges. 

A scorecard of the Harper government's wins and losses at the Supreme Court of CanadaIn one of starkest examples in Canadian history of two branches of government openly turning against one another, the red robed members Supreme Court of Canada have spent months systematically shooti…https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/scoc-harper-gov-scorecard-741324

Harper exhibited "charter activism", in opposition to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It can be justifiably stated that Harper hates the Charter. He hates it for a number of reasons, not the least is that it was created by a Trudeau. 

Harper's Charter Activism - Policy OptionsWhen it came to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Stephen Harper was often anything but an incrementalisthttps://policyoptions.irpp.org/2016/03/13/harpers-charter-activism/

He was so peeved by what he called "activist judges", one of many nods to American right wing jingoism, that he attempted to vilify the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. 
cbc.ca/news/politics/…

Now, why, you might ask, do I keep bringing up Stephen Harper? He was voted out as PM in 2015. He resigned his seat rather than sit in opposition to another Trudeau. It's because the CPC is still Stephen Harper's party. 

Jason Kenney and Scott Moe both have Harper on their provincial payrolls, directing their governments. And you can bet Scheer and whomever takes his place will have Harper on speed-dial looking for direction, advice, orders... 

Varcoe: Former PM Stephen Harper on Alberta's new economic recovery councilA 12-member panel, led by economist Jack Mintz, will be advising Premier Jason Kenney on issues surrounding the province's economic recoveryhttps://calgaryherald.com/business/varcoe-former-pm-stephen-harper-on-albertas-new-economic-recovery-council

cbc.ca/news/canada/sa…

Harper is still running the CPC. He may be relegated to being Oz, the man behind the curtain, but he is not done what he tried to do to Canada.

 He blames Canadian media for his defeat, which is amusing as US companies own almost all Canadian media. 

Former prime minister speaks about the liberal bias in Canadian mediaFormer Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Dennis Prager discussed the extreme media bias in Canada, making it more difficult for conservatives to get a foothold in Canadian politics.https://thepostmillennial.com/former-prime-minister-speaks-about-the-liberal-bias-in-canadian-media

And so, given that Harper is still very much in play, and even if he wasn't, his acolytes still occupy most CPC seats, one might wonder what has precipitated this full-on barrage of made-up scandals directed at the Liberal Party. 

Well, the amending formula for the constitution requires 2/3 of the provinces representing at least 50% of the population, and senate approval, to agree to re-open the constitution, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 
solon.org/Constitutions/….

Right now, the conservatives control Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. And Quebec has shifted right and are amenable. There's there 2/3 of provinces and 50% of the population. 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:…

But Saskatchewan has an election coming up in November 2020. If, on the outside chance, the good folks of Saskatchewan decide they want a change of government, the perfect constellation allowing a re-opening of the constitution is gone. 

It is, I grant you, a slim chance. But the CPC are not about to let this opportunity slip away without a huge ugly fight. 

If they can get all the stars aligned, they can eradicate the Charter and change the constitution, so that none of their legislation can ever be overturned in the courts again. They will have absolute power. 

This is an ambition talked about in conservative circles. They want to offload federal responsibilities onto the provinces, create a "small" federal government, And be free to pass whatever laws they please without interference. 

This is tantamount to completely rewriting what Canada is. People need to understand this. Without our constitution and charter as they stand now, many people will be vulnerable to having their rights stripped away. Universal health care would be in jeopardy. 

It could open the door to two-tiered health care, normalize for-profit education, introduce for-profit prisons, where the prison corporations can sue provinces or the feds if the supply of slave labour is not kept to a certain level. 

Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration: U.S. Growth in Private Prisons | The Sentencing ProjectThe War on Drugs and harsher sentencing policies, including mandatory minimum sentences, fueled a rapid expansion in the nation’s prison... Read More »https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/capitalizing-on-mass-incarceration-u-s-growth-in-private-prisons/

In short, if the CPC get what they want, if they can topple the Liberal government before they lose the necessary number of provinces to open the constitution and gut it, we are looking at becoming a clone of the US. 

Please remember that Harper hates Canada and everything we stand for. 

Text of Harper's speechhttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/text-of-harpers-speech/article1131985/

He would dearly love to see us Americanized, as would his proteges in the CPC. And the UCP (Kenney, looking straight at YOU). 

Fortunately, I believe Canadians have a lot more sense than to vote for the CPC. We should be seeing now, from what is going on in Alberta and Ontario, and Manitoba, and the rest of the conservative led provinces, that they are not acting in our best interests. 

The public good is not a concept they extol. They are in it for themselves and the corporations who reward them. How do you suppose CPC MPs got so rich under Harper? Not from their salaries as MPs, that's for darned sure. 

The whole lot of them need to be audited, and then tossed to the curb. They are not here for us. This is not your grandparents' conservative party. This is an offshoot of the US Republican Party. Do not be confused. 

They want to remake Canada and not for the better. This is why they are so desperate to get into power before provincial governments change hands. 

Governing is Hard...

The job of the government of Canada is to govern for all Canadians. Not just the ridings that elected their MPs, but all Canadians. This is not a simple task. There are many complex and contrary moving parts. 

There are many conflicting needs and desires. Environmentalists and many First Nations have a different view of natural resource extraction and transportation from those in the oil and gas sector... 

There are wealthy citizens and companies who employ Canadians and some also contribute huge amounts to important causes. But there are also workers and poor people who have very different needs. 

There are cultural groups who need support to maintain their culture. There are those who feel their province or region has been discriminated against while others have had the ear of Ottawa too much. 

There are those who feel the performing/visual/literary arts are essential to maintain a Canadian identity and voice, and others who feel the arts should have to make it on their own in the open market. 

There are some who feel high quality education for all is essential for the future of our society, and others who feel anything beyond basic reading and writing and math and learning a trade is a waste of money. 

There are those who embrace diversity and want Canada to be part of the solution to the global migration problem, and others who want the borders closed to any who do not look/think/worship/love the way they do. 

There are those who see Canada's health care system as essential to our identity and future, and others who feel that they should be able to get better care than others, in a private system, because they can afford it. 

There are so many conflicting viewpoints. We have a vast and diverse country. Pressing issues in Cornerbrook are not the same as issues in Orillia, or in Trois Riviere, or Steinbach, or Weyburn, or High River, or Kamloops, or White Horse. Governing is complex. 

The Government is tasked with creating or revising legislation to keep up with ongoing social, economic and global changes, while ensuring that legislation is in compliance with our constitution and charter of rights and freedoms. 

In addition, the Government of Canada is also tasked with meeting requirements of international treaties, supporting Canadian companies wanting to trade elsewhere, representing Canada to the world. 

Meanwhile, the job of opposition parties is to ensure the government is fulfilling it's duties to all Canadians. But not only that. The opposition is tasked with representing their constituents to the government. And this is where things have become a bit cloudy recently 

Do you think Tommy Douglas' CCF was able to get the Liberal government of Lester Pearson to enact universal health care in 1966 by screaming at them in Parliament and placing attack ads in publications? 

No. It happened because the CCF was able to move regular citizens to support the idea. And also through prolonged consultation, lobbying, and negotiation. And they worked very hard on this because it was for the public good. 

Because ultimately, that is what a government of Canada is supposed to provide: public good. And the opposition may have different ideas about how to get there, but they used to all be working for what they perceived as the public good. 

We now have a party in opposition that seems to have no ideas beyond, they want to be in power. Power is not the same as public good. Their platform, such as it is, seems to reflect a very narrow view of the Canadian public. 

They seem to feel their role is to nay-say anything the government does, not because the government's proposals are not in the public good, but because they object, on partisan principle, to anything a party that is not them proposes. 

This is not serving Canadians. It is serving themselves, and their most well-heeled donors. If the government came up with an efficient, well-thought-out way to end poverty in Canada within a year, the CPC would oppose it. Because it is coming from the Liberals. 

Also, because they don't seem to care much about the poor. But the immediate and automatic rejection of anything this government does strongly suggests that the CPC are not concerned about the public good. Only power. 

If you ask me, that alone is reason enough to make sure they don't get elected. If a party cares so little about the public they are trying to get elected to serve that they cannot bear to work with the government towards the public good, they don't deserve our votes. 

Governing is hard. A government will never make everyone happy. It is a balancing act, & the best governments try very hard to make the scales balance as much as possible. But some people will never be happy, some will be disappointed that things did not go 100% their way. 

For the CPC, truth also appears to be hard. If a party deliberately misleads the population, they are unfit to govern. If we had a media that fact-checked all parties' public communications that might be easier for many to detect. 

If we look at Ford's PCs in Ontario we see an example of government by revenge. It seems to be his mission to eradicate everything the previous government did, regardless of any public good provided. 

Jason Kenney and Andrew Scheer will/would almost certainly govern the same way. All things the opponents did must be destroyed. Doesn't matter if those things actually made society better. It is the principle. Nothing made by non-conservatives can be allowed to exist. 

And this is my point, really. Governing is hard. So hard to balance all those different views. But any party whose sole mission is to be a wreaking ball without regard for the public good has no business governing.