So, Ontario is going to go to the polls early. Following New Brunswick's lead. Will Manitoba and PEI and Alberta follow? Saskatchewan has an election coming in November...
What would move premiers to call an election, several years ahead of schedule, during a pandemic? Ford has until 2022. So does Legault. Kenney and Pallister both have until 2023. It seems unlikely Kenney will call an election. Albertans aren't as sweet on him any more
Higgs had until 2022, but he called it early. What, indeed, would move these conservative premiers to call an election with years left on their mandates? During a pandemic, no less?
I'm sure there are a lot of possible reasons. But, could it be that they don't know when the next federal election might be? It could be as far off as 2023.
Look up the magic formula for re-opening the constitution and tinkering with it, and our charter of rights and freedoms. You will find there must be agreement from 2/3 of the provinces, representing > 50% of the population, plus the feds, plus the senate.
Could it be that the conservatives really believe that they will win the next federal election? Could conservative premiers be doing the advance work of shoring up their mandates to make sure those 7 provinces are online and ready?
"Why would they even want to do that?" you may ask. Well, because gutting the constitution and the charter is sort of the raison d'etre of the Reform Party, aka the Conservative Party of Canada. What did you think they wanted to reform? 
Harper hates the charter and the constitution. He hates it for several reasons.
1) A Trudeau created it,
2) It gives people of whom he does not approve equal rights to "Old Stock Canadians"
3) Constitutional challenges overturned almost all his nasty legislation.
1) A Trudeau created it,
2) It gives people of whom he does not approve equal rights to "Old Stock Canadians"
3) Constitutional challenges overturned almost all his nasty legislation.
"What does Harper have to do with any of this?" you may ask. Well, the CPC is his party. He created it. He molded the minds of his caucus, many of whom are still in their seats to this day. He surrounded himself with sycophants, none of whom could challenge his leadership.
In his mind, he was supposed to be PM forever. Pesky Canadians toppled his dreams in 2015. But he hasn't gone away. He's employed as advisor to the governments of Alberta & Saskachewan, & he seems to be still running the CPC from behind the scenes.
We can see his fingerprints all over what Jason Kenney is doing to Alberta. We could almost see his hand up Andrew Scheer's back. O'Toole seems to be another ventriquial figure. L'Actualite published this in an article awhile ago: 
You see, he did no succession planning because he never meant to stop being leader. So the party has no one with the skill-set to really run it without deferring to The Boss.
And, just like a passionate entrepreneur, he is not ready, will probably never be ready, to turn over his creation entirely to anyone else. Certainly not before he sees his vision of Canada realised.
What is his vision for Canada? Look south. Private health care, private education, gun proliferation, small government (very limited social programs), draconian laws, closed borders except to "acceptable" people, bans on abortion, same-sex marriage, and MAID...
Oh, and probably something like what Trump just did, to ensure kids are raised knowing nothing but "Conservatives are the only conceivable government" 
As head of the IDU, Harper has spent the past 5 years helping right-wing regimes gain power around the world. And there is a plan. Not a conspiracy theory, a carefully developed plan.
The philosophy behind it comes from James McGill Buchanan, who believed that unbridled capitalism would sort everything out.
If all restrictions were lifted from business, the hard-working would be rightly rewarded & those who failed or were unable to take responsibility for themselves would be punished. Survival of the fittest. Which is odd coming from a cohort which identifies with religion
Nevertheless, this is the underlying motivation for the CPC, demonstrated through: cutting environmental protections (deprotecting lakes and waterways, ELA, etc), cutting health and safety regulations (Walkerton, Lac Megantic, Listeriosis), muzzling scientists, etc.
All part of throwing the doors open wide for the brave new world of corporatocracy. You know, letting the invisible hand of the market sweep away all the undesirable elements: the lazy, the ill, the aged, the addicted, etc. 
The Koch brothers embraced Buchanan's vision & philosophy & it has been an integral part of their empire-building around the globe. It can be seen now, nearing full manifestation in our neighbour to the south. Remember, for many years now Koch Inc has been in Canada too.
They fund many of the right-wing think-tanks like the Fraser Institute, they exert power over our news media. They employ psychological/propaganda ninjas who try to influence what we think, using big data platforms on social media.
Sound like tin-foil hat stuff to you? It isn't. What is going on in our media right now is not normal. The way the conservatives are behaving is not normal, not compared with pre-2003 conservative parties. The way the NDP is behaving is way not normal.
The game has changed and no one told us. And that is the point. Incremental shifting of things to a new normal where we aren't supposed to care about the less fortunate. Where life becomes so precarious that we can't spare the energy to look out for each other.
Then they've won.
Because together we have power. They don't want us to stand together. They want us all scrambling to look after ourselves, and screw everyone else. We can't let that happen to us. Watch what the premiers do. Let's keep the magic formula out of their hands.
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