Wednesday night’s Conservative Party leadership debate in Edmonton reached a new nadir in political broadcasting..Former CTV talking head Tom Clark came out of retirement to moderate the discussion and it was apparent he has missed the limelight as he spent much of the evening hectoring the candidates about breaking his silly rules and monopolizing the candidates’ time in the process..And then there was the wailing trombone whenever someone crossed the line. I thought I was watching an episode of the Flintstones without the comic appeal..MP Pierre Poilievre (CPC-Carleton) clearly dominated the evening and confirmed his front-runner status, but he is developing an annoying tendency to be evasive about abortion. He was the only candidate on stage who refused to declare whether he is pro-life or pro-choice on the issue, though his arguments clearly indicate he supports abortion, saying he will not introduce any legislation to restrict abortion if he is prime minister and criticized former Progressive Conservative leader Jean Charest for being part of the Brian Mulroney government that did try to establish some abortion law in Canada..And we have to get this right: Canada is one of the few countries in the world without any abortion law that basically allows a baby to be eradicated at any time during a woman’s pregnancy and that is not just unacceptable — it is barbaric..Leslyn Lewis again had a strong evening, appealing to social conservatives not just with her unapologetic pro-life stance, but her solid condemnation of wokeness. Lewis was unabashedly honest in her statements and doesn’t sound like a politician. That will have an appeal that could make her an increasing threat to Poilievre and, at the very least, a potential king-maker at the convention..It's noteworthy the only candidate with the courage to call herself pro-life was a woman — yet the abortion industry and its political cartel like to tell you all women view abortion as an essential human right. Of course it’s a lie..Charest did better than expected considering his baggage as a Liberal Quebec premier whose government was embroiled in financial scandal and his personal history as a lobbyist for Huawei, the aggressive telecommunications firm that also serves as a spy network for China..Poilievre dwelled on his call to remove the governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, a position that really won’t resonate either way with the conservative base. The national bank is just not seen as sufficiently treacherous. The MP needs to focus on getting the CBC defunded. There’s plenty of anger there..“The Bank of Canada governor has allowed himself to become the ATM machine of this government. And so, I would replace him with a new governor who would reinstate our low inflation mandate,” Poilievre said..Poilievre also refused to say he would immediately move towards increasing the national defence budget to 2% of the GDP. Everyone else did. Why would Poilievre balk at that since inadequate defence spending has always been a hallmark of Liberal policy for 50 years?.At least there seemed to be general consensus a carbon tax is not a good thing. Pity that former Tory leader Erin O’Toole could never quite see the wisdom of that. But when there’s a new record price for gasoline and diesel at the pumps every week, it has become increasingly arduous to defend carbon taxes. Someone that hasn’t stopped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from continuing to extol their virtue..I’m still wondering why former Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown is in this race and why he has garnered support from people like my friend MP Michelle Rempel Garner (CPC-Calgary Nose Hill), who should know better..Mayor Pat of Brampton became the provincial PC leader by completely misrepresenting his policy positions, masquerading as a social conservative in order to energize the grassroots and sell memberships. Once in power, he never missed a Pride parade and governed as as red Tory. So if he’s now opposed to a carbon tax, can we really believe him? He came alive Wednesday night by attacking Poilievre’s support of crypto-currency as if there is something nefarious in that..Surely there is something more insidious in seeing your savings swallowed up by inflation while Trudeau says you should be worried about catastrophic climate change..Clearly, Poilievre is the choice Conservatives will make in their head, but Lewis is the choice that many will make in their heart. She is refreshingly honest and has the sort of moxy the Conservative Party sorely lacked under O’Toole. She earned a right to take a prominent position in any Poilievre government that should be considering an abortion law for Canada. Even liberal countries in Europe have abortion laws..Although Poilievre is clearly appealing to a broad sector of Canadians through his promise to make this country “the freest” on the earth, it's Charest who keeps telling audiences that he can deliver a Conservative majority government. What makes him think so? He never delivered a PC government of any sort, but he was a Liberal premier..Even if Charest can win a majority government, do you really think it will be small c conservative? Or will he be O’Toole 2.0 with a policy platform that looks little different than that of the Liberal-NDP alliance when he gets ready to campaign in the next federal election? Richard Nixon always said you run to the right in leadership campaigns and you run to the center in general elections. Charest isn’t even running that far off the center right now. Watch out in two year’s time..It has become a tired cliché to say every leadership race is a battle for the heart and soul of the party, but this one really is..For far too long we’ve had three parties peddling statist uniformity and the CPC muzzled the unapologetic conservatives in its ranks in order to look and sound like good Ottawa liberals. Poilievre, Lewis and former Ontario PC MPP Roman Baber are throwing that convention into the trash can — and not a moment too soon.
Wednesday night’s Conservative Party leadership debate in Edmonton reached a new nadir in political broadcasting..Former CTV talking head Tom Clark came out of retirement to moderate the discussion and it was apparent he has missed the limelight as he spent much of the evening hectoring the candidates about breaking his silly rules and monopolizing the candidates’ time in the process..And then there was the wailing trombone whenever someone crossed the line. I thought I was watching an episode of the Flintstones without the comic appeal..MP Pierre Poilievre (CPC-Carleton) clearly dominated the evening and confirmed his front-runner status, but he is developing an annoying tendency to be evasive about abortion. He was the only candidate on stage who refused to declare whether he is pro-life or pro-choice on the issue, though his arguments clearly indicate he supports abortion, saying he will not introduce any legislation to restrict abortion if he is prime minister and criticized former Progressive Conservative leader Jean Charest for being part of the Brian Mulroney government that did try to establish some abortion law in Canada..And we have to get this right: Canada is one of the few countries in the world without any abortion law that basically allows a baby to be eradicated at any time during a woman’s pregnancy and that is not just unacceptable — it is barbaric..Leslyn Lewis again had a strong evening, appealing to social conservatives not just with her unapologetic pro-life stance, but her solid condemnation of wokeness. Lewis was unabashedly honest in her statements and doesn’t sound like a politician. That will have an appeal that could make her an increasing threat to Poilievre and, at the very least, a potential king-maker at the convention..It's noteworthy the only candidate with the courage to call herself pro-life was a woman — yet the abortion industry and its political cartel like to tell you all women view abortion as an essential human right. Of course it’s a lie..Charest did better than expected considering his baggage as a Liberal Quebec premier whose government was embroiled in financial scandal and his personal history as a lobbyist for Huawei, the aggressive telecommunications firm that also serves as a spy network for China..Poilievre dwelled on his call to remove the governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, a position that really won’t resonate either way with the conservative base. The national bank is just not seen as sufficiently treacherous. The MP needs to focus on getting the CBC defunded. There’s plenty of anger there..“The Bank of Canada governor has allowed himself to become the ATM machine of this government. And so, I would replace him with a new governor who would reinstate our low inflation mandate,” Poilievre said..Poilievre also refused to say he would immediately move towards increasing the national defence budget to 2% of the GDP. Everyone else did. Why would Poilievre balk at that since inadequate defence spending has always been a hallmark of Liberal policy for 50 years?.At least there seemed to be general consensus a carbon tax is not a good thing. Pity that former Tory leader Erin O’Toole could never quite see the wisdom of that. But when there’s a new record price for gasoline and diesel at the pumps every week, it has become increasingly arduous to defend carbon taxes. Someone that hasn’t stopped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from continuing to extol their virtue..I’m still wondering why former Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown is in this race and why he has garnered support from people like my friend MP Michelle Rempel Garner (CPC-Calgary Nose Hill), who should know better..Mayor Pat of Brampton became the provincial PC leader by completely misrepresenting his policy positions, masquerading as a social conservative in order to energize the grassroots and sell memberships. Once in power, he never missed a Pride parade and governed as as red Tory. So if he’s now opposed to a carbon tax, can we really believe him? He came alive Wednesday night by attacking Poilievre’s support of crypto-currency as if there is something nefarious in that..Surely there is something more insidious in seeing your savings swallowed up by inflation while Trudeau says you should be worried about catastrophic climate change..Clearly, Poilievre is the choice Conservatives will make in their head, but Lewis is the choice that many will make in their heart. She is refreshingly honest and has the sort of moxy the Conservative Party sorely lacked under O’Toole. She earned a right to take a prominent position in any Poilievre government that should be considering an abortion law for Canada. Even liberal countries in Europe have abortion laws..Although Poilievre is clearly appealing to a broad sector of Canadians through his promise to make this country “the freest” on the earth, it's Charest who keeps telling audiences that he can deliver a Conservative majority government. What makes him think so? He never delivered a PC government of any sort, but he was a Liberal premier..Even if Charest can win a majority government, do you really think it will be small c conservative? Or will he be O’Toole 2.0 with a policy platform that looks little different than that of the Liberal-NDP alliance when he gets ready to campaign in the next federal election? Richard Nixon always said you run to the right in leadership campaigns and you run to the center in general elections. Charest isn’t even running that far off the center right now. Watch out in two year’s time..It has become a tired cliché to say every leadership race is a battle for the heart and soul of the party, but this one really is..For far too long we’ve had three parties peddling statist uniformity and the CPC muzzled the unapologetic conservatives in its ranks in order to look and sound like good Ottawa liberals. Poilievre, Lewis and former Ontario PC MPP Roman Baber are throwing that convention into the trash can — and not a moment too soon.
