The weakest ‘winner’ the country has ever seen.
In a recent discussion on “Good Mornings with Dahlia Kurtz,” the question was asked, “Who lost the election.”
The answer?
Canadians.
Canadians lost the election.
https://twitter.com/DahliaKurtz/status/1441014648053108737
A bunch of money spent, a more divided nation, and no real change in seats.
But of course, not everyone lost to the same degree.
Thus, those who ‘lost the least’ are the ‘winners’.
To start, Justin Trudeau ‘won,’ simply because he won the most seats, and will remain PM.
He lost his bid for a majority, and did even worse in the popular vote (losing it for a second consecutive election).
He is the least popular PM to still retain power, which is about as weak a ‘win’ as you can get.
Still, he will be the one in charge of the PMO, he still runs the government, and Liberals are still setting policy and administering the state.
By contrast, Erin O’Toole will not be doing any of those things.
The CPC remains in opposition, and he is fighting for his job. That’s a loss for him.
Jagmeet Singh failed to translate his personal popularity into any real boost for his party. Status quo for the NDP.
And the Bloc did about the same as last time, so it’s status quo for them as well.
The Greens lost seats and votes, so they were losers in the campaign.
The PPC lost in terms of seat count, but they won in terms of being the only party to notably increase their popular vote percentage, and in gaining a stronger foothold in Canadian politics. With the PPC having grown in strength, the Conservative Party will either move more in the direction of the PPC, or lose votes to the PPC by shifting to the left. Either way, the PPC has an impact.
And there’s also the issue of raw votes.
With voter turnout down, all parties lost in terms of actual votes compared to last time, except for the PPC.
The Conservatives and Liberals are both down roughly 600,000 or so votes from last election, while the PPC is up by over 500,000.
Being the only party to gain actual votes in an election where everyone else lost votes is significant.
So, this brings us to the following question:
What does Justin Trudeau staying in power say about Canada?
We aren’t a serious country
There is now no longer any way we can doubt this. Canada simply isn’t a serious country.
We don’t take our fiscal future seriously.
We don’t take our reputation seriously.
We don’t take our responsibility to our allies seriously.
Canada re-elected someone who has repeatedly worn blackface, who talks about things like ‘she-cessions,’ who lies rampantly, who is a cringe-fest of political correctness, and who clearly has no interest in the actual governing of a country (“I don’t think about monetary policy”).
Canada is a nation that increasingly lacks any coherent or unifying identity, lacks pride in our history or respect for our past, and lacks the ability to defend either our freedoms, or our national interest.
In enough areas of the country, that’s what the people wanted and what they voted for so the liberals could stay in power.
Conservatism is embroiled in a civil war
Erin O’Toole and his supporters apparently believe that Canada isn’t conservative enough for actual conservatism to be offered. So, their strategy was to turn the Conservative Party into a near-clone of the Liberals.
On issue after issue, O’Toole moved the CPC closer to the Liberals. And whenever he was challenged or questioned on something that was ‘too conservative,’ he reflexively gave in.
If this really is true, if Canada is so left-wing that conservatism can’t win, then that leads to this question:
What is the point of the ‘Conservative Party?’
Really, think about it for a moment.
To say that Canada is a left-wing place and to believe the CPC can only win by embracing the Liberal world-view would be to admit that the CPC has been ineffective in persuading Canadians of the merits of Conservatism, and then to expect left-wing Canadians to vote for a party that is called ‘conservative’ but offers left-wing ideology. Why wouldn’t left-wing Canadians just vote for the Liberals or NDP in that case?
China wins
If there was a big winner in the election it was China, though not completely.
China is obviously happy to have Trudeau still in power, but since he lacks a majority he will continue facing pressure from the opposition parties when it comes to the National Microbiology Lab and whatever the government is so obviously desperate to avoid talking about there.
Still though, it appears that since the CPC was tougher on China than the Liberals, China directed lots of propaganda towards some Chinese-Canadians in order to defeat the Conservatives, as reported by the National Post:
“When Kenny Chiu introduced a private member’s bill that would set up a registry for agents of foreign governments, he may well have painted a target on his back.
The bill was inspired largely by China’s suspected interference in Canada and the B.C. Conservative says he was attacked over it in Chinese-language media throughout the election.
Some of the bashing bled into mainstream social media, with one poster on Twitter this week saying “I’ve never seen a more self-hating Chinese person in my life.”
Much of the criticism, Chiu says, misrepresented what that legislation really stated, but it had its effect.
Constituents in his Steveston-Richmond East riding who had previously voted for Chiu suddenly gave him the cold shoulder.
“When I go door knocking … there have been supporters of mine who just shut the door in my face,” said the politician. “There is so much hatred that I sense.””
Chiu lost his bid for re-election to a Liberal.
The Liberal Party increasingly resembles a cult
In a strange way, Justin Trudeau has flipped the usual script for the Liberals.
It is generally assumed that the Liberals have support that is ‘broad but shallow,’ in that they can appeal to a large swathe of the nation while not having much firm support.
But under Trudeau, especially due to the divisive nature of his campaign, the Liberals are now a party with deep but narrow support. They won just about 32-33% of the popular vote, but that vote has stuck with them through the blackface scandal, through SNC-Lavalin, through anger at the election call, through disastrous fiscal policy, through surging inflation, and more.
The Liberals have fully built their identity around Justin Trudeau, someone who a clear majority of Canadians oppose, yet who enough support to keep the Liberals in power through the vagaries of the First-Past-The-Post system.
Trudeau brings many people around him, and then filters out those who see through his façade (Jody Wilson-Raybould), leaving only sycophants around to staff the cabinet.
Canadians still have some fight left in them
Around the world, citizens of many countries have been stunningly submissive and docile in the face of hypocritical politicians who have repeatedly moved the goalposts and launched repeated assaults on our rights and freedoms.
Yet, not everyone has given up or given in.
Many people continue to speak out in defense of the true values of individual freedom and limited government that helped the Western world flourish. And on election day, the only party in Canada to increase their raw vote total was the party that spoke up most forcefully against government restrictions and mandates: The PPC.
Further, there are still many within the Conservative Party who are fighting for the party to actually present something conservative to the nation, and to provide a real alternative to the big government statism that has run rampant.
That’s why, as bleak as things may seem, you can have confidence that there are people all throughout this country who still have a desire to see Canada be a free nation where the rights and freedoms of the individual remain supreme.
Despite all the negative things Justin Trudeau staying in power says about our country, the ultimate future of Canada remains unwritten.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
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