I said just yesterday after posting this that, “If Scheer doesn’t wake up, there’s going to be another Reform party.”
Rogue Conservative MP Maxime Bernier is making an announcement Thursday at a 1 p.m. ET news conference in Ottawa, sparking discussion over whether he is leaving the party to start his own.
The media advisory says only that he will make a statement and a staffer for the MP refused to divulge any other details.
A Quebec radio station is reporting Bernier is quitting the Conservative Party. The Canadian Press reported last June that Bernier’s supporters started pushing him to quit the Conservatives and start his own party, following his demotion from industry critic.
Nice work, Andrew.
Update: Bernier is leaving the Conservative Party.
Bernier says CPC has been siding with Liberals on supply management and supports retaliatory tariffs on U.S. Says Canada has "no chance" of winning trade war with the U.S. #cdnpoli
— Sean Previl (@SeanPrevil) August 23, 2018
I wrote Maxime and volunteered
I have pretty poor brief on Canadian politics.
I don’t say this with pride.
Just heard Bernier on CBC2 FM. For the first time I think.
See what I mean.
MY TWO CENTS:
If I were Bernier my first task would be to lose as much of that accent as I could. No way to win sounding like that!
This is probably the longest post I’ve ever written here, but I have very much to say on this topic, as well, for personal reasons, this will be my final post under this alias.
I must admit, I was ‘relieved’ when Bernier lost the Conservative leadership to a relative unknown (Scheer) by the slimmest of margins. Why? Because I got a little sick to my mouth with the prospect of YET ANOTHER PM from QUEBEC!!!
But today, I’ve developed a new level of respect for the man. Think of it. He’s leaving a party (whom I believe actually abandoned him) which has the best chance of forming the next government, to form a new party which by all precedents, doesn’t have a hope in hell of even making party status. Why? Because he felt that he compromised enough already on his principles.
After observing Scheer’s leadership this past year, I would have to agree, the man’s style reminds me too much of Neville Chamberland. When will conservatives learn that you cannot make friends with an enemy that wants to destroy you? Scheer bans ‘the Rebel’, but invites ‘Huffington Post’ to the convention? Really?
If this is indicative of how Scheer is going to govern, then Mad Max is right. The current Conservative party is not truly representing the conservative voice in Canada. By all rights, Scheer is taking the party ever-so-slightly to the left of center, becoming nothing more than a moderate version of Trudeau’s liberals.
Already the CBC is trashing Bernier, which is, imho, a badge of honour, unfortunately, they’re doing it with the help of John Baird, and Jason Kenney, which is rather disappointing, but I guess, like most of us, Baird and Kenney wants to see Trudeau turfed in next year’s election. I would to, but I’m wondering if the cost is maybe a tad bit too high.
Of all the individuals involved: Scheer, Kenney, Baird, the PC party… I would have to say the man who is taking the most principled stance, the man who I believe will defend conservative values without capitulating to the media party, and their governing branch, the man with the highest moral character in all of this is indeed, Max Bernier, despite what the CBC, and the corrupt conservatives are saying about him.
One would think the Cons would be glad to see him go, after the way he was treated by the knives-in-the-back Conservative party, but they’re actually upset that Max would actually push back! Why, you may ask? Because they’re beginning to realize that their best chance of forming the next government just went up in smoke!
I plan to support Mad Max, and whatever party he gets involved in, in the next general election campaign. I hope there are others on this form that would agree with me. Mad Max is going to need all the support he can get.
The only reason the media would attack Scheer is if they believed he had a chance of forming government . Had he been a credible threat they would have roasted him . Max -they will fear him and they will do everything in their power to destroy him .
I think Bernier will be nothing but a distraction in the coming months and unlikely to take away many votes . This is certainly not the time to start a new party with an election coming . The real problem would be if he starts to gather some traction and splits the conservative vote . At that point folks boy blunder stands a chance of holding power . That my friends would be a disaster for the Canada as we now know it .
What conservative vote? The conservatives who voted Trudeau? The conservatives who picked Scheer?
Is Scheer even still alive? Haven’t seen him on TV, heard him on radio, not in print, for like years now.
Oh please. Let Justin be in power when the Chinese blow up the global financial system in a desperate attempt to destroy Trump.
Trump will get away without a scratch of course. Americans understand that Trump is actually on their side.
Once our army’s paycheques start bouncing Justin is finished. Nobody in uniform cares to be the last to die for the right to eat tasteless cheese with French on the wrapper while the Chinese gangsters rob Canadians of their birthright. And Beijing won’t lift a finger to help him.
If anyone can point to a single example, policy wise, of Scheer’s that is different from Trudeau’s, let me know please.
Between the two, is there any single thing that would change, if the other was put in charge?
We would no longer be governed by a high school model United Nations club and competent adults would be in charge.
Sadly, though, nothing meaningful would change. Just look at how Harper went from his libertarian views to saying they had no place in the party. The Torys are out for the party and the various apparatchiks and hangers-on and financial backers and lackeys. You don’t get to keep feeding at the trough if you really want to upend and change things. The Torys don’t.
Anyone who votes against Bernier, and for Scheer, is a Traitor.
Screw you, you’re to stupid to matter! Bahhhhh!
Your condemnations are manna to me.
I wish him well.
Which is the only response every MP in the CPC caucus should respond to the media coyotes looking for a party civil war.
But I digress.
Trying to predict the one outcome of the next election is fraught with too many possibilities due to the numerous events that can occur that will influence the voters.
So I think I’m going to stick to commenting on one influence.
Max may be forming a party but my guess is that his strategy isn’t to form another conservative party but rather a party that appeals to voters looking for an actual conservative on the ballot.
There are many eligible voters that do not come out on election day because not one of the candidates stands out as being an actual conservative. Give them someone they can vote for instead of giving them candidates that think they can win over voters that will never vote conservative.
Here’s another thing to consider.
If Max can form his party and convince 8 other MP’s to sit with him in the HoC he gets official party status and he has rights to participate in the leaders debate….or would juthtin be afraid to actually debate Max?
Something to think about.
There’s not an iota of difference between Scheer and Trudeau. They’re both big government liberals fully on board with the whole homo-tranny agenda, and worst of all they’re both open borders fanatics. Scheer is Trudeau with worse hair.
Scheer has surrounded himself with a coven of militant feminist hags (Rempel, Raitt, etc) and is under the very wrong impression that he can position himself one millimetre to the right of Trudeau and still hold the conservative base together. Well now it’s all blown up in his foolish face, hasn’t it?
To all the cucks on this board whining that Max has handed the next election to Trudeau, I repeat THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHEER AND TRUDEAU. What effing difference does it make whichever of these two leftists win? Tweedledee and Tweedledum they are.
Before committing to vote for Max in the next election, I want to see a platform that promises to *drastically* reduce immigration, and ship *all* of the fake refugees back to the shitholes from whence they came. Because Scheer and his open borders cheerleader Rempel sure aren’t going to make that commitment.
I’ll bet the overwhelming majority of SDA readers supported Reform over the PCs back in the day, and I have no doubt that almost all will fall in line behind Max rather than Joe Clark Jr. If Scheer wants to avoid a certain loss at the next election than there’s only one thing he must do: resign, now.
Hold that thought.
Max said he was “going to” form a new party.
Some questions:
Will it be in time for the next election?
Will he resign his seat before then to force a by election?
Will he wait till after the election to form this new party, or are there eight MP’s (from any party) that would cross the floor to make an official party caucus?
What if someone can intervene at this point to repair the rift?
What if the Sockmonkey bankrupts the country and a recession hits just before the next election?
So many variables and at this point nobody should be taking anything for granted.
speaking with >50 years observing and participating and formal study of politics in Canadistan,
the, or at least a, problem with conservatives: too ready to devour their own.
yep. too many ‘night of the long knives’ in conservative circles. way too many.
one reason why LIEberals and liberalism has the upper hand in this nation and held power longer in total.
and why we have a LIEberal govt in 2018.
wake up. work together, FIND A WAY to put your away cosmetic and trivial differences and accept there can be only ONE party leader.
Im not bashing Bernier. his actions can only be explained by the fact he saw far too much of what Im describing.
at least we’re better at it than the great US of A with its perpetual 2-sides-of-the-same-coin entrenched status quo.
until The Donald showed up that is.
A few points from my perspective:
1. This split is likely to cost the Conservative Party the next election. (If Scheer can’t run his own party can he run Canada?)
2. Bernier chose the wrong time to relaunch his leadership bid.
3. This kind of reminds me of the Reform party when most of its MPs wouldn’t sit with Stockwell Day.
4. This could end up re-splitting the Conservative party undoing Harper’s hard work..
5. As a conscientious Canadian I would call across broken glass to vote out Trudeau but the present Conservative howdy doodie
leader has left me with no desire to vote for him.
CAN ANYONE WHO IS IN HALIFAX AT THE CONVENTION TELL US THE MOOD?
Ooops, sorry for the caps-locked
I don’t like Scheer. But I don’t want another leader from Quebec. I’d like Quebec to leave. Everyone would be better off with that. I don’t understand why anyone west of Ontario wants another Quebecker for PM. I don’t want Max! I don’t want Trudeau! Let Scheer win and then dump him. That’s a better alternative than more PMs from Quebec.
Years ago I heard a weird little man with big glasses and nasally voice say, “Liberal, Tory, same old story”.
That stupid little line has stayed with me through the years. There is no point voting for a Tory government that is substantially similar to the Liberals on 90% of issues. If you look at Scheer and Trudeau, they may differ around the edges, but they are fundamentally the same. There is not point in having my team win power if they aren’t really in it for me but just in it for themselves. There is no point having a Tory government if it’s more concerned looking after its own MPs and hangers-on than it is me and my interests.
Bernier has a big ego, he’s a self-promoter and he’s also clearly looking for vengeance. I really don’t care. If he can pull something together I’ll be all in. I haven’t had a party that I can cast a vote for without holding my nose for since Harper’s first election. Go get’em Max. If nothing else, he’ll push the Torys to the right, which is about 100 miles away from where they are now.
Oh good, a choice …
Choice (a) _ “Justin is great, we are happy to help out where we can, and by the way, enjoy some very expensive Canadian cheese.”
Choice (b) _ “Smaller governments, greater individual freedom.”
Hmm, this is a tough one for any real conservative, right? /s
When the Patrick Brown thing hit in Ontario, that did not look good either, but since there does not seem to be any difference between Scheer and Trudeau, I think this will be for the best in the long run.
So disappointed in Scheer, these are all self inflicted wounds from a leader who needs to grow a pair..
This is great news.
Max can sense the dismal attitude of many of us voters.
Scheer is invisible and useless.
And Oh so Progressive.
The next election was shaping up to be a parade of parasites..we faced the wonderful opportunity of choosing to vote for Looter Party One, Or their opposition Looter Party Two or even better their opponents Looter Party Three also known as the Never Done Paying option.
Which is One and which is Two?
Who cares they are all the same party.
I was not going to bother voting, breaking a lifetime of habit, but now I might..
Perhaps if the current MP’s are too free of conservative principles to reform the National Party, we can call the true conservatives the “None of the Above Party”
With a very short timespan to organize in,such a ploy would play right into the sullen hatred of all our current “leaders” that is rampant across this land.
Consider the number of eligible voters who actually vote.
Canada has had a massive problem for decades.
What might it take to get these votes out?
What better that an opportunity to kick the Kleptocrats right square in the guts?
For myself there is no party platform that represents me.
I don’t want to “manage” the systemic robbery of us citizens.
I want it to end.
The National Debt is treason.
Importing 100s of thousands of illiterate persons,with not screening methods known to me, is a direct assault on the future every taxpayer was investing in.
▪@ 9:19 John Robertson
” The National Debt is treason”
As per my post @ 3:35pm replying to Indiana Jane @ 2:33 pm I agree with your above statement. We have been the only two people who’ve commented on the national debt, thus far, in at last count, 186 comments as I write this one. People have to take heed of history and how bloated governments have exploded into total war.
We simply cannot afford their squandering and debt levels. I shudder and fear confiscatory measures. I am fearful having lost much in my life, having fled Québec and le parti Québécois in the 1970s in the mass exodus of Anglos that took place.
We need small stable government and stable economies. Nothing else
Well, as it happens, I’m slated, apparently, to see a performance of the “Rocky Horror Show” (as in, you know, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) at the Stratford Festival on the 28th. My wife and I took the day off and went up to Grand Bend ON to sit on the beach (no swimming, as the waters were too rough, on account of the severe storms that swept through SW Ontario yesterday). On the way up, she decided to “put me in mood” for the 28th by playing a sound-track of the show: I told her to turn it off, as it was giving me a headache; the only one I knew, other than “Damn it, Janet!” was the “The Time Warp!”)…
My opinion is that the CPC is too important a Canadian institution to lose, again, even for a short time: we’ve seen this horror show before, and it won’t end well, assuming it happens, next time. As much as people are dissatisfied (I certainly am), it’s what we got — and the folks we have are all we got.
I don’t disagree with Max’s decision (everybody in this household are supporters of him), as he obviously saw the writing on the wall on what was going to happen in the caucus meeting this week.
I’d l propose some interim steps:
– A cooling-off period (perhaps three months) before anybody does anything regrettable;
– During which time, Max gets to publish his book, and gets to make his case before the Canadian public;
– At the end of which time, everybody in the CPC gets to vote on a leadership review (somewhere around the end of January);
– If the leadership review vote is in favour of a new leadership contest (say 50%+1 votes), then that contest would happen by the end of April.
That’s it; everybody goes home happy; the other guy/gal gets to sit next to the leader, for the remainder of the spring session, directing fire where it properly belongs — on the Liberals.
I can tell you, with great certainty, that if Trudeau, Jr. were to call an election this autumn, there will be a ton of folks who would vote NDP, western separatism, Quebec separatism, etc. (the only place in the world that could be safe (not likely) for him would be Atlantic Canada): Pizza parliament? More like a spaghettini parliament. And I love Italian food…
Don’t forget: the Liberals are just as spooked by what just happened in Ontario as we are…
Some good thoughts there.
On another note, I was just in Grand Bend. Popular spot. Don’t miss the Canadian Oil Museum in Petrolia. Canada was an early leader in oil exploration and refining. We were responsible for initiating oil production in a slew of places, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, South America. Fascinating stories and a proud heritage. Let us hope that Canada’s oil industry will once again be allowed to prosper.
Let me play the Devil’s Advocate here. Mad Max has just handed JT the next election on a platter. Under a united Conservative party even if led by the Joe Clark waxwork dummy from Madame Tussauds the next election would have been a cake walk for them. But let us bring in the wild card, Mad Max, he lost a leadership race and not content to go quietly, or sit on the sidelines until an opportunity presented itself, he decides to quit the party and threaten to form another “Reform” party. Now here is the catch, he knows that he doesn’t have enough supporters to form any kind of party that can form a government, if he doesn’t know that then he shouldn’t be sitting in any government. So all he will accomplish is a fracturing of the Conservative base, and the only winner there is the Liberals. The country is pretty much split on a 40% Liberal, 40% Conservative, and a 20% NDP ratio. There is a periodic shift that alternates between Liberal and Conservative voters in elections. Mad Max has now ensured that the Liberals will dominate the Canadian political scene for the next ten years.. So the big question now is what restaurant was Max in and how big was the brown paper bag?
None of this becomes valid until he produces an actual voting alternative. And then the part about ten years is a matter of opinion, it could be more like an inevitable loss that was coming anyway in 2019 followed by rapid shifts towards a more authentic conservative voice in politics. Much depends on whether Bernier can produce a real political party, and then what level of support it attracts. The Libertarians combined with other fringe right-wing parties at 2-3% in some ridings prevented only two CPC candidates from winning in 2015.
And one has to ask, if Scheer could somehow win the 2019 election on a platform of “basically like Justin only I’m Andrew,” then what do we gain? (aside from patronage)
even a Turdeau minority government would slow him down, and prevent Turdeau from some of his agenda.
We can’t just give it to him, look what he’s done already, and what he wanted to do. Don’t think he and Morneau won’t bring back some of their failed tax schemes. Turdeau can go much further to the left, further than most Canadians can imagine.
My initial thought was yes I will support Max, but on sober second thought his new party will just split the vote and since the NDP are imploding, Justin will be in with little effort.
Unfortunately it means that for the first time in my life (63 years) I am politically homeless at the federal level. The CPC still contact me because I gave a donation about 5 years ago. Their intro is always the same – I am a valued member yada, yada yada. I have to interrupt them to tell than that I have NEVER been a member of the CPC or any political party but from time to time I give donations to various political causes. They then launch into a message about how valuable my views are and again I have to interrupt then and inform that that NONE of their policy positions reflect any of my views and they have never listened to me or anyone else from the little people. At that point I tell them that I have no intention of voting CPC and may not even consider voting at all (reinforced by informing them that at 63 I have voted in EVERY local, provincial and federal election since I was 18 but I am totally turned off by the focus that political parties put on any and all special interest groups). Then I hang up and 3 months later I get exactly the same call.
This election I will receive a ballot and will spoil it – something along the lines that all the candidates and their parties are nothing but sluts and jiggers and none of them should be elected.
Please let’s get a movement going where there are more spoiled ballots that actual votes and then maybe the election will be declared null and void and all the parties are sent to a time out to think about what they have done.
Does the PC Party of Alberta and the Wild Rose remind anyone of what will happen, especially when the incumbent is already Liberal? Turdeau will be guarantied another 4 YEARS if not 8 YEARS !
Look back at the posts here for the last 2 years, about what an idiot we have as PM,,,,,and most of you on here now, just want to hand him another 4, likely 8, if Turdeau calls a snap election.
Any idea to what damage Turdeau will do with another 4 years, unfixable damage, permanent damage to the identity of Canada ! We won’t be looking at repairing Canada, we’ll be looking at separating from Canada, or moving from Canada, then we’ll be the migrants looking for a country that will welcome us.
Many here can’t see that Turdeau can go much further left, in fact way further left, and he will and do so in a speedy fashion, if he sees he might have 8 more years. Think laws and restrictions, think electoral reform, think Supreme Court seats, think jerrymandering electoral ridings, think about shutting down fossil energy for good(Dems were trying to do it in the USA, they didn’t care about the workers) how about even more public funding for media, how about sending even more billions of tax dollars out of this country, to other nations for fighting glowball warming.
Scheer might not be the bomb, but he would be ahellive a lot better than 4 or 8 more years of Trudeau. Stop and think about this. In 4 years, you might be living in a country you can’t stand, being taxed to the hilt, and even if your retired, Justin might still come for your wealth. More laws about what you can say and not say, gun confiscation(like Australia, it’s happened before in first world countries)
How many posting here are new, how many are astroturfing this site with the idea of splitting the right, divide and conquer. I wouldn’t put it past Liberals to imbed themselves in conservative sites to stir up the right, to split us as they’re worried about losing power, or being reduced to a minority.
Stop and have a sober second thought on this, this country can go much, much further left, can you live with that. How much older will you be, how much less money will you have to influence any thing. Plan to pay more, much more in various types of taxes, especially carbon taxes.