Roundup: The importance of keeping up democratic appearances

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As the most populous areas of the country head back into some form of lockdown (thanks in large part to the premiers being generally useless), prime minister Justin Trudeau said that the two by-elections will continue as planned, as it’s important for Canadians to see that democracy keeps functioning in spite of the pandemic, and said pandemic could be worse later if there are delays, so best to do it now. In case it wasn’t obvious, new Green Party leader, Annamie Paul, has calling for the delays, as though it would make any actual difference for her doomed campaign in Toronto Centre given that it’s a “safe” Liberal seat. (I mean, miracles can happen, but it would be just that – a miracle, if she didn’t come in fourth again as she did during the last election).

There is, however, a bit of irony to this as the Liberals are also looking to make it easier to forgo nominations in ridings that they currently hold, doing away with the actual grassroots democracy of letting members of the riding decide whether or not they want to oust their incumbent or keep them around. In the last election, the party decided that there was a relatively high bar for a nomination to be protected (which is an abomination, don’t get me wrong), but now they’re looking at making that high bar much lower. And given that Trudeau decided to forgo proper nomination processes for the two by-elections, in spite of the fact that there were declared challengers to those who ended up being chosen, it really doesn’t seem like he’s demonstrating that grassroots democracy can still function in spite of the pandemic. Funny that.

All snark aside, I will note that the one positive out of these changes is that the party seems to be taking the search for more diverse candidates a little more seriously, and ensuring that the riding associations in unheld ridings needs to document that they did search for candidates who were women, as well as Black Canadians, people of colour, people with disabilities, or members of the LGBT community. The party did have some success with recruiting more women when they adopted a system of having people search for potential candidates, forwarding the party their name, and having the party follow up with them several times (because there is documented research that shows that women need to be asked multiple times before they will say yes, often because they feel underqualified even when they are more than qualified), so perhaps they will see some more success by extending this to other underrepresented communities. Time will tell, of course – particularly if they start using the pandemic as an excuse not to keep the grassroots process going as it should be.

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland announced the new commercial rent relief programme, which will be tenant-focused, along with extensions to other pandemic aid programmes.
  • The CEOs of the innovation “superclusters” are criticizing the PBO’s report, and reporters’ research is showing that the PBO vastly underreported spending figures.
  • Liberals on the Commons’ ethics committee have been filibustering attempts to get WE records on how much was paid to Trudeau family members in speaking fees.
  • Heather Scoffield looks at the recovery in jobs to date, and the fears about how the second wave and new lockdowns will affect them.
  • Susan Delacourt delves into polling data on both sides of the border that are showing shifting attitudes toward populism and Black Lives Matter.
  • My weekend column looks at the NDP’s handwavey idea of an “excess profit tax,” and why it’s really not the tool they think it is to address the problems they see.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: The importance of keeping up democratic appearances”

  1. How about some coverage of that Super Creative, Incredibly Hilarious (and not that bad in the Looks department either Ladies) Bold, Dashing, Daring Toronto Centre by-election candidate Znoneofthe Above??!!

  2. The Cons and their enablers are the ones sabotaging democracy, with their relentless and Orwellian pursuit of the personal effects of private citizens. Shanahan is correct that this witch hunt towards Margaret and Sacha is not only outside the scope of the committee’s mandate, but irrelevant to the issue of the student grant’s development itself, and that the commissioner should be the one looking into it rather than opposition partisans with an axe to grind. But the committee chair was so quick in schadenfreude to point out that the opposition is in the driver’s seat and therefore has the right to turn it into a star chamber if they so choose. Welcome to Canamerica, home of the northern GOP.

    It simply defies logic to suggest that Trudeau planned for a pandemic to hit 12 years after he became an MP, and developed a retroactive “quid-pro-quo” in gratitude to the charity, let alone that the program was his idea, or that it was designed with the intent of lining his mother and brother’s pockets. It also defies logic to suggest that the Kielburgers were their “friends” when the program had done events with all parties at all levels of government. Funny how that all gets forgotten about once it became convenient to portray it as a “Liberal slush fund.” Or generate clickbait and rile up the mob by going after a man’s mother, particularly this poor woman who has been Canada’s favorite punching bag since 1969.

    This whole thing is asinine and rests on threadbare, hand-waving notions of “corruption” that are no different from the smear campaign waged against Hillary Clinton. The fact that the Cons have since latched onto the unrelated garbage about the Chinese businessman and the Trudeau foundation, and that their rank-and-file conspiracy theorists are engaging in broad-brush racism with allegations that the charity is itself a front for the CCP because their CFO is of Chinese extraction, is not only ludicrous but the height of bigotry. But I’m sure the CPC HQ will release a statement denouncing the yellow-panic smear campaign against Victor Li, said no one ever.

    It’s up in the air, of course, as to how long the Liberals will be able to stall and stonewall this, but were it not for the assistance of Trudeau-bashing media, this wouldn’t be a good look for the Cons, let alone the “conscience of parliament” NDP. It’s no different from Trump going after the Biden boys, living and dead, to attack their father as supposedly “corrupt.” I maintain that Angus is jealous that more people were interested in listening to Margaret Trudeau as a mental health advocate and didn’t really care to see him talk about his problems, whatever they may be. He’s probably just depressed that he’s such a waste of space and career political hack whereas the Trudeaus have had real jobs and actual achievements in spite of their heartaches in life. As for Theo Fleury’s complaint, yeah, I don’t think anyone wants to show up to hear him ramble on about QAnon, paid or pro bono. This “scandal” can be boiled down to one word: envy.

    And need I mention that there *is* still a growing second wave of a pandemic?

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