The Globe and Mail published a lengthy piece on the weekend about the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, which happened in Vancouver on Dec. 1 of last year. It provided some new details about which Canadian, American and Chinese officials and politicians knew about Meng’s impending arrest (and when).
After a week which saw a new federal cabinet bursting with Sesame Street-worthy titles, a defence minister saying “We don’t consider China as an adversary,” and more evidence that Canada’s supposedly strong economy is about to get polar vortexed, the parliamentary press gallery still found time to take a few kicks at Conservative leader Andrew Scheer. The Toronto Star’s Chantal Hebert launched her Sunday column with this zinger: “With every passing week, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer looks more like a politician trying to whistle past the graveyard of his leadership.” Geez, where do you go after that? I wish I could tell you, but I was not going to pay to read the rest of Hebert’s piece.
“You cannot have your cake and eat it too. Pick a lane.” “There would be no oil industry in Alberta if Quebec had not willingly or not contributed to the very beginning of that industry.” Western separatism is a “weak threat.” “Maybe Alberta is jealous of some of the powers that Quebec has and would like to have that kind of autonomy.” These were some of the barbs that were flying last week from (in order): Alberta premier Jason Kenney, Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier, and former Liberal minister Denis Coderre. If only we could afford to hire Andy Cohen to moderate a panel discussion among this crew. But it might not be as entertaining without the hair extensions and fake nails.
So here we are, 11 weeks after now-defeated Liberal MP Ralph Goodale tweeted an old video of Andrew Scheer arguing against same sex marriage. And journalists are still asking Andrew Scheer what he thinks about gay people. Last week it was an unnamed reporter who asked Scheer whether he thinks homosexuality is a sin, as if Scheer were running for Pope and the journalist is a voting Cardinal.
Cheer up, Conservatives! Six-time sexiest Member of Parliament Peter MacKay has emerged from the wilderness of Toronto’s Beaches to save you from yourselves. Oh, he’s not interested in the leadership, mind you. Not unless it’s vacant, that is. And he totally supports the guy who is filling that vacancy now, though MacKay thinks Andrew Scheer blew last month’s election in the manner of “having a breakaway on an open net and missing the net.” And did you hear him describe abortion and same sex marriage as a “stinking albatross” around Scheer’s neck?
I think there’s an old joke that a war correspondent’s job is to show up after a battle and shoot the wounded. For political journalists in Canada, the equivalent would be to shoot conservatives after an election. Maybe it’s because journalists merely want to get a head start on the inevitable crossfire of conservatives shooting each other, which in election 2019 started before the ballots had even been cast.
Circumstances compel me to file this column before the results of Monday’s election are known, but it will not be published until the dust has settled Tuesday morning. Assuming the dust has settled, that is. The seat count and some ridings may be so close that it takes a few days – or God forbid, weeks – before we know who will be prime minister.
Heading into the last week of the federal campaign, many Canadians are ready for it to be over. It’s funny how most people can’t wait for an election – given the common dissatisfaction with governments of any political stripe – but then find the campaign period itself to be pretty near unbearable. Seeing Justin Trudeau’s breathy condescension on TV every day makes one nostalgic for his frequent vacations. In her umpteenth election campaign, Green leader Elizabeth May continues to distinguish herself as the most annoying resident of every retirement community.
It was not as damaging as Justin Trudeau’s brownface and blackface, but the news that Andrew Scheer has dual Canadian-American citizenship was a rare own goal, by a leader who has put very few feet wrong in the last two years. The Globe and Mail reported last week that Scheer has US citizenship through his father, who was born in the United States. Scheer had let his US passport lapse, but has filed US tax returns and registered for the draft, as required by US law. Scheer began the paperwork to renounce his American citizenship this August.
If you think the word “broker” in the headline means this is going to be a column about whether or not Andrew Scheer was a qualified insurance broker in Saskatchewan 16 years ago, I apologize for letting you down. No, this isn’t about Andrew Scheer fudging his insurance qualifications in various resumes and biographies over the last 16 years. Luckily for him, Justin Trudeau’s blackface antics have set a bar on 20s behaviour that is pretty hard to surpass, which for all we know may be surpassed again by Trudeau himself before we stagger to election day three weeks hence.