One of the things I enjoy about writing a weekly opinion piece for Doppler is the comments I get about my Listen Up articles. Some readers disagree with what I have written, and I like that. Of course, I like the ones who agree with me too! But I enjoy the back and forth in most instances and believe it is important for people to have a venue to express their viewpoint on issues of the day.
A couple of weeks ago, one person commented on Listen Up, “I find Hugh’s views very partisan at times, (Conservatives good) (Liberals bad)”.
Another commented this past week, “Hugh identifies as a Conservative, as do I”.
In terms of identifying as a Conservative, both these people are right. I do. Many of us come with some kind of political prejudice based on our own set of values and I am no exception to that. But as for the concept of Conservatives good, and Liberals bad, I do not necessarily subscribe to that.
In fact, I know of very few people (Donald Trump being a huge exception) who serve in public life who are not there for the right reasons. Over the years, I have become friends with many people whose political views are different from mine. I have learned from them, and I hope, at least on occasion, they have learned from me.
One particular relationship I have enjoyed over the years is with Bob Rae, hardly a Conservative and now Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations appointed by the Trudeau Liberal government. In my view, he is a statesman who has served Canada well. I still have a picture of him which he signed shortly after his NDP government was defeated by the Harris Conservatives which reads, “To Hugh, who paved the way to my retirement!”
Those were the days when party politics were much less divisive, where people with opposing views could still respect each other and sometimes even develop friendships. It is a pity and a disservice to Canada that those days are, for the most part, gone.
I have a problem with boot lickers in any political party, those who believe the particular party they support can do no wrong and any other political entity can do nothing right; an attitude that says if you are not with me, you are against me and are therefore my enemy. We are seeing these days how that attitude is affecting the political landscape in the United States, and we never want to see that in Canada. The hard facts are that no political party is perfect.
That is why I am not afraid to speak up when I believe the political party I would otherwise support is on the wrong track. And yes, just as there are within the Liberal Party, there are examples of that in the Conservative Party as well.
I like Doug Ford. I think on balance he is a good Premier. But he made a huge mistake on the whole Greenbelt issue. He and his handlers should have known what the backlash would be.
A more recent error is his apparent backtracking on his commitment to dissolve Peel Region. He is likely right to reconsider given what now appears to be a huge increase in costs to taxpayers and individual municipalities within the region, but it is a rookie mistake to make the announcement first and do the research afterward. He should know better and so should the advisors around him.
It is interesting though that despite missteps, polling shows that the Ford government has not slipped in support and remains out front. Many pundits believed their popularity would plummet, but it has not.
Doug Ford is a people person which makes it easier for sins to be forgiven. But you can only go to that well so many times, and with the election of Bonnie Crombie as the new Ontario Liberal leader, the Ford government will have to sharpen up on their homework if they want to maintain their lead.
In Ottawa, the federal Conservatives are riding high, well into double digits ahead of the governing Liberals. But, this is not necessarily because their leader is liked, as is the case in Ontario, but rather that the current Prime Minister is now largely disliked. And so, if the leadership in the Liberal Party changes before the next election, these polling numbers could change dramatically.
Federal Conservatives have spent a lot of time working on improving their image, and to a degree, it has had the effect they are looking for. As the polling shows, many Canadians who now do not support the Trudeau government are looking to the Conservatives as an alternative which puts them in a very comfortable position.
So why blow it with some of the antics of the past week or so? Everyone knows the Conservative Party is opposed to a carbon tax. But why use that as an excuse to vote against Free Trade legislation that can only be helpful to Ukraine, especially when polling again shows most Canadians strongly support Ukraine in the current war there?
What did the Conservatives have to gain? As journalist Andrew Coyne wrote, “Opposing the Ukrainian/Canada trade deal makes Conservatives look as silly as Liberals. Conservatives are spending valuable political capital for no discernable reason.”
In my view, all the Conservatives accomplished with this initiative was to give the Liberals weeks of talking points to the effect that Conservatives don’t support Ukraine when most Canadians do.
And then there was the filibustering on the government’s spending plans to protest the carbon tax that took place this week. What did that accomplish other than keeping parliamentarians up all night? Most Canadians would not see that as anything more than childish games. It’s like the Grinch, trying to steal Christmas. It does nothing to improve the Conservatives’ image.
And so, those are some of my concerns related to the Conservative Party at both the provincial and federal levels. I await the comments from some of my readers that in reality, I am a closet Liberal. I can assure you I am not.
I still identify as a Tory!
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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Erin Jones… government sets laws. If people don’t want to be decent (moral and good were your words) then they will have consequences. That’s good government.
Mr. Mackenzie; I can assure you, no one would consider you a closet Liberal. You are a mover-shaker within the Conservative party, in my opinion. And no one will be surprised at my position.
Doug Ford the “rookie” for 5 plus years? – how long does he need to learn? (science, environmental, earth and applied science). His folksie manner has never impressed me (and his penchant for cars-trucks-and things that go) – its his and his party policies that are wanting. Never mind that he fails to mention these while campaigning. This would not be so blatant if his caucus contained the multi-talent needed to over see healthcare, education, and climate change. It does not.
Excellent comment, Dave!
True that no party is perfect, but as my previous articles in the Doppler illustrated, the Liberal’s under Trudeau have been a disaster for Canada.
Our strengths and blessing have been steadily eroded, and on the measures that matter most, things have deteriorated. Real personal wealth per-capita down, affordability of everything down, government and personal debt way up, health care and housing in crisis, violent crime up, size of Federal Government up (over 30% -https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6797486) yet service levels disappoint. Infrastructure, business capital investment and productivity growth all lagging. Canadians are much more divided, and finally, our standing and influence on the world stage is diminished. On most of these measures, we have performed much worse than most developed countries.
No wonder Canadians overwhelmingly feel we’re on the wrong track and want a change of government. This is Trudeau’s “postnational state” legacy. He will be widely seen as the worst PM in Canadian history.
The people will vote and decide their government. IMO .. Voting depends on the impact and consequence to YOU of programs, services, budgets, immigration, crime, cut backs, current scandals, political correctness …and ..what you consider YOUR values, traditions and heritage for Canada … that you want to live in and support with you tax $$$’s! .. IF you have a job, … pay taxes $$$$, .. a roof over your head .. food on your table .. and ..contribute to a common sense society! Simple .. VOTE!
Sounds like a leftist trope, Nancy. The fault is not with our economic system but our thinking that “good government” is the answer. True, there is more or less efficient and fair government–the original meaning of the phrase. However, true goodness only exists as a moral duty in the hearts and minds of individuals who have freely pledged good will and peace toward his/her fellow humans. There is no external law capable of making that “law of love” happen.
I already know what the answer will be but still want to ask Mr Holland and the other Trudeau partisans on here. $150 million in taxpayers dollars handed to Liberal connected grifters is always ok and forgiveable, because of climate change, right? Is there an amount of stolen money that would finally cause you to end your support of Trudeau?
He’ll be ramping up the graft as his polling gets worse
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-whistleblower-alleges-champagnes-office-softened-sdtc-report-in/
Truth and morals might set us free. But we will have to limit capitalism and the corporate mindset of more, more, more. And that needs to be done by government. Good government.
l agree with you, Allen Markle. Politics today is all theatre and “optics.” Like vain, spoiled children, they prattle on, only vaguely aware that their demands are putting excessive strain on those they seek to rule (and don’t care if it does). They want what they want and will not be satisfied with any less.
I would ask: Is oppression of the people by the Government any better than oppression dealt out by the wealthy and well-connected? Or is it the same in new clothes? I would suggest that the drive for more and more wealth, power and control is the sine qua non of today’s “liberal” politics and it will likely result in worse oppression because of its totalitarian nature (see the totalitarianism of communism and fascism. Socialist, George Orwell warned of oppression by Government through the Party). Politicians would rather pass ever more laws to “correct” the problems they created yesterday. Theirs is an increasingly tighter control of anyone in their path who disagrees. Will Western democracy survive our “leadership”? Perhaps, but first we must determine that our battle to save it is a spiritual battle and one in which we all bear responsibility amid our predicament.
We have lost our moral moorings and it appears that the ship of state is headed for a storm of unprecedented proportions. Such was always the case in a world ruled by our spiritual enemy. But there is a way out if we will pursue it, by demanding better from our leaders. We fail to demand the humble servitude of great statesmen and women because we have forgotten the lessons rendered by the One who calmed the sea. Is it too late to reclaim that spiritual heritage? The truth is that it is never too late until the last of us has breathed his/her last. The truth will set us free.
I’m up to my knees with years of a PM apologizing for everything. So I’m not real warm and fuzzy with people asking forgiveness for dumb s#@t the apparently ‘next’ PM is doing. Before he even gets the job. I would appreciate a leader who represents actual conservatism; not conservatism just because the guy who got to be the ‘leader’ says it is.
I see Canadian politics as having become optics and semantics rather than function and performance. What we get now is like a gong show. See if we can bully, badger and browbeat the other guy. There is nothing there for Canada.
Is the problem just the front men, the premiers and the prime ministers? Do they, those prime ministers, dream these programs up on their own? They must have advisors and handlers and PR men. Is the quality of help so poor or the publics expectations so low, that this is the best we can expect? Maybe it’s just that, like most employers today, it’s really hard to get good, or any help?
We’ll never get perfection, although there is a Biblical claimant and Nadia Comaneci was a perfect 10. If you can remember back then. But for the love of all of us, could we just get someone to occasionally strike greatness a glancing blow?
Our Democracy needs you.
Mr Holland I think you are right about the Liberals. We now have more guns, more drugs and less respect for government, with Liberals answer to everything is for Canada to legalize opioids. Conservatives do still think that good honest debate on issues, a government that is transparent rather than constantly dealing in back channels. Treating all tax payers as Canadians not Quebec Nation or East Coast Liberal strong holds but what is good for one should be good for all. Where have our values of a hard working , law respecting society gone.
I don’t think people stop and think anymore. Government controlled Indigenous people in earlier days with their school system now we are all controlled by big government in every aspect of our life.
David Frum, the Canadian speech writer for George W Bush, said “Conservatives want everything the same as when they were in high school, and Liberals want everything better than when they were in high school.
It seems many in Canada are getting as bad as those who elected Trump in the US.
It doesn’t matter how corrupt or dishonest PC politicians are.
Facts don’t matter.
Doug Ford has been a disaster for Ontario.
Attempting to destroy the Greenbelt, Science Centre and Ontario Place. So far.
So full of it if you look close you can actually see his eyes turning brown during the Science Centre announcement. Nothing he said is true.
“The truth doesn’t matter, facts don’t matter, morality doesn’t matter.” As Hugh said.
At least to Conservatives.
Ford has already reversed his Greenbelt mistake after an investigation and major errors found.
The Science Centre and Ontario Place Spa are also being investigated and major errors have also been found.
He needs to reverse those mistakes as well.
Most people know by now when Ford says he’s “for the people” he means only the rich developer people. Everyone else can GTH.
Doug Ford also means higher energy usage, higher costs for residents and higher emissions.
He also needs to reverse those mistakes.
Ontario used to be 96% non-fossil fuel power for decades. Until Doug Ford.
Now we are down to 90% and dropping fast due to Ford’s many mistakes.
Unlike the rest of the world, Ontario is getting less green. Rapidly.
He cancelled 750 green projects already under construction and wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars falsely claiming we didn’t need the power.
They would have been completed and producing clean power by now.
Now he’s attempting to waste billions on dirty gas plants instead.
Cities are stopping him using legislation he created after the Liberal gas plant scandal.
“The cities of Kingston, Thorold and Toronto have passed resolutions opposing new gas plants in their communities.”
While in the rest of the world proposed dirty gas plants are cancelled in favour of cheaper, non-emitting giant battery projects.
Search “Giant batteries drain economics of gas power plants | Reuters.”
Search “New Solar + Battery Price Crushes Fossil Fuels, Buries Nuclear”
Storage makes solar and wind available 24/7.
Ontario is actually putting in 1.2 GW of storage by 2026. 5% of demand right now. Huge.
Ford is likely not aware of the storage projects or he would cancel them as well.
Conservation of energy and storage have the same effect as new generation for pennies on the dollar. Pennies.
Energy demand in Ontario went down from 157 TWh to 132 TWh for 12 years from 2005 until 2017 in spite of the population going up mainly because Ontario used to have Save On Energy Rebates and many other money and energy saving programs.
Which avoided spending billions on dirty new generation.
Until Ford cancelled all the energy conservation programs in 2018 so energy demand is skyrocketing.
To be met with dirty gas plants according to Ford.
Gas is the most expensive source of power per kWh. Solar, wind and storage the cheapest.
Why would anyone build new gas plants in Ontario when the feds require them to be shut down in 2035?
Doug Ford has that covered.
“However, the companies who would build Ontario’s new gas-fired power plants have nothing to worry about: even if the feds shut them down, the Ford government is promising they’ll continue to get paid.”
Typical.
Doug Ford has been and continues to be a disaster for Ontario.
That’s a fact but facts don’t matter.
Bob Braan’s sales pitch is a real winner. The majority of Canadians who are sick of Trudeau and his incompetent government are just too stupid to understand what a utopia he’s created. This is great stuff, and with Freeland and other Libs basically saying the same we really could be looking at a Poilievre super majority. Please Bob… keep up the good work here
Driven by an ever-increasing global population with ever increasing expectations, Governments today are dealing with problems of ever- increasing complexity. Understanding climate change alone takes a lifetime of study and research to really understand it. So, people look to leaders who claim to have simple answers. The simplest answer of all is to just blame the current government for everything.
Trump got elected by being anti-Obama on everything, and just offering very simple solutions to very complex problems like “Build the wall” and “Drill, Drill, Drill”. He created a more intense culture war than already existed.
Poilievre is trying the same stunt, just being anti-Trudeau on everything. And it seems to be working. Conservatives are smelling blood. And they have fired up the right-wing media that is going nuts trying to smear Trudeau at every turn of events. Joe Oliver, former minister of Finance for the Harper conservatives, wrote an article in the right-leaning National Post saying, “Canada can have no effect on global warming so we should just give up”. I wonder if he would say that face to face with his grandchildren. Here is some news for Joe. Climate change is a global problem and if Canada and other developed countries just give up on global warming, all our grandchildren, both yours and mine, will soon be living in Hell. But polls indicate the conservative’s smear campaign seems to be working – – for now. So, what do we get if we get Poilievre?
We get a leader who has never done anything but politics. We get a mean-spirited leader who had to develop a new image to try to reverse his reputation. We get his freedom to cancel the freedom of others. We get Poilievre himself calling the shots at the Bank of Canada. We get his crypto currency that has failed everywhere. We get retrogressive old-energy policy that will deprive Canadians of the enormous opportunities just waiting for us to grab, as the world moves on to the exciting new era of sustainable energy.
Yes, many Canadians are feeling the economic pinch brought on by global forces such as the Covid 19 pandemic, the demographic bubble of post WW2 baby boomers that are reaching 80 years of age and temporarily pushing up health care costs, Putin’s senseless attack on Ukraine that upset global supply chains and prices for oil and gas and grain, and the relentless increase in droughts, fires, floods, and wind damage that is driving up costs of food and housing around the world.
Conservatives and their media say the Liberals are responsible for all those bad things, but they give no credit for the fact that Canada’s economy has survived the bad things with strong fundamentals compared to our G7 partners. They just hope people are too busy to do any fact checking.
I do not like Doug Ford’s attitude of ask forgiveness not permission. He’s a likable ass.
It seems many in Canada are getting as bad as those who elected Trump in the US.
And would still vote for Trump in spite of everything he’s done.
If Poilievre was honest he would mention the big carbon tax rebate when he complains about the tax.
He is not.
And the fact many get more back with the rebate than they pay.
Search “If Canada axed its carbon tax — and rebates — this is how different households would gain or lose”
“High-income households would tend to be the biggest winners, lower-income households hurt the most”
It’s a net benefit for lower incomes that Poilievre wants to take away.
The rebate is up to $1,544/year. Depends on province.
While the earth literally burns.
Record wildfires around the world.
Drier conditions due to climate change makes a controllable wildfire uncontrollable.
Poilievre’s solution? Get out the marshmallows and make Smores.
Axe the tax and you axe the big rebate.
You won’t save a dime.
It will likely cost you.
Taking from the poor to give to the rich is a typical Con thing.
Anti-Robin Hood.
Poilievre is the most rude and obnoxious and dishonest man in Canada.
He’s fooled quite a few it seems.
I can’t believe anyone would want this guy representing Canada on the world stage.
See his apple eating interview refusing to answer questions and his “terrorist” car crash at the border claim also questioned by a reporter.
Also refused to answer.
You know it’s bad when Fox News approves of Poilievre.
Like they approve of Trump.
PP even went so far as refusing to support Ukraine in a trade deal because it mentions a carbon tax.
In fact Ukraine already has a carbon tax.
All Poilievre does is complain.
Complaints are easy.
Solutions are hard.
PP is counting on the uninformed. That’s his base.
Works for Trump.
Hugh you have been in enough back rooms to know that the Conservative’s filibuster was nothing more than hoping the Liberals and or their two back pocket buddies the NDP and the Bloc, might not show up with their prop rods to keep this dismal parliament continuing on their destructive path.
You have always been a Progressive Conservative rather than a Conservative. Interesting that Ms. Crombie has already stated she wants the new Provincial Liberal Party to be right of centre, seems all of Doug’s flubs has shown his party to be left of centre, announcing things that have not been well researched. Unlike Liberals, he takes full responsibility and apologizes for his mistakes, but his government needs to quit making them.
I certainly hope the Federal and Provincial Conservative members talk to their constituents over the holidays, and pulls up their adult pant’s and starts the new year, focussed on making this Province and this Country a better more peaceful place to live. We must all do our part to be more patient, more respectful of others and to carry the empathy and giving, to those less fortunate for the entire year. We have become a country where no one takes responsibility for anything, we have relinquished our right and responsibilities to ever growing big governments at every level.
Perhaps we all need to pull our Big Girl’s and Big Boy’s pants on for 2024.