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Ooooh, look at me!  I'm a Canadian social media influencer who fights white supremacy and all of the phobias by tweeting a lot!  Here I am cheering on the swarming of a CityTV reporter!  Here I am telling Jason Kenney to perform a vaguely sexual act on me!  Here I am using a dead child as a shield against criticism!

Do I actually do anything to help the victims of white supremacy besides podcasting and empty fauxtivist gestures and signal boosts?  Naaaaah!  That kind of stuff's for losers who don't know how to look good in an Instagram photo.  Because that's what this is about: LOOKING GOOD.  I must LOOK GOOD because in order to BE good, you must also LOOK good.  That's why I endorse punching Nazis even though I'd never actually do it myself, because has anyone in the history of time ever looked their best while smashing someone else in the face?

You know who doesn't look good?  White supremacists!  I mean, really- tiki torches and polo shirts?  Or just have a look at President Cheeto over there!  The man is orange and has small hands and a stupid combover and his tie's too long!  Let's all point and laugh at him and call it "fighting white supremacy" and feel good about ourselves and call it a day.  Let's mock Doug Ford for his weight!  Let's talk about how bland-looking Andrew Scheer is!  Hey, remember the time Harper hired a personal stylist and we all fell about the place laughing?  Don't you know that this is a fashion show, not actual real-life politics where decisions have consequences?

Honestly, I can't for the life of me figure out why conservatives keep walking away with elections in this country.  Not while people are announcing to the world, with literally no prompting, that they are unfollowing Rebel Media contributors!  It must be the fault of the right wing mobs!  Sure, that's it!

Those right wing mobs have been spreading all kinds of disinformation about me, saying that my Twitter posturing is all about covering up for my own insecurity and self-hatred.  Total fake news!  I want everyone to know is that there is a world of difference between me and those centrists who don't endorse direct action and the vapid, image-obsessed, quick-to-resort-to-violence moron running this country that they support.  I totally hate Justin Trudeau, guys!  That guy's politics are totally superficial and shallow, unlike my own!  I hate him so much that I'm going to seriously think about not voting "strategically" for him in the next election.

Hey, I know what I'm going to do: I'm going to mock someone much more famous and influential than me until his/her supporters react.  Then I'm going to act like I don't know why they're getting so defensive.  Don't these people believe in freedom of speech?

Then, after my latest nigh-incomprehensible ramble in Canada's newspaper of record fails to trend, I'm going to hang out in the mentions of my favourite Chapo Trap House host, tagging them every so often and hoping they'll look upon my offering favourably.  Dear Chapo, you still ain't called or wrote, hope you had the chance.

I have to say, if I were someone in Canada who was actually affected by white supremacy  a REAL disadvantaged person instead of someone who just plays one on Twitter  and I needed an influencer like me to use their privilege for good, I would feel so much better knowing that the guy who named his black cat "Stockily" (after the leader of the Black Panthers, in case you didn't get that super edgy reference) has my back.

And if they don't appreciate the amazing job I'm doing, well, then they must be white nationalists and white supremacists too!  They must be totally bad and everything they say must be in bad faith, because I am totally good and not a completely talentless and jealous hack!  I absolutely do not spin conspiracy theories about corporations for the same reasons that white nationalists spin theories about "the Jews!"  I don't need to just read "12 Rules For Life" and call it a day!  I am good!  They are bad!  I am good!  They are bad!

Written by Josh Lieblein

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


"The Blue Wave continues!"

Those are the words Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer proudly declared after his Progressive Conservative provincial cousins won a minority government victory in Prince Edward Island's recent election.

And yes, it's an excellent rallying cry, conveying as it does the notion that Canadian conservatism has now achieved something akin to an unstoppable electoral momentum.

But at the risk of spoiling the Conservative fun, I have to ask, is there really a "blue wave" washing across the country?

OK, I know that seems like an odd question to pose given how conservative or conservative-leaning provincial parties are on a crazy hot streak right now, as they've recently taken power in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and now, it looks like, in PEI.

Yet, for all that success, it could be argued that voters in those provinces are not so much voting for conservatives or for conservatism, as they are simply voting against the Liberals.

In other words, maybe voters are rejecting Liberalism rather than embracing Conservatism.

And I'd include Alberta in that category too since, even though technically it was the NDP which was recently ousted from power, I suspect many Albertans viewed Premier Rachel Notley as nothing more than a minion for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.

Now you might be asking yourself, does it actually matter from Andrew Scheer's perspective if voters are essentially expressing negativity towards the Liberals rather than positivity towards the Conservatives, since, after all, the end result is still the same?

The answer is yes, it does matter.

In fact, it actually matters a lot because voter attitudes should form the basis for the Conservative Party's communication strategy in the upcoming federal election.

If, for instance, the Conservative Party's internal polling indicates voters don't like Trudeau, and that they're also not exactly crazy about Scheer,  then its strategy is obvious: it must do everything it can to reinforce and increase the voter aversion against Trudeau.

And yes, I'm talking here about running what the media likes to call "negative" ad campaigns.

Essentially, rather than promoting his own persona, or pushing his own policies, Scheer will have to relentlessly and ruthlessly degrade Trudeau's brand.

In short, he must attack, attack, attack.

Will the media denounce Scheer for such a strategy?  Will they call him "divisive" or "mean-spirited?"

Yes, of course they will, because the media always denounces aggressive media campaigns, especially when conservatives are behind them.  Maybe even some nervous-nelly Conservatives will be unhappy with Scheer running a tonally negative message.

Yet if the Canadian public is unhappy with both leaders, then Scheer will have no choice but to get into a brawling mode.

That's because if voters are indeed in a negative state of mind, you better believe Trudeau and his strategists will do everything in their power to shift that negativity unto Scheer.

And by the way, according to a just released Leger poll, Scheer has a big lead right now, but that lead is also soft, because a lot of voters who currently say they support the NDP or Greens could still be convinced to jump over to the Liberals.

So essentially, if Trudeau can polarize the race and make it a contest solely between him and Scheer, theoretically he'd be in pretty good shape.

Hence, the main Liberal message in the next federal election will be something along the lines of, "Hey, I know lots of you progressives out there don't like Trudeau very much, but guess what, you should hate or fear Scheer even more.  And Trudeau's the only guy who can stop him and save Canada from turning into the Fourth Reich!  So hold your noses and vote Liberal."

As a matter of fact, we're already seeing that scenario play out right now as Liberal attacks on Scheer are getting progressively more vicious.

Originally, Trudeau's plan was to equate Scheer with former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but now, in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, which has caused a Liberal drop in the polls, he's basically comparing Scheer to Adolf Hitler.

Who knows how fierce and nasty the Liberal attacks will become by the time the next election rolls around?

Desperate politicians, do desperate things.

And in the next few months, Trudeau might be extremely desperate.

This is why Scheer will have to fight negative fire with negative fire.

He needs to define Trudeau as a weak, incompetent and bush-league leader, before Trudeau defines him as a neo-Nazi, planet-hating, fascist.

Otherwise come the October election, the vaunted "Blue Wave" might turn into a blue trickle.

Photo Credit: CBC News

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


Last month, Premier Doug Ford mocked the media as "far-left" and that it's like "the cheese slipped off the cracker with these guys," (whatever that means).  Although there's truth in his assessment of the press, Ford himself is in no position to call others far-left.

Sure, compared to the media and majority of the electorate who are now screaming bloody murder — for what amounts to very modest cuts — like they are spoiled rotten teenagers with credit cards that never maxed out being finally told there is a limit, Ford isn't that far-left.  Yet, at the same event where Ford trashed the media he also praised his government's propaganda arm, Ontario News Now, and how much reach it had, bypassing the traditional media.  He bragged that the videos of his former campaign press secretary pretending to be a journalist rack up more views online than the traditional media.  Cuba, North Korea, China and their ilk would be proud.

(And for all his bluster that he would cut the far-left CBC's government funding (even though that's federal jurisdiction) on the campaign trail, Ford has done nothing to cut funding of the provincial equivalent, TVO, once in office.)

Not long after calling the media far-left, Ford unveiled his first budget that left a lot to be desired when it comes to finding his so-called efficiencies, which were supposed to pull this debt-addled province from further excess spending, and even start lopping off the monstrous principal.  Instead, Ford let it be known his government was going to continue to overspend  throughout his first term, running consecutive deficits and letting the insane interest payments continue to rob the province of billions of dollars each year.

But like a true communist leader, Ford seems to know the power of giving the people booze to wash away their sorrows.  Not only legalizing drinking in public and tailgating, his government is prepared to rip up an ironclad (stupid Liberal-signed) contract with the beer cartel, which will only add hundreds of millions more dollars in red ink from penalties that this province cannot afford.  As Ford tries to satiate the plebs, he also has no problem blowing millions of dollars brainwashing them with ads and mandatory stickers at gas stations in order to make them think that the federal carbon tax is the real enemy against their prosperity.

Then there are Ford's nepotistic government appointments, another telltale sign of any far-left government.  Ditto extravagant spending on hobby horses of the wealthy, more equal hogs at the trough, getting their fairer treatment from the government's generous spending on horse track racing.

All in all the Ford government looks not too dissimilar from the government before it, overspending, under-delivering for the average Ontarian.  Of course, like all far-left governments, it claims the very opposite.  The slogan "For the people" rings hollow when all your core principles you espoused on the campaign trail fall by the wayside less than a year into office.

The only hope in this ongoing tragicomedy is that the decimated Ontario Liberals can be reborn as the fiscally responsible party like the Chretien Liberals.  Otherwise the first-world problem whinging from the media and electorate will be hit with a stark reality check of just what severe societal problems actually look like once a far-left government has fiscally and morally ransacked a place.

Written by Graeme C. Gordon

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.