Caroline Mulroney Lapham vs Justin Trudeau?

Caroline Mulroney Lapham courtesy The National Post

When the Toronto Sun runs Caroline Mulroney Lapham could be Tories’ heir apparent as a headline, well…

Do you take this seriously? Good question. The Sun has a reputation as a Tory newspaper. Always has been, and probably always will be. There’s been times in the past that the Sun has published stuff that appeared to have come from inside the Conservative Party.

All papers do this. But is this really from inside the Conservative Party? If it is, it says some interesting things.

I have contacts inside the party. Cabinet level contacts. Well, they used to be Cabinet level.

I warned them after the 2011 election that they had a problem. Stephen Harper. My warning was brushed aside. Hey, he just won an election! He must be good. Ignoring the minor issue that a lot of Canadians didn’t like or trust Stephen Harper. And when a party leader is disliked or distrusted, it tends to hurt the party.

The Conservatives won in 2011 because no matter how much Stephen Harper wasn’t trusted, people distrusted Michael Ignatieff even more. That gave the New Democratic Party a huge boost into Official Opposition status, a status which they proved that they’d more than earned during the last Parliament.

So when the 2015 election was called, the Conservatives thought they were in good shape. the problem was, that they were up against a Liberal Party lead by a man who the public didn’t distrust. For those not familiar with Canadian politics, distrust of politicians, especially party leaders, is endemic.

The 2015 election wasn’t so much about the Conservatives economic record, and Stephen Harper’s solid (and stolid) leadership, it was about trust. People didn’t trust Stephen Harper, and really they hadn’t trusted him when they gave him the majority in 2011. He was just less distrusted than the alternative.

After the 2015 election, the Conservatives made a series of statements, saying that there was nothing wrong with what they offered Canadians, that they would continue to advocate the same policies they had when Stephen Harper was party leader.

And now the Toronto Sun tosses Caroline Mulroney Lapham into the mix.

So what does it mean? Nothing. Probably. Caroline has made no moves politically. Yet. There’s no indication that she intends to.

And there’s the lack of follow up. None of the other major news organizations have added anything. The only coverage has been of the original Toronto Sun article.

It may indicate that the remaining Progressive Conservatives are wishing. There’s been indications since the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties merged to form the Conservative Party of Canada that the original Progressive Conservatives were less than happy with the power that the Reform wing gained from the merger.

But we really don’t know.

All we do know is that politics is the greatest and most exciting of all the blood sports.

Regards

Wayne Borean

Monday December 21, 2015

 

Canadian Politics 101

 

Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (bottom row C) poses with his cabinet after their swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa November 4, 2015. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

I’ve had some interesting conversations with Americans about the new Canadian government. Did you know that:

1. Justin Trudeau is a Communist
2. That Justin is going to follow in his father’s footsteps to make Quebec an independent country.
3. That Justin Trudeau is a Maoist.
4. That Justin Trudeau is a pretty boy, being run by his father’s partisans.
5. That Justin Trudeau has signed onto the New World Order and is actively conspiring to help the United Nations takeover the United States.
6. That Justin Trudeau already has a deal with Hillary Clinton to turn the U.S. and Canada into a single Socialist country.