r/worldnews • u/iamvardharajmannar • 13h ago
Canada’s ruling Liberals sweep special elections in boost to Mark Carney | Canada
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/01/canada-liberals-special-elections-mark-carney261
u/ssn-669 10h ago
We don't have special elections here. We have by-elections.
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u/skipnw69 13h ago
Trump sealed those victories.
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u/schmapeschmape 10h ago
I was very confident. When the PQ said no independence referendum while Trump was in office, I knew Canada was all in to face Trump and the Americans.
When the referendum is held in Alberta the knuckle draggers who want independence are going to lose. People in Alberta are angry and worried. They're going to vote and defeat the independence losers decisively.
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u/BurnTheBoats21 8h ago
PQ are just buying time. You realistically only get a proper mandate to schedule a referendum every 15+ years and quebec soveriegnty support is lower than it has been in years with no realistic improvement in sight. It might be one of the hallowest (in terms of popular vote) majorities ever if they manage it too. They aren't doing this for the "greater good of the country"
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u/SheIsABadMamaJama 11h ago edited 6h ago
And fracturing the conservative movement in Canada to produce such victories. Tories are fleeing.
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u/Ok_Worry_8677 11h ago
Carney has attracted most of the remaining "Red Tories" from the old days of the Progressive Conservative Party; people who are generally fiscally conservative, but socially liberal.
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u/dvanha 10h ago edited 10h ago
That’s because “socially liberal” is the baseline in this country, no matter how many times I get called woke.
One of the first things I remember Carney saying is that abortion is off the table.
In this country we have values that are immutable, regardless of how much noise the US culture war makes. Any time I see someone challenge those rights, freedoms, or entitlements: education rooted in fact and science, universal healthcare, free and fair elections, respect and equal opportunity for our peers; I know instantly that they live to be enraged by their social media feeds, usually to justify their ineptitude in life.
The Conservative party’s inability to be serious has weakened this country in that it’s turned us into a, practically, one party nation.
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u/Fram_Framson 10h ago edited 6m ago
The whole saga of Henry Morgentaler and abortion becoming a strictly medical issue with little to no government involvement (on paper; I am aware that some provinces make things difficult with uneven funding) in Canada feels increasingly wild, a real unicorn story. It feels uncomfortably strange to me that we're so unique for doing something which seems so basic.
EDIT: TY for the award, anon!
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u/chth 9h ago
My grandfather was a staunch catholic, was an Attorney General under Pierre Trudeau and wrote that while he as a Catholic could never condone a woman getting an abortion, he as a Canadian could not condone stopping her from getting one.
Now I also happen to know that my grandfather as well as Trudeau loved sleeping with women who weren’t their wives, abortion was certainly something that benefited them.
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u/Zeppelanoid 8h ago
That last paragraph though….
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u/Resigned1431 8h ago edited 8h ago
I mean, conservatives that want to ban abortions in the states still sneak their mistresses to a state or country where it's legal.
At least the Canadians are honest about it and want everyone to have their rights intact, not just themselves.
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u/jhwyung 4h ago edited 4h ago
I guarantee the same conservatives that froth at the mouth when you mention women’s rights would not hesitate to send their daughters somewhere for an abortion if they didn’t want it.
I’m absolutely convinced that this shit is just lip service to pander to their base while at the same time manufacturing rage to distract everyone from something
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u/SunGreene42 8h ago
I don't know why Christians think God is against abortions, if God is real, that means he designed us in a way that miscarriages are common, and a miscarriage is just a spontaneous abortion, so that means God is the cause of most abortions.
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u/superbabe69 7h ago
One would think a God that gave a shit about abortion would also care about the kids that the US government drone strikes, but pro-life types never seem to say much about that
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u/Sandman1990 8h ago
This perspective is far too nuanced for religious conservatives
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u/Protean_Protein 6h ago
It’s also not something Jewish people think is wrong either, so, like… maybe they’d know what the Abrahamic god is supposed to care about?
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u/jonnyCFP 7h ago
That first paragraph baked the cake, the second paragraph added a thick layer of maple walnut icing.
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u/bloop7676 9h ago
I think part of this is because Canadian politics is used to switching votes to another party if people don't like how the the current one is doing, even if it was their vote last time. It's easier to follow values independently of the parties and expect them to cater to those to win your vote, rather than saying one party is your set of values and accepting whatever they do like the US seems to.
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u/Masrim 7h ago
American media and it's political structure (essentially 2 parties) has engrained in the american public that your party is your personality.
The fact that you can vote in some place in the states by just hitting the All R or All D button and you vote for everyone in that party all the way down is pretty ridiculous.
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u/SheIsABadMamaJama 10h ago edited 9h ago
Yea, it also makes it easier to spot Americans or bots online pretending to be Canadian because of the nuances in Canada.
Americans assume we are identical in culture and opinion, but there are social democratic principles that are even baseline among many Canadian conservatives like universal healthcare. Bernie Sanders would be considered more closer to the political centre here, Mamdani would be a standard New Democrat.
Though it is true, especially since the pandemic and the hegemony of american social media companies, that right wing American populism has risen here. It’s being repudiated.
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u/TheBSQ 8h ago
While they’re generally not as dumb & insane as their U.S. MAGA counterparts, I encounter plenty of dumb “Maple MAGA” folks in rural Ontario & amongst some low-education “white working class” types in the city.
And then you have the more moderate “traditional” conservatives who obsess over taxes & spending.
Doug Ford keeps winning for a reason.
But it’s true that the left/right thing doesn’t translate, but not always in the ways people think.
It’s much easier to get stuff done in Canada. Get a majority in parliament j you can pass whatever you want. The U.S. is much harder.
As a result eventually good ideas pass and everyone realizes they’re good & popular, so no one really fights to undo it. So when you get universal healthcare or decent gun control, it sticks.
But in the U.S., passing stuff is so hard, it all remains “in theory” and people scaremonger about it, and even if you win the presidency, maybe you don’t have the house, or you can’t get past a senate filibuster, or the Supreme Court overturns it, so you don’t have that mechanism of easily making it real & saying “will it work?”
But also, Canadians generally speaking favor rule-following. Put up a sign saying “don’t do X” and you’ll get a lot more voluntary compliance than you will in the U.S.
Americans are more likely to ignore rules whenever they can get away with it.
And Canadians tend to be more risk averse with less tolerance for bad stuff.
Someone gets badly beaten up on the subway in Canada, and it’s viewed as unacceptable & taken more seriously.
In the U.S., you get a lot more “but the root cause is poverty. They’re vulnerable. The real problem is lack of govt support” and it’s handwaved away as this unavoidable thing that’s the fault of people who don’t support better govt programs. (you see this in Canada too, but overall there’s less tolerance for disorder.)
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u/Zander3636 9h ago
Yeah, I'm from New Brunswick and while our last Premier wasn't particularly loved, he was popular enough to win a 2nd mandate (Hard to do in NB). Part of what really started to hurt him though was when he started to push policies harmful to Trans youth, and aligned himself with Conservative Christian groups. NB's pretty Christian, and Conservative but it still blew back on him enough that he didn't even win his own seat.
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u/your_dope_is_mine 8h ago
Totally agreed. Coupled with the fact that the NDP had all the momentum in the Layton days and basically squandered it with poor leadership and inconsistent positioning on key issues like housing, energy, healthcare etc. (Though I'll credit them for the federal dental plan addition). They could've really mobilized a younger and more involved population but essentially caved into obscurity.
In Ontario, I really wish Marit Stiles gets more visibility over that fat fraud scruge mcfuck Doug Ford - change is desperately needed in Canada's biggest economic engine.
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u/WintersbaneGDX 10h ago
Further Left faces a similar challenge. Potentially beneficial social policies that would benefit society at large get lost amidst needless infighting and performative justice.
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u/webu 10h ago
Canadian left are crabs in a bucket. Their ideas almost never get heard outside of the bucket. Purity tests ensure every movement remains insular.
Between the effective silence from the left and the incoherent raging from the right, it's no wonder most Canadians are in the middle.
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u/T0macock 10h ago
It's because of the joining of federal conservative parties. The left has no option but to hold their nose and vote liberal.
The best thing that could happen for canadian politics is the right splitting into 2 parties again.
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u/TalesfromCryptKeeper 9h ago
Ironically the PPC was as close as we got to Reform budding off the Big Tent. They collapsed really quickly when the Big Tent property managers realized that a split vote was untenable.
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u/UrsaMajor7th 9h ago
I'm slightly left of centre and have exercised the option to vote NDP for pretty much my whole life.
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u/No_Effect_6428 9h ago
That's good. A lot of Dipper voters swung Liberal last year to keep PP out of power. Rough on the NDP but I have a hard time saying they were wrong.
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u/UrsaMajor7th 8h ago
I'm slightly encouraged that the NDP outperformed the Conservative Party by 10% in Beaches-East York.
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u/chth 10h ago
When the (far) left are arguing with each other over whether the speed limit should be dropped to 20km/h or 30km/h nationally and the right wing are soulless wealth vacuums who don’t even bother coming up with a platform, it makes the liberals the only palatable option.
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u/ommy84 9h ago
How pissed do you think PP is that Carney is considered a more popular “conservative” leader than he is lol
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u/TalesfromCryptKeeper 9h ago
I wish he was embarrassed instead of pissed. Then maybe the CPC would get a leader who isnt a wet dishcloth that they have to dress up as a capable man.
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u/0098six 9h ago
As a neighbor to the south, I admire Canada greatly, and congratulate you all on how unified you are. Carney has been solid, and I am glad that Canada has united behind him against the threat from the south. I wish our own politics were as sane and rational as what you wrote in your comments.
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u/Remarkable_Beach_545 8h ago
He's just a good candidate, sure Trump attacking us helped but just look at his resume. He's what the conservatives should have been running
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u/Myrdraall 8h ago
I don't understand "Woke" as an insult. Why the f would I get offended when I get called a decent human being? "You and your basic human rights agenda!" like wtf are those people thinking
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u/thetermguy 8h ago
The federal conservative party no longer represents mainstream conservative voters. Carney actually does represent a mainstream/PC voter. Shoot, if you look at his actions, it's the liberals that should be horrified by the 'enemy' in their midst lol. He's textbook 'what a PC should be'.
- Reduced problem immigration
- Created jobs in the middle of a trade war (well, he didn't create them, but we did have net increase in jobs)
- Increased spending on military
- Reduced provincial trade barriers
- Cut taxes (I'm stll stunned that his cutting federal gas taxes isn't a bigger deal)
He's more PC than any other PC PM we've had given his accomplishments.
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u/Remarkable_Beach_545 8h ago
For the non Canadians, PC means progressive conservative.
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u/Euclidisthebomb 7h ago
And for non Canadians, there used to be a party called the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and it no longer exists. In 2003 it ceased and was replaced by the Conservative Party of Canada - all progressive elements gradually wiped out.
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u/Enkiktd 7h ago
Do liberals have to be against resolving problem immigration, or spending on military? I would hope that voters would take things in context - some of these moves need to be supported because he’s dealing with a madman across the border and those things are just good for Canada right now.
Part of the problem is assuming/expecting people on either side to only react or support one way based on whatever party they are. Ideally instead everyone is looking at the context of the country and situation it’s in and support is for problem solving to find the best solution (and sometimes it requires the best solution from a pool of bad solutions). And sometimes that means supporting the opposite of what your party says it’s for because it’s what’s good for the country in the moment.
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u/guspaz 4h ago
The liberal party created the immigration problems, and then fixed the immigration problems. The question is, do you see the liberal party as a sort of continuous entity, in which case they can't get credit for solving a problem that they created, or do you see it as a manifestation of the current leader, in which case Carney can take credit for fixing a problem that Trudeau created. I tend to favour the latter view, where the political parties should be judged primarily by their current leaders and actions, and not by their past leaders and actions.
As for the military, the current dire situation was created equally by both the liberals and the conservatives: both parties spent a sigificant amount of time in office over the last few decades, both parties contributed to the problem.
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u/AutoAdviceSeeker 10h ago
Pierre was a terrible candidate, would never vote for him
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u/Helios0186 7h ago
Same here, instead, I voted Liberals last election because I couldn't trust Poilievre to go against Trump.
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u/Gwen_The_Destroyer 8h ago
My inlaws were pretty into Poulviere because Trudeau was the literal devil incarnate. That whole family sans my wife voted for him. Day after the election they peeled of their 'Fuck Trudeau' stickers and slapped on their 'Fuck Carney' ones. But they did admit last week that it was for the best he didn't win.
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u/Ah2k15 11h ago
Whomp whomp. Keep running PP, they’ll keep losing. I still say had they not tossed O’Toole, we’d likely have a Conservative government.
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u/forty83 10h ago
You got it. Their biggest issue is refusing to elect a leader who will do nothing beyond please the base. This is how they lost 4 elections in a row. They will criticize the liberals incessantly, but when you point out maybe they should focus on trying to win an election? Nope, everyone else stupid and brainwashed. Not them.
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u/MorkSal 10h ago
It's not even just that.
They need to focus on good governance in the areas that they do win, and not just whine and be contrarian for the sake of it. They saw that work in the States and they went all in.
I love in PPs previous riding. Usually when I voted, I felt like I was pissing into the wind as it was a pretty safe conservative riding. The guy did absolutely nothing for this riding, as far as I can tell.
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u/CBowdidge 9h ago
O'Toole got the last laugh. He's also a member of Carney's trade advisory board.
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u/SenorEquilibrado 6h ago
Honestly? Good for him. I liked O'Toole, but I always felt that the big step towards the political center that he represented was too much to expect from the typical conservative voter.
I hate being right literally all the fucking time.
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u/gravtix 11h ago edited 11h ago
Conservative movement?
More like a bowel movement if anything.
Turns out they don’t stand for much of anything besides American culture wars and licking USA boots
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u/SheIsABadMamaJama 11h ago edited 10h ago
Sad to see Toryism be replaced with American Right-Wing Populism. They will continue to lose elections.
Edit: getting downvoted from on people who don’t understand Canadian conservative traditions “Toryism”, and why having it replaced with America’s radical right wing ideology is disastrous for my country. It is being resisted and may break the party.
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u/Protean_Protein 10h ago
That’s been going on since the 90s, though. Kim Campbell’s disastrous PMship killed the federal PCs and ushered in the era of weird American-style religious/social conservative nutbags from Preston Manning’s formerly fringe Reform party.
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u/hortence 10h ago
Kim Campbell’s disastrous PMship
I'm sorry, what? She was PM for 4.5 months! It was a student's dream summer job!
Nothing she did made nor could have made a difference. The collapse was already going to happen. They just made her the face.
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u/dr5ivepints 10h ago
The PCs could have run the Christ-child himself and they were still only going to get 2 seats
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u/BadmiralHarryKim 10h ago
They could have run Damien, the son of Lucifer, and Elsie Wayne would have still won St John back then.
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u/SheIsABadMamaJama 10h ago edited 10h ago
Yes but PC’s were still loyal to the Party under Harper, after the merger. The fracture has become intense again. Reform looks moderate compared to this current iteration. The caucus is even more moderate than the current base.
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u/gravtix 10h ago
Harper famously duct taped the mouths of the crazies and the religious/social conservative nutbags and they are just too angry to stay silent anymore.
Their views are so out of whack with the rest of the country a bunch of them are trying to separate and join the USA now.
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u/Protean_Protein 9h ago
Harper was one of the crazies himself though. He was just the smartest of them.
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u/gravtix 9h ago
True he believed in radical incrementalism, which was too slow for some people like Pierre in the party.
I’m not sure where he’s at now, he seemed genuinely shook at the annexation threats.
But he was also doing PragerU videos as well as going on shows hosted by garbage like Joe Lonsdale.
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u/FleurDeThree 10h ago
We really blaming Campbell for 6 months in power and not Brian Mulroney for being one of the most corrupt PMs in history and running his party into the dirt?
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u/redsquizza 9h ago
Sounds like the UK.
We used to have "soft" one-nation Tories within the conservative party. These were fiscally conservative and generally socially liberal.
That wing of the party is pretty much dead now, however, as the conservatives lurch ever rightwards towards the far right parties.
Which I don't think will work tremendously well for them. If you want hard-right, you vote hard-right, you don't vote an old, tired party that's trying to ape the upstarts.
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u/forty83 10h ago
This is true. There is no proper conservative party currently. They claim to be patriots that love Canada, but would gladly roll over to Donny.
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u/gravtix 10h ago
Considering how many times Pierre has appeared with a blue Canadian flag and how the Alberta separatists use it, it seems pretty obvious they despise the country as it stands.
They’re backpedaling now but bitch please, you’ve been pouring gasoline on that separatist fire for many years.
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u/Philly514 8h ago
Conservatives may not win for another 20 years for their collusion with Trump on the 51st state bullshit
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u/PlumpHughJazz 9h ago
As long as the Conservatives try to cling onto PP ensures they never go anywhere.
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u/Dogandcatfan9987 8h ago
Indirectly. Carney is not only responding appropriately to US but has been working since day 1 to diversify the Canadian economy. He deserves credit for everything he is doing.
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u/RomanBlue_ 5h ago
Yeah I never liked the stuff about Trump uniting Canada, like respectfully, enough of the US centric bullshit. Trump catalyzed it - but if it was Pierre Poilievre in charge, would it still be the same story? Yeah. We united ourselves, we elected a capable leader who is being extraordinarily capable. Don't give the abuser credit for the recovery and freedom of their victims.
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit 9h ago
Well, two of them are extreme gimmes for the Liberals. He certainly helped in Chicoutimi, but the other two have seen massive Liberal margins since their 2011 wipeout.
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u/Cascouverite 7h ago
One-hundred percent. My conservative mom who's never voted Lib / NDP her whole life voted Lib for national-unity's sake, same goes for most of my conservative family
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u/pattyG80 9h ago
Having an opposition leader a segment if voters at worst hate and and best don't respect is also an issue. Poilievre is simply a non starter for enough voters to win anything
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u/Big_Albatross_3050 8h ago
Blanchet also did himself no favours by starting up the independent Quebec rhetoric again and implying Carney was lying about the French issue, when he walked away from trade talks with thr US
honestly feels like a massive blunder by his party, especially with the current political landscape
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u/Resigned1431 8h ago
I think it's hilarious that local MP level elections in Canada have started making international news lol.
Trump inadvertently quadrupling global interest in Canada.
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u/UmelGaming 4h ago
We got 7 more upcoming, too. I wonder how much traction they will get, lmao
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u/Resigned1431 4h ago
It probably depends on how inflammatory and hostile the US is closer to the elections.
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u/throwawaylalajean 4h ago
I dont think its hilarious at all. I liked being the underdog that nobody bothered because we weren't bothering anyone. And now, and for no reason, we are at the center of a geopolitical conflict? Just ignore us. Leave us alone. Everybody's is richer and happier that way. Why change that?
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u/Resigned1431 4h ago
Same. But to be clear, we didn't decide to change that. The Americans had a fever dream and decided "time to start sabre rattling about invading Canada".
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u/Yeeeoow 12h ago
Trump is bringing about an Ice Age for international conservative parties.
His stink played a big role in Labor getting the biggest majority in their history in the Australian elections.
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u/mcmoron11 11h ago
I wouldn’t be so sure given the rise of something far worse than the traditional centre right party here in Oz.
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u/Icy-Lobster-203 10h ago
The traditional center right party in Canada moved further right, which is part of why they are losing now.
The AfD in Germany and Marine LenPen in France have been ascending the last couple of years, and both had a chance at forming government a few months ago.
Not sure how those parties are doing now though, it might have changed. But they have rode Trump to popularity. Hopefully they fall with him too.
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u/Beautiful_Golf6508 10h ago
Doubtful.
Right wing and far right movements are growing in popularity in Europe at the moment. The cost of living, and high levels of migration within Europe are making them popular choices.
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u/LouieGwasright 10h ago
Hey! Ive seen this one before! Its a classic!
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u/UrsaMajor7th 9h ago
Everything old is new again. Age brings perspective; humans haven't learned any new tricks in the 40 years I've been voting. Same as it ever was.
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u/_coyotes_ 12h ago
If there’s one key takeaway from him, it’s that everything he touches turns to shit. Despite the obnoxiously loud vocal minority that never shuts the fuck up and the dutifully alligned with fascism to further their goals uber wealthy who try to push “being evil is good” propaganda, it really seems like this delirious oaf has inadvertently caused the global conservative movements to shit the bed. Not completely of course, it’s still important to remain vigilant and combat these ideals but damn, if he ain’t the perfect example of where modern day conservatism gets you and most people really don’t want any of that shit. As the world progresses, especially with things like a renewed focus on implementing renewable energy resources while phasing out fossil fuels, expanding/securing trade networks and strenthening alliances, the pricks running the show in the US insist on abandoning all that, pretending like it’s the 1890s and destroying everything in the name of “fighting the woke” or whatever buzzword of the week they shit out for their rabid stagnant fanbase to gobble up. Now when faced with the options of “Decent pick or meh choice” versus “Guy who will put all his effort into destroying the country to line his pockets and eliminate any safety nets so while you and your family starve, he’ll prioritze renaming geography to own an imaginary boogyman”, I would venture to guess the vast majority of people won’t go with the latter. Some will but at least they’re so in your face about how much they’re willing to excuse, condone or support all the shit within the Epstein Files that you know best to avoid em and maybe leave a flaming bag of dogshit on their doorstep
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u/tyuoplop 10h ago
I wish it were true, but from what I’ve seen it’s really just canada where trump has screwed up the right wingers. In Europe, France, Germany, and the UK all have far right parties in strong positions. Reform seems to be past its peak now but that has a lot more to do with Burnham than Trump.
Latina American countries are on their own cycles, but I can’t really see any major trump influence other than maybe a bit of a bump for MORENA. Otherwise, Australia is still seeing a huge surge for One Nation.
IMO, despite what a dumpster fire Trump has been in the states, there still seems to be a lot of appetite for similar nonsense elsewhere.
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u/imjustsurfin 12h ago edited 12h ago
"Trump is bringing about an Ice Age for international conservative parties."
I'm hoping it leads to their extinction.
In my opinion, the issue is, that for some time, "Conservative" has increasingly become a euphemism for racism, hate, and bigotry; and for benefiting the rich\powerful, at the expense of the ordinary person.
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u/ottawadeveloper 10h ago
100%.
I hope it's the end of all of that form of conservatism. It's pretty clear where it leads now and it doesn't help anyone.
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u/ordnance_inbound 7h ago
Conservatives parties, maybe
But not conservatives. There is a strong argument that between Carney and PP, that Carney is the conservative
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u/PhysicalInternet7261 11h ago
Yeah look don't get too far ahead of yourself, there's a huge growing resentment here against Labor.
If they continue to ignore the main issues and don't make changes they may well be in trouble....
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u/Yeeeoow 10h ago
The commonwealth bank published estimations today that they expect house prices to continue to trend downward.
The lack of leadership on gambling reform is really dissapointing, but people asked for a solution to house prices and they're getting it.
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u/insanebison 9h ago
Bud , look at Europe. It's turning all far right. I wish you were right but you are not.
They are not exactly Trump fans but they are definitely of the same Ilk
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u/OkPrinciple37 13h ago
“The Conservative collapse there was also bad news for the party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre. The party had about 41% of the vote in last year’s federal elections, but fell to about 13% and third place on Monday.”
Love this for Pierre
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u/Zeppelanoid 8h ago
The fact that he’s still in charge after getting railroaded in the last federal election is hilarious
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u/Derp_Wellington 6h ago
The CPC has really dug itself a hole at this point. Leaders need to be appealing to the populist conservative base to win the leadership, but that is what loses them federal elections. Pierre is still popular with party members. Even if they turf him, they could end up choosing someone just as unpalatable
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u/Weegee_Carbonara 5h ago
Liz Truss was also a perfect example of this.
Of course the rabidly pro-rich sociopathic woman would initially win the internal party vote over the (still awful, but less overtly pro-rich) brown guy. Despite it being clear that Sunak had a way better chance nationally.
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u/bullintheheather 5h ago
I don't think anyone else who could realistically take the leadership from him want to inherit the shitshow he's overseen.
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u/entity2 13h ago
PP is just such a waste of skin and hair. It's nothing but 'verb the noun' with that moron, who has no actual plans whatsoever. Just bitching and complaining about what others are doing. It was particularly special when Carney "axed the tax" and PP went full Shocked Pikachu not knowing what to do.
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u/Macky93 11h ago
And just so insulting to the democratic process that after he lost his riding in 2025, miraculously a Conservative MP in once of the most right leaning ridings resigned. And despite now holding an Alberta riding hes super quiet on Alberta separatist vote in October.
The man is a skid mark on society
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u/bwoah07_gp2 12h ago
PP and his slogans are right out of the Trump wannabe playbook. I'm glad his campaign failed. Hearing his ads on repeat on YouTube became so annoying. Stuff like that is why we have YouTube Premium as an option, lol. Get away from all that nonsense and political racketeering.
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u/OkPrinciple37 13h ago
Normally it’s important for a country to have a strong opposition to keep the government in check, but for this moment I actually like PP and hope the cons keep him on a little longer. He’s so inept Carney can essentially ignore him completely and get on with the threat South of the border.
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u/DonOntario 11h ago
The thing is, strong opposition doesn't have to mean stoking personal hatred of the other leaders like the Conservatives did with Trudeau and Singh, and it doesn't have to mean reflexively complaining about everything.
Strong opposition can mean working for more accountability and transparency from the government. Two examples:
- Canada is entering into more trade agreements with countries with very different values, like China. That's not a bad thing and it's necessary, but opposition to help ensure those agreements include safeguards against political interference or giving too much economic leverage is important.
- Canada is in a hurry to build lots of major infrastructure and industrial projects. That's good, but that hurry means it's more important to have effective opposition parties to amplify the voices of anyone with legitimate concerns about the projects.
Strong, effective opposition that can choose their battles, play the long game, and be collaborative and constructive would actually be a good thing.
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u/baseball_fanatic0887 10h ago
Sadly politics have become 'choosing a side'. And with conservatives, it's often, if the other team says 'we love chocolate', the conservative will say how chocolate is bad.
Ask a PP supporter what they liked about his platform and it was crickets. Ask a PP supporter what is bad about Carney and you get a slew of talking points they were handed to them.
Carney is actually an old school Conservative imo. A couple of decades ago, CPC would have loved a candidate like him
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u/williamfbuckwheat 10h ago
He wants to give away Canada on a silver platter to Trump and still acts all shocked but totally unwilling to change when Canadians (many of whom might've traditionally voted for his party) are repulsed at the idea of giving in. I'm glad to see some folks seriously stand up to Donnie, especially when so many people here in the US would surrender everything to him or to our enemies in exchange for nothing besides maybe the supposed right to engage in casual racism in public.
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u/excluded 8h ago
As someone who lives in Alberta, every ads I’m getting is never about what they plan to do, or what benefit their party gives (be it the current separation, pp’s party, or the current party lead for our province). It’s always attacking the other side.
Like they spend so much money on these ads and yet I understand nothing (currently flooding youtube, god knows where else since it’s the only social media thing I’m using).
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u/DilbertedOttawa 10h ago
He's been a useless pile of dogshit as a politician since he started in his essentially one and only job he's ever had. The only thing he has ever done "successfully" was almost instantly discovered, and it was election corruption with the robocall scandal. He's a petulant, arrogant dumbass who has just (as with most of these ass clowns) surrounded himself with people trying to use him or tell him he's a genius. Frankly, I am very much over this entire timeline of arrogant bs ascending to authority and then ruining everything in their field of vision. The Canadian public service is a friggin mess, caused by these same a hole self-worshippers in positions of power who WON'T FRIGGIN LEAVE.
We as a population need to do much much better at actually prioritizing valuing each other and our different capabilities and devaluing this mythological supremacy of the "actor who pretends to be a business savvy person in a suit with buzzwords". If we just stopped all trying to just "feel good in the moment" at all times and looked toward what's best for all of us down the line, we'd be in a WAY better spot. But ultimately, our biggest threat will always remain the established and world-endingly dangerous mega-rich and their families who essentially own the world. It sounds alarmist, it's just that it also happens to be rather true (if oversimplified).
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u/SharpShotApollo 12h ago
The GOAT of destroying his party's image. He couldn't live with himself if he let Paul Martin retain the crown.
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u/Ok-Meet2850 10h ago
Brian Mulroney would like a word.
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u/SharpShotApollo 10h ago
Mulroney doesn't hold a candle to John Diefenbaker.
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u/Ok-Meet2850 10h ago
Well before my time and broadly outside my knowledge of PMs. I'll take your word for it.
But he had a sweet nickname: Dief the Chief!!
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u/KingInTheFarNorth 11h ago edited 11h ago
Three seats up for grabs, two urban ridings in Vancouver and Toronto considered Liberal safe seats.
The real story is in Chicoutimi -Le Fjord, Liberals were third place here last year, a 20+ point swing moves the Cons to a distant third with only 13% in a riding they had won four straight elections in. There is no pathway to forming government for the Cons without winning these suburban-rural riding in Ontario and Quebec.
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u/UmelGaming 4h ago
TBC, the Liberals were in third place in the last election, but it was extremely tight among the top three. The difference between first and third was 3 points. The CPC had 34%, the BQ had 31.2%, and the Liberals had 31.1%. Even without the CPC collapsing in that 20-point drop, there is a chance the Liberals would have won anyway.
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u/pewpewlepew 4h ago
Yeah and the conservative dude that was there had been so since 2018. Dude left to the senate. Big vaccuum.
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u/Medialunch 12h ago
The real election happens in Alberta on Oct 19th. They can come together and put to bed any discussion of separation. Then one year later they can vote for a new Premier. If the Conservative Party of Canada wants to survive in any way they need new leadership at the top to end the division and corruption.
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u/sportow 11h ago
They need to read the room. A lot has changed in the last two years, specifically with the US. Being conservative shouldn’t just be anti-liberal, especially right now. There are defence, trade and nation building issues that should be bipartisan that Canadians expect their leaders to embrace. PP’s message has consistently failed to paint Carney as a failure. The electorate do not think he is.
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u/wisenedPanda 11h ago
If Carney had ran as a conservative and especially if before pp tanked their image i expect we'd have a conservative majority today.
Carney is running his government very right wing for a liberal.
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u/Darth_Atton 11h ago
I think we need an update or different language for the time. Carney is not conservative or right wing in the modern Canadian sense, he has 0 social conservatism and other than anti-trudeau and immigrants bad I don't know if the conservative party has any coherent economic policy. Carney is a center right Liberal and labeling him as "right wing" does him and Canadian political discourse a disservice.
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u/nightwyrm_zero 10h ago
It should be an indictment of the modern conservative party that a pro-business banker like Carney cannot run as a candidate of that party.
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u/Impressive_Life_5227 9h ago
The liberal party has absorbed the actual progressive conservative party and it's voters, the conservative party of Canada just wears it's skin and pretends to be a bigger tent than it is.
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u/Major-Parfait-7510 9h ago
I wouldn’t say Carney is any more conservative than Chrétien or Martin.
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u/boilingfrogsinpants 8h ago
The issue is if they're not "anti-liberal" and focus on those issues you mentioned, they'd likely sound close to Carney, so they're struggling with figuring out what their base is now.
Carney has left the conservatives in absolute bewilderment as they only staunch opponents to him on their side are the heavily social conservatives, which honestly is not a base most try to form around, it's just one that is convenient to grab for votes closer to election season for them.
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u/Itchy-Lingonberry-90 13h ago
Since when are by-elections called special elections? They aren't special. They're a routine occurrence when a seat in the House of Commons or a provincial legislature is vacant.
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u/Due_Gas2950 12h ago edited 10h ago
The Guardian is a UK newspaper and majority of its international audience won’t necessarily be familiar with the Canadian system (yes I know it’s derivative of the UK system but there are some differences). “Special election” gets across the point that this isn’t a big national election without having to really having to get into too many details; its also what they call it in the US and some other jurisdictions so might be easier for part of their audience to understand. It’s just a simplification of language.
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u/Ferelwing 12h ago
The reporter is likely from the USA. The USA refers to by-elections as special elections. In the UK it's a by-election.
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u/bertbarndoor 11h ago
An American generated the article. They used inaccurate imprecise technical language. Because they're not good at their job.
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u/Modified3 13h ago
Id love Doug to go too.
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u/LiGuangMing1981 11h ago
And Marlaina. Even more than Doug.
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u/hortence 10h ago
Marlaina.
Huh. TIL.
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u/jibjaba4 4h ago
Her family are immigrants and they lived off welfare when she was young. She changed her name to conform to conservatives. She's also and idiotic Ann Rand Libertarian, started her career on the Calgary School board, and spent her time on it attempting to sabotage it. Her antics on the CBE were ridiculous. It's insane she is the premier and just shows how much social media an foreign bots have melted rural people brains.
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u/telephonekeyboard 10h ago
Yeah, but he made a Lake Ontario sign, everyone has forgotten about the dozens of controversies. He knows how to play Ontario. Just watch, he will say/do some stuff that pleases the people who don’t pay attention a few months before elections and he will win. Ontario is dumber than you think.
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u/Ah2k15 9h ago
$10 says if the federal Tories turf PP, Doug makes a run for leader. I won’t be surprised.
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u/Modified3 9h ago
I wouldnt either. Hes been so focused on Toronto I have no idea why northern Ontarians would vote for him.
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u/kalnaren 6h ago
The NDP won more seats in Northern Ontario than the Conservatives. Southern Ontario went blue.
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u/carbon_ape 11h ago
Have you seen how much a certain generation loves the “kiss my ass trump, got lots of real estate” comment?
They are hungry to vote him back in.
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u/Elbow_Macarena 12h ago
PP is securing his position as the most successful loser in Canadian political history.
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u/Traditional_End_9540 12h ago
he just wants to keep his government job and that sweet, sweet pension going. Ironically his base was after jagmeet singh for wanting to keep his pension going. Classic conservative playbook, blame the other guy for something I am doing as well.
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u/Unpossib1e 11h ago
PP has been on politics for over 20 years, he's got his pension. Not saying g he's not a chud for never having a real job, he is. But he's got his golden egg at this point.
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u/Traditional_End_9540 11h ago
lost his seat in Ontario, had to spend millions in tax payer dollars to run in the most conservative riding in Alberta. Now he is running in another riding next election. all while his base are after Carney for spending money while he himself spent millions to keep his job. Trudeau while should have done it years ago left politics, Singh left politics after loosing his seat on top of how bad the NDP did. The conservatives are doing so bad now PP is still trying to keep his job. Again the conservative base says one thing while allowing their guy to do the same that is ok to them as its their guy.
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u/Unpossib1e 11h ago edited 10h ago
Oh yeah, he's an idiot and holding on for dear life. I'm just saying he has his full pension whether he retires or somehow doesn't get fired as party leader tomorrow.
My bet is he doesn't make it to the next election.
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u/Impressive_Life_5227 10h ago edited 6h ago
It's crazy to me that conservatives keep him around. Are they so burned out on leadership races they just can't do it anymore?
It's like the Conservative party of Canada is a Frankenstein's monster of a political party, stitched together from the corpses of dead ones, unable to be controlled by anyone except for Stephen Harper. The target base of voters don't actually agree with each other on anything but opposing the liberals. So when the liberals are popular, they have literally nothing to offer.
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit 9h ago
There's not an election for three years, so there's no rush.
But at this point, I doubt anyone can do better. They're polling at 33%, which is really their ceiling when habitual Liberal voters are happy with the Liberals. You just can't tempt Liberal-Conservative swing voters who prefer the Liberals away from the Liberals at the moment. You can only wait for the Liberals to fuck up or being ineffectual for a prolonged period.
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u/The_Quackening 11h ago
Conservatives in canada will continue to lose elections as long as Pierre Polievre is still the leader of the party. Lots of conservative voters do not like him and he consistently loses.
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u/theclockmasters 9h ago
Yeah it was funny when Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh resigned and Pierre Poilievre had the audacity to remain 😂😂😂.
Like no dude, you're part of that era that people wanted to move on from. The CPC fumbled the easiest election they had 😂😂😂
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u/QueasySandwich4464 7h ago
Attacking Singh was the worst decision they could make. Like you need that guy to SPLIT the liberal vote.
Then they act surprised when they galvanize left voters to the liberals and leave the opposition in the weakest position it's been in years
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u/SexuaIRedditor 6h ago
Absolutely correct, he refuses to get the memo that empty culture war talking points do not play outside of dumbfuck MN/AB ridings
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u/Villag3Idiot 3h ago
My parents and older relatives are all old school life long Conservatives and they couldn't vote for the Cons because they don't give a crap about the whole culture war that modern Cons insist on fighting.
I never talk politics with them and I was shocked listening to them complaining about the Cons during the election.
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u/TheOriginalHMetal 6h ago
The problem with conservatives in Canada right now are the "freedumbers" that Poilievre represents. They are loud, boisterous and facetious. As long as the conservative party embraces them conservatives will lose.
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u/RSMatticus 13h ago
Canada overwhelming like the people acting like adults in a world of culture war bullshit
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u/TessaFinks 11h ago
Carney is the right man in these times
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u/ZombieDisposalUnit 9h ago
Voted for him in the Leadership vote and haven't agreed with 100% of his policies, but goddamn I cannot imagine how the last year would have gone if PP had gotten in.
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u/xaxen8 6h ago
I'm out of touch with all of the policies. Can you name a few of the not-so-good ones so I can do some research?
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u/CBowdidge 8h ago
Once again, the vote share for the CPC collapsed, especially in Quebec. Martel was pretty well-known and respected in Chicoutumi but Quebec hates PP even more than the rest of the country. We have more by-elections coming, including Brantford, Ontario, which is also a CPC stronghold. If they lose or underperform, it's over for PP
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u/Objective_Radio3504 10h ago
I hope this brings an end to the reforma-con party. Conservatives need to be split up and restored back to what they were. Carney is more of a classic conservative, anyway.
Interesting times in Canada.
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u/That-redhead-artist 7h ago
In our Provincial government in BC, a right-wing crazy was elected leader of the BC Cons. I think, since she's taken the reins, 13 Cons have left the Conservative party here to run as independents because they don't agree with where she is taking the party. I hope more of this opposition to crazy within Conservative parties takes off in all of Canada.
Edit: Findlay was elected 2 months ago I think, and 13 members have left since, but correct me if I'm wrong.
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u/No-Snow-7618 7h ago
trump presidency probably the most successful “scared straight” program for world govts
cause sheesh in 2024 it looked liked most of the govts drank the right wing kool aid
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u/milkplantation 13h ago
Good. This Liberal government is doing a great job so far. In my experience, most who suggests otherwise are just those who vote along party lines and are bitter that the incumbent party is still in power. Canada is very fortunate that the majority can see the forest for the trees.
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u/sanmanvman 8h ago
don't forget a lot of those voices are from foreign campaigns to sway the publics trust via pig farms and bot farms.
far too many people, don't understand that they are talking to a call centre, whom is copy & pasting replies from a fine-tuned LLM that promotes in-fighting and chaos amongst Canadians.
Glad to see fellow Canadians sifting through the bullshit, but everyday I meet another acquaintance who is falling for the PsyOp. I implore everyone, when you see disinformation, most peoples default is to be apathetic and ignore the morons. Call them the fuck out, and make sure people see the discourse. even if you made 1 person skeptical towards their bullshit, you're make the world a more truthful place.
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u/Chrism2245 12h ago
Agreed. I usually vote Conservative (don’t shoot me, but Trudeau was objectively terrible) but it’s rather clear that Carney is an excellent prime minister and deserves a majority government. I’m happy he gets to keep it, and I hope he continues to govern as he has so far
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u/obi_wan_the_phony 12h ago
Carney tacked the Liberal party back to center (actually could be slightly right of center), which is historically where the big C Conservative Party has been. PP took them further right but without a coherent platform.
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u/mabrouss 10h ago
I would argue that the PC party held to the centre right. The CPC, on the other hand, has always been further to the right (with the exception of the short time that Erin O’Toole was leader). They’re just moving further and further right under PP.
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u/That-redhead-artist 6h ago
I think its important to vote for the best candidate for the job, regardless of party. I am usually an NDP voter but Singh was doing a terrible job and Carney was hitting all the right notes and knew what he was talking about. He was the best man for the job and I'm glad people in Canada were smart enough to see that.
Being so loyal to a political party that people blindly vote for them and don't consider if they are actually good for the country is how people like Trump get voted in twice.
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 3h ago
Anyone who witnessed what the Liberals did with bill C-22 would think otherwise. They rammed through a massive attack on Canadians security and privacy rights, with zero actual debate. Canada is on the verge of getting all popular messaging services (Signal, iMessage, WhatsApp, etc...) to ban Canada, if bill C-22 passes the Senate.
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u/Legitimate_Window481 8h ago
Right now he's unstoppable. The Conservative party hasn't had a leader that relates to folks for so long they might collapse.
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u/Icy_Tune2834 10h ago
Glad Canadians have wised up about the current batch of PP Conservatives .. Defunding science and the CBC ? was that warning shot under the Harper Gov . (who I voted for ) stifling opposing center/left views that dont align w/ their politics , see the the rightwing shit show evolving in Alberta /Saskatchewan ..
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u/Denny_204 10h ago
I consider myself moderate.I can see both sides. However, the Conservative side is becoming more spiteful and bent on hurting the Liberals over actually governing and helping their supporters.
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u/aZombieSlayer 7h ago
This should be great news for people with stickers on their car saying they'd like to bang our Prime Minister!
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