Beyond AB: March 18, 2026
CPC, NDP, and only a glimpse of the other stuff, for our mental health.
Oh, Canada
CPC heading for the Coach’s corner
The socials are ablaze with Conservative Party members and their supporters demanding Prime Minister Mark Carney hop on their bandwagon du jour to support a campaign to get Don Cherry the Order of Canada. The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment on the opposition’s latest act of political theatre. I have no problem admitting that I was unaware of the process prior to this, nor did I have an inkling that this burgeoning dumpster fire might just blow up in the faces of stupid politicians playing stupid political games.
The most important thing to know about the Order of Canada is that nominations are reviewed and chosen by a non-partisan committee, of which the Prime Minister is not part, and the award is not political.
It has also been controversial in the past. When Dr. Henry Morgentaler was appointed to the Order, some resigned in protest. We might not like the fact that some people have an outsized contribution to Canada’s future, or played a particularly notable role in its past. It doesn’t change the fact that they have.
Additionally, politicians aren’t members of the committee and nominations are supposed to be private. According to the Order’s website, not every nominee will be successful.
Ensuring Confidentiality
Please do not notify the candidate about the nomination or initiate a letter-writing campaign. This avoids disappointment if the nomination is not successful. The Chancellery of Honours will keep nominations confidential. As part of this commitment, the Chancellery will respond to inquiries about the status of a nomination only to the nominator identified on the nomination form.
Please also note that the information you provide online is secure and will not be shared with third parties.
“Letter-writing campaign.” That must be a holdover from the fact that the Order was created a few years before the internet. Have I mentioned that it’s usually/supposed to be, dare I say expected to be non-partisan?
The very public campaign was started by CPC MP Andrew Lawton— a usual suspect when a malodorous scent follows bad political theatre— and initially received support from leader Pierre Poilievre. Perhaps surprisingly, it also has potential to cause friction amongst members of their own caucus, again.
Three CPC MPs in Quebec, Eric Lefebvre (Richmond-Arthabaska), Gérard Deltell, (Louis-Saint-Laurent-Akiawenhrahk), and Luc Berthold, (Mégantic-L'Érable-Lotbinière) were not impressed with their caucus mates’ petition. Apparently, it wasn’t just women sportswriters/casters, fans, and newcomers to Canada who weren’t wearing poppies loudly enough that Coach managed to offend on purpose, it was Francophones as well.
Something about having his own show on the public broadcaster, insulting French players, and not bothering to learn how to pronounce their names is still a sore spot for some. Others weren’t fussed about it, even offered an excuse for someone whose long-patted ego finally overtook common sense, and added their support.
I grew up in a typical hockey household and if the Flames were playing, the game was on. As such, I caught Coach’s Corner more than a few times over the years. I thought he was obnoxious and a real heel to his co-host, Ron MacLean (no relation). Nana often called him an asshole.
His existence didn’t take away from our enjoyment of the game itself, however, and once it became obvious that he was no longer focused on entertaining the fans, he was let go.
If you’re a Canadian of a certain age, you know who he is. If not for the politicization of his nomination, most Canadians would have simply nodded at hearing about his receipt of the Order (if they even did) because he probably does deserve it for the whole of a life spent in the arena. He did a lot for the sport and for the communities that rallied around it.
That the Conservative Party and their supporters decided to try and force it into a main event featuring themselves against anyone who disagrees with them politically shamefully takes away from all of that. What would have been something Don Cherry and his fans could take pride in has instead become the next political wedge issue.
It’s a textbook own goal; not only for what they did to the nomination, and the Coach, but because they added another unnecessary pressure point internally.
There’s obviously tensions within the Conservative Party caucus already; they’ve lost three MPs within a year of the election. Add to that, their leader is on the wrong side of an 80-20 likeability ratio and the party’s electoral fortunes are heading in the wrong direction. It shouldn’t be a strategic masterstroke to say they don’t have the latitude to be pissing anyone off with stupid political plays; perhaps especially MPs from Quebec.
Oh, and there’s an NDP leadership race, too
I’ve written some words on the potential impact of the next NDP leader on Alberta (because it’s a thing), but I haven’t spared much thought about what that might mean federally. In their current position, still weakened by the withdrawal of support during the last election, and nearing the end of an almost record-long leadership race that even my politically dedicated and NDP-leaning discord is hardly talking about anymore, I didn’t think there was much to say. Until I noticed something in the recent compilation of federal polling.
I don’t love that these polls are out of order but there is a notable data point that is not impacted by the date: the orange-blue shift. When the NDP moves into double digits, the CPC moves into the lowest range (with the two exceptions of increased “other” support that show both that and the opposite effect of that in their respective polls). Like Tom Mulcair before him, Pierre Poilievre made the case for that swing in support and it’s shifting away in real time.
Suddenly, my interest is piqued.
It probably didn’t hurt that they’re finally making other news; though whether it’s positive probably depends on who the reader is more supportive of.
Avi Lewis leads in fundraising with $1.2 million from over 10,400 donors, followed by Heather McPherson with $560,000 from more than 3,600 donors, followed by Rob Ashton with $360,000 from over 2,000 donors. Of course fundraising doesn’t necessarily equate to winning the race but the number of donors favour Mr. Lewis. With that being said, there are almost eight times as many members in the party who are eligible to vote.
As such, I’d have to agree that the race is still on, but Ms. McPherson really looks to be the odd one out in this group.
As reported in The Toronto Star, Ms. McPherson, Alberta’s lone NDP MP and the only candidate for leadership who currently has a seat in the House of Commons, tried to make a deal with fellow leadership contender Rob Ashton to ask their supporters to rank the other second on their ballots. It can be a good strategy if there isn’t a clear frontrunner. In a tight race, being the second person on the most ballots will generally lead to win.
However, Mr. Ashton declined.
Hence, my remark that Ms. McPherson is the odd one out in this group; not just because she’s the only elected contender, but because she’s in Alberta.
In addition to the overarching theme of Alberta bristling at Avi Lewis’ name generally, a little inside baseball made it out into the open this week when former Environment Minister Shannon Phillips (NDP) posted a clip from a video featuring Avi Lewis and his wife Naomi Klein reading “mean tweets”.
Lewis says the tweet he was reading was from when he “mistakenly endorsed Shannon Phillips as environment minister”. In a weird flex, Ms. Klein responds, “well we’re still married and she’s not environment minister anymore,” admitting “that’s a really horrible thing to say,” as they both laugh.
Alberta NDP have been at odds with the federal NDP since the day Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, among others, introduced the LEAP Manifesto at the party’s 2016 convention, which was hosted by the only provincial NDP government in the nation, in Alberta. The province was in a nasty, and ongoing, recession due to low oil prices at that exact moment, too. Really “kicking them while they’re down” energy, that was devastating for the prairie NDP in the room and a cudgel with which the opposition conservatives have been beating them with ever since.
It is, very much, a thing here.
Rather than a points system, it is one member one vote, which means that an Alberta-centric membership that votes for Ms. McPherson can have a lot of sway and makes being ranked second on the ballot all that more important.
It’s one thing to be offside with a majority of Canadians when your party is, ostensibly, next in line to form government but it’s an entirely different calculation when you’re in a distant third place. From the latter perspective, members can be more inclined to put their support behind a candidate they believe is a purist; someone who embodies the values and positions that the membership wants to hear screaming loudly from the sidelines even if they have no hope of forming government (which, they would probably need to aim for party status again, first). For an opposition party that is expected to remain in opposition, the membership can ensure they do by supporting a generally unpopular leader because they speak the language the dedicated base who shows up wants to hear.
Such a decision, made by the membership, that doesn’t necessarily set the party up to grow, can be offside with personal ambitions or aspirations of those elected officials who were hoping for an opportunity to do more with their time; as evidenced by some of the movement we’ve seen federally in the last year. I’m not saying that will come into play if Avi Lewis wins any more than it might if Heather McPherson wins. They each have their strengths individually and electorally, but it’s not out of line to acknowledge they have very different strengths in those areas.
Something old, something new
The federal government is appealing unfavourable decisions on the former Prime Minister’s use of the Emergencies Act. The decision to appeal was made public at the eleventh hour and shouldn’t be entirely unexpected; governments don’t like being told they’re wrong to use the tools at their disposal.
The main issue was whether its use was necessary or if other tools were available. Coming off a record number of invocations of the notwithstanding citizen’s rights clause by my own provincial government, I’m less inclined to believe the feds limited rights unnecessarily being that they had at least two weeks to blare their horns and set up shanties on a downtown Ottawa street first.
When Danielle Smith ordered teachers back to work after three weeks of doing nothing to further strike negotiations, she said her government invoked the notwithstanding clause against teacher’s right to strike again for five years because she needed to balance the rights of those who deserve an education. I can’t see why an argument that the citizens of Ottawa deserved a right to return to peace, order, and good government after two weeks of squatters in their neighbourhood, especially when it was obvious that their presence was encouraging, if not enabling, additional unrest.
Just saying.
Merica
Who among us hasn’t been completely overwhelmed at times this month with the sheer volume of freaking awful things going on?
I’m going to try to summarize this part fast and furious.
Trump decided to pull a Putin and not put much thought into starting a war. Trump was surprised the war wasn’t won simply by showing up. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to anyone that is either U.S. or Israel, but is willing to trade passage for sidestepping Trump the way he sidestepped diplomacy. Gas prices went nuts, Trump said he wanted once allied nations to back him up and they said no because Trump’s strongman act is really a one, two-man show, tops.
The Trump Administration looks dumber to more people, which probably isn’t a bad thing because Americans are the only ones with the power to stop this guy, but forcing a moron who wants people to think he’s smart into the position where the only option is to admit they’re a moron shouldn’t make anyone sleep easier (because they’ll never admit that). There’s a greater likelihood that they continue to make worse decisions while chasing after the elusive “win”.
Enough of that.
Final thoughts
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Thank you for reminding me that David Staples is a ridiculous dickhead. I’m all for supporting local journalism but that moron would be a better fit for Rebel News. The Journal should be ashamed of themselves for employing him.
David Staples is the Karoline Leavitt of The UCP.