I am a small c conservative, but must say I have been watching in dismay the way the party is acting and fear they are just throwing away the next election. Rather than trying to broaden appeal while still remain centre-right, they seem to want to double down on appealing to their base and strongholds. Concerns in Alberta and Saskatchewan are important, but the party must be a national not regional if it wants to form government and it seems foolish to spend your energy on the provinces you already have locked up. It would be like the Liberals only focusing on 416 area code and Island of Montreal. But beyond that party has not handled the crisis well as well as nutcases like Derek Sloan are doing a great job of making the party unpalatable on many on the fence.
We are in the worst health crisis in over a century so now is not the time for partisan attacks. I believe government needs to be held accountable and I support constructive criticism, but it seems Scheer is more interested in trying to score political points which is totally inappropriate at this time. Here in BC, Andrew Wilkinson is known for his fierce attacks on Horgan government, but since the crisis he has toned them down and focused on getting through this and that is how an opposition party should act. Trudeau should not be above criticism, but when criticizing offer suggestions on how to do things better, not just mudslinging. I feel keeping Scheer on as leader is damaging party and the party should do the right thing and dump him now and appoint an interim leader. My suggestions in alphabetical order are Michael Chong, Gerald Detell, and Ed Fast. All capable and well respected on all sides of the house much like Rona Ambrose was. Scheer has shown himself to have bad judgement so it is time to depart before he drags the party down so far it cannot recover even when it gets a new leader.
Recently Derek Sloan tweeted an outrageous tweet claiming Dr. Theresa Tam was loyal to Chinese government. Besides racist undertones, this was totally uncalled for and not the first over the top statement by him. Criticism of Theresa Tam is fair game, claiming she has loyalty to another country is not. However, this is not the first outrageous claim by him, rather like Jim Karahalios and Richard Decarie, the goal of these three seems to be to be as extreme and as ideological as possible. People like those three paint conservatives in a very bad light and almost at times make it embarrassing to say I am a conservative as I may lean right on many issues, but want nothing to do with the likes of those three. They are not conservatives, they are right wing nutbars. As such people like those three need to be shown the door and should go join their other extremists in the People’s Party of Canada. I am sick and tired of right wing extremists trying to hijack the party. Its time more moderate elements tell them to go. As such whomever is next leader should kick Derek Sloan out of caucus and tell any other nutcases to leave too. Party can be a big tent and open to different ideas, but bigotry and extremism have no place in party. Some are worried it will split the right and yes there is a risk, but leaving these types in the party ensures it stays stuck at 30% or lower and in opposition. If party wishes to form government must broaden its appeal and having people like that fails to achieve that. While right wing populists like these maybe winning elsewhere, as I’ve explained elsewhere Canada is more progressive than most countries and most Canadians have little tolerance for this. And those claiming free speech, those three have every right to spout their nonsense, but any party has the same right to tell them they are not welcome. Free speech means you don’t go to jail or get imprisoned, it does not mean you are free of criticism or cannot be excluded from groups who find such positions repugnant.
afiscalconservativepointofview 