I decided not to make the same mistake as last time so I joined the Conservative Party so I can vote for the leader. I watched the "debate" the other day and it was pretty weak, they were all poor speakers and didn't really say anything different from each other. What are your thoughts on the candidates?
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Leslyn Lewis- I was expecting a lot more from her but she flopped both debates. She says most of the right things but she's kind of useless when she goes off script or is pressed. Her "diversity" is the only real reason you'd selected her. She would get murdered by Trudeau in any debate or election campaign.
Derek Sloan- He overperformed in the debates and I suspect he might give Trudeau a run for his money because he offers something different. I suspect that the Conservative base would be happiest with him as well but are scared to admit it. The abortion shit isn't good though, Trudeau loves to play up a woman's right to choose to galvanize his supporters and get them to the polls. I'd take him personally because it's a ranked ballot.
Erin O'Toole- Probably the best option, he was solid in the debates and is French isn't bad either. His military service is a plus and his work with veterans is commendable. He has decent foreign affairs chops but the connections between his campaign and the Muslim Brotherhood are more than a little concerning.
Peter MacKay- The heir apparent. If you asked me what I thought would go down before the 2017 convention I'd have told you that they'd elect a placeholder to whittle Trudeau down to a minority then bring in Peter MacKay for when that minority fell. He's a strong link back to the days of the PC party prior to the Alliance which is great for a centrist party that is trying to win some progressives to their side. His Iranian pageant-winner wife (much more PC than Belinda Stronach) is an international activist who has won awards from the UN and brought attention to the execution of children and the persecution of muslims who have been viewed as heretics by fundamentalists. She was also instrumental in bringing Omar Khadr back from the States. He's soft, progressive, handsome, and just the guy that the party would want if they were trying to out-Trudeau Trudeau.
The problem being that you can't out-Trudeau Trudeau. The NDP got slaughtered doing that, the CPC would do the same. The progressives have their guy and they like him. The only way you can get rid of him is to do something different.
Canadian elections aren't won on who brings in the most people across the spectrum. Canadian elections are won by who energizes their supporters to vote.
Sloan could do it. O'Toole might stand a chance but mark my words, this convention was rigged in favour of MacKay years ago and he will lead to another Trudeau majority.
Traditionally Canadian elections were won by owning the center. You need votes in that Quebec - Windsor Axis or you'll never have a majority. Harper owned that center when he got a majority, but then started edging further to the right the longer he was in power.
The next election though... I have no clue. Trudeau got elected even after blackface, SNC, and all the ethics violations. They literally bribed the press to keep them on a leash, and nobody is bating and eyelash.
We might be completly fucked at this point unless somebody at the CPC finds a way to break the Liberal stranglehold on the media.
That's where the thinking is wrong, Canadian elections are won by motivating non-voters and getting them to participate.
If "no one, I'm not bothering" was a political party they'd have won every election of my lifetime.
Just think of how many potheads have voted precisely twice in their lives and both times for Big Trudy. How much did that boost him?
Motivating voters to come out for a candidate is the winning path, not getting all milquetoast and appealing to the centre. We saw how that worked with Scheer and Ignatieff. It doesn't.
Harper's rise was entirely due to motivating the fringes. He was an extreme figure at the time. Nothing will be accomplished by courting the centre.