An Unfortunate Outcome For Canadians

But the battle will go on

Image from Al Jazeera

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By

James Pew

The battle will go on. It must. I am not pleased with last night's election results, but I have no time for histrionics. Pearl-clutching on the fainting couch is for leftists. Strength, reason, and principles are for the rest of us. We have reached a crucial moment in Canadian history. It is not the time for patriots to fold. We have come so far but sadly the nation our ancestors developed is experiencing an existential crisis. We need to focus and fight. There is no other way!

Although Elections Canada is still counting votes in an effort to determine whether or not the Liberals will secure a majority, there were some positives last night. The Conservatives added 28 electoral seats, prompting Poilievre to call Carney's victory a “razor thin minority” (however, this still remains to be seen). But the sweetest positive that stood out for me, was that the NDP subtracted 18-seats thereby losing official party status, and their leader Jagmeet Singh lost in his Burnaby Central riding, and subsequently announced his intention to retire from politics.

The Bloc also shed nine seats bringing them to a total of twenty-three. Add in the measly seven seats the NDP secured and the one embarrassingly held by the skin of the Green Party’s teeth, and it is safe to say that Canada’s political system has become two-party.

This was an extraordinarily close election. In terms of the popular vote, the Liberal’s captured 43%, while the Conservatives landed just under, at 41.7%—the highest Conservative share since 1988, and the first time this century they have cracked 40%.

Six months ago the Conservatives were ahead in the polls by 25 points. Then came Trump and his belligerent 51st state rhetoric. This seemed to wake something up in Canada’s electorate. The previous several years where a false claim of clandestine unmarked graves said to contain the remains of Indigenous children who were murdered at the hands of Catholic priests, which culminated into a motion passed unanimously in the House of Commons characterizing Canada’s past relations with the indigenous as genocidal, was not enough to stir any of the Trump Derangement Syndrome inspired Canadian patriotism. But the orange man, his art of the deal, and his mean words directed at Canadians was apparently too much. The elbows, which seemed entirely un-bothered by the national disgrace and defamation concerning the implausible genocide hoax which triggered dozens of Church burnings, unfortunately, went up.

On a related positive note, Aaron Gunn, a conservative candidate who previously made controversial comments critical of the leftist narrative around Indian Residential Schools, won his seat in the British Columbia riding of North Island-Powell River.

According to Quico Toro, a contributing editor at Persuasion, “Poilievre had long planned a campaign centered on housing, crime, and the cost of living, but Trump’s 51st state antics made that untenable.” As a consequence, Pierre Poilievre did not win the premiership of the country. And worse, he did not win his own Ottawa-area riding of Carleton—a seat he has held since 2004. All of this speaks to the unusualness of this election. The Trump factor appears to have been a major wrench in the wheel of what should have been a Conservative majority. Indeed, by all indicators Poilievre and his party were on-track for just that. Sadly, it appears that this election was about fear of the orange man. Canadians were terrified, and so voted accordingly. Terrified people rarely make smart or principled choices. And Canada, rarely (if ever) holds principled elections.

So what are Canadians who oppose Liberal policies supposed to do now? I can tell you what I intend to do: pay attention, study, and explain. In other words, I am going to generate analysis, write, and publish all that I can about Carney’s new government. But more than that, I intend to write about the big picture of things. That means, among other things, explaining Trump and his art of the deal. If Canadians had been better informed about the tactics of Trump, instead of being manipulated by the orange man bad fear tactics of our shallow media, they may have made a choice last night which would have better served the interests of Canada.

Whenever Canada is faced with a scenario like the one we now find ourselves in, my immediate reaction is always that education—referring to the kind that comes from schools, but also the kind that comes from the media—is the thing which needs overhauling. Everything regarding this newsletter is about empowering Canadians with information and analysis that the legacy media omits—in most cases, it appears the omissions are deliberate. It is a no-brainer that since the legacy media receive such generous Liberal-supported government funding, and that the Conservatives had for the last couple years vowed to “defund the CBC,” that legacy media (which we could also call Liberal media) would prefer cash cow Carney and cover his campaign with favouritism. The need for independent journalism in Canada could not be greater. My intention is to develop this newsletter into a principled hub of relevant and critical analysis concerning politics and current events in Canada—creating a place where Canadians can be informed by facts and be made aware of the manipulations and omissions of those same facts by agenda-driven legacy media Liberals.

A good sign that things are evolving for the better in the Canadian media landscape was seen with Independent media outlets Rebel News and Juno News, who both ran successful 8-hour live streamed broadcasts. Candice Malcolm of Juno News explained how the Juno decision desk outperformed legacy media:

“While some of the ‘big’ pollsters predicted a massive Carney majority victory, Juno’s projections were far more accurate:

• We projected 165 seats for the Liberals, who actually got (as of right now) 168.

• We projected 150 seats for the Conservatives, who actually got (as of right now) 144.

• We projected 3 seats for the NDP, who actually got (as of right now) 7.”

If that is not encouraging enough, the Rebel News live stream had almost one million viewers. Founder Ezra Levant offered the following in his post-election analysis:

“Carney didn’t need to keep up the anti-Americanism in his speech last night — the election is over. But he chose to, because he believes in realigning Canada with China, just as he had done with Brookfield Asset Management. I’ve called Carney Trudeau 2.0 — but smarter and harder working. That’s true, and Carney has most of the same team as Trudeau, including the disgraced Rasputin figure, Gerald Butts. But Carney — and his extremist wife — are deep ideological activists, whereas Trudeau was more of a cliche-spouting mascot.”

Indeed. Independent journalists and researchers have their work cut out for them. Carney does appear to be worse for the country than Trudeau—if that is even possible. However, in spite of this, Levant, like me, has maintained a positive outlook:

“I believe Poilievre will win the next election. The Trump challenge will resolve itself one way or another; Carney’s thin-skinned, domineering personality is already showing itself — he’ll soon find out running a caucus and a confederation is different than being a corporate oligarch.”

But predictably, a darkness has understandably and regrettably overwhelmed many Canadians. One of whom is Canadian professor, and principled honey badger Gad Saad, who posted the following to X:

“There is nothing that the Canadian Liberal Party can do to its citizens that causes the electorate to alter its vote. What a tragic failure of the sacred responsibility that informed citizens should exhibit in a democracy. So clear that Canada is no longer the place for us.”

I feel professor Saad’s pain. And I emphasize the “informed citizens” aspect of his sentiment. This is why education, in the form of facts and sound analysis, is so crucial for democracy.

Foreign interference was another issue plaguing this election that should have been a far more consequential factor. That it wasn’t, speaks to the low-information, low-education of voters. However, calling voters low-information or of low-education is not meant to be in a general sense. It is not meant to insult their intelligence. The low-info/low-education refers only to what was relevant for this election. Canadians are smart, but they cannot make good choices if the media provides emotional, irrational, poor and/or manipulative information and analysis.

This is why I refuse to feel gloomy about Canada’s prospects. I refuse to be negative, although I am angry. I refuse to be defeated, and I always refuse inaction. I have a great newsletter with thousands of readers. I have a real opportunity to contribute positively to the political discourse in Canada. If I do a good job, and if other independent journalists also do a good job, we can more effectively help Canadians make a better decision next time. By holding Carney’s feet to the fire, by not letting him get away with the constant lying, by exposing his many conflicts of interest, we can help Canadians realize what a big mistake it was voting for this “political outsider” out of fear of the orange man.

The specific foreign interference, primarily from the People's Republic of China, is something that should have registered far more strongly among the populace. As should have Carney’s financial ties to the PRC. This morning Sam Cooper over at the Bureau published a piece on the candidacy of Conservative Joe Tay– “a flashpoint for suspected voter intimidation in Canada.” Tay lost to Liberal candidate Maggie Chi in the Don Valley North riding—in what journalist Terry Glavin calls the “Mandarin block.” According to a 2024 report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), the Don Valley North riding “was the site of serious foreign interference by the People’s Republic of China during the 2019 election.” Tay’s campaign was “marred by threats, suspected intimidation, and digital suppression efforts.”

Cooper writes:

“Canadian police last week reviewed complaints alleging that members of Tay’s campaign team were shadowed in an intimidating manner while canvassing in the final days of the race… federal intelligence officials disclosed that Tay was the subject of a highly coordinated transnational repression operation tied to the People’s Republic of China. The campaign aimed to discredit his candidacy and suppress Chinese Canadian voters’ access to his messaging through cyber and information operations.”

As a consequence, last Monday federal authorities advised members of Tay’s team to stop door-to-door canvassing out of concerns for safety. And further, “Tay’s campaign reported to police that a man had been trailing a door-knocking team in a threatening manner in a Don Valley North neighbourhood.” The New York Times reported on Sunday that, “Fearing for his safety, Mr. Tay… has waged perhaps the quietest campaign of any candidate competing in the election. The attacks on Mr. Tay have sought to influence the outcome of the race in Don Valley North, a district with a large Chinese diaspora in Toronto, in what is the most vote-rich region in Canada.”

All of this is in addition to the related scandal which also should have received far more scrutiny from legacy media. When Liberal MP Paul Chiang outrageously remarked during a Chinese-language media news conference on January 21 that Tay should be abducted and turned over to the Chinese consulate, Carney had the opportunity to demonstrate to Canadians that this type of politics and interference from China was not something to be tolerated in Canada. However, Carney chose not to demonstrate this.

Canadians living in the province of Alberta, where only 2 out of 37 ridings are projected to go to the Liberals, were perhaps most disturbed by yesterday’s election results. Premier Danielle Smith, who had endorsed Poilievre, wrote this morning on X, “a large majority of Albertans are deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.” Smith went on to write, “we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa.”

CTV News reported on March 31st that Smith was “looking to hear from all Albertans after the federal election, giving voters a chance to raise any issue, including leaving Canada.” She is holding a special caucus meeting this Friday to discuss Alberta’s place in confederation, thereby gauging Albertan’s appetite for a referendum on separation.

Conservative MP for Bowmanville—Oshawa North Jamil Jivani sees Conservative Ontario premier Doug Ford as “a problem for Ontario and for Canada.” National Post columnist Tyler Dawson penned a scathing piece this morning entitled 'Hype man for the Liberal party': Ontario Tory Jamil Jivani unloads on Premier Doug Ford. Dawson writes how Jivani “tore a strip off Ontario Premier Doug Ford in an election-night interview with CBC News.” In that interview Jivani remarked that the “opportunist” Doug Ford, “has taken the provincial Conservative Party and turned it into something hollow, unprincipled, something that doesn’t solve problems.”

Jivani discussed how the federal conservative party supported Ford on his re-election campaign in February, but that when it came time to return the favour during the federal election, Ford “couldn’t stay out of our business, always getting his criticisms and all his opinions out, distracting our campaign, trying to make it about him, trying to position himself as some kind of political genius that we need to be taking cues from.” What an infuriating politician Doug Ford is. Not a conservative in the least, but an unprincipled self-serving populist.

So a number of dismal factors appear to have influenced this election. Trump being the biggest of those factors. But Chinese interference and Liberal “hype man” Doug Ford also contributed to the confusion and loss of confidence in the Canadian Conservative Party. Other factors include the generational divide (see the chart below of Abacus data). Baby boomers, who do not seem to understand the precarious economic circumstances faced by younger generations of Canadians, on average, voted against the interests of their children and grandchildren. But also, according to Statistics Canada, roughly 21.5% of employed Canadians work in the public sector. Just like the legacy media who support the party that supports them, Canadian public workers are more likely to support the party that believes in big government, not the Conservatives who want to reduce the size of it.

I am still processing exactly what happened. So please share your thoughts in the comment sections. Let’s put our heads together and figure this out. For the sake of Canada, we absolutely must!

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Thanks for reading. For more from this author read, Douglas Murray, a voice of reason in a sea of confusion

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