Special edition: 'The only consensus in politics, the only constant, is change'
This week's edition of the newsletter again hails from the pages of the Western Standard.
Parliament returned this week. It was — and will continue to be — a predictable mess.
And yet, for all the begrudging and years-too-late adjustments to mass immigration, matters of back-bench Tru-Anon oafs forced to retract their personality disorders under legal threat, paper tiger tough-guy routines from bespoke socialists flanked by the Parliamentary Protective Service, and even, failed non-confidence gambits, what matters still, and what matters most, is that the winds of change keep on blowing. And boy, they are a-howling.
In that same vein, the good folks at the Western Standard were kind enough to share that message, ‘writ larger,’ and to once again let me darken their door.
Give the latest edition of Acceptable Views a read over on their side of the fence, or below the fold. And thanks, as ever, for being here. We’re about to pass 2000 subscribers, which I certainly could not have envisioned over 100 columns ago.
-Alex
BROWN: Trudeau can try and fake it, but nobody's buying what he's selling
Parliament returns to a Canada In the grips of a major political realignment.
When the House rose for the summer on June 19th, the Liberals promised to return “ruthlessly” focused on improving Canadians’ lives.
A funny thing happened in the interim: after hard-done-by, common-sense, working Canadians instead “ruthlessly” focused on improving their own lives, the elections in their backyards, and the communities in turmoil around them, the Liberals have returned to a country that no longer needs them. (Recent Abacus polling data show Trudeau and co. having now fallen to 22% support.)
And it’s not just Canadians who no longer need them, who have tired of their radioactive brand and are now in seek of refuge at the end of a lost Liberal decade, gone too are the federal NDP, and Trudeau’s coalition with Jagmeet Singh in everything but name alone. With an expected 12 months until Election Day, Singh can continue to serve as both an enabler and a hypocrite; only, now his support is offered on an a la carte basis, in the hopes of swindling a few more voters into supporting a rudderless party thoroughly adrift in the post-Layton era.
Gone too, and somewhat miraculously so, is the apparent consensus on both the carbon tax, and even so-called “safe supply.”
At major risk of election failure on the left coast, Trudeau’s allies in the B.C. NDP have been forced to come face to face with reality on the carbon tax, a major about-face that’s been shared by Singh in a desperate attempt to save votes.
And, most recently, B.C.’s embattled Premier David Eby has even signalled a major policy shift on the matter of legalized drugs, crime, and chaos in his streets, as involuntary care is now being sought for the most troubled addicts and repeat offenders.
These were all entirely moderate positions, and established Conservative positions, which were harangued by the Liberals, the NDP, and many in legacy media not months ago. The Liberals and the provincial B.C. NDP even combined on a foolhardy decriminalization pilot project that predictably ended in disaster.
In the case of the carbon tax, even the failed O’Toole campaign of 2021 made the mistake of treating the carbon tax as some settled argument, some unapproachable progressive-Canadian dogma. It wasn’t. It isn’t. It’s life made more expensive, down the assembly line of all human endeavours, for reasons that have everything to do with punishment, and little to do with changing the weather.
That even the far-left NDP now claim to see the errors in that design should tell Canadians everything they need to know about where this all went wrong, how deliberate the decision was to pull the wool over the eyes of just enough swing voters for the Liberals to hold onto power in 2021, and who, in particular, is responsible.
For the Trudeau Liberals, presently paying dearly in the polls and watching once-carefully cultivated media mistruths come crumbling down, there are no matters of Liberal “consensus” which are now safe.
Their mass immigration crisis has “crushed Canada” and driven a supermajority of opposition.
They have failed – historically so – on housing and healthcare; so much so, that even the “consensus” on public healthcare is breaking.
Everyday Canadians are no longer willing to tolerate the car thefts, the hate rallies, nor the hard-drugs and random attacks in their streets.
Change is indeed here. One can see it in Question Period as the Liberals struggle mightily to get their message across, without realizing it’s not the way they’re saying it that isn’t resonating, it’s who is saying it. It’s in the byelections that continue to be won by every shade but red. It’s in the communications we have with loved ones, coworkers, and our neighbours.
Enough is enough.
The only “consensus” in politics, the only constant, is change.
For the first time in a long time, let us be thankful it’s for the better.
Alexander Brown is the Director of Communications for the National Citizens Coalition and the writer and editor of the best-selling Acceptable Views newsletter on Substack.