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About Raymond Tomlin

Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology. View all posts by Raymond Tomlin →

Decision 2021 | Day 11 | Erin O’Toole Declares Early Victory

August 25, 2021Decision Canada 2021, PoliticsRaymond Tomlin

Reviewing the latest polling results, earlier today Conservative Party leader, Erin O’Toole, declared victory in #Elxn44. Despite the fact that the official election day is still 26 days away, the Tory leader stated that it is clear that his party — the new name of which, he enthusiastically told Canadians this morning, would be the Taliban Party of Canuckistan — would triumph at the polls, declaring the election over, and appointing himself as the “new head of state” of the new, independent republic of the holy state of Canuckistan.

Victory! | Erin O’Toole, the President of the new independent, holy state of Canuckistan

In his victory speech this morning, the once-and-forever President of the independent, holy state of the newly named country of Canuckistan, today “The Toole”, as he likes to be called, addressed loyal Taliban supporters …

“Today is a great day! The new, independent, holy state of Canuckistan will be returned to its rightful place on the world stage, standing side by side with authoritarian leaders and nations who share our values: Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko; Haji Waddaulah, the Sultan of Brunei; Xi Jinping, the President of China; Ali Khamenei; President of North Korea, Kim Jong-un; Vladimir Putin, President of Russia; Recep Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey; Losang Jamcan, Chairman of Tibet; and General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan, the once-and-forever President of Sudan; among a host of other authoritarian leaders ruling across the globe.

Mark this day on your calendar! Today, as my good friend, Premier Jason Kenney has done in the newly-named state of Albertistan, I am declaring that the COVID-19 pandemic is over! Today is a day for us all to rejoice! No more masks, ever! No more vaccines! No more lockdowns! The Taliban Party of Canada is bringing back your freedom and independence, a return to the life you so cherished before the declaration of so-called COVID-19 — I mean, did you ever really believe that there was such a thing as a “pandemic”? I didn’t. Quite simply, it was a government-inspired hoax!”

“Now down to the business of state: no more damn, dirty child care centres. A woman’s place is in the kitchen, barefoot, pregnant and entirely dependent on her husband! And because seniors have failed to support us in this election, we will retroactively move the retirement age to 80 — and eliminate the Guaranteed Income Supplement & all other needless supports for seniors. Decrease the surplus population, we say — if you can’t contribute to the economy, your time is on this planet is done!”

“Climate change? Ain’t no such thing! Drill, drill, drill baby. And while we’re at it, let’s revive the coal industry once and for all, and get rid of that damnable “carbon tax” & tax the communists who drive electric cars.”

“Gays, did you say, gays! We don’t like ’em, never have, never will — no wonder our party didn’t support the banning of God-inspired conversion therapy. And no more of those pervert, so-called “trans” folks in the military — just like our spiritual leader, the once-and-forever American President, Donald Trump, who had the U.S. election stolen from him — we’ll be rooting out those perverts, and sending them to re-education camps and, quite obviously, for much-needed conversion therapy.”

Yes, it’s a new and glorious day in the newly-named state of Canuckistan!
“The Toole” went on to assure Canuckistans that our nation state will adhere to the Darwinian “survival of the fittest” ethos; eliminate taxes for corporations and the wealthy; get rid of the Child Care Benefit (“If you can’t afford children, don’t have ’em”); reinstate the wrongfully-removed Canadian generals; repeal the Canadian Human Right Act; declare the country a republic; remove Mary Simon as Governor General and install Stephen Harper in the newly-created Canuckistan position of Prime Minister; dismiss the justices sitting on the Supreme Court of Canada; move toward the independence and separation of Québec (“We don’t like those Frenchies, anyway, don’t want ’em, don’t need ’em”); will charge Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet with treason, and have them imprisoned with all possible haste, while welcoming Maxime Bernier into a prominent position within the new republican government.

In a three-hour speech, “The Toole” went on to tell Canuckistans that his government will serve the interests only of those who voted for him (“Everyone else is an enemy of the state. God help ’em, cuz we surely won’t. Donald Trump taught us that!”); get rid of the CBC (“Those communists! Not one ‘red’ cent will go to that treasonable crew of reprobates”); do away with the Census (“White people like me are the only ones that matter anyway!); remove all Muslims and other foreign enemies of the state and deport them with all possible haste; declare Canuckistan a military state, while declaring Joe Biden’s U.S. an illegitimate rogue state.

Hey, elections don’t matter. Vote any way you want — won’t make one bit of difference.

A new, halcyon day has been declared in Canada. Hallelujah & praise God!

The Curse of Politics podcast for Wednesday, August 25, 2021.

Decision 2021 | Day 10 | A Survey of Perspectives on #Elxn44

August 24, 2021Decision Canada 2021, PoliticsRaymond Tomlin

Today, VanRamblings was planning on publishing a satirical column on Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives aka the Canadian Taliban, but truth to tell we’re simply not in the mood. Instead, on this late August summer’s day, please find below a series of “items” of possible interest pertaining to #Elxn44.
Kiavash Najafi over at Press Progress, the publishing division of the left-wing Broadbent Institute think tank, writes …

“We’re more than a week into a snap election in Canada and the top question on everyone’s mind is still: Why are we having this election?”

Opinion polls have been consistently good for Trudeau’s party. The pandemic measures that came out of the minority parliament are popular with Canadians. And, until recently, every provincial government that went through an election during the pandemic ended up winning big.

Very good. Last year, poll after poll showed him with support between mid-30 and low-40 per cent, with the Conservatives performing much lower than their 2019 election results. A government’s ability to manage the timing of an election gives it an upper hand. But it’s not always a sure bet. Snap elections can snap back and snap hard.

So how’s Trudeau doing?

Not great, to be honest. We’re more than a week into the campaign and everyone is still wondering why we’re having this election. And his party is the only major party that hasn’t introduced a platform yet. Still, a lot can change in the next few weeks. At this point in the campaign, Trudeau is still first in most polls, but definitely not in the majority territory anymore.

And his drop in the polls isn’t helping the Conservatives much. Most projections suggest that Trudeau would see a modest increase to the number of his MP’s. Conservatives are likely to lose a few seats. It looks like Jagmeet Singh and the NDP could be the main beneficiaries of an election they didn’t want.”

Um, the projections above hardly match the latest polls. Whereas it seems likely that Jagmeet Singh’s NDP will pick up a few seats, as will Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives, the only reason why Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are hanging on — at least on Day 10 — is thanks to the almost complete collapse of the Bloc Québécois vote, and the record unpopularity of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, which may result in a seat gain of as many as six Liberal seats in Alberta, and as many as 20 additional seats in Québec.
Of course, it’s still very early in #Campaign44 — anything could happen.

Going negative. Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet have been attacking Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives on mandatory vaccines, abortion and conscience rights, and universal health care. Former Liberal Rick Anderson, who morphed into a Reform Party / Canadian Alliance, and then Stephen Harper strategic advisor and acolyte, got to wondering …

Meanwhile, Mike McDonald, who ran Christy Clark’s miraculous come from behind 2013 British Columbia campaign for office, who now pours his thoughts into his Rosedeer blog, recently told Politico’s Zi-Ann Lum …

“These days, Conservatives are nowhere in Vancouver, so the riding of Vancouver-Granville is safe for the Liberals unless they get knocked off their stride which, of course, would be welcome news for high-profile NDP candidate Anjali Appadurai, who recently won the nomination race to represent Vancouver-Granville.

Anjali Appadurai, the high profile NDP 2021 hopeful in Vancouver Granville.

“Ridings the Liberals won in 2015 and lost in 2019 are probably the first places the Grits will look to win back seats,” says McDonald. “That means: Vancouver Granville; Steveston-Richmond East; Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge; Cloverdale-Langley City; Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon; and, in the Okanagan, the very winnable riding of Kelowna-Lake Country.”

“What with raging wildfires burning across the province, and what looks to be the nascent beginning of a fourth wave of the pandemic, climate change and COVID-19 vaccines are two issues that are likely to resonate with British Columbia voters as they head to the polls in mid-September,” suggests McDonald. “Although those are national issues, they might play out in British Columbia more so than other regions. If that comes to pass, the advantage would go to Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.”

Meanwhile, B.C. riding-wise, Politico’s Nick Taylor-Vaisey weighs in with …

“Another riding Team Trudeau lost in 2019 was South Surrey-White Rock. It went blue in 2015, red in a 2017 byelection, and blue again in 2019. The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh is also looking to make gains in B.C. after losing Nanaimo-Ladysmith; Port Moody-Coquitlam; and Kootenay-Columbia.”

Wondering which ridings are in play in British Columbia? Now you know.

As always, VanRamblings will complete the day’s post with …

David Herle, Scott Reid, Jenni Byrne | Curse of Politics podcast | August 24, 2021.

Decision 2021 | Day 9 | Lib Support Softens as Tories Gain Ground

August 23, 2021Decision Canada 2021, PoliticsRaymond Tomlin

Given the state of the election, the Liberals and the Conservatives are almost exactly where they want to be: tightening polls allows the Liberals to scare the beejuzus out of New Democratic Party supporters, none of whom could stomach an Erin O’Toole victory at the polls on Monday, September 20th — which will cause a wholesale defection of NDP voters to the Liberals, as occurred in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections.
Meanwhile, Erin O’Toole — who has spent an inordinate amount of time in Alberta, since campaign outset, shoring up the failing Tory vote in Alberta — given the record unpopularity of beleaguered Premier Jason Kenney, and his ongoing failure to responsibly address the pandemic, dating back to the inception of COVID-19 — by scaring the beejuzus out of voters for both the nascent, Alberta-based Maverick Party, which was polling at 20% in ridings outside of the urban and suburban metropolitan areas of Edmonton and Calgary, and for Maxime Bernier’s libertarian, anti-vaxxer People’s Party of Canada, which was polling at anywhere between eight and ten percent in the polls across northern British Columbia and the Prairie provinces.

Now, according to insider party polling for both the Liberals and the Conservatives, Erin O’Toole has been able to convince disaffected Tory voters that a vote for either the Maverick Party or the People’s Party of Canada is a vote for another Liberal government in Ottawa led by Justin Trudeau — who many on the right believe to be not only an apostate, but the devil incarnate himself, Tory voters as disdaining of the current Prime Minister as most progressives are of the much-reviled Donald Trump.

Unless Justin Trudeau and the Liberals can turn their lacklustre campaign around, and remind voters that their personal safety vis-à-vis government response to the COVID-19 pandemic depends almost entirely on re-electing a Liberal government — I mean, really, do you want what’s occurred in Alberta and Ontario to roll out nationally, under an Erin O’Toole administration in Ottawa, the kind of butchery we’ve witnessed down south under a Donald Trump administration, and continue to witness in Florida with Governor Ron DeSantis, or in Texas under Governor Greg Abbott?
No, I didn’t think so.
Not to mention that an Erin O’Toole administration would jettison the wildly popular national child care programme, to which eight provinces and territories have signed on, which will build hundreds of thousands of child care spaces over the course of the next five years — or what about preservation of the current Child Care Benefit programme brought in by the Trudeau government, which has reduced child poverty in Canada by 40% since 2015 — which would be cancelled by an Erin O’Toole-led government. Gonzo. Cuz Erin O’Toole and his band of regressives don’t care about families. Little wonder women are refusing to cast a ballot for the Tories.
Or how about old folks?
Only the Liberal party has a concrete plan to improve the living conditions and the safety of residents in long term care and assisted living facilities, which over the past year contributed to the deaths of more than 20,000 seniors across Canada. And why is Justin Trudeau not reminding Canadians that Erin O’Toole’s Conservative party voted against the bill that would outlaw conversion therapy, in a direct attack against the life and liberty of members of the LGBTQ community? Or the Tory plan to “limit” access to reproductive services for women living in the rural areas of Canada, access to which would be made near impossible thanks to the “conscience provisions” legislation Erin O’Toole has said he would introduce in Ottawa?
Honestly, ask yourself. Do you share Erin O’Toole’s values, do you hate members of the gender variant community, and women, seniors, children and the poor, who are struggling to get by, and lead a life of dignity?
Do you not care about these folks at all?
Then why, oh why, come late in the evening of Monday, September 20th, do you accept the prospect of an Erin O’Toole government in Ottawa, that would allow Mr. O’Toole to become Canada’s 43rd Prime Minister, offering a Stephen Harper-style return to Tory intolerance and rampant corruption.
Campaigns matter, they always matter.
And, if you feel you can do little else during the course of the current federal election, the very least that you might do as a Canadian is cast a thoughtful ballot at the polls, recognizing the impact of your vote matters, really matters. Please vote consciously, wisely and with compassion.

After a weekend break, the Curse of Politics podcast returns, with political apparatchik hosts David Herle, Scott Reid and Jenni Byrne …

The indispensable #elxn44 Curse of Politics podcast for Monday, August 23, 2021.

Music Sunday | Divorce | The Birth of Phil Collins as a Superstar

August 22, 2021MusicRaymond Tomlin

For a great long while, Genesis drummer and replacement singer to the band’s original singer, the much beloved and high revered Peter Gabriel — a progressive rock superhero, songwriter, record producer and activist extraordinaire —&#32 when he broke away from the band in 1975 to launch a solo career, Phil Collins replaced him, which proved to be a far from salutary development for the band and for Collin’s nascent career, with Collins quickly becoming a figure of widespread derision among music critics, longtime fans of the band, and most members of the general public.

Phil Collins with first wife Andrea Bertorelli and daughter Joely, circa 1979.

As if thing weren’t bad enough, in 1978 Collins went on a year-long hiatus from the band, moving to Vancouver in what would was destined to emerge as a vain attempt at repairing his marriage to Andrea Bertorelli, who had decamped from England to Lotusland, with Collins also working to maintain his relationship with his daughter Joely, an endeavour the was doomed to fail, with Collins returning to England in late 1979, at which time he went into seclusion for more than a year, despondent, near suicide and a drunk.
During his year-long period of seclusion, with regular therapy he eventually quit drinking, and at the suggestion of his therapist turned to his first love, writing music and lyrics, something he’d not done since early in his career, coming to terms with his divorce by pouring his heart out into 10 songs that eventually became his début album, Face Value, released in February 1981 on Virgin-Atlantic Records, reaching number in the charts across the globe, from the UK, U.S., Canada and Sweden to Austria, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the album certified 5-times Platinum. Not bad for a washed up and much derided musician.
Today, then, Phil Collins’ Face Value, which 40 years ago helped me to traverse the shoals of my own nasty, contemptible and painful divorce.