Category Archives: Liberal

The Liberal Party released their election platform this week. Unfortunately no part of the 82-page document explained why they didnt just do all of this instead of calling an election. But we still took the time to break down the most important items for you.

The Liberals will invest $1 billion dollars into proof of vaccine plans. But dont worry, your buddy Eddie who sold you a crappy fake id when you were 18 swears his counterfeit vaccine passport will still work.

The Liberals will establish a minimum tax rule requiring that high-income earners pay at least 15% of their income in taxes annually. According to a study that would be 15% more than they are currently paying, and 60% less than they should be.

The Liberals announced further plans to their already announced plans to combat climate change. But the platform warns that if Canadas emissions continue to rise, they may announce more plans.

First-time home buyers will be allowed to create a tax-free savings account to be used for a downpayment. No word yet on who will put the money into this account.

The Liberals will introduce stricter laws to enforce their assault weapons ban. This ban has about a 73% approval rating among all Canadians, but a 0% approval ratings among Canadians who have an ATV in camo colours and/or have invested heavily in truck nuts.

The party plans to invest billions of dollars in Canadas health care system. The majority of this will be used to protect staff from anti-vaxxers screaming at them on their way in to work, and then to treat those same anti-vaxxers when they get COVID.

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Highlights of the Liberals' election platform - The Beaverton

This is part of a series of profiles of N.W.T.'s five federal election candidates. Another will be published each day.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Michael McLeod was elected MP of the Northwest Territories in 2015, and re-elected in 2019.

McLeod is the former mayor of Fort Providence and was an MLA in the Northwest Territories Legislature for three terms, from 1999 until 2011. In his third term as MLA, from 2007 to 2011, he served as minister of transportation and minister of public works and services.

He lives in Fort Providence.

What are you campaigning on?

Our plan is to continue supports during the pandemic for families and for businesses and organizations. We want to ensure that we develop a healthy economy by creating good jobs, and jobs that are supported by training.

COVID[-19] has put a light on many areas, especially here in the North, where it shows how vulnerable some of our communities are and issues that we have to continue to work on tackling. And that's housing and health care, addictions, climate change.

I'm running for reelection because I'm proud of the work that we've done, proud of our government's record and I want to build on that record to help improve the lives of Northerners.

Do you support the call to have an election now?

You know, things were being delayed. [The budget] was passed in June, the second last day before we rose, the House rose. And we introduced it in April. So it took months and months to get it passed. And those investments should have been flowing by June, and they didn't start flowing until the summer.

So it caused a lot of challenges. And it made us very concerned that going forward, we may hit a point where we couldn't provide the support if we couldn't get all the parties onside. You would think that all parties would work a lot better together during the pandemic, but it wasn't [to be]. There werestill a lot of games being played and it wasn't going to stop.

I think [the] election had to be called at some point, and it would have been this fall. If it wasn't called in August, it would be called in September or October, or else the government would have come to a standstill for sure, and they would have forced us into an election. Everybody was saying they didn't want an election but I think most of us could see the writing on the wall.

How are you making the case for your party leader, Justin Trudeau?

Well, I think a lot of people in the North have seen the accomplishments that we've made in the last six years and are quite happy that the North is finally on the radar and they want to continue. There are people that I've heard from that are saying this wasn't a good time for an election. There are people that are saying, 'I'm not totally happy with your leader.' But for the most part, I think people are happy that the Liberal Party has a good understanding of the Northwest Territories.

What kind of commitments are you able to make on this campaign trail around those relationships [between the federal and Indigenous governments] and the path forward around this idea of reconciliation?

Over the past six years, our Liberal government has developed very strong relationships with Indigenous governments across the Northwest Territories and has been a real partner in addressing their priorities. We've established a self-government framework with the NWT Mtis Nation, which we had worked on for some time. We signed agreements with the[YellowknivesDene] First Nation, theDelne Got'ne [Government] on the remediation of [Giant Mine and the abandonedmines]near Great Bear Lake. And I want to continue on with these types of arrangements between governments and that includes the land claims and self-government agreements.

A lot of the Indigenous governments right now are really focusing on reconstituting nations. The issue of only talking about land tenure and compensation and self-government is too narrow... We need to broaden the discussion to include languages and culture and traditions and supports that will help us. It's [about] developing a nation that will be there to protect all aspects of their membership.

And we continue to make real good progress on implementing UNDRIP[the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples]and accelerating the work of the murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls[commission] through their action plan and the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission]calls to action. So there's a lot going on, but there's a lot more that has to happen.

What do you see as the important steps for your government but for northerners in particular around the recovery from the pandemic?

The issue of dealing with some of the challenges Indigenous governments are facing for settling land claims and self-government and nation building are big ones. I think that there has to be a focus on infrastructure investment...something that's been discussed quite a bit. Our cost of living is still very high here. We have a huge infrastructure deficit, especially when it comes to transportation.

Investing in accelerating climate change action is something we want to do. We want to deliver on that $10 a day childcare. We want to finish the fight on COVIDbut then continue to keep Canadians and northerners healthy by improving our health system.

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Meet the N.W.T. candidates: Liberal Michael McLeod running on gov't's record - CBC.ca

The Liberal party may be breathing a bit easier with news that its candidate in SydneyVictoria, on the northwest tip of Cape Breton, N.S., looks likely to win the riding on Sept. 20.

According to a Mainstreet survey, if an election were held today, 46 per cent of leaning and decided voters in the riding would vote Liberal, 32 per cent would vote Conservative, and 15 per cent would pick the NDP.

Incumbent Liberal Jaime Battiste won the riding in 2019, becoming the first Mikmaw member of Parliament. In this election, hes running against another Mikmaw candidate, New Democrat Jeff Ward.

The riding was created in 1996, and, the following year, New Democrat Peter Mancini won the seat, defeating Liberal Vince MacLean by more than 10,000 votes. Four years later, Liberal Mark Eyking won the riding and held it until he retired in 2019, nearly 20 years later.

When Battiste, a member of the Eskasoni First Nation, first ran in 2019, he was forced to apologize a few weeks before voting day for racist and sexist tweets hed sent years before.

In that race, Battiste faced off against Conservative Eddie Orrell, whod stepped down from his seat in the provincial legislature, where he was an MLA from June 2011 to July 2019. Hes running again for the Conservatives in an attempt to unseat Battiste.

Ward is a member of the Membertou First Nation, and serves as general manager of the Membertou Heritage Park.

The fourth candidate in the riding is Ronald Angus Barron, whos representing the Peoples Party of Canada.

The survey of 442 adults conducted from Sept. 1 to 7 was done using automated telephone interviews and online samples. The margin of error for a probability sample of this size is plus or minus 4.7 per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level.

More from iPolitics

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Liberals likely to win the Nova Scotia riding of SydneyVictoria - iPolitics.ca

Since reclaiming his position as leader of the Victorian Liberal Party, much is being discussed about Matthew Guy's past controversies.

Let's go back to 2017 when IA founder and publisher David Donovan wrote a brilliant piece on "wise" Guy's links to the Calabrian business community along with those of his Liberal Party colleagues.

NEWSPAPER HEADLINE WRITERS had a lot of fun last week when Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy was caught in a lobster restaurant with alleged mafia godfather Antonio Tony Madafferi and several other alleged crime figures. "LOBSTER WITH A 'MOBSTER'was one they came up with; another was"blunderbelly".

Anyway, Matt Wise Guy said he had no idea Tony Madafferi was going to be at the Lobster Cave. Funnily enough, this was pretty much exactly what he saidthe last time he was caught hanging out with Madafferi,at a 2013 Liberal Party campaign fundraiser bankrolled by the Calabrian-born businessman. Unfortunately, Guys Liberal Party consigliere at the Lobster Cave, Barrie Macmillan, soon blabbed to the press that Guy did, in fact, know who was going to be at the dinner. Oops!

And then it emerged that Liberal Party Dunkley branch secretary Macmillan was aconvicted criminaland beensecretly recordeddiscussing how to quietly funnel donations into the Party from these legitimate businessmen. Awkward!

Of course, all of this is a storm in a wine glass. The Liberal Party,especially in Victoria, have long been friends with certain prominent Calabrian families. It is absurd that Matthew Guy should have to go cloak and dagger into the smoky backrooms of seafood restaurants to sip Grange Hermitage and discuss matters of mutual benefit with respectablefruit shop ownerslike Madafferi.

Sure, Tony Madafferi may have been named as a suspected hitman in two coronial inquests, but he has never been charged.Arent we all entitled to the presumption of innocence?

Its important to remember The Ages apology to Madafferi from 2016:

Since March 2014,The Ageand Fairfax Media Pty Ltd have published a series ofarticles by Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Royce Millar and Josh Gordonconcerning Mr Antonio (Tony) Madafferi.The Age acknowledges that Mr Madafferiis a hard working family man who has never been charged by the police with anycriminal offence, and has no criminal convictions. To the extent that any of thearticles might have suggested the contrary,The Ageaccepts that such suggestionsare false and apologises to Mr Madafferi.

Clearly, Fairfax agrees that Madafferi is a hard-working Family man with no convictions. But nevertheless,he is still the subject ofsalacious rumour and gossipabout his alleged role in an international crime racket, involving blackmail, extortion, drug trafficking, gun-running and contract murder. How he bravely carries on in the face of this smear and calumny is astonishing. Sure, maybe a few of Madafferis associates, including his brother Frank, have been convicted of some crimes here and there, but, as Peter Dutton said about those Border Force employees the other day, they are surely just a few "bad apples".

The Liberal Partys close links with Tony Madafferi and his Calabrian friends are, in fact, simply part of its sincere longstanding commitment to multiculturalism. Indeed, the Liberal Party and the Calabrian business community are natural friends and allies. They have so much in common!

For example, the Liberal Party loves hard-working families. Well, who works harder than The Family? The Liberal Party always talk about growing the pie the Calabrians invented the pizza! The Liberal Party hates unions, while the Calabrian not-mafia demands union-free workplaces. The Liberals are open for business and the Calabrian legitimate business community love making deals why, they might even make you an offer you cant refuse!

No wonder Liberals like Guy are happy to sneak into seafood restaurants to crack some shells with Tony Madafferi and his friends, and maybe or maybe not! talk about one or two (perhaps more) small, absolutely no-strings-attached donations.

LOG JAM!Liberal insider's plot to deliver alleged Mafia donations to Matthew #Guy https://t.co/Cxd4MsR2sK @ABCNews #qt #LogGate pic.twitter.com/Fp7JP7XYhq

Independent Australia would like to rectify some of the reputational damage done to several very honest and decent Liberal Party politicians simply through association with this beset-upon minority.

So, in honour of Matthew Guy, IA here presents the top five Liberal Party friends of the Calabrian business community.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull doesnt seem to have a problem meeting with Calabrian businessmen to discuss Liberal Party donations and business opportunities.

For instance, soon after he became Opposition Leader in 2008, the now PM had a lunchtime meeting in Melbourne with Tony Madafferi and other Liberal Party donors. It was organised by Liberal MP for McMillan Russell Broadbent as so many of these sort of meetings seem to be.

Also, there was Joe Acquaro, whom Fairfax sensationally described as the:

slain gangland lawyer and Mafia associate [who] spent two decades cultivating, and donating to, senior Liberal politicians on behalf of alleged crime figures.

Acquaro was the lawyer of convicted drug trafficker Frank Madafferi, Tonys brother although he had a falling out with him subsequently. Acquaro was, sadly,gunned down in Brunswick last year after a $200,000 contract had been reportedly placed on his head.

The lawyer was in frequent contact with Turnbulls office prior to 2008, supposedly trying to sell the Government environmentally friendly lightbulbs while Turnbull was Environment Minister.

Turnbulls spokesman said Malcolm remembered the fundraiser lunch for a number of Mr Broadbent's local supporters", but did "not recall the names of Mr Broadbent's guests. The staffer however said Turnbull did recall a meeting to discuss energy-efficient lighting with a businessman who was an associate of Madafferi and Acquaro.

No details about how much money was raised at the event were disclosed.

Mafia adviser's meetings with Malcolm Turnbull, Liberal MPs...https://t.co/CTFmLHYGgK #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/Pm38T2xwz2

Former Environment Minister and current Health Minister Greg Hunt, who didnt quite make our top five wise-Guys, deserves an honourable mention at this point.

In 2005, Hunt also met Acquaro and Tony Madafferi at a private meeting with senior Liberal MPs in Parliament House. In May 2016, a spokesman for Hunt said he "had been introduced to Mr Madafferi over a decade ago".

Who introduced them? Russell Broadbent, of course.

You thought Bruce Billson was only famous because he is a former small business minister who then got a job as a business lobbyist whilst still sitting in Parliament? Think again!

Because in 2004, bubbly little Brucie, along with Defence Minister Marise Payneand (who else?) Russell Broadbent attended a fundraiser organised by Tony Madafferi after meeting with political donors linked to him.

Bruce, along with Payne and Broadbent, was also among a number of MPs who contacted then Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone in 2003 and 2004 to secure an Australian visa for Tonys violent convicted criminal brother Mad FrankMadafferi.

In 2015, Billson admitted to Fairfax that he had lobbied Vanstone on behalf of a Liberal donor and relative of Frank Madafferi who had 'deceived' him by not telling him about Franks criminal activities.

'The request made of me for assistance... was a contrived veneer covering a far darker and disturbing situation', lamented Billson.

Clearly, it was impossible for Billson to discover for himself that the reason Frank Madafferi was desperate not to return to Italy was that he had fled from there after being sentenced to multiple gaol terms for such offences as stabbings, drug crimes, gun possession, extortion and criminal conspiracy.

Bruce Billson, admitted to the contact with a Mafia-linked donor, but told Fairfax Media the man had "deceived" him https://t.co/KVZ7zs5EuD

Billson went on to say in a statement he had 'ceased contact with all parties involved and stridently expressed my bitter disappointment' to the Liberal donor.

He must have 'ceased contact with all parties involved' sometime after 23 February 2009, because thats when The Age reported that:

Bruce Billson, the Liberal MP thinks [Tony] Madafferi is a decent chap, although his interaction with the Calabrian-born greengrocer is limited to fund-raising events. "I met him at functions. He seems a nice guy," Billson says.

Frank Madafferi was charged with large scaledrug importation in 2008 and convicted in late 2009.

Defence Minister Marise Payne is also on good terms with the Italian business community.

For instance, in 2003, Senator Payne was approached at a charity function by Italian-Australian businessmen Pat Sergi, Tony Labozzetta and Nick Scali about assisting Frank Madafferi to obtain a visa.

Payne made contact twice with Immigration Minister Vanstone on behalf of Frank in 2003 and 2004.

Meanwhile, in2004, the AFP was investigating allegations from a Liberal Party insider that:

In exchange for criminal Frank Medaffery's [sic] release from Villawood detention centre and the granting of his application to stay in Australia, Liberal Party received donations from Medaffery's [sic] associates and business partners within the Italian community.

Donation records show Sergi subsequently donated to the NSW Liberal Party in March 2004 and that companies owned by furniture king Scali donated to the Liberals in March 2003 and August 2004.

LNP Mafia Connections everywhere:Furniture king Nick Scali investigated over $3m bribe allegations https://t.co/4ZEVeD0zpM

Sergi was also named in the 1979 Woodward Royal Commission as being the money launderer of alleged drug importer and mafia godfather Robert Trimbole. Several of Mr Labozzetta's relatives have been named by NSW police as suspected mafia figures.

In September 2004, Payne flew to Melbourne to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser organised by Tony Madafferi. Also there were Bruce Billson, Russell Broadbent and Immigration Minister Vanstone.

It was a good night for the Liberal Party, with at least $40,000 being donated and Tony Madafferi himself donating $15,000.

Despite the presence of Tony Madafferi and many of his associates, none of the three Liberal politicians there, who had lobbied the Immigration Minister on behalf of Frank Madafferi, norImmigration Minister Vanstone herself, recalled the visa issue being discussed at the function.

Like Billson, Payne later said she "had no knowledge, or any cause to be aware of, any criminal associations" of either Frank Madafferi or anyone who lobbied her on his behalf. Of course, none of her representations on behalf of Madafferi had anything to do with donations!

NSW Liberal Party state director Mark Neeham confirmed donations had been received from the Madafferi family but said they were not "subject to political conditions of any kind".

Perish the thought!

In 2005, then Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone, after extensive lobbying, overturned a deportation order and granted a visa in 2005 toFrank Madafferi.

Vanstone justified her decision to grant him a visa because of mental illness (his, not hers).

She said it was for humanitarian reasons:

" as a discretionary and humanitarian act to an individual with a genuine ongoing need.

Vanstone was, of course, famous for her generousdisplays of kindness in the immigration portfolio.

Or Amanda Vanstone would be good choice. She is an expert on Madafferi matters and works for the ABC. #auspol https://t.co/LOJMDRnDnJ

Six months after Ms Vanstone overturned the Madafferi deportation order, relatives and associates of the Madafferi family, including Tony Madafferi, donated at least $30,000 to the NSW Liberal Party.

Vanstones humanitarian gesture went slightly awry when, in August 2008, Madafferi was arrested and charged after the year beforethe AFP had netted the world's biggestecstasyhaul, having a street value of some $440million.

Nevertheless, presumably due to her unwavering support of the Italian community, after resigning from politics in 2007, Vanstone was appointed to be the Italian ambassador.

In 2010, she gave a work experience job in the Embassy to the son of an alleged Adelaide godfather then under investigation for drug importation.

Police later concluded that her Senate office had been infiltrated by the mafia, but not by, heaven forbid, that she was a mafia associateherself.

The name Russell Broadbent continually arises inconnection with the Calabrian legitimate business community.

Broadbent is good friends with Tony Madafferi and is happy to be photographed with him and his associates, unlike the painfully shy Matthew Guy. Clearly, Broadbent is good at raising funds for the Liberal Party from the Italian business community.

As we have seen, Broadbent was instrumental in lobbying Amanda Vanstone on behalf of Frank Maddafferi and has organised a number of fundraisers with the Italian business network over the years, including at Parliament House itself. He also separately introduced both Malcolm Turnbull and Greg Hunt to Acquaro and Tony Madafferi.

After the 2005 Hunt meeting at Parliament, Fairfax report Broadbent dining with Acquaro and Tony Madafferi, along with two of Mr Madafferi's relatives also Liberal donors in the Parliament House dining suite. Acquaro later said the meal was a "thank you" for donations to the Party.

Afterwards, Acquaro and Tony Madafferi went off and had a meeting Luigi Pochi, a convicted drug dealer named in the Woodward Royal Commission. All in a days work!

@Ageinvestigates Victorian Liberal MP Russell Broadbent hosted alleged Mafia boss Tony Madafferi https://t.co/z2vBrXxLTg

Russell Broadbent is usually shy about talking about his ties to certain successful Calabrian families, however, he did have this to say about Frank and Tony Madafferi in 2015:

As far as Frank Madafferi goes and Tony Madafferi goes, I have met them

in regard to Tony Madafferi, in regard to Tony Madafferi, I would say that if he has transgressed the law, he should face the full force of the law and be charged.

But outside of that, I would say to yourself and the rest of the community, we have the rule of law in this country. It attends to everybody.

Everybody comes under the rule of law of this country. And If you have transgressed the law, you should be charged and face the full consequences of the law. Simple as that.

Well said, Russell Broadbent. Tony Madafferi is an honest hardworking Melbourne greengrocer and everything else is mere scuttlebutt and innuendo. You should be commended for your close attention to the rule of law.

Broadbent is still a Federal MP and still working away to bridge the gap between hard-working Calabrian families and the Party. And if a small donation should happen to come his way as a result, well, surely this is just a sign of a job well done?

Well done, Russell Broadbent. You are Australias number one Liberal Party wise-Guy.

You can follow founder and publisher Dave Donovan on Twitter @davrosz. Also, follow Independent Australia on Twitter @independentaus and on Facebook HERE.

Support independent journalism Subscribeto IA.

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Flashback 2017: Matthew Guy and the 'mafia': Top five Liberal Party wise-Guys - Independent Australia

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau reveals his party's election platform in Toronto on Sept. 1, 2021. The campaign that just started is already almost over, thanks to Mr. Trudeau calling the shortest election possible.

Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

If the Liberals had their druthers, their opponent in this election would be the anti-vaccine freedom caucus. You know, those protesters who keep showing up and acting out at Justin Trudeaus events. Despite the performative handwringing by Grits and credulous TV journalists, theyve been a gift to the Liberal Leader, and he should pray they never go away.

The cameras true love is conflict, and social medias jam is polarization, so the protesters angry presence instantly turns NyQuil-strength political rallies into viral catnip.

And since only a tiny minority of Canadians share their views, if the election gets framed, even a little bit, as the Liberals versus the no-needle branch of QAnon, then the outcome is less uncertain than that of a game between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals farm teams taxi squad.

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The caravan of right-wing crackpots are, for Mr. Trudeau, a fortuitous foil. Theyre the kind of people he wants to be contrasted with, on an issue he wants to wedge. The more they protest, the more Mr. Trudeau gets to act like hes running against them.

Thing is, the main political party hes actually running against has a very different message.

Even as Mr. Trudeau insists theres an enormous gap between his policies and values and those of the Conservatives, Conservative Leader Erin OToole is trying to convince voters that, while his party is of course different from the Liberals, this time around its not too different.

Mr. OTooles approach appears to be all about presenting himself as the most progressive conservative leader since the demise of the Progressive Conservatives.

Health care? Hell up the Canada Health Transfer to the provinces by billions of dollars. Deficits? He wont balance the budget for 10 years. Also claims he can do it without cutting anything.

The environment? The Liberals have the better plan, but the distance between them and the Conservatives has narrowed. The Tory platform acknowledges climate change, aims for the Paris Accord climate targets and even accepts some carbon pricing.

Drug overdoses? Mr. OToole has moved toward the Liberals in talking about addiction as a disease, not a criminal matter. Unions? He thinks workers should have representation on some corporate boards. Animal cruelty? Hes against it.

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Abortion? Hes pro choice, and his platform contains exactly one sentence on the subject: A Conservative government will not support any legislation to regulate abortion.

Earlier this week, each of the party leaders sat down for back-to-back French-language interviews with Radio-Canada. Mr. OTooles very first words, in response to the very first question, were: Im a new leader, with a new approach. He repeated the mantra, again and again and some more, over the next half hour. He never said, Im not Stephen Harper, or Im not Andrew Scheer; he never said, and this isnt their Conservative Party. But that was the message.

Mr. OToole is trying hard not to create wedge issues. Mr. Trudeau is trying hard to find them.

He opened the election talking about mandatory vaccinations. And Mr. Trudeau is right the country needs domestic vaccination certificates, and some federally regulated jobs should come with a vaccination requirement. But as the government, the Liberals had the power to make that happen. Instead, they launched their campaign by promising to do what they could have done, but didnt. It was too clever by half, squared.

Next came abortion and guns. But the Liberal pitches once again involved trying to create a contrast with the Conservatives by promising, or re-promising, to do things they could have done in these instances years ago.

Its made for a strange campaign. Mr. OTooles platform has contradictions, because hes trying to both win swing voters and hang on to his base. Theres also the mystery of whether the uncosted Conservative platform adds up. The Liberals might make advances by treating voters as adults, and digging into all that.

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But the campaign that just started is already almost over, thanks to Mr. Trudeau calling the shortest election possible. The last day to vote is just two-and-a-half weeks away, and millions will cast their ballots sooner than that. Its a sprint, and the Liberals are fast running out of track.

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What is this election about? The Liberals are still working on it - The Globe and Mail

Sep 4th 2021

SOMETHING HAS gone very wrong with Western liberalism. At its heart classical liberalism believes human progress is brought about by debate and reform. The best way to navigate disruptive change in a divided world is through a universal commitment to individual dignity, open markets and limited government. Yet a resurgent China sneers at liberalism for being selfish, decadent and unstable. At home, populists on the right and left rage at liberalism for its supposed elitism and privilege.

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Over the past 250 years classical liberalism has helped bring about unparalleled progress. It will not vanish in a puff of smoke. But it is undergoing a severe test, just as it did a century ago when the cancers of Bolshevism and fascism began to eat away at liberal Europe from within. It is time for liberals to understand what they are up against and to fight back.

Nowhere is the fight fiercer than in America, where this week the Supreme Court chose not to strike down a draconian and bizarre anti-abortion law. The most dangerous threat in liberalisms spiritual home comes from the Trumpian right. Populists denigrate liberal edifices such as science and the rule of law as faades for a plot by the deep state against the people. They subordinate facts and reason to tribal emotion. The enduring falsehood that the presidential election in 2020 was stolen points to where such impulses lead. If people cannot settle their differences using debate and trusted institutions, they resort to force.

The attack from the left is harder to grasp, partly because in America liberal has come to include an illiberal left. We describe this week how a new style of politics has recently spread from elite university departments. As young graduates have taken jobs in the upmarket media and in politics, business and education, they have brought with them a horror of feeling unsafe and an agenda obsessed with a narrow vision of obtaining justice for oppressed identity groups. They have also brought along tactics to enforce ideological purity, by no-platforming their enemies and cancelling allies who have transgressedwith echoes of the confessional state that dominated Europe before classical liberalism took root at the end of the 18th century.

Superficially, the illiberal left and classical liberals like The Economist want many of the same things. Both believe that people should be able to flourish whatever their sexuality or race. They share a suspicion of authority and entrenched interests. They believe in the desirability of change.

However, classical liberals and illiberal progressives could hardly disagree more over how to bring these things about. For classical liberals, the precise direction of progress is unknowable. It must be spontaneous and from the bottom upand it depends on the separation of powers, so that nobody nor any group is able to exert lasting control. By contrast the illiberal left put their own power at the centre of things, because they are sure real progress is possible only after they have first seen to it that racial, sexual and other hierarchies are dismantled.

This difference in method has profound implications. Classical liberals believe in setting fair initial conditions and letting events unfold through competitionby, say, eliminating corporate monopolies, opening up guilds, radically reforming taxation and making education accessible with vouchers. Progressives see laissez-faire as a pretence which powerful vested interests use to preserve the status quo. Instead, they believe in imposing equitythe outcomes that they deem just. For example, Ibram X. Kendi, a scholar-activist, asserts that any colour-blind policy, including the standardised testing of children, is racist if it ends up increasing average racial differentials, however enlightened the intentions behind it.

Mr Kendi is right to want an anti-racist policy that works. But his blunderbuss approach risks denying some disadvantaged children the help they need and others the chance to realise their talents. Individuals, not just groups, must be treated fairly for society to flourish. Besides, society has many goals. People worry about economic growth, welfare, crime, the environment and national security, and policies cannot be judged simply on whether they advance a particular group. Classical liberals use debate to hash out priorities and trade-offs in a pluralist society and then use elections to settle on a course. The illiberal left believe that the marketplace of ideas is rigged just like all the others. What masquerades as evidence and argument, they say, is really yet another assertion of raw power by the elite.

Progressives of the old school remain champions of free speech. But illiberal progressives think that equity requires the field to be tilted against those who are privileged and reactionary. That means restricting their freedom of speech, using a caste system of victimhood in which those on top must defer to those with a greater claim to restorative justice. It also involves making an example of supposed reactionaries, by punishing them when they say something that is taken to make someone who is less privileged feel unsafe. The results are calling-out, cancellation and no-platforming.

Milton Friedman once said that the society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. He was right. Illiberal progressives think they have a blueprint for freeing oppressed groups. In reality theirs is a formula for the oppression of individualsand, in that, it is not so very different from the plans of the populist right. In their different ways both extremes put power before process, ends before means and the interests of the group before the freedom of the individual.

Countries run by the strongmen whom populists admire, such as Hungary under Viktor Orban and Russia under Vladimir Putin, show that unchecked power is a bad foundation for good government. Utopias like Cuba and Venezuela show that ends do not justify means. And nowhere at all do individuals willingly conform to state-imposed racial and economic stereotypes.

When populists put partisanship before truth, they sabotage good government. When progressives divide people into competing castes, they turn the nation against itself. Both diminish institutions that resolve social conflict. Hence they often resort to coercion, however much they like to talk about justice.

If classical liberalism is so much better than the alternatives, why is it struggling around the world? One reason is that populists and progressives feed off each other pathologically. The hatred each camp feels for the other inflames its own supportersto the benefit of both. Criticising your own tribes excesses seems like treachery. Under these conditions, liberal debate is starved of oxygen. Just look at Britain, where politics in the past few years was consumed by the rows between uncompromising Tory Brexiteers and the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.

Aspects of liberalism go against the grain of human nature. It requires you to defend your opponents right to speak, even when you know they are wrong. You must be willing to question your deepest beliefs. Businesses must not be sheltered from the gales of creative destruction. Your loved ones must advance on merit alone, even if all your instincts are to bend the rules for them. You must accept the victory of your enemies at the ballot box, even if you think they will bring the country to ruin.

In short, it is hard work to be a genuine liberal. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, when their last ideological challenger seemed to crumble, arrogant elites lost touch with liberalisms humility and self-doubt. They fell into the habit of believing they were always right. They engineered Americas meritocracy to favour people like them. After the financial crisis, they oversaw an economy that grew too slowly for people to feel prosperous. Far from treating white working-class critics with dignity, they sneered at their supposed lack of sophistication.

This complacency has let opponents blame lasting imperfections on liberalismand, because of the treatment of race in America, to insist the whole country was rotten from the start. In the face of persistent inequality and racism, classical liberals can remind people that change takes time. But Washington is broken, China is storming ahead and people are restless.

The ultimate complacency would be for classical liberals to underestimate the threat. Too many right-leaning liberals are inclined to choose a shameless marriage of convenience with populists. Too many left-leaning liberals focus on how they, too, want social justice. They comfort themselves with the thought that the most intolerant illiberalism belongs to a fringe. Dont worry, they say, intolerance is part of the mechanism of change: by focusing on injustice, they shift the centre ground.

Yet it is precisely by countering the forces propelling people to the extremes that classical liberals prevent the extremes from strengthening. By applying liberal principles, they help solve societys many problems without anyone resorting to coercion. Only liberals appreciate diversity in all its forms and understand how to make it a strength. Only they can deal fairly with everything from education to planning and foreign policy so as to release peoples creative energies. Classical liberals must rediscover their fighting spirit. They should take on the bullies and cancellers. Liberalism is still the best engine for equitable progress. Liberals must have the courage to say so.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "The threat from the illiberal left"

See original here:

Political thought The threat from the illiberal left - The Economist

Liberal candidate Jesse McCormick is focusing his campaign on the top three issues facing the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo: climate change, COVID-19 and Indigenous reconciliation.

As a lawyer, McCormick has worked closely with the government, including on Parliament Hill with Catherine McKenna, minister of environment and climate change, and David Lamettei, minister of justice and Canadas attorney general.

I have spent most of my career working to advance Indigenous Reconciliation, environmental protection and finding that appropriate balance with natural resource development, McCormick said. Im very well versed in that intersection between natural resources, environmental law and policy and the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples.

McCormick said the 2021 wildfire season has underscored the importance of addressing climate change, and said he intends to fight for a national solution. On a more local level, McCormick said he would also advocate to ensure the region has enough healthcare workers and recovers economically from the COVID-19 pandemic.

If re-elected, the Liberals plan to invest $3-billion to hire 7,500 doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses over the course of four years and forgive more student debt to attract young practitioners to rural communities, he said. Promoting vaccinations is key to allowing the economy to recover, he added.

READ MORE: Federal election jostling begins

A newcomer to Kamloops his wife works as an ER physician at the Royal Inland Hospital McCormick said he decided to run to improve the lives of everyday people in the riding and be a voice for them in Ottawa. A long-time Liberal, in 2019, he ran for MP in Ontarios Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding, where he said he came in a glorious second place.

I have a strong belief in the guiding values of the Liberal Party and also the competence of the Liberal Party to actually follow through and implement the policy measures that are being proposed.

These policies include the Liberal Partys climate change policies, the recently announced affordable housing plan and $10 a day child care. McCormick asserts that the Liberal governments records attest to their ability to successfully implement these plans.

McCormick grew up in London, Ont. as a member of the Anishinaabe people. Before becoming a lawyer, he said he learned the value of a hard days work by working as a labourer, dishwasher and Zamboni driver. He pledged to work with constituents on finding solutions.

The best part of the job (is connecting with voters). In the context of the campaign, its knocking on doors, sitting down with businesses, reaching out to mayors and taking the time to understand the issues and challenges being faced by the Kamloops-Thompson Cariboo, McCormick said. Most importantly its the conversations you have every day with community members about what issues theyre facing and what they think are the best solutions.

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Liberal candidate wants to be voice for the region 100 Mile House Free Press - 100 Mile Free Press

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By Deb Schulte, Special to Postmedia Network

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The pandemic tragically highlighted serious and long-standing challenges in Canadas long-term care sector. Canadians are rightly concerned about the level of care and protection provided for their loved ones. Now is not the time for half measures; its time for real change.

The Conservative plan for long-term care will squander this opportunity to provide needed help for seniors.

Better care for those living in long-term care starts with improved conditions for workers. Although the Conservatives propose to double the Canada Workers Benefit, it wont help most personal support workers whose incomes are above $32,244, the average for most nurse aides and orderlies. It wont incentivize people to start careers as personal support workers.

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In effect, the Conservative plan fails to address instability in a sector dominated by women, over a third of whom are immigrants.

While the Conservatives say that they want to invite the provinces to work with us to develop a set of best practices for long-term care, this duplicates work already underway by experts at the Health Standards Organization (HSO) and CSA Group.

When Conservative Leader Erin OToole was asked about funding for long-term care, he pointed to his promise to increase the Canada Health Transfer. But the Canada Health Transfer is a general fund that can be used for any health-care initiative, such as clearing backlogs.

The only way for the government of Canada to make permanent changes in this sector is by working cooperatively with provinces and territories, who have the constitutional jurisdiction to regulate long-term care. That requires finding common ground backed by significant, targeted federal investments.

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The Liberals have a strong record of working cooperatively with their provincial and territorial partners and have a new $9 billion plan that will deliver better care for Canadians in long-term care.

It starts by improving working conditions and raising wages for personal support workers. They are the heroes on the frontlines taking care of our loved ones.

Too many have precarious jobs in multiple homes and do not earn enough to get by on. This drives turnover and increases infections as workers spread outbreaks between homes.

A re-elected Liberal government will work with provinces and territories to ensure personal support workers receive a wage of at least $25 an hour. To address the workforce shortage, we will invest $500 million to train up to 50,000 new personal support workers.

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Over the last 20 months, weve seen how standards without enforcement fail to protect workers and residents. So we will work with our partners to introduce a Safe Long-term Care Act that ensures standards of care are upheld across the country. It will be informed by the work of the HSO and CSA.

During the pandemic, we saw the virus spread through multi-bed rooms and outdated ventilation systems.

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A re-elected Liberal government would invest a further $3 billion to provide major renovations in long-term care homes and improve the quality and number of beds.

All this adds to the almost $5 billion we have invested since the pandemic started for infection prevention and wage increases for low-income essential workers.

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Finally, seniors want to stay in their own homes as long as possible as they age. The Canadian Institutes of Health Informationreportsthat as many as one in nine seniors in long-term care could have been cared for at home with the proper supports.

Liberals have a plan to help more seniors age at home.

We will double the Home Accessibility Tax Credit, providing an additional $1,500 for renovations to make seniors homes more accessible. We will create a new Multigenerational Home Renovation tax credit to help families add a secondary suite to their home so a family member can live with them. And the new Age Well at Home initiative will fund practical supports that connect low-income and vulnerable seniors with help for tasks they are no longer able to manage.

In 2022 we are renegotiating homecare agreements with provinces and territories to improve access to homecare and transitions to long-term care or palliative care.

Everyone living in long-term care deserves safe, dignified and quality care. Only the Liberals offer an ambitious, achievable plan to get there.

Deb Schulte is the federal Liberal candidate for King-Vaughan and the Minister of Seniors.

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SCHULTE: Liberal plan hits the target for real change in long-term care - Toronto Sun

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court told George W. Bush that fighting a global war on terrorism did not entitle the president to evade or ignore the requirements of the Constitution. That decision, Boumediene v. Bush, would go down in the books as one of the most significant modern rulings against wartime government power. "We'll abide by the Court's decision," Bush said. "That doesn't mean I have to agree with it."

What if Bush did not abide by the Court's decision? What if Bush said the Court was dead wrong and that his administration would not be bound by its erroneous judgment? What if subsequent presidents followed Bush's lead and ignored the Court whenever their own favored policies happened to lose?

Such what ifs are the driving force behind Justice Stephen Breyer's timely and important new book, The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics (Harvard University Press). The 83-year-old Supreme Court justice is well aware that many modern liberals want President Joe Biden to pack the Court and create a new liberal supermajority. Breyer thinks those liberal court packers are being both dimwitted and shortsighted. "Think long and hard," Breyer warns them, "before embodying those changes in law."

Court packing is a naked power grab and an attack on the independence of the judiciary. It is a tit-for-tat race to the bottom. One party expands the size of the bench for nakedly partisan purposes, so the other party does the same (or worse) as soon as it gets the chance. Breyer understands this. He also understands something else: If the authority of the Supreme Court is trashed and squandered by court packing, then liberalism itself is going to suffer in the long run.

Let history be our guide. President Andrew Jackson flatly ignored the Supreme Court's 1832 decision in Worcester v. Georgia, which ruled in favor of Cherokee control over Cherokee territory. Jackson later sent federal troops to forcibly remove the Cherokee people via the infamous Trail of Tears. The rule of law suffers when the political branches ignore the judiciary's judgment.

Breyer worries that today's liberal court packers are going to severely undermine judicial authority and pave the way for the next Andrew Jackson. "Whether particular decisions are right or wrong," Breyer writes, "is not the issue here." The issue "is the general tendency of the public to respect and follow judicial decisions, a habit developed over the course of American history." One of the biggest risks of court packing is that it will reverse that general tendency.

Just imagine what American history would look like without basic political and public support for the Court's decisions, Breyer writes. What "would have happened to all those Americans who espoused unpopular political beliefs, to those who practiced or advocated minority religions, to those who argued for an end to segregation in the South? What would have happened to criminal defendants unable to afford a lawyer, to those whose houses government officials wished to search without probable cause?"

Or take your pick of hot-button modern issues. If the court packers wreck the Court, as Breyer fears that they will, what's to stop an antigay marriage legislature from banning gay marriage, despite the Supreme Court's clear 2015 ruling to the contrary in Obergefell v. Hodges? Is that the future that liberals want?

Breyer's message is clear and convincing: The court packers should be careful what they wish for.

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Stephen Breyer Makes the Liberal Case Against Court Packing - Reason

August 31, 2021 | Portman Difference

In a new op-ed for the Columbus Dispatch, Senator Portman argues that the Democrats proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill will send inflation soaring and undermine Americas long-term economic growth.

Immediately after taking office, President Biden teamed up with Congressional Democrats to jam through a $1.9 spending bill, leading to the largest price increases in more than a decade and the highest inflation rates in the past 30 years. Portman explains that if Democrats succeed in enacting their reckless $3.5 trillion tax and spending spree, the impact will be far worse. The American people can expect rapidly rising inflation, slower economic growth, and higher taxes.

Excerpts of the op-ed can be found below and the full op-ed can be found here.

'Liberal wish list' will add fuel to the inflation fire

By U.S. Senator Rob Portman

Columbus Dispatch

The increased inflation rates the Federal Reserve calls transitory show no signs of slowing, and middle-class families are feeling the squeeze.

Consumer prices rose 5.4% in July, the highest in 13 years.

Food prices are up 3.4%, and Americans are paying 42% more for gasoline and used cars than they did just one year ago. The Producer Price Index saw even higher inflation at 7.8%, the highest on record.

...

The Democrats plan to spend another $3.5 trillion on a liberal wish list of social spending priorities will make things worse, further stalling economic growth and leading to even higher rates of inflation than weve seen so far.

What makes this proposal even more concerning is Democrats want to pay for it by including the largest tax increases in history. It would increase taxes on American workers, businesses large and small, farmers, manufacturers, and much more. This increased spending combined with job-killing tax increases could lead to stagflation - low growth and high inflation - that we have not seen since the 1970s.

Instead of pursing partisan and divisive tax and spend proposals, I would encourage both parties to take a moment and remember the strong economy we had before COVID-19.

The Democrats $1.9 trillion stimulus back in March and the Federal Reserves unprecedented monetary policy intervention combined to light the match on inflation. The last thing our economy needs now is the unprecedented tax increases and massive new social spending represented in the Democrats budget resolution leading to next months reconciliation bill.

At a time when we should be working to slow inflationary pressures, the Democrats $3.5 trillion plus tax and spending spree would only add fuel to the fire.

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Portman Columbus Dispatch Op-Ed: 'Liberal wish list' will add fuel to the inflation fire - Senator Rob Portman