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New Canadian Politics Thread

MindzEye said:
Adscam was tiny (monetarily) and didn't blow over. Harper had a pile of scandals blow over (in & out, bernier leaving classified files at his girlfriends place...a woman with heavy ties to quebec bikers, Afghan detainees handed over knowingly for torture..and Harper refusing to turn over documents pertaining to what was known about the issue, then proroguing parliament to avoid parliamentary investigations into the incident). It's weird considering the one that didn't blow over (his senate appointees playing fast and loose with expenses) was easily the most minor of the Harper scandals.

Canadians are weird that way.
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I think it's kind of similar to the lifespan the Ontario Liberals enjoyed.

It's hard for a single scandal to take down a government, especially if the government won't play ball with the opposition and agree that it's a scandal, like Paul Martin did with adscam.

But when a government accumulates a large enough number of scandals over a large enough period of time, that does finally seem to register with the electorate, and gets then to develop enough fatigue with the governing party that they'll vote in whatever warm body looks to have the best shot at "throwing the bums out".

That phenomenon is what Justin Trudeau & Doug Ford owe their current jobs to, IMO.
 
yeah, Canadians vote their governments out after death by a thousand cuts. the thousandth cut may be no worse than the prior 999, but for whatever reason we reach a tipping point where people have had enough. and I really don't think the federal Libs are at that tipping point quite yet.

especially cause of Scheer and Jagmeet.

of course, in the news today, David Lametti, the new AG, doesn't rule out the charges being ultimately dropped...
 
always love a good scandal, but i'm getting the feeling that conservatives or overstepping on this one.
 
That’s an option he has. Lavalin lobbied hard and I assume spent big money to have that become an option. Though at this point if the Director of Public Prosecution goes that route, it will be fuel for the opposition parties to use.
 
lost in all this are the merits of deferred prosecution agreements. there is a compelling argument to be made that a DPA is in everyone's best interests. of course, there is a compelling argument in favour of prosecution too.

and more importantly, the PMO shouldn't be ordering the AG around for political reasons.

the irony now is that the Libs are screwed no matter the outcome. if the director of public prosecutions does use a DPA, everyone will scream political interference. and if they go ahead and prosecute SNC-Lavalin, either they get an acquittal, a big let down for all involved on the govt side, or a conviction, which seriously threatens the viability one of Quebec's largest corporations (assuming their pleas are not hyperbolic).
 
What makes it a bit stickier is that SNC-Lavalin was that SNC-Lavilin was a major lobbyist for getting the DPA included and passed in one of the omnibus bills. They probably spent a lot of time and money lobbying for the DPA. The optics for the government of dropping the charges in favour of a fine make it seem like they did interfere but if the case goes to court and SNC are found guilty that opens a whole new set of problems, especially in Quebec, for the Liberals.

:facepalm I didn’t see Waywars DP’s post
 
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Altair said:
I don't think she resigns simply to A) keep her mouth shut, or B) to stay in the liberal party.
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in the statement she says she is discussing options with counsel about what information she can release...

so yeah, there's likely more to come.
 
Altair said:
I don't think she resigns simply to A) keep her mouth shut, or B) to stay in the liberal party.

Also may be reading too much into it, but not a single word of that letter said anything about Trudeau.
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Trudeau probably did not directly try to pressure her. The suggestion is that she was being pressure but someone in the PMO.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
she might go all Judas on Justin to save her own ass
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Save her ass?

So far she looks like an angel in all of this, resisted political pressure to interfere in the judicial system, got demoted as a result and resigned from cabinet after the PM said her being in his cabinet means that she still had his back.

What does she need to save her ass from?
 
Saving your ass can also mean make yourself look good.

She was also beginning to be seen as possibly a bad ass to staff, went through what 3 chiefs of staff in 3 years, was not seen as a team player etc. This way she comes out looking good, can rat out someone in PMO without implicating the PM etc

She will go Judas, that much is obvious.
 
so much leeway in the concept of being "pressured".

she has to hope that there are no other good reasons for her to have been moved.
 
zeke said:
so much leeway in the concept of being "pressured".

she has to hope that there are no other good reasons for her to have been moved.
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I think the pressure must have been play ball or you won't be in this position next cabinet shuffle.

She didn't play ball and got demoted.

Anything that come out now will only be seen as the PM or PMO being petty.
 
Altair said:
I think the pressure must have been play ball or you won't be in this position next cabinet shuffle.

She didn't play ball and got demoted.

Anything that come out now will only be seen as the PM or PMO being petty.
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a) she'll have to show that pretty clearly, and not just conversations sounding out the pros and cons of the situation and how it might impact that party with voters;
b) she'll have to hope that the other side can't show some other good reasons for shuffling her out of that position.
 
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