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All federal party leaders maintain they dont want an election in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic but the Conservatives appear to be pursuing a strategy that could give the Liberals justification for calling one.

Liberals are accusing the Conservatives of systematically blocking the governments legislative agenda, including bills authorizing billions in pandemic-related aid and special measures for safely conducting a national election.

The Conservatives counter that the Liberals have not used the control they have over the House of Commons agenda to prioritize the right bills; other parties say both the government and the Official Opposition share the blame.

Theyre playing politics all the time in the House. Its delay, delay, delay and eventually that delay becomes obstruction, the Liberals House leader Pablo Rodriguez said in an interview.

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Its absurd. I think its insulting to Canadians and I think people should be worried because those important programs may not come into force because of the games played by the Conservatives.

He pointed to the three hours last week the Commons spent discussing a months-old, three-sentence committee report affirming the competence of the new Canadian Tourism Commission president.

That was forced by a Conservative procedural manoeuvre, upending the governments plan to finally start debate on the pandemic election bill, which contains measures the chief electoral officer has said are urgent given that the minority Liberal government could fall at any time if the opposition parties unite against it.

A week earlier, MPs spent three hours discussing a committee report recommending a national awareness day for human trafficking something Rodriguez said had unanimous support and could have been dealt with in a second.

That debate, also prompted by the Conservatives, prevented any progress on Bill C-14, legislation flowing from last falls economic statement with billions in expanded emergency aid programs and new targeted aid for hard-hit industries.

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That bill was introduced in December but stalled at second reading, with Conservative MPs talking out the clock each time it did come up for debate. After eight days of sporadic debate more than is normally accorded for a full-fledged budget, Rodriguez noted Conservatives finally agreed Friday to let the bill proceed to committee for scrutiny.

Conservative Leader Erin OToole has argued that modest debate is warranted on C-14, which he maintains is aimed a fixing errors in previous rushed emergency aid legislation.

Last December, the Conservatives dragged out debate on Bill C-7, a measure to expand medical assistance in dying in compliance with a 2019 court ruling.

For three straight days last week, they refused consent to extend sitting hours to debate a motion laying out the governments response to Senate amendments to C-7, despite a looming court deadline that was extended Thursday to March 26.

Conservatives note they offered the previous week to extend the hours to allow a thorough debate but the government waited five days before tabling its response to the amendments.

For Rodriguez it all adds up to a pattern of obstruction aimed at blocking the governments legislative agenda.

Procedural machinations are commonly used by opposition parties to tie up legislation. But Rodriguez argued its inappropriate in a pandemic when people are dying by the dozens every day.

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If the government held a majority of seats in the Commons, it could impose closure on debates. But in the current minority situation, it would need the support of one of the main opposition parties to cut short debate something its not likely to get.

In a minority Parliament, Rodriguez argued, all parties share responsibility for ensuring that legislation can at least get to a vote.

But Conservative House leader Gerard Deltell lays the blame for the legislative impasse squarely on Rodriguez.

The government House leader has failed to set clear priorities, and has therefore failed to manage the legislative agenda, he said in a statement to The Canadian Press, adding that my door is always open for frank and constructive discussions.

Bloc Quebecois House leader Alain Therrien agrees the Liberals have mismanaged the legislative calendar and must take their responsibilities. But he doesnt exempt the Conservatives.

He said their obstruction of the assisted-dying bill and another that would ban forcible conversion therapy aimed at altering a persons sexual orientation or gender identity is deplorable.

These are files that require compassion and rigour. It is inexcusable to hold the House hostage on such matters, Therrien said in an email, suggesting that OToole is having trouble controlling the religious right in his caucus.

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As far as NDP House leader Peter Julian is concerned, both the Liberals and Conservatives are trying to trigger an election.

We believe that is absolutely inappropriate, completely inappropriate given the pandemic, given the fact that so many Canadians are suffering, he said in an interview.

Julian accused the Liberals of bringing forward unnecessary legislation, like the election bill, while vitally important bills, like one implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and another on net-zero carbon emissions, languish.

The Liberals intention, he said, is to eventually say there must be an election because of all these important things we couldnt get done. And the Conservatives seem to want to play into this narrative by blocking the bills the government does put forward.

Veteran Green MP Elizabeth May, however, agrees with Rodriguez, who she says must be at his wits end.

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What I see is obstructionism, pure and simple, she said in an interview.

She blames the Conservatives primarily for the procedural tomfoolery but accuses both the Bloc and NDP of being in cahoots, putting up speakers to help drag out time-wasting debates on old committee reports.

Its mostly the Conservatives but theyre in league, May said.

They are all trying to keep anything orderly from happening that might possibly let the Liberals say weve accomplished a legislative agenda. Whether the bills are good, bad or indifferent is irrelevant in this strategy.

2021 The Canadian Press

See more here:
Could gummed up bills in the House of Commons trigger a federal election? - Global News

Editors note: This letter is in response to the letter, Elfers views dont reflecrt Enumclaw, published Feb. 4.

Mr. Arnold believes there are more conservatives than liberals in Enumclaw, and he is most likely right. Since he believes that to be true, he feels that the Courier-Herald should quit featuring Rich Elfers column in the paper.

This is what I have witnessed all of my life regarding conservative values: Conservatives think homosexuality is wrong so they would ban it; they think there is no such thing as gender identity issues so that issue should just go away; they think abortion is wrong so it should be banned also if youre noticing a trend here, youre right.

If conservatives dont approve of something, they want to outlaw it, ban it, kill it or get rid of it in some way. Liberals, on the other hand, believe conservatives should be allowed their opinions, even though they may strongly disagree with them. They dont believe that family, marriage and community are necessarily conservative values. They dont promote homosexuality, they allow homosexuals to live their lives. They dont promote open marriage, they simply think that your marriage is, none of their business. They dont promote abortion on demand, they believe that a woman should have the right to make decisions about her own body and her own life.

Conservatives seem to want to control a lot of things about our private lives, all the while saying that big government is bad and should stay out of our lives. They dont want government to tell them how to run their businesses, they just want to control everything about our private lives that they find offensive.

Liberals want our government to control the overreach of businesses and use the powers of government to help all of our citizens, not just the very rich and the very white. Liberals subscribe to the part of the preamble to the Constitution that states, promote the general welfare. When our government does that, we are all better off, liberals and conservatives alike.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw

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The difference between conservatives and liberals - Enumclaw Courier-Herald

Northwest Florida Daily News

It has bothered me for some time why so many believe that President Trump is the cause for the divide in this country as President (?) Biden says every chance he gets.

Ifyou look at what has happened in this country for the past 12 years, it is clear to see it has been the liberals that have caused this divide starting with immigration and racism and now with the COVID virus.

More: Have an opinion? Submit a Letter to the Editor

More: LETTER: Seniors pleased with vaccine distribution

If you want to control a people/country, you need to control its communication.This the liberals have been doing for 12 years. We dont get news from the major TV networks or from AP;what we do get is liberal opinions.

Liberals have fought like mad to let any number of immigrants into this country because they turn into liberal voters. Nearly everything that President Trump says is racist according to liberals, however, all you have to do is look at history and you can see that it was Liberals/Democrats who tried keep blacks from voting in the early 1900s.

President Trump increased the number of blacks and Hispanics who voted for him this term, which increased his overall number of voters from 2016, yet liberals got even more votes, so they say;how can that be? We all know why, but there was no realeffort to check the voting machines or those working them.

Ironic.

Marv McKinley,Shalimar

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LETTER: Trump isn't the problem, it's the liberals - The Northwest Florida Daily News

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Rural-urban divide threatens to polarize politics in Canada

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The rise of political polarization in the United States ought to be a salutary lesson for Canadians. We must be more vigilant of such conditions taking root in our own country.

Theres evidence in fact that they already are in the form of a growing urban-rural divide. This potential fault line will require greater attention and care from Canadas political class.

Although polling shows that urban and rural Canadians actually share many common views on matters of economics, culture and society, there are key differences on a handful of issues including the state of the economy, climate change, immigration and diversity, values and tradition and trust in government.

These differences are notable for a couple of reasons. The first is that they reflect competing views and perspectives on major societal tensions between optimism and anxiety, dynamism and stagnation and openness and closedness. These are a set of issues that arent necessarily conducive to a positive-sum politics.

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The second reason is related: these urban-rural differences are manifesting themselves in polarized voting patterns. The Liberal party is increasingly a city party and the Conservative party is mostly a country party and there isnt much overlap between the two. One just needs to look at the electoral map to see the growing divergence between what has been described as the politics of demography versus the politics of geography.

Take the 2019 federal election, for instance. The median population density for the 157 Liberal ridings was more than 38 times higher than that of the 121 Conservative ridings. If one ranks the 338 federal ridings by population density, the Conservative party was shutout of the 50 densest ridings and the Liberal party similarly underperformed in those with fewer than 100 residents per square kilometer.

These political outcomes may indeed be inherent to the set of issues that increasingly divides urban and rural Canadians. One is either for or against carbon taxes or for or against higher levels of immigration or for or against more traditional sensibilities. There isnt much scope for political parties to be responsive to one group of voters on these fundamental questions and still able to build support among those living in other parts of the country.

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The net effect is to produce a set of political incentives that tilts against broad electoral coalitions that cut across urban-rural lines and instead entrenches a partisanship of place that can be difficult to break out of.

The question, of course, is: what can we do about it?

A big part of the answer lies with political parties relaxing the strict ideological and communications parameters that theyve come to place on local representatives. Requiring each candidate to fully conform to a comprehensive set of national policy positions irrespective of whether theyre minor partisan priorities or have political salience at the regional or local level exacerbates these place-based trends. It precludes our politicians from bringing expression to the unique experiences, perspectives and values of local constituents.

The upshot: theres increasingly less ideological diversity within Canadas political parties than in various other advanced democracies. The intra-party Brexit tensions among Conservatives and Labourites, for instance, is basically unfathomable in the Canadian context.

Our political parties need to open themselves up. They should loosen rigid discipline and generally avoid strict litmus tests for prospective candidates.

This doesnt mean they ought to stand for nothing. Of course, political parties should expect candidates to affirm their core principles and policies. But otherwise there should be scope to deviate on individual issues in the name of better local representation.

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This would ostensibly involve the Liberal party opening up their nominations to more conservative-leaning candidates in rural ridings and the Conservative party permitting more progressive-leaning candidates to stand for election in urban ridings. This may seem like a radical idea to hard-core ideologues, but it should be viewed as a win-win for the rest of us: it would not just improve the parties prospects of winning local races, but it would also ultimately make our political system more responsive and representative.

Moving in this direction will require changes to how we do politics. Political parties must devolve more power to local riding associations. Party leaders will need to permit Members of Parliament to break from party orthodoxy in a broader mix of policy and political disputes. The news media will need to resist the temptation to treat every instance of political or policy entrepreneurship as a major controversy that shows evidence of weak leadership or caucus upheaval. Everyone has a role to play in fortifying our politics from rising polarization.

Recent evidence from the United States demonstrates how important such efforts are. We must commit ourselves to preventing these growing urban-rural fault lines from fracturing our politics and society. This imperative transcends ideology or partisanship. Its ultimately a project of ongoing unity and social cohesion.

National Post

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Sean Speer: Conservatives and Liberals are too ideological and it is hurting democracy - National Post

Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs Cancun fiasco proves once again that todays journalists are not lazy theyre crooked.

Dont get me wrong, the liberal media had every right to pounce and seize and weaponize on the tone-deaf move by Cruz. After all, the Harvard Law grad and his sad rolling suitcase handed the mainstream media a massive dunk. But Cruzs micro-trip to Mexico set off the kind of journalistic curiosity we havent seen since the bombshell droppedthat Trump likes ketchup on his steak.

After reading headlines about Dr. Jills scrunchies and President Bidens Mario Kart escapades, you might have assumed that these left-wing activists had lost their edge. Wrong. These blue check marks are as sharp and inquisitive as ever as long as theyre reporting on a Republican.

Michael Hardy, from New York Magazine, even went to the senators home and came up with a hard-hitting story titled, Ted Cruz Flees Texas for Cancun, Ditches Family Poodle.

If you read that headline and inferred that Cruzs dog was abandoned well, good. That is exactly what Hardy was going for. Unfortunately, a few paragraphs into the column, he is forced to break the disappointing news to his readers: No, the pooch known as Snowflake Cruz was not left alone to fend for himself.

As I approached to knock, a man stepped out of the Suburban parked in Cruzs driveway. Is this Senator Cruzs house? I asked. He said it was, that Cruz wasnt home, and identified himself as a security guard. When asked who was taking care of the dog, the guard volunteered that he was. Reassured of the dogs well-being, I returned to my car.

Wow, we need more heroes like Hardy. He doesnt just hate Cruz, he loves dogs. Can you say Profiles in Courage? Now if only these activists could transfer some of their passion from the Bichon Frise beat over to the White House press briefings.

From the looks of the timing in regard to both Hunter Biden and Andrew Cuomo, the media runs a solid four to 10 weeks behind on a Democrats scandal. Any damaging news that is first published in conservative outlets has to go through a good vetting (spiking) period before it lands on the desks of Jake Tapper or Rachel Maddow.

Even when these salacious stories eventually make their way to the mainstream media, dont expect them to go all in.

For instance, on Thursday night ABCs World News Tonight spent almost four minutes on Cruzs optics fail. They only talked about Andrew Cuomos nursing home scandal and subsequent investigation for 55 seconds.

If you think that coverage is bad when it comes to early-to-bed Joe, the press is working overtime. The media doesnt just turn a blind eye to Bidens mistakes, they actively cover them up.

During a CNN Town Hall, when Biden said that the vaccine was not available when he came into office, The Washington Post resident fact-checker Glenn Kessler immediately started spinning.

Rather than simply call out Biden for the blatant lie, Kessler tweeted, It was a verbal stumble, a typical Biden gaffe, as he had already mentioned 50 million doses being available when he took office. Ex-Trump officials should especially cool the outrage meter, as it just looks silly.

Outrage advice from the same guy who compared Trumps 2016 transition team to Game of Thrones. How rich.

By the way, the members of the Ministry of Truth will now refer to Joe Bidens lies as verbal stumbles or gaffes.

But these left-wing outlets exhibit the most bizarre behavior after they commit, as the late and great Rush Limbaugh once coined it, a random act of journalism.

For example, Axios tweeted a video of Vice President Kamala Harris telling Michael Allen that the Biden administration was starting from scratch in regards to vaccine distribution. But whoever runs the Axios Twitter account must have forgotten the publications loyalties and romantic ties to Team Biden, because beneath the video they added, At a press conference last month, Fauci said we certainly are not starting from scratch on vaccine distribution.

The next day, after the tweet managed to garner some less-than-perfect press for Harris, Axios deleted the post.

They later reposted the same interaction, this time without including the context of Faucis rebuttal.

It is amazing the lengths these reporters will go to protect their dear leaders.

The media can dig deep into a scandal when the offender is a conservative like Ted Cruz. But when the truth looks rough for liberals, these Woodward wannabes stop digging and start burying.

Read more:
Curley: Ted Cruz vs. Andrew Cuomo coverage says it all about liberal media - Boston Herald