Andrew Scheer and Maxime Bernier

It's a bit funny I had a post in mind how well Andrew Scheer was doing. Just keeping quiet. Save your good stuff, hold it back, wait for the election campaign. A wise man keepeth his own counsel. Let Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh stumble and bumble along, stay out of that.

Well so much for that. Scheer's conservative rival Maxime Bernier has now left the Conservatives and launched his own political party. Well that sucks for Scheer. As the saying goes, with Bernier, "It’s better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in." Well now Bernier is outside the tent.

It's too bad. Bernier has a lot of supporters and very nearly won the race to succeed Stephen Harper as Conservative leader. Honestly I didn't pay much attention to the Conservative leadership race and I didn't appreciate distinctions between the candidates. Though what I've learned of Bernier these last few weeks has made a positive impression. Pure laine Québécois. An energetic, patriotic Canadian who actually defended Canadian identity and culture (by insisting that Canadian culture is itself a real thing, which means that there is some optimum amount of multiculturalism beyond which we should not pass).

The thing about dairy and supply management. meh w/e to me. I don't have a strong opinion on it one way or the other. It would be nice if milk was less expensive in the stores. Still, individual dairy farms and the supporting industry around them are vital to rural life. There is a goodness about the rural/agriculture/industrial economy. I guess supply management has always been there as long as I've been alive. There is a lot of inertia around it. Maybe it has run its course. People will still buy and drink milk. There will still be cows and farms. So again I'm fine either way with whatever the Prime Minister wants to do with supply management in dairy.

It is unfortunate Scheer couldn't keep Bernier in the fold. The Conservative party has to actually be conservative. It has to stand for something. The feel-good situation with media darling Rona Ambrose when she was interim leader. Gleefully embracing gay marriage and trans- everything. That wasn't right for an unelected interim leader Ambrose to make major policy changes.

Scheer has said he tends toward Stephen Harper for philosophy. For some Scheer is seen more as a Patrick Brown type, offering some kind of Trudeau-lite alternative, tweaks here and there, the checkboxes can go, a bit less virtue signaling on twitter, more competent administration. While Bernier is perceived more the Doug Ford type, wanting to aggressively repeal and rollback the Trudeau agenda.

So what might unfold. If we take Bernier at his word then it's a lot like the Reform Party situation a generation ago. The "real" conservatives left the Progressive Conservative party they felt had abandoned them and started their own party. One result was several Jean Chrétien majorities. Though it was eventually successful. Terms were negotiated, the Conservative party was forged from Reform/PC, Stephen Harper became Prime Minister and had a strong run.

So is Bernier right, are we today back at the PC/Reform divide? Is the current Ambrose/Scheer Conservative party hopelessly lost, unwilling to be unpopular with a leftist establishment media, seeking only to be in office and the personal gains of being in power.

We will see I guess. One result is that Trudeau is suddenly in better shape for the next election. If Bernier's new party becomes a real thing then their votes would come from largely the existing Conservative and to a lesser extent disaffected Liberal voters. That could make things difficult for Scheer. I think a realistic plan for Scheer before all this was the Stephen Harper playbook when faced with a Paul Martin majority.

• hold Trudeau to a minority in 2019
• Scheer wins minority in the next election
• Scheer wins majority in the next election

alas all of that is up in the air now. Trudeau could well slide to a majority in 2019 from Bernier's success. Maybe interesting times after that.

Nova Scotia novice hockey half ice games

Nova Scotia novice hockey now half ice games. The reasoning at link.

Well I don't agree with it. I've seen half ice novice first hand. Hockey is supposed to be about the players. Remember the old Timbits slogan the first rule is to have run.

So the players, the 7 and 8 year olds. Remember the players? The young players unquestionably want full ice games. period. full stop. I'm concerned this will put some young players out of hockey.

Where did I get my data about what the players want? first hand, that's where. about 12 years ago there was a lack of full ice play. some young players were discouraged, even some of the advanced players were finding hockey to be a chore. back then some corrections and adjustments were made (unfortunately the season was essentially over, but it was a good gesture) and there was an emphasis again on games and full-ice games like the players wanted.

Half ice hockey is not a swap substitute for full ice. to the players it feels like practice, drills. the kids are fine with practice and understand they need to work on hockey skills development. but they practice to get ready to play in the real games. there has to be the proper balance between practice/skills and actual game play.

I get the arguments for half ice. at the time years ago parents were told in full ice the average novice player has 8 seconds of puck on stick time per game. and yes better novice players sometimes can just skate away with the puck. yet that is what the players want, full ice play. they are willing to get up for 6 AM practice for that 8 seconds a game when the puck is on their stick.

Minor hockey players at all levels need to develop puck protection, passing, receive pass. still I feel forced half ice is losing the forest for the trees. like spending the whole season at practice and never actually playing a game. practice, drills, and skills development is fine. but there has to be balance between practice and play.

There can be a perception among some novice parents that there is overemphasis on identifying and developing elite players. also statistically just as many strong players will quit as mediocre players if the hockey experience is not enjoyable with the proper balance of practice and games.

I would suggest a sensible compromise would be every second game half ice. the rest full ice. though the decision of the right balance of half ice/full ice games at novice should be made at the local rink by the local coaches. they are closest to the situation. these coercive mandates from on high from Hockey Nova Scotia and Hockey Canada are wrong.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. make the information and data available to the novice coaches about half ice. listen to the novice players. and then trust the coaches to find the right mix that is best for the young players.

Canada Saudi Arabia Diplomatic spat

In the news lately there is a fight between Canada and Saudi Arabia. It seems to have started with a couple twitter jabs from Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

KSA responded by throwing a haymaker. Expelling the Canadian ambassador. Dumping Canadian securities. Recalling 15,000 Saudi students studying in Canada. Suspending new trade. Trade embargo on Saudi oil to Canada and Canadian wheat to Saudi Arabia. A $15 billion military contract for Canada to supply Saudi with light armoured vehicles may now be in doubt. Saudi may be holding onto that one for now for leverage. or they may wait until the election campaign to cancel it calculating to cause maximum damage to Freeland and her boss Justin Trudeau.

My first impression of the whole thing is what an unforced error it is. This whole situation was instigated by unprovoked reckless tweets by Freeland against Saudi Arabia.

The foreign minister of a middle power ought to be aware that diplomacy is about being diplomatic. and words matter in diplomacy, a lot.

If there is a problem or concern then be diplomatic. Raise your concerns privately, quietly, respectfully, through the proper channels. So publicly calling out KSA on twitter. using inflammatory and pejorative terms such as "immediate release". appearing to side with opponents of the regime. It was a crass unnecessary cheap shot by Freeland against KSA. At some level Saudi was right to be offended and to hit back.

maybe KSA and Canada are not exactly close allies but there was certainly a friendly working relationship between the nations. Saudi medical doctors received training in Canada, Saudi patients received medical care here. Canadian contractors, oil engineers, and nurses have worked in KSA for decades. There was normalized trade and diplomatic relations between the nations. it was in everyones interest to maintain a positive working relationship. We don't have to agree on everything, especially internal matters in each nation.

as foreign minister Freeland ought to have known that KSA can be thin-skinned, and prone to overreaction. this completely avoidable situation demonstrates her incompetence.

Margaret Thatcher noted back in the 1970s certain middle powers such as Canada and Sweden sought to strut on a larger international stage. Twitter in its way is a leveler. Allowing middle powers to feel they are the equals of the great powers. KSA shows that having a blue checkbox on your twitter does not make a great power out in the real world. Trump/USA can more afford to be antagonistic. Trump has the aircraft carriers, the nukes, the industrial economy to back up his tweets. Trudeau/Freeland not so much.

yes this is an overreaction by KSA. Perhaps a signal to other nations to stay out of public comment on internal Saudi affairs. For other nations, KSA may be holding far more of their debt, currency, or market assets, or they may be highly reliant on importing Saudi oil. A sudden disorderly Saudi unwinding of financial assets or oil supply interruption might be a far more difficult situation than what Canada is experiencing. A similar thing happened in 2015 Sweden got out of line with virtue signalling and KSA and were punished for it.

There was a public service in all this. Thank you KSA for reminding us again that 9/11 was a Saudi branded attack. 15 of the 19 terrorists were Saudi. The leader and financier of the attack bin Laden is Saudi. And nice visual touch showing the passenger airplane flying into the CN tower. Freudian slip. Good to know where your heart is KSA. You don't just lead the world in the export of oil.


The thing about the Federal cabinet is. Some cabinet posts matter and some don't. It's critical to have capable people leading the key departments that are important
Department of National Defence
Finance
External Affairs
Justice

The other posts, environment, status of women, department of abortion checkboxes, minister of scheduling attendance at gay pride parades, whatever. You can fill out your gender quota with whoever for those jobs. let them feel-good virtue signal on twitter to the activist and feminist base and it's all sunny ways. But the cabinet jobs that are important require competence.

Christia has fumbled the external affairs post and should be moved to a less prominent role. Perhaps Candadian Heritage would be good for Freeland considering Chrystia Freeland's heritage.

Glad to see Chris Hardwick back

Chris Hardwick looking good on America's Got Talent last night. I'm glad to see him back. I always liked him from the Walking Dead and Better Call Saul.

I'm glad justice seems to have prevailed for Chris. He's always seemed like a good guy. From the original story I guess if there's a lesson, then if you're somebody and you're a man, keep copies of everything, all your old emails and texts. Looks like good record keeping may get Harvey Weinstein off, and it greatly helped Jian Ghomeshi too. Though I'd hardly lump Hardwick in with Weinstein and Ghomeshi, these cases have shown it can be helpful to have a definitive record of what actually happened long ago. Nothing like the truth from the time to counter some self-serving oral recollection of events from years later.

What's comical about the allegations is that they were basically justified. If Chris is a recovering alcoholic then it is completely reasonable to mandate no alcohol in the home or when out together. If Chloe objected to the terms of the relationship then she was free to end the relationship and go drink her face off.

For the restrictions on Chloe. As it turns out the restrictions were right. because it seemed if Chris took his eye off her, when Chloe did go out by herself, she cheated on him. Chris was right to place restrictions to inhibit her ability to cheat. Again if she had a problem with the terms of the relationship, if Chris said no to an open relationship, then Chloe was free to end the relationship and leave. She could make her own way in life or find someone else's paycheques to live off who was more open minded.

Chloe Dykstra comes across as a horrible person. They broke up 2014. Chloe why didn't you say something 4 years ago if there was a problem. lol and it was Chris that dumped her after she cheated on him. Then Chris rejected her when she begged him to take her back. Handy having those old texts still.

By celebrity standards, or the WAGs at Chris Hardwick level, Chloe Dykstra is not much to look at. I'd never heard of her. At her peak she was maybe F list as Chris' girlfriend and her own negligible career. Today at Z list she tried to play some bogus MeToo card on Chris to catapult herself back up to the F or D list. Not happening Chloe. Bye Felicia.