Bernier's In; The Games Begin

I am joyful to hear that the Independent Leaders’ Debate Commission has agreed to let Maxime Bernier into its two debates. The ones that Justin Trudeau, too, has agreed to. Now we get to hear all sides.

To be sure, the big winner here is in theory Justin Trudeau, as it splits his opposition on the right. But that is not a legitimate consideration.

The important thing is that Bernier represents a distinct point of view which would otherwise have been excluded from consideration. That is profoundly bad for democracy. Objectively, I believe his People’s Party did meet the criteria set: candidates running in 90% of ridings, and at least two candidates with a legitimate shot at winning. If this can even be judged this far out.

To be honest, I personally agree with his views. But aside from that, Jagmeet Singh had actually publicly demanded that Bernier be suppressed: that he should be kept out of the debate whether he met the criteria or not, on the grounds that his views were “divisive and hateful.”

This cannot be tolerated in a democracy or a free country. Under these circumstances, excluding Bernier would have looked like endorsing this poisonous view.

Nobody has the right to decide for the general public what they should or should not think. But for the record, to any reasonable person, there is nothing either divisive or hateful in Bernier’s public positions; he came within a whisker, after all, of heading the Conservatives, Canada’s founding party. It would be profoundly sinister to ban him from the debates on these grounds.

And, not incidentally, Singh’s NDP, by contrast, regularly promotes hatred towards identifiable groups: independent businessmen, the well-off, white males, Americans, Trump supporters, and so on. In doing so, it is also deliberately divisive: its pitch is to sectarian interests as a matter of standard policy: “identity politics.”

In all fairness, Singh ought thereby to have excluded himself from the debates. His dishonesty or lack of self-awareness here is staggering.

Now that Bernier is in the debates, I think he has real breakout potential. Although this may help Trudeau, I think Trudeau is the probable winner in any case. When SNC-Lavalin broke, I was sure petite patate was finished. But God seems to have wanted otherwise, splitting the vote on his left between the NDP and the Greens. That should hand the Rouge a fistful of extra seats.

Scheer presented well at the Maclean’s debate. Yet I think his middle-of-the-road approach is ineffective in elections any more. If you dislike Trudeau’s policies, why vote for the Tories, if they offer the same policies? If you find Trudeau incompetent, why turn to someone less experienced? It is a great pity Bernier is not the Tory leader. The one angle on which Scheer can run is on the impression that Trudeau and the Liberals are corrupt. I think that is a tough sell; JT looks incompetent and panicked rather than corrupt.

In any case, for the sake of a full debate, we need to hear from Mad Max.