Pierre Poilievre offers right-wing populism to the Conservatives.
Will they take him up on it? 

Althia Raj - National Columnist

• Canada
•  March 2, 2022
 

Canada’s Conservative party is changing. The question is whether it goes down a right-wing populist path — as Republicans south of the border have with Donald Trump — or whether it takes a centrist approach to appeal to a wider audience. In many ways, that question reveals the cracks in the nearly 20-year-old marriage of convenience between the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance, one that risks ending up in a nasty divorce.

The only declared candidate, Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre, is a polarizing figure with a “take no prisoners” attitude. He recently called Europe’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shockingly “weak,” embraced the so-called “Freedom Convoy,” and called COVID-19 public health measures a purposeful attempt by governments “to try and take away our freedom and give themselves more power.”

In the past, Poilievre has attacked the media, made derogatory comments about Indigenous peoples, left the door open to a niqab ban in the public service, and broken the election law. Elected at age 25, the career MP is a forceful opposition critic who has railed against elites, placed the blame for rising inflation and house prices at the feet of the Liberals, and promised more energy projects. His campaign launch through a social media video on Feb. 5 garnered more than seven million views on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. At least 26 Conservative caucus members have endorsed him.

Those who haven’t hope for a more mature candidate with a unifying message.

That’s what former Quebec premier Jean Charest, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and political commentator Tasha Kheiriddin want to offer. All three are current outsiders, and all hail from the Progressive Conservative side of the party.

Charest started his political career in 1984 under prime minister Brian Mulroney. He will meet with Conservative MPs — most of whom know little about him — on Wednesday in Ottawa. On Monday, Quebec’s anti-corruption unit (UPAC) ended its eight-year probe into allegations the Quebec Liberal party engaged in illegal financing when Charest was at the helm. It’s a welcome gift that clears the way for his candidacy.

Not that it will be a walk in the park. Jenni Byrne, Poilievre’s strategist, laid out the attacks against Charest on Twitter, describing him as a “Liberal who campaigned against [prime minister] Stephen Harper,” “supported the long-gun registry, raised taxes, brought in a carbon tax & worked for Huawei while the Chinese Govt detained kidnapped Canadians.” Her offensive led to an ugly public dispute on Sunday with Charest organizer and Tory MP Alain Rayes.

Brown, a vocal opponent of Quebec’s Bill 21, was a Conservative MP from 2006 until 2015, when he became leader of the Ontario PCs. Before resigning over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he strenuously denies, he sought to expand the Ontario party’s tent by supporting carbon pricing and reaching out to ethnic communities.

Kheiriddin has never held elected office, but she is well known, bilingual, and has no baggage.

Their decisions about whether to enter the leadership contest depend on the rules of the game — which could be announced as early as Wednesday. Poilievre’s camp wants a June vote and a membership cut-off of mid-May, sources said, giving any opponents little time to organize. His challengers would benefit from a longer race, with more time to sell memberships to newcomers and more time to be heard by existing members.

Charest and Brown will likely need to change the current makeup of the party — around 200,000 members — if they are to succeed. The Tories pick leaders through a weighted ranked ballot, in which every riding with more than 100 members is worth 100 points. Unless Poilievre were to win a majority on the first round, a race that includes Charest, Brown and Kheiriddin could see any of them benefit from each other’s supporters.

Poilievre is already courting down-ballot support from social conservative favourite Leslyn Lewis, the Conservative MP for Haldimand—Norfolk. Independent York Centre MPP Roman Baber, a staunch opponent of COVID-19 restrictions, is also contemplating a run.

Back in 2017, Andrew Scheer was elected leader as the compromise candidate, supported by social conservatives, Quebec dairy farmers and members who didn’t trust Maxime Bernier. In 2020, Erin O’Toole was also the compromise candidate, acceptable to social conservatives, and less centrist than Peter MacKay. In 2022, Poilievre is modelling himself as that candidate. But it’s unclear that the parts of the party he’s already alienated — namely the Quebec branch and those uncomfortable with his courtship of People’s Party supporters — will be willing to unite behind him once this race is over.

In choosing a leader, the Conservatives must ask themselves what their winning formula will be —do they want to take votes from Bernier’s far-right party or from Justin Trudeau’s Liberals?

Althia Raj is an Ottawa-based national politics columnist for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @althiaraj

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March 1: ‘If Pierre Poilievre becomes Conservative leader, I will never vote for them.’ More candidates emerge, plus other letters to the editor

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Letters to the editor: March 1: ‘If Pierre Poilievre becomes Conservative leader, I will never vote...

In today’s letters to the editor: sanctions against Russia; vaccine mandates; the Emergencies Act; the Conservative leadership; nuclear energy

 

‘There’s a lot of uncertainty among students': Concern grows as U of L faculty strike reaches day 18

Outstanding issues between the two sides include pay and benefits, academic freedom and some departments at the school being restructured.

Jayden Wasney
CTV News Lethbridge Video Journalist
Published March 1, 2022

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. -

The University of Lethbridge’s faculty association (ULFA) has filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the University of Lethbridge. The complaint alleges that the school's board of governors have refused to bargain seriously during their current round of negotiations, which began in 2020.

The complaint put forth by the ULFA states that the board of governors has been engaging in "surface bargaining," which means a party has shown up to the table, but has refused to engage seriously with the other party's proposals, and in some cases, refusing to bargain at all.

“That is the strongest evidence you could ask for to see of a board of governors and an administration that has completely forgotten how you treat faculty and students with respect,” said ULFA president Dan O’Donnell.

The university however counter-claimed that it was the ULFA that recently refused repeated invitations to meet with the board of governors.

O’Donnell said that claim is false.

“The University of Lethbridge Faculty Association has never refused an invitation to the table in two years,” said O’Donnell.

“The same cannot be said of the board of governors side, and since the beginning of the lockout, the board of governors has received multiple unconditional invitations from ULFA.”

Outstanding issues between the two sides include pay and benefits, academic freedom and some departments at the school being restructured. The uncertainty of when classes will resume is only making matters worse for students as frustration grows.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty among students for graduating, for earning credits, for earning grades,” said student union president Holly Kletke.

“Lots of students take this semester to apply to grad school or scholarships and awards, so this puts a lot of uncertainty among students, but we’re doing everything we can to ensure both sides get back to the table.”

Kletke added that the students' union has a plan in the works to try and get both sides back to the bargaining table in the coming days, as the uncertainty of the strike is also creating mental health concerns among students.

“Having this thrown at us right now is the worst time for students' mental health,” said student Kayla Walker.

“We were just getting organized with COVID, me especially, I was just kind of getting my ball rolling after the new year, things were going to go back after COVID, and the stress of this I think is unmatched from anything else in my life.”

One student at the U of L who has received mental health training from the Mental Health Commission of Canada is offering her support and advice to students who are struggling.

“Since the strike has started we've gotten a lot of reports of students turning to substance use for example, and of course this falls during a pandemic at which point our mental health is already been questioned, and mental illness is definitely being exacerbated here,” said student Priyanka Dutt.

“I think what it comes down to is knowing your peers are available to support you, and while the institution might not be showing you that they care, your peers, colleges, faculty and I are all here for you.”

CTV reached out to the University of Lethbridge for comment about the unfair labour practice complaint. The university stated that "the ULFA’s recent complaint is without merit, and is unlikely to facilitate a productive return to bargaining."

On February 3rd, the university filed a bad faith bargaining complaint against the faculty association, claiming they derailed negotiations by withdrawing from salary discussions and reopening issues previously resolved.

Unfair Labour Practice complaint filed against the U of L

ULFA members on the picket line outside the U of L February 18, 2022. 

Photo: LNN

By Cathy Gibson
Feb 28, 2022 | 5:37 PM

Lethbridge, AB. — *Updated information with U of L’s response.*

The University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) says it has filed an Unfair Labour Practice complaint with the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) against the University of Lethbridge Board of Governors.

In the complaint, the ULFA alleges that the U of L Board has refused to bargain seriously throughout the current round of negotiations. The ULFA accuses the U of L Board of what it calls “surface bargaining” — which is when a party shows up at the negotiating table, but refuses to engage seriously with the other party’s proposals.

In a news release dated February 28, 2022, the ULFA stated that, “According to the complaint, the University Administration has engaged in a concerted and ongoing effort to avoid genuine and productive bargaining with the Association…'”

The ULFA alleges that the U of L Board of Governors falsely accused the union of refusing to meet to negotiate. The ULFA says it has never refused to meet with the U of L Board during this round of negotiations, and it says the Board has actually refused in writing to meet with the ULFA on three different occasions since the job action started.


ULFA members went on strike February 10, 2022, and the University locked out faculty members the following day. The ULFA has been without a contract since June 2020.

READ MORE: University of Lethbridge faculty on strike

READ MORE: University of Lethbridge lockout begins

“It is the students that suffer most,” said ULFA President Dan O’Donnell. “We are not the only university in Alberta suffering under budget cuts and a secret government mandate. And yet when it comes to settling our differences and keeping students in classes, only the University of Lethbridge Board of Governors seems unable to make the hard but fair choices that are required to get our students back to class.”

READ MORE: U of L says striking faculty need to make concessions

READ MORE: U of L students join professors on the picket lines

The ULFA complaint asks the ALRB to provide four years of annual financial statements and to require the two sides to meet under the oversight of a provincial mediator.

“It may be that this is the only way we’ll be able to reach [an] agreement,” said ULFA bargaining team member, Joy Morris. “It’s worked everywhere else. After two years of spinning our wheels, it’s time we get this settled and start catching up on the semester.”

University of Lethbridge statement in response to the ULFA’s complaint filed with the Alberta Labour Relations Board:

“ULFA’s recent complaint before the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) is without merit and is unlikely to facilitate a productive return to bargaining.

We continue to seek a negotiated settlement at the collective bargaining table.

We look forward to the union’s participation in productive discussions that reflect the impacts of our provincial funding cuts, and the fundamental need for financial stability.”

READ MORE: ULFA strike drags on

READ MORE: U of L and Lethbridge College lose millions in funding

U of L students host sit-in protest as faculty association strike continues

Eloise Therien 

A couple dozen students could be seen occupying a University of Lethbridge hallway on Monday and Tuesday in demonstration. They were protesting the continued impasse in labour negotiations at the post-secondary institution.

© Eloise Therien / Global News University of Lethbridge students began sit-in protests outside administration offices on Feb. 28 amid the ongoing faculty association strike.

They brought posters and signs in support of faculty, setting up camp outside administration offices in University Hall.

"We have our own voice and we're going to use it," said Amy Mendenhall. "We're using it right now."

Mendenhall is a fourth-year Indigenous Studies student who feels frustrated with the pace of negotiations. The strike began on Feb. 10, and students were supposed to resume in-person learning on Monday.

"We have tried everything up to this point to get attention," Mendenhall explained. "We went to an open (board of governors) meeting where they put down our hands, we have (written) letters, we have tweeted at them. We have done everything we can."

Video: Post-secondary schools discuss negotiation differences as U of L strike continues

According to students, they were approached by security on Monday for being too loud after they had been playing music and chanting.

Mendenhall said they then "toned it down".

"If they feel disrupted, well, welcome to the club."

The U of L issued a statement saying students have a legitimate right to protest, asking staff not to interrupt their demonstrations.

"As these activities unfold our community has a shared responsibility to respect these rights of students, in an atmosphere of mutual respect," the statement read.

On Tuesday, a resolution was no closer at hand. Both the administration and the ULFA engaged in finger-pointing, with administration saying the biggest contention is around money, while the faculty association claims the most contentious issues that remain are equity, transparency, and shared decision-making.

Read more:
Expert warns CUEFA strike could lead to more job action by faculty associations in Alberta

Both sides are accusing the other of refusing to return to the negotiating table.

The stalemate lead the ULFA to file an unfair labor practice complaint against the board of governors on Monday.

“It may be that this is the only way we’ll be able to reach agreement,” ULFA bargaining team member Joy Morris said. “It’s worked everywhere else. After two years of spinning our wheels, it’s time we get this settled and start catching up on the semester.”

Video: University of Lethbridge student solidarity groups show support for faculty association amid job action

"It proposes solutions to how we think we can get out of this impasse," ULFA president Dan O'Donnell added. "These are solutions that we know work because they've worked at every other university in the country. That's why we are the only university that has still got its students not in class."

However, the University of Lethbridge telling Global News the "recent complaint before the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) is without merit and is unlikely to facilitate a productive return to bargaining.

"We continue to seek a negotiated settlement at the collective bargaining table."

The U of L added it has been impacted by provincial funding cuts and looks forward to productive discussions with the union that reflect the impacts of the fundamental need for financial stability.

‘We demand you get back to the table’: Students call for action to end U of L faculty strike

Jayden Wasney
CTV News Lethbridge Video Journalist
Updated March 1, 2022 

Students at the University of Lethbridge held a sit-in protest outside the school’s administrative offices on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022.

Dozens of students held a sit-in protest outside the University of Lethbridge's administrative offices on Monday in an attempt to get the school and faculty members back to the bargaining table amid an ongoing labour disruption.

The strike has been going on for 17 days, and on Monday, the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the Board of Governors, alleging that the board has refused to bargain seriously during their current round of negotiations.

The complaint alleges that university administration “has engaged in a concerted and ongoing effort to avoid genuine and productive bargaining with the association," and has "continuously engaged in surface bargaining tactics throughout this round of negotiations."

Members of the U of L's Student Solidarity and Action Council say they're tired of waiting for answers.

Approximately 30 students took part in the Monday afternoon sit-in.

“We’re not even asking, we demand you get back to the table and settle this now,” said Karina Almeida from the Student Solidarity Action Council.

“We are tired, we are over it, and this is not what any of us agreed to, and not what any of us paid for. The professors are what makes our school great, we need them back.”

“We’re going to be here until they get back to the table," said Amy Mendenhell from the Student Solidarity Action Council.

"They haven't listened to us. They've ignored us. They are now putting all of us at risk, so I need them – the Board of Governors – to start acting like adults and do the job they get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do, or step down and let somebody else do it."

Student Morgan Bowie says she worries about how the strike impact students who aren't from Lethbridge, who are paying for housing.

“I currently live on campus in one of the residence buildings, but my housing contract, I’m cancelling it after this week, because if classes are staying online there’s no point in me staying down here," said Bowie.

“It was really heartbreaking because I made some friends down here, and I’ve made a whole life down here, only to find out I have to move home.”

Third-year student Meghan Rennie joined Monday’s student sit-in because she feels the strike is taking a toll on the mental health of students, hers included.

"I’d compare it to the same amount of uncertainty we felt at the beginning of the pandemic," Rennie said. "Having to contend with that global pandemic, I’ve been actively thinking about how that has occurred, and been using that to try to support my mental health."

The University of Lethbridge says students have every right to express their views about the ongoing strike, and that they are doing everything they can to engage in serious negotiations with the ULFA.

Ukraine, Fossil Fuels, Bill McKibben, & You

Fossil fuels make the Earth unfit for human habitation. So why don’t we stop using them?

By Steve Hanley
Published2 days ago

When history books are written 100 years from now (assuming there are still any people around to write them), February 2022 will be described as a “watershed moment.” The invasion of Ukraine by a deranged Russian lunatic is not specifically about fossil fuels, but it will mark the time when humans decided whether to abandon them and live or embrace them and die.

Make no mistake. We are no different than the monkeys locked inside glass cages in New Mexico and forced to breathe diesel exhaust fumes by researchers paid by Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes Benz to “prove” that the crud pouring out of the tailpipes of diesel-powered vehicles did no harm to living creatures. In case you don’t recall that particularly horrific and disturbing news, here’s a link to the video.

YouTube is happy to make videos debunking climate science freely available, but has deemed this video too disturbing for younger viewers. God forbid our children should know the truth! [Note: the video is a recreation of what took place in that lab in Albuquerque. No actual footage of the experiments is publicly available.] Just imagine it is you inside that enclosure and not some lower life forms, known to the researchers as NHPs — non-human primates. In fact, thanks to fossil fuel pollution, the difference between us and those monkeys is very slight indeed. The cage we are in is bigger, but the pollution pouring into it is pretty much the same.

Bill McKibben Says End Fossil Fuels

In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that warned of the dangers of pesticides. That book led to a ban on DDT and some other chemicals. Bill McKibben suggests the furor over Ukraine could actually spark the same sort of wholesale turning away from fossil fuels. In an opinion piece for The Guardian, he argues that the world should use this moment to massively increase the manufacture and installation of solar panels and wind turbines. He draws an analogy to America in World War II, when it converted its manufacturing sector to building planes, tanks, and ships on a scale never before seen in history. He writes,

In the last decade, scientists and engineers have dropped the cost of solar and wind power by an order of magnitude, to the point where it is some of the cheapest power on Earth. The best reason to deploy it immediately is to ward off the existential crisis that is climate change, and the second best is to stop the killing of nine million people annually who die from breathing in the particulates that fossil fuel combustion produces. But the third best reason — and perhaps the most plausible for rousing our leaders to action — is that it dramatically reduces the power of autocrats, dictators, and thugs.

Imagine a Europe that ran on solar and wind power: whose cars ran on locally provided electricity, and whose homes were heated by electric air source heat pumps. That Europe would not be funding Putin’s Russia, and it would be far less scared of Putin’s Russia — it could impose every kind of sanction, and keep them in place until the country buckled. Imagine an America where the cost of gas was not a political tripwire, because if people had to have a pickup to make them feel sufficiently manly, that pickup would run on electricity that came from the sun and wind. It would take an evil-er genius than Vladimir Putin to figure out how to embargo the sun.

The point is this. Fossil fuels are degrading the environment. They are the primary cause of rising sea levels, droughts, extreme heat, raging wildfires, and melting ice caps. And yet, despite the mountain of evidence against them, humans persist in using them because it’s easy. Modern civilization is made possible by the energy created from burning fossil fuels. People cannot imagine living any other way.

And yet, the waterwheels that powered the early days of the Industrial Revolution are all gone. The steam engines that displaced them are gone as well. Yet the global economy expanded exponentially following their demise. Imagine the infinite possibilities for humanity that virtually unlimited electrical power from renewables will make possible! Rather than being frozen by fears that the era of fossil fuels will end, we should be rushing headlong into a future that promises abundant clean energy.

McKibben adds,”We should be in agony today — people are dying because they want to live in a democracy, want to determine their own affairs. But that agony should, and can, produce real change. (And not just in Europe. Imagine not having to worry about what the king of Saudi Arabia thought, or the Koch brothers — access to fossil fuel riches so often produces retrograde thuggery.) Caring about the people of Ukraine means caring about an end to oil and gas.”

The Energy Independence Thing

Within hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fossil fuel industry was in full-throated cry, demanding more drilling, more pipelines, more climate killing emissions! Instead of recognizing the damage done, the endless wars fought for oil and gas, the ceaseless parade of murderous lunatics — Idi Amin, Mohammed bin Salman, Mu’ammar Al-Qadhdhāfī, Bashar al-Assad, Saddam Hussein, and Vladimir Putin, to name just a few — and the dire economic impacts of wildly fluctuating energy prices, many want the world to tighten its embrace of fossil fuels.

The American Petroleum Institute was fast out of the gate with demands to increase fossil fuel production. It played the energy independence card just hours before the first Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine, calling on President Biden to “ensure energy security at home and abroad” by allowing more oil and gas drilling on public lands, extending drilling in US waters, and slashing regulations. “At a time of geopolitical strife, America should deploy its ample energy abundance — not restrict it,” said Mike Sommers, the chief executive of API. He added that Biden was “needlessly choking our own plentiful supply” of fossil fuels.

Renewables For Freedom!

A patient goes to the doctor and says, “It hurts when I do this.” The doctor says, “Stop doing that.” We know the harm fossil fuels do. We know renewables can improve the energy independence of America and every other country by flooding the grid with cheap, plentiful electrical power. We know fossil fuels are degrading the environment. We know we don’t want flooded cities, polluted ground water, or raging forest fires. So why would be continue doing the things that got us into this mess in the first place? If we know it hurts people and the environment when we burn oil, gas, and coal, why don’t we stop doing that?

“Expanding oil and gas production now would do nothing to impact short term prices and would only accelerate the climate crisis, which already poses a major threat to our national security,” said Lena Moffitt, chief of staff at Evergreen Action, tells The Guardian.

Bill McKibben says if America could ramp up the production of tanks, planes, and ships in a matter of months, it could do the same with manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines. So why isn’t it doing that? Why is it held hostage to the demands of people who choose to drive gas pigs that the price of gasoline be kept unnaturally low?

A fellow by the name of Socrates once said, “The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” It’s time to build the new, which is a world powered by clean, locally produced electricity. If we do not, those history books may never get written, because there will be no one left alive to write them.