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Liberals making up voting rules as they go

Your favorite football is tied in the fourth quarter, poised for a big upset of the home team.

Suddenly the officials announce a rule change. Your team will get the ball on their own 5-yard line, with only one chance to score from there. The home team will get the ball on your teams 2-yard line, with 10 chances to score.

Not fair, you yell.

Favorite baseball team is poised to win the World Series, tied in Game 7 in the ninth inning. Suddenly, umpires announce that your team will get one out in their last at bat, while the other team will get 10 outs in their last at bat. Not fair.

Favorite basketball team is close to winning the final NCAA game, when the officials stop the game with five minutes to play, and wheel out new baskets. Your teams will be slightly larger than the ball, while the other teams will be the size of a large trash container. Not fair.

Sound ridiculous? Cant change the rules of these games anytime you feel like it?

No kidding, but isnt this exactly what liberal Democrats are trying to do with their filibuster rule changes and laws to totally turn voting regulations topsy turvy? Why not?

They do believe the constitution is a liquid document, to be bent, re-configured and interpreted any way that fits their agendas.

Joe Maschue

Altoona

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Originally posted here:
Letter to the editor: Liberals making up voting rules as they go - Altoona Mirror

OTTAWA According to a new report from Oxfam, the worlds ten richest men have seen their wealth double during the pandemic while most of the worlds population saw their incomes reduce. In Canada this same pattern exists with the top 100 CEOs incomes rising since March 2020. While the Liberals continue to let the ultra-rich get away with not paying their fair share, New Democrats are committed to making sure the wealthiest among us contribute fairly to the pandemic recovery.

Canadians are bearing the brunt of soaring inequality while the Liberals help the rich get richer, said the NDPs Critic for Tax Fairness and Inequality, Niki Ashton. The Liberals had an opportunity during the fall economic update to stop pandemic profiteering, make the ultra-rich pay their fair share and close tax havens and loopholes. Instead, they chose to protect the profits of the ultra-wealthy while everyday Canadians struggle.

In the six years Justin Trudeau has been Prime Minister, the super-rich have only gotten richer while everyday Canadians are finding it harder to get by. The Liberals gave away millions in subsidies to big corporations with no strings attached while cutting pandemic benefits for people who needed them as COVID-19 cases spread through the country. With inflation rising and the cost of everyday essentials like rent and food going up, everyday Canadians need a government that is there for them.

The recovery from this pandemic is going to cost us, but it should be paid for by those who profited off of this pandemic, not Canadian families who have been struggling, said the NDPs Critic for Finance, Daniel Blaikie. Its time the Liberals stood up for everyday Canadians instead of protecting their rich friends.

New Democrats are committed to giving Canadians the help they need to make ends meet and making sure ultra-rich and big corporations pay their fair share for the pandemic recovery.

See the article here:
Under the Liberals, wealth inequality is growing - ndp.ca

With two provincial byelections coming in the first half of 2022, Manitoba's Liberal party likely calculated that concentrating on the one in Winnipeg was better than spreading their resources between both.

Although virtually everything about the legally required byelection to fill the vacancy left when Thompson MLA Danielle Adams died in a car accident last month is unknown, the Manitoba Liberals have come out publicly to say that they will not be running a candidate out of respect for the late NDP representative.

That a byelection will be held is certain. Under Manitoba law, a byelection must be held within six months of a vacancy opening up unless there is a scheduled general election within a year. The next scheduled provincial election in Manitoba isnt until 2023, so the government will be required to hold a race to fill the seat.

Apart from the fact that it must take place by early June, when they byelection will happen is up in the air at this point. However, given that there must be another byelection in the Fort Whyte electoral division in Winnipeg, the seat previously held by former premier Brian Pallister and that that byelection must be held by the end of March (a date for that one has not yet been set either), odds are that Thompsons will happen in either April, May or the first week of June. It just seems unlikely that the Progressive Conservatives would like to run simultaneous byelections. When it comes down to it, the party certainly wants to keep Fort Whyte in its roster of seats. Thompson will not be a priority.

That said, it doesnt seem that likely that the PCs will do what Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont has encouraged them to and also decline to run a candidate in Thompson.

There is some merit to the Liberals argument that the government should just let the party that already held Thompson keep it, since it wont make any difference in the legislature. The PCs will still have a majority and be able to pass the legislation that they wish to. On the other hand, that argument goes for any byelection. Except in a case where there isnt a majority government or the second- and third-place parties have an equal number of seats, there isnt any real immediate advantage to be won from winning a byelection, per se. There are, however, other reasons to seek success in them.

For the Progressive Conservatives, Northern Manitoba is a bit of a white whale to their Ahab. In recent history, it has been dominated by the NDP, which often takes all the seats of the region The Pas-Kameesak, Flin Flon, Thompson and Keewatinook under the current electoral division map. In the last election, those seats accounted for more than 20 per cent of the opposition partys total. Having the ability to whittle that down by even one would certainly make it tougher for the NDP to form a provincial government in a general election, since their support is mainly in the north and in Winnipeg.

Of course, a byelection win wont give the NDP a chance to form a government but there is going to another general election in a year or two and no one knows precisely what the political landscape will look like then. From this perspective, a Thompson byelection can be viewed as a dress rehearsal for the real deal and the PCs would probably like to get someone to run to see if they have enough support to win this time, or to potentially win the next time, though it wont be a perfectly calibrated predictor of the next general election, since byelections usually motivate far fewer voters to cast a ballot.

Six or seven years ago, the PCs might have been tempted to abstain from running a candidate in a Thompson byelection. Prior to them ousting the NDP from government in 2016, the riding had been held for 35 years by Steve Ashton, who was defeated by political rookie Kelly Bindle in his first foray into politics. Three years later, however, Bindle lost to Adams by about 1,000 votes, indicating perhaps that any imagined breakthrough in support levels that the PCs experienced was more about the unpopularity of a government that had been in power for over 17 years and a feeling that Ashton had outlived his usefulness. In short, it might not have had anything to do with the PCs at all, deep down.

While the Liberals decision not to contest the race to capture the vacant seat is honourable, its probably also pragmatic. The Manitoba Liberals currently have only three seats and less money than the other parties. It doesnt make a lot of sense for them to spread their resources between two back-to-back byelections. And although they were nowhere close to winning Fort Whyte in 2019, they did come close to matching the NDPs vote total. Although the odds are still long, they would have a better shot this time, simply because they are not up against the sitting premier. In Thompson, on the other hand, they finished with less than 10 per cent as many votes as the NDP in 2019 and were fourth in the riding, behind the Green Party. Thompson has been a Conservative or NDP (mostly NDP) riding since it was created. Hoping for a miracle in the upcoming byelection wouldnt do anything for the Liberals chances of increasing their seat total in the next election. And politics, it has been said, is the art of the possible.

Here is the original post:
Multiple reasons Liberals won't run in Thompson byelection - Thompson Citizen

Elizabeth Lee MLA is leader of the Canberra Liberals.

2022 was not the start that we all hoped for; the omicron variant still poses many challenges for our community.

The Canberra Liberals first priority remains the safety of all Canberrans. Our community has done an amazing job in coming forward to get vaccinated and heeding the medical advice to keep everyone safe. During an extraordinary time when governments exercised extraordinary power, the Canberra Liberals made sure that ACT government decisions that hugely impacted Canberrans freedoms and liberties were warranted, reasonable, and within the rule of law, and did not leave behind any vulnerable members of our community.

Last year was incredibly challenging for many Canberrans, including our small business owners, families with school-aged children, and our frontline workers. When the first case of 2021 was announced and the ACT was plunged into a snap lockdown on 12 August, it was a defining moment for many of us. Within hours, businesses shut their doors, parents pulled their children out of school and early education, and office workers packed up and went home for remote work.

During this time, the community came together, rallying around to make sure that some of the most vulnerable had access to food and essentials, and that no one felt alone. It was incredibly inspiring to see thousands of Canberrans devote their time, resources, and funds to help.

Throughout the 2021 resurgence and lockdown, my team and I worked with the ACT government to support the health advice; to keep Canberrans safe; and to provide a calm and measured response in a time of incredible uncertainty. But we were also fierce advocates for many Canberrans who were forgotten and left behind by this Labor-Greens government.

Since the election in October 2020, the Canberra Liberals team have spoken to, engaged with, and listened to thousands of Canberrans, and the message is clear that this Labor-Greens government is out of touch; that this government is complacent, arrogant, and does not care about the issues affecting Canberrans.

Rising costs of living, the plight of our businesses during the lockdowns, concerns about our already overstretched health system, the future of our childrens education, the lack of transparency and accountability in the planning of our city, the complete disregard for community safety with police let down by a complete lack of resourcing and one of the greatest bug bears for many Canberrans the sheer incompetence or care of basic municipal services in maintaining our roads, footpaths, and community green spaces. For too long, under this Labor-Greens government, we have not been a city befitting the nations capital. These issues are important to Canberrans, and we will continue to advocate on them.

As we head into 2022 a little more uncertain about what the next few months will bring, the Canberra Liberals first priority is keeping Canberrans safe. We will continue to work with the ACT government in supporting the health advice that has kept us safe.

Second, we must work together to make sure that our children can safely return to school and early education. The last two years have been incredibly disruptive for our school communities. The wellbeing, development, and education of our children is incredibly important as we move into the next phase of responding to the pandemic. Subject to health advice, we will work with our school communities to make sure our children are safely back at school.

Third, whilst there is no formal lockdown in the ACT, our businesses, especially in hospitality, are doing it incredibly tough. Sadly, some local businesses have shut their doors some permanently and some indefinitely, with no clear date when they will re-open. Behind every local business is a Canberra family feeling pain. A thriving business community is important for the future of our economy, and we will support our small businesses through this pandemic.

I am proud of the achievements of the Canberra Liberals in 2021. Despite coming off an election loss, and despite the enormous challenges of COVD, we put forward a genuine and different way of being in opposition; of working together on issues like climate change, prevention of sexual violence and harassment, pregnancy and infant loss, and territory rights; and a genuine and different vision for the economic priorities over the next 12 months (which I delivered in my Budget Reply speech in October).

The next 12 months will build on the good foundations we laid in creating an alternate vision for the future of Canberra. We know that Canberrans are resilient, community-minded, and politically engaged. Canberrans expect a lot from their elected representatives, and so they should. Whilst there is a lot more work to be done, and as we grapple with the uncertainties of the future of COVID, I am also excited about what 2022 holds for our city.

Lets bring on a fresh new year!

See the original post here:
Opinion: Canberra Liberals excited for the new year - Canberra Weekly

Many thought the Labor preselection contest for the Wollongong-based seat of Cunningham would be a one-horse race, but a new high-profile late starter has entered the line-up.

Misha Zelinsky, the assistant national secretary of the Australian Workers Union and a former criminal defence lawyer,will run against Alison Byrnes-Scully, staffer to the retiring sitting member Sharon Bird and partner to state MP Paul Scully.

Mr Zelinsky, a recent Fulbright scholar to the United States, has warned Australiais heading down the path of the US where he says home ownership is now out of reach for the average person.

"We don't want to head that way here, and the warning signs are there," he said.

"You look at housing prices, for example;housing prices have absolutely exploded in this country but wages haven't, job security hasn't.

"If you are a young person today trying to make it in the Illawarra, the quality of our schools is going down because we are cutting there, there's no apprenticeships, there's cuts to TAFE, university has become more expensive."

In a nod to aspirational voters being targeted by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, Mr Zelinsky said people should not be poor if they worked hard.

"And that's something that is very dear to me."

It is unclear yet if other candidates will come forward before preselections close Monday, but whoever wins is likely to also win the seat currently held by Labor with a 13.3 per cent margin.

Meanwhile, former NSW transport ministerAndrew Constance has announced his Liberal Party preselection for the Shoalhaven and South Coast-based seat of Gilmore.

Making the announcement in front of the half-built Nowra Bridge, Mr Constance, dressed casually in a checked shirt, played the role of wanting not to be seen as a regular politician.

"What is important over the next few months is the way in which I prosecute the case (and) change politics in our region in a way that we bring back the unity," he said.

"And I think when people are struggling every day with their businesses, not being able to get staff, we have got seniors who are huddled in doors through fear of going down the local shops and contracting the virus."

Mr Constance is casting himself as a game-changer willing to stand up to anybody, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he has in the past on the bushfire issue.

"The last thing people are going to want is a mouthful of politics, they are not going to get it from me," he said.

"I could have walked from politics but I have chosen not to.

"I want to see an absolute change in the way in which politics works within this country and works within a regional level."

Mr Constance won preselection after the withdrawal of other candidates including Gilmore Federal Electoral Conference president Paul Ell.

Labor's Fiona Phillips holds the seat with a slim 2.6 per cent margin.

Read more from the original source:
Labor preselection in Cunningham heats up; Andrew Constance confirmed for Liberals in Gilmore - ABC News