ANDREW SHEER ....HE'S TOAST.

UPDATE:   Yesterday, Andrew Sheer did the right thing and announced that he was stepping down as the Leader of the Conservative Party.  Although I agree with his decision as per below, I am yet saddened by it...Politics is a dirty albeit interesting business. Now the real fun begins.  Many pundits are already predicting that a large number of candidates will seek the Tory Crown and moreover, that the Tories are most likely to beat Trudeau when the dust from the next election settles.  Not so fast say I.  The majority of those pundits are predicting that the Party will move further left so rather than the Liberal Lite Party we now have...my words...the Tory Party will be full-fledged Liberal.  So what does one gain when one sells out?  Stay Tuned.


I say this with a certain amount of sadness since I believe Mr. Sheer is just  too nice for politics.  As I have told my wife on several occasions (to her chagrin, she is my sounding board), Speakers of the House, do not usually make good Leaders.  The only exception might be the retiring Speaker of the British House, but it is a sure thing, we'll ever know that for sure.

At this point, for his own well-being and that of his family's, he should resign and perhaps he could even do so on his own terms which I will come to shortly. 

My wife and I both had votes for the Leadership Contest that saw Sheer win in May of 2017.  Neither one of us voted for him despite his apparent Social Conservative credentials and this in spite of the fact that we are both strongly of that persuasion.  We simply believed, even then, that he was too weak & too silent on the social issues of concern to us both.

So why, so close to the end of this October's Canadian General Election, do I believe he needs to go??

Simply stated, he ran a very poor campaign.  If you cannot beat Justin Trudeau after his first term of miscues and shenanigans...it just ain't going to happen.

Related to this, is the fact that no-one supports him ....not the Social Conservatives, not the Red Tories, and certainly none of Society's Progressives which make up between 65 and 70 % of the voting public.  The way I have it figured is that Andrew may be able to count on his family voting in his favour at this coming April's Leadership.  Okay, I exaggerate a bit but you get the idea.

If I was advising Andrew Sheer I would encourage him to resign but to insist that he stay on as Interim Leader until a successor has been voted in at at full blown Leadership Convention. I would also insist that that  Leadership Contest be delayed as long a possible to help ensure that some good candidates come out of the woodwork.  Too often quick Leadership Contests results in limited ...B and C level contestants.  The Tories are in desperate need of an A Leader.  John Baird and Pierre Poilievre come readily to mind.  But delay is needed in case there  are others of that ilk.

Admittedly, these decisions do not rest with the Leader of the Party but rather with the Party President and if I was that person, I'd take the offer.  A failed Leadership vote in April would only expose more division and embitterment throughout the Party.  And it would be a win / win for both Sheer and the Party.  Sheer is young and has lots of years left to serve the Party and our Country in Parliament.  And he is not the type to pose a threat to whomever comes out victorious. Sort of like another Joe Clark but even better.  And he'd make a great Party Statesman.

So say the Tories get a good Leader...how should he / she lead?

Well is it not obvious?  With up to 70% of the voting public left of centre - of course you would want to move the Tories to the left as well ....indeed this is what past Tory Leaders have done consistently including, Stanfield, Clark, Mulroney, Harper and currently Sheer.  The only trouble with this very sensible approach is that it does not  work.  More government intervention, more debt, issues of genuine import get ignored with the unelected courts only too glad to step in to fill the void.

We need a truly Conservative Government.  Small Government, Balance Budgets, and Social Issues such as open season on Abortion get addressed.  For instance, in the case of the latter, a reasonable term limit could, I believe, be negotiated such as 3 or 4 months.  With modern birth control there is absolutely no reason a baby can be aborted right up until the time of birth and sadly despite the denial of left radicals, this does happen.  In this atrocity we are right up there with the North Korea and Red China.

We also need a society consisting of more givers / more doers and less takers.  That is what made the West Great and that is why billions around the world are so anxious to reach our shores.  Sadly though and by example of our resident progressives, immigrants and refugees are now too often coming to receive rather than contribute.  And who can blame them!  Religion is under attack, Capitalism is discredited despite the fact that is has literally raised billions out of poverty.  We have become morally bankrupt and the world economy is listless and heading down.

So how did we get here?  Well in the case of Canada, The Right -  Conservatives and Libertarians have failed to sell the need for values at the core of Conservatism, Rather they have adopted Liberalism over the course of the last 50 years so no wonder the electorate has been brainwashed wth liberal / progressive thinking.

The Right needs to finally enter the debate and I can assure each and every one of you that the task will not be an easy one.  In fact, we will likely suffer more defeats along the way but at least - at long last - the voter will be given a real choice.  Less Big Government, more Independence and we can do this with our heads held high in the knowledge that Socialism Simply Does Not Work !

The only country left where the battle between left and right  continues is the United States of America but the division lines are split 50 / 50.  Unless the world's democracies get their respective acts together the day is quickly coming when we will see American numbers reflect our own miserable figures.

Here in Canada we need to get started and the opportunity for that begins with the Tory Leadership Vote in April.


As I See It...

K.D. Bell

TEACHERS

My most recent post was not about Teachers...this one though most certainly is.

I cannot recall any teacher I did not like...well maybe there was one - he liked to fire his male students across the class-room floor.  Indeed in some cases I even love them - my daughter Natalie, my Sister Linda and he son...my nephew... Michael.  With not a biased bone in my body I can say all three were (my Sister is retired) or are, great at their chosen profession and their students were / are lucky to be taught by them.

And all of us no doubt have our favourites from our school days.  I have three -my grade 6 teacher - Robert 'Bob' Raymond, my grade 9 english teacher Miss Joanne Jones and my grade 11 geography teacher Nancy Stantial.  In the case of the latter, at a parent-teacher evening she told my parents that I was most definitely "university material" and being that no one in my family had ever gone to university her statement had a greater impact on me than she could ever imagine.

Bob Raymond was nothing but a character ...from Toronto, fresh out of Teachers' College. For instance, he would hand out detentions like they were going out of style and then permit the offenders to work them off by picking pick weeds in the playground.  Our Public School had the most weed-free lawns around.  He also roamed quietly around the classroom with a pointer and would sneak up on the unsuspecting student who exhibited poor posture.  A sharp stab in the victim's back was all it took.  Can you imagine what would have happened to this novice teacher had he tried to do that in today's progressive environment?

And Miss Jones had the ability to read passages from varied literary offerings that would take the listener directly into those pages.  What a gift.  It was most certainly the beginning of this sport's minded boy's interest in the beauty of literature.

I have never asked my Daughter or my Nephew who their favourite teachers were but will be sure to do so when I see them next.  I do though believe I know who was my Sister's or at least who one of them was ...Ms McAuley ... her kindergarten teacher.  Am I right Linda?

And you know what - I don't even know my wife's favourite.  Better get on that a.s.a.p.

Anyway the bottom-line here is that Teachers perform a very great service to society and even they I suspect, do not always realize what a positive lasting impact they have on the lives of their students.

A Sincere Thank You From The Bottom Of My Heart To You All !!!

Now for a humourous story ...or Not.

In my day, grades 7 thru and including grade 9 were the most eventful and dramatic.  Blame it on hormones, if you will.

So here I am sitting in Mrs. Gibson's Grade 8 Class minding my own business when all of a sudden I was hit by a flying piece of chalk or an erasure.

I looked around and there with a big smirk on his face was the Class Troublemaker (C.T.).  I won't name him to save the guilty but I suspect my childhood friend Johnny will quickly know who this culprit was..  Of even greater note, C.T. was the first in our class to refuse to stand for God Save The Queen, an essential part of the day's opening.  I was shocked more with that than with the chalk...but I digress.

Anyway, I picked up the chalk and was just about ready to fire it back at him when Mrs. Gibson yelled "STOP"...and I did.  This was the same woman who could not catch a cold in mid-January but she caught me that morning.  C.T. was beside himself with guffaws and what should have been over in a matter of minutes...was not.  It went on for months.

Permit me to explain:

Johnny and I grew up in a small town where everyone and I mean everyone, knew everyone else.  As it happened then, Mrs. Gibson's son was married to my father's secretary and for the next several months the 'chalk throwing incident' was the prime talk at our table.  Well you would have thought I had punched C.T. out ...which between you and me I could have easily done.

In closing, if you have any reminisces about how your teacher(s) positively affected you or any humourous stories from your day to day classroom life, please just let me know and I will try to cover them in one of my future blogs.

In the meantime,


As I See It,

K.D. Bell