Today's News: Declare victory and leave

If former Sask premier Brad Wall had ever bothered to learn French, he could have been a Conservative prime minister. He had the persona of a golden boy and the Toronto suburbs might have voted for him. 

But as it turned out, just as well he stayed in Swift Current. 

The news came out today that he had been advising the Convoy back in February. He basically told them they weren't going to get the Liberals to resign, so they should just declare victory and leave, with their bank accounts and reputations (relatively) intact. 

It was good advice from an experienced politician who knew when a battle wasn't going to be won. So of course the Convoy didn't follow it. 

Ultimately their leaders went to jail, their so-called "movement" was discredited with the thousands of credulous people who had supported it, they lost all their money, and they were chased out of the border crossings and away from Ottawa after Trudeau commandeered the tow trucks.

Phone dump shows Wall suggested convoy "declare a victory of sorts" over mandate rollbacks and give money to charities. He also proposed a headline for a press release. https://t.co/DWvsOitOCc pic.twitter.com/x1MMNZrn1L

— Glen McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) July 4, 2022

Sounds like coordination to me https://t.co/NP9wuNvcnR

— Devin's Red Hat (@DevinShat) July 5, 2022

This is the fellow Brad Wall gave advice to on how to successfully cause mayhem on the streets of Ottawa during the convoy. Real stand-up guy. https://t.co/31UK7T7d58

— Eric Bell (@eric_bellMB) July 4, 2022

Saskatchewan is furious:

I once wrote that Wall was the most successful conservative politician in the last 25 yrs. But this shows a profound lack of judgment & badly misplaced loyalty. Whatever the spin, he sided w a mob & against the rule of law. He needs to be called to account https://t.co/pSFGAoks33

— Tom McIntosh (@proftomuofr) July 5, 2022

The problem is that many people on Saskatchewan think they’re Brad Wall’s friend. They all think one of these days the phone is going to ring and buddy Brad will have a hot tip about some nuns trying to sell a parcel of land. https://t.co/hCTLOONeO4

— Emmet Matheson (@emmetmatheson) July 5, 2022

When Premier Moe was incapable/unwilling to condemn the border blockades, seemingly egging them on…despite 70% of our economy being export based…

Was this because Brad Wall was strategizing to help, disrupting hundreds of millions in trade?#skpoli https://t.co/Ywm3eju1X3

— Aleana Young (@AleanaYoung) July 5, 2022

Just to be clear, Brad Wall was helping disinformation-spreaders with an illegal occupation which cost taxpayers and businesses billions.#cdnpoli https://t.co/ZV7rN4cQlv

— Meanwhile in Canada (@MeanwhileinCana) July 4, 2022

Wall is trying Trump's "just a coffee boy" defense:

.. The obvious problem for former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is how to walk-back how he lied. At this point ‘oh he’s just a friend of one of my relatives, that’s all’ is now a historic deceit ie Fact https://t.co/sTwVGFNKtr

— the salamander horde (@salamanderhorde) July 4, 2022

Picked up a lot of groceries tonight. More than might fit in the back. Anyone have Brad Wall’s daughter’s boyfriend’s cell number? Might need a delivery.

— Greg MacEachern (@gmacofglebe) July 4, 2022

Here's a "greatest hits" blast from the past, too:

How come when provincial conservative politicians complain about poor treatment from the Feds, they never talk about how Brad Wall gave up their equalization fight bc Stephen Harper happened to be PM?

— Tamara Hinz (@hinz_tamara) July 3, 2022

Here's a funny one:

Cautiously logging on this sunny Monday morning and hoping Pierre Poilievre hasn’t released a video of himself riding a stump and saying we need to reclaim dinosaur times.

— David Moscrop (@David_Moscrop) July 4, 2022

And speaking of stumps:

Result of arguing with the ignorant🐊pic.twitter.com/7OLsQMulBN

— nftbadger (@nftbadger) July 3, 2022

Finally, this is beautiful:

A Boeing 787 with an anti-war message on the fuselage has landed in Regina. It brought 230 people fleeing war in Ukraine. The image on the plane is from the Vietnam war and includes Phan Thi Kim Phuc. She now lives in Canada and was on the flight to offer hope to passengers. pic.twitter.com/clHCVQEqCw

— Wayne Mantyka (@WayneMantykaCTV) July 5, 2022