Some questions for the Liberal leadership debates

So on Monday night the Liberal leadership candidates are debating in French, and on Tuesday in English. 

Like most Canadians, I have been semi-following the leadership race -- I wasn't prepared to support Mark Carney at first, but I loved Carney's appearance on Jon Stewart, he seemed like a potential Prime Minister to me -- if we're going to select an inexperienced politician to go up against Poilievre, then it should be an experienced leader like Mark Carney.  As much as I have liked Freeland in the past, I don't think she can win a federal election over Poilievre. As for Gould and Bayliss, they seem nice but relatively unknown. 

I get the feeling too that much of Canada now agrees:

(Support me by subscribing/donating) Federal Polling: CPC: 38% (+4) LPC: 37% (+4) NDP: 11% (-7) GPC: 6% (+4) PPC: 4% (-1) BQ: 3% (-5) EKOS / Feb 20, 2025 / n=730 / MOE 3.6% / IVR (% Change With 2021 Federal Election) Check out federal details on @338canada.bsky.social at: 338canada.com

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— Polling Canada (@canadianpolling.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 8:32 PM

I read a comment yesterday to the effect that if Freeland still has a chance, she not only needs to "win the debates" herself, but that Carney also has to "lose" them.  Yes, that sounds about right. I am hopeful that Carney will do well. He is not as fluent in French as Freeland, but Chantal Hebert has said that when Carney's French is criticized, Quebeckers are defending him.

 

I know the debates will mainly focus on high-profile and important issues like tariffs, economic growth, regional alienation, reconciliation, Northern development, Canadian sovereignty. and the like, but I also have a few questions of my own that I would love to see discussed: 

1. Will you permit the Liberal Party to accept candidates who want to re-criminalize abortion? 

Trudeau was crystal-clear on this issue -- no candidate who supported re-criminalizing abortion could run for the federal Liberals. 

And in spite of Poilieve's denials, I think one of the first things Poilievre would do as PM would be to allow a private members bill either to re-criminalize abortion, or - same thing- to permit provinces to police abortions with hospital approval committees and the like. 

Canadian women my age or older still remember the chaos in Canada when hospitals needed to set up committees to approve abortions, tubal ligations, and vasectomies, and when Henry Morgentaler went through trial after trial in Quebec because he did abortions in his clinics. It was awful, cruel, misogynist, unnecessary. I do NOT want to see this ever happen here again. 

2. How will you deal with dis-information and mis-information in Canada?

There is still controversy over the Online News Act and the Local Journalism Initiative --  but at least the Trudeau Liberals have been trying to set up mechanisms to support real journalism and combat the false news dis-information of the last five years. I want to know how the new Liberal leader plans to deal with this -- which also leads to the next question...

3. How will you deal with preventing foreign interference in the Liberal party? 

The Foreign Interference Report is just so last-month now, but the issue is still important -- particularly as the Liberal leader now also has to deal with a new source of foreign interference in Canadian elections, IE, Elon Musk and his short-pants brigade - and Musk has already indicated he wants the Liberals defeated in our next election. Which brings me to my last question.... 

4. Should Canada revoke Elon Musk's citizenship? 

 Hey, I know this seems to be a joke, but its actually a serious question. There's a petition underway. I think how the candidates answer this question will be a test of what kind of leader they will be -- mealy-mouthed or clear, uncertain or decisive. Charlie Angus says we should do it:

...Musk was not born in Canada. He received his citizenship through his mother who lived two years in Canada before moving with her family to South Africa. He showed up in Canada for a time when he was in university....In the 1980s, there was another extremist who used his international media platform to spew hate and disinformation. His name was Ernst Zundel. He continually laughed at Canada's laws against hate speech. He was ultimately jailed and then deported from our country.

Canada and the world were better because we stood up to Zundel.

And now it's time to stand up to Musk.

He has the power and reach that Zundel could only have dreamed of. Musk stood on the presidential inauguration stand and gave a fascist salute. Musk uses his platform to promote extremist parties in Europe. And now he is using the Starlink infrastructure to threaten the people of Ukraine, who are on the frontline in the war against tyranny.

This man represents the worst of humanity. Canada must be a country that strives for the best.

It's time we tell this rat he will never be welcome in our country....

And on a side note, isn't it delightful to see Poilievre decline in the polls?

He simply can't figure out what to say anymore:

Poilievre just said that "Mr. Carney uses a lot of slogans, while I only give Canadians solid policies to make their lives better."

He actually said it — Can't make this shit up.

Then, he ended his media briefing with "Let's Bring it Home." 🤣🤣🤣🤣

— Paul D. Heaslip 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 (@HugoMonster96) February 20, 2025