Image Credit: The Canadian Press

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Conservatives’ plan to force another election is nuts

Mar 4, 2020 | 4:58 AM

KAMLOOPS — ARE YOU READY for another federal election in October?

If the three frontrunners in the Conservative leadership contest have their way, that’s exactly what will happen. Peter MacKay, Erin O’Toole and Marilyn Gladu all say they’ll try to force an election if chosen to lead the Tories.

Since Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod is backing O’Toole, we can assume she also supports having a federal election one year after the last one.

The rationale is that Justin Trudeau’s leadership is a failure, an opinion bolstered by the current blockade crisis.

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I’d be interested to know how the three of them would resolve the blockade situation — send in the army? How did that work the last time it was tried?

But other than trying to make a grab for power, and sounding tough during the leadership race, there’s no logic at all to pushing for an election so soon after 2019.

For one thing, Canadians won’t be anxious to go through another campaign. They won’t get all warm and fuzzy over spending several hundred million dollars on it, either.

Besides which, there’s really no pressing issue with which to justify it.

It’s a somewhat academic discussion, anyway, because the Conservatives can bring forward all the non-confidence motions they like, but they’ll get nowhere unless both the NDP and Bloc Quebecois vote with them.

And that’s highly unlikely. The general wisdom is that the NDP doesn’t have the war chest to finance another election, and there’s nothing in it for the Bloc.

So, we don’t have to worry about suffering through another campaign quite yet. What this does show, however, is that the leadership hopefuls, and maybe the entire Conservative party, are totally tone deaf to the mood of the nation.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.