Cards on the table, there was a time I was embarrassed to be an Ontario Liberal. A time the party no longer deserved my support, and didn't get it. It isn't some kind of flaw to admit this. The flaw would be in supporting any party uncritically, no matter what. #olp#onpoli 1/6
Political parties are just vehicles for citizen action. Sometimes they are led and run by great people. Sometimes less so. Every party has good times and bad. But after bad times comes renewal, and that can be exciting. That's where the #OLP is now. #onpoli 2/6
Now is a great time to be an Ontario Liberal because this is our chance - all of our chance - to remake the #OLP into something we can be proud of again. I can't swear it'll work out. Life doesn't come with guarantees. But it's our chance to try, and our obligation. #onpoli 3/6
To say a party cannot fix itself is to give up on democracy entirely, and to miss the fact that the #OLP is the sum of all its members today, not yesterday. That's just as wrong as pledging allegiance forever, no matter what it may become in the future. #onpoli 4/6
I'm supporting Michael @coteau to lead the #OLP. There are others I could get behind too. And there's the possibility that our future could look too much like our recent past. Quite honestly, I wouldn't want to be part of that. But I'll try hard to push the other way. #onpoli 5/6
If you aren't sure the #OLP is for you, remember that the party is whatever we make it. Now is our chance to try, together. And if it doesn't work out in a way you can support, you can always leave. No shame in that. The shame is in not even trying at all. #onpoli 6/6
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Let's be clear what "conscience rights" really means. It's the idea that no professional should be required to do something they disagree with, even if needed to give effect to someone else's rights or as part of doing their own job properly. #cdnpoli 1/6 globalnews.ca/news/9180654/c…
"Conscience rights" can apply to lots of situations. Some teachers don't believe in evolution. Should they be required to teach it? Some nurses and doctors don't believe in ending a pregnancy or even contraception. Should they be required to provide this information? #cdnpoli 2/6
At the most extreme, some police officers don't agree with gun control, or apprehending a child from a parent, or enforcing the mental health act. Should they be required to enforce even laws they disagree with? Frankly, yes, yes, yes, and yes some more. #cdnpoli 3/6
I don't write enough about real poverty. I do write about it, but not enough. Politics revolves around issues that get politicians elected - right now that's the middle-class squeeze, inflation, cost of daycare - not what it's like to go hungry or be homeless. #onpoli 1/15
People get wrapped up in their own problems and concerns. That may not be admirable, but it's normal. When you're worried about the price of gas or the interest rate on your mortgage, real poverty may not seem to be an active concern for you. But it is. #onpoli 2/15
We all live in the same society together. We can't wash our hands of each other's problems and pretend they don't exist. There are politicians selling that line to people who want to believe it but it's a lie. If the house next door is burning down, it IS my problem. #onpoli 3/15
Apparently I hate Canada and I want to destroy it. I hear that a lot. So do many politicians, wide groups of bureaucrats and public employees, anyone in media, and sometimes the entire membership of registered political parties. Let's talk about what that means. #cdnpoli 1/8
A very few unhinged people think that I and many, many others are agents of foreign powers. As in, I've been somehow recruited to undermine Canada, where I live and was born. I don't know how to reason with that but it's a small part of the problem, so let's move on. #cdnpoli 2/8
Most people, when they say someone hates Canada, mean that person has a vision of Canada they disagree with. As in, you believe I hate the Canada that exists in your own mind because the Canada that exists in mine is different. And that makes sense, to a point. #cdnpoli 3/8
The Liberal Party, as it exists, is not welcoming to or accepting of the center-right. There, I said it. Call them red tories, mainstream conservatives or any other name you like. We've done a piss-poor job of keeping these people in the fold and a reckoning is due. #cdnpoli 1/14
Language matters, and I'd like to unpack what we mean when we describe people as "not tolerable." I'd also like to unpack what the right and alt-right mean when they describe Trudeau and others as "woke." Because these are the words that divide us. #cdnpoli 2/14
There are some truly intolerable ideas and beliefs out there - things we can never accept or accommodate. But that needs to be reserved for genuine evil and not just political difference. We've lost that thread. Everyone we disagree with, lately, is "intolerable." #cdnpoli 3/14
I'm trying to understand what's happening with politics in Canada, especially on the right. I read a lot of comments, though I obviously don't have time to pick fights with all of them. Still, I have to say, I'm discouraged. We're seeing the worst in people, lately. #cdnpoli 1/9
I'm seeing freedom defined as never having to do what you're told - even if that's just to not make life worse for other people. Forget about legal and illegal for a moment. We're just talking about human decency here. Apparently we're only free when that's optional. #cdnpoli 2/9
I'm seeing equality defined as a society where government does nothing to help people at all, and just lets them sink or swim on their own. That's what's "fair" apparently. As opposed to taxation for any purpose, which is apparently communism. #cdnpoli 3/9
I pissed off ring-wing twitter quite a lot by pointing out that "gatekeeper" is a nonsense term as Poilievre uses it. I got told, time and again, that everyone knows who "they" are, and was offered a wide variety of definitions that don't agree with one another. #cdnpoli 1/7
I don't deny the word "gatekeeper" has power and can be effective. If you're angry about anything, you can find someone to blame for it, rightly or wrongly. Everyone hearing the term knows who their "gatekeeper" is. It means whatever you need it to mean. #cdnpoli 2/7
The trick to Poilievre's rhetoric - and it's intentional, believe me - is that people really do think he has specific "gatekeepers" in mind. People really do believe Poilievre has a list and a plan, and if they only give him power he'll get rid of them all. #cdnpoli 3/7