Canada's "Conservatives" bar three SoCons from leadership race

Turns out there are more people who, for some unaccountable reason, want to lead the self-styled "Conservative" Party of Canada than I told you about on Monday. Agent 3, who follows the politics of Canuckistan more closely than I do -- I can't handle the smell up close -- says there are not four, but six candidates who will appear on the ballot when party members vote for a new leader in September.

On Monday, and previously in "The problem with Poilievre", WWW 30/4/22, I gave you the rundown on Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis and Patrick Brown, who presently rank in that order in the opinion polls. But who are those other guys, the two in the top row?

Conservative Member of Parliament Scott Aitchison and Independent Ontario MPP Roman Baber have also been accepted by the cuckservatives in charge of organizing the leadership election as "verified" candidates. That means they proved they had at least C$300,000 (about $235,000 in readl money) to get through the toll gate, plus 500 endorsement signatures from members in 30 different ridings. 

Scott Aitchison is the only candidate who could be described as a non-city person. He represents the truly beautiful Ontario riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka and concerns himself with issues relevant to farmers and other real people. In particular, Mr Aitchison wants to see an end to Canada's crazy supply management system, which makes things like milk and eggs cost more than they do across the border. That was the hill Maxime Bernier chose to die on in 2017... and die he did.

(((Roman Baber))) emigrated from the Soviet Union with his family to Israel, thence to Canada. The Jewish lawyer was elected to the Ontario legislature as a Progressive Conservative, representing the Toronto ghetto of York Centre. Whyen he had the temerity to oppose vaccine mandates and lockdowns, he got booted out of the PC caucus and now sits as an Independent. He says he believes in "democratic conservatism", whatever that means.

Today's real news, though, is that the Conservative party elite rejected three putative candidates, even though they had the money and the signatures, because they were "unacceptable" for reasons which were not explained.  According to the party's leadership election rules, the Leadership Candidate Nomination Committee, the group of party stalwarts reviewing applications from leader wannabes, can take into consideration "any other information they see fit to ascertain the suitability of an applicant." They can then recommend to the organizing committee that a particular candidate be barred from running. 

Three candidates have been told "Thanks for coming out. Now bugger off." Joël Étienne, another lawyer from Toronto, and the only genuine French-speaker to put his name forward, told Radio-Canada he personally delivered the required paperwork to CPC HQ Friday afternoon, well before the deadline, but was told that the party wouldn't accept a credit card as payment for some of the necessary fees. M Étienne also said the party rejected some of the signatures he collected as "invalid", withouot saying why.

Joseph Bourgault, a Saskatchewan business owner (Bourgault Tillage Tools, if you need a good hoe), is a social conservative who was strongly endorsed by Campaign Life Coalition. In addition to his anti-abortion credentials, Bourgault was a member of the Freedom Convoy and participated in protests against COVID-related measures like vaccine mandates earlier this year. Obviously such "unacceptable views" (as Mr Socks would say) made him unfit to stand.

Grant Abraham, a consultant [lawyers and consultants, consultants and lawyers -- will it never end? Ed.] also didn't make the cut. In a social media post, his campaign said Mr Abraham was told Sunday he has been "deemed ineligible" by the party. He has criticized Conservative MPs for failing to stop Bill C-4, the Liberal government's ban on conversion therapy. He has also called for a return to a "Judeo-Christian framework" in Canada and an end to secularism. And he's surprised he won't be on the ballot? Really?

That leaves Leslyn Lewis as the only social conservative candidate. (The position of Messrs Aitchison and Baber on abortion and similar issues is unknown.) The Laurentian elites can't touch Ms Lewis because she's too well-known and because... well, you get the picture. She's the "Conservative" answer to the objection that the party is dominated by straight white men.

They have no answer, though, to the charge that the CPC is dominated by the old "Bay Street boys". All of the "acceptable" candidates are from Ontario. Mr Charest pretends to be a Québecer but according to  every poll is reviled by real Québécois. There are no candidates from west of Lake Huron or east of Montréal. Mr Poilievre, born and raised in Calgary, turned his back on the West the minute he arrived in Ottawa at the age of 24, and wouldn't know which end of a straw to put in his mouth. Expect Western alienation to intensify, no matter who wins.

Expect also a flight of real conservative Conservatives to a truly conservative party. No matter who wins, only Max Bernier's People's Party of Canada will be strengthened by the Conservatives' internecine war. Lifetime pct .990.