PONDERABLE
How many Canadian baseball fans cheered for the Washington Nationals in the World Series simply because the franchise was once in Montreal?
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP DISARRAY
The reaction to Andrew Scheer’s dismal election campaign has ranged all the way from Peter MacKay’s hockey metaphor that Scheer’s performance was tantamount to missing an open net on a breakaway and that his social conservatism hung like a stinking albatross around his neck, to defeated-MP Lisa Raitt’s support for the notion that Scheer should be given another chance because he led the popular vote and increased the number of Conservative seats. There’s certainly a serious schism in the Conservative ranks over Scheer’s leadership, or lack thereof, as the case might be.
The Conservative party is not known for exemplary performances when it comes to leadership issues, so it will be interesting to see how they deal with this one; but they did get off on the right foot during Wednesday’s caucus meeting. Although they could have have ended Scheer’s reign then and there, they chose not to. This was the right thing to do because a party leader should be chosen by all party members, not just the caucus elites. But, at best, Scheer has been given a very shaky reprieve.
Scheer is planning cross-country visits in an effort to convince party stalwarts that he should be allowed to remain as leader. The campaign was indeed dreadful, but the reason was Scheer himself. An effective leader wouldn’t have allowed the campaign to stray so far off a clear path to victory. His pitiful press conference after Wednesday’s caucus meeting was proof that he has learned nothing since the election, and no amount of cross-country touring is apt to change that.
As I wrote here immediately after the election, Scheer lacks the attributes and characteristics of an effective leader. As a staunch Conservative, I certainly don’t want him to be the leader after the party’s mandated leadership review in April. In fact, I don’t want him to be the leader now.
He should resign right away, thereby saving the party a ton of problems and himself an abundance of personal humiliation. Not only that, but the Conservatives would be much more effective in parliament if Justin Trudeau has to joust with Pierre Poilievre, Michelle Rempel, and Candace Bergen rather than an ineffective lame duck leader.
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
The British Columbia government is considering getting rid of changing our clocks twice a year and possibly staying with daylight saving time all year round. In a recent Charlottetown Guardian online poll, Islanders agreed with the B.C. government.
I’m all in favour of getting rid of the annual springing forward and falling back, but although I loved daylight saving time when I was a kid, now that I’m an elderly early riser I’d rather have the extra hour of daylight in the morning.
Getting back to when I was a kid, I remember that my father never liked daylight saving time, possibly because he, too, was an early riser. He used to liken the change to daylight saving time to cutting six inches off the bottom of a blanket and sewing it onto the top.
SPORTS DYNASTIES
Sports leagues go to great lengths, such as the odious salary caps, to prevent dynasties from being built.
Last Sunday night I watched the Patriots/Ravens NFL game on television. Neither team is a favourite of mine, and had the game been between, say, the Jets and the Redskins, it would have held no interest for me whatsoever. Before Sunday I couldn’t have named even one Ravens player, so the Patriots were the draw.
Like most sports fans, I’m as happy to watch dynastic teams lose as I am to see favourite teams win, so I was pleased to see the Ravens prevail. But even if the Patriots had won, I still would have enjoyed watching the game, all the time hoping that things would go wrong for them.
Most sports fans follow a team because it’s their favourite and they want to see it win. But when there’s a disliked dynasty, like the Yankees and Canadiens in the past and the Patriots now, people will also watch those teams in the hope of seeing them lose.
Sports are all about attracting fans, so naysayers be damned; sports dynasties are good.