A livestream later today and lots on that Liberal convention...

Plus, more proof that Ford and Poilievre haven't healed the rift.

I’ll be doing a livestream later today at 1pm ET. It will be a chance for folks to ask me about anything happening in politics right now from the floor crossers to my recent popular piece with all the details about the rift between Pierre Poilievre and Doug Ford.

Maybe you want to ask me about Eric Swalwell, the Democrat from California who many in his party hoped would be the next Governor of California to replace Gavin Newsom. Well, Swalwell is now facing sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape allegations.

His own party wants him out. I just got back from California and it’s quite the story down there.

Of course, you could ask me about the Liberal convention as well and Mark Carney’s big speech filled once again with lots of words. Sadly, despite all the words, he doesn’t have much to show for it.

The Ask Me Anything livestream is for paid subscribers only. Most content on this site is wide open, but I do owe it to the paid subscribers who support this site to give them something extra.

If you aren’t a paid subscriber yet, it’s not too late.

Speaking of that Liberal convention…

I have friends who were in Montreal over the weekend for the convention, both journalistic types and politicos. One friend who is a former Liberal staffer kept trying to convince me to go to the convention.

As much as I love Montreal, the answer was no.

At the Conservative convention in Calgary this past January, there was at least the pretence of friction, that someone or some group might try to oppose Poilievre in his leadership review. That didn’t happen, it was an uneventful convention and he passed his review with flying colours.

In Montreal, there was no leadership review, it was just Liberals gathering to be arrogant and self-congratulatory which you can witness by talking to any Liberal voter at your local coffee shop.

Besides, California has better weather this time of year and Palm Springs was beckoning.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t pay attention. I heard Mark Carney say that the plane load of Canadians flying back with me on Saturday were bad Canadians for heading south. Oh, and we shouldn’t drink bourbon or California wine.

Here was my reply to Carney on X as I was flying at about 35,000 feet in the air somewhere over the American midwest.

I’m not rediscovering our country, I never stopped exploring it.

In the last 12 months I’ve been to Halifax, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Quebec City, Calgary, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Fredericton, London and too many small towns across Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta to name. I’ve travelled to nine of ten provinces and over the years I’ve vacationed in St. Gabriel de Brandon, Waskesiu, La Baie and Kenaston.

I don’t need to stop visiting the United States because of a dispute with the current president. I’ve covered politics long enough to know that politicians come and go. I’m not going to base my vacation plans on their whims.

In another response to Carney’s speech, I pointed out that his anti-Americanism is why I was saying on the Full Comment Podcast last week that he pushes a populist narrative as well. His whole anti-American/anti-Trump schtick is pure populism.

Remember when that word was bad? Now all three major leaders for English Canada are populists in their own way.

If you haven’t listened to the latest Full Comment Podcast, now is your time to do it. It’s basically me talking to smart friends who are plugged in politically for the three main parties - Jenni Byrne, Kim Wright and Warren Kinsella.

Those floor crossers were all the rage at the Liberal convention…

Marylin Gladu, the Sarnia MP who is now pretending to be a Liberal was introduced on stage by someone who spent years occupying powerful positions in Canada’s broadcast industry while pretending not to be a Liberal. Evan Solomon, my former CFRA and Bell Media colleague, now Mark Carney’s minister of AI, was the one to introduce Gladu on stage at the Montreal convention.

Apparently these two became friends after Gladu went on Solomon’s old CTV show and she spoke out against vaccines during COVID.

Now, he’s hugging her on stage.

She supported the Freedom Convoy, Evan railed against it.

There is little these two have in common beyond wanting to be near power.

Speaking of Chris D’Entremont, he also spoke at the Liberal convention. This is the first time in decades that pro-lifers, that’s anti-abortion in Liberal speak, the first time in decades that the Liberals have welcomed two pro-lifers to their convention - D’Entremont and Gladu.

Liberals couldn’t clap hard enough.

Remember, this man who claims he is a recovering Conservative or a Liberal who didn’t know it, jumped into federal politics under Andrew Scheer.

D’Entremont had been an MLA starting in 2003 and minister in Nova Scotia under the PC governments of John Hamm and Rodney MacDonald. He served in positions such as Minister of Health and Minister of Agriculture.

The government was so popular that in 2009, they went from government to third place and D’Entremont spent nearly a decade on the opposition benches.

When Tim Houston won the leadership of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party in 2018, D’Entremont didn’t like the idea. Houston was too middle of the road for him, so he approached Andrew Scheer and the federal Conservatives and asked about running for them.

Yes, the guy who found Tim Houston too moderate, thought Andrew Scheer - a fellow pro-lifer and strong Conservative was just right - is now singing the praises of Mark Carney and his Liberal Party.

Doug Ford can’t help himself…

Further proof that there is still no relationship between Doug Ford and Pierre Poilievre are Ford’s comments on Friday. On Thursday, I finally got out my much hyped, much awaited piece on the rift between Ford and Poilievre.

If you haven’t read it, give it a try, it is a really deep dive - it would be a whole chapter in a book it is that long. I tried to be fair to both men, each of whom I’ve known for a very long time, but also tried to explain the rift.

In my view, and I explain this in depth, this doesn’t start with Ford and if there were serious attempts to fix it, then Ford wouldn’t be making comments like he did on Friday. But there is no relationship and for Conservatives to win that has to change.

So, on Friday, Ford was asked about the possibility of a Carney majority - I predict the Liberals win all three by-elections on Monday and at this point they only need one for a majority.

Here’s Ford’s answer.

Now, Ford is a consummate politician. He knows he needs to work with Mark Carney because Carney is the PM for the foreseeable future.

But he said he’ll work with the NDP Mayor of Toronto. That would be Olivia Chow who is seeking re-election this fall.

Yes, Ford and Chow have a good personal relationship, but he’d still like her to be replaced, he’s said so publicly. I have a good personal relationship with Olivia Chow, we chat when we see each other, we respect each other, she’s known for 20 years that I oppose her policies.

Ford says he will work with Carney, and he does. Would he prefer a more conservative government that would cut red tape, speed up approval times and boost the economy - absolutely.

Which is why Poilievre should be trying to build a relationship with Ford. Carney has clearly put in the effort with Ford and Poilievre can’t be bothered to meet him for a coffee.