The game-changer

Not that it was much visible behind a looming snowbank, caked in freezing rain, obliterated by whiteouts and raked by sharp winds, but there she was. My flag. Despite the storm, it was Flag Day in frosty Canada. It would have taken an asteroid strike to keep me from nailing one up.

As mentioned here before, a 15-year-old troublemaker named Garth hitchhiked to Ottawa in 1964 to watch the debate in Parliament over a new banner for Canada. The Cons wanted to keep the Red Ensign. The Libs (in power) promoted the new maple leaf. From the gallery high above the floor of the House of Commons I watched John Diefenbaker thunder and shake, vowing his back would never be turned on pride and history. Lester Pearson spoke with passion of the future and a modern country, inclusive of all, represented by the radical design.

You know the rest. The leaf flew for the first time sixty years ago, this weekend. And after talking my way into the Parliamentary Restaurant, I actually got to sit with Dief. My hero. He scared the crap out of me.

So fans in Montreal at the big hockey tourney last night booed the Star Spangled Banner. They lustily roared O Canada. The media is currently full of inspiring little stories about flags flying off retailers’ shelves, people fashioning giant flags from snow on frozen lakes and mayors hoisting the pennant as half-iced citizens mitten-thumped approval.

These are the days of patriotism, obviously. Thanks to Tariff Man, chatter about 51st state and the fact all our premiers and territorial leaders were kept waiting outside the White House for a meeting with the Trump staffer who hires interns. Yes, we’re being disrespected. And we’re pissed.

Tariffs on steel and aluminum alone could tip Canada into recession, economists say. And they’re coming in mid-March. Even before that we may be hit with the 25% tax on all US-bound exports. If enacted, and left in place, these taxes will bring economic decline, higher consumer prices, inflation, a real estate recession, mass layoffs, bloated government deficits and possibly higher interest rates in 2026. All because of one guy.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had a ‘Canada First’ rally in Ottawa this weekend and has been busy donning the flag as the Libs get set to crown a new leader. Unfortunately for him, he’s spent the last two years telling us Canada is ‘broken’, ‘crime-ridden’ and hopelessly bleak for young people, essentially because Canadians were too stupid to elect good leaders. Like him.

Now we’re fighting a US rogue president who won elected by saying exactly the same stuff. The Conservatives are not wearing it well – in large part because citizens no longer believe it. We are, in fact, proud.

The GreaterFool poll a few weeks was apparently the first major sampling of opinion showing The Shift now taking place. Despite this blog’s audience being made up of right-leaning, mostly-wealthy, geriatric, uppity curmudgeons, 2,570 readers said they would vote for the Cons and 2,029 picked the Libs. That 51%-vs-40% margin is still considerable, but represented a sea change of opinion among addicted readers of this pathetic weblog.

And look what’s happened since. Nik Nanos this week found 38.3% support for Poilievre and 30.1% for the headless Liberals. The Cons have lost nine points, the Dippers shed two and the Libs added almost 11. The latest Leger poll, meanwhile, sent shock waves with its finding – a tie between the parties, each with 37% support.

“This is dramatic,” says Nanos. “A game-changer.” Women and Quebeckers appear to be drifting back to the Liberals, he said, and a number of people who parked their ballots with the NDP in past will be “strategically voting” against the Conservative leader who sounds way too much like Canada’s new enemy.

So, enter the staid Mark Carney with his international CV. The best anti-Trump option, his backers say. The PP forces are working overtime (like a bunch of blog commenters) to paint him as an elitist, WEF-loving, globalist cabal-supporting, boring old outsider, enviro goon, but so far polls indicate it’s not working. They also decry the fact a dude who is not yet elected to anything could actually become the prime minister on March 9th. Which, of course, he will. Chrystia is toast.

And that’s a good reason why Carney will visit the GG and call an election the next day.

Then it will be our turn. Dad vs the Angry Guy.

About the picture: “Here’s a picture of Fritz just chilling after a day at the spa without a thought of tariffs, the orange man, or what to call the Gulf of Mexico,” writes E.L. from Hamilton.  “He’s just happy that B&D is keeping him in milk bones. Thanks for all the advice and entertainment over the years.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2025/02/16/the-game-changer-3/