
As I wait for my tea to finish steeping on a rainy Tuesday morning, hours after the Liberals lost their majority and the popular vote but still took a large plurality of federal ridings, there’s a few questions I can’t answer yet. Some of them are just a matter of waiting for more detailed breakdowns of all of Monday night’s individual races, and some number-crunching of meta results. But the biggest one is what happens to Andrew Scheer.
Or, to put it more bluntly, whether the Conservative leader won or lost.
For everyone else, it’s an easy question to answer. Trudeau lost his majority. The NDP lost roughly half their caucus. The Greens failed to make a major breakthrough, despite yet another campaign of breathless speculation that this was their moment. The People’s party fizzled into complete irrelevancy. The Bloc had themselves a great night.
But it’s harder to answer that question about the Conservatives. I suppose it comes down to whether you’re a glass-half-full or half-empty sort of person.
[…]
See Also:
(1) Alberta is going to pay dearly with a Liberal minority
(2) Advice for the Conservatives and their leader
(3) If Trudeau had learned a lesson, it totally escaped him
(4) A Trudeau win means a divided Canada
(5) NDP will have influence in this minority parliament — but not as much as you might think
O/T but in case many may have missed this story. 50 years ago. Half a century! I remember it as if it was last month. Heck, last week. I was on watch in the Operations Room of HMCS Saguenay. Kootenay and Saguenay had been dispatched separately from the squadron to conduct full speed trials. We were in easy sight of her when Kootenay radioed that she was spooling up to full speed. It was not long afterwards when something was amiss. Smoke could be seen pouring from Kootenay and then we saw some distress flares. My and other calls to Kootenay went unanswered. My God… she was on fire! Our radar showed her going in a circle and we later found out she had been completely out of control on one engine.
I went onboard Kootenay a few days after this explosion and what a horrible mess. After the next of kin of the deceased arrived in Plymouth sometime later Saguenay (being the only ship of the Canadian fleet remaining in the UK as the rest had returned to Canada) was tasked to take 4 of the deceased out to sea for a full naval burial. Let me tell you, a burial at sea with full naval honours, the grief stricken next of kin, the bodies splashing into the sea and disappearing forever, the wreaths thrown over the side tears your heart out. I am emotional at this moment recalling that ceremony.
The horror of this tragedy was also felt by my shipmates who we had helicoptered over to Kootenay to fight the fire and tend to the dead and injured. I remember clearly a young (early 20’s) red headed Sub-Lt. I used to interact with in the Ops Room of my ship. I still remember his name. He was one of my shipmates who flew over in our chopper to assist. Speaking to him afterwards I remember that he had been deeply affected by the horrors that he had witnessed. But I had no idea how deeply. Saguenay escorted Kootenay (she had to be towed by a tug) back to Halifax arriving a few weeks before Christmas. The young officer went home to Montreal for Christmas. He did not come back. He committed suicide while he was home for the holidays. Another victim of Kootenay.
This day I remember clearly what happened that half a century ago, I knew some of the Kootenay sailors who were killed or injured personally as the Navy was a small family. And I especially remember the very young, red haired Montrealer.
R.I.P. shipmate.
Ceremony marks 50th anniversary of HMCS Kootenay tragedy
https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/ceremony-marks-50th-anniversary-of-hmcs-kootenay-tragedy-367193/
We Will Remember Them
Shipmates all…