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What to make of the Liberals campaign director resigning · Kvetch & Release

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to The Shift with guest host John Letcky
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on AM eight hundred. We are back John Letcky here
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: on AM eight hundred CKLW feels like a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of a save the furniture kind of situation right now
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  Speaker 1: when we look at the Federal Liberal Party. The supply
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  Speaker 1: and confidence agreement with the NDP was torn up two
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  Speaker 1: days ago and bringing us closer to a point of well,
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  Speaker 1: we're just closer to election speculation. We can say that
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  Speaker 1: right now, we don't know if there is going to
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  Speaker 1: be a formal dropping of support for this government a
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  Speaker 1: calling of non confidence anytime soon, but we're closer than
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  Speaker 1: we ever have been. And if that wasn't enough, we
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  Speaker 1: just found out as well that the Liberal Party has
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  Speaker 1: lost their main campaign director who resigned and who really
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  Speaker 1: didn't mince words about it, saying that the party should
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  Speaker 1: find someone to replace him who actually believes that Prime
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  Speaker 1: Minster Trudeau can win in the next election strong words.
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  Speaker 1: It's a tough situation that the Federal Liberals find themselves
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  Speaker 1: in right now, and it's one where I want to
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  Speaker 1: get a little bit of information about where things stand politically.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me is the Political Science Department head from the
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  Speaker 1: University of Windsor, Doctor Lydia Milgen joins me. Right now,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Milgin, how are you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm all John, how are you?
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  Speaker 1: Very well? Thanks, and again full disclosure. You were my
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  Speaker 1: political science professor at the University of Windsor. I think
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  Speaker 1: I legally have to say that fact.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't fail you, right, I passed you.
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  Speaker 1: You passed me, Yeah, and it was because I deserved it.
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  Speaker 1: I wrote a good paper. I remember that. That's what
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  Speaker 1: I tell myself at least. But hey, doctor Milgen, things
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  Speaker 1: don't look good for these Liberals right now.
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  Speaker 2: No, they haven't looked good for them for at least
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  Speaker 2: a year, and it's just going from bad to worse.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's that enough that they're tanking in the polls,
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  Speaker 2: but now you know they're dance partners left them, and
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  Speaker 2: then to make matters worse, they lose the campaign directors.
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  Speaker 2: So really bad week for the Liberals.
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  Speaker 1: When you see, like, I don't think that there's really
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  Speaker 1: ever coincidences when it comes to politics. I guess sometimes
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  Speaker 1: there might be, But do you think it's a coincidence
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  Speaker 1: that the party campaign director decided to offer the resignation
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  Speaker 1: the day after the NDP announced the end of the
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  Speaker 1: the end of this playing confidence agreement.
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  Speaker 2: No, not at all. I think that he was you know,
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  Speaker 2: he obviously saw the writing on the wall, and maybe
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  Speaker 2: he has been planning to do it for some time,
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  Speaker 2: but this just forced him to do it because now
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  Speaker 2: they have to always be in election ready mode. And
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  Speaker 2: if he wasn't you know it. You know, if he
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  Speaker 2: thought I'm going to sort of pass the torch over
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  Speaker 2: the next three months, that's one thing. But having the
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  Speaker 2: NDP leave the agreement means that they have to be
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  Speaker 2: ready to go to the poll at any time, because
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  Speaker 2: there can be a confidence will at any time. And
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  Speaker 2: so if he doesn't have the heart to do it,
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  Speaker 2: he's got to make sure that there's somebody at the
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  Speaker 2: helm for that really important job.
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  Speaker 1: And we also just saw last week or the week
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  Speaker 1: before a number of volunteers and staff in on Treal
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  Speaker 1: saying that they weren't going to help with the upcoming
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  Speaker 1: by elections due to the government's positions on Gaza and
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  Speaker 1: the war between Hamas and Israel, and the staffers were saying, look,
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  Speaker 1: you can go find new donors, you can't find new staffers.
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  Speaker 1: I imagine that's very much the same situation here with
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  Speaker 1: the main party organizer.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean you can always find staffers. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: people are always willing to take your money to do
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  Speaker 2: a job. So I'm not overly concerned about that. It's
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  Speaker 2: just the volume of the staffers that aren't willing to
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  Speaker 2: do the door knocking in a very important by election.
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  Speaker 2: Must remember that's David Lametti's riding and you know, another
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  Speaker 2: one of those so called safe seats, And so for
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  Speaker 2: them not to have the volunteers in the ground, the
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  Speaker 2: people that they would have expected to do that heavy lifting,
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  Speaker 2: is problematic for them. It does allow for the other
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  Speaker 2: parties to have a much better ground game than the Liberals,
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  Speaker 2: and so you know, they've just got, you know, one
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  Speaker 2: problem after another.
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  Speaker 1: So these seem like pretty ructural problems. But something tells me,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Milgin, that come Monday or Tuesday, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to see the Prime Minister or one of his ministers
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  Speaker 1: walk out and trot out a story that says the
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  Speaker 1: issue is actually just communications. We need to do a
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  Speaker 1: better job at explaining why everything that we're doing is great,
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  Speaker 1: and it's just all the voters who are too dumb
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  Speaker 1: to understand it. We can dumb it down and we'll
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  Speaker 1: release maybe a kid's book or a coloring book.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know if we did that, gosh, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's like six or eight months ago. They got
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  Speaker 2: in some wonderful communications guru who was supposed to make
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  Speaker 2: everything be better, and you know, every quarter they're going
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  Speaker 2: to increase their vote by five percent. Well it's been
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  Speaker 2: two quarters and they've still been tanking. So their communication strategy,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, let's remember it. The Liberals are brilliant excommunications,
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  Speaker 2: and up until now they were able to sell you know,
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  Speaker 2: you know, ice to to people in the in the
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  Speaker 2: far North. It's no longer communications. People just aren't liking
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  Speaker 2: what they're selling and they're and they're tired of the party.
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's nine here. The government governments have shuffle
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  Speaker 2: LIFs and so we're now at the stage of you know,
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  Speaker 2: Trudeau derangements syndrome rather than you know, really thinking of it.
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  Speaker 2: Like nothing they can say is having people listen to them.
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  Speaker 2: Canadians are tuning them out completely.
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  Speaker 1: So I need to read this quote to you. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how much time you spend following uh liberal
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  Speaker 1: staffer social media profiles, but zero? Okay, So that communications
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  Speaker 1: person that you were speaking about who was hired. Put
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  Speaker 1: up a tweet that said, I'm at the opening for
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  Speaker 1: Tiff and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is here getting a
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  Speaker 1: very warm welcome. He's always with the people. Never see
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  Speaker 1: that other guy anywhere, Tiff. Really, this is supposed to
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  Speaker 1: be the Prime minister getting out with the people, rubbing
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  Speaker 1: shoulders with the common man. This is where they're actually
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  Speaker 1: saying to the public. Look at this is mister relatable.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think this is gonna work?
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  Speaker 2: No? Again, read the room, guys. It's like and just
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  Speaker 2: the contrast between that, you know on that Tiff that
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  Speaker 2: I'm with the people compared to what we see here Polyevda.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know his Labor Day ad campaign was brilliant.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he was thanking workers, he was thanking the
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  Speaker 2: people who get to keep the economy rolling. He's connecting
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  Speaker 2: with you know, every day Canadians. And meanwhile we have
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  Speaker 2: Justin Trudeau rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite. How does
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  Speaker 2: that convey that you are really thinking about Canadians, that
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  Speaker 2: you understand where we live, that you understand the problems
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  Speaker 2: that we're facing on a day to day basis, And
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  Speaker 2: so I just don't get what they're thinking is they're
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  Speaker 2: so far removed from reality it is quite shocking.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and one person responded to the tweet saying, well,
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  Speaker 1: Trudeau's parting at tiff. Our unemployment rate just hit six
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  Speaker 1: point six percent. And the response from again that staff
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  Speaker 1: are fun fact our film and TV industry generates billions
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  Speaker 1: and economic activity for the country. It just it seems
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  Speaker 1: like they don't have a real response other than to
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  Speaker 1: just continue as to what they're doing and damned if
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  Speaker 1: it works.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, you know, so they got two problems.
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  Speaker 2: One is when they put out announcements policy announcements, like
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  Speaker 2: they did earlier this week, it kind of gets lost
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  Speaker 2: in the other noise. So they certainly had gigant Saints
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  Speaker 2: take away their headline about their national school program. And
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  Speaker 2: then when they do, you know, nobody's listening to that.
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  Speaker 2: And then when they do put something out that we're
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  Speaker 2: listening to is just the wrong message. It really doesn't
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  Speaker 2: resonate with Canadians and it frustrates us even more than
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  Speaker 2: we already were. So, you know, at this point, it's
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  Speaker 2: not that how they're going to lose, it's about how
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  Speaker 2: much they're going to lose, and you know, is it
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  Speaker 2: going to be one of those historic upsets like you
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  Speaker 2: know nineteen eighty four, which I know you're too young
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  Speaker 2: to remember, But I don't you know where where the
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  Speaker 2: Liberal Party goes down to forty seats with a big
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  Speaker 2: super majority under Brian Malrooney or do they do Kim
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  Speaker 2: Campbell and go down to basically wiping out the party
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  Speaker 2: which was another another spectacular finish for a political party.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, we we don't know what's going to happen. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I mean I think we we've got broad strokes as
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  Speaker 1: to what's going to happen. I don't think we're going
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  Speaker 1: to see a Liberal government and I don't as much
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  Speaker 1: as jug Meat sing NDP leader seems confident that he's
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  Speaker 1: running for prime minister and that maybe he's actually gonna
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  Speaker 1: get I can't even get through that sentence quite frankly,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Milton. I mean, is it just for for a
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  Speaker 1: jug Meat saying like to put on a brave face
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  Speaker 1: like that and say I'm gonna win, Like, is like,
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  Speaker 1: is there an upside to it? Is it just that
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  Speaker 1: trying to leap frog the Liberals got a love.
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  Speaker 2: For trying, But my goodness, you know, he's a force.
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  Speaker 2: He's any force in the world. They're running behind the
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  Speaker 2: Block Quebec loss for crying out, there's no I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it would be that would be the upset for the
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  Speaker 2: ages for somehow the n government to pull out that margin.
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  Speaker 2: So good from the sayings, you know, he's trying to
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  Speaker 2: be Prime minister, but really his best shot is even
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  Speaker 2: to try to be official opposition, which isn't clear because
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  Speaker 2: the way I'm looking at the Poles, I'm thinking that
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  Speaker 2: it's the Block abec Ula that's going to be official
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  Speaker 2: opposition after this next election.
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  Speaker 1: When was the last time that you remember seeing and
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  Speaker 1: I'll let you go after this question. I'm taking up
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  Speaker 1: to me a year of your time. When was the
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  Speaker 1: last time you remember seeing polling that showed a opposition
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  Speaker 1: party potentially on track to take two hundred and ten seats.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we've never had that kind of math because we
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  Speaker 2: have more seats than we ever have before. But honestly,
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  Speaker 2: it's the nineteen eighty four elections. I mean, this does
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  Speaker 2: feel to me very similar to what I felt, you know,
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  Speaker 2: when I was back as an undergraduate, when we had,
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  Speaker 2: you know, several years of Trudeau government high unemployment, high
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  Speaker 2: youth unemployment. I remember living through that. I mean, the
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  Speaker 2: interest rates were far worse than they are now. But
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  Speaker 2: Canadians just won't put up with high interest rates. And
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  Speaker 2: when we are we are bulking, you know, full on
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  Speaker 2: a quarter where you know, in my parents' generation they're
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  Speaker 2: paying eighteen percent mortgages. So nobody wants to go back there.
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  Speaker 2: And the appetite for change is so strong. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: people are just saying, just pull the plug, just do
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  Speaker 2: We don't even want to wait another year, is what
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  Speaker 2: I'm hearing from most people. It's like, why do we
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: have to put up with this government when they are
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  Speaker 2: so out of touch and they're not focusing on the
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  Speaker 2: basic things such as inflation, cost of living, unemployment, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the bread and butter stuff. And you know, him fawning
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  Speaker 2: off at twift tiff does not do them any favors.
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  Speaker 1: As political as I am, and you know, I like elections.
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  Speaker 1: I really don't want an election right now. I was
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  Speaker 1: happy with the idea of not having one, But when
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  Speaker 1: jug Meet Singh came out and destroyed the agreement and
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  Speaker 1: said that there wasn't going to be a vote of
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  Speaker 1: non confidence, I got so angry at him and I
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  Speaker 1: flipped sides one hundred percent and went, no, give us
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  Speaker 1: the election, Come on, don't make us now, just sit
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  Speaker 1: another year of nothing. But it seems like that's where
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  Speaker 1: we are.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm playing footsy with the Liberals to serve him. Well,
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  Speaker 2: like if he's going to do this case by case
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  Speaker 2: basis and try to get gaming ship, I mean they're
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  Speaker 2: going to tank in the polls even more. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you can't you can't have it both ways. You can't
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  Speaker 2: say it's a corrupt government, they don't listen to you,
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  Speaker 2: blah blah blah, and then support them on every bill.
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  Speaker 2: So they're going to have to make some votes.
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  Speaker 1: Well, they've been doing it for two and a half years,
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  Speaker 1: maybe another year, war coach, Well.
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  Speaker 2: Longer than that, actually since twenty nineteen, is what I said.
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  Speaker 1: That's a fair point. Hey, doctor Miligin, thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for your time. I hope that you have a
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  Speaker 1: great weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks you too, John, I was talking to you.
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  Speaker 1: Great chatting with you as well. Doctor Lydia Milgon is
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  Speaker 1: the University of Windsor Political Science Department head