Conservatives support Trump

Dear Editor:

How many Canadian Conservatives are Donald Trump supporters? According to a recent Abacus Data poll (July 21), 46% of Conservatives, but only 15% of Liberals and 8% of NDPers are positive or neutral about Trump.

Again, according to a recent Angus Reid poll (July 30,), 42% of Conservative supporters in 2015 are positive about Trump, while just 35% of Conservatives are negative about him. By contrast, 84% of Liberals and 93% of NDP supporters are negative about Trump.

This isn’t to say that all Conservatives like Trump. What it does mean is that the Conservative party has become the natural home for those who would like Canada to become more like Trump’s America.

Why does this matter? Andrew Scheer has to keep his Conservative base to win ... and a big chunk of his base likes Trump.

He is already taking on the tactics that define Trump, particularly attack ads, innuendo and outright lies ... and don’t forget the yawning void where policy initiatives should be.

Scheer’s recent claims about the new NAFTA are a case in point. The title of CBC’s political fact-checking post on Aug 2 tells it all: “How the Conservatives are torquing the facts on the new NAFTA.”

Scheer deliberately twisted the findings of a C. D. Howe Institute report so that he could proclaim that Canada “got nothing” from the trade deal. That’s simply not true.

We can expect more of this kind of twisting of the facts — and the same failure to offer any alternative policies — over the coming weeks.

How can we keep Trumpian politics out of Canada? By making sure that we don’t split the vote and let the Conservatives squeak in. Regardless of our party affiliation — Liberal, NDP or Green — we need to decide which candidate has the best chance of defeating the Conservative candidate in our own ridings, and then vote for that candidate.

We’re lucky in Kelowna-Lake Country because the front-runner is MP Stephen Fuhr. He’s known and admired on Parliament Hill as “relentless” in securing major projects for our community. He’s helped bring safe drinking water to local communities in the Okanagan. He’s worked to get grants for both UBCO and Okanagan College and to secure funding for Rails-to Trails and Lake Country’s new multi-generational activity centre.

So he’s not a “hold-your-nose-and-vote” candidate. He’s getting the job done, and we’re all better off because of it.

Diane Eaton Kelowna