Bruce Dowbiggin
Rogue Populism: The Road Less Travelled
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‘You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?’—Dirty Harry
We have been staying up late trying to figure out the fatal flaw in the approaches of new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and new Alberta premier Danielle Smith. From the amount of abuse being thrown at the pair you’d think they were a Van Gogh painting. They must be doing something terribly wrong.
Or not. There are many possible culprits in our search, but we have settled on one highly controversial initiative the two employed to gain power in their respective parties. It would appear that both Poilievre and Smith spent a long time away from the seat of power talking to ordinary people with no connection to the posh set.
They assiduously courted folk who’d been locked up in Covid quarantines and— suspiciously— a number who’d been buying gas that cost almost double the price of a year ago. They listened to voices that rarely get squeezed into the lineup on The National or receive guest editorials in the Toronto Star. Rumour has it they even spoke to people who’d been in the truckers’ convoy last February. Sedition.
They did almost all of this in-person research without using internet trolling as the means of communication. Then they signed up tens, even hundreds of thousands of new party members by telling them they’d articulate their feelings if elected. And they won.
As anyone familiar with the political game can tell you this populist stuff was a huge mistake. First off, if you want to hold high office in Canada you need to court the Media Party at its HQ in the Ottawa/ Toronto axis. Read the sage wisdom from Andrew Coyne, Susan Delacourt and Heather Mallick.
Next, you must flatter the gods of TV/ radio by appearing on their panels with the bien pensants and agreeing with hosts like Rosemary Barton or Nil Kuksal that Jean Charest was the smart CPC choice. The candidate with aspirations to being elected then must take a cross-section of their opinions, find a middle ground to flatter the press. They must piss on the Trucker Convoy while saying Trudeau was right to hide in a bunker away from the rabble.
Finally— and this is key— you have to steer clear of the “unrestricted information warfare practices” of the new data age. This neither Poilievre nor Smith bothered to do en route to office. When they raised the complaints they’d gained from ordinary voters about the Carbon Tax or the equalization plan they were deluged with constitutional arguments and legal opinions from the 613 chattering class.
When Smith had the temerity to raise the spectre of aggressive new Western sovereignty demands within the Federation you’d have thought she’d said nasty stuff about Anne Murray. Heads exploded in Toronto newsrooms. The tone was “all this populist stuff emulates Donald Trump’s improbable rise to power in 2016”. And when we say Donald Trump in proper Canadian society we are talking about Beelzebub, okay?
Yet here we are today. Both Poilievre and Smith have defied the odds. Smith is forgiving those who didn’t take the dodgy vaccines. Poilievre is laying traps in Question Period for the PM on the Emergency Measures overreach. Naturally, the Family Compact insist that the pair are symptomatic of rising white supremacy in the land. The truth is anything but. Not that it will protect them against the Resistance.
Smith properly divined that her predecessor, former federal cabinet heavyweight Jason Kenny— supposedly the perfect candidate— had lost the faith of his base during the Covid-19 disaster. Intimidated by alarmist health authorities (and their media pals) Kenney was swallowed by events. “The hard truth is,” writes Smith confidant Laura Pentlebury, “the members of this government watched as Public Health in Alberta terrorized small businesses and long-term care facilities into compliance. The ‘lax’ restrictions came at a terrible price to the mental well being of many Albertans.”
What made Kenny’s failure so ironic is that he was Stephen Harper’s man on the ground with immigrant groups in the 905, listening when Liberals took their votes for granted. He helped Harper to 10 years as PM. Yet he couldn’t translate this experience to save his career.
Taking a page from Quebec’s book, Smith— along with Saskatchewan— will not launch legal challenges in Ottawa’s swamp, either. Instead, she will wait for the feds to try to lay their hands on Alberta’s protected grain, guns and energy. Then she will tell them to get lost while inviting them into Alberta’s legal swamp for a mud wrestle that will last five years.
Poilievre performed as the nerd in the coffee shop, willing to listen to people who saw no signs of Climate Change beyond the Carbon Tax and the Green fanatics on CBC/ CTV/ Global. He made simple economic arguments in campaign ads— ads that were predictably ridiculed by 22 Minutes. He taunted the fatuous Trudeau agenda of “Do as I say, not as I do”. See: $400K trips to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
Keyboard elites are now scrambling to excuse them as outliers. But the municipal elections last week told a different story. Progressives were thumped for the mayor’s chair in Vancouver and Ottawa. School boards were rocked by parents outraged by the #trans #abortion #hateCanada curricula in public schools. Only Toronto did status quo (surprise!)
Outside Canada the same post-Covid backlash has begun with elections of populists in Italy and Sweden plus a likely swing rightward in the U.S. midterms Nov. 8. They all have the same resentments after Covid crackdowns were followed by financial hardships. Or unbalanced outcomes in courtrooms and corporate offices favouring the flavours of the day against everyday folk. The stigmatization of the middle class. Outrageous inflation and interest-rate jumps. 32 pronouns. Dozens of genders.
You’d hardly know this by watching the media & culture community. The great new world order can’t get here fast enough for the refined class. Just topple some statues and take drag queens to Grade 1 classes. Racism! Racism! Racism!
Poilievre and Smith are not steeped in skullduggery. They will make mistakes. The media party will savage them for it. (Smith was pummelled by the policy wonks for previous opinions on Ukraine.) The UCP faces a tough election against a sassy NDP next spring. Poilievre won’t get a crack at Trudeau till 2024— or until the NDP get enough coin to run another federal election.
Nothing is guaranteed in a non-confrontational country like Canada that worships authority. However their fates unfold in the next decade you can say one thing for certain. They have at least met the people they represent on their home ground. They’ve heard the pain and resentment of Covid authoritarianism. They’ve seen through the corruption practiced in Ottawa’s salons.
If Canada rejects them then it will be rejecting itself. And have hell to pay for it.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft YearsIn NHL History, his new book with son Evan, was voted the eighth best professional hockey book all-time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted seventh best, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca
There’s a truism that the real world bears no resemblance to the worlds we imagine in our heads. From far-right patriots stockpiling guns in the mountains of Wyoming to unhinged antifa voidoids shouting “Nazi” at the McGill quad, the real world offers no resemblance to the ones they’re demonizing. The same goes for centre-middle voters who still watch the network 6 PM news or the wolves on Wall Street creating a new equity bubble..
Their assumptions are based on narratives created with themselves at the centre of an epic national struggle. In Canada, for instance, the only constants in the consciousness have been hockey and the equalization scheme. In the U.S. honouring Old Glory and the constitution is a stronger bond, but the national myth is still diffuse. Rarely have the two nations shared an animating principle.
Until this moment. Now there is a central force at work on both sides of the border. A core issue so deep and dangerous that all agree it forms the heart of their current existence. We speak, of course, of Donald J. Trump, the 45/47 POTUS. For better or worse, the cult of the Donald forms the seminal belief system in both America and Canada. He is, in the words of Mark Carney, transformational.
The reasons are not the same. For the Left Trump is the vulgar partisan leading America to ruin and perhaps civil war, For the Right he is the avenger, the fearless force for goodness who will restore America to greatness. Both sides laugh at him. For the Left it’s a derisive cackle. For the Right, it’s an affectionate chortle.
But neither side dares ignore him at the moment. Some might say, what about Obama? Wasn’t he a transforming force in his 2008-2016 presidency? Actually Obama’s overwhelming privilege in the absence of accomplishment is the reason Trump has ascended to this status. After the former leader of the Choom Gang in Hawaii had his pals curb-stomp Mitt Romney in 2012 the Right sought someone who fought dirty, too. Who’d punch back.
And they got him in Trump, who has perfected the intervention method used by Blake, the brutal salesman manager in Glengarry Glen Ross. Raw, unsparing, unforgiving. “Put that coffee down! Coffee’s for closers only. You think I’m fucking with you? I am not fucking with you! I’m here from downtown. I’m here from Mitch and Murray. And I’m here on a mission of mercy. Your name’s Levine? You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?
Dave Moss: I don’t gotta sit here and listen to this shit.
Blake: You certainly don’t, pal, ’cause the good news is… you’re fired. The bad news is… you’ve got, all of you’ve got, just one week to regain your jobs starting with tonight.”
Like Trump, Blake flaunts his wealth. “This watch costs more than your car. I made $970,000 in sales commissions last year. How much you make? You see, pal, that’s who I am, and you’re nothing.”
He’s unapologetic. “I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to. They asked me for a favour. I said the real favour, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass, because a loser is a loser!” His rude style has ended the Obama era for good.
In the wake of crushing Hamas he has rendered America’s progressive Left a stammering shell of its former self. Its Boomer demo is dazed, and its radical Left is talking insurrection. They tried to shoot him (twice), they tried to jail him. They tried to impeach him. They tried to link him to Jeffery Epstein. He was undeterred. Came back stronger as president in 2024. You may not like it, but those are the facts.
If America has a Trump fixation, it’s no less toxic in Canada where his intervention in the 2025 federal election shattered the polite conceits Canadians live with. He grabbed Trudeau by his fashionable lapels and hissed, “You’re a nice guy? I don’t give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here? Close!”
In America, this straight talk created a debate on its future. Faced with the same raw assessments of their nation as no better than a 51st state, Canadians rejected Trump’ and elected the nostalgia party of Mark Carney, flown in at the last minute to bury Trudeau’s mess. Assisted by their purchased media the Liberals avoided all talk of the country’s perilous finances, indigenous claims and separation threats. And ran on Trump.
Not much has changed since. Canadians eager to avoid self assessment have boycotted U.S. alcohol and travel. Their Laurentian elites— who months before considered their country a genocidal state— now paint rosy portraits of their land. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s critical style is demeaned. All because of Trump.
Meanwhile, Carney’s Liberals gave Stellantis about $15 billion for EV battery production but failed to secure any guarantees. Stellantis now will cease plans for Jeep Compass production originally slated for Brampton Ontario, and relocate their operations to Illinois. Ontario premier Doug Ford is blaming Trump.
In spite of the repeated blows to the economy, Trump’s role as whipping boy remains unshakeable in Canada nine months after the election. We would like to say you can only blame Trump for so long. Surely the impending $100B deficit budget and talk of Alberta/ Quebec cession will stir some to stop blaming the man staging the intervention and look at themselves.
But this being Canada you’d probably be wasting your breath. Already there is talk of a snap winter election to restore the Liberal majority before the NDP choose a new leader. The bot world keeps ignoring the flames while saying what a lovely fireplace! After urging Palestinian statehood Carney scurries to the Hamas ceasefire ceremony where Trump calls him “president”.
You can’t make this stuff up, But until reality destroys the fantasy worlds in his opponents’ heads expect Blake to knock on the door to announce, “We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired. Get the picture?”
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
It is a day that lives in infamy for Buffalo Bills fans. Jan. 27, 1991, with Buffalo against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV. Behind 20-19 with eight seconds left, Scott Norwood, a former All-Pro, attempted a 47-yard game-winning field goal. The kick was, in the immortal words of Al Michaels, wide right.
In the days of the Bills’ four consecutive losing trips to the Super Bowl a 47-yard field goal was within the range of an All Pro kicker. Still it was considered anything but automatic. And kicks of over 50 yards were moon shots with a high degree of failure. Sixty yards? Please, don’t make us laugh.
But as anyone watching field goals in the NFL and CFL can attest the distance barrier has been shattered. NFL kickers are making 72.5 percent of field goals from at least 50 yards. Four kicks have been made from at least 60 yards — one shy of the single-season record. Tampa Bay’s Chase McLaughlin hit a 65 yarder against Philadelphia in Week 4, one yard short of Justin Tucker’s record set in 2021.
Last Sunday Evan McPherson of Baltimore hit a 67-yarder that was wiped out by a late timeout called by Green Bay’ HC Matt LaFleur. (Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little hit a 70-yard field goal, but it was in preseason and not an official record.)
What makes this onslaught more interesting is that the record for longest FG in the NFL had stood 43 years from Tom Dempsey’s game-winning 63-yarder in 1970 against Detroit for New Orleans. (Dempsey, who has no toes on his right foot wore a special kicking boot.) It took Matt Prater and the light air of Denver to establish a 64 yarder on December 8, 2013. Since then it’s been bombs away.
Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey is the current king of effortless distance, regularly pounding them through from over 60. Many expect him to break the 70-yard mark. (Airlines have movies on flights that long.) No wonder then that the NFL has set records in each of the last four seasons for 50-yard field goals. The total of 195 in 2024 was double the total from every NFL season until 2015.
The combination of distance training plus a few new rules has revolutionized game strategy in today’s game. With the so-called Dynamic kickoff rules forcing more returns, teams are regularly starting drives at the 35- or 40-yard line. In late-game situations top quarterbacks like Buffalo’s Josh Allen or Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes need to get only a couple of first downs to get in the range of their kickers.
Now, a TD with under a minute left is not the death sentence for teams with one of the better kickers— as Bills fans will remember from their crushing loss in the AFC championship game to the Chiefs in 2022. The game featured 25 points scored in the final two minutes of regulation. The Chiefs took just 11 seconds to get to Harrison’s Butker’s range for a tying 47-yard field goal, then won in overtime.
Once the kicker played another position. Today they are specialists. The science of kicking has also improved with a plethora of kicking camps and coaches springing up to train the latest generation of long-distance drivers of the ball. With only 30 jobs in the NFL the competition is fierce, and only the very best get even a look at the pros, let alone s job. But with the money paid to a steady kicker there are thousands each year refining their craft and strengthening their techniques to get a sniff.
Another innovation improving distance was the league allowing teams to prepare their own kicking balls for games. Now they receive a supply of 60 game balls before the season to use in games. 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro estimates the broken-in balls add maybe three or four yards to the distance on kicks. The rules stipulate that no artificial heating, stretching or inflating are allowed but Jets kicker, veteran Nick Folk, says that it gives him. Comfort zone.
“We get to kind of do just like quarterbacks get whatever they want to do to the ball, as long as it looks like a football and the logo’s still there and all that stuff,” Folk told AP. “I think they’re pretty lenient with that. It’s a very welcoming thing to be able to kind of look at a ball and be like: ‘All right, I want to kick this one this week, I want to kick this one this week.’”
In the CFL the place-kicking game is about to get a big shock as the league moves goal posts from the goal line to the back of the new, smaller end zones. Kickers will now be forced to kick much further for three points, while offences will play on a smaller field that requires more emphasis on TDs.
Paul McCallum stroked a 63-yard to set the league’s record, and like the NFL, CFL kickers are constantly pushing their range in a league with only one indoor surface. Unlike the NFL, the CFL allows PKers to use a tee. Suffice to say the reconfigured field will take getting used to. (Already traditionalists are fuming.) At least we don’t have the rouge on missed FGs to kick around any more.
For now the quest for a 70-yard field goal continues. The question will be how does the NFL react to re-balance the field’s dynamics to protect the integrity of scoring.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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