At the Bar: Is the Magic Button Broken?

Six weeks ago Ginny Roth told us there’s a magic button in Canadian politics: press “Trump” and watch your numbers move. Carney pressed it. Doug Ford pressed it. Then Quebec shrugged, and B.C. seems to be shrugging too. So we opened a beer to work out what changed, among other things. No guest this week. This is the first “At the Bar”: the two of us catching up on six interviews and one B.C. IPA, after a listener (hi, Barrett) said he missed the beer reviews. What we got into: The last one percent. Graham Lanktree’s point that a Canada–UK deal only touches what CPTPP left behind caught Joseph flat-footed. Andrew on where the real barriers are, and why a British teacher can work in Auckland but not in Surrey. Is Reform Thatcher’s party? Darren Grimes said no. Andrew agrees, and thinks the one making the Thatcherite pitch in Britain right now is Kemi Badenoch. “Win back the right.” Ginny’s advice to the Tories gave Andrew a visible reaction on air. Now he explains it: five seats lost to Reform, dozens to the Lib Dems, and you can’t out-Reform Reform. There’s a can of Coke in the argument. The Trump button, provincially. One in 10 B.C. voters put tariffs at the top of their list. Andrew’s read from the doors: voters can smell an election called for party advantage. “It’s just not cricket.” Alberta votes Monday. Why a 25 percent separation vote is a bigger problem for Danielle Smith than for Ottawa, and what Brexit and Scotland say about movements that lose and don’t go home. Also discussed: why Darren’s council in Durham has shed councillors since he was on, Andrew’s unfinished kitchen, Joseph’s 20th wedding anniversary (china, apparently), $30 French butter from a Surrey strip mall, the beer club’s feelings about Margaret Thatcher, Andy Burnham’s Brexit habit, a curry-leaf beer that failed twice, and four days of someone else’s curry delivery. Predictions: we both say the B.C. Conservatives pull it off on Oct. 24. The beer: Coast Mountain Brewing’s Hopganjola, 6.7 percent. Andrew lands it between 3.75 and 4 on Untappd. Citrus, tropical, slightly dank, and faintly of curry. Next week: the Alberta referendum, with a returning guest.