Listen Up! Is Trudeaumania getting sour?

Hugh Mackenzie
Huntsville Doppler

In less than a year from now, Canadians will be going to the polls in a federal election. No doubt some of us are a little tired of election campaigns at the moment, having gone through two of them in the past six months. Nevertheless, we are on the cusp of another one, an election campaign that is already heating up and that both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have said will be one of the nastiest in Canadian history. Isn’t that something to look forward to?

If the Federal election were to be held today, most polls indicate that Justin Trudeau would be re-elected with a majority Liberal Government. Indeed, Canadians usually, but not always, are fairly lenient with a political party completing its first term in office. Unless they have really screwed up, they are usually given a second kick at the can. And so, the question at the moment is how badly has the Trudeau Government screwed things up?

On the plus side, Canada continues to have a strong economy. Job creation remains positive and Canada continues to be held in high regard in most parts of the world. As well, I cannot think of any other Prime Minister that has had to navigate his way through the unpredictable and chaotic waters of international relations with our greatest trading partner and closest neighbour. The traditional norms of that relationship have gone out the window in the past two years. Since then, it has been a tap dance for sure and, so far, Justin Trudeau has done a pretty good job at playing David to the United States’ Goliath. But there are other issues, smaller in scope perhaps but nevertheless irritants, that could get in the way of another win for the Trudeau Government. Let’s look at some of them.

• The Trudeau Government is getting a passing grade from Canadians on the new Free Trade deal with Mexico and the United States. Given the reality of the man currently in the White House, one could not have expected a great deal more. However, if the United States does not withdraw the current crippling tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel before the Free Trade deal is ratified, the agreement will not be worth the paper it is written on. If the Trudeau Government fails to insist on that, they may pay dearly for it at election time.
• Recently Statistics Canada, the government arm that conducts the census, has requested authority to collect the private banking information of 500,000 Canadians, without their knowledge. Prime Minister Trudeau supports the initiative. This is a slippery slope which could violate the privacy of all Canadians and backfire on the Trudeau Government.
• Canadians, in my view, are also getting tired of Justin Trudeau in his role as Apologist-in-Chief. Most recently, he has apologized on behalf of us all to a First Nations community for an event that happened before Canada was even a country. Enough already! Canada’s history is far from perfect and standards of today are in many respects far different than they were a century ago. But on balance, Canadians have every right to be proud of their heritage and not ashamed of it. Moreover, there are costs for apologizing. Apologies reflect wrongdoing and the admission of wrongdoing encourages legal actions that cost taxpayers a significant amount of money.
• Another issue that could bite the Liberals in the butt in the next election is that many Canadians resent what appears to be their cavalier attitude toward a convicted murderer who helped her boyfriend rape and strangle ten-year-old Tori Stafford. Terri-Lynne McClintic has been released from a maximum-security prison and sent to a First Nations healing lodge where “residents” have a communal relationship and are free to roam the property. Some of them have young children with them. Many people view this as justice denied and the Trudeau Government being soft on crime.

• Another challenge for the Trudeau Government will be recent revelations concerning former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson who has received millions of dollars since leaving office, a term of little more than five years, for expenses, special projects and a generous pension. This is a problem not of the current government’s making, but one which they have perpetuated and one they have not managed well. Now that it is out in the open, it will raise many questions about excessive spending, the need for a Governor General and indeed the relevancy of the Monarchy itself. Reaction from the leader of the New Democratic Party already suggests this will become an election issue, one which could well put the Liberals on the defensive.

These are just a few of the challenges that will face the Trudeau Government over the next eleven months as they approach a federal election. There will be many more. The question remains as to whether they have made enough missteps along the way to lose the confidence of Canadian voters. It won’t be too long until we find out.

Hugh Mackenzie

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