Jody Wilson-Raybould is gone. And she left in a huff. Susan Delacourt writes:
Maybe there have been other politicians who turned a cabinet demotion into a three-month-long crisis for their governments, though none spring to mind. Perhaps there are other ministers who have spent days warning their bosses not to move them out of their jobs.
But no one in Canada, until Wilson-Raybould, appears to have done this so publicly and with such bridge-burning tenacity — up to and including Tuesday’s fiery warning to fellow Liberals against ejecting her from caucus.
None of the warnings worked. In the space of three months, Wilson-Raybould has become the former justice minister, the former veterans affairs minister, and as of Tuesday night, a former Liberal MP and no-longer candidate for Vancouver Granville in the next election.
The final straw was the recording of her phone conversation with the Clerk of the Privy Council. It's one thing to record someone with his or her knowledge. It's something else to do it surreptitiously. Until the end, Wilson-Raybould did not see this as a reason to eject her from caucus. Her fellow caucus members felt differently.
Wilson Raybould did not leave quietly. And, in the weeks to come, she will not be quiet. How this will all play out remains to be seen.
Image: South China Morning Post
18 comments:
While I am no fan of Trudeau, Owen, he clearly had no choice in removing Raybould-Wilson and Philpott from caucus. To do otherwise would have sent a message of fecklessness, both to the caucus and to the Canadian people.
.. this misbegotten clusterfluck conundrum was coming down the track regardless.. it just awaits the testimony or communications backtrail of a certain Mr Scott Brison - via one Ms Henein.. who seems of the same stubborn stuff Ms Wilson-Reybould, Ms Philpott & Ms Rousseau are made of. Let The Lobbying Games & Endgame begin ! Its nation building time ! !
I agree, Lorne. To allow them to stay would have caused chaos in the caucus. What puzzles me is that Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Dr. Philpott don't seem to understand that.
Strange how the phone recording has been blown into such an issue. It's never been illegal in Canada, and only the MAGAts complained when Cohen's recording of Trump came to light.
The Libs would prefer that people discuss the ethics of recording rather than the PM's ethical lapses revealed in the substance of the recording.
Cap
True, Cap. But the recording causes a problem for the caucus. If I was discussing policy, I would like to know when I was being recorded. In fact, I'd like to know whenever I'm being recorded.
Oh, we haven't seen or heard the end of this, sal. As for the consequences for the nation -- there is, as JWR says, "more to come."
Parliamentary systems in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Britain would suggest that there are alternatives, where public dissent within a party is 'allowed'. I would suggest that this type of 'party discipline' makes Canada an exception.
I wonder how healthy it is, in the long term, for either a party or the broader government system for a 'no public' dissent approach to be a defining principle. This is a feature of both parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, interestingly enough there appears to be a bit more room for dissent with the NDP, at least that is my read.
Lorne - I think that the message being received by a substantial portion of the public, in regards to the removal of Raybould-Wilson and Philpott, is one of vindictiveness. It further highlights that its politics as usual, which stands in contrast to the message of doing things differently, which so defined the Liberals electoral victory.
Steve
On Canadian national television in 1983, Wilson-Raybould's father informed then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau that his two daughters hoped to become lawyers and then Prime Minister some day.
I guess things were not really"going her way". She picked a hell of a time to be noticed. I can't help thinking that this whole shit fight happened over a demotion and brought great insult to the Veterans. Most people would take on any job that the PM gave them and set about becoming the best one could be. On Saturday I spent the afternoon in Simcoe north riding listening to my Green Party reps and becoming a GPO and a GPC member. Vote Green
It goes without saying, Steve, that the Liberals have mishandled this. But the length of time this has gone on suggests more ineptitude than vindictiveness. It's true that the longer things have lasted the more tense they have become.
If we had some kind of proportional representation, there would be more room for dissident voices.
It will be difficult this time but, as always, the eventual outcome for all parties will be determined in accordance with the Second Constant of Organizational Misjudgment, which provides that our expectations and general stupidly can make us anxious to afford the idiot twenty chances to get it right once, while we’ll label a steady performer by his one mistake.
The constant applies particularly to politics. I don’t quite know how to apply my stupidity on this one yet because among all the parties, save Scheer and Poilievre, I can’t tell which from which.
The end result of all of this may be a surge in Green Party support, zoombats.
The problem, John, as is the case so often these days, is that there seems to be no better alternative.
I must commend Zoombats on his excellent choice of political alignment, the Green Party. May we have millions more just like him.
Yes, JT has shown himself a vindictive little shit, proving once again he's all Margaret and no Pierre.
I don't know how this will affect Liberal fortunes in BC this October but what I'm hearing does not bode well for Mr. Trudeau. If Marie Henein gets to rake the already battered hull of HMCS Justin with another well-placed broadside before the election it will not go well for the prime minister and his party. His ox is now gored and the wound was self-inflicted.
This could be the beginning of the end for Trudeau the Younger, Mound.
Well, this post contains the worst of fuzzy thinking.
Apparently "team" loyalty to a criminal PM and his inability to even recognize or acknowledge what JWR was telling him well before the DREADED RECORDED PHONE CALL MY GOD HOW COULD SHE! trumps all else.
Your analysis is not even on the same planet as Magpie Brule, who gets it right.
I could care less about the hurt feelings of genteel Liberals and other citizens who seem to have no ability to see the vast difference between an attempt to screw up the independence of the national prosecutorial system and give a great big handout to a corporate giant, and a cornered AG who felt that she was being badgered to cancel a criminal prosecution over and over again and had to cover herself. Read the damn transcript! There was Wernick illegally trying hard to get her to agree with JT, at least four times. He didn't get it either.
Can you honestly look at yourself in the mirror and decide the audio recording is a bigger faux pas than trying to pervert the Canadian justice system for a damn company? Where is yourr sense of scale?
If you really think so, I have zero time for you. Loyalty to a crook is to be praised, the whistleblower who tried to tell JT what he simply did not want to hear is to be dunned? Give me a break and put your thinking cap on.
Like the rest of the "loyal" Liberal wallies here on Progblog who cannot reason their way out of a wet paper bag, you seem to have a hard time distinguishing right from wrong. Those 50 young women who turned their back on the PM as he gave them a pep talk about getting more women into politics have a better grasp on the situation.
BM
I suggest you exercise your zero time option, BM.
when I hear Freeland warning us about foreign intervention in our upcoming election, I do wonder if this is the start of it. The MSM kept at it for weeks. Progressives engaged in, in my opinion, killing each other in an attempt to either vilify JWR or Trudeau. neither are heros nor villians. We still don't know why Fife printed the story or what his source was. The only ones this works for are the Conservatives, Bernier, Russia, China, the Saudis.
Some in B.C. seem to think this will be the end of the Liberals and the rise of the Conservatives, but I see a lot of the votes going to the Greens. People were fed up with Harper, they voted Trudeau. Now they may be angry with him and won't vote NDP, so Greens it is. No one expect Elizabeth May to be P.M. but not many expected Bob Rae to be Premier of Ontario or Dave Barrett Premier of B.C. back in the `1970s.
Just please I don't want to wake up and see Scheer or Bernier as P.M. I'm too old to move. Lets hope Trudeau is returned to office with at least a minority government,
It's really hard to tell how this will work out, e.a.f. But you'll notice that some of the commentors here have signalled their support for the Greens.
Post a Comment