Justin Trudeau has a talent for shooting himself in the foot. Back in 2017, the two people who are at the centre of Trudeau's problems now were also front and centre then. Susan Delacourt writes:
The presence of [Bill] Morneau and [Julie] Payette in this summer’s political headlines speaks not just to recurring characters, but to recurring themes for Trudeau, and quite possibly some lessons unlearned from three years ago.
It’s striking, in retrospect, how two announcements within one week in July 2017 have retained the power to send ripples through this very strange year in Canadian politics.
On July 13 three years ago, the news emerged that former astronaut Payette was being named by Trudeau as the next governor-general. Five days later, on July 18, Canada’s finance minister unveiled a proposal to close tax loopholes for self-employed people working as private corporations.
Both of these decisions would come back to haunt the Trudeau government — even now, in the summer of 2020.
In 2017, Morneau and Payette were in hot water:
Within days of the Payette [appointment] announcement, journalists began to unearth incidents from her past that cast doubts on her suitability for such a high office — a dismissed assault charge and involvement in a fatal collision when she lived in the United States.
Questions, good ones, were raised about how Payette cleared the vetting process, and why the Trudeau government had not put her appointment through the selection panel that had been established for her predecessor, David Johnston, when he was appointed by Stephen Harper.
Meanwhile, the Morneau announcement was also starting to look more ill-considered with each passing day of that long hot summer. Small-business owners of all kinds were girding for all-out revolt against the tax changes, calling them an attack on entrepreneurs and hard-working Canadians.
By the time fall rolled around, Liberal MPs were feeling the political damage; Morneau would eventually soften the proposal to ease its impact on small businesses.
Obviously, there's a pattern here. And the cause behind that pattern is pretty clear:
The connecting thread between those two controversies was lack of political forethought and a certain tone-deafness among members of Team Trudeau. So convinced were they of their own correctness in the two announcements that due diligence went out the window — proper vetting in Payette’s case, potential political impact in the tax issue.
There was one more connecting theme — it wasn’t just opposition critics who were the most outraged, but Liberals themselves. The worst political wounds are always the self-inflicted ones.
This isn't the first time Justin has scored on his own goal.
Image: Pressform
10 comments:
Those criticisms merely scratch the surface of the Prime Minister's deficiencies. Here's what a damning Guardian article has to say about him:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/22/justin-trudeau-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-political-brand
Perhaps we Canadians were too anxious for a dream-like change following Mr. Harper's government.
CED
Perhaps we Canadians were too anxious for a dream-like change following Mr. Harper's term of office, and are now discovering that Mr.Trudeau was, and is, much more bout political show than substance.
CED
Thanks for the link, CED. It chronicles Trudeau's carefully crafted rise -- and contrasts it to his tendency to blow the whole thing up.
Joe Kennedy famously told his son John, that what was important was who people thought you were, CED, rather than who you really were. Unfortunately, a number of leaders have taken old Joe's advice.
.. I dunno.. I recall the national drive to end the Harper fiasco.. and being relieved. Trudeau et al took over housekeeping after 10 years of Harper 'Governance'. Short memories forget Harper, Baird, Clement and 50 million 'Border Security' that 'got lost track of'.. It does occur to me that a fly on the wall as 'young' Justin, Gerald Butts, Ms Telford discussed Ms Wilson-Raybould would have quite a tale to tell.. Yet the sins of Lavalin did not start under Trudeau, no more than the horrendous Khadr affair was his. As one incredulous Thomas Mulcair pointed out.. re numerous Harper insults to Canadians.. in regard to the evasions of Harper & Ray Novak.. 'they record this in Hansard, you know.. what you said'
I think Trudeau will skate.. its thin ice.. but if you move quick.. you don't get wet
I don't think Trudeau will fall on this, sal. And, when I see Harper's children lining up to replace him, I shudder. Still, this was so unnecessary. And -- at this difficult time -- we could do without it.
.. We are not short of 'expert commentary' these days.. They're the mainstay of contemporary 'expert panel' TV. Lord Black, Rex Murphy, Jenni Byrne, Christy Clark (what of Ms Alison Redford.. or the Vaping queen Ms Rona of the Ambrose.. or the okie from Nose Hill, Ms Rempel Garner ?)
I will offer an anecdote.. Being somewhat of an expert level architectural photographer.. i was paid to shoot & deliver the goods.. prob much like you were expected to deliver Education.. and civility in a classroom among other things. it was nothing for me to calculate reciprocity re color temp and exposure times exceeding 1 hour.. then throw the black cloth over my head.. refine the composition (which was viewed upside down) and trigger the shot.. I could then walk through the shot with a flashlight dressed with a filter.. and illuminate & accentuate the architectural wonder.. knowing I would not appear.. dressed in black
Later, a client might complain the shot needed to be heated up or cooled down.. .. or why should they pay me to have shot in Salt Lake City. I referred them to the Kelvin color temp charts & had handy a shot of their light bulbs specs.. I had to govern myself on the known science.. not their 'impressions'..
Thus on Twitter this ayem I pointed out to Ms Vassy Kapelos.. that tweeting 'the curve is flat' as if that was all.. the sole takeaway re what Ms Deena Hinshaw had said was uh.. lacking a shred of context.. hardly befitting a 'journalist' .. Such is life.. Ms Hinshaw saves lives.. Ms Kapelos opines.. has nice hair 7 dimples.. amen
The back story you tell, sal, underscores the importance of context. Without context, facts simply remain facts. If the temperature is -20C, whether you're outside or inside makes a big difference.
I am slightly embarrassed to admit this, Owen, but I have almost entirely lost interest in this government, the Liberals, the Conservatives, even Singh and the NDP. They have become, to me, largely irrelevant. There's no visionary in their top ranks, no one capable of responding to the great challenges of the day and those that loom over us. If there were such individuals we would be having meaty debates about urgent policy questions, not partisan parliamentary peccadilloes dragged on endlessly to fill the void.
It's clear our leaders are having a hard time getting their heads around our times and circumstances, Mound. We suffer from national myopia.
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