Let me preface this piece by reiterating that I'm no fan of Justin Trudeau and in fact loathe him, not for his policies as much as for his naked false piousness and pied-piper con game predicated on gullible Canadians.
That being said I cannot but stand back in utter disbelief at the unravelling of his Prime-ministership over such an innocuous and minor political issue as the SNC-Lavalin affair. It is perhaps fitting that Trudeau is not going down over a minor political issue, but rather because of his refusal once again to tell the truth,
I am thinking of the analogy of a loving mother who confronts her daughter over some crayon graffiti scrawled on the dining room wall and where the daughter steadfastly refuses to take ownership.
The issue escalates, leading to punishment and loss of privileges and a lot of bad blood. Still, the daughter persists in her lie because she got away with it in the past.
The mother tells her friend that she just wants her daughter to admit her responsibility so that things can return to normal.
But there's no question that her daughter's error has impacted her mother's love.
Whenever Trudeau is asked a particularly difficult question in Parliament, his go-to, rope-a-dope defence is to ignore the question and mouth banal an irrelevant answers, knowing full well that nobody is going to hold him accountable as he runs the clock out.
Here is an example of the Prime-ministers avoidance tactic, masterful performance of shuck and jive that few other politicians dare employ.
You gotta love it. What a great bullshitter.
Unfortunately for Trudeau, his time-tested tactic of avoidance hasn't worked this time and much like the daughter who claims she didn't mark up the wall, this time nobody's buying it and the repercussions for Trudeau and the Liberals are devastating.
That's right, gentle readers had Trudeau not lied and faced the music, admitting his mistake, his followers would have forgiven him and already moved on.
But Trudeau can still turn things around, but it means doing a 180-degree turn and admitting that he did indeed cross the line and did indeed put pressure on Jody Wilson Raybould to reverse her decision.
This short statement can read as follows;
" I want to tell Canadians that in sober reflection I have come to the conclusion that my actions and those of my close political operatives in regard to the SNC-Lavalin affair did in fact cross an ethical line and did indeed amount to an extraordinary exertion of pressure on Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to reverse a decision she had made, something that I should never have done. Although my motives were based on saving the jobs of thousands of Canadians I now realize that the ends did not justify the means.Like the loving mother who is dying for her daughter to admit guilt so that she can forgive and forget, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that a contrite and meaningful admission and apology is all the Liberal supporters are waiting for.
In light of the above , I do believe that the issue of whether the public has faith in this government to carry out the political agenda that it voted for almost four years ago needs to be tested.I therefore have asked the governor-general for the dissoulution of the house in anticipation of a general election which will settle the issue.
While I apologize for a mistake made in good faith, I believe that this government can and should been given another mandate to continue to implement policies that Canadians support, including equality and inclusion, climate responsibility and wealth building with income equality.
I hope that in the coming election campaign, the debate over issues that affect us all will be examined in a fair and open debate, where Canadians can decide who best should be trusted with the future of Canada ."
I'm also confident (much as I regret it) that given the above circumstance, Trudeau and the Liberals would be re-elected once again.
What say you?
Well I still find it sad how many people are trivializing this whole set of events. Trudeau and his PMO staffers clearly crossed the line under the influence of a sleazy corporate giant who time in and time out has show itself to be totally corrupt and dishonest. Why is everyone falling back on "other countries allow this" and "other politicians and parties would have done no better" or "jobs are worth more than integity honesty and lawful actions". Its pathetic frankly.
ReplyDeleteIts because its become acceptable to lie and cheat and somehow most people shrug and accept this is as the normal way "business" and poltics works. I have a real problem with it as do other Canadians but I am willing to bet that no matter what happens that Trudeau will still win the next election because most Canadians will just shrug and accept it as they always do.
The moral compass of this nation has decayed..very few people are left with any real integrity hence we get the politicians we deserve..and its also a symptom of a rot within our country which eventually will weaken this once great country..history has shown this over and over.
So no I dont think its a trivial matter..I think its pretty serious when your PM and his staffers pressure the top justice person in the land to rule in favour of a company that has committed criminal acts over and over. All this in the face of little evidence any real jobs would be lost. Even worse is the muzzling of his justice minister and the justice committee actions not even allowing JWR to talk about everything that happened.
I'll say minority government, and then gone in 12-18 months.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'm curious about: assuming Trudeau is re-elected with a majority government (and I don't put it past him to do this), will he stack his cabinet with 50/50 male/female ministers?
ReplyDeleteI say no.
The defections from cabinet have been female and I don't think that it's a coincidence; I think the female psyche is not as attuned to the wink-wink, nudge-nudge old boy's game of looking the other way and do what was politically necessary despite the law-breaking that obviously had taken place.
Trudeau won't make the same mistake twice. Yes, I think he feels betrayed specifically by the female cabinet/caucus members and will not fall for the 50/50 token ruse again.
Complicated's remarks certainly set a tone for this thread. Somebody on an American talk show summed it up succinctly:'"It is better to be rich and guilty than it is to be [average or] poor and innocent." The Paul Manifor sentence of 47 months against a maximum of about 25 years is glaring proof, and the judge who passed sentence said he's otherwise lived an honest life. I WAS GOBSMACKED! That guy has been bordering on treason and corruption all his life, and the judge totally missed the boat (or perhaps held out for his price). With light taps on the knuckles in the states, why shouldn't our politicians and their cronies do wrong and get thrown a parade?
ReplyDelete"...we get the politicians we deserve." I just copied and pasted complicated's exact words uttered by former TV news personality Patrick Watson when he was promoting his ten-part CBC documentary The Struggle for Democracy thirty years ago. Everything Watson said then is unfortunately devolving into the truth, and by voting again for this motley crew will just embolden Trudope and his boys (bye-bye ladies) to do worse. Being apolitical and complacent are democracy's worst enemies.
It is better to be rich and guilty than it is to be [average or] poor and innocent.
DeleteAin't that the truth and we all know it to be true. I guess as long as the middle class more or less lives decently then the pitchforks are kept at bay. However the next big financial crisis I think will bring the pitchforks out.
In the end it seems all political systems become corrupt..its just human nature. You put anyone or group in power with little accountability and they eventually take more than they deserve and start to think they are above everyone else. Communism..capitalism..socialism..corporate leaders..religious leaders..we see corruption and rot in all these systems at some point.
Remember how little the Yanks did to help out the poor people in New Orleans..that told us a lot. Biggest military in the world and they cant rescue a few thousand people in their own country..hmmm. Meanwhile every PM and President in the world has top corporate presidents on their speed dial..the rest of us just hope we dont get caught in the crosshairs of cross currents between our elite masters.
But it still saddens me to see most Canadians falling for such a pathetic excuse of a leader that Trudeau junior is. To think that this man is capable of running a country properly because he smiles a lot, does good selfies, has a know last name (good branding), and pretends to be a progressive feminist whatever. But then again look who was parachuted into the Quebec riding of Jacques Cartier in the last quebec election..the 32 year old son Geoffrey Kelley the son of the former MLA in the same riding. Thats got to be the worst example of rot in politics that I have ever seen up close..even worse than Trudeau running this country( into the ground)..
Sr. Trudope was parachuted into the the strongest of Liberal strongholds in the country: Mount Royal.
DeleteFormer M.P. Chuck Straal's son, Mark, was another parachute candidate. Junior Trudope was being groomed for the role long before we knew little more than he was Pierre's son. He had Cher Oncle Jean (Chretien) in his pocket long before he was known, the first time delivering his eulogy at his father's funeral back in 2000.
Junior's good buddy, Gerald Butts the Putz, now resigned from his #1 advisory role, had an aunt who was an M.P., and the list goes on.