The current fateful trajectory of the nation is not one man’s doing but that of the whole self-serving Liberal Party. Pictured: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo Credit: Justin Trudeau/X.
News from Ottawa this week was filled with tired, worn-out analogies: rats leaving a sinking ship, shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, a folding house of cards, etc. There was the spectacular resignation of the minister of everything, the Houdini-like disappearance of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a steady stream of tumbling, noisy clown acts to divert attention from the fact that the big top was being folded up and MPs were escaping into the night for their holiday reprieve. Legacy media and the established punditry in the nation’s capital were excited in reporting on Parliament Hill’s dumpster fire. In marveling at the Liberals’ circus acts, the sad reality for Canadians was left unsaid.
The government subsidized legacy media broadcasted almost exclusively on the Liberals’ controversies and the Liberal MPs’ existential preoccupation on whether Trudeau will lead them into the impending election. In the wake of Chrystia Freeland’s showstopping resignation, headlines focused on Trudeau: “Freeland’s cabinet exit sets off a bomb” revealing Trudeau’s “inept” leadership” and “Trudeau reflecting on his future.” There were countless accounts of the Trudeau-Freeland weekend exchange, questioning who ultimately zoomed who. The Globe and Mail editorial by political columnist Campbell Clark stated, “Justin Trudeau is the political issue, despite all the others.”
With all due respect to Clark, Trudeau is not the sole political issue of concern in Ottawa. The Liberals are the political issue – those MPs who for nine years have enabled Trudeau and his political operatives to mismanage the country. The current fateful trajectory of the nation, as it is, is not one man’s doing but that of the whole self-serving Liberal Party. This is not a sitcom episode about a divided caucus and whether Trudeau is going to stay or go, rather it is a long running soap opera of a caucus of train seals and wall flower ministers who are collectively responsible for the ruin of the nation’s fiscal foundation, international reputation, safety and security, and future economic prosperity. No dancing bear routine or clown shenanigans can override the incompetence and deceitfulness of the whole Liberal theatre troupe that has been performing their skits through the last nine years.
In an erudite column, Alberta Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner described Trudeau’s control over his Liberal cabinet colleagues: “He’s placed an incredible amount of power in an ever-shrinking pool of political staff while neutering both his cabinet and his caucus. Most cabinet ministers now are figureheads at best, without any real power save being asked to produce many sham-wow style infomercials… Under Trudeau, his cabinet ministers have been reduced to glorified salespeople of shitty government policy, conceived by unelected political staff and written by tenured bureaucrats – neither of whom have any direct accountability to the Canadian public.”
It has been nine years of the Liberal caucus (and the NDP caucus) enabling Trudeau and his BFFs. They must all be judged guilty by association for the sorry state of the nation.
Legacy media must also be judged guilty by association. Take for example this week’s resignation of one of Trudeau’s loyal ministerial doormats, Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who media dutifully regurgitated his virtuous story about leaving Ottawa to spend more time with his children. Here is what was not reported about this clown act: Fraser is perhaps the most incompetent of all ministers, certainly the most damaging to Canada being the immigration minister responsible for allowing an increasing number (far too many) of people into the country, and the housing minister responsible for flubbing the housing file. Indeed, Fraser had good reasons to quit: millions of migrants and an untenable housing crisis – and the fact that polling shows he would be decimated in his re-election bid.
Fraser is just the last of a number of ministers who fear the embarrassment of flaming out while riding into the election in the SS Trudeau Dumpster. There has been a steady stream of rats jumping the ship:
Seamus O’Regan, Pablo Rodriguez, Carla Qualtrough, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Dan Vandal, Filomena Tassi, and Randy Boissonnault (actually, both of them).
The centre ring show this week was Freeland’s human cannonball feat, leaving everyone including Trudeau in awe. As Freeland, her supporters – and legacy media – would have it, as a principled person she had had enough of the backroom games and called Trudeau on it by tendering her resignation, while pledging to continue to soldier on as a loyal Liberal. And as everyone’s attention was on the damaging impact her parting shots about “costly political gimmicks” would have on Trudeau, Freeland’s book publisher announced her new biography would be released Friday and a handful of Liberal loyalists (including a MP) were moved to muse aloud that she is the choice leader to replace Trudeau.
Yet, one must not lose sight of the fact Freeland’s cannon shot was calculated. The fact she commits to stay as MP suggests she still has political aspirations and, not to be forgotten, Freeland remains focused on fulfilling her global mission as a World Economic Forum Trustee. There were many pundits in independent media who decried that Freeland should not be celebrated as a martyr – she’s no Joan of Arc. The unflattering assessment of her powerplay this week is that she ran from her record before having to deliver her report to Canadians, before being fired for her failure. Her disastrous record speaks volumes: largest deficit in Canadian history, raised ceiling of national debt twice in two years, delivered seven consecutive quarters of deficit spending and GDP per capita decline – and, unforgivably, Freeland is responsible for freezing bank accounts of Canadians (while laughing into the cameras at the thought of her deed).
Outside of the Liberal clan and legacy media, the fondly called “minister-of-everything” is receiving no respect for her centre ring stunt. Kevin O’Leary stated, “Chrystia Freeland is the worst finance minister Canada has ever had… that budget gives you an idea of just how incompetent she is. It is good that she is gone.” Business columnist Catherine Swift posted on X, “Freeland mismanaged Canada’s finances for her entire time as Minister. Her now claiming to find fiscal prudence is a bad joke. She was a key player in gravely endangering our nation’s financial future. Shame on her – she deserves zero sympathy or credit for anything.”
Conservative MP and Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman stated, “A carbon tax cheerleader, a capital gains tax enthusiast, she froze bank accounts, ballooned deficit after deficit and racked up staggering debt. She wrote her letter after she was fired – and if she wasn’t fired she’d be there pumping her fist enthusiastically for the destruction she has been part of for 9 years.”
The Fall Economic Statement that Freeland had signed off on documents how bad the national fiscal situation is for Canadians. The government has a $62 billion deficit this year and the Liberals have no path to a balanced budget in the next five years. The ballooned deficit figure is more than 50 per cent more than Freeland’s own specified “fiscal guardrail”. The ever-increasing national debt load now demands interest payments that are more than Canadians spend on delivering healthcare. Canadian taxpayers are burdened with spending more than $1 billion a week in interest on the Liberals’ national debt.
The severity of Canadians’ sinking predicament was lost in the hurley burley of the Liberals’ sideshows – as was another glaring example of Liberal nepotism. It is remarkable that Justin Trudeau tapped Dominic LeBlanc for the finance minister role, a close personal friend who already holds three government portfolios for public safety, democratic institutions, and intergovernmental affairs. LeBlanc has zero finance experience but has a life-long history with Trudeau, having been his babysitter through his boyhood (and obviously still ready and willing to step in to assume babysitting duties today).
This is not even half the entangled Trudeau-LeBlanc story. Dominic’s father, Roméo LeBlanc, started his lengthy Ottawa stint as the press secretary for Justin’s father, Pierre. LeBlanc was elected in 1972 and Trudeau made him a minister, and in 1984 appointed him to the Senate. Pierre’s mentor Jean Chrétien later named LeBlanc governor general. Meanwhile, after his babysitting stint at 24 Sussex Drive, Dominic was elected in his father’s New Brunswick riding. In 2015 Justin brought Dominic into the inner circle of his cabinet. He has served, as his father did, as a close confidant of the prime minister. Rumours about Ottawa are that Justin is orchestrating an inside track for his boyhood playmate to become the next Liberal Party leader.
Midweek, as Trudeau and LeBlanc were shaking hands at Rideau Hall, the lights of the House of Commons were turned off. Liberal MPs were happily escaping the Ottawa drama for their Christmas holidays, leaving behind the scandals, immigrant and housing crises, Canada’s shameful reputation in the international community – and the country’s impending economic upheaval relating to our derailed relations with the United States.
Though Canadians for decades will be paying dearly for the Trudeau Liberals’ abject failures, the one saving grace is that this will be the last Christmas the Liberals’ circus routine will be governing national affairs. In Trudeau’s hometown paper, Le Journal de Montreal, a recent editorial delivered this death knell, “The experiment is over. It will take years for us to get the country back on its feet. While Trudeau’s star shone brightly abroad in his early days, he is now seen as a joke. Yet all this was written in the sky in red letters. The experiment is over, Mr. Trudeau.” So, as Canadians gather around the table for Christmas dinner, we can be thankful that this is the last year of coping with the challenges associated with the Trudeau Liberal’s mismanagement.
As your trusted scribe, may this author take this opportunity to extend in the spirit of the season with all its trimmings afforded by the Liberals’ and Freeland’s follies, “Merry Christmas to all – please pass the rotisserie chicken.”
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
