I'm always surprised that this isn't more obvious to people. Your sense of whether "the media" is too far left or right depends heavily on your own politics. I've been at this for a long time, and I've read many hundreds of people complaining about bias. And I don't recall anyone ever saying, "The media agree with me too often."
I upgraded to a pay subscriber yesterday because I think you are among the few columnists left who are equally hard on Trudeau and Polievre. Too often, columns have become about selling a biais one side or the other.
Disagree. My politics lie centre left. I have had a subscription to the Globe and Mail for over 30 years, which in *long* past years was reasonably centre or relatively unbiased. It is not that way now. Bob Fife, Steven Chase, John Ibbitson and now Andrew Coyne slag the Liberal government with abandon. Bob Fife admits to ‘torquing’ headlines. During SNC-Lavalin, I counted 11 articles about it in *one* Saturday edition. Bordering on ridiculous. I have watched this publication slide into a more right wing stance with bemusement. New publishers, new demands, I guess. Papers need to sell. I still have a subscription because outside of its click-bait political headlines, it remains a decent publication.
Well done Theresa. I agree completely. It wasn’t always that way, but the political coverage of the Globe is shameful. Some of it is bias, but some of it is a woefully trivialized coverage. We deserve better. Paul’s stuff is not perfect and I disagree often with him, but at least he’s in the game of trying to understand stuff and report back on his thoughts.
I knew that was coming. Look at the evidence. Sheer numbers of reporters and columnists ALL leaning the same way. Count the number of articles ALL leaning the same way. NO balance. I know what I see. This is not a subjective analysis.
This Liberal Government seems rattled, unsteady and as Mr Wells points out, it has lost its agility. Perhaps some of it is a long overdue reckoning with its reckless financial stewardship? The internal barometer at the Finance Department must be pointing towards an intense low pressure system because the PBOC is sure talking a gloomy outlook.
I also wonder what internal polling data is telling the Liberal Party about its handy wedge strategy, always deployed when backed into a corner. Has household economics pushed guns, right to choose and DEI politics off the radar? Does Trudeau REALLY think that he can demonize parents all across Canada who want to know what’s going on at school?
In the end, maybe it’s just all about attitude. The days of division and bad mouthing wide swaths of voters to solidify a base seems to have run its course. People are increasingly fed up with fighting and want to get back to building an economy where everyone has a chance for success.
Trudeau lost the critical thinkers early on. It took the majority of complacent, compliant Canadians much longer to finally see through the facade. His tenure certainly aided in great part by a woke media.
Lol I think the conservatives have done a great job to put everything they don’t agree with on the basis of wedge and division when also creating wedge and division on their side
Well said. I just want my family to have the opportunities my husband and I had. We did not even factor in what was happening in Ottawa. Now ever our kids think Since when are leaders great when they create dividing community lines?
Back in 2015, when the catastrophic collapse of the NDP's Quebec vote caused progressives to flock to the Liberals in order to forestall another round of Harper, the Trudeau Liberals were catapulted from third place to government. They brought with them a somewhat endearing "let's-put-on-a-show; my-mom-can-make-the-costumes-and-we-can-use-my-uncle's-barn-for-a-stage" kind of innocence, which they called Sunny Ways. It suited the drama teacher who was learning to play the role of prime minister. Eight years and two elections later, the reviews of that show are finally in and it has become apparent that the drama teacher never really found his footing as an upright leader; a competent manager; a decisive, deep and courageous thinker. So now, the longer he's prime minister, the worse are his party's prospects, mitigated only by abrasive foolishness on the other side.
In addition, he was given a pretty safe riding in his 20s. Not surprising that he thought that the average waitress is paid 50k annually. He has no clue about the working world
The only reason why David Pratt was elected (the only liberal MP in the history of this supposed « safe » liberal riding) was because of the split of the right vote between the alliance and the progressive conservative back in time. In 2000, the alliance and the progressive conservative vote accounted together for more than 50% of the votes but Pratt won with 41% of the votes. So much for a solid liberal riding 🙄
Poor old Wilkinson justifying unplanted trees while trying to convince us there never was a commitment to plant 2 billion trees. Sounds much like the theology of how many angels fit on pinhead and what gender they could be. If only friend Trudeau could get more than half of the premiers nodding their heads he might be successful. His record does not stand him in good stead. Poilievre may be on the rise, but he is not a sure thing. Speaking of the North, where’s our ice breaker fleet to counter the Chinese who aim to take a big hand in our country? Likely where the sun never shines quite like the inquiry into China’s interference in Canadian elections.
I honestly think it’s as simple as this government has run its natural course and has neither the energy nor the heart to carry on. Not much different from the end of the Harper regime. We’ll get a new government in the next election. What I don’t think we’ll get, from any party, is the vision and leadership the country needs to break out of our present malaise.
Thank you Paul, your column covers all the malaise I'm feeling. Is this the best this government can do? I can't think of a single item that has impacted my quiet life that this administration has brought about - but I dearly wish I could. When is the last time a PM made a major policy announcement? As
a Boomer I can recall the Fifties and the Sixties as decades of government engagement in industrial development and personal well-being, government direction of where Canada should be headed. And now? Despite our incredible human and natural resources we are left, it seems to me, to the fickle decisions of a handful of national and international corporations based in Toronto, Shanghai, New York and London to learn what portion of their bounty they deem to bestow on us. Here Canada lies, the second largest land mass in the world, governed by politicians who have forgotten how to dream.
I think this Government knows how to dream, but most of the dreaming involves moving money around in shell games to look productive.
There has been solid financial reporting for years about Canada’s productivity gap amongst G20 nations and also the foreign investment that has fled. (See TMX in Mr. Wells narrative). That’s where the dreaming needs to happen in Canada, a refocus on real jobs that expand the economy instead of pretend economies of some far off time.
You and other writers pointed out one of this government's big problems years ago, Mr. Wells-namely that Trudeau prefers the ceremony and speechmaking to the actual hard business of government. Besides all the issues Mr. Wells listed in the article, all the vacancies Trudeau's left in the judiciary and other important posts are another sign of how rudderless this government's become. It was cited as a problem years ago, and it's back in the news:
Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. Trudeau and Co. have spent themselves bankrupt in their credibility account. We’re hearing Canadians wondering whether a Bloc/Tory/NDP/Green minority might be better at solving issues of more immediate concern. I don’t disagree that Polievre has a spotty track record but he’s in the company of smart people who I suspect he listens to. I don’t think the same can be said of the PM. Or at least it’s not evident.
Trudeau has never possessed gravitas. He's superficial, a poseur. But the same thing could be said of all of our political leaders and the wannabe ones. Sadly, talented people won't touch politics with a barge pole. Poor Canada.
I am genuinely puzzled by this government and, in particular, puzzled by their weakness in governing. Hundreds of Federal appointments, including many judicial appointments, are infilled. A Liberal Government struggling is something I never thought I would live to see. As the forests burn in the summer and communities flood in the winter while mills struggle, why not hire these displaced workers in struggling communities as a civil defence force? How about building a fleet of water bombers and build them in Canada? I could go on and on. Many thanks for a great column.
12 judges were appointed yesterday. The problem appears to be a lack of candidates wanting to be judges. Who wants to apply the law in a land where one political party wants to destroy our charter.
Yes polls are a mere snapshot in time as we all know and campaigns matter et al as you nicely surmised in your latest column. But getting close to a decade-long PMs have records ... records you can't run on, records you can't run from, just records that begin to like criminal records (when you consider scandals, missteps, broken promises, and aloofness that befalls every government around the 7.5 year plus mark) to more and more voters. The only worrying thing is that federal and provincial conservatives have an uncanny knack, over the last 25 years or so, of snatching defeat from the gaping jaws of victory ... it is just one bozo candidate eruption away in #ELXN45. Yikes!
Just cracked open a paper bag of field tomatoes which I’m going to eat with some freshly baked bread and my late mother-in-law’s cucumber salad, because there really isn’t a better time to eat in Canada than the latter half of August. Everything tastes amazing.
Thanks for the column, Paul. Enjoy the rest of the month.
Really? Free phone calls from a payphone? So you are the guy who was ripping off the phone company all those years and therefore the guy we have to blame because the telcos are going broke and service levels (and costs) are falling (and rising, of course). That was you? Who knew? Certainly not me.
Yup, a PM can "make things happen," such as destroy the economy ( see, Trudeau, PE, Trudeau, J); turn Canadians against the country (see, Quebec and Trudeau, PE; Alberta and Trudeau, PE PLUS Alberta and Trudeau, J). Oh, the PM CAN'T make things happen you say, (see 2 billion trees, Baghdad Bob, and so forth.
Really, the PM can "make things happen?" And from whence did that piece of fiction arise? These PMs named Trudeau certainly have made things happen but, really, primarily NEGATIVE things that were not good for the country.
Ah, yes, experience and wisdom. When, pray tell will those magically appear in Canuckistan?
"I think ... this government's actions are increasingly distant from the country's preoccupations." Really, really, really spot on. [Is three reallys sufficient to make clear my approval?]
And let us not forget that JT and the sunny ways crew had a cabinet retreat in PEI, that province with a population smaller than just about anywhere in Canada but with four MPs, courtesy of history. And, oh, yeah, Liberals all. That would be "all" as in "all of them out of touch with reality in Canada."
Mr. Wells, I accept that you accept that the cabinet is "working very hard indeed." But, but, but ... they are working hard to send up dust to obscure their inaction, inarticulation, and incompetence (you didn't really think that I would miss that last one when listing the "ins" did you?).
"Somebody should write a book about that." Really, Sir, I implore you to not lower yourself in such a fashion!
All in all, a good summary, Sir, notwithstanding my sarcasm.
No fair. They're coming thick and fast. I need to ponder these comments on the patio with my wife, over a gin and tonic. My immediate reaction: thank you for analysis, even if I don't always agree with it. The recent comments from the mainstream media, as with the Cabinet shuffle, were well below the level of comment we are entitled to from our media commentators. The analysis of a Federal Cabinet shuffle from the Prime Minister of Canada (the shuffle wasn't done by Justin - it was done by the Prime Minister) made it sound like the court of the Sun King. People in powdered wigs playing jokes on each other. For not participating, mostly, I am grateful, though I think you were wrong on the Anand thing. I think your portrayal of the Cabinet as over their head with problems they don't fully understand is correct. But I despair that the other guy, because of clever advertising and relentless attacks, may actually get what he desires. And then we will be in deep s***, governed by a little man with limited understanding and little experience. God help us all, that in a time of crisis and rapid change, these are the only choices available to us.
It’s puzzling how the Leader of the Opposition can be seen to be inexperienced with the concepts of government operations. After all, he did serve in the Harper Cabinet and was spotted as someone with talent to nurture. Does this make Poilievre walk on water? Hardly, but Justin Trudeau had zero Cabinet experience when he was propelled as the Leader of a rump Liberal Party into the Prime Minister’s Office.
I agree. People are waiting with little patience to see and hear more than talking points designed to raise money and move the polling data needles.
I’m not privy to any ones strategies, but I suspect that the Conservatives are holding cards close because the spotlight is shining on the Government and why compete with new ideas so far ahead of an election? Also, the Liberals are serial plagiarists of ideas from other parties platforms. On a practical level today, what’s better, stealing Pharmacare from the NDP or safe streets and affordable housing from the Conservatives?
I guess it’s the problem with today’s hyper partisan political context. In the middle of housing crisis, « stealing » good ideas on affordable housing shouldn’t be an issue. Politicians are supposed to work for the collective interest no theirs but I guess it isn’t the case anymore, no matter the party
The Liberals have the levers of power to formulate policies for housing and pass legislation to enact them NOW. As Mr. Wells observed, a big Cabinet Gab Fest was held and it seems like the main purpose was to show concern (an optical illusion) as opposed to offering ideas that they could explore and run with.
There is far too much investment money in land and housing, because that’s where the return is. Homes flipped numerous times over two or three years is a boon to realtors and legal services and the paper gains drive up prices. I would like to see a crackdown on the capital gains on the housing flips as well as rooting out the dirty money in the system being washed into respectability.
If regime change is so certainly about to happen, would someone please explain to me why the numbers published by Nanos today are so positive for the Libs?
Maybe just maybe a throne speech could happen in mid September that would refocus the whole govt. and make the issue that are vote getters much more prominent. A clean slate to go through the last half of this mandate could very well further energize the PM and his team.
Comments on the current polls are interesting. In April 2019 Leger had a poll out that put the libs 12/13 points behind Scheer and then the election happened several months later. I saw lots of chatter this weekend suggesting PP has this in the bag come 2025. But he has also created some baggage that could backfire on him and this PM can be brutal when he goes after an opponent . Timing is everything and Eday is the ultimate poll.
The late Reed Scowen shared with me his theory on why governments lose. Everyone is elected with a topped-up credibility account. Credibility can only be spent, not deposited. Sooner or later, there's no cred left and the incumbents are ejected regardless of the suitability of the alternatives.
In federal politics, it seems the throw-the-bums-out moment arrives near the 10-year mark.
Six months ago I couldn't see the PP brand selling in the east. I sense a fundamental shift. Mr. Wells supplies us with a growing list of reasons, to which I would add the emergent post-Trump G.O.P. to the south of us.
As Paul notes, the Trudeau Liberals have lost the agility they brought to the job a decade ago. Sooner or later, even the most inept challenger will start scoring points, the interest rate/housing crisis construct being the latest. Another withdrawal from the Lib credibility account.
You maybe correct with the Reed Scowan comment. However, there has never been such a weak opponent in terms of having a real handle on what governing is about. PP was an abject failure as a minister in Harpers govt and actually tried to pas a bill that suppressed voting. His recruits so far are RW types from Harper's IDU. Guess how the Libs can play that outside of AB in light of serous criminal charges against the vice chair of the IDU, the guy who advised Scheer in 2019, and was present with him and PP at the convoy insurrection attempt.
I'm always surprised that this isn't more obvious to people. Your sense of whether "the media" is too far left or right depends heavily on your own politics. I've been at this for a long time, and I've read many hundreds of people complaining about bias. And I don't recall anyone ever saying, "The media agree with me too often."
I upgraded to a pay subscriber yesterday because I think you are among the few columnists left who are equally hard on Trudeau and Polievre. Too often, columns have become about selling a biais one side or the other.
Savage. Great article, Paul!
For the record, I agree with you too often.
Disagree. My politics lie centre left. I have had a subscription to the Globe and Mail for over 30 years, which in *long* past years was reasonably centre or relatively unbiased. It is not that way now. Bob Fife, Steven Chase, John Ibbitson and now Andrew Coyne slag the Liberal government with abandon. Bob Fife admits to ‘torquing’ headlines. During SNC-Lavalin, I counted 11 articles about it in *one* Saturday edition. Bordering on ridiculous. I have watched this publication slide into a more right wing stance with bemusement. New publishers, new demands, I guess. Papers need to sell. I still have a subscription because outside of its click-bait political headlines, it remains a decent publication.
Well done Theresa. I agree completely. It wasn’t always that way, but the political coverage of the Globe is shameful. Some of it is bias, but some of it is a woefully trivialized coverage. We deserve better. Paul’s stuff is not perfect and I disagree often with him, but at least he’s in the game of trying to understand stuff and report back on his thoughts.
I knew that was coming. Look at the evidence. Sheer numbers of reporters and columnists ALL leaning the same way. Count the number of articles ALL leaning the same way. NO balance. I know what I see. This is not a subjective analysis.
It's not? How come you're not providing your own statistics then?
This Liberal Government seems rattled, unsteady and as Mr Wells points out, it has lost its agility. Perhaps some of it is a long overdue reckoning with its reckless financial stewardship? The internal barometer at the Finance Department must be pointing towards an intense low pressure system because the PBOC is sure talking a gloomy outlook.
I also wonder what internal polling data is telling the Liberal Party about its handy wedge strategy, always deployed when backed into a corner. Has household economics pushed guns, right to choose and DEI politics off the radar? Does Trudeau REALLY think that he can demonize parents all across Canada who want to know what’s going on at school?
In the end, maybe it’s just all about attitude. The days of division and bad mouthing wide swaths of voters to solidify a base seems to have run its course. People are increasingly fed up with fighting and want to get back to building an economy where everyone has a chance for success.
Trudeau lost the critical thinkers early on. It took the majority of complacent, compliant Canadians much longer to finally see through the facade. His tenure certainly aided in great part by a woke media.
What woke media are you talking about? We have a right wing media in Canada. Post Media, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star (edging that way), Global News.
If you see those media outlets as right wing you're leaning so far to the left that you may fall over.
List some *woke* media then.
There is a healthy dollop of "wokitude" on the CBC TV and it's website, no?
Examples?
"Intellectual" cons love the Rebel and Post Millennium as well as Canada proud. Thats where they get their "facts"
Lol I think the conservatives have done a great job to put everything they don’t agree with on the basis of wedge and division when also creating wedge and division on their side
Well said. I just want my family to have the opportunities my husband and I had. We did not even factor in what was happening in Ottawa. Now ever our kids think Since when are leaders great when they create dividing community lines?
Back in 2015, when the catastrophic collapse of the NDP's Quebec vote caused progressives to flock to the Liberals in order to forestall another round of Harper, the Trudeau Liberals were catapulted from third place to government. They brought with them a somewhat endearing "let's-put-on-a-show; my-mom-can-make-the-costumes-and-we-can-use-my-uncle's-barn-for-a-stage" kind of innocence, which they called Sunny Ways. It suited the drama teacher who was learning to play the role of prime minister. Eight years and two elections later, the reviews of that show are finally in and it has become apparent that the drama teacher never really found his footing as an upright leader; a competent manager; a decisive, deep and courageous thinker. So now, the longer he's prime minister, the worse are his party's prospects, mitigated only by abrasive foolishness on the other side.
At least, unlike PP, he held a real job other than being à carrer politician
So by your statement if politics is not a real job why are we paying them real money?
The PM was NOT a drama teacher; he filled in for one . PP doesn't even have that on his resume.
Your clarification is noted. Assertions that Trudeau was a “part time drama teacher” are validated by your statement.
I said he filled in for the drama teacher. That was not his main job. But as narrow as your thought processes are i get your pointless stuff.
Yes, we are in agreement here. The Prime Minister was not a full time drama teacher, just a substitute on a part time basis.
He worked for Telus as a teenager. He’s been an MP for nearly half his life. He has no idea what working a normal job is like.
In addition, he was given a pretty safe riding in his 20s. Not surprising that he thought that the average waitress is paid 50k annually. He has no clue about the working world
His "safe" riding was solidly Liberal before he showed up. The incumbent Liberal was Defense Minister. It's safe now, but wasn't then.
The only reason why David Pratt was elected (the only liberal MP in the history of this supposed « safe » liberal riding) was because of the split of the right vote between the alliance and the progressive conservative back in time. In 2000, the alliance and the progressive conservative vote accounted together for more than 50% of the votes but Pratt won with 41% of the votes. So much for a solid liberal riding 🙄
Poor old Wilkinson justifying unplanted trees while trying to convince us there never was a commitment to plant 2 billion trees. Sounds much like the theology of how many angels fit on pinhead and what gender they could be. If only friend Trudeau could get more than half of the premiers nodding their heads he might be successful. His record does not stand him in good stead. Poilievre may be on the rise, but he is not a sure thing. Speaking of the North, where’s our ice breaker fleet to counter the Chinese who aim to take a big hand in our country? Likely where the sun never shines quite like the inquiry into China’s interference in Canadian elections.
I honestly think it’s as simple as this government has run its natural course and has neither the energy nor the heart to carry on. Not much different from the end of the Harper regime. We’ll get a new government in the next election. What I don’t think we’ll get, from any party, is the vision and leadership the country needs to break out of our present malaise.
Thank you Paul, your column covers all the malaise I'm feeling. Is this the best this government can do? I can't think of a single item that has impacted my quiet life that this administration has brought about - but I dearly wish I could. When is the last time a PM made a major policy announcement? As
a Boomer I can recall the Fifties and the Sixties as decades of government engagement in industrial development and personal well-being, government direction of where Canada should be headed. And now? Despite our incredible human and natural resources we are left, it seems to me, to the fickle decisions of a handful of national and international corporations based in Toronto, Shanghai, New York and London to learn what portion of their bounty they deem to bestow on us. Here Canada lies, the second largest land mass in the world, governed by politicians who have forgotten how to dream.
I think this Government knows how to dream, but most of the dreaming involves moving money around in shell games to look productive.
There has been solid financial reporting for years about Canada’s productivity gap amongst G20 nations and also the foreign investment that has fled. (See TMX in Mr. Wells narrative). That’s where the dreaming needs to happen in Canada, a refocus on real jobs that expand the economy instead of pretend economies of some far off time.
You and other writers pointed out one of this government's big problems years ago, Mr. Wells-namely that Trudeau prefers the ceremony and speechmaking to the actual hard business of government. Besides all the issues Mr. Wells listed in the article, all the vacancies Trudeau's left in the judiciary and other important posts are another sign of how rudderless this government's become. It was cited as a problem years ago, and it's back in the news:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-government-appointments-vacant-1.6940863
Terry,
Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. Trudeau and Co. have spent themselves bankrupt in their credibility account. We’re hearing Canadians wondering whether a Bloc/Tory/NDP/Green minority might be better at solving issues of more immediate concern. I don’t disagree that Polievre has a spotty track record but he’s in the company of smart people who I suspect he listens to. I don’t think the same can be said of the PM. Or at least it’s not evident.
Trudeau has never possessed gravitas. He's superficial, a poseur. But the same thing could be said of all of our political leaders and the wannabe ones. Sadly, talented people won't touch politics with a barge pole. Poor Canada.
I am genuinely puzzled by this government and, in particular, puzzled by their weakness in governing. Hundreds of Federal appointments, including many judicial appointments, are infilled. A Liberal Government struggling is something I never thought I would live to see. As the forests burn in the summer and communities flood in the winter while mills struggle, why not hire these displaced workers in struggling communities as a civil defence force? How about building a fleet of water bombers and build them in Canada? I could go on and on. Many thanks for a great column.
12 judges were appointed yesterday. The problem appears to be a lack of candidates wanting to be judges. Who wants to apply the law in a land where one political party wants to destroy our charter.
Yes polls are a mere snapshot in time as we all know and campaigns matter et al as you nicely surmised in your latest column. But getting close to a decade-long PMs have records ... records you can't run on, records you can't run from, just records that begin to like criminal records (when you consider scandals, missteps, broken promises, and aloofness that befalls every government around the 7.5 year plus mark) to more and more voters. The only worrying thing is that federal and provincial conservatives have an uncanny knack, over the last 25 years or so, of snatching defeat from the gaping jaws of victory ... it is just one bozo candidate eruption away in #ELXN45. Yikes!
Just cracked open a paper bag of field tomatoes which I’m going to eat with some freshly baked bread and my late mother-in-law’s cucumber salad, because there really isn’t a better time to eat in Canada than the latter half of August. Everything tastes amazing.
Thanks for the column, Paul. Enjoy the rest of the month.
Really? Free phone calls from a payphone? So you are the guy who was ripping off the phone company all those years and therefore the guy we have to blame because the telcos are going broke and service levels (and costs) are falling (and rising, of course). That was you? Who knew? Certainly not me.
Yup, a PM can "make things happen," such as destroy the economy ( see, Trudeau, PE, Trudeau, J); turn Canadians against the country (see, Quebec and Trudeau, PE; Alberta and Trudeau, PE PLUS Alberta and Trudeau, J). Oh, the PM CAN'T make things happen you say, (see 2 billion trees, Baghdad Bob, and so forth.
Really, the PM can "make things happen?" And from whence did that piece of fiction arise? These PMs named Trudeau certainly have made things happen but, really, primarily NEGATIVE things that were not good for the country.
Ah, yes, experience and wisdom. When, pray tell will those magically appear in Canuckistan?
"I think ... this government's actions are increasingly distant from the country's preoccupations." Really, really, really spot on. [Is three reallys sufficient to make clear my approval?]
And let us not forget that JT and the sunny ways crew had a cabinet retreat in PEI, that province with a population smaller than just about anywhere in Canada but with four MPs, courtesy of history. And, oh, yeah, Liberals all. That would be "all" as in "all of them out of touch with reality in Canada."
Mr. Wells, I accept that you accept that the cabinet is "working very hard indeed." But, but, but ... they are working hard to send up dust to obscure their inaction, inarticulation, and incompetence (you didn't really think that I would miss that last one when listing the "ins" did you?).
"Somebody should write a book about that." Really, Sir, I implore you to not lower yourself in such a fashion!
All in all, a good summary, Sir, notwithstanding my sarcasm.
Not surprisingly, I don't hear anyone asking "What's best for Canada"?
No fair. They're coming thick and fast. I need to ponder these comments on the patio with my wife, over a gin and tonic. My immediate reaction: thank you for analysis, even if I don't always agree with it. The recent comments from the mainstream media, as with the Cabinet shuffle, were well below the level of comment we are entitled to from our media commentators. The analysis of a Federal Cabinet shuffle from the Prime Minister of Canada (the shuffle wasn't done by Justin - it was done by the Prime Minister) made it sound like the court of the Sun King. People in powdered wigs playing jokes on each other. For not participating, mostly, I am grateful, though I think you were wrong on the Anand thing. I think your portrayal of the Cabinet as over their head with problems they don't fully understand is correct. But I despair that the other guy, because of clever advertising and relentless attacks, may actually get what he desires. And then we will be in deep s***, governed by a little man with limited understanding and little experience. God help us all, that in a time of crisis and rapid change, these are the only choices available to us.
It’s puzzling how the Leader of the Opposition can be seen to be inexperienced with the concepts of government operations. After all, he did serve in the Harper Cabinet and was spotted as someone with talent to nurture. Does this make Poilievre walk on water? Hardly, but Justin Trudeau had zero Cabinet experience when he was propelled as the Leader of a rump Liberal Party into the Prime Minister’s Office.
I don't disagree. My point is that the problems are huge and neither has given us any sense they can handle them.
I agree. People are waiting with little patience to see and hear more than talking points designed to raise money and move the polling data needles.
I’m not privy to any ones strategies, but I suspect that the Conservatives are holding cards close because the spotlight is shining on the Government and why compete with new ideas so far ahead of an election? Also, the Liberals are serial plagiarists of ideas from other parties platforms. On a practical level today, what’s better, stealing Pharmacare from the NDP or safe streets and affordable housing from the Conservatives?
Now we are in agreement.
I guess it’s the problem with today’s hyper partisan political context. In the middle of housing crisis, « stealing » good ideas on affordable housing shouldn’t be an issue. Politicians are supposed to work for the collective interest no theirs but I guess it isn’t the case anymore, no matter the party
The Liberals have the levers of power to formulate policies for housing and pass legislation to enact them NOW. As Mr. Wells observed, a big Cabinet Gab Fest was held and it seems like the main purpose was to show concern (an optical illusion) as opposed to offering ideas that they could explore and run with.
There is far too much investment money in land and housing, because that’s where the return is. Homes flipped numerous times over two or three years is a boon to realtors and legal services and the paper gains drive up prices. I would like to see a crackdown on the capital gains on the housing flips as well as rooting out the dirty money in the system being washed into respectability.
Oh I fully agree with you that our overall housing policy framework needs a complete overhaul. There is definitely no question here.
If regime change is so certainly about to happen, would someone please explain to me why the numbers published by Nanos today are so positive for the Libs?
Maybe just maybe a throne speech could happen in mid September that would refocus the whole govt. and make the issue that are vote getters much more prominent. A clean slate to go through the last half of this mandate could very well further energize the PM and his team.
Comments on the current polls are interesting. In April 2019 Leger had a poll out that put the libs 12/13 points behind Scheer and then the election happened several months later. I saw lots of chatter this weekend suggesting PP has this in the bag come 2025. But he has also created some baggage that could backfire on him and this PM can be brutal when he goes after an opponent . Timing is everything and Eday is the ultimate poll.
The late Reed Scowen shared with me his theory on why governments lose. Everyone is elected with a topped-up credibility account. Credibility can only be spent, not deposited. Sooner or later, there's no cred left and the incumbents are ejected regardless of the suitability of the alternatives.
In federal politics, it seems the throw-the-bums-out moment arrives near the 10-year mark.
Six months ago I couldn't see the PP brand selling in the east. I sense a fundamental shift. Mr. Wells supplies us with a growing list of reasons, to which I would add the emergent post-Trump G.O.P. to the south of us.
As Paul notes, the Trudeau Liberals have lost the agility they brought to the job a decade ago. Sooner or later, even the most inept challenger will start scoring points, the interest rate/housing crisis construct being the latest. Another withdrawal from the Lib credibility account.
Jim,
You maybe correct with the Reed Scowan comment. However, there has never been such a weak opponent in terms of having a real handle on what governing is about. PP was an abject failure as a minister in Harpers govt and actually tried to pas a bill that suppressed voting. His recruits so far are RW types from Harper's IDU. Guess how the Libs can play that outside of AB in light of serous criminal charges against the vice chair of the IDU, the guy who advised Scheer in 2019, and was present with him and PP at the convoy insurrection attempt.
"...and actually tried to pas a bill that suppressed voting."
"...and actually tried to pas a bill that ensured that only eligible voters cast ballots, while increasing advance voting opportunities."
FTFY
What party was convicted for election cheating and more than once. The CPC DNA is to lie cheat or steal to win. The lying part is well underway.
YUM...cherry coolaid