Maybe Trudeau won’t take another expensive Christmas vacation with the family in hurricane tormented Jamaica but work harder instead. Perhaps he’ll plead with David Lametti to please, pretty please run again in his Montreal by-election with the promise of putting him back in cabinet as justice minister/attorney general. Maybe he’ll tap Sousa, Ontario’s former finance minister under Wynne, to be minister of finance while keeping Freeland as deputy prime minister. Maybe he’ll promise to Sophie that, since he’s going to lose the next election, he’ll quit politics if she’ll come back so they can become one big happy family again. While he’s at the begging and pleading stage, he could also offer sincere apologies to Judy Wilson-Raybould, Jane Philipott, Bill Morneau, and any others he’s thrown under the proverbial bus in his climb to ill-fated international stardom.
We all know what the definition of insanity is. We're in that zone.
What politicians need to grasp is that no citizen, excluding the political class, believes that everything their tribe does is 'perfect' and 'well considered and executed'. No one. Therefore, frank, honest acknowledgement of stumbles, underlining the intent of the initiative, and what the next steps are, is all most want. More of the same, doubling down, staying the course, is precisely wrong.
Not sure Carney is remotely suitable for the political world as an aside. He, like Morneau, would eventually sicken of the hypocrisy and stupidly and depart a sadder and wiser man (like the brilliant Ignatieff, who was the epitome of the non-politician playing in a completely alien sandbox).
I remember watching a committee hearing once where Poilievre was grilling Carney, and Poilievre was doing his Poilievre thing: everybody knows Justin is taking bribes from Martians! We demand to know when the spacecraft landed! Date and time! Date and time! DATE AND TIME! And Carney's sitting there going, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh...", just can't get a word in. And it's, like, this is your statesman?
So many people say, "We need leaders of substance, not politicians." But a political leader who has subject-matter expertise but no political skills is going to end up losing an election to a politician pretty quickly. What we need is both - someone who has both substance and political talent. I was reading something recently - likely Stephen Maher's book - that contrasted our Just Not Ready Part-Time Drama Teacher Snowboard Instructor prime minister with his predecessor, who was a Distinguished Economist, and...no. Stephen Harper studied economics, but he was a professional politician. Bit of a cold fish by professional politician standards, but a professional politician. Have we fallen so far that I'm actually wishing my party could find a standard-bearer as charming, gregarious, and personable as Stephen Harper? Looks like I am, because if we're looking at Carney, apparently that's too high a bar for us.
If Justin Trudeau is truly “listening” to his MPs, that is as good a barometer of public opinion that he will ever get. The MPs will (I hope) be giving him the unvarnished truth about what voters on doorsteps are saying about their personal circumstances and how government priorities are far, far away from being useful.
To use the feedback in any meaningful way requires more than fixing up communications deficits. It may involve turning 180 degrees away from current policy, such as a meaningful change in government spending that will show a significant decline in the deficit. Or indicating that the 2025 immigration targets will be cut in half or more.
In politics changing one’s mind is avoided at all costs, which is not only stupid but can prolong harmful consequences of poor decisions. Justin Trudeau is in this trap, a long year away from an election and he seems inclined to double down on policy that is outdated or outlived its usefulness instead of showing real leadership and changing policy to meet today’s challenges.
Less spending such as the $200 Million they’re spending on the censorship “board”? They have a lot of voices to silence and votes to buy in their double down donkey moves.
Rosie Barton interviewed Rick Mercer 2 YEARS AGO and asked him what he thought of the PM.
Rick answered partially thus, "When half the country can no longer stand the sound of your voice, it may be time..."
It's now 80-85%...
I believe we have hit Mulroney status - where just the name, sound, sight of this guy is going to destroy the Liberals (and the NDP) and any chance of governing properly.
The one question I have is, "Where are we going?"
Neither he nor PP nor Singh have an answer.
"More of the same" will mean that the country will slowly become more Eloi - great health care, but at what cost?
Wow. That poll is devastating. Bringing Mark Carney on board (don't do it, Mark!) is too little, too late to alter those perceptions. Great - if dispiriting - column. Love the book.
I was just saying to Roy on your other post, our political climate in general is deteriorating in such a way that it's hard for any politician to admit any kind of weakness. I like to hope that of the third of Canadians who approved of this PM's performance in 2016 and who detest him now, some would appreciate some introspection on his part. But I suspect that for quite a lot of people, anything but "doubling down" would be not just a sign of weakness, but retroactive proof that he was wrong all along. I don't know how this can be overcome.
I mean, if he can't win St. Paul's, he can't win anywhere. If "doubling down" is going to win him zero seats in the next election, it's not like changing his course is going to be any worse for him. I don't know what the answer is.
I’ve read the book last week. Well crafted and engrossing. I agree Paul’s assessment that whatever the Libs try as a do over is too little too late. People want change and the government of Mr. Trudeau has a proven record of promise much and deliver little.
He has been a celebrity since birth, has always known it and embraces it. His stage skills are what he expects to carry him through another election. He cannot resist making history with the prospect of four strait elections, and winning over the dark forces he and his scripted cabinet warn us of. It must be suspected he wants to be in the history books rather than serving 42 million
Purchased and listened to the audiobook on an unexpected Canada Day road trip. Wonderful listen. You are definitely right about this particular length being an underutilized tool for journalism.
I share Mr. Wells appreciation for Coen Brothers movies and there is a scene in No Country For Old Men that the Liberals might take to heart after the stunning loss in St. Pauls.
Sheriff and Deputy are on horseback circling around a grisly crime scene:
Deputy: Sure is a mess, ain’t it Sheriff?
Sheriff: If it ain’t, it’ll do til the mess gets here.
The Sheriff and Deputy pull in most of the important crime scene clues RIDING HORSEBACK. It’s great cinema and a black humour swipe at complicated crime shows with CSI, autopsies, ballistics etc.
Moral: If down home common sense could lift the Liberal Party fortunes, this is a bad time for Justin Trudeau to skip the Calgary Stampede.
Excellent article as always. As nutso as the American election situation is I find myself envious that it will all be over in a few short months whereas we are faced with the prospect of X-ing days off the calendar for another sorry year of doubling down. As for Mark Carney… way too little, way too late never mind that it smacks of opportunism which is never a good optic. Now would be a really good time for PP to search his closet for a ‘statesman suit ‘and step-up to being an adult in the room so Canadians might feel the weeist bit hopeful for the future as we are marking those x’s
Maybe Trudeau won’t take another expensive Christmas vacation with the family in hurricane tormented Jamaica but work harder instead. Perhaps he’ll plead with David Lametti to please, pretty please run again in his Montreal by-election with the promise of putting him back in cabinet as justice minister/attorney general. Maybe he’ll tap Sousa, Ontario’s former finance minister under Wynne, to be minister of finance while keeping Freeland as deputy prime minister. Maybe he’ll promise to Sophie that, since he’s going to lose the next election, he’ll quit politics if she’ll come back so they can become one big happy family again. While he’s at the begging and pleading stage, he could also offer sincere apologies to Judy Wilson-Raybould, Jane Philipott, Bill Morneau, and any others he’s thrown under the proverbial bus in his climb to ill-fated international stardom.
I wonder if CSIS Director David Vigneault who recently stepped down should be in included in that proverbial bus.
He's not doing the Calgary Stampede pancake breakfasts this coming week - a shame, I was going to try to have a look.
Whenever I hear Bill Morneau's name I think of the 40 grand he forgot to pay back to the charity. Not a good look for a Finance guy.
Ha! I’ve been waiting 9 years for someone to use the Barton Fink analogy to describe Trudeau and his inner circle. Bravo!
We all know what the definition of insanity is. We're in that zone.
What politicians need to grasp is that no citizen, excluding the political class, believes that everything their tribe does is 'perfect' and 'well considered and executed'. No one. Therefore, frank, honest acknowledgement of stumbles, underlining the intent of the initiative, and what the next steps are, is all most want. More of the same, doubling down, staying the course, is precisely wrong.
Not sure Carney is remotely suitable for the political world as an aside. He, like Morneau, would eventually sicken of the hypocrisy and stupidly and depart a sadder and wiser man (like the brilliant Ignatieff, who was the epitome of the non-politician playing in a completely alien sandbox).
I remember watching a committee hearing once where Poilievre was grilling Carney, and Poilievre was doing his Poilievre thing: everybody knows Justin is taking bribes from Martians! We demand to know when the spacecraft landed! Date and time! Date and time! DATE AND TIME! And Carney's sitting there going, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh...", just can't get a word in. And it's, like, this is your statesman?
So many people say, "We need leaders of substance, not politicians." But a political leader who has subject-matter expertise but no political skills is going to end up losing an election to a politician pretty quickly. What we need is both - someone who has both substance and political talent. I was reading something recently - likely Stephen Maher's book - that contrasted our Just Not Ready Part-Time Drama Teacher Snowboard Instructor prime minister with his predecessor, who was a Distinguished Economist, and...no. Stephen Harper studied economics, but he was a professional politician. Bit of a cold fish by professional politician standards, but a professional politician. Have we fallen so far that I'm actually wishing my party could find a standard-bearer as charming, gregarious, and personable as Stephen Harper? Looks like I am, because if we're looking at Carney, apparently that's too high a bar for us.
Excellent.
If Justin Trudeau is truly “listening” to his MPs, that is as good a barometer of public opinion that he will ever get. The MPs will (I hope) be giving him the unvarnished truth about what voters on doorsteps are saying about their personal circumstances and how government priorities are far, far away from being useful.
To use the feedback in any meaningful way requires more than fixing up communications deficits. It may involve turning 180 degrees away from current policy, such as a meaningful change in government spending that will show a significant decline in the deficit. Or indicating that the 2025 immigration targets will be cut in half or more.
In politics changing one’s mind is avoided at all costs, which is not only stupid but can prolong harmful consequences of poor decisions. Justin Trudeau is in this trap, a long year away from an election and he seems inclined to double down on policy that is outdated or outlived its usefulness instead of showing real leadership and changing policy to meet today’s challenges.
Less spending such as the $200 Million they’re spending on the censorship “board”? They have a lot of voices to silence and votes to buy in their double down donkey moves.
I dunno, have you had an MP on your doorstep lately? The Liberals are insulated by the NDP and vice versa. Who needs doorsteps?
I think when a political party gets down 20% in the polls, getting outside the bubble and seeing what VOTERS want is a good strategy.
We are in such serious trouble in this country with this man and his cabal at the helm for another 15 months.
great article
Rosie Barton interviewed Rick Mercer 2 YEARS AGO and asked him what he thought of the PM.
Rick answered partially thus, "When half the country can no longer stand the sound of your voice, it may be time..."
It's now 80-85%...
I believe we have hit Mulroney status - where just the name, sound, sight of this guy is going to destroy the Liberals (and the NDP) and any chance of governing properly.
The one question I have is, "Where are we going?"
Neither he nor PP nor Singh have an answer.
"More of the same" will mean that the country will slowly become more Eloi - great health care, but at what cost?
If you think there is great health care ….come to BC
You speak for me also. I too wonder “where are we going?”
"double down" and "just watch me" are indications of not knowing what to do next.
Wow. That poll is devastating. Bringing Mark Carney on board (don't do it, Mark!) is too little, too late to alter those perceptions. Great - if dispiriting - column. Love the book.
I was just saying to Roy on your other post, our political climate in general is deteriorating in such a way that it's hard for any politician to admit any kind of weakness. I like to hope that of the third of Canadians who approved of this PM's performance in 2016 and who detest him now, some would appreciate some introspection on his part. But I suspect that for quite a lot of people, anything but "doubling down" would be not just a sign of weakness, but retroactive proof that he was wrong all along. I don't know how this can be overcome.
I mean, if he can't win St. Paul's, he can't win anywhere. If "doubling down" is going to win him zero seats in the next election, it's not like changing his course is going to be any worse for him. I don't know what the answer is.
I’ve read the book last week. Well crafted and engrossing. I agree Paul’s assessment that whatever the Libs try as a do over is too little too late. People want change and the government of Mr. Trudeau has a proven record of promise much and deliver little.
He has been a celebrity since birth, has always known it and embraces it. His stage skills are what he expects to carry him through another election. He cannot resist making history with the prospect of four strait elections, and winning over the dark forces he and his scripted cabinet warn us of. It must be suspected he wants to be in the history books rather than serving 42 million
Purchased and listened to the audiobook on an unexpected Canada Day road trip. Wonderful listen. You are definitely right about this particular length being an underutilized tool for journalism.
Loved the book Paul. No one has suggested he call a snap election. I wonder if that is just to do with saving some MP pensions.
I share Mr. Wells appreciation for Coen Brothers movies and there is a scene in No Country For Old Men that the Liberals might take to heart after the stunning loss in St. Pauls.
Sheriff and Deputy are on horseback circling around a grisly crime scene:
Deputy: Sure is a mess, ain’t it Sheriff?
Sheriff: If it ain’t, it’ll do til the mess gets here.
The Sheriff and Deputy pull in most of the important crime scene clues RIDING HORSEBACK. It’s great cinema and a black humour swipe at complicated crime shows with CSI, autopsies, ballistics etc.
Moral: If down home common sense could lift the Liberal Party fortunes, this is a bad time for Justin Trudeau to skip the Calgary Stampede.
Excellent article as always. As nutso as the American election situation is I find myself envious that it will all be over in a few short months whereas we are faced with the prospect of X-ing days off the calendar for another sorry year of doubling down. As for Mark Carney… way too little, way too late never mind that it smacks of opportunism which is never a good optic. Now would be a really good time for PP to search his closet for a ‘statesman suit ‘and step-up to being an adult in the room so Canadians might feel the weeist bit hopeful for the future as we are marking those x’s