The hope for sunny ways is fast fading to cold and cloudy days, and we’re not talking about the weather.
A year into his career as prime minister, Justin Trudeau is quickly assuming the mantle of disappointment. A year after promises of doing things differently, and with majority control of the government agenda, he is not delivering.
I wasn’t expecting him to drain the swamp, a la Trump. Will leave it to Trump clones like Conservative leadership wannabees Kellie Leitch and Kevin O’Leary to adopt that plank. O’Leary, in fact, is already using that concept, except with typical Canadian politeness, he is only going to use a spatula to scrape Ottawa clean.
Despite accusations to the contrary, I am not a Justin Trudeau fan. For me, the Trudeau name was poisoned forever by his father, and the National Energy Program of the 1980s that cost western Canada billions of dollars in order to deliver cheap fuel to eastern Canada.
But after a decade of regressive Conservative rule under Stephen Harper, a younger face with younger ideas had a strong attraction — not to those who see generational change as a threat instead of an opportunity, of course.
But I found his promises to bring in Syrian refugees, to change the ballot system for elections, to legalize marijuana, to make assisted dying legal, and to change the mindset of Ottawa both refreshing and in tune with my own thoughts. And in tune with the thoughts of a younger generation that needs to chart the course forward so we are not mired in outdated ideas and expectations.
I’m even fine with a carbon tax. It is time for Canada to do its part, even if we represent only a miniscule part of the problem. The solution needs to start somewhere. I’m proud it is starting with us.
But…
While the first phase of the refugee program went relatively well, it is now bogged down. Changing the balloting system seems to be getting the short end of the stick, because the Liberals are now realizing that they were the beneficiaries of the terrible existing system.
Marijuana legalization, and legalized assisted dying are in a bit of limbo while the Liberals try to figure out how to do it. They had an idea, but no plan. Ideas are easy. Plans, not so much.
With all the revelations about businesses paying $1,500 to attend a reception and get to chat to the PM, well, so much for changing Ottawa. The pork barrel, the lobbying, the sleezy payments to be able to bend the ears of the decision makers — none of it has changed. In fact, Trudeau is defending it.
In the meantime, the western Canadian economy languishes and Ottawa is looking at how (not if — how!) it can invest $1 billion (one billion bucks!) in Bombardier, a Quebec company that can’t compete in the global market.
Bombardier expects to get the money without giving any say to Ottawa (and the Quebec government) as major investors. Give them a billion bucks, and let the company continue to be run by the original family that has screwed it up? You’ve got to be kidding. (Ottawa doesn’t have a billion dollars sitting around, of course, so it gets added to the national debt and we, the taxpayers, will pay the interest.)
And now it is healthcare funding. Here is the offer, take it or leave it. No room for negotiation. An arbitrary Ottawa decision that affects all of us. Kind of like the National Energy Program. Like father, like son.
Three weeks ago, I said in this space (and in a fit of Christmas-time generosity) that I was prepared to give young Trudeau a chance.
We are now in a new year, and he is well into year two. The clock is ticking, and ticking, and ticking…
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