The other day columnist Bob Hepburn of the Toronto Star gave Justin Trudeau’s Liberals an ‘A-‘ for their first year grade in office. Bob is a fine gentleman and a good writer but much too generous in his assessment. The truth is that much of this first year in power has been wasted by a vain and cocky prime minister who is failing to live up to his promise.
And that is the shame of it. The words Prime Minister of Canada can roll so smoothly off the tongue that it becomes the goal and not the opportunity. Somehow the out-of-country trips became a chance to show the world that there was a new sheriff in town for Canada instead of tutorials for a newby. The Liberal Party prostrated itself and he abused it. He seems to prefer fashion over form. His gender-balanced cabinet was too facile.
His elitism is showing in his solutions to both the Senate and the Supreme Court. His priorities among his promises are scattered, uneven and unorganized. Voting reform is being used as a distraction instead of a real analysis of how Ottawa functions. Sure he helped the middle class with their children and tax cuts. Ask any senior how great that was?
But dammit all, he can do much more. His goodwill with Canadians need not be exchanged for pipelines. And whether he puts us in hock for another $20 billion, we have to have better funding for Medicare. And Medicare has to be unified and run the same across the country. We can argue with bigots another time but there is a worldwide refugee crisis out there and Canada has proved it can be part of the solution.
While he has shown his impatience with parliament, he has few excuses with the disorganized state of the other major parties and their lame duck leadership. This is a parliament that could make things happen if he put his mind to it. And sometime in the next year or so, he will have to decide what to do about marijuana. The situation and the cop he put in charge are becoming less amusing.
He has finally got the enquiry on murdered and missing indigenous women under way and that process will continue for some time. That one got a plus.
But the National Energy Board continues to be a thorn. He can leave it in Calgary but it has to have some balance and some guts. And do not even think of approving that Energy East pipeline.
Sure, the honeymoon could go on a while longer but we still need to know what kind of stuff Justin sees in the country’s future. We were always enthusiastic about Pierre Trudeau’s just society. We are not sure his son knows what that means.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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