08.17.2020 06:32 PM

RIP, Bill Morneau

Back in 2015, some folks in Toronto-Danforth were pressuring me to run for the Liberal nomination.  They said I should go to this thing in Regents’ Park where some Liberal bigwigs were gathering.  So I did. I saw a lot of old friends there.  I liked that part.

But up on the stage, I also saw Chrystia Freeland and Bill Morneau at the microphone, falling over themselves to pay tribute to Butts and Telford.  They were servile and obsequious.  It was nauseating.  It was gross.

I left.  I turned to the person I was with and said I would not be running for the Liberals.

“These guys make me puke,” I said.  “They don’t believe in anything.”

Tonight, Bill Morneau tried to pretend he believes in something.

He doesn’t.

None of them do.

49 Comments

  1. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Watch them have the unmitigated gall to run Carney in T-D and then put him in Finance.

    Will they be able to stave off and control his leadership legions? If not, Freeland is about to have a lot of sleepless nights. That’s too bad.

    • the real Sean says:

      Freeland agreed to play footsie with the cult leaders by accepting the Finance appointment… thus sealing the end of her career and destroying any bid for the Liberal Leadership.

  2. Phil in London says:

    One piece of shit gone, how many more to go?
    Seriously you don’t have to be a LYING Liberal to goven

  3. Robin says:

    the path forward is now clear for the radical ENGO’s in the Trudeau gov’t to implement their post covid plan to transition Canada to their vision.

  4. whyshouldIsellyourwheat says:

    Rosie Barton describes it on CBC Newsworld:
    “a well-coordinated graceful exit”.

    • WSISYW,

      I’d be “well-coordinated” and “graceful” too lest my former BFF put the kibosh on the new gig I hope to land, namely secretary-general of the OECD. Surely, his once BFF would never dream of giving him the shaft on the way out the door. That wouldn’t be typically Liberal, now would it.

  5. the real Sean says:

    Possibly the worst Finance Minister in Canadian history. At least in the final pathetic minute of his disgraceful tenure, he joined JP and JWR in being part of the solution by voluntarily walking the fuck away.

  6. Doug says:

    Good riddance. Telford next?

    The PMO must have struggled greatly to invent a narrative:
    -Mourneau and Trudeau disagreeing over policy attributes a level of depth lacking in each
    -the most important responsibility of the Finance Minister is to question spending,so he allegedly resigned for doing his job
    – Mourneau just can’t keep with the progressive ideals of the Trudeau brand
    -has a Finance Minister ever resigned or been resigned during a crisis or even during a recession?

  7. Fred J Pertanson says:

    Bang on, Warren.

  8. Marc says:

    It’s a classic case north of the queensway bubble. There may have been more that was about to come out for morneau. So, he ran, or the thought of trying to get us out of the crap ton of now intergenerational debt was too much or both. Was anyone really paying attention to We?

    Hardly.

    Most of the people i talk to are concerned about a covid spike in the fall. They’re busy with life and the choice of sending their kids Back to school in a few weeks or keeping them home. I am blessed to still have a work, Others have other real life concerns.

    For what it is worth, i am not a Trudeau fan but morneu wasn’t a bad finance minister. He wasn’t the best, but not the worst. Arguably too close to bay street(imo- they all have been)

    The timing of sending home the finance minister now is terrible. I’m not aware of anyone in his party that can do the job now.

    At this point Peter Mckay is going to walk into the pm roll. As long as alberta supports him.

    • Marc,

      I would put it to you that some of the polls aren’t exactly heading south because of COVID-19.

      For most poll respondents at least, WE is the last straw coming out of the TrudeauDramaClass.

      Trudeau will do a Carney, much to the annoyance and consternation of YouKnowWho.

  9. mike st clair says:

    I do not think that Carney is stupid enough to associate with the Turdeau train wreck

  10. Douglas W says:

    Man, has this government ever gone off the rails.

    Justin has only one option …. prorogue Parliament.
    He’s gotta buy time.

    • Douglas W says:

      Apparently, Justin & Telford visit this site, quite often.

    • Douglas,

      Yeah, Harper got away smartly with a double prorogue so it’s not inconceivable.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Douglas,

        I regard prorogation as constitutional and a legitimate legal instrument but did not under Harper and do not now under Trudeau support it. It’s a cowardly device used to avoid or delay facing the music from voters. A Prime Minister is supposed to have guts and that means taking your lumps in the House and then going to the voters with the reasons why you believe your government deserves to be re-elected. Harper and Trudeau don’t have that kind of guts. (Very few politicians do.) This tactic will only unify the opposition parties toward an eventual non-confidence motion or a money-bill defeat. It’s a gamble that repeatedly worked for Harper. It won’t work for Trudeau not after WE and what’s still coming down the road. WE is nothing compared to what is about to arrive in the weeks ahead.

        • Douglas W says:

          “What’s coming down the road” has got to be a doozy.

          Justin’s only hope: a majority government after the next (snap) election.
          Anything less, and it’s skedaddle time.

    • Shane says:

      Yep, buy time to roll out his grand, messianic, woke feminist, green plan where everyone is a winner, the tax dollars are flowing like water over Niagara, and you’re a Canada-hater if you’re not on board. Wasn’t this the Wynne strategy?

  11. Nick M. says:

    He believed on quitting on a Monday, to ensure this story survives a whole week in the news cycle.

    Quitting on a Monday, also raises the likelihood that he quit, wasn’t fired, and wants to inflict damage to the current leadership.

  12. joe long says:

    Why did Bill Morneau resign?

    He had the complete confidence of the Prime Minister; Justin told us this just recently. And Justin never lies.

    True, he accepted free travel and jobs for relatives, but so has Justin, and Justin is not resigning.

    So why did he go?

  13. Pedant says:

    At the end of the day, Trudeau and Morneau are both trust fund kids born mere millimetres from home plate. These people are completely ill-suited to run Canada in an age of exploding wealth inequality, much of which they helped to create. The Canada they have created is paradise for the wealthy hereditary elites and the unproductive non-taxpaying “poor”, and hell on earth for the productive middle class.

    Morneau is now trying to secure a new globalist role for himself at the OECD to enjoy more cocktail parties with the Davos crowd. That’s what really matters to the silver-spooned set. To use the parlance in Harper’s recent book, they are rootless “anywheres”, not “somewheres”. Canada and middle class taxpaying Canadians and afterthoughts.

  14. Shane says:

    We’re being governed by a drama teacher running a clique of sycophants. Anyone who had the nerve to stand up to Trudeau or question him is now gone. Even Morneau wasn’t enough of a yes man. Mark Carney will never be FM because Trudeau is scared both that Carney may outshine him, and stand up to him.

    • Shane,

      Carney’s all about the long game and that means getting and staying on the good side of at least the Trudeau sycophants in cabinet. That’s where the seemingly inevitable momentum starts. Carney is the new Ignatieff-type party saviour. I can see the CPC ads now: He’s MerelyHereBetweenGigs.

  15. Joseph says:

    So then

    I take it Warren that you aren’t buying this bit of theatre as legitimate?

  16. JH says:

    This is no surprise. Telford & Co.’s PMO smear job as conceived by Butts, had been on for over a week, using the same hacks at CBC, Canadian Press & Torstar as they used against JWR and Dr. Jane.
    LPC backroom in Toronto strikes again!

    • JH,

      I don’t know about you, but this entire affair since SNC has brought me a somewhat new appreciation for Harper, and we both know I never expected that to happen.

      The Early Harper of the Alliance days rubbed me the wrong way with his sanctimony. Fortunately, the Later Harper had largely moved past that. My disagreements with the Harper-led CPC were primarily based on policy and prorogation but this crowd makes Harper’s policy and tactics look like those of a non-venerated Saint. Never thought I would ever think it — much less say it — but this gang actually makes me miss Harper.

  17. Phil In London says:

    Returning to Warren’s comment about the desire to puke. He and I will forever disagree on his favourite Liberal prime minister Mr. Chretien, but I do agree there is a lot of belief in nothing, unless you consider a belief in sucking on the public teat a belief this group does nothing for Canada that my pet cat couldn’t figure out.

    I cant help but think what Stephen Harper or Paul Martin would be doing in this deep crisis? Would they have reached across the aisle to form a broad coalition like has been done in other governments (Think Abe Lincoln second election where many Democrats and Republicans ran as one party. Think Robert Borden recruiting Liberals in war time Canada)

    This Natural Crisis may well be the worst Canadian crisis since confederation. It is not a political crisis that most Canadians suffer from but the political crisis is a lack of confidence in all parties.

    What an all star team if you had people like John Manley, Jack Layton, Jason Kennedy, Rona Ambrose, Sheila Copps and others working for the nation. It would involve a hell of a lot of Plumbing to unclog the sewer that most of our elected MPs swim in but if you could somehow have at the beginning of this mess come together, you might not have the stuff that is happening now.

    I guess I can go on h0ping Santa Claus can continue his remarkable run this December and the Easter Bunny can come back from a year off.

    Trudeau is a rotten symptom of the cynical political landscape, not sure who is out there ANYWHERE that after he is gone, can restore us to sanity?

  18. Steve T says:

    Installing Freeland as the Finance Minister, and then proroguing Parliament? Desperate flailing. Justin doesn’t like when he can’t just hold daily press briefings that are uncontested.

    Next shoe to drop will be the writ itself. Look for it very shortly after Parliament resumes in October.

    • Pedant says:

      No. There will be a new throne speech this fall and the Liberals will bring in UBI, heartily supported by the NDP. The Liberals will then engineer their defeat in the House of Commons next March during the budget vote, and win the subsequent election on their UBI pledge since non-taxpayers and non-contributors now comprise an overwhelmingly large voting block in Canada. The taxpaying middle class will be finished off but good. Of course the Liberals will then reneg on the promise or severely water it down, but no biggie – the cud-chewers in Toronto and Montreal won’t notice since they still like his hair.

      Any young Canadian with talent should look to emigrate.

      • Douglas W says:

        A lot can happen between now and March for Team Trudeau.

        Which is why I’m certain he’ll call an election next month.
        The time to roll the dice is soon.

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          Douglas,

          Higgs has already tried that and is starting to get cold feet re: the COVID-19 environment but it’s too late for him and the PCs cause that horse is already out of the barn and may be in an unexpected stomping mood…

  19. Yet Another Calgarian says:

    Have to say I do find Morneau’s comments about Trudeau’s grand vision plausible though cheap shot on the way out the door or not.

    Why let a minority government and no mandate slow down your plans for a Brave New World.

    Re: Carney though really what difference would it make? Short of a wholesale purge of existing MPs you are still stuck with the wet lumps that have been propping up JT this whole time.

    I will admit that a return to actual evidence based policy making rather than the other way around would be nice but the entire party needs an overhaul otherwise its just shades of Iggy.

  20. The problem with ridings like Toronto-Danforth, and too many other urban seats here in Central Canada, is that there isn’t any competition. If you get the Liberal nomination, you are guaranteed the seat. So why would the applicants care about the constituents or, the rest of the country? They are only worried about the apparatchiks, because they are the gate keepers and run the Party. If the voting public keeps these guys in power, what are we to expect? It is disheartening to think how poorly we are governed, and to bear witness to the mediocrities currently inhabiting the “Ottawa Monkey House” (thank to Mordechai Richler for that wonderful description).

  21. joe long says:

    Justin prorogued Parliament, thus shutting down all committees looking into his actions.

    Freeland appointed finance minister. A journalist with a degree in Russian History. Sounds well qualified. But heck, her job is just distributing borrowed money to the masses in a way that Justin gets the credit.

    Glad I’m in my 60s. I won’t have to pay back all the borrowed money.

    Prediction: look for a wealth tax, increases in the carbon tax, and perhaps a federal gas guzzler tax on all vehicles with 6 and 8 cylinder engines.

  22. joe long says:

    Team Trudeau in 2015; “Stephen Harper has used prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances. We will not.”

    2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament, to shutdown the committees investigating Liberal corruption and ethics violations.

    • The Doctor says:

      There’s a long tradition of this shit in Canadian politics, i.e., Liberals getting away with shit that Conservatives get pilloried for. And they get away with it because their sheep-like supporters let them get away with it.

      All you have to do is go on facebook and see if any of your woke Liberal friends who were foaming at the mouth and fulminating at Harper about this sort of stuff are raising a peep about this. Not a one.

  23. Dan Blackstone says:

    As someone who has lost all hope in confederation as it currently is, I revel in the events of the past week.

    With Trudeau sidestepping yet another scandal(s) where he used Canadian taxpayer money as his own personal investment vehicle, Freeland’s comments about the restart of the economy needing to be “green” to please their UN masters, this may be the straw that pushes Alberta & possible Sask to demand a better deal within confederation, “or else”.

    Is the west tired of being shat upon again and again yet?

    We shall see.

  24. Robert White says:

    Proroguing Parliament as Canada is enveloped in a national health emergency is over the top bad behaviour for governance IMHO. I fully understand why Parliament has been prorogued but the taxpayers of Canada are more concerned with governance during this time rather than the 5000 documents Trudeau is attempting to bury by proroguing just to save face.

    I never liked Harper proroguing Parliament either.
    Why can’t these politicians just run the country 24/7/365 and do their damn jobs anymore?

    What’s with the easy way out clause of prorogation?
    Bureaucrats and politicians are supposed to be hard working stiffs?

    Freeland does not come off as a slacker but PMs do when they prorogue.

    I’m not big on holidays taken whilst one is supposed to be working.

    P.S. I do appreciate that Finance Minister Freeland is our first woman FM. Carney is too old for the job anyways IMHO. Glad to have Freeland on board in Finance.

    RW

  25. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Freeland in Finance. Too funny.

    I guess genuine political transparency isn’t this government’s long suit. It’s patently obvious that this is nothing more than a distraction to wipe away memories of Freeland’s iron-clad solidarity with Trudeau when it counted that she NOT maintain that solidarity. Oh yeah, she’s disagreed with the PM lots, she just won’t tell us when or how many times. Sure. Freeland still fails the accountability test no matter which Ministry you enthusiastically thrust upon her and the Canadian people. When it counted, Freeland was AWOL, period, exclamation point. This FinanceFirst thingy changes absolutely nothing.

  26. Martin says:

    Maybe this characterization of Morneau is a bit unfair. I remember when he ran that his earlier writing on income security etc meant that maybe he would be a moderating influence. But when they immediately lowered the OAS retirement age back to 65 which was inconsistent with all of the rest of the G7 and his own writing, it was obvious he was no Paul Martin, Flaherty, Etc. No influence. But maybe enough eventually became enough. And now his family was being dragged into this mess. Globe article today points out he was against the 2.5 billion dollar top up of people on fixed incomes. There is nothing wrong with talking about what those numbers should be but don’t use Covid as an excuse when those on fixed incomes are not impacted. So, good for him. Bald faced political move to buy votes that was difficult to fight.

  27. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    In the end, this is all about a sufficient number of convenient scapegoats: they tried one with Morneau. If that doesn’t work, Chagger could be next, then Telford but never the guy where the buck stops. Canadians see this Prime Minister busily passing the buck and they will no doubt also pass on him when ultimately given that chance.

    This PM is truly only all about power. Nothing else. (Thanks for nodding.)

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