, 01.26.2021 07:54 AM

My latest: Trudeau’s scapegoats

Usually, when Justin Trudeau is looking for someone to throw to the lions, he prefers women.

Jane Philpott was one; she got kicked out of the Trudeau Liberal Party for telling the truth, and for refusing to go along with obstruction of justice. Oftentimes, however, Trudeau exhibits a fondness for scapegoats who are both women and minorities.

Indigenous leader Jody Wilson-Raybould fit both requirements, and was exiled and defamed by Trudeau because she – like Philpott – believed in the rule of law. Bardish Chagger came perilously close to Wilson-Raybould’s fate for the WE scandal. But Bill Morneau – a white guy! – got the bullet instead.

That was almost unprecedented. It should’ve been a Heritage Minute, it was so historic.

In the unseemly groping case, unearthed years after the fact, Trudeau again blamed the woman (the victim). She said he groped her, a reporter, at a beer festival and – when the whole sordid mess came to light – this is what he said about the woman (the victim). It’s a quote.

“Who knows where her mind was,” said the Feminist-in-Chief, deftly (a) declining to take responsibility for what would likely be a charge of sexual assault for a lesser mortal and (b) insinuating that the victim’s “mind” was, well, not all there.

Nice guy. Real feminist.

He was at it again, last week, when it was revealed to all and sundry that ex-Governor General Julie Payette had fewer people skills than Hannibal Lecter. And when we all learned that Trudeau had spent considerably less time vetting Payette than the rest of us reserve for, say, adopting a mid-pandemic rescue puppy.

Payette mocked people who believed in religion. She’d run down a visually-impaired woman who later died. She’d assaulted her ex-husband and was charged, but not prosecuted. She arguably had the managerial skills of Pol Pot.

Justin Trudeau’s reaction? Hey, let’s make her Canada’s head of state!

In no time at all, sordid truths about Payette started to spill out: the abuse of staff, the humiliations, the reign of terror. And – as my colleague Brian Lilley wrote in this paper – the resulting unsourced leaks about Payette to CBC always seemed to coincide with those days when Trudeau’s WE scandal was reaching a fever pitch. Sheer coincidence, we’re sure.

Trudeau, as is his wont, declined to take any responsibility whatsoever for Payette-gate. He wouldn’t apologize, either.

Instead, he sent out anonymous PMO fart-catchers to hiss to the Globe and Mail that Jean Chretien was to blame. Seriously.

You know, Jean Chretien. He was Prime Minister decades ago. Him, my former boss.

Chretien was somehow to blame for Payette, whispered the faceless and gutless PMO assassins. The Globe dutifully printed it.

Was Jean Chretien perhaps asked if Julie Payette seemed okay? Sure. Trudeau needed a female and francophone for GG, and Payette was both.

But, last time we checked, Jean Chretien didn’t run a headhunting firm. He didn’t peck away at Google, doing the Payette vet.

Because, you know: that’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s job.

Has been since 1931. Since that year, every single one of Canada’s governors-general has been picked by the Prime Minister. The Queen merely rubber-stamps whomever the PM picks.

The dastardly Stephen Harper, who gets blamed by Trudeau for every bird that falls from the sky, set up an expert panel to help select and vet candidates for Governor-General. It was a good idea. Among other things, if something went wrong, Harper could always blame the committee. Smart.

Instead, Trudeau dumped the panel. And now all of the Payette-mess blame has landed unceremoniously at the novelty-socked feet of Justin Trudeau. He’s wearing it, big time.

In a sense, he’s likely grateful. Payette-gate has diverted the nation’s attention away from the fact that we are no longer getting any vaccines, and that people are literally going to die who weren’t supposed to die. Justin Trudeau was likely grateful for the channel-changer, messy as it was.

Still, it would’ve been nice to find a woman to pin the whole thing on.

Blaming women, after all, is the way Justin Trudeau likes it.

26 Comments

  1. faithless elector says:

    Eventually Butts and Telford will have to surrender and call an end to this charade. At the ensuing leadership convention, they, along with Justin, should be banned from attendance and not even permitted to make a farewell speech.

    • Phil in London says:

      THAT would be up to the Liberal Party of Canada. (A party I used to hold membership in years ago). If enough people continue to vote the brand, it does say something about Liberals being only too happy to retain this trio, but the rest of us have a responsibility to ourselves.

      The rest of us can only set our sites on reviewing every viable option out there. The other leaders and parties SHOULD give us something to vote for, but it is our failure if we don’t do enough of our own research to find alternatives.

      If Canada can give the Liberals a Kim Campbell like drubbing then, the Liberals can opt to look inward, hopefully make constructive changes and try to win some of us back.

  2. joe long says:

    Trudeau put the blame on Payette.

    As for the Chrétien angle, Trudeau was trying to pull a Pelosi tactic; put a false story out to the media, the media reports it, and politicians then quote the media story.

    • Phil in London says:

      There is an old picture of Chrétien demonstrating the Shawinigan handshake on Turdo. I just wonder how much he regrets not holding it a little longer?

  3. Steve T says:

    While I agree this is Trudeau’s m.o., in this case Payette deserves all the scorn she is receiving. No one forces someone to be an a-hole. They make that choice all by themselves.

    In related news, I’m glad to see the spotlight is being shone on the ridiculous payouts that all former GGs (including Payette) receive. It’s the same concern that Canadians have about Senators and MPs, but a lot of people (me included) didn’t realize it extended to the GG.

    I’m guessing the thousands (millions?) of Canadians who are suffering financially from COVID are not thrilled to learn that Payette is going to collect over $200k per year – for the rest of her life – for her brief crappy stint as GG.

  4. Peter says:

    Wow. Just…wow. Well done, Sir.

    Sadly, he may very well survive and even triumph the next time. The inestimable Kelly McParland ponders why in this excellent piece. There seem to be too many Canadians in thrall to the banal, woke rhetoric and treacly persona, although it must be said the Cons and Dippers seem to be doing what they can to smooth out the bumps in the road for him.

    • joe long says:

      Notice how Justin initially got out in front on the vaccine rollout. He blamed the provinces for the poor roll out. Nothing to do with Justin.

      When Pfizer cut deliveries to Canada so they can increase production capacity, there was very little reporting that European countries had much smaller cutbacks. Does Justin accept accountability? Ha, they get rid of the GG.

      Now that Europe is threatening to cancel or delay vaccine shipments out of Europe who does Justin call? The heads of Pfizer and Moderna. Why wasn’t he calling European leaders?

  5. Douglas W says:

    It’s up to O’Toole to convince Canadians that he’s ready to lead this country.

    If he can’t ….. four more years of Telford and Butts.

  6. Glen says:

    Suggest all reading this take a minute & google “narcissistic personality disorder”

    Then think about who this reminds you of.

    That is all.

    • Phil in London says:

      I had the same thought and took up your recommendation. I think it sums up the father of a certain Vain Minister of Canada very well. Like Dad, he talks about his values and his concern for others then demonstrates it is his way or the highway. Some may recall an earlier article about John Turner written in this space. There was a man who could have been the true Adonis male leader.

      Daddy Trudeau didn’t like the competition much. He also did his best to keep the conversation focused on himself. The father often teaches the son.

      I do agree a lot of women have been thrown under the bus by Trudeau. Some like Payette got what they deserved. But others like Wilson Raybould and Philpot were attacked by the prime minister and his male (I am male hear me cluck) cabinet as not being team players.

      I don’t believe for one minute that women are an inferior sex, just watch how many times I end up conceding to my wife on many subjects. What I do believe there are SOME women so blind to their own misjudgement that they cannot turn away from this man. THAT is sad.

      Many good women and good men can and do work together, no question there is room for improvement, that is the case with most things.

      Imagine if the Trudeau un had been less vain and encouraged the development of successors Turner, AND Chrétien.

      I think we’d be in a different Canada today if that had happened. Maybe Turner takes over and has better confidence, denies the patronage plumbs that PET demands at departure and Mulroney doesn’t get that famous “you had a choice” debate line.

      Maybe, without 8 hard years in opposition the reborn Chrétien Liberal is no less compassionate but is less divisive in his political ascension.

      Maybe Turner and Chrétien never war and the Liberals are not just the Natural Governing Party because of feeble opposition but because it truly is a big tent that welcomes all.

      Trudeau Deux could have stayed Trudeau DUH and a great brain trust of Canadians could be working together to get through this mess.

      A little vanity goes a long way, maybe term limits would have been a good idea here too.

  7. Martin says:

    If this was indeed assault, she not only shouldn’t get her pension, she should go to jail:

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/julie-payette-treatment-staff-rideau-hall-1.5887108

  8. Shane says:

    He’s the Leftist version of Trump. Same narcissism, same lack of accountability, same lack of competency. Only difference is his woke bs is pandering to a different demographic.

    • faithless elector says:

      BINGO!

    • Mark D says:

      Same first three letters of their last name!

    • Martin says:

      Exactly right(and he got elected with the same politics of division) but his groupies not only have a difficult time hearing that but they are not self aware enough to understand why anyone would stick with their tribe and vote for Trump. Look in the mirror.

      • Derek Pearce says:

        Conservatives spew this hyperbole– and then BELIEVE their own hyperbole– and then are gobsmacked when the Liberals win elections. 1) I’ve never voted Liberal while Trudeau’s been leader but 2) saying he got elected on “the politics of division” when he was running against a party that wanted neighbours snitching on each other, that held a press conference to tout their snitch line, is believing your own propaganda my dude. So don’t be shocked if he gets in yet again. Voters have longer memories than you think. You can’t just assign a bad Conservative trait to him and wish it to stick.

    • Brine says:

      Agreed, but the big difference between the two is their treatment by the mainstream media. Open hostility 24/7 from the MSM for Trump, regardless of what he did. Fawning obsequiousness 24/7 from the MSM for Trudeau, regardless of what he does. The overt bias is quite sickening in both cases, really.

  9. RKJ says:

    My question here my be out of line but… given “trudeau’s scapegoats” comments above… why does justin poll well with women? It should be added the opposition parties need to present credible alternatives.

  10. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Put succinctly, if you long ago had your fill and are quite sick of him, then vote accordingly. Or you can continue to be in serial denial and willingly make innumerable excuses for him.

    Canada, those are your only two true choices as it relates to this Prime Minister.

  11. Gilbert says:

    It’s clear PM Trudeau doesn’t deserve to be re-elected. Voters sent him a message when they reduced his government to a minority. Now it’s time to fire him.

  12. Pedant says:

    This NP piece by Father Raymond de Souza gives a nice run-down of the prominent people thus far either forced out of this dumpster fire of a government or voluntarily resigned (I consider Payette a part of this government since she was a partisan pick).

    And he doesn’t even mention the latest casualties : Navdeep Bains and Ramesh Sangha.

    https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-j-de-souza-the-trudeau-governments-revolving-door-just-keeps-spinning

    Father de Souza describes it thusly : “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s self-admitted and significant failures in judgment have led to a series of resignations possibly without precedent in the entire history of Westminster parliamentary democracies.

    By the way, in case anyone’s wondering, Bill Morneau is no longer in the running for the OECD post. Guess Trudeau’s backing (whatever that even means) counted for nothing.

  13. Sean says:

    Trudeau has a major warp in his personality. Unlike those who will admit to a personal error in judgment, Trudeau won’t. His ego defence mechanisms – projection, rationalization, lying etc- are on full alert. He’s unable to demonstrate genuine empathy because he hasn’t any feelings for anyone else.

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