— Feature, Musings —01.17.2024 11:13 AM
My latest: they’re dead inside
The Trudeau Liberals are still a government, yes.
But make no mistake: they are dying. And they are dying without dignity.
Yes, they have all the trappings of government. The expense accounts. The limousines and chauffeurs. The legions of officials producing mountains of unread memoranda for them. All that.
But, when observed from less than a distance, the Trudeau regime has only a thin, brittle exoskeleton of power: they’re a hologram of a government. They’re as lifeless as cold ashes.
The Trudeau Liberals have 158 seats, the opposition parties have 179, a Parliamentary minority. In the real world, that is kind of the equivalent of being strapped to a death row gurney, waiting for the governor to call. (Or not.)
The Trudeau government’s may not look entirely dead, from the outside. But they are inarguably dead inside, and only a Lazarus-like miracle can revive them, now.
Proof of all that was seen, in the past week. In the Middle East, a war is raging between civilization and barbarity. That’s what it is, in its essence.
Israel and Hamas, respectively. Civilization’s victory seems likely, but is by no means a certain or permanent thing. October 7 made that clear: if the conditions are right, if the evil side are sufficiently organized, any one of us – men, women, children, babies – can die in the most horrific of ways. All captured on a smirking terrorist’s GoPro camera.
When war is being waged by civilization on one side, and utter savagery on the other, it shouldn’t be difficult to pick sides. It shouldn’t be hard. Choosing sides, as Graham Greene once wrote, is how we remain human.
The civilized world has chosen Israel. South Africa, a Russian satellite that has pimped itself out to Hamas, brought a case before the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel is committing “genocide” against Hamas’ vassal state, Gaza.
International law, of course, is written by angels, sought by despots, and mostly ignored by the sane. But, in South Africa’s case, it was important to take sides. So, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Ireland, the European Union and others either vigorously opposed, or refused to support, South Africa’s Hamas-approved litigation.
But what of Canada? What of the Trudeau government?
On Friday afternoon, in a statement that washed up onshore like a dead whale, Trudeau said this: “Our wholehearted support of the ICJ and its processes does not mean that we support the premise of the case brought forward by South Africa.”
People poked and prodded the dead whale. It wasn’t a ringing endorsement of Israel – it wasn’t particularly clear – but it read, to most, like Canada did not support South Africa’s lawsuit against the victims of October 7. A fuller statement would be forthcoming, Trudeau hurriedly added, on that same day, Friday.
This writer, and other supporters of Israel, offered up some reluctant applause. We thought Trudeau would support South Africa’s stunt. He didn’t, it seemed. Good.
Since he made his statement on a Friday afternoon, just as the Jewish sabbath was about to begin, few Jewish spokespeople could be found to speak. So, Trudeau and his witless Global Affairs Minister snagged some applause over the weekend.
And then, this week, the truth spilled out. On CBC, no less.
A fine reporter there, Evan Dyer, wrote a story headlined thus: “After days of confusion, Trudeau government says it will abide by ICJ on genocide case against Israel.”
His sub-headline: “Prime minister, foreign affairs minister issued a statement that left many observers baffled.”
It was a “clarification,” Dyer wrote, issued by functionaries at Global Affairs on Monday. He wrote: “Sources said the government also didn’t want to signal that it was rejecting the genocide claim outright.”
Ah, now we see. Support, if necessary, for public relations purposes. But not necessarily actual support, where it counts.
The language games promptly blew up in the Trudeau regime’s faces. They achieved what would be otherwise impossible: they united both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Both sides condemned them for their dishonesty. Their deceit and duplicity.
But it’s more than simple dishonesty, isn’t it? It’s what happens when a government is just dead inside.
Like the government of Justin Trudeau is.
What a rotten government…paralyzed and unable to act.
Introducing the next MP for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill:
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/maddeaux-to-run-for-federal-conservatives-cites-urgent-need-for-change
Never really had occasion to look into the Liberal who will fall two years short of any kind of pension when she returns to obscurity but, holy smokes, she had THREE strikes against her.
1. Harvard grad
2. Worked at the World Bank
3. Worked at McKinsey & Company
Justin Trudeau makes $379,000 year, plus what ever else he makes from his trust fund and investments, and he’s so hard up he has to take free vacations?
What other “gifts” does he accept? Rocking chairs?
The “i” in Trudeau stands for integrity.
First Trudeau/PMO said Trudeau was paying for the trip, then they said it was a gift from a friend.
He/they also said it had been pre-cleared with the Ethics Commissioner.
Now we hear that the Ethics Commission doesn’t pre-clear holidays.
Three observations:
– somebody is lying
– the PMO can’t get it’s stories straight
– the rot starts at the top
And now the usual suspects are blocking any meaningful investigation in committee.
Warren,
Global Affairs isn’t supposed to issue clarifications of a PM or Minister’s remarks. That is the job of PMO. I guess Telford had the day off.
Warren,
My, my. Minister looks annoyed at her Prime Minister. Three guesses!
Canadians are facing multiple challenges and it certainly doesn’t help when the Prime Minister is working at cross purposes (when he is around to do the work) that exacerbate the misery.
If the only reasons to continue leading the country are for vanity projects, save us all and quit. Trudeau refuses to believe that voters would gives the PMO keys to Poilievre and his hubris is a serious brain cramp of delusion.
The curious thing about this is just how far do the Liberals have to fall in the polls before there is a palace coup? The Conservatives are getting lots of attention over prospective candidates for the next election, and how are the Liberals doing with star power recruitment and fundraising?
Great article. One lesson to be learned from the last 8 years is that prospective leaders need to be vetted far more than the Liberals did on this one. My impression is that in Justin, they saw someone that they could market. He can read his lines in a somewhat convincing manner, and stay on message. Ever wonder why he doesn’t answer questions? It’s beyond his capability to do so, competently.
“Far more”? You mean…period. Any Liberal with a brain knew his limitations. They were hoping for the best. Didn’t work out.
He made a nice speech at his father’s funeral and Liberal hearts went all a-flutter.
That was considered sufficient due diligence.
Any thinking Liberal had to have had reservations. If they didn’t, that only leads to one conclusion.
Martin,
Kind of depends. They kicked our ass for eight years as government but fortunately for us, most people can stand HIM no longer. That more than anything else will put Pierre in the PM’s chair.
But at what cost? The Liberals with a brain who hoped for the best are aware of that. The Tru-anons haven’t clued in yet.
If they can’t dazzle us with their brilliance they
baffle us with their bureaucratese. When .gov uses
bureaucratese they have run out of ideas.
Dead? Yup
Robert,
Highly likely at 99% but hope exists for all parties and every leader, so they still have at least a theoretical 1%.
Canada has become a rudderless ship.
Its captain will spend more time out of the country than at home in 2024 because … he doesn’t feel like working.
Since the Cabinet / Caucus won’t step in and remove the Leader, Liberal Party members have no choice but to stare at the cold, frozen ground for the next 21 months and wait for Pierre Poilievre to set things right.
They have never given themselves the legal power. So you knew how that would work out. True sign of a cult led by a dictator propped up by the NDP.
Not true. MPs have always had the power. No notice, process or reason is needed. At any time, a group of MPs can inform the Speaker that the party has chosen a new interim leader. If the interim leader is from the governing party, the GG swears them in that day.
I am talking about bill C-586 which lays out a process.
Sean,
Got to agree with you. That’s how it always works in the UK. The Chong thing was unusual; the power was codified and applied to a particular political party. Sort of an American-style import.
Martin – Ronald,
The Chong bill only laid out a very slow moving / talking phase process for MPs which didn’t exist before. IE, if you don’t have the balls to take someone down immediately, here is a way to suss out your colleagues opinions without being so dramatic. The problem is that it left people with the impression that MPs couldn’t do that whenever the hell they want.
There is one thing and one thing only that makes someone Prime Minister. The GG is satisfied that the majority of the house agrees and that person can pass budgets and throne speeches. That’s it that’s all. The party apparatus, PMO, even elections are not part of that calculation. If the public were betted educated on that point, I think the power of local MPs would be greatly increased. As it should be.
I understand all of that but the fact that the Liberals would not even give themselves the slow moving power was very telling.
Jagmeet Singh and Yves-Francois Blanchet could do it. But they support Trudeau more than Trudeau’s own party does.
They could make Trudeau’s life really difficult at committees, but instead they’re surprisingly supportive.
Trudeau plays Blanchet and Singh like a fiddle. Trudeau promises them lots, delivers press announcements and photo ops, but nothing of substance.
History will judge Trudeau’s ability to con Blanchet and Singh as Trudeau’s greatest achievement.
All Singh and Blanchet can do is force an election. They can’t force an interim Liberal Leader / new PM to be sworn in tomorrow. Only Liberal MPs can do that.
Sean
I think Singh and Blanchet have several options:
1. They can make Liberal lives totally miserable in Parliamentary committees.
2. They could go on a Trudeau’s a elitist out-of-touch campaign. They’re close enough to a mandatory election call that this would considerably weaken Trudeau.
3. They could force an election.
4. They could do a combination of 1, 2, and 3
5. They could remain part of the de facto Trudeau Team.
Peter,
Those parties are political whores: as long as NDP and BQ polling numbers aren’t ahead of LPC numbers, they will remain the gutless wonders that they are.
Singh and Blanchet: for the time being and into the foreseeable future, they have it good.
Barring the unforeseen, the next election will have the NDP picking up a handful of seats, and the BQ holding steady in Quebec.
No late nights for these two.
Given the Liberals have formed a corrupt incompetent government, led by a narcissist, I see no reason why they should not win the next election.
In other news. No extension on the 60k loan today. Which means the people who ACTUALLY needed the money and the grant are the ones who will not get the benefit of the grant and will not only lose the 20k but will now be paying interest on the 60k loan. Guess who does benefit? The people who didn’t need the money. I couldn’t even bring myself to apply for it. The rich get richer. The dirty little secret under this regime. I can’t believe the Tru-anons can’t see it. “I’m with the government and here to help”.
Martin,
We were able to bring ourselves to apply and paid it back in 2023.
Lots of millionaires got the 60k interest free, invested the money and only had to pay back 40k. Par for the course with this bunch.
If interest rates drop the biggest domestic issue is going to be healthcare – so instead of daily tirades about government spending there’s going to be pressure to spend more, on healthcare – at both the federal, and provincial level. that’s what I think anyway.
After this week’s inflation numbers, interest rates drops will not save Justin.
Curious,
Usually, health care is the number one priority in most elections but not next time. We’re at risk of hyperinflation so that means rates pause and then start going up again to combat the initial stages of hyperinflation.
Do you think rebel attacks on cargo ships will cause hyperinflation? Just wondering what your rational is for hyperinflation?
Massive printing of money by team Trudeau?
Because of all of the money they have printed.
Curious,
Hyperinflation is almost exclusively caused by money creation which is the inevitable outcome of reducing interest rates. Suppose a central bank reverses course before inflation has been genuinely reduced, at least over the medium term. In that case, the central bank has no other reasonable alternative than to return to quantitative tightening ONCE (and not if) inflation spikes due to a return to loose monetary policy. Then the local currency goes to hell: see Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Houthis’ attacks on international navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are a geopolitical problem. That has no relation to monetary policy, whether it happens to be tight or loose.
Team Trudeau: Inflation will cure itself, but we’ll print more money just to be sure.
Now do you get it Curious? Guess who else doesn’t know the underlying causes of inflation, monetary policy, etc. Justin. And it shows. He pats himself on the back for that ridiculous 183.00 cheque I got today for whatever the heck that was for while in the meantime making it worth literally nothing and continuing the wealth shift.
Surprise, surprise, the best performing world stock market is in Argentina, in a hyperinflationary environment. It returned about 17% in 2023.
The new president of Argentina went into the lion’s den and basically told them to go eff themselves.
Well, there’s another school of thought that pins inflation to supply chain issues, wars, oil prices (dropped lately) covid policy in China etc.
Climate change too
Curious
If climate change was a serious problem, surely Trudeau and his team would stop flying?
Like they did during COVID pandemic.
And I’d expect all Trudeau’s cabinet ministers to actually take public transit instead of just talking about it.
Wait! What’s that we see? A line up of gas guzzling big SUVs, engines idling, waiting for Ministers.
Curious,
That school is mistaken. Remember that governments never, ever, accept any responsibility for inflation creation when in fact their central bank and its policies are by far the main cause of inflation creation thanks to QE (quantitative easing since 2008). Nothing else comes close. Couple that with incumbent governments who change the notion of and inputs related to inflation, unemployment, CPI, GDP and even recession. Biden, even more than Trudeau will pay the political price for Powell’s sins. Joe gets to wonder every day why the American people don’t agree that the economy is a good one. That’s because they’re living it and it ain’t.
And they would be wrong.
The game is to blame everything on Covid, climate change and Ukraine. It’s never the government’s fault.
They did not drop today Curious so good luck with that plan.
The Friday Sun editorial asks “Where does Canada stand?”
In reality the question is “Where does Justin stand?”
The answer is obvious, where the basic dictatorship and world despots want him to stand.
Warren,
And as Martin and others astutely predicted, TeamTotalLosersTM is now desperately clinging to the MAGA brush to try and paint the CPC into a box. Won’t work, pathetic losers. By all means, keep HimselfTM as your so-called “leader”. Nothing else on God’s green earth will make Canadians and especially voters happier! And on behalf of at least a plurality of my fellow citizens: why don’t you all go fuck yourselves.