Categories for Musings

Oh my, the little Trumpkins are upset about “false news”

— 01.11.2017 09:30 AM

Tinkle, tinkle, little czar.

Two things about that: one, I’m guessing that the Unpresident is starting to regret dissing the intelligence community; and, two, it is all quite believable when one considers the unchallenged factual record shows that Trump has a history of sexual assault and perversity (to wit, raping a child).

So I hope your tiny black hearts explode over this, little Trump babies. I hope you choke on it.



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Trudeau™ cabinet shuffle: who’s up, who’s down? Vote now, vote often! Highly-scientific poll™!

— 01.10.2017 08:37 AM

All of Southern Ontario is preoccupied with a big honkin’ snowstorm, so I wager not too many Real Folks™ in the Vote-Rich™ Centre of the Universe™ care.  But there’s a cabinet shuffle up Ottawa, this morn, and there’s lots of (looks like informed) speculation to be seen.

My only reaction: I’ve been a Stephane Dion fan for a long, long time.  I will be shocked and disappointed if he is booted out of cabinet entirely.  Four reasons.

One, that’s not how you treat a former Liberal leader.  Two, it adds to the unhelpful sub rosa narrative that Justin Trudeau™ may nurture leadership grudges (cf. go ask Deborah Coyne, David Bertschi, Martin Cauchon, Martha Hall Findlay, Joyce Murray, et al.).  Three, if Comrade Donald Trump is the problem, is Russia-hater Chrystia Freeland the solution? Four, that’s not how you treat a former Liberal leader.

Anyway, a Trudeau™ shuffle kind of doesn’t matter a whole lot.  As with Stephen Harper, the face of this government is entirely Justin Trudeau™.  It’s impossible to (a) think of his logical successor or (b) a superstar in cabinet beside him. He’s it.

What’s your take? Vote twice, vote now!


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This week’s column: war rooming the Unpresident

— 01.09.2017 07:16 PM

The diplomat didn’t hesitate.
 
“Set up a war room, now,” he said, tapping the table for emphasis. “It’s useless writing memos trying to guess what this guy will do next. You have to see what he does, and then respond, quickly. That’s what Trudeau needs to do.”
 
It was a few days before Christmas, and I was catching up with old friends. The diplomat was back in Canada to see family over the holidays, and I’d just asked him what the government of Justin Trudeau should do about Donald Trump.
 
The diplomat had strong opinions. They all made sense, too. He explained that he had spoken with many corporate and political leaders across the United States – before, during and after the historic 2016 presidential race. The advice he’d gotten from Republicans was the most noteworthy, he said.
 
“They don’t know what he’ll do next, either,” the diplomat said. “They turn on Twitter every morning like everybody else, to see what Trump has said the night before. They say they – and Trump’s own staff – don’t ever know what is going to come out of his mouth, or come out on Twitter. They find him just as unpredictable as everybody else.”
 
Therefore, the diplomat said, it’s a waste of time for officials at the Privy Council Office or Global Affairs to type up yet another magnum opus researching Trump’s past policy positions, and trying to guess his future views. Trump has reversed himself on so many key issues – trade, defence, human rights, the economy – that predicting the future has become a fool’s folly, he said.
 
The diplomat pointed a finger at this writer. “You did Chretien’s war rooms, you did McGuinty’s,” he said. “That’s what Trudeau needs – a war room filled with a group of top bureaucrats and smart political people working, 24/7, on tracking what Trump says and does, and responding to it in a way that protects Canada’s interests.”
 
I was sceptical. Canada doesn’t occupy thirty minutes of conversation at the White House a year, I said. And, besides, a good war room can’t protect an entire country against a monkey with a machine gun, which is what President Trump will shortly be, I said. 
 
The diplomat laughed. “Sure,” he said. “That’s true. But you have take the rule book and throw it out with this guy. Everything you used to know? It doesn’t apply anymore.”
 
When you think about it – and we of course must – the anonymous diplomat is of course correct. Donald Trump is a racist, a demagogue, a groper with fascistic tendencies – but, in eleven days, he is also going to be President of the United States. The approaches Canada favoured with the 27 presidents who have ruled America during Canada’s 150-year history – from Andrew Johnson to Barack Obama – no longer apply.
 
Justin Trudeau, however different he is from Donald Trump, is uniquely suited to deal with Donald Trump. The things that drive Trudeau’s Canadian critics bonkers – the unremitting media focus, the glam and glitter, the (alleged) inattention to policy, the (again, alleged) superficiality and ego – are paradoxically the very things that will assist Trudeau in handling Trump. Trudeau knows Trump’s type.
 
Another facet of the Liberal Prime Minister’s personality will help, too: his ability to get along with just about anyone. As more than a year of polling suggests, Justin Trudeau is rather likeable. Even self-identified Conservative and New Democratic voters admit that he is hard to dislike. Expect Trudeau to deploy a charm offensive to win over Trump’s Texas-sized ego. It just might work.
 
The Trump War Room, however, is one good idea that should not be forgotten in the crazy times that lie ahead. When so much is at stake – billions in trade, along with our security as a nation, to cite the two most noteworthy examples – Canada must do all that it can to survive, and prosper, in the coming Trump era.
 
“Trump’s a maniac,” the diplomat agrees, hoisting a glass of holiday cheer, “but he’s still going to be president. We need to deal with that, and fast.”


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Cabinet shuffle: open thread

— 01.09.2017 04:15 PM

Here’s what Canadian Press says:

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to give his year-old cabinet a facelift on Tuesday.

Sources tell The Canadian Press that the shuffle will involve at least six people.

Those expected to be moved include International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is considered likely to replace Stephane Dion at Foreign Affairs.

Also believed in the mix are Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu, seen as a strong performer, and Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef — widely criticized for her handling of Trudeau’s promise to reform Canada’s voting system.

Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk is also expected to be moved.

Sources, speaking anonymously because they are not authorized to disclose details publicly, expect at least one new face in cabinet: Francois-Philippe Champagne, currently parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

Baseless speculation is baseless, but it’s fun. I’m on Evan Solomon’s show on CFRA discussing this very subject right now. So add your speculation to comments below!


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Toronto-Danforth Liberals are very, very unhappy

— 01.09.2017 10:51 AM

Perhaps someone else would’ve been better, eh? From Abbas in today’s Hill Times:

Several members of the federal Toronto-Danforth Liberal riding association executive are threatening to resign or won’t seek another term because of how they’re being treated by rookie Grit MP Julie Dabrusin’s office staff, Liberal sources told The Hill Times.

“The president of the riding association [Lianne Doucet], who we have a deep admiration for, was put in a position where she thought she had to resign. She was not treated very well [by] Julie’s staff,” one Toronto-Danforth Liberal riding association source told The Hill Times last week. “A lot of us are very upset by it. We’ve had a couple of very heated riding association meetings and we felt our president should have been defended [by Ms. Dabrusin] vigorously, and she was not at all. We don’t feel we’re all going in the same direction.”

Ms. Dabrusin, who was first elected in the last federal election by a narrow margin of 2.17 per cent of the vote over NDP incumbent Craig Scott, declined an interview request from The Hill Times.

“The first meeting after Julie became an MP, we were told by one of her people that the riding association was now considered pretty insignificant and the only job we had was to get her re-elected in four years,” said the source. “We feel our job is much more than that.”

The Toronto-Danforth Liberal EDA’s next annual general meeting will take place on Feb. 5 and seven to eight members of the executive will either resign before that or will not stand for another term at the meeting, Liberal sources told The Hill Times, who did not want to be identified.

I’ve met with the Toronto-Danforth executive folks, and chatted with plenty of them over the holidays, too. They’re good folks who don’t deserve to be treated like they’re supplicants by a tourist in the Liberal Party.

The good news is that salvation is at hand, perhaps.


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