What #LavScam means, in five points
It’s been going on for more than a week, now, and the outlines of it are already seen. Five ways in which it is leaving, and will leave, an impact:
- Indigenous people. I am the proud father to an amazing indigenous young woman; I work with First Nations across Canada. I am disgusted by what Justin Trudeau did, and is doing, to the amazing indigenous leader named Jody Wilson-Raybould. Indigenous people do not trust Trudeau, now, and they’re saying so.
- Women. The sexist and condescending way in which Jody has been treated – and still continues to be, as seen in this morning’s Star, and last week in the Canadian Press and Global News – is repellant. It is noteworthy that the Liberals who are paying tribute to Jody are almost all women – include ones in Trudeau’s cabinet.
- The Liberal Party. This web site attracts four million visitors a year. On social media, like Twitter, I get about a half-million “impressions” daily. That’s a fair number of people – and I can tell you that many of my readers are Liberals. They are telling me they are disgusted by Trudeau and his PMO – and shocked by how badly they have handled this mess (eg. sending out the clueless Justice Committee chair to say Jody didn’t deserve to be in cabinet because she didn’t speak French – which will be a big hit in English Canada).
- The Conservatives. Andrew Scheer knows this is his moment, and he has seized it. The Tory leader hasn’t looked this determined, this focussed – and frankly this Prime Ministerial – since he became his party’s leader. Gone is the smirk, and there’s an undeniable gravitas to the guy, now. For his party, PMO’s attempts to destroy Jody Wilson-Raybould represents an opportunity, too – it allows them to address the allegation that they are indifferent to women and indigenous people.
- The New Democrats. Jagmeet Singh is going to win that by-election in B.C. – because B.C. is sickened by what has been done to Jody. Meanwhile, his colleague Nathan Cullen has been simply extraordinary in prosecuting the case against the Liberal government – and it will reveal itself in the polls, soon enough. And a rise in NDP fortunes means a drop in Liberal support, always.
Will Justin Trudeau lose the election? It’s too soon to tell. But the poll I’ve heard about suggests strongly the answer is this:
Yes.