03.13.2019 12:32 PM

#LavScam: this is the definition of political stupidity

32 Comments

  1. Matt says:

    A few days ago, a friend of ours suggested that there may be something coming for budget day that was going to distract from the budget.

    Maybe this is the Liberals attempt to distract from what was going to distract from the budget in the first place.

  2. Vancouverois says:

    They moved it to budget day?

    Matt must be right – they’re trying to distract from something even worse that will come out then. Right? Right?

    I mean, they couldn’t actually be *that* stupid, right?

    …oh, who am I kidding. Even odds on this one.

  3. Dawn Mills says:

    I have never been more disgusted with a government then I am today. When my local toady MP dressed in red dares to ask for my vote come the fall, I don’t know if I will laugh at her nerve or cry at her shame.

  4. not 1st says:

    I predict on budget day, JWR crosses the floor, then nobody will be looking at the budget and then cabinet confidentiality is moot. She has to know there is no future in that party for her now. Even if Justin isn’t at the helm, somebody like him probably will be.

    • Steve T says:

      Interesting, but who would she cross to? She seems to be left-centrist, and probably not willing to be part of either NDP or CPC policies. Even if she is semi-NDP-ish, she surely would see the career abyss that would send her into.

      I predict that she will remain in the LPC, and bide her time until Trudeau self-destructs. She will then be there to pick up the pieces.

    • Jim says:

      How would crossing the floor invalidate cabinet confidentiality?

    • Vancouverois says:

      Her Riding Association just confirmed her as their candidate for the election:

      https://twitter.com/VanGranEDA/status/1105135600171081728

      I think she’ll stay just where she is. She’s said as much. I think she’s tacitly daring Trudeau to throw her out.

    • Derek Pearce says:

      There is no bloody way JWR is going to ever join the Conservative Party. I’ve read a few people who typed that and it gives me a chuckle.

      Hint: a truth-teller from a long line of matriarchs isn’t going to join a party that wants tax breaks for people to send their kids to private religious schools. So get off that horse people.

  5. Max says:

    Unfortunately, it may work. If the media is complicit, and go off chasing the shiny new budget, which will no doubt see the Liberals to buy us with our own money, it might change the channel. All Liberals MPS with emphasize the economy, how hard they are working, ordinary Canadians, working class, blah, blah, blah it could work. “IF” the media lets them and the focus becomes the budget.

  6. Max says:

    contraire Warren. This is not political stupidity. It is a majority government looking into the electoral abyss. Clearly they’ve come to realize that they have a better chance of surviving by facing the backlash in response to such a blatant, partisan political maneuverer is preferable – and their political calculus tells them – versus calling other witnesses and calling back Jody Wilson-Raybould. They deem the later to seal their fate come election time and/or to result in Justin being shamed into resigning. Better to shut down the (non)justice committee, bring in a budget, and if necessary – call an early election. ANYTHING, rather than more testimony. The Justin-led Liberals are flying the Crisis Management plane without any landing gear.

  7. Jim R says:

    What would be the rationale for an early election? We’re supposed to have one on Oct 17, and there’s certainly no national emergency, or anything even close, to warrant not honouring that date. This would look like pure partisan manipulation of the election date, which can’t be good.

    • Vancouverois says:

      On the other hand, it may be to the Liberals’ advantage to hold the election before the Norman trial begins in August. The stuff that’s going to come out in the testimony may be damaging enough that they’re willing to take a hit for calling the election early.

      I suppose they might also call it over the SNC-Lavalin scandal, as the Suburban article above suggests. But that would bring it to the forefront of public attention, which is the one thing they’ve been trying to avoid at all costs. It does look like their strategy overall is just to say “jobs!” and brazen it out… but I don’t think that would be a good strategy for them. There’s brazen, and then there’s BRAZEN.

  8. Shane says:

    This, I think, has gone from poorly managed to scary. Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion gone indefinitely, and the Justice committee shut down within 24 hours. What next? Lametti gives SNC its DPA, and we get another arrogant word-salad press conference from Trudeau about how it was all about the jobs?

    I’m concerned what we are witnessing isn’t just the poor management of a favour for the old-boys network gone wrong, but we are witnessing a government that no longer cares about democratic process and the rule of law. Moves like the shut-down of the justice committee and the “extended medical leave” of the ethics commissioner I’d expect in places like Venezuela or Syria, but not Canada.

    This is a government that no longer cares about how it is perceived by Canadians and will do whatever they need to do to hold onto power. Wouldn’t be surprised if we soon see moves by Trudeau to somehow tip the election format in favour of the Liberals before the October. He did reneg on his promise of electoral reform….

    The RCMP needs to get involved NOW. This has gone from bad to disgusting.

    • Fred from BC says:

      ” What next? Lametti gives SNC its DPA, and we get another arrogant word-salad press conference from Trudeau about how it was all about the jobs?”

      Even given all the recent instances of Liberals doing and saying stupid things over this issue, there’s no way they could possibly be *that* dumb. It would be political suicide to even attempt to give SNC-Lavalin a DPA now, and they know it.

      • Shane says:

        You, I and the rest of Canada know it, but Lametti still hasn’t come out and clearly ruled out a DPA. Lametti has also taken the step of seeking outside legal advice on the matter which Jody Wilson-Raybould was pressured to do, but refused. My guess is that in the PMOs office the DPA is still on the table, that Lametti is looking to get some form of legal justification for it, and the plan was to push it through after the initial storm blew over, and the timing was seen as better. All about the jobs after all… Much harder to do now. After the last few days though there isn’t much in the way of arrogance or stupidity that I’d put past this government.

  9. the real Sean says:

    the party of Laurier, Pearson, Trudeau, Chretien… shutting down a Justice Committee to stop an Indigenous woman from telling the truth. This is where Justin has brought us…. because its 2019.

    • Max says:

      Brilliant Sean. That’s campaign material for the NDP, Greens and PCs right there!

    • Gord Tulk says:

      The LPC elite has been the cynically and cravenly playing social justice card game for years now.

      Now that the business arm of the laurentian elite wants something done that flies completely in the face of this tactic they throw it overboard without any qualms whatsoever.

      They played the naive and gullible laypeople on the left and now many – presumably including you – are seeing them for who they are.

      • the real Sean says:

        wrong Gord… although I am a long time Liberal, JT didn’t fool me… not for one moment. He should have been dropped in the Winter / Spring of 2015, when we had the chance.

    • Montréalaise says:

      I didn’t vote for JT in 2015, because I thought he was unqualified, not terribly bright, and in over his head. I didn’t expect much from him or his government, but I never, ever dreamed it would be THIS bad.

  10. Of course, they will be totally,totally, astonished if a full-frontal-Norman hits them smack between the eyes around budget time. Strange coincidence. Just watch the avalanche of subpoenas fly!

  11. HarryR says:

    Witnessing the jaw-dropping events at the ‘Justice’ Committee, this morning, I see a measure of desperation creeping into this affair that is very alarming. Desperation knows no bounds. The words “I’m worried that somebody’s going to get shot ……”, regarded as over-the-top when first spoken, may yet prove to be prophetic.

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