Following up on last evening’s post, I am adding the comments of Gyor, who listed several more failures of the Trudeau government thus far: You forgot Trudeau’s attempt to increasingly centralize power in Parliament. Many parliamentary posts still go unfilled 2 years in, the filling of which Chantal Herbert called
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Politics and its Discontents: The Foundering Ship Of State
Were you to examine my blog posts prior to the last election, you would see that I had grave reservations about the fitness of Justin Trudeau for Canada’s top office. He seemed wedded to platitudes, and there was little to indicate anything substantive in his thinking. After he and his
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rosy Rhetoric Won’t Get The Job Done
Those of us who pay even a modest amount of attention to the ever-increasing toll that climate change is exacting on the world know or sense that we have reached a reckoning point. People living in the Western Hemisphere see all too clearly the havoc being wrought by ever-more powerful
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: He Takes A Nice Selfie, But Secrecy Is His Real Forté
Those of us who follow politics fairly closely know that there is frequently less than meets the eye in the Trudeau government. Certainly, the Prime Minister talks a reasonably good game, and his selfies are world-renowned, but scratch the surface and you will find increasing evidence that the emperor is,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Outrage Grows
I suspect that, if they had their druthers, both Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and her boss, Justin Trudeau, would much prefer that we trust their administration to always do the right thing and just go on enjoying the always-too short days of summer. But the electorate can be fickle,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Cheap Talk And Photo-Ops
In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible.-George Orwell Regarding the misuse by the Saudis of armoured vehicles Canada sold them, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says all the right words. She says … she’s “deeply concerned” about recent videos that appear to show
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Are There Cracks In The Liberal Fortress?
Justin Trudeau and his band of sunny men and women have had, up to this point at least, a pretty easy ride with the Canadian electorate. After years of darkness under the Harper regime, the liberating promise of an open government bent upon truly representing citizens had an allure and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Will It Be All Talk And No Action?
There will always be those who see Justin Trudeau only through the public image he has so assiduously cultivated. Others, however, refuse to suspend their critical faculties despite the Prime Minister’s fine hair, sunny rhetoric and public earnestness. They demand that his ‘sunny ways’ be met with the kinds of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Whose Sovereignty Is It, Anyway?
He’s loved of the distracted multitude,Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes.-Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 3 For a long time I have found little to fault in Justin Trudeau’s tactful dance around the Trump administration. Rather than denigrate a particular benighted American initiative like the Muslim travel ban,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Justin’s Secrecy
There will always be those unable to see beyond the obvious when it comes to Justin Trudeau. His sunny smile, his platitudinous assurances that we can have our pipelines and climate change remediation simultaneously, and his opaque insistence upon the necessity of an Infrastructure Bank seem to carry the day
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: While You Were Venting
While many Canadians continue to vent their spleen over the compensation awarded to Omar Khadr, something really important is taking place but is being given little media coverage. It is something that, if enacted, may have irreversible consequences. Justin Trudeau and his sunny band of men and women like to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Litany Of Failure
While I normally do not read the National Post, a tweet by @trapdinawrpool about a column caught my attention. Written by Kelly McParland, the article offers an uncompromising assessment of a Liberal political landscape littered with broken promises coupled with a return to the party’s traditional arrogance. Why is this
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Omnibus Bills: Another Liberal Betrayal
When Justin Trudeau and his merry band of men and women were campaigning for our vote, they railed against the Harper propensity for passing omnibus bills; those documents, being so dense and long, meant that almost anything could be slipped in. Said the erstwhile earnest Trudeau in 2015: We will
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: He Can Talk The Talk
But his sandal-clad feet cannot walk the walk. After the disastrous tenure of Paul Wells as national political affairs commentator, it was a real pleasure to see that The Toronto Star has called Tim Harper out of retirement. In his column today, Harper reminds us of some things that Justin
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Zelig, Anyone?
I don’t know how many of you remember the 1983 Wood Allen film, Zelig, in which Allen plays an individual with the uncanny ability to take on the characteristics of those around him. The only problem, as I recall, was that there was no real individual at Leonard Zelig’s core,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Just A Couple Of Questions
Given that I have no background in economics, I will leave it to more finely-tuned minds to debate the merits of yesterday’s federal budget. However, there are a couple of things that, from my perspective, need to be answered, and they both relate to the Infrastructure Bank the Liberal government
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Pending Betrayal
As we become increasingly disillusioned about the growing disparity between the Trudeau promise and its reality, another betrayal of that promise is pending. Like his neoliberal soul sister in Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, who insists that selling off 60% of the provincial crown jewel known as Hydro One is a no-brainer,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Pending Betrayal
As we become increasingly disillusioned about the growing disparity between the Trudeau promise and its reality, another betrayal of that promise is pending. Like his neoliberal soul sister in Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, who insists that selling off 60% of the provincial crown jewel known as Hydro One, Mr. Trudeau apparently
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Ideological And Horticultural Taint
Although I am not a user of medical cannabis, the current scandal (and it can only be termed a scandal) regarding dangerous and forbidden pesticide use by companies with the Health Canada seal of approval is instructive. First, a recap of the situation is in order: After a string of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Proud Moment
Despite my frequent criticisms of the Trudeau government, this move by the Prime Minister makes me proud to be a Canadian: Recommend this Post
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