For four days last week, from Wednesday the 18th until Sunday the 22nd, it looked as if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet had changed their ways. They seemed to finally realize that listening to experts and effectively communicating decisions was the right way to handle the COVID-19 crisis. They actually came up with a reasonable economic plan and explained it fairly well; their performance was almost commendable. On Sunday, at the urging of the government, parliamentary house leaders agreed to hold an emergency 32-member sitting to fast-track the required legislation. Conservative House Leader Candace Bergen gave her party’s consent on the condition there would be no surprises in the proposed legislation, which Liberal House Leader Pablo Rodriguez assured her would be the case.
The opposition parties received the draft legislation on Sunday night, and so much for no surprises! The legislation included provisions allowing the Liberals, without recourse to parliament, to increase spending, borrow money, and raise taxes, as much as they wanted to, all the way to 2022, giving Finance Minister Bill Morneau unlimited fiscal power which, in effect, made Morneau and Trudeau co-dictators of Canada. There were also other power-grabs and non-accountability provisions in the legislation, basically removing all parliamentary oversight in money matters.
The Conservatives dug in their heels and refused the unanimous consent needed to pass this draconian legislation. These egregious provisions were eventually ameliorated, but the extent of the Liberal’s attempted power grab was demonstrated by the fact that it took fifteen hours of negotiation before they backed off enough for the legislation to receive the required consent. (It’s worth noting that the Parti Quebecois were prepared to let the Liberals largely get away with it, proving, as suspected by many, that they cannot be relied upon to act in the best interests of the country.)
Many pundits asked “how could the Liberals be so stupid?” The real question is “how could the Liberals be so arrogant?” It’s fortunate that they have only a parliamentary minority. Otherwise the country would be completely at the mercy of Trudeau and Morneau, the result of which would be certain economic ruin. Morneau’s record as finance minister is that he never says “no” to any proposed Liberal expenditure, and Trudeau makes decisions as if everyone else in the country also had a trust fund.
This attempt at shredding our democracy represents an all-time low in Canadian political partisanship, and again demonstrates that one thing Justin Trudeau clearly inherited from his father is a total disregard for parliament.
Then, beginning this past Wednesday, during his daily press conference, Trudeau reverted to his old form: not answering the question he was asked and responding instead with meaningless and repetitious platitudes, effectively erasing all the goodwill he had built up during the last few days of last week.
At one point Trudeau was asked if he would impose mandatory quarantine measures for people entering the country. He refused to answer and just stood silently at the lectern with a stupid look on his face while waiting for the next question. A couple of hours later Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland (who has been the government’s only consistent bright light) announced that mandatory quarantine was, indeed, going to be imposed. Welcome news, but as with virtually everything else this government has done during the COVID-19 crisis, this action was about two weeks too late for maximum impact.
Later in the week the Globe & Mail revealed that in February, at a time when the World Health Organization was warning all countries to get ready for a possible pandemic, the Liberal government shipped a massive amount of medical equipment to China. This is quite alarming for two reasons: China is the world’s largest manufacturer of such equipment, and the equipment shipped was exactly what many Canadian hospitals are now saying is in such short supply that front-line workers’ health is imperilled. What’s even more alarming is that Trudeau and his ministers who made the decision are completely unapologetic. One of them virtually confirmed that there was no consultation with the provinces during the decision-making process. I guess it’s just a coincidence that Trudeau is on record as being an admirer of the Chinese dictatorship.
Trudeau continues to demonstrate that he simply cannot be trusted, and that he never will be “ready.”