PONDERABLES
Why did the province of Ontario shut down ski hills that are hundreds of acres but allow outdoor rinks that are about 1/5 of an acre to remain open?
How close to a mini civil war is the US?
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
Justin Trudeau is flat out lying when he says he doesn’t want an election.
That so many Republican senators and house representatives still back Donald Trump proves that loyalty isn’t always an admirable trait.
ANALYZING THE CABINET SHUFFLE
Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, told Prime Minister Trudeau that he wouldn’t be running in the next election, according to Trudeau during “a walk in the snow” on the grounds of Rideau Hall, a reference that would have to be explained to most Canadians under the age of fifty. Trudeau used the news to reshuffle his cabinet, the clearest signal yet that he’s going to force an election sooner rather than later.
It’s good to see the last of Bains. Not only does he have a dismal record in his former ministry, but he’s probably never answered a question with other than a talking point, whether relevant or not. Replacing Bains with Francois-Philippe Champagne, formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs, is also welcome. Champagne is simply too pro-China to be in charge of foreign affairs. Finally, naming Marc Garneau as the new foreign minister strengthens the portfolio. Garneau is internationally respected, is an excellent communicator, and is not afraid to stand up to Trudeau.
Trudeau can’t be faulted for being optimistic that he can regain a majority. Even though the COVID-19 vaccine procurement program that he was constantly bragging about at the end of the year has turned into an ugly mess that’s going to cost countless lives, he probably still has sufficient political capital to pull off an election win. This is particularly so when Conservative leader Erin O’Toole seems to only come out of hiding to shoot himself in the foot, and at least half a dozen stalwart Conservative MPs are not going to run again.
THEN THERE’S DOUG FORD
Ontario Premier Doug Ford unexpectedly built up an enormous amount of his own political capital through his early handling of the pandemic, but it’s dwindling rapidly. In addition to his ham-handed handling of the Rod Phillips affair, his recent pandemic performance has been wobbly, inconsistent, and confusing. Until about a month ago he was a steady beacon of reasonableness, now he seems to be freaking out and riding off in all directions. History has shown that when Ontario voters get fed up with a Conservative leader they’ll elect almost anybody else, such as Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.
SIMPLY NOT CREDIBLE
It’s been revealed that Meng Wanzhou’s husband and children were allowed to join her at her luxurious “house arrest” in Vancouver in time for Christmas, and are still there. At a time when two Canadians are being unjustly imprisoned in deplorable conditions in China, and most Canadian families were not allowed to celebrate the holidays together, this is truly outrageous. And what’s even more disgusting is that they were also exempted from quarantine requirements! Liberal MP Bob Oliphant’s contention that a decision of this magnitude was made solely by immigration bureaucrats is simply not credible; it would need, at the very least, the tacit approval of the prime minister. Which makes this an appropriate time to remember that Trudeau’s admiration of the Chinese dictatorship has been on record since 2013. And the former foreign minister (see above), until outed by the media, had his mortgages with a Chinese bank.
IT WAS THE DEMOCRATS’ OWN FAULT
Don’t let it be lost amid the the end of Donald Trump’s repulsive presidency that the reason he was elected in the first place was because the Democrats ran the only candidate in the entire country that he was capable of beating: Hillary Clinton. Any other Democratic nominee would have mopped the floor with Trump.
JOE BIDEN
When Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the U.S. on Tuesday, he will be the most experienced politician ever to occupy that office. Biden spent 36 years representing Delaware as a U.S. senator and served eight years as Obama’s V.P. He ran for president three times, unsuccessfully in 1988 and 2008 before winning this election.
A CHANGE OF HEART
I never liked New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, that is until last Monday when he announced that he will not accept Trump’s offer of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. If only all Republican senators and members of the House of Representatives were similarly principled.