Trudeau's legacy

[DKG]

Voters have had it with his narcissism, piety, double standards, entitlement, flexible ethics and lack of moral clarity. Staying on would likely produce an election defeat so crushing it would take a generation for the Liberals to recover or even lead to a merger with the NDP.

"He haunts us still," began a famous biography of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Although Justin Trudeau will soon be yesterday's news, his legacy will haunt the Liberals' political future, possibly for decades.

In the near term, there will be distressing memories of: relative and even absolute economic decline, out-of-control spending, intrusive regulations, high taxes, massive indebtedness, democratic scandals, gross incompetence, divisive social policies, inane woke ideology, hostility to vast energy resources, a tattered international reputation, rising crime rates, excessive immigration and compromised national security. Unless the Liberals can credibly alter course on this litany of failures, changing the leader won't be enough. So far there is no indication they will.

It will be hard for anyone who served with Trudeau to escape his track record. Mark Carney presumably would try, but since September he has chaired the "Leader's Task Force on Economic Growth" and before that he advised privately for some time — without any discernible change in policies to deal with declining productivity or profligate spending. No doubt he has his own specific ideas, but he has not been critical of Trudeau's overall fiscal approach and is totally in synch with the climate alarmism that has cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars in both direct expenditures and opportunity costs.

Another outsider, former B.C. premier Christy Clark, has the advantage of distance and might well appeal to the few "Blue Grits" left in the party. After all, she seriously considered running for the Conservative leadership in 2020 before deciding her French was "too rusty."

Beyond the next election, the Liberals need to accept that their collapse in popularity is not a personality problem or part of a global phenomenon of voters throwing out elected governments. As in the U.S., pocketbook issues are a major cause of voter frustration, especially high prices, tax hikes, lagging wages and unaffordable housing. There is also a chasm between Liberal elitists and the public on cultural issues. People are fed up with identity politics, denigration of Canada's proud history, men participating in sports, transitioning teenage girls and other fringe fetishes.

To have any chance of electoral survival over the longer term, the Liberals need to fundamentally change direction from the left to the centre, which is where most Canadians stand and closer to where economic prosperity lies. That means embrace fiscal responsibility, reduce the reach of government, eliminate excessive regulations, bring down personal and corporate taxes and embrace the enormous potential of natural resource development.

[Brent]

relative and even absolute economic decline, out-of-control spending, intrusive regulations, high taxes, massive indebtedness, democratic scandals, gross incompetence, divisive social policies, inane woke ideology, hostility to vast energy resources, a tattered international reputation, rising crime rates, excessive immigration and compromised national security.

It will take us a long time to dig ourselves out from the destruction Trudeau left behind.

[Herman]

It will take us a long time to dig ourselves out from the destruction Trudeau left behind.

Life will improve under old Pierre. No question about that. But like the op says, Justine did so much damage to this country. We aint going back to where we were in 2014 in just one Conservative term. He has to win two majority elections.

[Brent]

For the better part of two years, Trudeau and his Cabinet have been arguing that their drop in the polls is only a "comms" problem — a failure of communication. If they could simply tell their story better, Canadians would come to appreciate all the good things this government has done for them.

This is utterly delusional, but it is the narrative the Liberals have been spinning to reassure themselves that they are really still Canada's greatest hope.

It is also one of the main reasons the Liberals are in favour of a law that permits censors they appoint to control messages on the internet. They genuinely believe they are victims of a grand conspiracy to prevent all their goodness from being shown to the public. Those who disagree with them have to be suppressed so their magnificence can shine through.

If Trudeau somehow manages to remain in his job until he can no longer avoid facing voters in October 2025, his party is done.

There is no way Justin Trudeau will win another election. In his last win in 2021, his party received the lowest percentage of the popular vote of any government in our history. Does anyone really imagine he could match that pathetic result today?

This will be magnified if the already despised Trudeau comes back in January and prorogues Parliament to stall any chance of him or his government being forced out. Using such an arbitrary strategy to upend democracy would plunge him and his party even further down in the polls.

Already, major polls have the Liberals at between 15% and 21%. It's not hard to imagine prorogation pushing that into the low teens or even single digits.

[Herman]

[Shen Li]

If we still had a steady hand like Harper guiding this country we would not have emigrated.

It boggles the mind how much and how fast Canada has gone down hill under True Dope.

[Herman]

[Herman]

[DKG]

The number of people who said they felt "very proud" to be Canadian had dropped to a paltry 34 per cent today from 78 per cent in 1985 according to an Angus Reid survey.

[Herman]

[Herman]

[Herman]

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"The government has squandered our fiscal advantage, hollowed out our military, shattered our immigration system and shown little interest in our anemic productivity while economic, geopolitical and security threats to Canada rise to Defcon levels," says Kevin Lynch in a piece penned for the Globe and Mail.

Lynch, a highly respected former clerk of the Privy Council and former vice-chair of BMO Financial Group, goes on to say that Trudeau's weaknesses have damaged us internationally.

"The global coverage of our imploding government is hardly reassuring for allies or investors. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is drawn to weakness like a lion in the Serengeti. In an election with the Liberals led by Mr. Trudeau, it is quite possible the Bloc could become the Official Opposition and, with the Parti Quebecois leading in the polls provincially, Quebec could face another sovereignty referendum."

It's a scathing indictment of Trudeau's nine years in power. Lynch also slams what he calls the "non-functioning" House of Commons. For the past few months, Parliament has been deadlocked by the government's refusal to produce documents related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada, an agency that doled out grants to companies promoting environmental sustainability.

Dubbed a "Green Slush Fund," the Conservatives claim $400 million was handed out with little accountability. They want the records. The government has balked. And Parliament has hit an impasse.

"The non-functioning House of Commons — the core institution of our democracy — bears a striking resemblance to Canada Post, which Canadians barely noticed was on strike," Lynch says. Important legislation that would tighten national security, secure our borders, crack down on drug smuggling and improve anti-money laundering measures can't be passed as long as lawmakers are at loggerheads.

[Shen Li]

True Dope will be leaving, but not really.

[DKG]

If Trudeau gave a damn about anyone but himself he would call an election now. We are facing the biggest potential economic threat since Trudeau was first elected almost a decade ago. We cannot have a non sitting parliament with a useless acting pm flying all over the world for leaisure.

[formosan]

If Trudeau gave a damn about anyone but himself he would call an election now. We are facing the biggest potential economic threat since Trudeau was first elected almost a decade ago. We cannot have a non sitting parliament with a useless acting pm flying all over the world for leaisure.

We won't have a government when Donald Trump is inaugurated two weeks from today.