The most frustrated politician in Ottawa these days has to be Andrew Scheer.
He has been leader of the opposition for six months, long enough to have moved out of the shadow of his predecessor, Stephen Harper, and long enough to put his own stamp on the Conservative party.
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” – Jesus to his disciples, Matthew 19:24
Chances are Bill Morneau will ride out the storm and live to fight another day as minister of finance, but he has not made it easy for himself or the prime minister.
One would think that among the easiest policy changes to sell in the United States is a tax reduction. This should be particularly true for a tax cut directed to the middle class, where the majority of voters are found. Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump's presidency, one must acknowledge that he has a remarkable gift for marketing and sloganeering. Whether apocryphal or not, the phrases "Make America Great Again," "Drain the Swamp" and "America First" have resonated with a significant slice of the U.S. electorate.
The Ontario provincial election next June 7 is going to be quite a battle.
The campaign already has most of the elements that political junkies could wish for. To start with there are 15 brand new ridings to fight over – including Kitchener South-Hespeler – as the Ontario Legislature expands to 122 members from 107.
When Parliament returns to work today following its week-long Remembrance Day break, one thing is certain: “Skippy” will be back at it again – holding Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s feet to the fire.
Justin Trudeau is discovering a truth that reveals itself to every new prime minister by the time they have been in office for a couple of years.
Ottawa is a grand place to live and raise kids (which Trudeau can appreciate more than most, having been born there), but it is an even grander place to escape from – to abandon the petty partisanship of Parliament Hill and fly off to meet other world leaders somewhere, anywhere far from the Ottawa bubble.
Say what you will about Justin Trudeau, but you must concede he is a man who is not afraid to surround himself with strong women. We have seen this in the past week in incidents involving Catherine McKenna, his environment minister, and Julie Payette, the astronaut/scientist whom he chose as Canada’s governor general.
On the face of it, the two prosecutions – of two Ontario Liberal party operatives in the Sudbury by-election affair and of former Conservative Senator Mike Duffy in the Senate expenses scandal – have nothing in common beyond the fact that both involved political figures and allegations of bribery.
There are, however, other similarities.
Both involved charges that should never have been laid, because there was no evidence in either case that offences had actually been committed.
Back in the mists of time, a half-century ago, there was a majority Liberal government that went though the same sort of mid-term pain that Justin Trudeau’s government is experiencing today, as its poll numbers slide, ministers stumble, key policies unravel and the opposition, smelling blood, circles impatiently.
There are times when a poor befuddled layman wonders whether the left hand knows what the right hand is doing (or vice versa) in government and big business.
Opinion-Policy Nexus is a forum of opinion and commentary on topics related to public opinion and public policy. Views expressed in any blog entry are those of the author and do not reflect LISPOP's positions.
