Almost Canadian

Point is: nobody cares. Those that like him will overlook his conduct, those that don't will simply bitch about it. I doubt that there are many whose actual vote will change. He does come across as an absolute arse though, and still in his first term. I dread to think what his conduct will be like if he secures another majority.

dave_j

You are of course completely correct.
We like to think that when our fellow voters do the business then they do so by assessing the arguments in a rational manner.
This is, of course, absolute bo****ks.
Why, for example, don't more US citizens vote for anyone who'll give them better healthcare and cheaper drugs instead of falling in love with red hats and AR15s?
It's a mystery, and Trudeau knows this. The news cycle will move on to the next scandal and those of us cursed with a memory will shake our heads and put up with it as usual.
There used to be a saying that 'It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.' It was never truer than now except today you get more neck aches from all that head shaking.

Almost Canadian

IIRC, ministers and the leaders of governments would fall on their swords and resign. Then, after an appropriate period of reflection, would attempt to make their way back. That rarely happens nowadays. Except, as in the current situation, where those with principles do so, that those with no principles don't, hoping that the news cycle will solve the issue for them.

The only saving grace for Trudeau is that the alternatives are not particularly palatable to those concerned by what he has done during his term.

Oakvillian

Your last sentence is, sadly, the salient point here. I heard an interesting analysis on a CBC podcast yesterday afternoon. The consensus of the political pundits (the discussion was between a former Conservative staffer, a former Liberal staffer and a pollster, I think) was this:
- The fact of lobbying by SNC Lavalin and of some pressure being brought to bear on the Justice minister by the PMO is not, in itself, surprising or bad
- Trudeau clearly overstepped the proper limits of his office when dealing with members of his cabinet. This is, also, not surprising, but is potentially bad - especially as he's now been called out on it by the Ethics Commissioner.
- In another political environment, this would be a cripplingly damaging blow to the Liberals' chances in the October election. Trudeau's habitual "mea culpa" without an apology was weak and ought to be capitalized on by the opposition.
- Sadly for Canada, the main Opposition party is in the doldrums. Although the Conservative party enjoys a slim lead in most polls, at this stage in the electoral cycle and with this much crud sticking to the Government, they might have expected to be way further ahead.
- Much of the shortfall seems to be reflected in the polling numbers for Andrew Scheer, whom his opponents have effectively branded as ineffective, and subservient to the populist Provincial premiers in Ontario and Alberta.
- the NDP will likely fare even worse in October than it did last time around. Any remaining sentiment left over from the Orange Wave of two elections ago is long gone; Jagmeet Singh doesn't seem to have caught the public's imagination in the way that the party might have hoped. Although that may change when Parliament reconvenes, as he's been pretty quiet through the summer recess and lost any momentum he had since his election to Parliament in February.
- Predictions vary from a minority Con to minority Lib government in October.

Unless something significant changes, it's a case of holding one's nose and voting for the least-worst option. Hardly a ringing endorsement for any party.

Almost Canadian

I agree. Hopefully, we will return to minority government which will, hopefully, ensure that nothing silly happens during the next term.

dave_j

There's much to be said for being a boring, tweetless, media shy politician in these crazy times.... but who'll vote for someone who won't create havoc and chaos, it'll ruin the 24 hour news industry.

CanadaJimmy

You're right, Stephen Harper would have just been able to silence the ethics commissioner, so would never have been found guilty - problem solved!

Part of doing things more transparently does mean you risk opening yourself up to these kinds of issues, but I'd rather have politicians who support and go through the process even if they aren't perfect people.

What the Liberals did was wrong, and how they handled it was spectacularly terrible, but it's still better than the Conservatives, and the federal NDP right now are still completely unelectable in my view.

Almost Canadian

How have they been transparent? From what I have seen, they used their majority on the committee that looked into the JWR affair to shut that down prematurely and, from what the PC stated himself, refused to cooperate with his investigation too.

They have lied, been caught lying, made up new lies, been caught lying there too, say, "What we did was wrong, but we don't need to apologise for it."

What did Harper's government, for almost 10 years, do that remotely compares to what Trudeau has been caught doing in just over 3 years in office?

I wish to see competence over style with politicians. Trudeau has one in abundance, but is woefully deficient with the other. Now his sheen is wearing thin, we are left with someone that I would not want at the helm when disaster strikes, as it inevitably will. As I said above, the others are somewhat wanting too, which is why I hate the "Presidential" state of elections these days. Parliament needs to develop some authority.

caretaker

Harper wouldn't have appointed an uppity woman to the AG's position in the first place, so it would never have been an issue.

BristolUK

That doesn't matter in Canada while Trump's around to report on.

Oakvillian

Three things:
- I find it amusing that Harper's administration (9 years and 9 months almost to the day) is described as "almost ten years" yet Trudeau's administration (3 years and well over 9 months to date) is "just over three years." There's some interesting and possibly unintentional bias, right there.
- The Harper government is still the only sitting government, anywhere in any Commonwealth nation with a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, to have been found in contempt of Parliament. You may recall that the loss of the confidence motion after the Speaker made that ruling led directly to the fall of Harper's first administration and to the 2011 general election. That, frankly, trumps anything the current government has done. It is, though, a superb example of the authority of Parliament that you crave; although it's also evident that Mr Harper used the tools available to him (particularly the choice of proroguing parliament to end a session early) for political advantage much more frequently than has been done before or since.
- The office of the Ethics Commissioner has only existed since 2007. In the remaining years of the previous administration, rulings against Government ministers were made in 5 out of 8 investigations. Trudeau's government has indeed fared worse on a "how unethical are you" score, but it's a bit rich for anybody to try to paint Harper's lot as somehow ethically better off. And there's absolutely no comparison when it comes to transparency: I'm sure we all recall the nonsense about prohibiting civil servants, especially scientific officers of government departments and agencies, from speaking in public without jumping through all sorts of hoops to try to keep them on-message. That was, and remains, an inexcusable attempt to silence criticism of government policy by those most equipped to pass informed commentary.

jimf

Almost Canadian

I sincerely apologise for the inaccuracy of my calculation of the periods. I didn't think it worth the effort to actually calculate the periods. Harper was elected prior to my arrival in Canada an I assumed that it what sometime in 2006 until his ousting in 2015. You can read into that all that you will.

I had forgotten about the contempt issue, and I fully accept that that is worthy of criticism.

You will also recall that Harper had to deal with minority governments for all but his last term. Which takes far more political skill that governing with a huge majority.

I was/am no fan or Harper either. I don't believe you will find any significant postings of mine extolling his virtues, or those of his government.

As lots of commentators have stated over the weekend, Trudeau will go to great lengths to apologise for "wrongs" committed by others, but refuses, time and again, to apologise for wrongs he, or his administration, has committed.

BristolUK

Andrew Scheer, M.P. Blog 2005
Andrew Scheer has dual Canadian-American citizenship.

scrubbedexpat091

People need to get used to and accept that there might be political leaders/politicians with dual citizenship, this will become more common into the future, so odd to me people even see this as an issue.