Politics

New York Times Op-ed Slams Canada’s Justin Trudeau

Published

7 months ago

2024-04-28

Geoff Brown

Majority of Canadians Want Trudeau to Resign: File Image

Political careers often end in failure — a cliché that exists because it too often happens to be true. Justin Trudeau, one of the world’s great progressive leaders, may be heading toward that moment. In a recent interview he acknowledged that every day he considers leaving his “crazy job” as Canada’s prime minister. Increasingly, the question is not if he will leave but how soon and how deep his failure will be when he goes.

At stake is something that matters more than one politician’s career: Canada’s contemporary liberal and multicultural society, which just happens to be the legacy of the prime minister’s father and predecessor, Pierre Trudeau. When you fly into Montreal, you land in Trudeau airport, and that’s because of Pierre, not Justin.

The threat to that liberal tradition is not all Justin Trudeau’s fault, of course. The right-wing tide overwhelming global politics has come late but with pent-up vigor to Canada. For several years now, polls have shown Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals at lows from which no Canadian political party has ever recovered in elections. In a recent by-election, in a key suburban district of the Greater Toronto Area, the Conservative Party beat the Liberals by a lopsided 57 percent to 22 percent, a swing of nine percentage points to the Conservatives.

But polls and by-elections can be poor predictors of election viability. A better indicator is the flummoxed figure of Mr. Trudeau himself, who seems increasingly out of touch in the new world of division and extremism.

Part of Justine Trudeau’s problem is simple exhaustion, both his own and Canadian voters’. He has been in government for almost eight and a half years. During that time, he has been one of the most effective progressive leaders in the world. His government cut Canada’s child poverty in half. He legalized marijuana, ending roughly 100 years of nonsense. He made large strides in reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians. He renegotiated NAFTA with a lunatic American president. He handled Covid better than most. You don’t have to squint too hard to recognize that he is one of the most competent and transformative prime ministers this country has ever produced.

Justin Trudeau talks to media in 2015: File Image

But an era has passed since the start of that halcyon time, when Mr. Trudeau stood in front of his first cabinet and, when asked why it was half female, answered, “Because it’s 2015.” Now a new generation has emerged, for which the liberal technocratic order his government represents has failed to offer a path to a stable, prosperous future and the identity politics he once embodied have withered into vacuous schism. The growing anti-Liberal Party sentiment of young people is the biggest threat to his electability.

His opponents are well aware of Mr. Trudeau’s unpopularity with young voters and have focused Conservative attacks on an issue especially important to that cohort: the housing crisis. The soaring real estate market, in which tiny homes in Toronto and Vancouver now regularly cost more than properties in Paris or New York, has been exacerbated by the Trudeau government bringing in over a million immigrants last year without having built the necessary infrastructure to support the communities receiving them.

For decades, Canada has been the only country in the world where the more patriotic citizens are, the more they support immigration. Liberal mishandling of immigration’s impact may well end this blessed state. The housing crisis is the epitome of Mr. Trudeau’s failure: It feels good — it feels righteous — to support immigration. Isn’t that the whole idea behind multiculturalism? But without the proper hardheadedness, without being frank about difficult realities, righteousness quickly sours.

“Freedom Convoy” of some 2,700 trucks protest: CBC Image

The first evidence of the prime minister’s weakness in the face of Canada’s growing polarization was the government response to the so-called Freedom Convoy in 2022, in which anti-vaccine demonstrators held Ottawa hostage for a month. His government decided to take a bureaucratic approach to the disruption, dithering while the truckers entrenched themselves in the city, then using the Emergencies Act to seize several of their bank accounts. A January federal decision found that Mr. Trudeau’s invocation of the act was “not justified.”

Other countries took much simpler approaches to their civil unrest in the aftermath of Covid restrictions. The French used tear gas. The moment a convoy set out from Los Angeles headed for Washington, in imitation of the Canadian convoy, the Biden administration called out the National Guard. Other countries know: There is a time for brute force.

The same fear of confrontation — which, to be fair to Mr. Trudeau, afflicts the entirety of Canadian culture and politics — motivated new online harms legislation, which he proposed in February in an attempt to regulate or at least somewhat contain the internet and social media, from revenge pornography and child sexual abuse material to hate speech. It is, unfortunately, an absurd document that seeks to impose virtue by fiat.

The maximum penalty for promoting genocide — a form of speech crime — is life imprisonment, meaning harsh punishments can be meted out for the vaguest and most subjective of definitions. Equally troubling is the measure that if a Canadian citizen “fears on reasonable grounds” that a hate crime will be committed, the individual can apply for an order that another person be subjected to court-mandated conditions on what that person may say.

No less a figure than Margaret Atwood described the proposed law as “Orwellian.” “It’s Lettres de Cachet all over again,” she wrote on X, referring to the king’s ability in prerevolutionary France to imprison without trial. The spirit behind the new law is the very worst of Canada: Be nice, or else. And it will do nothing to contain the disinformation wave that’s swelling.

Anti-Israeli demonstrators wave Palestinian flags: Image CBC

But more than any other event, it is the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that has exposed Mr. Trudeau’s inability to fight for liberal values. Since that day, the Canadian Jewish community has been subject to violence not seen since the 1930s. A synagogue has been firebombed, a Jewish school shot at, a Jewish hospital targeted by an antisemitic mob, a Jewish-owned bookstore vandalized, a Jewish neighborhood disrupted, a Jewish grocery store lit on fire.

A mob outside a Holocaust Museum in Montreal chanted, “Death to the Jews.” Mr. Trudeau’s response has been pleas for everyone to just get along. “This needs to stop,” he said, referring to the lobbing of a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue. “This is not who we are as Canadians.”

This litany of failures is all the more significant because of Mr. Trudeau’s name. At a moment of crisis for Canadian multiculturalism, he makes a poor contrast with his father. Pierre Trudeau was not just another Canadian politician; he passed the Charter of Rights and Freedoms while establishing Canada’s Constitution as its own and not subject to the British Parliament.

He made no-fault divorce and homosexuality legal. He instituted the official policy of multiculturalism, which made it a matter of law that Canadian citizens were encouraged to practice their religions and maintain their identities.

Pierre Trudeau might have been the most important architect of the liberal Canada, but he was also tough as hell. He famously invoked the Emergency War Measures Act against separatist terrorists in 1970, suspending civil liberties and bringing in the military. When asked by journalists how far he was willing to go, he said, “Just watch me.” Pierre Trudeau knew that the liberal order demands forceful and practical — and occasionally ugly — defense.

His son now seems to believe that telling people to be nice to one another will do. This weakness not only threatens the multicultural society his father founded; it threatens progressive values around the world. For many, Canada seemed a lone candle alight for the values of pluralism and liberalism as they have been extinguished elsewhere in the world.

Justin Trudeau does not have to call an election until 2025. He won elections against the odds before. But time is not on his side. It’s not Pierre Trudeau’s world anymore. It doesn’t much look like Justin Trudeau’s, either.

Source: NY Times

Justin Trudeau Continues to Fail Canadians on Key Issues

Justin Trudeau Continues to Fail Canadians on Key Issues

Geoff Brown

Geoff Thomas is a seasoned staff writer at VORNews, a reputable online publication. With his sharp writing skills and deep understanding of SEO, he consistently delivers high-quality, engaging content that resonates with readers. Thomas’ articles are well-researched, informative, and written in a clear, concise style that keeps audiences hooked. His ability to craft compelling narratives while seamlessly incorporating relevant keywords has made him a valuable asset to the VORNews team.

Related Topics:Canada Liberals Justin Trudeau

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Trudeau Examining Retaliatory Tariffs After Trump Meeting

Published

2 days ago

2024-12-04

Geoff Brown

Trudeau made a hastily arranged visit to Mar-a-Lago after Trump threatened Canada with tariffs

Senior officials report that days after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the United States.

According to a government official, Trudeau has begun considering which goods to target with tariffs in retaliation and is ready for any scenario. The official emphasized that no decision has been made.

Since they were not permitted to speak in public, the individual spoke under the condition of anonymity.

This action’s announcement would not go over well, and Trump might conclude that Trudeau is unreliable again. Trudeau has frequently made controversial remarks in the past, which caused Trump to question his moral character.

Following a G7 summit in Quebec in 2018, Trudeau declared that all seven G7 nations had signed an accord.

Trump, however, attacked Trudeau shortly after, claiming that the US did not sign the declaration.

Trump wrote, “I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference and the fact that Canada is charging our U.S. farmers, workers, and companies massive Tariffs.”

Then, in 2019, US President Donald Trump referred to Justin Trudeau as “two-faced” when he appeared to make fun of him in a video during a NATO leaders’ meeting.

The White House intensified its trade rant and criticized Trudeau more harshly than ever, calling him a traitor who wasn’t worthy of President Donald Trump’s time.

In a nationally televised interview, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro stated, “Any foreign leader who engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door has a special place in hell.”

On Tuesday, Trudeau called an emergency meeting with opposition leaders to present a more cohesive front in response to Trump’s tariff threat. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Poilievre were present.

Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland represented the federal government.

Meanwhile, Canadian premiers are pressing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to increase defence expenditures and border security to allay the fears of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Following a conference of premiers, Doug Ford of Ontario stated that he has been pressuring Trudeau’s administration for months to demonstrate that Canada is concerned about the security and economic concerns of the United States.

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Biden Pardoning Hunter Sparks Anger From Both Sides of the Isle

Published

3 days ago

2024-12-02

Geoff Brown

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter on Sunday after he was found guilty of federal felonies related to guns and taxes.

Before the convictions in the Delaware and California cases, President Biden had stated that he would not commute his son’s sentence or grant him a pardon. The pardon was granted just weeks before Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced for his guilty plea to tax crimes and trial conviction in the gun case.

The president’s broad pardon includes any “offences against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” in addition to the tax and firearms offences committed by the younger Biden.

When he announced his decision to pardon his son, President Biden said prosecutors “treated Hunter differently” and accused Republicans of unjust treatment.

“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” the statement added.

Biden’s Pardon “Self-Serving”

Lawmakers from both parties claimed that Biden’s choice to pardon his son was self-serving and would exacerbate the decline in American trust in democracy and the rule of law.

After Trump’s first term in office, Biden promised Americans he would restore standards and respect for the rule of law. However, he broke his public promise to Americans by using his position to assist his son.

Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, swiftly expressed his disappointment and claimed that the action would “tarnish” the outgoing president’s reputation.

The leader of the Democratic Senate campaign arm, Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, referred to Mr. Biden’s decision to pardon his son as “wrong.”

In a statement, Mr. Peters stated that “a president’s family and allies shouldn’t get special treatment.” “This misuse of authority undermines confidence in our government and gives others the confidence to manipulate the law to their advantage.”

According to Democratic Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, the president’s action provided evidence of a two-tiered legal system that treated the wealthy and politically influential differently from regular citizens.

Representative Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado, expressed disappointment with President Biden’s decision in an interview. He pledged that he wouldn’t do this, which, in my opinion, will make it more difficult for us to discuss preserving democracy in the future.

Unprecedented Pardon

The Republican chairs of congressional probes investigating Biden’s family, including Rep. James Comer, criticized the president’s pardon, claiming that the evidence against Hunter was “just the tip of the iceberg.”

Meanwhile, the office of Special Counsel David Weiss firmly resisted President Joe Biden’s defence of his son Hunter’s pardon. The president said his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” when he announced the pardon on Sunday.

“There was and has never been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” the filing from Weiss’s team stated. Hunter Biden had earlier this year brought up the issue of selective prosecution, but two courts had rejected it, the statement noted.

While acknowledging that the pardon ends the matter, the agency cautioned against formally dismissing it, which would have withdrawn the charges against Hunter Biden. Instead, the office seeks to close the matter.

When Trump becomes office, he won’t be able to reverse the pardon. Additionally, because of its broad scope, the Trump Justice Department will not be able to resume the lengthy criminal investigation of the president’s son, according to clemency-focused attorney Samuel Morison, who worked for 13 years in the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.

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Carney says Canada Has Failed New Immigrants

Published

1 week ago

2024-11-28

Geoff Brown

Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney

Under Justin Trudeau’s leadership, Canada has failed to live up to its immigration values in recent years by allowing more people into the country than it could absorb, Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney has told reporters.

Mark Carney, a special adviser to the Liberal Party of Canada, made the remarks during a Wednesday event at Cardus, a Christian think tank in Ottawa, Canada.

“I think what happened in the last few years is we didn’t live up to our values on immigration,” Mr. Carney said.

“We had many more foreign workers, students, and new Canadians than we could house, care for, socialize, and provide opportunities for. And, quite simply, we are failing Canadians and the folks we have admitted into Canada.”

The Trudeau government indicated earlier this fall that it would considerably reduce its immigration objective for permanent residents and temporary residents in Canada. These developments occurred following a rapid population increase and rising criticism of Trudeau’s immigration policies.

Statistics Canada just announced that on July 1, the population was 3% higher than a year ago. Between 1998 and 2018, annual population increase was less than 1.5%.

With the anticipated modifications to immigration targets, the Trudeau government expects Canada’s population to fall by 0.2% in 2025 and 2026 before returning to 0.8% growth in 2027. Numbers that are highly criticized by opponents of Trudeau’s failed immigration policies.

In a recent interview with the CBC, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government did not strike the correct balance on immigration following the COVID-19 outbreak.

He said he elected to ease its regulations in response to demand from businesses facing a labor shortage. He claimed that the authorities “lost track” during the procedure.

Trudeau then blamed the provinces for underfunding higher education, which pushed institutions to turn to foreign students to make money.

Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Marc Miller expects nearly five million temporary residents with expiring visas to leave Canada next year. Miller commented during a House of Commons citizenship and immigration committee meeting on Monday.

Miller said that he expects these permit holders to leave “voluntarily” and that the feds will be working with the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to “investigate and prosecute those who violate immigration law.”

The minister clarified that isn’t the only path forward for students with expiring study permits. Some students get renewals, while others can get post-graduate work permits, allowing them to stay in Canada longer.

“We do work with CBSA to monitor these things,” stated Miller.

He added that more international students are making asylum claims “with very little hope,” the federal government will propose amendments to the immigration and asylum systems in the next few weeks.

Miller’s comments come after Trudeau said his government would slash its immigration targets by at least 20% next year.

Source: The Canadian Press