So far Trudeau has been clearly reluctant to make any large chances. It is driving Liberal supporters nuts. The team is 3-0 behind, 20 minutes left to play, why is the coach not subbing three defenders for three strikers? What is the coach thinking?
I believe the answer is south of the border. If Trump is able to win, the political landscape in Canada will change dramatically. Trudeau is counting a rallying the troops sentiment in the Canada. All together to protect Canada from an unstable and corrupt president in the US. Quite a strategy, but it might just work.
Who is talking about Trump haters? You are missing the point. The first term of Trump was chaos for Canada. Which subsequently was managed exceptionally well by Trudeau and his team (which included many conservatives for this specific purpose).
In other words, it is not about being anti-Trump, it is about who is able to manage a Trump administration the best. And Trudeau has a solid record to run on when it comes to this topic.
Thank you for your continued free offering of your educational and entertaining dialogues. Being a retired senior on a limited income, (and with extra time to read!) your generosity is truly appreciated! Understand this that if I were wealthier, I would definitely be a paid subscriber. Also, I find myself being your "Freeland" , nodding away while reading, something like those bobbleheads!
Could be that Mr. Trudeau is waiting until he finds a landing spot for Ms. Freeland, and he hasn;t done so yet. It would be much more gracious if she were to resign and take over, say, the chairmanship of the IMF, or perhaps head of OECD (history does rhyme). But it's not going to happen, and Mr. Trudeau will have to ungraciously dump her eventually. Perhaps waiting for late on a Friday in August.
On the broader issue of the cabinet, Mr. Scrimshaw, I think that there is a distinct lack of bench strength. Part of it is the chasing away of talent such as Jane Philpott, Jody Wilson-Raybold, Bill Morneau, Andrew Leslie, Scott Brison, Catherine McKenna, and the list goes on. Mr. Trudeau is left with a bunch of Ministers who received their appointments because of DEI rather than their competence. You have correctly identified Ahmed Hussen. I would add Harjit Sajjan, Gudie Hutchings, Marci Ien, Kamal Khera, and so on. The only one I would promote is Anita Anand, whom I believe to be very good, but whose reward was to be buried at Treasury Board.
Time to rebuild with an eye on 2029. A big defeat in 2025 might be a blessing, allowing the Liberal Party the opportunity to rebuild, and get rid of at least some of that deadwood.
You say, in part, "What this government needs is a whole of government change in approach."
To which I offer a correction: "What this government needs is a whole change of government - they should resign and admit having no imagination, ethics or morality."
My point is that YOU have imagination about what they could and should do but I see no evidence of imagination on their part. It matters not that I - respectfully - disagree with your policy prescription; what matters is that this government is simply incapable of wit, let alone wisdom and forget thoughtful conceptualizing!
As for Carney and Freeland, really, why on earth should Carney attach himself to this sinking ship? If - and I really wonder about his true intent - he is really interested in political life in the Liberal party attaching himself to the party in active politics right now will not save that sinking ship and will endanger his chance (hah!) to become leader. Not that I support him or think he can become an effective politician. Think Ignatieff as a bean counter; truly not attractive. I am not a Freeland fan; Lord, no! But she is the one JT has.
Ah, Miller. Communications is the problem! Not. These guys simply have rotten policies and cannot even effectively deliver those rotten policies so what is there to communicate?
To summarize, you are a fan of this government; I am not. But I continue to read your work as you do have an interesting perspective. I disagree but that is democracy for you.
I cannot understand the Trudeau-Freeland-Carney storyline on this season of The Ottawa Bachelor. In shit talking Freeland, Trudeau is undermining one of his most loyal and capable ministers. In grovelling to Carney, Trudeau seems weak and ineffectual. And, it’s not as though Freeland and Carney aren’t trading notes between meetings. So, what is the grand strategy here?
Could it be a simple strategy? Freeland being in the unpopular mode as Trudeau 02, and maybe Carney sending ripples through P. P.'s Populus (ie PPP), could be a simple win-win?
For that to work for Trudeau, the public would have to believe that Trudeau was somehow not involved with and supportive of the economic policies that Freeland has fronted (its plausible, but damning of JT’s competency) and that Carney (former Governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England) leaves any wake in populist waters.
I think the biggest problem with the Big Shuffle proponents is that for it to make a difference it needs to be followed by big public policy changes. And Trudeau has shown zero interest in big policy shifts. So what the point?
For that matter, if Trudeau was willing to do a major policy shift, he doesn’t need a shuffle to do it
You need to more careful and precise when discussing immigration: our annual rate is a stable 400-500,000, with steady growth but no big changes.
However, our non-permanent, i.e., temporary resident intake, is the group that ballooned recently to almost a million in 2023.
This number includes temporary workers (mostly seasonal farm workers) and foreign students (whose tuition fees subsidize our post-secondary institutions and some of whom we later welcome as trained-in-Canada immigrants.)
More critically, a full third (300,000) were Ukrainian refugees. This number is staggering, and it happened entirely under the radar without any of the fanfare we saw over 30,000 Syrian refugees.
I suspect we have Freeland to thank for that policy decision (given her personal passion in fighting Putin). We can now see that the knock-on effects have been serious: intensification of the housing crisis; blaming of foreign students for the housing crisis; a new fed cap on foreign students, resulting in post-secondary institutions (esp colleges in ON) facing huge financial strain; a rising anti-immigrant sentiment; and further erosion of support for the Libs.
All in all, a massive mess and gaping hole. I can easily imagine the anger swirling around cabinet over such a misguided and naive policy decision that has hurt so many.
I am fairly skeptical that any further cosmetic changes would do anything at this point and the fact PMO seems to believe that it would by entering leaks just show much they are disconnected. They had one chance and they blew it.
Instead of feeding Ottawa gossips machine, the liberals should finally put their focus of governing, policies and fixing things they have sometimes broken themselves. The idea of a summer tour is also good to reconnect with Canadians. It won’t be probably enough to avoid significant lost in 2025 but it could help keeping enoug strongholds.
Lastly, progressives, not only in Canada, should try to figure out and fast how to regain the blue collar working class and younger generation votes that are slipping to the right. This kind of generational shift will be very hard to bend if it isn’t addressed fast.
So far Trudeau has been clearly reluctant to make any large chances. It is driving Liberal supporters nuts. The team is 3-0 behind, 20 minutes left to play, why is the coach not subbing three defenders for three strikers? What is the coach thinking?
I believe the answer is south of the border. If Trump is able to win, the political landscape in Canada will change dramatically. Trudeau is counting a rallying the troops sentiment in the Canada. All together to protect Canada from an unstable and corrupt president in the US. Quite a strategy, but it might just work.
The reverse argument is that voters might conclude that you need someone like Pierre and Jamil to counter Trump.
Canadians aren't a monolith of reflexive Trump haters that the left likes to think we are. The answer is much more nuanced.
Who is talking about Trump haters? You are missing the point. The first term of Trump was chaos for Canada. Which subsequently was managed exceptionally well by Trudeau and his team (which included many conservatives for this specific purpose).
In other words, it is not about being anti-Trump, it is about who is able to manage a Trump administration the best. And Trudeau has a solid record to run on when it comes to this topic.
Thank you for your continued free offering of your educational and entertaining dialogues. Being a retired senior on a limited income, (and with extra time to read!) your generosity is truly appreciated! Understand this that if I were wealthier, I would definitely be a paid subscriber. Also, I find myself being your "Freeland" , nodding away while reading, something like those bobbleheads!
Could be that Mr. Trudeau is waiting until he finds a landing spot for Ms. Freeland, and he hasn;t done so yet. It would be much more gracious if she were to resign and take over, say, the chairmanship of the IMF, or perhaps head of OECD (history does rhyme). But it's not going to happen, and Mr. Trudeau will have to ungraciously dump her eventually. Perhaps waiting for late on a Friday in August.
On the broader issue of the cabinet, Mr. Scrimshaw, I think that there is a distinct lack of bench strength. Part of it is the chasing away of talent such as Jane Philpott, Jody Wilson-Raybold, Bill Morneau, Andrew Leslie, Scott Brison, Catherine McKenna, and the list goes on. Mr. Trudeau is left with a bunch of Ministers who received their appointments because of DEI rather than their competence. You have correctly identified Ahmed Hussen. I would add Harjit Sajjan, Gudie Hutchings, Marci Ien, Kamal Khera, and so on. The only one I would promote is Anita Anand, whom I believe to be very good, but whose reward was to be buried at Treasury Board.
Time to rebuild with an eye on 2029. A big defeat in 2025 might be a blessing, allowing the Liberal Party the opportunity to rebuild, and get rid of at least some of that deadwood.
You say, in part, "What this government needs is a whole of government change in approach."
To which I offer a correction: "What this government needs is a whole change of government - they should resign and admit having no imagination, ethics or morality."
My point is that YOU have imagination about what they could and should do but I see no evidence of imagination on their part. It matters not that I - respectfully - disagree with your policy prescription; what matters is that this government is simply incapable of wit, let alone wisdom and forget thoughtful conceptualizing!
As for Carney and Freeland, really, why on earth should Carney attach himself to this sinking ship? If - and I really wonder about his true intent - he is really interested in political life in the Liberal party attaching himself to the party in active politics right now will not save that sinking ship and will endanger his chance (hah!) to become leader. Not that I support him or think he can become an effective politician. Think Ignatieff as a bean counter; truly not attractive. I am not a Freeland fan; Lord, no! But she is the one JT has.
Ah, Miller. Communications is the problem! Not. These guys simply have rotten policies and cannot even effectively deliver those rotten policies so what is there to communicate?
To summarize, you are a fan of this government; I am not. But I continue to read your work as you do have an interesting perspective. I disagree but that is democracy for you.
I cannot understand the Trudeau-Freeland-Carney storyline on this season of The Ottawa Bachelor. In shit talking Freeland, Trudeau is undermining one of his most loyal and capable ministers. In grovelling to Carney, Trudeau seems weak and ineffectual. And, it’s not as though Freeland and Carney aren’t trading notes between meetings. So, what is the grand strategy here?
Could it be a simple strategy? Freeland being in the unpopular mode as Trudeau 02, and maybe Carney sending ripples through P. P.'s Populus (ie PPP), could be a simple win-win?
For that to work for Trudeau, the public would have to believe that Trudeau was somehow not involved with and supportive of the economic policies that Freeland has fronted (its plausible, but damning of JT’s competency) and that Carney (former Governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England) leaves any wake in populist waters.
I think the biggest problem with the Big Shuffle proponents is that for it to make a difference it needs to be followed by big public policy changes. And Trudeau has shown zero interest in big policy shifts. So what the point?
For that matter, if Trudeau was willing to do a major policy shift, he doesn’t need a shuffle to do it
You need to more careful and precise when discussing immigration: our annual rate is a stable 400-500,000, with steady growth but no big changes.
However, our non-permanent, i.e., temporary resident intake, is the group that ballooned recently to almost a million in 2023.
This number includes temporary workers (mostly seasonal farm workers) and foreign students (whose tuition fees subsidize our post-secondary institutions and some of whom we later welcome as trained-in-Canada immigrants.)
More critically, a full third (300,000) were Ukrainian refugees. This number is staggering, and it happened entirely under the radar without any of the fanfare we saw over 30,000 Syrian refugees.
I suspect we have Freeland to thank for that policy decision (given her personal passion in fighting Putin). We can now see that the knock-on effects have been serious: intensification of the housing crisis; blaming of foreign students for the housing crisis; a new fed cap on foreign students, resulting in post-secondary institutions (esp colleges in ON) facing huge financial strain; a rising anti-immigrant sentiment; and further erosion of support for the Libs.
All in all, a massive mess and gaping hole. I can easily imagine the anger swirling around cabinet over such a misguided and naive policy decision that has hurt so many.
I am fairly skeptical that any further cosmetic changes would do anything at this point and the fact PMO seems to believe that it would by entering leaks just show much they are disconnected. They had one chance and they blew it.
Instead of feeding Ottawa gossips machine, the liberals should finally put their focus of governing, policies and fixing things they have sometimes broken themselves. The idea of a summer tour is also good to reconnect with Canadians. It won’t be probably enough to avoid significant lost in 2025 but it could help keeping enoug strongholds.
Lastly, progressives, not only in Canada, should try to figure out and fast how to regain the blue collar working class and younger generation votes that are slipping to the right. This kind of generational shift will be very hard to bend if it isn’t addressed fast.