Liberals play a role in conspiracy culture

Lies break down trust in our political institutions, Sabrina Maddeaux writes.

Let's start with a universal truth: Sending a senior foreign affairs staffer to a party at Russia's foreign embassy was not just politically dumb, it was offensive and undermines Canada's mission to hold Russia accountable for its horrific actions in Ukraine.

There's no debate here, for very obvious reasons, and it'd be a waste of everyone's time to retread why this was a colossal error. What there is some debate over, however, is what Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly knew and when she knew it.

The answer, which remains murky, may ultimately be less important than the impact that having to ask it over and over again has on public trust of our government and civic institutions.

While Justin Trudeau's Liberals paint misinformation and conspiracy culture as uniquely Conservative inclinations encouraged by Conservative politicians, they are very much part of the problem.

How can they fight for a return to a shared reality based on facts when they perpetually distort it for their own political gain? How can they effectively combat dangerous conspiracy theories while refusing honest answers to basic questions? The answer is: they can't.

With each new scandal, each attempted cover up, each unanswered question and piece of evidence that undermines official statements, we edge closer to the societal breakdown Liberals insist only they can prevent.

Russian partygate is just the latest step in what's quickly becoming a wellworn path to widespread distrust, anger and, for some, the political fringes.

At first, Joly attempted to paint the situation as entirely the fault of public servants in her department, and suggested the decision wasn't run by her office beforehand. She wouldn't say whether she personally knew about plans to attend the Russia Day celebration.

Then the Globe and Mail reported that, according to two senior government sources, Joly's office did have advance knowledge of the plans. However, a spokesperson for Joly's office still insists the minister herself didn't know and only learned about it later via media reports.

This isn't a unique situation for Trudeau's Liberals — it's not even a unique situation within the last week. Adjacent to Joly's scandal, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is trying to spin repeated false statements about invoking the Emergencies Act as a series of misunderstandings. There's still no clear answer on whose idea it was to invoke the act, or how it came into use.

Mendicino isn't even caught up in just one truth-related scandal. He's also under scrutiny for misleading legal gun owners about whether they'll be impacted by proposed new gun control measures.

And you don't have to go very far back in history to

encounter more Liberal tussles with the truth. The prime minister and his office said they didn't know an allegation against former Gen. Jonathan Vance was a #Metoo complaint, despite PMO staff describing it as such in their emails.

It's a big deal to accuse politicians and government officials of lying. This is because doing so can severely undermine public trust and undermine the legitimacy of our system. Journalists will go to great lengths to avoid doing so if there's any reasonable doubt. I myself have spent more time than is healthy in a functioning democracy finding ways to express the severity of Liberal misstatements (see, there I go again!) to readers without outright accusing our elected leaders of lying.

This doesn't bode well for the Trudeau Liberals and their future election prospects, but, more importantly, it risks social and political stability that are already in short supply. If Liberals really care about Canada's democracy and institutions, they need to reckon with their own toxic behaviour before they lecture anyone else.