A whiff of arrogance
“Is that coffee I smell, or Liberal arrogance?” The words of legendary Toronto Star reporter, Richard “The Badger” Brennan, as he mounted the bus on some long- forgotten election campaign, elicited chuckles from his colleagues but horror from Liberal staffers.
Arrogance is kryptonite to the members of Canada’s self- appointed natural governing party.
Justin Trudeau has enjoyed remarkable good fortune to this point — playing the part of a middle- class everyman, able to preach about the benefits of hard work and saving, without being penalized because his parents did the latter for him.
But first there was cash for access and now there is the trip to Bell Is- land in the Bahamas, as a guest of the Aga Khan.
The prime minister has worked hard and he deserved a break over the holidays.
But it is starting to dawn on some people that his brand of liberalism is social democracy in a Tommy Bahama straw hat. Despite the prime minister’s own code of ethics barring sponsored travel, he admitted Thursday he was ferried to Bell Island on the private helicopter of one of the world’s richest royals.
It’s not the crime of the century, but it does not look good to anyone reading or hearing the news on the commute to work on a cold January morning.
The obvious course correction for Liberal strategists is to dispel any impression that the prime minister is too cosy with billionaires by cancelling plans to go to the Davos World Economic Forum and, instead, embarking on a “listening tour” that will help the prime minister “reconnect with Canadians.”
Trudeau was the cause of “goosebumps” among Tim Hortons staff, as the prime minister’s minivan pulled off Highway 401.
But no one should be fooled — this is not about showing “openness and accountability,” as Trudeau suggested in his press conference Thursday.
It is a calculated, taxpayerfunded attempt to bury bad news beneath a blizzard of positive images of the prime minister mixing with the plebs.
Perhaps the most egregious thing about the whole national tour is that there are important issues to be dealt with in Ottawa in the days before Donald Trump is sworn in as president. One that has barely been talked about in Canada is the prospect of a 20- per cent “border adjustment tax” on every export crossing into the U.S.
Trump talked about a “major border tax” during his press conference on Wednesday, aimed primarily at American companies that shift production to foreign countries. The president-elect has been outspoken about U.S. automakers moving jobs to Mexico, but Canada could be sideswiped if a Republican blueprint to overhaul the U.S. tax code is passed into law.
The border adjustment tax would tax imports to the U. S. at the corporate tax rate — likely to be 20 per cent, if Trump follows through on his pledge to cut the rate from the existing 35 per cent.
The new tax, if passed, would penalize imports and subsidize U. S. exports, effectively acting as a 20- percent tariff on all the goods imported into the U. S. from Canada — potentially disastrous for this country, even if the U. S. dollar rises in response and makes Canadian imports cheaper. Quite apart from anything else, it appeals to Trump because it would all but pay for the cost of cutting the corporate tax rate.
All hands in the Canadian government should be at action stations at the moment.
Finalizing the budget; salvaging the government’s democratic reform agenda; formulating a response to Trump’s protectionist tax and trade plans. These would, by any objective measure, be a better use of the prime minister’s precious time.
Instead, he is traipsing around the country, calling local radio stations to request Tragically Hip songs and telling everyone he’s “just here to say ‘ hi’ to people.”
The real arrogance is in thinking that people are going to fall for this charade.
ALL HANDS IN GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE AT ACTION STATIONS.