Liberal list of flip-flops
Newspapers seem to have a preoccupation at this time of the year with composing lists: lists of the most important news event of the year, of the best political story of the year; lists of the best and brightest politician of the year. Missing is a list of the most egregious flip-flops on election promises as the Trudeau government experiences its first full year of power.
The Hill Times, for example, recently compiled its list of politicians working in Ottawa in 2016, based on a phone survey. The categories included most effective politician, best political comeback, most approachable MP and most effective cabinet minister.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at the top of the list as the most valuable politician for the year, but he also placed third in the category of least valuable politician, suggesting the bloom may be coming off that particular rose.
The Hill Times also polled to determine the weakest cabinet minister. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef was at the top of that list after her mishandling of the electoral reform file — a key plank in the Liberals’ election promises.
Ms. Monsef insulted all the parliamentarians who worked on an electoral reform committee at her request by suggesting the committee failed to find a specific alternative to the first-past-the-post system. She later apologized for her remarks.
Another cabinet minister singled out by Hill Times voters as being weak was Kildonan-St. Paul MP MaryAnn Mihychuk, who has struggled with her portfolio of employment, workforce and labour, forcing the prime minister to transfer the employment insurance reforms promised by the Liberals during the election to Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos.
Ms. Mihychuk said in a Free Press interview having the employment insurance file removed from her portfolio was a relief because she has “the largest number of projects” of any minister. However, Liberal insiders told the Free Press the move was a warning to Ms. Mihychuk to shape up after several missteps.
Missing on the Hill Times list is Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, who represents Winnipeg South Centre. Perhaps that isn’t so surprising. When he was named to this file, industry experts had to Google his name to find out who he was. The rookie MP has been given one challenging portfolio, as the Trudeau government has to juggle both climate change policy and carbon taxes along with pipeline approvals.
Mr. Carr has so far managed to handle himself well with this portfolio despite some inflammatory remarks after cabinet’s approval of Kinder Morgan, an expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline linking Alberta oil to Vancouver’s harbour. In November, in light of the indigenous protests at Standing Rock, Mr. Carr said: “If people choose for their own reasons not to be peaceful, then the government of Canada — through its defence forces, through its police forces — will ensure that people are kept safe.” He later backed away from that stance, supporting the democratic right to protest.
Maybe that should be on the Free Press list: how many times the Liberal government can turn its back on its electoral promises, with Ms. Monsef, Ms. Mihychuk and Mr. Carr at the top, led of course by Mr. Trudeau.
The Grits seemed to have promised one thing and done another. Walk away from electoral reform, implement lacklustre changes to employment insurance, water down climate change policy, ignore First Nations’ concerns if they impinge on economic recovery and threaten to shut down democratic processes. That’s quite the list.
—Winnipeg Free Press