EDITORIAL
Trudeau needs to admit that he and other Liberals went too far in suggestions they made to Wilsonraybould around the Snc-lavalin affair.
On March 5, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was to make an appearance in Regina.
Before abruptly cancelling two appearances that morning, Trudeau had been scheduled to address reporters at a Canadian Tire store to tout what Canadians can do with their carbon tax rebates. In the evening, he was to speak at a $200-per-plate Liberal Party fundraiser where proceeds would go to the Judy Lamarsh Fund, which works “to support inspiring women as Liberal Members of Parliament across Canada.”
While some carbon tax protesters took credit for the cancellation of the events, it was in reality a response to the ongoing caucus crisis Trudeau faced in Ottawa after now-former Treasury Board president Jane Philpott resigned.
Perhaps the irony of raising money to find more female candidates was not lost on the prime minister’s team following the resignations of Philpott and Jody Wilson-raybould, who alleged that members of the prime minister’s team, including Trudeau himself, pressured her to offer a deferred prosecution agreement to Snc-lavalin on bribery charges.
It’s a shame Trudeau didn’t bother to show up to deliver a message about the importance of having more women enter the political arena.
“Add women, change politics is how we will make a better country,” Trudeau said last year. That was in reference to a campaign by his party to get more women running for office.
The fact that Wilson-raybould and Philpott — two of the most high-profile female members of cabinet — stepped down based on principled stances only shows that women just might be the antidote to the old-boys-club way of doing politics.
Trudeau could have used his time to speak to party faithful in Regina to back up his feminist pronouncements and condemn the fact that he allowed male members of his caucus to suggest things like Wilson-raybould “couldn’t handle the stress” of the situation.
Instead, after appearing at a Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto, he was back to Ottawa for private meetings. The following day was more of the same as he tried to figure out how to handle the crisis.
While he has committed to better communication, his statement about the issue was left wanting. There was no apology offered. Trudeau needs to admit that he and other Liberals went too far in suggestions they made to Wilson-raybould around the Snc-lavalin affair.
More so, he needs to commend the steps taken by Wilson-raybould and Philpott and promise to live up to the high standards of those two remarkable women and all Canadians.
That really might be the first step to change politics and make a better country.