Liberals fumble their way into 2021
Keystone pipeline project cancelled, Payette resigns and it’s still only January
Another day and yet another bumbling blunder from the Trudeau Liberals. For a government that is in its second scandal-filled term in office, you would think they would know how to manage optically erosive events with a higher degree of care by now.
Instead, this past week two more issues have popped up which have once again put the spotlight on the utter incompetence of the Liberal government.
First off, we have Keystone XL, a pipeline project that represents billions of dollars in investments, thousands of Canadian and American jobs as well the promise of bountiful tax revenues.
Unfortunately, newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden killed the entire project with one “foul” swoop of a pen without even considering speaking to our prime minister beforehand.
Trudeau’s response? An expression of disappointment within a half-hour phone call with Biden after the fact. I wonder how satisfying that is for those who now must worry about how they will feed their families over the coming weeks and months. Disappointment certainly will not provide sustenance.
In true stereotypical Canadian fashion, Trudeau might as well have apologized to Biden for the Keystone cancellation.
Now look, in all seriousness, we all know that the oil industry is dying a slow death. That does not mean we should put the final nail in the coffin while it still has a breath of life left in it.
Certainly, the environment is important as well. However, I do not see how cancelling one pipeline, while dozens of others already stretch across North America, will have much of an impact.
Eventually we will live in a world without a reliance on oil. Oil is a finite resource, after all. Until such a time, when our “wells” run dry, we should continue to reap the benefits of our oil producing capacity while we still can.
Benefits like half a million goodpaying Canadian jobs, billions of dollars in tax revenue, more than $120-billion worth of exports and five per cent of our GDP.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have talked about how we will financially recover from a year of economic turmoil and growing debt burdens. Having viable energy projects lay dead in the water is not a great start to economic recovery.
Instead of standing up for Canadian jobs and our economic best interests, Trudeau decided to take a weak middle ground approach. He did not wish to further upset his base, who often echo environmental concerns, by fighting for the pipeline too hard, especially after he faced criticisms for purchasing the Trans Mountain Pipeline. He also did not wish to further upset and alienate the West by not fighting at all.
It is sad when Wisconsin politicians and workers have stood up for Canada more than our own prime minister. Perhaps if Keystone was based in Quebec, Trudeau may have put up a tougher fight.
The next problem the Trudeau Liberals have faced this past week or so is that of the governor general and the conclusion of an investigation into claims of misconduct against Julie Payette, who has since resigned from the position.
The question of the vetting process has come up. How was Payette even chosen in the first place with so many prior red flags?
Well, for a governing party that didn’t even vet its own leader to the point of knowing he had worn Black/brownface in the past, how would anyone expect them to thoroughly vet anyone else?
At this point, I would go as far as questioning the need for a governor general at all, or at least the budget allocated to the position. Despite the constitutional issues and the complications of cutting ties with the throne, I see no real need for an overpaid figurehead. Perhaps it is time for Canada to move out of mum’s basement.