Abandoning people power

Another Justin Trudeau promise to save Canadian democracy bites the dust. For more than a month, critics have roasted the prime minister for breaking his vow to change the voting system by the 2019 federal election. And in recent days, those who believed Trudeau’s pledges for more open democracy and more power-sharing with ordinary Canadians had their hopes — and trust — dashed again.

When he was running for the Liberal leadership in 2013, Trudeau promised open nominations in every federal riding. It was part of his commitment to make his party one of the most democratic in the world.

Those pledges, sadly, were written in the shifting sands of Trudeau’s political agenda.

In two ridings that are preparing for April 3 byelections, Liberal party officials have meddled with the nominations in a way that helps candidates favoured by top party brass and Trudeau himself.

This kind of interference didn’t start with Trudeau’s government, nor is it confined to the Liberal party. The problem for Trudeau is that having very loudly rejected such tactics, he is now quietly permitting them.

Trudeau doesn’t have to change the law or hold a referendum to make federal politics more truly reflect the will of the people. He can strengthen Canadian democracy all on his own.

In this case, Trudeau needed only to keep his earlier promises and let the Liberals in each riding elect their candidate — free from Liberal powerbrokers.

But federal politics as they have always been done are again the order of the day.

And the Big Red Liberal Machine that everyone thought had been parked in the garage is rolling over people power once more.