Voters forgive missed goals, not deliberate letdowns
We shrugged when Justin Trudeau’s newly elected government missed its deadline for bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada. It wasn’t a surprise; the Liberal timeline, while commendable in principle, was unrealistic in practice. Immigration Minister John McCallum and his colleagues were doing as much as they could as fast as they could.
We took it in stride when Canada’s first ministers emerged from their meeting on climate change earlier this month with no plan to put a price on carbon. It wasn’t a surprise. There were major differences among the provinces. And it wasn’t technically a broken promise; Trudeau pledged only to meet the premiers and territorial leaders within 90 days of the Paris climate change conference (Nov. 30 to Dec. 12) to “establish a pan-Canadian framework for combating climate change.”
We nodded last week when Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a budgetary deficit almost three times the size of the shortfall the Liberals projected in last fall’s election. It wasn’t a surprise. The economy had deteriorated since then. The Conservatives had left the treasury emptier than they claimed. And private economists were forecasting a deficit in the $30-billion range.
Five months into its tenure, the government is getting the big stuff right. It is doing what it promised, signalling unforeseen difficulties well in advance and sticking to its plan. It is the small stuff that needs work. Three times in recent weeks members of Trudeau’s cabinet have casually rewritten the commitments the prime minister made to Canadians.
Trudeau pledged to “end the political harassment of charities” by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) — not wind it down gradually, not keep hounding charities that ran afoul of the previous Conservative government to preserve the independence of the agency’s charities directorate.
Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier quietly changed the plan. She allowed the 24 ongoing audits to take their course in case “serious deficiencies” were found. When they were completed, she would end CRA’s political activities auditing program. The affected charities — which include Oxfam Canada, Environmental Defence and Canada Without Poverty — remain on tenterhooks.
During and after the election, Trudeau praised Canadians fulsomely for giving victims of the Syrian war a safe haven in Canada. He encouraged them to sponsor more families. To facilitate their efforts, his government set up a website where volunteers could donate or submit sponsorship applications.
There was no mention of a cap or a slowdown. But once the Liberals fulfilled their election pledge to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees, there was an unofficial policy shift at Immigration Canada. Last week, in response to complaints from prospective sponsors, still waiting for their refugee families, it was publicly acknowledged.
“We know refugees and sponsors are disappointed that expedited processing is not continuing,” Faith St.-John, a spokesperson for the department said, “but the accelerated pace of recent months could not be sustained indefinitely.”
Community groups were taken aback. They had done what the Liberals asked — raised funds, found apartments, collected furniture and clothes and household goods — only to be told Syrian refugees were no longer a top priority. They had tried to do the right thing in a humanitarian crisis, but their presumed partner in Ottawa let them down.
Finally there was home care. Here is what Trudeau promised: “As an immediate commitment, we will invest $3 billion over the next four years to deliver more and better home-care services for all Canadians. This includes more access to high quality in-home caregivers, financial supports for family care, and, when necessary, palliative care.”
Last week’s budget contained no new funding for home care. According to Health Minister Jane Philpott it would have been “premature” to make a funding commitment until a new health accord has been negotiated. “There should be some agreements as to how those additional investments (in home care) will be used and what we should expect to see as a result,” she told CBC news, effectively erasing the word “immediate” from the prime minister’s pledge. Family caregivers counting on relief would have to wait for at least a year.
These kinds of disappointments and delays don’t defeat governments. But they take a toll. They turn supporters into skeptics. They erode people’s faith in the reliability of the prime minister’s words. They deplete the reservoir of good will on which an activist government depends. Carol Goar’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Five months into its tenure, the government is getting the big stuff right. It is doing what it promised. It is the small stuff that needs work