Genetic Handicap
The prime minister’s Christmas message celebrated Canadians’ sharing generosity, even as he was scolded for sharing too heartily in the generosity of the Aga Khan.
The prime minister’s Christmas message celebrated Canadians’ sharing generosity, even as he was soundly scolded for sharing too heartily in the generosity of the Aga Khan.
Justin Trudeau was found to have violated conflict of interest rules five ways from Sunday for partaking in the billionaire spiritual leader’s hospitality, private island and aircraft, all complicated by Trudeau’s failure to remove himself from deliberations on a multimillion-dollar government grant to the Aga Khan’s charitable foundation.
Canadians are left to share in the wonder of the federal Liberal Party’s genetic disposition to the conjoined political liabilities of entitlement and ethical dubiousness.
Or perhaps we should be grateful that without the persistent handicaps, Canada’s natural ruling party could have by now reduced the nation to a one-party state.
With a decade of Conservative government still visible in the rear-view mirror, Canadians are inclined to forget, or perhaps never knew, that Liberals earned the cliched natural ruler title by governing for 70 of the past 100 years. Their grip on power tends to slip only when Canadians have had it up to here with their apparent sense of entitlement, ethical lapses or both.
We then take a national holiday from big-l Liberalism only to discover how comfortable it is to get back home after a vacation with old-time Tories or new-right Conservatives fails to deliver on the travel brochure’s promises.
That’s not to say the Liberals deliver, just that they can be counted on not to stray far from stubborn Canadian insistence on middle-of-the-road, small-l liberalism served-up with a hearty dollop of social welfare.
Outgoing ethics commissioner Mary Dawson found that the prime ministerial family vacation on the Aga Khan’s dime, and island, breached more than one section of the ethics rules. The gifts could reasonably be seen to be on offer to influence the prime minister and, she said, were not likely to have been provided “had there not been official interactions between the government of Canada and the Aga Khan.”
Even old family friends – Pierre Trudeau forged a friendship with Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini, the fourth Aga Khan, 50 years back — are suspect gift-givers when there’s government bounty in the air, and the Liberals ought to know better.
Justin has apologized for his lapse even while protesting his innocence, and the commissioner’s findings carry no sanction anyway.
Dawson may yet report on a potentially more troubling matter related to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who failed to divest or place in a blind trust about $20 million in shares of Morneau Shepell, as required when he was appointed to cabinet.
Morneau is under the ethics commissioner’s lens to determine if he was in conflict when he introduced a pension bill that may have benefited the family business. Mario Dion replaces Dawson as ethics watchdog on Jan. 8, so if the current commissioner doesn’t report by then, it will be up to Dion to decide the Morneau case.
More than a decade ago, it was the sponsorship scandal that put an end to Canadian patience and sent Prime Minister Paul Martin into the political wilderness for his predecessor Jean Chretien’s sins, namely lavishing largess on Liberally-disposed Quebecois for patriotic displays that were often more apparent than real.
John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper all became prime minister at least in part on a promise to clean up after the Liberal gravy train had slopped around too much juice for Canadians to ignore anymore.
In all cases, it took a while for the Liberals to try Canadian patience to the point of breaking, and Justin’s government is nowhere near the limit of traditional tolerance yet, but like voters everywhere, Canadians are less predictable than in the past.
If he wants to test whether Canadians are also less forgiving, all he needs to do is hold steady to the course of his first two years in office.
A better plan would be to clean up the old Liberal act and get the ethical house in order, rather than hand the Conservatives and NDP a familiar tune to sing.
When your government is style over substance, it had better be a style the voters prefer.