PM resolute on grand plan

The problem with the Liberal party, as articulated by former NDP leader Tommy Douglas, was that it often had a wishbone where it should have had a backbone.

Yet Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are proving themselves as rigidly dogmatic in their world view as Stephen Harper’s Conservatives ever were. The latest example is the furor over the summer jobs program, where government funding is being denied to groups who refuse to support abortion in an online application form.

In a wide-ranging interview with the National Post, Trudeau hinted at concessions to avoid the funding applications of church and faith groups being blocked but offered no apology for a move that critics say introduces a hierarchy of rights in Canada.

“We are not limiting freedom of expression or freedom of belief in any shape or form. We are simply saying organizations with the explicit purpose of limiting and eliminating charter rights like women’s rights do not qualify for government funding,” Trudeau said.

I suggested that church groups were the unintended victims of this dragnet.

“Obviously we recognize the role church groups and faith groups of all different types have in promoting strong communities and running day camps for kids,” Trudeau said. “It’s an extremely positive impact and we’re absolutely going to work with them to ensure they can continue to do that.”

Faith groups say they are forced to tick a box in the online application form that forces them to choose between their beliefs and government funding.

“On the actual mechanism for this, we’re happy to work with organizations that have concerns,” Trudeau said.

The culture wars have replaced economics at the heart of the political divide, but the economy may make a comeback before the next election as storm clouds gather.

I asked if the Liberals remained committed to a falling debt-to-GDP ratio over the next five years — its one surviving fiscal anchor from its election platform.

“People get our plan is working and we’re going to stay focused,” Trudeau said, “not on arbitrary numbers …”

I interrupted: Is the debtto-GDP ratio an arbitrary number?

“No, it’s not. That’s why we’re going to keep decreasing our proportion of debt,” he said.

Yet to keep that number falling, the government’s own fiscal plan indicates it needs to reduce direct program expenses over the next five years in real terms.

Which programs do you plan to cut, I asked.

The answer, it appears, is to conjure up economic expansion that neither the private sector nor the Department of Finance have foreseen.

“One of the things we need to do,” he said, “is look for new areas of fresh growth. Obviously when you have people who are unemployed or underemployed when they should be employed, that’s an area we can turn around. That’s why we’re trying to get more women into the workforce and get them better paid.”

Another source of growth would be new markets, and critics contend that Trudeau’s commitment to inclusiveness and diversity has become a barrier to striking new trade agreements.

Is it time to abandon the progressive trade agenda, I asked.

“On the contrary, it’s more important than ever that we have a progressive trade agenda. It’s an agenda that recognizes the benefits of trade cannot just go to multinationals and the one per cent and the country’s coffers — they have to be shared with everyone,” he said.

I shifted topics to look at the broader political landscape. A new Nanos Research poll suggested the stock of both the prime minister and his party have fallen in the past 12 months, and while polls come and go, I asked if he was worried that the Liberals were being branded with a promisebreaker tag.

“We’re halfway through the mandate. We’ve done an awful lot, there’s still more to do, but I am very confident that we’re going to achieve the things Canadians expected us to do,” he said. “The capacity to get a mandate to do more things depends largely on whether Canadians feel you did the kinds of things you said you would do in the first place. That’s a natural and important accountability function in a democracy.”

I asked if he had any regrets from last year. He said he wishes he’d cleared his vacation to the Aga Khan’s island with the ethics commissioner, but his major misgiving is about the lack of family time.

“I have to do a better job of managing the family-work balance. It’s been tough on my kids — there have been certain moments when I haven’t been there. I managed to get to a hockey game last night with my son, so that was good, but it hasn’t happened often enough.”

But he said he is in politics because of his kids.

“I’m doing it because I have an opportunity to serve Canadians and to make a positive difference in their lives. It’s the only thing that allows me to keep having the schedule I do and work as hard as I do, and not be there for my kids and family as much as I’d like to — because I know I’m doing something meaningful.”

Even though his poll numbers have dipped, he remains the prohibitive favourite to be re-elected in 2019 and appears to relish the prospect, refreshed by spending his winter vacation at a mountain lodge in the Rockies with no power, no Wi-Fi and no running water. “The outhouse at 25 below was great for the kids,” he joked.

He has returned to work apparently devoid of selfdoubt. For better or worse, this Liberal’s not for turning.