Stung Trudeau resorts to Ford bashing
Just days after finding himself cast into the depths of political embarrassment, Justin Trudeau was back at it this week, preaching to the unwashed from his perch on the peak of Mount Privilege.
His target was Doug Ford, the demon premier. Doug Ford, who’s going to take away your health care. Doug Ford, who doesn’t care about the sick or the elderly. Doug Ford, who has no time for children or the poor. Doug Ford, who can’t be trusted, unlike … um … uh … well, he just can’t be trusted!
If you wondered how the Liberal leader would ever live down those excruciating photos from a week ago, this is it: change the debate. Give people something else to talk about. Entice the gadfly media to write about something besides his judgment, his maturity or other stuff he’d rather not discuss. And just to nail it down, if they ask any more questions about “those pictures,” insist you’ve fully explained yourself and refuse to say anything more. Harrumph. Who invited you to my mountain anyway?
So now we once again have Justin Trudeau, moral crusader. Speaking in Hamilton, Ont., where he was supposed to be unveiling a sort- of pharmacare program — minus any details, timelines or cost estimates — he spent most of his time going after Ford, who just happens to be the person in charge of Ontario’s health- care system, that being a provincial responsibility. His message appeared to be that unloading a backhoe of insults on Ford would somehow make it easier to negotiate with the guy should the Liberal pharmacare plan ever come to be.
“Who do you want standing up for you?” Trudeau demanded during a prolonged assault in which he accused Ford, and Conservatives in general, of every kind of crime this side of selling Ottawa to the Russians. “Who do you want negotiating with Doug Ford when it comes to your health care?”
You can forgive Trudeau if he’s feeling a little edgy these days. You think it’s easy campaigning when you have to constantly worry what horrid reminder of your past may pop up on the internet?
Still, selling a program that depends on provincial co- operation by spewing venom at the premier of the province seems odd, to say the least. Six of the 10 provinces are headed by conservative premiers, remember. As a negotiating strategy, it seems dubious to expect that questioning their worth as Canadians is the best way to soften their hearts.
It’s not like Trudeau is dealing from a position of strength. The latest Nanos poll indicates 70 per cent of Canadians would prefer someone else as prime minister. After four years in the job, Trudeau is still tied with the demon-associate Andrew Scheer in his re- election bid. He doesn’t want to talk about yearbook photos, he doesn’t want to talk about SNC- Lavalin, and organizers of a debate on foreign affairs say they had to cancel the show because the prime minister doesn’t have time to talk about that, either, there obviously being nothing important going on in the world in which Canadians might have an interest. Iran? China? Double shrug.
It’s not like getting along with the provinces stands out as a triumph of the Liberals’ record. As Trudeau discovered when he set out to negotiate a national carbon tax, premiers can be difficult. Ottawa did OK with provinces that had already adopted a carbon levy, by letting them keep doing what they were already doing. It was less successful — not successful at all, in fact — with those that had other ideas about dealing with climate change. In the end, Environment Minister Catherine Mckenna was obliged to impose the Liberal plan on four provinces, all now governed by conservative administrations.
The 2015 version of Trudeau promised a new and better relationship with the provinces. Instead, he’s been confronted by NDP premiers in British Columbia and Alberta, and other provincial leaders stretching from the B.C. border to New Brunswick. Liberals are so disliked across the Prairies they’re in danger of being wiped out in all but a handful of ridings, and Trudeau is too wary of offending Quebec Premier François Legault to challenge his government’s much- maligned Bill 21, which closes government jobs to people wearing turbans, hijabs or other religious symbols.
Ford’s clumsy first year in office has definitely left him less popular than he once was, though even his initial favourable ratings sprang largely from the fact he wasn’t Kathleen Wynne, his Liberal predecessor. But Trudeau has hardly been winning fans himself as he stumbled from his disastrous foray into Indian costume drama, to an ugly confrontation with two female cabinet ministers that he overwhelmingly lost, to his artless claims that his penchant for painting his face dark colours can be blamed on a life of wealth and privilege that left him with a “massive blind spot.”
The Liberals may face better odds with the second prong of their Trudeau rehabilitation project: reverting to offering gobs of money in return for votes. You could sense the shift in strategy in the Liberal war room over the weekend, as everyone got busy figuring out how much spending could be promised without Finance Minister Bill Morneau kicking in the door. Quick as a wink, out came the pharmacare pledge along with a promise to cut taxes by increasing the personal deduction level. Both plans are aimed at matching pledges previously made by other leaders, positioning the Liberals as the party of one- stopshopping. Why vote for anyone else when Liberals are willing to match any offer that appears capable of drawing votes?
If you ask me, flat- out bribery is more likely to keep Canadians from finding something better to do on election day. It’s also well within the Liberal skill set. Doug Ford may look like an easy target from Planet Ottawa, but hasn’t Trudeau gotten himself into enough trouble by pitting his virtuousness against others’ and being found wanting?
IT’S NOT LIKE TRUDEAU IS DEALING FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH.