Seeking a Beaverbrook

Re: Canada needs a Beaverbrook, John Ivison, Feb. 3

I suspect that not even Lord Beaverbrook could whip this gang of amateurs into shape. The last cabinet member who had any hope of turning Canada into a serious country was C.D. Howe, known as the minister of everything.

The proliferation of ministries and portfolios in the Trudeau government is replete with duplication and ambiguity, of which my favourite is the minister of middle class prosperity. Clearly an important ministry given that according to Jack M. Mintz, Canada's per capita GDP is now close to that of Alabama.

Why anyone who has witnessed the ongoing bungling of the federal government in the procurement of pay systems, helicopters, ships, pipelines, RCMP carbines and X-ray machines from China to ensure embassy security surely can't be surprised to learn they think it's appropriate to rely on only verbal reassurances regarding the provision of a life-saving COVID vaccine.

Indeed, the only procurement within memory that came in on budget and time was the supply ship Asterix. For his trouble in achieving this incredible illustration of competence, the federal government took Vice-Admiral Mark Norman to court.

Competence in performance of duty seems to be a firing affair, as Jody Wilson-Raybould can testify. Meanwhile, conflict-of-interest concepts seem to have little relevance as Bill Morneau and Justin Trudeau have illustrated in the WE scandal among others such as SNC-Lavalin. With a prime minister who's drama teacher sophomoric antics included blackface, this country desperately needs new leadership, even if Beaverbrook is not available for the job.

Raymond Foote, Ottawa