WHO CAN HE TRUST?
Weak cabinet hurting PM
“Government by cabinet is back.”
Those words of wisdom from Justin Trudeau, dispensed two Novembers ago, are as forgotten as his “because it’s 2015” gender quip is famous, which is a shame because it is every bit the broken promise as the others on the Liberals’ ever-growing pile.
The sound bite — as deliberate as its gendered cousin — was meant to turn the vice of a young, inexperienced prime minister into the virtue of a strong team. A good cabinet allowed to get on with things would be the arms and legs for Trudeau’s front-page face.
To be sure, cabinet still exists, but it’s not “back” in the way it was meant to be; instead of cabinet propping Trudeau up, it’s weighing him down.
Pick a file, (almost) any file. We have Harjit Sajjan’s slide from “badass” to just “bad”; Bill Morneau’s much larger than promised deficits; Maryam Monsef’s still-smouldering pile of rubble on electoral reform; or Bardish Chagger’s metamorphosis into Paul Calandra.
Typical growing pains? Could be. It’s no coincidence these are all stumbles from rookie politicians.
But there’s unquestionably some bad judgment from the prime minister, too. Entrusting a complex file such as scrapping our first-past-the-post voting system to a rookie (Monsef ) who had just passed her first post? Or entrusting the changing of the standing orders of the House of Commons to someone (Chagger) who had precious little experience in it? (Then again, I suppose Dominic Leblanc’s experience didn’t help him with Motion 6 when he was House Leader.)
Contrast this with Stephen Harper, who in 2006 picked Ontario veterans Jim Flaherty, John Baird and Tony Clement to stickhandle his GST cut, Accountability Act and Patient Wait Times Guarantee (ish), respectively, and had another provincial pro, Vic Toews, on hand at justice to crack down on crime. Rookie minister (but not MP) Diane Finley rounded out Harper’s five priority files by delivering on the relatively straightforward Universal Child Care Benefit.
For those keeping score, that is a lot of dudes, but Harper reckoned that delivering on promises would be what delivered him another government, not quotas or virtue-signalling, especially not with a tenuous minority.
Of course, Justin Trudeau has a different constituency, and took the Liberals from 34 seats to government overnight. He was always going to have to place his inexperience somewhere, and the majority — in theory — gave him time and space in which to screw up.
But as we approach the midway point of Trudeau’s mandate, the gambles and screwups will have to stop.
Returning to the concept of “back,” who’s got Justin Trudeau’s? Who can the prime minister call a safe pair of hands to smother a problem file? Does Trudeau have a Jim Prentice, Jason Kenney or John Baird?
Might it be Ralph Goodale, pressed into service this week by the unfortunate floods along the Ottawa River? Perhaps, but he’s still got a C-51-shaped gorilla on his back at Public Safety. It certainly won’t be veterans John McCallum or Stéphane Dion, both of whom have been cashiered to the diplomatic ranks.
It might be Marc Garneau, who was sent out this week to mow Sajjan’s lawn as his colleague took his Operation Medusa lumps in the House. It could be Chrystia Freeland, I suppose, but every time I read about Canada’s fraught relationship with Donald Trump’s America, it seems I hear about people from the PMO calling down to the West Wing, and not Fort Pearson speaking to Foggy Bottom.
For all of the talk of “cabinet government” it sure feels like the Prime Minister’s Office still calls the shots. It sure wasn’t Garneau’s idea to try on Sajjan’s uniform.
The closer we get to the fall of 2019, the more pressure there will be for Trudeau’s government to deliver, and the more incentive there will be for his office to stage-manage results.
And do the Liberals ever need them.
We’re 18 months into the Trudeau term, and with only 17 bills passed through their majority in the House of Commons, it’s fair to say the Liberal cabinet has the horsepower of a stanozolol free Ben Johnson.
To be fair, the Liberals have spent a considerable amount of time consulting, and some of that work might yet bear fruit. But in a sense, all of the consultation binds Trudeau’s hands, as he won’t want to shuffle out ministers who have spent their first two years listening, only to have to train up new ones.
This leaves Trudeau with two options: trust the cabinet he’s got to get better with experience, or have the PMO, with its deep well of (provincial) government experience, put both hands on the wheel. In other words, keep his promise, or do what it takes?
It’s a tough choice. But, hey, whoever said real change was easy? Andrew MacDougall is a Londonbased communications consultant and was director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper.