Clouds on the horizon

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was off to Brussels this weekend to put his signature to a new trade deal with the European Union, after finally overcoming a bump in the road created by the tiny, French-speaking Belgian region of Wallonia. The agreement is a major triumph for the year-old Trudeau government and particularly for International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose dramatic walk-out from talks this month added some striking drama to the boring, but important, negotiations. It is, of course, a major victory for the Union itself, proving that indeed deals can be made with the fractious, imperilled EEU following the shock of the decision by the British people to leave the multinational organization.

While Canadians will have to wait to see what kind of impact the deal will have on their own economic interests, the much-hyped deal comes at an ideal time for the good news Prime Minister who has so far in his mandate failed to even address, let alone fulfill many of the major promises made during his remarkable come-from-behind electoral victory.

Despite a rather sparse legislative record, Trudeau’s popularity remains astonishingly high, a fact that belies the disappointment of some of his most ardent and enthusiastic supporters. To be sure, the young Prime Minster has enjoyed a remarkable combination of circumstances. Leading an absolute majority in the House of Commons, Trudeau has faced a rather disorganized opposition in which the major opposition parties are all engaged in distracting, and perhaps divisive, leadership races. So far, no-one has as yet emerged to offer a contrast to the charming ‘rock star’ persona he has successfully presented to the nation and the world. In addition, his image and charisma have provided Canadians with considerable respite from the dark, negativity of the Royal Canadian Harper Government era. His ‘sunny ways’ approach has shone some much needed light on a rather gloomy political outlook and substantially increased our international image..

Trudeau continues to personify Canada’s hopes for the future and offers support to our national self-image of a kinder, gentler, and more progressive North America– particularly when compared to that of our southern neighbour, whose current electoral disgrace has revealed a nation on the brink of an ugly cultural civil war.

Trudeau’s appeal in Canada has remained relatively solid throughout his first year in office despite his allowing the ‘Natural Governing Party’ to revert to some of the very attitudes that nearly drove it to destruction prior to the Harper ascendancy.

The shine, however, may be beginning to tarnish. Apart from the agreement with the European Union, much of Trudeau’s first year in office has been spent undoing some of the most egregious achievements of his predecessor. Little in terms of fulfilling some of his most appealing electoral commitments, however, has been accomplished.

There has been no visible progress in his promise to legalize marijuana, for example. Rather than easing up on enforcement of current laws, police forces across the country are doubling down on applying them. Nor do we see any movement on his promise to remedy the ‘excessive’ portions of the notorious antiterrorism Bill C-51, which seriously erodes some of our most precious civil liberties.

More importantly, he has not only failed to initiate any progress on his firm, unequivocal promise to instigate electoral reform that would allow parliament to reflect more accurately the views of the population, but he also appears to have backtracked considerably by explaining his inaction on his belief that now that Canadians have a government they like, electoral reform is no longer urgent, an astonishingly self-serving attitude towards a fundamental democratic principle. Like many who came before him, Trudeau mercilessly condemned our unfair ‘first-past-the-post system until it began to benefit him instead of his adversaries. To be sure, reforming our electoral system is not a simple task, with no widely popular alternative to take its place, but the very difficulty of the task should have impelled some serious work being put into the task – particularly since has cleanly and emphatically declared our current system would be gone before our next trip to the polls. It is obvious that without this urgency, his promise will not be fulfilled within the time frame he had demanded.

To be sure, Trudeau has made some moves to reform Canada’s besieged senate – once perceived as a reward for partisan loyalty – by ejecting senators from the Liberal caucus and appointing several ‘independents’ to the upper house, it is still unclear whether this will have any meaningful impact other than polishing his own political image. This tactic will do little to enhance the Upper Chamber’s reputation among the growing number of Canadians who believe – incorrectly – that the Senate serves no crucial democratic function.

Elsewhere, the Liberal government is coming under rather unfair criticism for continuing the virtually universal practice of holding expensive fundraisers headlined by powerful ministers that can appear to be nothing more than trading influence for cash. This practice does not break any laws, of course, but it does fly in the face in ‘rules’ established by the Prime Minster himself and inserts the appearance of hypocrisy if not potential corruption.

Perhaps more importantly as far as Trudeau’s progressive image is concerned, is his failure to adopt a meaningfully different approach to our dealings with indigenous peoples. Canada’s treatment of our native peoples remains perhaps the most serious contradiction in our self-satisfied national myth. While considerable progress has been made in terms of dealing with the outrageous injustices of the past, little, if anything, has been achieved in terms of remediating the disastrous conditions in which too many of our native peoples live. The desperate condition of some Native reserves is a national disgrace and, despite an avalanche of pretty phrase and vague promises, there is no indication that we can expect any real improvement in the near future – a fact reflected by the extreme disappointment of First Nations leaders in their dealings with the government. While the profile of many indigenous leaders and artists has grown considerably in recent years – look at the CBC, for example – improving the lives of ordinary native people has made almost no progress at all.

For a number of reasons, the young Trudeau’s political capital remains extremely high, but it remains to be seen if this is largely a reflection of our embrace of his GQ magazine star power rather than his potential for practical, rather than symbolic, change. Time, despite appearances, may be running out, as his rude reception at a recent youth conference suggests. The shine may be starting to fade at last.