Wednesday, April 17, 2019

So, What in Hell Does Justin Do Now?


This is another fine mess he's created. He tried to help Rachel as much as he could but she's out, bumped off by the bete noire of Western conservatism, Jason Kenney.

The new premier is a truly shrewd bugger who knows to strike when an opponent is vulnerable and, today, "vulnerable" is Justin Trudeau's job description.

Trudeau owns a pipeline, a very costly pipeline, and, no matter what he does with it, the Liberals will have no reward in Alberta.  Jason Kenney is out to whip the Liberals like the proverbial red-headed stepchild. How tightly has Trudeau tied his own hands?

There are seats the Liberals can lose in the west - in British Columbia, Kenney's other target. It's hard to imagine coastal British Columbians warming to a prime minister seen as in league with that conservative thug from the other side of the Rockies.

What a screw up and, yes, I am referring to Justin Trudeau.  He dug this hole. It's his to climb out of if he still can.

12 comments:

Northern PoV said...

Notley bears some of the blame.
Four years of playing the fossil fuel game while betraying her party and principles ... and look where it gets her (and us).

The Mound of Sound said...


NPoV - Notley didn't betray her party. They were just fine with her fossil energy policies. We've seen that time and again with the New Dems. They're great environmentalists right up to voting day. After that, not so much. Look at Horgan with Site C and LNG.

Danneau said...

Graeme Mackay cartoon in HamSpec

brawnfire said...

MoS,
Prime Minister Trudeau, who is still our Prime Minister, has implemented a nationwide carbon tax.
This is a FIRST for our country, a huge step, compared to anything Canada has ever done on climate.
What you and the rest of us dissatisfied environmentalists can do is back him up; get behind him on it.
This is a TEST for all of us.
I know what I'll be doing. I hope you'll support him on this, in every way you possibly can.

rumleyfips said...

Brawnfire: I thinks you are right but the outlook isn't brilliant.

Time will tell , but the Liberals may lose the next election for their climate policy ie. carbon tax.Although the tax is miniscule, it is opposed by most Canadians. In Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta, government supporting the carbon tax have fallen. It is obvious that the majority of Canadian voters do not see climate change as a real problem. There may be other governments to fall on this sword in the next few months.

It's time to face some reality here. The majority of Canadians ( not to mention BC voters ) want more pipelines . Our democracy may be self destructive but it is our democracy. Vilifying the only national political leader really trying to help will not help.

The Mound of Sound said...


Brawnfire, I won't be supporting Justin Trudeau. The carbon tax is gestural at best, much too little, too late. Worse yet, he's working to flood world markets with high-carbon/high-cost/low-value bitumen. You can't applaud him for one without castigating him for the other.

I've had my fill of strategic voting. All it means is my vote is recorded in support of a candidate and a party other than those I actually support. I'll be voting Green and those who will respond claiming that's a vote for Scheer are way out of line.

Trudeau, like Scheer, is an ardent supporter of the petro-state and I find that inexcusable. This year I'll be voting for Greta Thunberg and those of her generation.

This election was/is Justin Trudeau's to lose and it appears he's doing just that. After all his broken promises from 2015, how great a fool would I have to be to believe anything he promises this time around? He rode to power on a name he never was able to grow into.

Owen Gray said...

Here in Ontario, Doug Ford is running ads against the carbon tax. We, the citizens, are paying for those ads. But he's refusing to say how much they cost.

ffibs said...

Owen, the ads and forthcoming anti carbon tac stickers that will be on every gas pump is Ford's environmental plan. He promised one and like he always says "promise made, promise kept",

The Harperite war rooms must be rolling over with laughter watching this mess.

The Mound of Sound said...


Owen, Willy, this is the Age of the Thug. One shudders to imagine how this plays out.

brawnfire said...

Rumleyfips, this might give you pause, to think more positive.

Ford's gas pump campaign a scandal that's going to stick.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2019/04/17/a-scandal-thats-going-to-stick.html

brawnfire said...

MoS,

So be it. Since you admit you are a lost cause, and not open to anything I say, this shall be my last comment on the matter.
I hope you won't mind that I make 2 final points FWIW.

Voting Green, (apart from helping Scheer-Yes! Denying what it does does not make it less true. Do the math.) makes any hope of helping the climate, in time, that much more remote. Beyond your reach. Whereas if you are really serious about your concern, you would seize the tangible just achieved, (the gesture, as you call it) lest it be trashed. So that then there's not even that.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

"After all his broken promises from 2015,"
Well, the carbon tax was one of his promises he did keep!
Possibly the most important one, (of several others he also achieved.)

The Mound of Sound said...


Thanks for your candid views, Brawnfire. We agreee to disagree. I am not a "lost cause" as you contend.

If you believe a minuscule carbon tax initiative eclipses the democratic reform Trudeau promised then, well, you're a devout Liberal.

Humanity, indeed most life on Earth, stand at the brink of environmental catastrophe. Yet, as a Liberal camp follower, you turn your back on that mountain of science, all the research from every conceivable earth science discipline, every bit of it corroborating the central thesis of climate change and, worse, runaway global warming.

To you, a carbon tax is good enough. You're entitled to your opinion but that doesn't mean anyone has to respect it.