Tuesday, May 07, 2019

Coyne - How Canadians Fell Out of Love with Justin.


See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil Liberals insist that Justin Trudeau is a victim of anyone and everyone but himself.  The mainstream media was just dandy while it gushed over the guy in the wet suit but they're real shits today.

Still the numbers show how the mighty Justin has fallen. Andrew Coyne, one of those "Con media shills," writes that the Dauphin's fall has been something of a slow-motion train wreck.
Dynastic politics has a potency none of us likes to admit. For as long as the public’s fascination with the son of Pierre Trudeau lasted, the party milked it to its advantage. He was on every magazine cover, in every viral video, did every interview or photo-shoot. But there was always a danger in this: the more fiercely the flame of infatuation burns, the more quickly it goes out. 
And the public would appear to have fallen desperately out of love with Justin Trudeau. The latest Angus Reid poll gives him an astonishing net approval rating of minus 39 (28 per cent approval, 67 per cent disapproval). It isn’t that there is any great wave of enthusiasm for his rivals: among party leaders, only the Green Party’s Elizabeth May enjoys a positive net approval rating. But none excites anywhere near such antipathy. 
The problem seems less to do with any one incident than with a slowly cementing impression: of a leader who talks a good game but does not deliver; who is more concerned with symbols than substance; who spends more time posturing on social issues than attending to the nuts and bolts of governing; whose record of broken promises and centralization of power looks more like the cynical calculations of politics as usual than the shiny idealism he once seemed to embody. 
There is of course still time to turn things around. Campaigns matter, and much can happen even before the campaign. But as much can happen that hurts the Liberal cause as helps. The simmering dispute with China, with Canadian lives on the line; the unfinished business over NAFTA, with the renegotiated treaty no closer to approval by the U.S. Congress than it was seven months ago; the trial this summer of Vice Admiral Mark Norman, whose defence alleges political interference in a police investigation, raising echoes of the SNC-Lavalin affair — all these threaten to disrupt any Liberal recovery strategy.
Liberal desperation is oozing from their pores. They're already starting the nonsense that a vote for anyone but Justin is a vote for Andrew Scheer. They're raising the spectre of a Scheer majority government, something that is pretty "ghastly."

Only Justin promised to put an end to that very prospect. Electoral reform would ensure the false majorities of FPTP voting would be a thing of the past. That sounded great until Justin, perhaps assuming a string of false majority governments awaited him, reneged on his promise delivering us into the hands of guys like Andrew Scheer.

Don't blame us if Scheer is our next prime minister. Blame Scheer's predecessor. That lies at his feet.



7 comments:

rumleyfips said...

Let's face it; if Trudeau loses, it will because of the the carbon tax. Canadians are not ready to do anything about global warming. We will end up with no carbon tax, no policy to fight global warming and no credible party ready to fight to save the earth.

I blame us, we are far from the adult stage.

ffibs said...

Sorry Coyne is a hack and I suspect he started writing this post the day Harper scurried off the stage.

The Mound of Sound said...


Rumley, I think that's probably a standard Liberal lament. Trudeau, standing up for all that's right and good, pays for it with his career. Bollocks. Show me some convincing evidence that his carbon tax is his undoing. Until you do that, it's just a sop.

The Mound of Sound said...


Willy, I agree about Coyne. This, however, rings true:

"...a leader who talks a good game but does not deliver; who is more concerned with symbols than substance; who spends more time posturing on social issues than attending to the nuts and bolts of governing; whose record of broken promises and centralization of power looks more like the cynical calculations of politics as usual than the shiny idealism he once seemed to embody."

Now they're hinting they'll postpone their decision on the Trans-Mountain pipeline until after the election. Nothing cynically manipulative there, eh?

The Mound of Sound said...


The carbon tax played no role in last night's Liberal drubbing in Nanaimo-Ladysmith. It didn't hurt the BC Liberals when they implemented it here years ago. It was popular, loads of support.

Trudeau failed to hold rightwing populism at bay. His father had a harder challenge - Quebec separatists - but he prevailed where the Dauphin has been a flop.

Canada is a worse place today than it was four years ago when our flawed electoral system handed Justin an unearned majority government. He's left, in his wake, a trail of broken promises that have resulted in terrible consequences.

Teddy Roosevelt spoke of men like Justin back in 1910 - "A broken promise is bad enough in private life. It is worse in the field of politics. No man is worth his salt in public life who makes on the stump a pledge which he does not keep after election; and, if he makes such a pledge and does not keep it, hunt him out of public life."

the salamander said...

.. the salamanders predicted Trudeau must drop the charge against former Vice Admiral Norman. Thus Scott Brison does the greasy slide.. hoho.. 'spending more time with his family indeed'.. Trudeau dodges the related self induced implosion.. of a Lavalin level Groundhog Day starring Ms Marie Henein shredding all concerned.

Meanwhile some jackass named Pompeo, servicing Donald Trump's or Stephen Miller's genius mouthfarts is proclaiming The North West Passage is not within Canada's territorial waters.. and Justin Trudeau sucks eggs accordingly.. have a nice day Justin.. you truly do suck. I can hardly wait to see the warm cuddly spin Simon of Montreal and/or his commenters blow on todays social kabuki.. Hello Hello ? Earth to finance Minister Morneau.. is anybody out there? Ms McKenna ? Is that part of OUR ENVIRONMENT ? Do we have an actual Minister of Defense ? Hello hello ??

Northern PoV said...

The Jr tipping point:
Sept 25 2016
Prince George snubbed a high-five from Trudeau...

let a little child show you the way
;-)