Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Wait, Am I Missing Something?



Our friend, Warren, seems to think Justin Trudeau is the worst prime minister ever, citing an article from the Globe claiming that the Libs are obstructing an RCMP investigation into SNC-L by refusing to waive cabinet confidentiality.

I believe there was a time when this same fellow roasted an earlier prime minister, Paul Martin, for calling an official enquiry into the Chretien-era Sponsorship Scandal, a.k.a. Ad-Scam.

As I remember it, Warren blamed the Liberal misfortune not on the party miscreants, not on the responsible government of the day (the one he worked for), but on Martin. Prime minister Martin's mortal sin? He didn't cover up. He didn't stonewall. He let the facts come out.

I don't know how you reconcile those two situations. Trudeau is under no obligation to waive cabinet confidentiality, not that I've heard of. If he's acting lawfully then he's not obstructing the RCMP. Besides didn't his idol, Jody Wilson-Raybould, unequivocally state that there was no criminal wrongdoing? I'm pretty sure she said precisely that.

Martin did what was right, what was ethically right, but oh so wrong to Warren. Chretien-grade skulduggery ought to have been buried.

So how can we make sense of this? Could it be that this fellow had an axe to grind with Paul Martin in that day and an axe to grind with Justin Trudeau in this day?

Am I missing something?  Is this election going to be fought on scandals - real, partial or simply made up? I'm not sure that's going to produce an  'informed' electorate when Canadians go to the polls next month.  But, hey, that's the level that politics has fallen to in Canada.

Here we are in a gawdhonest climate emergency, with existential change gaining a toehold in the poorest and weakest countries and, eventually, headed our way. Shouldn't we be talking about what threatens our kids and theirs?  Will we let scandals, real and imagined, suck the oxygen out of the room?

BTW - I apologize if this post sounds like I'm riding to the defence of Justin Trudeau. I'm not. I can think of plenty of reasons why he doesn't deserve to remain our prime minister. He doesn't deserve it. Then again, Canada doesn't deserve Andrew Scheer. So, yes, Trudeau is the lesser of two deficients and if we must have one, we should be content with a Liberal minority. I said "content" not happy.

Me, I'm still voting Green.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find it quite interesting that Warren should nickname this "scandal" Lav-Scam. All it does is remind me of Ad-Scam - a real scandal that occurred during his favourite PM's tenure for which people did time.

UU

The Mound of Sound said...


That thought had crossed my mind, UU.

Anonymous said...

In a related topic, May brought him in, albeit briefly, which showed she wanted to burn all bridges to the Libs, and astonishing as it seems, throw her lot in with Scheer.

J. W.

the salamander said...

.. as I recall, AdScam was a tiny amount of money.. almost laughable.. I did scorch the estimable Mr Kinsella via comment .. who seems to have a truly venemous hate on for the Trudeau guy.. s'OK .. so does Andrew Scheer n Hamish..

Lotsa stuff does not add up re the Lavscam.. humungous $$ involved though.. livlihoods, society, neighborhoods.. dwarfing the miniscule Adscam .. I do tend to point out to Warren that this is NOT the paramount scandal of all time.. hardly compares with Election Fraud or Black Ops perpetrated.. Robert Fife is hardly constrained by his ego.. His language or inference often laughable or lost in the wilderness.. Hell, with his ability to forage through deep brush we coulda found Bill Barilko or Tom Thomson far sooner

One suspects Andrew Scheer is so insulated by his current wealth & multimillionaire portfolio status - (despite his impoverished childhood living in a hole in the prairie dirt of Ottawa) that Barilko or Group of Seven does not even ring the bell.. He was so deprived.. I at times think Captain Cook is someone Scheet n Hamish think was or is a cooking show.. They seem pretty shallow along th lines of virginal Jackass Jason Kenney - saving it for the right girl .. whew ! .. a girly to ride in that rented blue pickup truck in th province he's rented or abducted along with Stephen Harper & Ray Novak..

Ben Burd said...

Mr Kinsella; only a legend in his mind (I suppose his wife thinks so too), will take any opportunity to excoriate his enemies. But don't forget what placed him in this frame of mind - a rejection of his persona and employment by the present Lib apparatchiks.

Unfortunately his constant whingeing about the Libs only frames his abject failure to influence them.

At the moment he is whoring and pimping himself for any kind of contract that amplifies his skills as a pundit. Pity that he has floated between three of the four main parties! Perhaps when he finds his political home we will really know what he stands for.

The Mound of Sound said...


Ben, I recall Groucho: "Those are my principles. If you don't like them - well, I have others."