Justin Trudeau Comes On Like a Winner, But He’s Really a Loser

Federal Liberals Need a New Leader, and Her Name is Chrystia Freeland

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher           Doug Draper

Posted September 21^st, 2021 on Niagara At Large

Let me start by saying something I think most of my fellow Canadians can agree with; “Thank God this federal election is over.

Now we can hopefully get back to focusing on issues that matter in our lives and communities before we were so rudely interrupted – issues like the fourth wave of this killer pandemic, trying to struggle back as individuals, families and businesses mentally and economically, safeguarding children in schools, and a climate crisis we are facing right now.

This snap federal election was called in mid-August by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and when asked over and over again why it was necessary, he kept falling back to the line that the government needed to hear from the Canadians people, and what we want to see done as the country moves forward.

It was a line that was never all that convincing.

Mr. Trudeau surely knew, before the election call, that he has more than 150 Liberal MPs with constituency offices spread out across the country. Canadians are calling in to those constituency offices every single day with their concerns and their hopes and desires on where they want to see the country go on a whole host of issues.

You don’t need to hold a snap election during a pandemic – one that cost Canadian taxpayers more than $600 million – to do that.

If Trudeau doesn’t already know enough about the concerns and the needs and hopes of Canadians, then what else doesn’t he know?

There has been more reporting from major Canadian news outlets, based on good sources, that the real reason Trudeau called this election when he did is that internal polls he had access to at the time were showing that he might have a chance of winning back a majority government.

That, as it turned out, did not happen.

All Trudeau ended up with when most of the votes were counted at the end of this September 20^th, was the same minority government status he has been forced to live with since the last federal election in 2019.

So on that score, Trudeau actually lost this September 20^th. For the second time in a row, after first leading the federal Liberals to a majority government in 2015, all he could win to cling on to power, was a minority.

There were even reports after the polls closed this September 20^th that nationally, he was even losing the popular vote to Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives although, fortunately for him, his party was drawing votes in regions of the country where it counted to win enough seats.

In his “victory” speech to Liberal Party faithful, delivered in the early hours of this September 21^st, Trudeau said; “I have heard you. … I know you don’t want to hear any more talk of elections and politics. You want us to concentrate on the work that is necessary for you. You just want to know that your members of Parliament will have your back through this (pandemic) crisis and beyond.”

“The moment we face,” Trudeau continued, “demands real, important change. You have given this Parliament and this government clear direction.”

Once again when it comes to Trudeau’s lofty rhetoric, the words sound great but there is all too often little or no real follow-through. That has been the case on climate change, the challenges Indigenous peoples continue to struggle with, sexual harassment in the RCMP and military and many other issues.

Trudeau has given to many Canadians to many reasons to believe that when it comes to actually delivering on his promises, he is either too weak or incompetent, or is simply shooting on a bunch of B.S. to get him through.

So when it comes to the “important change” Trudeau mentioned in his “victory” speech, one of the most important changes his Liberal Party can make is to take advantage of the first national meeting they have to call for a leadership review, and replace him with someone who has the intelligence and courage to accomplish for Canadians what he cannot.

That someone is Chrystia Freeland, who has served as a minister in Trudeau’s cabinet, and has also served as deputy prime minister and as Canada’s first female finance minister.

Before running and winning a seat for the Liberals in 2015, the Canadian-born Freeland worked as a journalist in Canada and the United States and is the author of a New York Times best-selling book called; ‘Plutocrats – The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else,’ which apparently drew Trudeau’s attention with a call to her to join his Liberal team.

There may be some who disagree with me, but if you have been following her and watching her on news programs over the past five or six years, it is hard not to conclude that she may be small in physical stature, but when it comes to moxie and smarts, she towers above Trudeau.

If the Liberals want to win back a majority in the next federal election, running Chrystia Freeland as leader, may be their best chance.

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

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