Beyond identities and political affiliations, what has troubled me most about this government for a long time is that they govern on ideology rather than on-the-ground intel about what Canadians need, that they govern in theory rather than in action. Something in Paul Wells' article yesterday about the PM being bored with the actual hard choices of governing resonated. I hope whoever is next is willing to roll up their sleeves and dig in, because it seems to me that what we need is 'all hands to the pump.'
When trust is lost, it become impossible to do anything. If I do not trust you, I need to lawyer up to do business with you. If I don't trust the courts, then I need to have a way to enforce my interests, which leads to a Mafia society. This then is downward spiral to chaos.
When the Liberals enacted the COVID response, they did not count the cost in terms of trust lost. When you create a crisis of this magnitude, with the impact on the daily lives of Canadians, the threat had better be real, and massive. The Media lost trust, because they played the "Be afraid, be very afraid" tune endlessly, and by doing so lost Canadians trust. When they froze peoples bank accounts, the real message was "we can do this to you too" if you don't obey us. At that point, we lost trust in the financial system as it was seen as a tool of the Powerful.
When the Liberals started talking about the "Rules based Order" what we heard was "We make the Rules" & "You follow the Orders". A very arbitrary way to run a stable society. When the citizens believe the law is arbitrary they loose trust.
Bottom line, trust is easily destroyed, and once lost very hard to get back. Without trust, Canadian Society is in trouble.
Agreed. There's an accountability deficit that is creating a vicious cycle - the more cynical we become the less we engage - the less we engage the less accountability there is - the less accountability there is, the more cynicism grows.
A follow up to your point is to ask is - are we willing to show up between elections or not just when we're inconvenienced by something?
Agreed. Citizens have responsibility too. It is empowering to engage. I recently had reason to call a bunch of house committee members about a specific member's bill, rather than write letters as has been my usual m.o. Actually talking to the MP offices--or in the case of all the liberals and NDP's who did not have anyone picking up the phone, leaving voice mails--was invigorating.
At least you don't have to wait four years. Parliaments work MUCH better than the US system. Parliaments can replace an unwanted PM quickly within the majority party, and can switch rule to the other party by calling an election when needed. Everything in US has to wait four years for any change. By that time the problems have been multiplying with no chance of solution.
Great article Tara. Canada is more fragile than ever and will need a new government sooner rather than later. Trudeau's choice of 'party over country' is a sad epitaph of a gruelling nine/ten year period.
As you note in your excellent article, it is not just the PM who still doesn't get it. The level of arrogance, ignorance, quest for power and control amongst the Members of the governing party is only matched by their cowardly behavior. I include NDP in my assessment.
A lame-duck PM, a government in tatters and bullies 'knocking on the door'. So much for 'sunny ways'.
Left wing progressives NEVER see themselves in the wrong because they surround themselves with groupthink mentality. Try telling a teacher that their instructional methods are wrong and see how far you’d get, even though every single indicator and standardized measure shows increased levels of innumeracy and illiteracy in our schools. We do not have to worry about these folk; society will do it for them. It will be ugly, and bloody, but it will be done as democracy demands it.
Right!? I had a friend say that she hopes Chrystia Freeland will take over the leadership...what? How could anyone miss that Freeland was just as complicit as Trudeau in this whole 10 year disaster? Jody Wilson Raybould. Jane Philpott. Bill Morneau. The Disney Channel comment. Even as recently as last month, Freeland was talking about the "vibecession", and was fully prepared to deliver a budget that had blown by her "fiscal guardrails" by $20 billion. And every single one in his cabinet were in lock step until it looked like maybe the golden boy wasn't so golden anymore. Good Lord help us from this incarnation of the Liberal party.
In addition to being coddled by most of legacy media for the last 10 or more years, part of the reason why the Liberals do not 'get it' is the use of positive terminology by those who criticize their policies. Why do we constantly describe their agenda as "progressive" and they as "progressives"? I appreciate that those pushing such an agenda would want to describe themselves as "progressive" but that does not mean that others have to subscribe to that terminology. Some might say it is just semantics. But it is more than that. It is simply not accurate. (Nothing is progressive about the obvious decline in almost every metric in our country over the last nine years.) But more importantly, it serves to insulate purveyors of such an agenda from being compelled to self-reflect and re-evaluate.
Try replacing "progressive" with "radical left" or "alt-left" or...hmm... "regressive?". Try replacing "DEI" with "racism" or "institutional discrimination". Try replacing "safe space" with "revisionist history" or "intellectual avoidance". And then keep repeating it matter-of-factly. And let's see how long federal Liberals continue to live in their own smug reality.
Spot on Tara! Thank you for this article. I watched Trudeau’s speech and his response to questions from the media. He basically said that Canadians are not ready to give up on
“progressive “ ideas. He then said “the world needs Canada”. It struck me that he is completely out of touch with the reality of most Canadians. He does not understand how depressing it is to grocery shop these days and he does not care. Most people don’t have the luxury of placing ideas before food. It was also clear that his audience has always been the “world”, not Canadians. This recent move to prevent a non confidence vote and an election is just another example of how low Justin and the Liberal party are willing to stoop to retain their power. I sincerely hope they pay the price for their arrogance and corruption at election time and for years to come.
"you could afford a decent, safe place to live, enjoy quality health care, and have a family"...sounds a lot like "Axe the Tax, Stop the crime, Build the homes, Fix the budget". Welcome aboard the Conservative onslaught, Tara.
Great insights Tara! A banger! JT and this version of the Liberal Party full of sycophants and incompetence has ruined Canada for a generation. A lost decade for sure.
Complacent voter population needs to wake up from their slumber. Time to put Canada first.
Beyond identities and political affiliations, what has troubled me most about this government for a long time is that they govern on ideology rather than on-the-ground intel about what Canadians need, that they govern in theory rather than in action. Something in Paul Wells' article yesterday about the PM being bored with the actual hard choices of governing resonated. I hope whoever is next is willing to roll up their sleeves and dig in, because it seems to me that what we need is 'all hands to the pump.'
Society is founded on trust.
When trust is lost, it become impossible to do anything. If I do not trust you, I need to lawyer up to do business with you. If I don't trust the courts, then I need to have a way to enforce my interests, which leads to a Mafia society. This then is downward spiral to chaos.
When the Liberals enacted the COVID response, they did not count the cost in terms of trust lost. When you create a crisis of this magnitude, with the impact on the daily lives of Canadians, the threat had better be real, and massive. The Media lost trust, because they played the "Be afraid, be very afraid" tune endlessly, and by doing so lost Canadians trust. When they froze peoples bank accounts, the real message was "we can do this to you too" if you don't obey us. At that point, we lost trust in the financial system as it was seen as a tool of the Powerful.
When the Liberals started talking about the "Rules based Order" what we heard was "We make the Rules" & "You follow the Orders". A very arbitrary way to run a stable society. When the citizens believe the law is arbitrary they loose trust.
Bottom line, trust is easily destroyed, and once lost very hard to get back. Without trust, Canadian Society is in trouble.
Agreed. There's an accountability deficit that is creating a vicious cycle - the more cynical we become the less we engage - the less we engage the less accountability there is - the less accountability there is, the more cynicism grows.
A follow up to your point is to ask is - are we willing to show up between elections or not just when we're inconvenienced by something?
Agreed. Citizens have responsibility too. It is empowering to engage. I recently had reason to call a bunch of house committee members about a specific member's bill, rather than write letters as has been my usual m.o. Actually talking to the MP offices--or in the case of all the liberals and NDP's who did not have anyone picking up the phone, leaving voice mails--was invigorating.
Excellent article. It’s unbelievable that we have to wait until March for Parliament to reconvene.
Hoping Poilivre’s court challenge might end that.
At least you don't have to wait four years. Parliaments work MUCH better than the US system. Parliaments can replace an unwanted PM quickly within the majority party, and can switch rule to the other party by calling an election when needed. Everything in US has to wait four years for any change. By that time the problems have been multiplying with no chance of solution.
Great article Tara. Canada is more fragile than ever and will need a new government sooner rather than later. Trudeau's choice of 'party over country' is a sad epitaph of a gruelling nine/ten year period.
As you note in your excellent article, it is not just the PM who still doesn't get it. The level of arrogance, ignorance, quest for power and control amongst the Members of the governing party is only matched by their cowardly behavior. I include NDP in my assessment.
A lame-duck PM, a government in tatters and bullies 'knocking on the door'. So much for 'sunny ways'.
Well stated!!
Left wing progressives NEVER see themselves in the wrong because they surround themselves with groupthink mentality. Try telling a teacher that their instructional methods are wrong and see how far you’d get, even though every single indicator and standardized measure shows increased levels of innumeracy and illiteracy in our schools. We do not have to worry about these folk; society will do it for them. It will be ugly, and bloody, but it will be done as democracy demands it.
Almost three months to choose a new leader that will be Prime Minister for weeks.
Somewhere Kim Campbell is laughing.
What I don't get is there are still 16% of voters who don't get it. Nice piece, Tara. Keep on this issue like a dawg with a bone.
Right!? I had a friend say that she hopes Chrystia Freeland will take over the leadership...what? How could anyone miss that Freeland was just as complicit as Trudeau in this whole 10 year disaster? Jody Wilson Raybould. Jane Philpott. Bill Morneau. The Disney Channel comment. Even as recently as last month, Freeland was talking about the "vibecession", and was fully prepared to deliver a budget that had blown by her "fiscal guardrails" by $20 billion. And every single one in his cabinet were in lock step until it looked like maybe the golden boy wasn't so golden anymore. Good Lord help us from this incarnation of the Liberal party.
In addition to being coddled by most of legacy media for the last 10 or more years, part of the reason why the Liberals do not 'get it' is the use of positive terminology by those who criticize their policies. Why do we constantly describe their agenda as "progressive" and they as "progressives"? I appreciate that those pushing such an agenda would want to describe themselves as "progressive" but that does not mean that others have to subscribe to that terminology. Some might say it is just semantics. But it is more than that. It is simply not accurate. (Nothing is progressive about the obvious decline in almost every metric in our country over the last nine years.) But more importantly, it serves to insulate purveyors of such an agenda from being compelled to self-reflect and re-evaluate.
Try replacing "progressive" with "radical left" or "alt-left" or...hmm... "regressive?". Try replacing "DEI" with "racism" or "institutional discrimination". Try replacing "safe space" with "revisionist history" or "intellectual avoidance". And then keep repeating it matter-of-factly. And let's see how long federal Liberals continue to live in their own smug reality.
Spot on Tara! Thank you for this article. I watched Trudeau’s speech and his response to questions from the media. He basically said that Canadians are not ready to give up on
“progressive “ ideas. He then said “the world needs Canada”. It struck me that he is completely out of touch with the reality of most Canadians. He does not understand how depressing it is to grocery shop these days and he does not care. Most people don’t have the luxury of placing ideas before food. It was also clear that his audience has always been the “world”, not Canadians. This recent move to prevent a non confidence vote and an election is just another example of how low Justin and the Liberal party are willing to stoop to retain their power. I sincerely hope they pay the price for their arrogance and corruption at election time and for years to come.
"you could afford a decent, safe place to live, enjoy quality health care, and have a family"...sounds a lot like "Axe the Tax, Stop the crime, Build the homes, Fix the budget". Welcome aboard the Conservative onslaught, Tara.
Great insights Tara! A banger! JT and this version of the Liberal Party full of sycophants and incompetence has ruined Canada for a generation. A lost decade for sure.
Complacent voter population needs to wake up from their slumber. Time to put Canada first.
Some day(I hope soon) the Left will see the irrationality of “progressivism” and dig deep into the roots to ensure it cannot grow again.
Canada went woke and turned to shit.
And still there are plenty of progressive liberal women who would vote for him again.
You voted for this and now you're getting it good and hard.
Too bad Mary Simon, the GG, turned out to be the corrupt toady I thought she would be.