​A bridge too far

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had a rough week, losing another “safe” Liberal seat, this time in Montreal, and seeing the departure of his Quebec Lieutenant Pablo Rodriguez from his cabinet.

The Against the Flow blog has been amply critical of Mr. Trudeau, to the point that a recent column called on the Prime Minister to leave his job.

And yet, the Liberals’ loss of the Verdun seat had been widely expected, as had been the departure of Rodriguez to seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.

However, it was Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre who lost the most feathers in this tumultuous week in Canadian politics. Despite Mr. Poilievre’s much-vaunted leadership in the public opinion polls and his constant screams of “Axe the Tax”, not one other party leader has announced that his/her party will support Mr. Poilievre’s Motion of Non-Confidence in the government next week.

Despite “Ripping up” the NDP’s Confidence and Supply agreement with the Liberals, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not support Poilievre’s motion. The Conservative leader tried to shame Mr. Singh into precipitating an election by saying that Singh was only propping up the government to ensure that he could collect a big Parliamentary pension this coming February. However, the egg was all over Poilievre’s face when it transpired that his pension would be three times higher than Jagmeet’s at a nifty $200,000 per year.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has been extremely critical of Poilievre’s rhetoric about Singh as “a fake, a phony, a fraud and a liar,” saying Poilievre is approaching slander in his language. The Conservative Leader should control his utterances because such terms are very likely not covered by parliamentary privilege if expressed outside Parliament. As a result, he could be sued, although such an approach is rarely used among Canadian politicians.

For his part, Bloc Quebecois Leader Jean-Francois Blanchet says he too will not back the non-confidence vote, saying he does not side with the Liberals, but he will never support Poilievre who he describes as only out for himself.

Although Blanchet’s goal is Quebec sovereignty, he approaches politics in a non-demeaning way and is fast emerging as an astute player on the House of Commons stage. He announced his intention to vote against the non-confidence vote over the urgings of the Premier of Quebec, Francois Legault that Blanchet and his party vote to topple the federal Liberals.

Mr. Poilievre is very proud of his party’s apparent high standing in the polls. But the by-election results last Monday left him, as well as the Liberals, without a victory in either Montreal’s Lasalle, Emard and Verdun riding or Elmwood-Transcona in Winnipeg. The NDP win over the Conservatives in Winnipeg gives Singh a little something to crow about after Poilievre’s verbal abuse.

For Justin Trudeau, the by-election loss and the departure of Mr. Rodriguez from Cabinet are both serious blows.

Rodriguez might have been better disposed toward Trudeau, if the Prime Minister had not pulled the rug out from under Pablo’s feet, in shifting him abruptly from the Canadian Heritage portfolio after Rodriguez was pursuing a much wiser course for protecting Canadian culture and media—a tax on the outflow of media services to the United States by tech giants like Meta. As it was, Trudeau took all the wind out of Pablo’s sails by accepting a one-time cash payment for Canada.

Rodriguez has been called a “political machine” by a colleague and will give the failing Quebec Liberals a boost if elected as leader. He had a stroke of genius by making his announcement of his intentions in front of the statue of Maurice “Rocket” Richard, a hero in Quebec and beyond for his goal-scoring but also for his fiery nature.
​
Indeed, Trudeau has had a rough week, but by his own doing, Poilievre has badly tarnished his image. In fact, Poilievre is on a bridge too far. Trudeau likes a challenge, and Poilievre has offered an opening for the Prime Minister to pick at, bit by bit.