Politics in 2017

[cavalryman]

Not surprising given the change of regime to our south the last guy you want to send there to shore up relations is Stephane Dion.

Monsief has been a disaster and I'm sure she'll be gone.

I guess it's no longer 2016 >

 

[George Wallace]

I guess it's no longer 2016 >

That was ten (10) vacations ago.

k:

 

[Cloud Cover]

Is this: "Ottawa projects decades of deficits as federal finances worsen" going to be the key story for at least the first few weeks of 2017?

The Finance Department report was released, without any press release, on the Friday afternoon before Christmas ...  :

The Globe and Mail article says, and I agree, that "The government’s latest long-term fiscal forecast adds new context to the federal government’s reluctance to boost provincial health transfers [and]  The decades of surpluses projected by Ottawa just two years ago have now shifted to decades of annual deficits that will run until 2050."

This was, of course, entirely avoidable. All Prime Minister Trudeau had to do was stick to his campaign promise:

   

It is, also, quite reversible by the Trudeau regime or by an honest, competent government ... Liberal or Conservative.

But, absent a (much needed) cabinet led caucus revolt that replaces Justin Trudeau with an adult we are going to go into "interesting times" with the self inflicted wound of a weakened ecdonomy:

         

          Source: David Perkins in The Globe and Mail

I feel like I want to say that we should not be too worried about this. Big deficits are ok to pay for hard infrastructure as long as the money is spent responsibly and new social programs, grants and entitlements are not deficit funded. Most people borrow money to renovate their home and fix up the yard, the government has a big house and a giant back yard that needs fixing.  Problem is, I do not trust this government, or any other government, to act responsibly with borrowed money or revenue.

 

[McG]

Justin Trudeau is out of touch with the 99 per cent
Margaret Wente
The Globe and Mail
09 Jan 2017

It’s minus 13 C on an Ontario Sunday morning, and the Tim Hortons up at Highway 9, handily located between Orangeville and Shelburne, is doing brisk business. A steady stream of folks in SUVs and F-150s make their way to the drive-through window to collect their breakfast sandwiches and double-doubles. Their heavy parkas come from Mark’s Work Wearhouse, not Patagonia.

This would be an excellent place for Justin Trudeau to start his listening tour.

Mr. Trudeau’s listening tour, hastily announced last week, is damage control for the revelation that he and his family enjoyed a secret winter getaway at the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas. I don’t know why anybody in the PMO thought they could keep it secret. Their attempts to do so (they cited privacy concerns) simply aroused the slumbering jackals of the media, who sniffed out the story within hours.

A winter getaway in the sun is every Canadian’s birthright, and no one begrudges the Trudeau family one of their own. But two things strike me as wrong-footed about his decision to accept the hospitality of the Aga Khan and his attempt to keep it off the record. First, his job involves a certain sacrifice of privacy, alas. People want to know where he’s going, and they're not wrong to do so. Second, the optics. A villa in St. Kitts is one thing (see Christmas, 2015), but being hosted by a zillionaire with a private island, yachts and helicopters is a bit much – especially when your government has made a habit of donating millions of dollars to one of your host’s philanthropic efforts. It looks a bit too chummy, to say nothing of a bit too 0.001 per cent. Barack Obama would never have made that mistake.

Mr. Trudeau may be the most popular prime minister we’ve had in quite a while, but he doesn’t have the populist touch. Why would he? As a trust-fund baby, he was insulated from the ordinary anxieties of middle-class life – how to pay for university, make a living wage, save a down payment for a house, worry about the mortgage, find decent child care, gain name recognition. Instead of an F-150, he drove a classic Mercedes inherited from his dad. He inherited Dad’s friends and connections too (which explains his surprisingly emotional encomiums to the late Fidel Castro). Both the Aga Khan and Fidel were honorary pallbearers at his father’s funeral. Talk about an odd couple.

For better and for worse, the populist touch is critical to political survival these days. Tectonic plates are shifting because people think their ruling class is out of touch. Chrystia Freeland, one of Mr. Trudeau’s more gifted ministers, even wrote a book, Plutocrats, about the problem of global elites who live 30,000 feet in the air as they jet from Davos to Shanghai, increasingly oblivious to the lives of the folks stuck on the ground below. Mr. Trudeau (unlike his predecessor) is utterly at home with those elites. But people stuck on the ground resent being ruled by pointy-heads from Harvard and Yale with their postnational obsessions. They’re far more comfortable with a crude entrepreneur like Donald Trump, who, for all his flaws, at least builds stuff.

The concerns that animate Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau are not the concerns that animate the folks at Tim’s. Mr. Trudeau is animated by carbon policies, social licence, aboriginal reconciliation, gender equality and peacekeeping missions in African hellholes to restore Canada’s cred at the United Nations. Tim’s folks are animated by job security, their kids’ employment prospects, whether those kids will ever be able to afford a house in Southern Ontario, finding long-term care for Granny, and hydro bills that are exploding because of the provincial government’s loony green schemes. They feel they’re being nickel-and-dimed to death, with no end in sight. And they’re right.

So here’s some free advice for Mr. Trudeau on his listening tour. Dress warmly, preferably in something from Mark’s. Paste a list of what matters to Canadians on the back of your smartphone. (Hint: Carbon pricing is pretty far down the list.) Next year, stay home and mingle with the 99 per cent as if you mean it. Who knows? You might even learn something.   

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/justin-trudeau-and-the-99-per-cent/article33554976/

 

[George Wallace]

Opps!

 

[Lightguns]

McCallum and Dion are out as ambassadors, Mousef is being hidden in the Nowhereland as Status of Women, the new Minister of Forever Liberal Government graduated high school in 2005 and spent most of her adult life outside of Canada. And Crying Christy is going take on the Trump train. 

 

[CountDC]

This was, of course, entirely avoidable. All Prime Minister Trudeau had to do was stick to his campaign promise:

What? You mean he didn't?  I am so shocked. 

 

[dapaterson]

Interesting that Dion will (apparently) be both EU and German ambassador.  I do not think that will play well in some of the more Euro skeptic regiobs; the EU was in part a way to make Germany less influential.

 

[Remius]

I'm shocked that they kept Monseif in cabinet. 

 

[The Bread Guy]

I'm shocked that they kept Monseif in cabinet.

Agreed.

 

[Rifleman62]

That's because the Liberals and Trudeau are infallible and have not made a mistake about her.

 

[a_majoor]

Snubbing President Trump's inauguration was another example of Liberal "Smart Diplomacy" (especially considering the new President's expressed views on NAFTA). One can only imagine how well the next four years are going to go when Canada needlessly displeases its major trading partner and protector.

 

[dapaterson]

PMs are not invited and do not attend inauguration.

Plenty of other valid reasons to dislike the PM (holidays on private island belonging to a recipient of millions for government comes to mind).

 

[George Wallace]

I'm shocked that they kept Monseif in cabinet.

In the Liberals' political game of Rock, Paper, Scissors; keeping the quota out trumps merit.

 

[The Bread Guy]

And the official Info-machine version:

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement today on changes to the Ministry:

Chrystia Freeland, currently Minister of International Trade, becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs, and retains the Canada-U.S. relations file, including trade relations.

Maryam Monsef, currently Minister of Democratic Institutions, becomes Minister of Status of Women.

Patricia A. Hajdu, currently Minister of Status of Women, becomes Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.

François-Philippe Champagne, currently Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, becomes Minister of International Trade.

Karina Gould, currently Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, becomes Minister of Democratic Institutions.

Ahmed D. Hussen becomes Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

The Honourable Stéphane Dion has served his country in many different roles over the last 21 years with integrity and a fierce love of Canada. I, and all Canadians, owe him a deep debt of gratitude for his service. I know I will be able to continue to count on his wisdom and his tireless service, and look forward to the next chapter of Mr. Dion's contributions to our country.

The Honourable John McCallum has had a distinguished career in public service, holding many different portfolios within government and has had an extensive parliamentary career. Most recently, his work as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship bringing in over 39,500 Syrian refugees has been an inspiration to Canadians and an example to the world. I am pleased to announce that I will be proposing the Honourable John McCallum to the Chinese government as Canada’s Ambassador to China. The Canada-China relationship will be well served by such a strong presence from our government.

The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk has served the government with distinction and oversaw a significant expansion of the Canada Summer Jobs program and settled the Canada Post labour dispute as Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk will continue to serve as MP for Kildonan—St. Paul.

That's because the Liberals and Trudeau are infallible and have not made a mistake about her.

Just ask them, right?  Yeah, Team Red doesn't seem to get that one.

PMs are not invited and do not attend inauguration.

Plenty of other valid reasons to dislike the PM (holidays on private island belonging to a recipient of millions for government comes to mind).

But you forget ...

 

[ModlrMike]

PMs are not invited and do not attend inauguration.

Perhaps, but it would have been the diplomatic thing to do.

 

[Kirkhill]

And the official Info-machine version:Just ask them, right?  Yeah, Team Red doesn't seem to get that one.
But you forget ...

So two by-elections then?

 

[dapaterson]

Perhaps, but it would have been the diplomatic thing to do.

Showing up when not invited is not a particularly diplomatic thing to do...

 

[mariomike]

Snubbing President Trump's inauguration was another example of Liberal "Smart Diplomacy" (especially considering the new President's expressed views on NAFTA). One can only imagine how well the next four years are going to go when Canada needlessly displeases its major trading partner and protector.

Canadians will be safer when he gets his hands on the codes? 

PMs are not invited and do not attend inauguration.

Perhaps, but it would have been the diplomatic thing to do.

"The fact Trudeau will not be attend Trump's swearing-in is perhaps unsurprising; the Canadian government has historically sent a delegation to the presidential inauguration that does not include the prime minister."
https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=OFp1WIKhPMuC8Qe8poOgAw&gws_rd=ssl#q=Do+canadian+prime+ministers+attend+presidential+inaugurations%3F

 

[Jarnhamar]

I was going to post this in the meme  thread but it seems more relevant than tounge in cheek.