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His political acumen falls short, as does his ability to stay on narrative or even appear genuine

Canadian conservatives like to argue that the mainstream media does its darnedest to protect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's public image at all costs.

By and large, this statement is valid.  Yet there are moments when even the media can't protect his backside or doesn't want to.

Case in point: the PM's interview with Rosemary Barton on CBC's The National last weekend.  She didn't throw many softballs at Trudeau.  If anything, she asked some penetrating questions and pushed back when he tried to spin his way out of potential pitfalls.

Let's go through several instances.

First, Barton brought up the potential loss of leverage with U.S. President Donald Trump by signing on to the impending United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) without ensuring the removal of steel and aluminum tariffs.

"I mean investors and businesses are extremely happy that we have settled the question of NAFTA," Trudeau responded.  "The question of leverage is one to reflect on … we obviously want to get rid of those steel and aluminum tariffs, we need to, we're going to continue to stand up for our workers, but we also see the path towards ratification as a place where there are continued conversations from members of Congress, from business or associations in the United States, from governors who also want to see these tariffs gone, and we're going to keep working on that."

Ah, but you can't regain leverage by circling the political wagons around the perimeter of the White House.

Barton asked Trudeau a second time how Canada can remove these tariffs.  His response?

"To continue to engage with the broad range of partners across the United States, for members of Congress, to business leaders, to workers groups who know that these tariffs, like any tariffs, hurt consumers and workers on both sides of the border."

The same answer with no real solution.  That's the story of Trudeau as prime minister.

Second, Barton pressed the PM about the first ministers meeting and the carbon tax.

After initially dodging the question, he said, "I think the fact that there are a bunch of conservatives out there who have decided that pollution should be free is not that difficult to counter. … We're putting a price on pollution, cause we want less pollution and the fact that conservatives in this country don't want to move forward, on either fighting climate change or helping people ensure that we can get the good jobs in the future, is a conversation I'm willing to have anytime."

Ignoring the fact that some Liberals oppose a carbon tax, including P.E.I. Premier Wade MacLauchlan, Trudeau went into an 'us versus them' argument about the environment.  He claimed Canada would meet Paris target numbers on pollution, even though the CBC host pointed out the United Nations said this won't happen.

He also wouldn't acknowledge Barton's valid statement that it was a "tax," claiming it was a "price on pollution" that won't be going into "federal coffers."

This isn't slightly believable, based on what's happened with B.C.'s carbon tax, but that's another issue.

Third, Barton asked Trudeau about his decision to call Tories "ambulance-chasing politicians" based on their handling of the revelation involving convicted murderer Terri-Lynne McClintic being transferred to a native healing clinic.

The PM doubled down on this offensive statement, saying: "I think it's extremely important to point out when people are playing the basest kinds of politics.  And the fact that I am calling out Conservatives on the way they play politics with horrific tragedies to do fundraising, and to try and score cheap points."

When Barton asked if his scrappy demeanour contradicts his supposed belief in sunny ways, the PM believed both go hand-in-hand.  "I think I can and I think I do. I mean, I always look for ways to bring people together.  I look for ways to solve solutions … I look for ways to listen to people and make sure we are consulting and engaging in thoughtful ways."

Yeah, sure.  Unless it involves people taking a different point of view, which Trudeau has no patience for.  During the course of his political career, it's led to episodes of name calling, swearing at a Conservative minister and a 'smartest guy in the room' mentality.

If this is your idea of a positive thinking, political bridge-builder, think again.

Barton and the CBC exposed Trudeau's weaknesses with respect to his political acumen.  His answers were consistently weak.

He never seems genuine in interviews, but rather genuinely lost when it comes to maintaining the narrative.  His inability to deflect and recalibrate is among the worst of any prime minister in history, Conservative or Liberal.

Was this CBC's intention?

You be the judge.

Photo Credit: CBC News

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


Are you troubled by the "rising tide of right-wing extremism" in Canada?  Have you bought into propaganda about our "hard-won gains" being eroded by the demons of Bay Street?  Feeling threatened by a crappily Photoshopped Maclean's cover proclaiming a group of lumpy politicians to be "The Resistance"?  Never fear!  All of this pearl-clutching is part and parcel of the grand old #Resistance Playbook, a collection of tried, tested, and untrue strategies that are so hackneyed and so transparent that even Saul Alinsky himself would be like, "Guys, come on, step up your game a little bit, huh?" if he cared at all about Canada, that is.

Before reading further, please note that the playbook for trying to stop a Canadian Conservative government is to be treated as THE LITERAL WORD OF GOD at all times.  No alterations, deviations, or changes can be made until the left in some other country figures out a new successful tactic, which will then be copied just as slavishly.  This is because the left in Canada knows its proper place, which is to argue pointlessly about whether they should have more or less intersectional politics while the Liberals eat their lunch.  Anyway, here we go:

It's not actually about stopping the Conservatives

Remember when I was writing angry missives about how the PC Party in Opposition was lazily cruising along waiting for a blue wave to sweep them into power, and remember when they stopped cruising along and actually outworked the other two parties during the writ (not that heroic a feat, but still)?  Well, the left has decided to do the former and not the latter, because they've been down so long that now that they are actually the Opposition Party, it looks like up to them.  So long as there's a steady drumbeat of bad news for Ford, the next election is as good as won!  Speaking of which….

Truth in news-vertising

By now we can be sure that guys like Robert Benzie who can barely conceal their horror about the PCs being forced to stand and clap in the Legislature as though he's totally unfamiliar with the practice, and then bat their eyes and say, "Who, me?" when called out on their BS know exactly what they're doing.  But what about the wide-eyed left, with their stalwart belief in the power of the discourse, and the proper place of bailed-out government-accountable media in that discourse?

History begins with Ford

You know, in this hustle and bustle world, where the spectre of capitalism haunts everything, it's so easy for the people to forget about their own interests.  That's why we the left needs to make the case that Ford is UNIQUELY terrible, and do so constantly.  Did Ford play around with the process to hire the new OPP commissioner?  Probably.  Is this different from when the OPP all but endorsed Kathleen Wynne in 2014 and took their sweet time with the many investigations dogging the Liberals??  Total night and day situations, if you're on the left!

One man's freedom fighter….

If you blinked, you probably missed union leader Jerry Dias telling Doug Ford to F-off at a press conference, which is weird, because isn't Jerry just saying what everyone REALLY feels about Premier Buttplug Doug?  How come this didn't go viral?  How come posters lionizing Dias weren't slapped all over downtown Toronto?  Well, because the left is awful at mobilizing… but really, it's because nobody is allowed to outshine the political arm of the #Resistance.  Jerry "Porfirio" Dias is clearly at the end of a leash, and the NDP lets him bark a bit whenever they think the PC's need a little bit of scaring, but seeing as how Ford is calling the media "the Official Opposition" and not the unions, it's not having the desired effect.

PC stands for "Perpetual Conflict"

Let's be honest: Ford and his government are going to defeat themselves, because that's what conservative governments do in this country.  Harris was undermined from the inside, while Harper got so paranoid and out of touch that he sunk himself.  The #Resistance knows this full well, and they think that if the PC's blow their brains out then that will give them some kind of legitimacy for not having gone down to Ford's level.  This is because surprise  they are as timid and conflict averse as any Canadian.

Written by Josh Lieblein

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


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The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.