Few Americans reacted with enthusiasm last month when President Joe Biden announced his intention to seek another term in 2024. Even within the Democratic Party, opinion was very divided on his decision to run again despite his 80s and an unimpressive approval rating among the American electorate. For lack of anything better – no other Democratic politician has imposed himself as a natural successor to Mr. Biden – the party is therefore preparing to play all out by betting that the Americans will prefer him to a Donald Trump who has become even more infrequent .
The situation is not so different in the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC). Certainly, it is not the age of Justin Trudeau, 51, that raises doubts about the latter’s ability to win a fourth term. It is rather the feeling that the chef has become too divisive. After nearly eight years in power and so many scandals, his sunny speeches ring false. And even though his record includes several achievements, he often gives the impression of not being in charge of his own government. But without an obvious replacement – we are not yet witnessing “freelandmania” or “carneymania” – Mr. Trudeau can always claim to be the man for the job against a Conservative leader who shares certain traits with Mr. Trump.
The speech delivered by Mr. Trudeau Thursday evening at the PLC convention in Ottawa will have allowed him to show the activists that he is ready to do battle with Pierre Poilievre. This convention seems to have been planned on purpose to maximize the contrasts between the “progressive” liberals and the “radical right” embodied by the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). Sleeves rolled up, Mr. Trudeau spoke directly to his rival, ridiculing his attacks on the “too woke” policies of the PLC. He bragged about his government’s help for Volkswagen to build an electric battery plant in southern Ontario, the national ten-dollar-a-day child care program and his commitment to saving CBC /Radio-Canada. “Too woke? Hey, Pierre Poilievre, it’s time to wake up! »
Outside of the Liberal sphere at the Shaw Center in Ottawa, however, the clouds grew throughout the week for Mr. Trudeau. The revelations about the Chinese government’s alleged intentions to target family members living in China of Conservative MP Michael Chong, his party’s foreign affairs critic and champion of a House motion that called the treatment of Genocide Uighurs, hurt the prime minister very badly.
The latter said he was aware of a 2021 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) which mentions the case of Mr. Chong only thanks to the report published on Monday in the Globe and Mail. He then claimed that CSIS did not believe the information was relevant enough to forward it to the Prime Minister’s Office. However, Chong said he was informed this week by CSIS that the information had indeed been sent to the prime minister’s national security adviser in the summer of 2021.
The testimony of Mr. Trudeau’s brother before the parliamentary committee which is looking into Chinese interference will not have helped the Liberals to put the lid on the pot either. Alexandre Trudeau said he still has no reason to believe that the two Chinese businessmen behind a $200,000 donation to the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Foundation in 2016 did not have “motives honourable”. This is despite another CSIS report, which had intercepted a conversation between one of these donors, Zhang Bin, and a Chinese diplomat, during which the latter promised Mr. Zhang to reimburse him in full for his donation to the foundation.
“No state, no individual has tried to influence the Government of Canada through the foundation,” said Alexandre Trudeau. It takes a lot of nerve to show so much willful blindness. However, the dispute that broke out over this donation within the foundation, and which led to the departure of its CEO Pascale Fournier in April, raises several questions about the governance of this institution founded in 2002 with an endowment of $125 million granted by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien.
The Trudeau government’s retreat this week on the assault weapons file, after its botched attempt to ban hundreds of models last fall, has put the Liberals on the defensive again. Had it done its homework before tabling the list of weapons it intended to ban last November, the Trudeau government could have avoided alienating Indigenous groups and thousands of hunters, including confidence is now shaken. With the New Democratic Party threatening to withdraw its support from the government, the latter is now backing down all the way. Gun control activists feel betrayed. And this is not the first time. Liberal incompetence apparently knows no bounds.
Between the fanciful contours of Mr. Trudeau’s speech to the convention and the reality of politics, there is a gulf that the Liberals do not yet seem ready to acknowledge. That time will come, sooner or later.
Based in Montreal, Konrad Yakabuski is a columnist at Globe and Mail