We know that Justin Trudeau has already done theater. The spectacle of the pre-budget announcements that he is currently giving us piecemeal offers him a ready-made stage for him.
As we know, he loves these shirt sleeve productions during which he can showcase his talents as an actor attentive to the well-being of “Canadians”. Several commentators find this “fucking show” clever which offers, before the announcements of the deficit that the budget will include, a political opportunity to highlight the goodness of our central government and to position oneself against Poilievre.
I find this staging inappropriate and dishonest towards citizens who, as it is written, can find opportunities to reduce their anxiety in the face of the difficulties they encounter financially in terms of access to daycare, medication or housing without be able to assess the difficulty of implementing such measures.
For having, as assistant deputy minister at the Ministry of Manpower and Income Security of Quebec, negotiated professional training agreements, and, as deputy minister of Health of Canada, led the negotiations on the overhaul of the Tobacco Act and on the reform of the blood management system — negotiations which went relatively well — I can affirm that what is happening before our eyes currently with Trudeau’s announcements will lead us to dead ends, if not tortuous labyrinths.
Obviously, Trudeau is happily trampling on, in the name of spending power, the powers of the provinces, education and health being, according to our Constitution, devolved to the provinces.
But who knows all the intricacies of these questions? I know them, and I can say that we are going to hit several walls in the years to come, while the implementation of these announcements will be long, frustrating and bumpy, because we know that the federal government does not have the human and financial resources essential to implement the programs it announces. He does not have the capacity to manage housing, daycares or dentists! The task of defining the modus operandi of these programs requires detailed knowledge of their management, therefore the employment of new civil servants, etc.
Everything will be the subject of long negotiations, confusion over standards or even stopping of programs for lack of funds, which will leave the provinces with the difficulty of continuing to finance and evaluate them, or of stopping them completely. which will divide the provinces. It’s basically laughing at citizens who can see it as an advantage!
The least we can say is that ethics is absent from the show and that the sequels will be costly and arduous.