The political congresses that stretch over three days are a real challenge for the organizers, who must deploy treasures of imagination to occupy the delegates. The round tables, conferences and other distractions of this kind are generally of very unequal interest and there are limits to multiplying the cocktails.
As Prime Minister Trudeau flew to London to pay homage to Canada’s new sovereign, Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) convention delegates were treated to a “conversation” between former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the current Deputy Prime Minister, also Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland.
Of course, M.me Clinton is also the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential election, which opened the doors of the White House to the one whose mere mention makes you tremble. His presence at the convention was no doubt aimed at reminding Liberal activists that it is their mission to protect Canada from such a scourge.
As if by chance, she had been preceded on the podium by another hero in the fight against obscurantism, former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who had succeeded in overthrowing the separatist hydra in October 1995 and who had prevented her from raise your head afterwards.
Perhaps Mr. Chrétien reminded convention organizers of the service that Mrs.me Clinton, Bill, had returned to the no side by coming to sing the praises of a united Canada in the House of Commons a few months before the referendum.
The American president had given this in October 1999 in Mont-Tremblant, during the Forum of Federations, an initiative of Stéphane Dion. Lucien Bouchard’s government had promised to spoil the party, but Mr. Bouchard himself had to admit that Mr. Clinton had “stole the show “.
Those who could still wonder if Mr. Trudeau intended to lead the Liberal troops in the next election now know what to expect, and aspirants to his succession will have to cease their preparations or continue them with the greatest discretion.
After months of doubt, we suddenly rediscover the man for the job, the one who will prevent the prince of darkness from extending his empire to the green meadows of virtuous Canada. The unreserved support he gave Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential election already looked like a sacred union.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, since he has to be named, was practically the only subject of the Prime Minister’s speech on Thursday evening. It was to wonder how he will be able to wait until 2025 to officially start hostilities.
Already, in 2015, the Harper years were presented as a “great darkness”, but it was nothing compared to what awaits us if ever the new prince of darkness takes power. According to Mr. Trudeau, Canada would become the country where the sun never rises.
Goodbye daycare, dental insurance, affordable housing, reconciliation, CBC… Hello populism, conspiracy, disinformation, austerity, firearms, cryptocurrencies, GHG… In short, Canadians will (still) have to make an existential choice.
Even though the Quebec wing presented a resolution calling for the development of a plan to return to balanced budgets, Mr. Trudeau himself gave no sign of wanting to put the brakes on spending. You can’t blame the Conservatives for their stinginess without setting an example of generosity yourself, even if it means shoveling the deficits forward.
You don’t change a winning recipe. It was by overtaking the NPD on its left that the PLC secured a majority of seats in 2015. With or without an official electoral alliance with the NPD, the concentration of the progressive vote will once again be essential, this time to block the road to Pierre Poilievre.
According to a recent Léger poll, a coalition resulting from an agreement whereby the two parties would present a single candidate in each of the 338 Canadian ridings would receive 41% of voting intentions, ie 2% more than the Conservatives. Without an agreement, the Conservative Party would have a six-point lead over the Liberals.
Despite the obvious affinities between the PLC and the NDP, and between their leaders, this scenario remains hypothetical to say the least. New Democrat voters who fear above all the advent of a Poilievre government will have to resign themselves once again to voting Liberal.
It must be recognized that Mr. Trudeau is doing everything to make the choice as painless as possible for them. In her eulogy of her leader, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly presented her as the darling of the world’s progressive leaders. To hear it, they would be swooning over the Canadian miracle, a veritable oasis of fairness and respect for diversity in a world yearning for light.