The reign of Justin Trudeau stretches out, and he accumulates the rings of fatigue. His decisions on certain issues are disconcerting. Everything is going wrong in this year of the Water Rabbit. It’s hard to get by with the authoritarian bullshit of General Tao’s henchmen. Not brilliant, and the solution isn’t in a fortune cookie.
If he weren’t so young, one would feel like advising Justin to leave his place and go on a long vacation to Tofino.
He is lucky to have the worrying Pierre Poilievre as his opponent, otherwise the tipping point would have already been crossed by the Canadians.
But the fact is that in Canada you can form government by getting only a third or a little more of the votes in an election. Thus, do not count Justin too quickly.
Yes, of course, people want change. Are we surprised?
Under the circumstances, it is surprising that the Conservatives did not completely outrank the Liberals in the polls. They should have, with such a clumsy aging government.
It is clear that Mr. Poilievre frightens a majority of Canadians.
How not to be upset with the guy, when he declares without laughing that cryptocurrency could be used to fight inflation… I am still in shock!
For that matter, might as well get Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX and until recently chief mullah of the crypto faith, out of jail and appoint him head of the Bank of Canada.
In the next election, it wouldn’t take a big heist against the Conservative leader for the NDP vote to fall to the Liberals, by default, and give them a new government.
As one cannot reject the hypothesis of a Liberal-NDP coalition government.
But hey, as the son of the great commentator said: we’ll see!
All this to tell you about the Justin Trudeau I knew.
Like many, I very often have trouble listening to him when he is in his official clothes. He is so formatted, he annoys me more often than not. Where is the key to unlock it?
It would feel like slapping him between the shoulder blades so that he expels the cork that prevents him from speaking with his guts.
As mayor, I had the pleasure of meeting him several times face to face. A guy the fun ! But as we know, a guy the funit does not bring food.
Of course, at the beginning, after our first conversations, I admit that I found it surprising that he could become Prime Minister of our country…
But elected, over the years, I felt the guy gain chest, height and stomach. We felt that the experience built the head of state.
But that was in private meetings, and listening to it publicly still bothered me.
Our last meeting took place in the last days of the September 2021 federal election, at Quebec City Hall, two months before I myself left the town hall. Bring on as always, he spoke to me above all about my retirement, a lot even.
I said to myself that it was normal that on the eve of a vote, the idea of a political retreat is one of the hypotheses considered.
A few months earlier, at a new meeting of the twenty or so mayors of the largest Canadian cities, in Ottawa, a privileged forum, he came to sit down with us, as he did almost every time, accompanied this time by Chrystia Freeland.
He did not only have friends around the table, including the conservative mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, who already dreamed of taking his place.
We had an exceptional exchange with him. I had never heard him talk about major political issues with such foresight and sincerity.
Did I listen to the real Justin Trudeau? Not internship one second, man! The happy junction of intelligence and heart.
He came to greet me before leaving, and there I saw another episode of this condition called Gilles de la Tourette syndrome…
Basically, I said something like, “Damn it, Justin, you were so good today!” Why this Justin that I just heard is not the Justin we should always hear publicly. Come on ! Loosen up a bit! I obviously sum up, and his answer is his.
I don’t know if the guy will stay for the next election. As I’m not sure he’s the best person.
But I’m sure of one thing, if he comes back, I would like us to have the right to the man I heard at that meeting, or partly to the one I was meeting privately, it might surprise a lot of people. Canadians. Because currently, it doesn’t smell like authenticity.
Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet generally have this quality of speaking truth, Mr. Blanchet being the best. Elizabeth May maybe, if we could understand what she means in French…
Mr. Poilievre, I don’t know. It appears to have been pre-made in the United States, straight out of a Republican political factory.
In any case, it does not help to think otherwise.
Between us
What a magnificent victory for the Quebec Remparts and Patrick Roy at the Memorial Cup. Bravo, Pat and the boys, and thank you, Jacques Tanguay.
Speaking of athletes, I found a way to put myself on the long-term injured list, breaking my wrist in my second softball game… But the damn ball didn’t go through at least!
It’ll free up some space under the salary cap…