The occupation of downtown Ottawa has been going on for 13 days now. In two weeks, Justin Trudeau held two press conferences and delivered a speech in the Commons on Monday evening. His Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford, tweeted twice. The choice to remain so erased is perhaps the least risky, politically, for the two men. But nature abhors a vacuum. And this silence was quickly filled, for Mr. Trudeau, by criticism launched by both his rivals and members of his own team.
Because the last few days have given rise to a nice game of political hot potato.
The mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, whose police are completely overwhelmed, called for all possible help: 1,800 law enforcement agents, why not the army possibly, or even a federal mediator to negotiate with the perpetrators of an occupation. The response from the Ontario government could not be clearer: the province has already provided assistance to the City, which has “the necessary resources and authority” to manage the situation. On the federal side, the answer is more or less the same for the province as for the City: both “have the tools and the jurisdiction to respond to the crisis”.
Meanwhile, more than 400 trucks remain parked in the streets of downtown. Other convoys block the Canada-US border at Coutts, Alberta. And even the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Windsor and Detroit, was taken over.
The line of attack of the opposition parties was therefore not surprising. The Prime Minister “hides”, he “does nothing” and he is “absent”, they in turn mocked.
Justin Trudeau has not been completely silent. But when he spoke, it was to reiterate that the protesters are a tiny minority, while the majority have “done the right thing” by getting vaccinated.
His own member for Quebec, Joël Lightbound, saw in it a political style and such a divisive tone that he felt the need to denounce them publicly. Enough to provide new ammunition to the opposition parties, who were already having a field day against a very discreet Justin Trudeau. It must be said that the interim leader of the Conservatives, Candice Bergen – whose own position is not unanimous within her caucus – admitted in an email to her colleagues that she wanted to make this crisis “the Prime Minister’s problem”. . Justin Trudeau made it easy for him.
Behind the scenes, we repeat that it is not up to the federal government to settle the impasse, but to the City and the province. The first, however, is outdated and the second refuses to take action (by suspending truck drivers’ licenses, for example) for fear of alienating part of its electoral base four months before a provincial election.
The Prime Minister did not hide, we defend ourselves. He has held meetings and calls since his last press briefing last Thursday. And his pleas for calm have been ignored so far.
No fully winning strategy
“Free advice to all politicians [sur] the occupation of Ottawa: no one cares about jurisdiction. Pick up the phone, come up with a plan together, and sort this mess out,” Trudeau’s former top adviser quipped, however. Gerald Butts, on Twitter this week.
Despite everything, political scientists agree with the Prime Minister. The response to the crisis is a double-edged sword for him.
Mr. Trudeau cannot announce much concrete that is within the purview of the federal government; he was also criticized in a press briefing last week for having had nothing to offer; and any exit from him rekindles tensions, since he himself is extremely polarizing for those who have been inveighing against him in the streets for two weeks.
The Prime Minister would also run the risk, if he commented further on the file, of being associated with this discontent as well as with the failed management of the occupation. “There is no entirely winning strategy,” observes Geneviève Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa. “Indeed, he is criticized for his silence. But between being quiet and being highly visible, it’s probably better to be quiet. »
The majority of citizens, however, probably care little, like Gerald Butts, about the division of constitutional powers. “Perhaps inaction has a greater price than silence,” agrees Stéphanie Chouinard, associate professor of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada.
More than 60% of Canadians are opposed like Justin Trudeau to the Ottawa convoy, revealed a Léger poll conducted with the Association for Canadian Studies.
But 44% of respondents also said they understood the concerns of these protesters. And the same proportion reproached, like Joël Lightbound, the various levels of government to be partly responsible for this convoy because of their condescending attitude towards Canadians who contest sanitary measures or vaccination.
The Prime Minister of Ontario is also not exempt from reproach, he who has been even more absent than Justin Trudeau. He barely deplored the “occupation” of Ottawa last Friday, on the sidelines of the Council of the Federation. On Twitter, Doug Ford insisted he provided the City — which only elects Progressive Conservatives in outer suburbs — “everything they asked for.”
“He gets off far too easily if you consider the responsibilities of the provincial government in situations like this,” commented Stéphanie Chouinard.
The Trudeau government, meanwhile, seems to be trying to correct the situation. Ministers were dispatched to take stock, Monday and Tuesday, and ensure that they seek with their vis-à-vis a way out of the crisis.
However, this issue is beginning to press. Because the convoys multiply in the country, inspire similar demonstrations abroad, and arouse a debate which makes more than one dissatisfied with the government. According to Joël Lightbound – and liberals behind the scenes – “many” share his uneasiness. Their leader can only hope that they are careful not to display it in the public square while he prefers to step aside.