More
“Spontaneity” and Populism?
The same issue arose in my mind with respect
to the PM’s announcement that his government was going to accept all the
recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee—and, if my memory
serves me right—they are up into the 90’s!
Again, that mix of spontaneity and populism. Again, what seems like a serious lack of due
diligence. All 90+ without careful analysis, even before he was enthroned? I loved and still love the composition of his
Cabinet, assuming that the Ministers are all fully qualified, but even that I
am beginning to wonder in view of this pattern of spontaneity and populism
without due diligence. Did he and his advisers possibly practice ethnic and
tribal politics by glad handing Canada’s various races and religions, including
recent immigrant arrivals as well as more settled non-Caucasians? In view of already mentioned instances of
seeming spontaneity and populism, the question of due diligence refuses to go
away, even though I have no doubt that there are people worthy of cabinet appointments
among all of us. Once you have the
suspicion of lack of due diligence, rightly or wrongly, you begin to look for
it everywhere.
Andrew
Coyne’s Take
I have great respect for Andrew Coyne, one of
Canada’s most prominent and, perhaps, most popular political commentators in
both Canadian press and TV. He recently
published an opinion column under the title “Maximum political mileage with
minimum thought.” The subtitle was “Promises: After three months in office,
Trudeau big on smiles and symbolism but short on substance” (Vancouver Sun, Feb. 6, 2016). Wow! Coming from Coyne, this is like a bomb
shell. Under a picture of a smiling, waving Trudeau, the editor comments “A
tendency ‘to announce policy first, then figure out the consequences later’ is
the modus operandi of PM Justin
Trudeau’s government….”
In case you haven’t caught on yet, I want it
understood that the suspicions I am airing are pre-Coyne. That is to say, they
were raised in my mind before I read any commentator on the subject. They
popped up immediately I first read about the 25,000. But Coyne strongly
confirmed these suspicions and he buttresses them with more facts at his
fingertips than I can muster. So, with
your permission, here’s a little more of Andrew’s take. I promise that tomorrow
I will move on to another subject.
Apart from their tragic content, namely a
seemingly light-hearted playing with the destiny of 34 million plus people,
Coyne’s article contains so many pithy and humorous quotables, that I
thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Here are some samples about Trudeau’s
government:
It is one part not being Stephen Harper, one
part symbolic gesture, one part wriggling out of campaign promises, and one
part saying yes to everybody. … Get used to it.
For a government that makes much of
its…forward-looking credentials, the Trudeau crew are unusually obsessed with
digging up the recent past. The platform itself was filled with promises (my
colleague, Bill Watson, puts the number at 50) to reverse this or that
Conservative initiative. … What was
common to all was their relentless symbolic focus, achieving maximum political
mileage for least expense.
Is it to be supposed that the
“evidence-based” party had any research to support its claim to be able to
safely admit 25,000… refugees… by December?
Referring to the announcement of a tax
increase for high incomers that would precisely offset a tax decrease for the
“middle tax bracket,” Coyne asks, “Was there any basis for the party’s claim?”
The original $3 billion income from the increase was subsequently whittled down
to $1 billion. Any basis?
Of course not: they gave…about the same
amount of thought as Trudeau did in announcing…that he would implement all 94
of (the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s) recommendation. Which is about
twice as much thought as he and his advisers gave to the implications of
abolishing party caucuses in the Senate. Or, for that matter, than they gave to
their pipeline policy.
You have no idea how hard it is for me to
refrain from just reproducing Coyne’s entire article, but I have to watch
copyright restrictions and may already have transgressed them. I plead for mercy from the Vancouver Sun on the grounds that I am
such a strong advertiser for them apart from being part of that rare breed of
remaining loyal paper subscribers.
Coyne does not relent. Two weeks later, he
published another article entitled “Liberals fooled by their own image” with the
subtitle “Broken promises: This Trudeau government says one thing and does the
other at the same time” (Feb. 20, p.
B2), also loaded with gems: “It is one
thing to say one thing and do another in sequence. But to do both at the same
time is deeply worrying.” But be
comforted; things are not as bad as they could be. Andrew writes that he would
not go as far as therapist Evan Solomon, who describes Trudeau “as a kind of
psychopath, alternatively charming (‘the romantic’) and homicide (‘the
killer’). I think…he poses no danger to anyone but the economy. Still a number
of recent incidents give one pause.” And then comes another litany of examples.
If Andrew does not relent, I will, right here,
before the temptation overpowers me. I am no politician, but I do recognize
political irresponsibility when I see it, at least this brazen variety of it.
And this is not a political column, but I have stated somewhere in the past
that social responsibility is one of my trademarks that comes straight out of
my Christian convictions. When I see that, whether political or not, I get my
dander up high and mighty. I need time to cool off. See you next time.
P.S.--It’s February 28, 2016. Today the
announcement was made that Canada received the quota of 25,000 refugees.
No comments:
Post a Comment