Three Strikes

It’s been nearly five years since Canadians tossed the Stephen Harper Conservatives out of office and replaced them with a seemingly rejuvenated Liberal Party under the leadership of Justin Trudeau. In those five years the Liberal government has had to wrestle with at least three quite unprecedented challenges: the election of Donald Trump and his threat to abrogate the North American Free Trade Agreement; the emergence of a truculent and aggressive China and a pandemic the likes of which Canada has not seen in a century. It has also attempted to balance the demands of Canadians wanting aggressive action on climate change and those dependent upon resource extraction, particularly in the oil and gas sector. It’s success on these files has been mixed but most Canadians likely give it a passing grade, particularly on the saving/renegotiation of NAFTA and its handling of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Despite these relative successes the Liberals were unable to repeat their 2015 majority in the 2019 election, finding themselves reduced to a minority government dependent on at least one of the Conservative Party, the NDP or the Bloc Quebecois. And, just as much of the credit for the successes lies at the feet of the Prime Minister, so does responsibility for the loss of the majority.

From the beginning there have been legitimate questions about Justin Trudeau’s judgement at least in so far as it relates to matters of conflict of interest. There have been two significant occasions when conflicts of interest have been found to exist: accepting an invitation to vacation with his family on the Aga Khan’s Caribbean island at a time when the Aga Khan had financial dealings with the federal government and the role the Prime Minister’s office played in the SNC Lavalin affair that resulted in the resignation of the then Minister of Justice and her subsequent expulsion from the Liberal caucus and party. In my earlier writings I have been clear that I do not sympathize with the former minister but equally that I was dismayed at the appallingly poor judgement of the Prime Minister and his Office on the matter.

And now it appears, we have a third potential conflict of interest: the role of the Prime Minister and his family with the WE/ME charity and business. Like most Canadians I suspect, I knew little about the WE organization until the latest revelations. I was aware that it seemed to come out of nowhere and its two founders, the brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger, were suddenly and unexpectedly showing up all over the place in Canada with opinion pieces and news. I had a vague understanding it attracted celebrities like Oprah and Prince Harry and Megan, and that the Trudeau’s also seemed to have some kind of a connection. But that was about it. And, as with so many seemingly similar such organizations or movements, I dismissed it as a passing fad, one more likely to be talked about on Ellen than making a real and lasting impact and certainly something I didn’t need to devote any attention to.

But with all this new attention I did a bit of digging and WE and it’s profit making affiliate does appear to be legitimate and has done a number of good things although with an evangelical zeal that leaves me cold but then I’m 71, not the teenagers who are its core demographic. As the press are reporting, the Trudeau family has strong ties to this organization and, despite earlier denials, has profited significantly from those ties. Specifically, the Prime Minister’s mother, Margaret, has been paid in excess of $300,000 for various appearances at WE events and his brother, Sacha, received in excess of $30,000 for similar appearances. Sophie Trudeau, the Prime Minister’s wife, received approximately $1400 for a single appearance prior to him becoming Prime Minister. Aside from the financial ties, however, there are clearly other connections including repeated appearances by the Prime Minister at WE functions and his wife in a continuing role as some kind of WE ambassador. While these events and activities do not seem to have involved any money, they clearly provide a benefit to both the Prime Minister and WE.

As part of its response to the COVID 19 pandemic the government announced in April that it would be creating a one billion dollar student grant program to assist students unable to find seasonal employment due to the economic collapse resulting from the pandemic. It was just one of a dizzying shower of programs and initiatives taken by the government as it responded to both the health and economic emergencies and, for most I suspect, it didn’t get much attention. Then in June the government announced the contract for administering the program would be given to WE. It didn’t take long before critics discovered the contract was a sole source contract so there was no competitive bidding for it and that the Prime Minister had not recused himself from the Cabinet discussions that led to its being awarded. Nor, for that matter, did the Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, who, we now learn, also has family connections to the charity. When challenged, the Prime Minister responded that WE was the only organization capable of managing the program and went so far as to claim that was supported by the recommendation of civil servants, although which civil servants is not yet clear. Nor, apparently, was the civil service itself considered capable of managing such a program, although why has yet to be explained.

As I noted above, WE’s initial response was to state flatly that no monies had been paid to the Prime Minister or his family, presumably relying on the belief the payments had come from it’s sister organization; sophistry worthy of the Prime Minister’s initial response to the SNC Lavalin controversy by the way. Then WE discovered there had been an “accounting error” and that some of the payments had indeed come from WE itself, something they assured us had been rectified retroactively. Finally, and I suspect not entirely of its own volition, WE withdrew from the contract, presumably leaving the administration of the grant program to the civil service that, only days earlier, we had been told was not competent for such a role.

That’s the basic outline of the issue so far although there are a number of other twists and turns they don’t seem to have an essential bearing on the claim of conflict of interest for the Prime Minister (and, perhaps, his Finance Minister). In fairly short order, the Conflict of Interest Commissioner opened an inquiry into the matter while, not unexpectedly, the attack dogs on the Conservative benches demanded the RCMP be brought in to conduct a criminal investigation.

If, as seems likely, a conflict is found this will be the third time there has been a finding that Prime Minister Trudeau ran afowl of the Conflict of Interest Guidelines and, perhaps, the law. At the risk of bringing the wrath of Oscar Wilde’s ghost down upon me, to parapharase Lady Bracknell: to commit one conflict of interest violation may be regarded as a misfortune; to commit two looks like carelessness. And now we have three.

Canada has been ruled by an elite for all of its one hundred and fifty three years. Even in the days prior to Confederation the two major provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) had ruling cliques that led to open rebellion in both colonies. Since Confederation it has generally been under the control of what we now call “the Laurentian Consensus” and its primary political vehicle has been, and is, the Liberal Party of Canada. And it is not without reason that party is often referred to as Canada’s Natural Governing Party. It’s not necessary to come from the geographic area in or near the Laurentians to be a part of the consensus but it is necessary to subscribe to a certain set of values and beliefs about Canada and its place in the world. And those values have informed Canada’s policies and laws for much of its history. From my perspective at least, many of the directions Canada has taken as a result have been good, although some, for example our relationship with the People’s Republic of China, less so. However, as with any such arrangement, pervasive elitism breeds contempt for those who have a different view.

Justin Trudeau is a fine exemplar of the Laurentian Consensus. The son of a Prime Minister and his wife, the daughter of a prominent and powerful Liberal Cabinet Minister, he obviously believes his values and behaviours are right and beyond reproach. And that is why he is constantly getting into trouble. It also explains his apparent inability to truly understand why everyone doesn’t agree with him and see why, despite the minor technicalities of law or standards, what he is doing is right and good.

While the idea of the Laurentian Consensus and the Liberal Party as it’s avatar sounds pretty benign, that party is also a ruthless and effective political machine when it comes to gaining and holding power. It’s long history tells us that the commitment to power supersedes all other considerations and can go so far as to remove a sitting Prime Minister from office. Whether those same rules apply to a Trudeau is yet to be seen.

I voted for Justin Trudeau in the last two elections, the first mostly motivated by my wish to be rid of the Harper Conservatives, and the second because of the lack of any credible alternative. Both votes were less than enthusiastic mostly because I distrusted the celebrity gloss and suspected the core values I would expect in a Prime Minister were somewhat lacking. I believe now that those reservations were well founded.

It is often said Justin Trudeau is following in his father’s footsteps. On February 28, 1984, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau went for a famous walk in the snow during which he decided he would step down as Prime Minister. Perhaps it is time for his son to follow in those same footsteps.

just sayin

G

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