So Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has finally agreed to step down as leader of the Federal Liberal Party. But as usual he has put himself first before the country and will stay on until the end of March when his successor is chosen.
This is good news for Mount Royal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who faces a strong opponent in the next vote in Neil Oberman representing the Tories. Had Trudeau insisted on leading the party at election time, polls indicated that we would have seen the kind of Liberal route the Conservative Party faced in 1993. That is when Kim Campbell inherited a majority of 156 seats and ended up with only two MPs elected. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, one of the greatest hypocrites of all time, was busy trashing Trudeau today. Yet he was the one who kept him in power. Now that Singh knows he will remain in office past his pension eligibility date at the end of February he is a big talker. He could have forced Trudeau to face the electorate months ago.
As long as Foreign Minister Melanie Joly is not chosen as the new leader, it is likely that many of the Mount Royal electorate who pledged not to vote Liberal because of Trudeau will turn around and remain loyal to Housefather. I mention Joly for she has been part of Trudeau’s one, two punch that has infuriated Jewish constituents in particular over the party’s position on the Middle East. However, it is a lot more than Israel. People are merely tired of Trudeau. He was sent multiple strong messages since last summer, losing three successive Liberal strongholds in by-elections. Yet he did not take the hint. If someone like Mark Carney or Chrystia Freeland leads the party, the stench of Trudeau in the riding could be eradicated.
I remember being a high school student at Wagar in Côte Saint-Luc. The Liberal MP for Mount Royal was Pierre Trudeau, Justin’s dad. Not only did he make several visits to Wagar, when my class went on a field trip to Ottawa and visited Parliament he came to meet us. This is in direct contrast to Justin, who is the MP for the East End Papineau riding Wearing my hat at the English Montreal School Board, we have two schools in Papineau: one in St. Michel and the other in Park Extension. Despite an endless array of requests, the Prime Minister has not made one single visit to either school in over nine years. This is absolutely shameful, especially for someone who worked as a teacher before entering politics. I know how I never forgot meeting the Prime Minister of Canada at my school many decades ago; the kids at our school have been robbed of that opportunity unless Justin decides to do the right thing before the end of March and come say “hello.”
