As he nears his eighth year in office and the Liberals trail the Conservatives in most polls, Trudeau is forced to roll the bones again.
Play Video The same appears true of prime ministers. Justin Trudeau made some audacious bets on the road to Rideau Hall, from his infamous boxing match with Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau in 2012, to gambling in 2015 that Canadians would accept moderate deficits, the day after NDP leader Tom Mulcair promised his first budget would be balanced.
Overnight, Trudeau made himself the agent of change.We deliver the local news you need in these turbulent times on weekdays at 3 p.m.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againAs prime minister, his every move and utterance has been carefully calibrated. Most press conferences are based on the premise that if there is nothing to be gained by saying anything, it is better to say nothing than anything — even if it takes you 40 minutes, in both official languages.Advertisement 3The Liberals are trailing the Conservatives in most polls and, as crucially, they are not judged to be the best stewards on the big issues that voters care about most, the cost of living, health care and the economy.His response to Ontario premier Doug Ford’s health-care reforms is one example. Ford has said Ontario will experiment with more privately delivered publicly funded surgeries to reduce waiting lists. When former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole suggested something similar in 2021, Trudeau accused him of proposing to blow up the public system and allow priority access to the wealthiest. Yet, in a recent interview with Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star, Trudeau said he did not want to comment on what Ford was doing. “We’re supposed to say a certain amount of innovation should be good, as long as they’re abiding by the Canada Health Act,” he said.Article content This would seem to explain why Ford was so open to the idea of the federal government setting conditions before Ottawa signs off on any increases in health-care funding. Health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said this week that “significant progress” has been made on a new deal, which he has previously indicated will come in two parts: a permanent increase to the Canada Health Transfer and a separate funding for mental health care and hiring more doctors and nurses. Trudeau’s willingness to compromise on private delivery will upset his dance partner Jagmeet Singh, who is keeping him in power. Singh tweeted on Tuesday that “as Conservative premiers push for privatization, Justin Trudeau is silent.” If Singh thinks there is electoral advantage, he could pull the plug on the Liberal-NDP deal.Article content But there are no signs of that in the current crop of public opinion polls. A more likely outcome is that Singh is dismissed as a political alarmist, while Trudeau wrestles back the initiative on health care by striking a deal with the provinces. Trudeau’s other wager is that he can take on Quebec Premier Francois Legault at the Supreme Court of Canada, while maintaining the Liberal seat count in the province. In a recent interview with Joel-Denis Bellavance in La Presse, Trudeau said he is worried that provinces are increasingly using the “notwithstanding” override clause pre-emptively and that Justice Minister David Lametti is looking at referring the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada. Trudeau’s statement of the bloody obvious had the equally predictable response from Legault, who blew a gasket on social media, calling it a “frontal assault” on Quebec.Article content Trudeau has been dilatory in response to Legault’s provocations, in the form of legislation which bans the wearing of religious symbols by teachers and other public servants, and a law that impacts the use of English in the public sphere. By using the override clause to shield them from court challenges, Legault set himself on a collision course with the federal government. But to this point, while Trudeau was critical of Ontario’s use of the Section 33 clause to prevent labour unions from petitioning the court to restore their right to strike, he has refrained from explicit comments about Quebec. Now he has broken cover. Lametti added this week that the federal government may well ask the Supreme Court to rule on whether the notwithstanding clause can be used pre-emptively, although he said he will wait for a ruling from the Quebec Court of Appeal on the religious symbols case first. The arguments in that legal challenge wrapped up in mid-November and a panel of judges is now deliberating on whether the bill disproportionately discriminates against Muslim women who wear hijabs. Article content Trudeau appears to have concluded that he is going to end up eyeball to eyeball with Legault when the case reaches the Supreme Court in any case, so why wait? It may not be recklessness, but it does display a certain abandon that has been missing from the prime minister’s conduct. Two credible polling firms have recently ranked Trudeau ahead of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre as voters’ preferred prime minister.The GuardianAll the indications are that he is going to keep going. Whether that leads him back into office or straight off a cliff,
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