Trudeau's luck may have changed

 We all know that Justin Trudeau has gone past his due date, after three terms as Prime Minister.  There’s a rising visceral hate-on for the guy which, in my opinion, is undeserved.  We’ve all heard the anti-Trudeau rage, but what is it based on, other than fatigue? 

We have a “Prime Minister in waiting”, Pierre Poilievre, a very effective leader of the opposition, who is crushing Trudeau in the polls.  Poilievre is really good at tossing out slogans that rhyme:  “axe the tax”, etc.,  but not so good at envisioning anything better, as far as an actual set of responsible policies.  For a  long time now, it looked as if the Trudeau Liberals were headed for decisive defeat in the next election. Now things have become a lot less certain, and the reason is the post-election whirlwind south of the border.

I think that the election of Donald Trump has done more to unify Canada than anything in our collective memories since the Second World War.  His proposed tariffs could wreak real havoc.   And once Trump dropped his tariff bombshell, all of a sudden the Trudeau hate fest seemed kind of passe. We got to see a bunch of provincial premiers make fools of themselves by telegraphing their desperation to cave to any and all of Trump’s cockamaimie demands. It was truly pathetic! And in the face of Trump’s destructive flailing, Poilievre, the one-trick pony, reacted by  doubling down on his harsh criticisms of the Prime Minister. 

 Trudeau was decisive. He  quickly convened a summit of the Premiers. Within the week he had called Trump and flown to Mara Lago for a face-to-face with the Whirlwind himself.

 

  Reminds me of a story in the Bible; it’s in the Old Testament; something about a guy with bad luck whose luck changes when he insists on having it out with a whirlwind.  

Trump doesn’t actually become president for another month.  But when he does he will sow nothing but chaos.  If Trudeau is smart, he will do his utmost to put off the election as long as possible,(my suggestion - a full year after the American election.) We don’t need a divisive election campaign when we are faced with a devastating threat to our economy from an external foe. 

In a year Trudeau will seem like an island of stability compared to the gathering storm down south.  But as for Poilievre, I bet that his “attack-dog” imitation of Trump will not go down well. And, as they say: those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind.

The Storm the Day After

 There’s been a series of gales in Prince Rupert that began the day after the American Election.  The first Morning after, I was taking my wife up to catch the bus to Terrace at 8:00 up on  summit hill, and she almost got blown over by the gusts. The wind and rain were vicious and relentless. I stayed inside as much as I could and watched the waves of hard rain and the branches of the big spruce lash back and forth in the heavy gusts.  

It’s wonderful to be cozy and warm indoors and know that you are safe even in the midst of a storm.  Some people are not so lucky though.  Like the people in the Caribbean  and the American South who get struck by hurricanes.  When your house is in the path of a hurricane the immense power of the wind can turn it into a deadly foe as the house goes from a means of protection to a lethal barrage of exploding timber in a split second.

Maybe you can see where I’m going here.  We can feel safe and secure here in Canada as Americans do their destructive thing. But the United States is the biggest economy in the world. For that reason alone the effects of this foreign election will be destructive around the globe, but especially in Canada because the U.S. is our biggest trading partner. 

 

Democratic elections are always going to be divisive to some degree; the American Presidential election, because so much is at stake, is decidedly so.  Less than a month ago we had a very close provincial election, and the NDP scraped back to power, with the Conservatives breathing down their necks.  And we wait for the coming Federal election which we all know will occur sometime next year.  Elections can be divisive, but as Canadians we have faith that whoever gets into power will be reasonably competent at governing or else they will be voted out of office in four years or less.  That used to be the case in the U.S. but it isn’t anymore. With Donald Trump we are looking at a world of chaos for who knows how long.  It’s great to live in a safe, prosperous country like Canada, but we should never take it for granted.  Sometimes a big wind comes from the south and it is strong enough to uproot everything.