Governing Like An Unquestioned Autocrat

"Justin Trudeau is walking out on Canadians in the middle of a major health and economic crisis, in a disgusting attempt to make Canadians forget about his corruption."                                                                                                               "At a time when Canadians are looking for stability and leadership. Justin Trudeau has given them corruption, chaos, and cover-ups."                                           Conservative leader Andrew Scheer

"Shutting down Parliament in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis, with a planned sitting next week and committees working hard to get answers and solutions for Canadians is wrong."                                                              "[Canadians] shouldn't be forced to pay the price for Mr. Trudeau's scandals."          "If the Liberal government continues to focus on helping their close friends instead of helping people, if they continue to be caught up in fighting themselves instead of helping families that are worried about their future, then we'll have to look at all options."                                                                                                                        Leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh

"It's time to get some grown-ups in Ottawa. The post-COVID debt hangover is reason enough to clear Trudeau's economically inept crew out of Ottawa as soon as possible. And given Trudeau's alleged WE malfeasance, his government's spending spree must be audited and some of its more erroneous pieces of legislation, which will only serve to sabotage Canada's economy by halting resource development, must be rescinded. Finally, a giant broom must sweep all the green radicals, anti-capitalists and Trudeau fanboys and fangirls out of Ottawa." Diane Francis, journalist, editor-at-large, author, Distinguished Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Toronto 

Canada has a prime minister who believes in a post-national society. He sees himself as a progressive and states so frequently, invested in improving the lives of Canada's middle class, even as he is himself a member of the entitled elite class of Canadians, as was his Minister of Finance with whom the prime minister has just sundered ties. Up until two days ago, Bill Morneau was Justin Trudeau's choice to head the finance ministry. And then came the WE scandal where both men distinguished themselves by failing to recuse when a cabinet vote took place giving WE Charity close to a billion dollars to disburse financial rewards up to $5,000 to university students doing volunteer work.

The charity happens to be one with a close and cozy association with both men and their families, where Justin Trudeau's mother and brother were paid for speaking engagements at WE events, to a total of $300,000, and Mr. Morneau's daughter has contract employment with the charity. A charity whose board of directors had decamped over murky financial transactions, a charity which had laid off hundreds of employees, a charity which habitually honoured wealthy prospective supporters with paid trips abroad to visit at some of their charitable worksites.

Co-founders Craig (left) and Marc Kielburger introduce Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau as they appear at the WE Day celebrations in Ottawa, Tuesday November 10, 2015. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

But this was only the most recent of the scandals enveloping Canada's prime minister who had been found involved in harassment of of women despite his boasting of being a 'feminist', who had indulged in Blackface hijinks, who had initiated an unfounded investigation into Vice-Admiral Norman, second in command of the Canadian military, accusing  him of releasing secret documents to the media, who had accepted a family vacation on the private island resort of the Aga Khan, known to lobby for government support of projects in Canada, who had attempted to suborn the Attorney General's decision for a court trial against SNC Lavalin.

A current investigation into the WE Charity scandal by the Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner represents the third such investigation into Justin Trudeau's ethical lapses, the previous of which he had been found guilty of ethics violations, and the second for Bill Morneau, who had been found guilty of the first. It was, ostensibly, Bill Morneau's family trips to Kenya and Ecuador in 2017, which he only recalled in July of 2020 he owed the charity $41,000 for that embarrassed the prime minister, though he felt his family receiving payment from the charity for services rendered was quite acceptable.

 Justin Trudeau, House finance committee (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

In the end, Morneau announced his resignation as Minister of Finance,  hinting disagreements over fiscal matters caused a rift between himself and the prime minister, which it likely did, but speculation abounds that the real rift was occasioned by the WE Charity all-expenses-paid trips benefiting the Morneau family which just happens to be the wealthiest family ever to have held public office in Canada, that caused Trudeau unease, spurring him to ask for the resignation. The outrageous thing is that if Morneau is guilty of poor ethical judgement, his boss Trudeau is even guiltier, and if Morneau paid for his indiscretion with the loss of political stature, Trudeau most certainly has done so in excess and should leave office.

Chrystia Freeland, sworn in as finance minister by Clerk of the Privy Council at Rideau Hall.  Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Instead Justin Trudeau has appointed Chrystia Freeland, his recently-appointed vice-prime minister to take Mr. Morneau's place as Minister of Finance. A former journalist, Ms. Freeland has no experience in economics. And it was at this juncture that the Prime Minister decided he would prorogue parliament. A parliament that he has already, in essence prorogued, having decided despite the objections of other parliamentarians, to shut down for the past six months, in preference to remote sessions over Zoom.

With the prorogation, all government business comes to an end. Translating to three parliamentary committees, all looking into the perceived and real malfeasance on the part of Justin Trudeau in deciding that WE Charity was the only group capable of administering the $912 million Student Summer Jobs program, of which the charity would have kept $64 million, a project that did not go to tender and was, Mr. Trudeau continued to argue, the choice of the civil service, not himself.