In the wake of the ethics commissioner’s report into the SNC-Lavalin affair, and the role that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau played in pressuring one of his top cabinet ministers, there was one thing that was absent from the opposition parties.
Calls for the PM to resign.
Sure, there were supporters of the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the other parties who wanted him to step down, and there were probably others who were privately wishing he would do so.
Tory leader Andrew Scheer has once again called on the RCMP to investigate Trudeau’s conduct in this affair.
But did he ask for the PM to step down, like he did when the scandal reached its fever pitch in the winter? No.
Maybe it’s because the Tories, the NDP and others believe this report has done all sorts of damage to Trudeau and the Liberal Party just two months before an election, and a call for a resignation would seem like a cheap play for political points with voters. The only people who would likely approve of such a call would be the party’s supporters.
Or maybe it’s because the opposition parties know that they’re likely better off with Trudeau at the helm of the Liberals.
The timing of the ethics commissioner’s report was terrible for the government. Sure, it could have come in early September, on the eve of the federal election being called. But 68 days before an election is not when you want your party leader to be nailed by the ethics watchdog.
It brought SNC-Lavalin back into the public spotlight. It had a remarkable life; the story was broken just weeks after Jody Wilson-Raybould was officially demoted from her highly-powerful post as the attorney general and minister of Justice.
And then it stayed in the forefront of public interest for two months, thanks to all of the twists and turns that occurred.
The Liberals popularity plummeted when the details became public. It cost them two highly-qualified and respected cabinet ministers, including Wilson-Raybould. They’re running as independents.
Just when the Liberals were starting to emerge from the damage, and were starting to regain their support in the polls, they get socked again with this damning ethics report, confirming what most of us suspected, that the PM acted improperly.
Finally, we watched Trudeau try to dance around and spin the report, saying he accepts the report but disagrees with its findings. Most Canadians wondered aloud what the prime minister was saying.
This might be why the opposition parties want him around as the prime minister. They get to hammer the prime minister during the debates, in advertising and every other chance they get.
If the Liberals throw someone else out there, the opposition will claim it’s the same old Liberals, but it won’t be Trudeau trying to explain why all of these things happened under his watch.
Trudeau should resign. As ironic as this sounds, it’s in the best interest of the party for him to step down and allow someone else to steer the Liberals through the next two months.
The Liberals would be far better off if they had someone like a Chrystia Freeland out there in the election campaign than Trudeau.
But Trudeau won’t step down. He’ll remain in power, and hope that he can stave off defeat. He ran a masterful campaign in 2015; maybe he thinks he can do it again.
But Canadians perceptions and beliefs of Trudeau are very different now than they were four years ago. We’ve seen that he’s not his father. Not even close.
And maybe he’ll be able to eek out another election win (likely a minority) and remain in power for at least a couple of years, until the opposition tries to bring him down.
Maybe there’s enough mistrust out there of Tory leader Andrew Scheer, and enough disdain in Ontario for that province’s Tory premier Doug Ford for Trudeau to win.
This is not saying he won’t win.
But the best chance for success for the Liberals on Oct. 21 will be if someone else is leading them.
