Canada’s Corrupt Liberal Government

Justin Trudeau, abandoned by allies, besieged on all sides, is still, as of this writing, both the leader of the Liberal Party and the prime minister of Canada. But when pundits and political insiders gather in the smoky backrooms (ed note: do vapes emit smoke?) of Ottawa and Toronto this Christmas season they will all be asking each other one question: Who is going to take his job?

In the long term, the answer is still likely Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader who holds a commanding lead in national polls. But if Trudeau does step down, a Liberal will have to take his place, at least temporarily.

Watching Prime Minister Justin Trudeau handle the budget is kind of like driving with that buddy who can’t keep his eyes on the road, talks with his hands and knows the autobody shop guy by name.

It’s terrifying.

The Trudeau government repeatedly promised to keep the 2023 deficit within its fiscal guardrail “at or below $40.1 billion.”

A Liberal MP who has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign says the “vast majority” of caucus colleagues he’s spoken to feel the same way.

Trudeau’s leadership has been on shaky ground for months, but it became more unstable Monday after his longtime ally Chrystia Freeland resigned from cabinet, throwing the government into chaos.

The Prime Minister has no immediate plans to step down over the Christmas holidays despite mounting calls for him to quit, and Chrystia Freeland is considering a leadership bid that is being spurred on by Liberals who believe she is a strong contender should Justin Trudeau resign.

A Liberal insider said the Prime Minister continues to reflect on whether to stay or leave and will spend Christmas in Ottawa and then take a skiing vacation with his family in British Columbia.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, it’s time the clinicians walked the Liberal Party and their fatally flawed leader down to a room with rubber walls.

What else are we to make of the psychosis now infecting Justin Trudeau and the Liberal caucus? Chrystia Freeland — the minister of finance, a.k.a. the minister of everything, who could look at any mess Trudeau created and nod approvingly — has now left. And left in spectacular fashion, burning her partner in economic crimes against Canada to the ground in her resignation letter (dropped on the day she was meant to update the country on its finances).

Ontario Liberal MPs want Justin Trudeau to step down: sources

You’d think he’d take the hint. The longer he stays the greater the damage to the LPC and for Canada.

He seems to be going scorched earth.

Since we’re told that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is contemplating his political future, a fair question to ask is what – other than his own ego – makes him think he can win the next federal election?

Or, alternatively, if Trudeau has ruled out that possibility, what makes him think he’s best equipped to lead the Liberals so that they aren’t relegated to third or fourth place in party standings in the next election?

Justin Trudeau’s career is the stuff of 21st-century political drama, with an arc that has taken him from glamorous liberal standard-bearer to the butt of jokes by President-elect Donald J. Trump and his acolytes.

He burst onto the international scene in 2015, a newly elected young leader of Canada.

And he spent the next decade building a brand around being a feminist, an environmentalist, a refugee and Indigenous rights advocate, pursuing the same message of change and hope as Barack Obama.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be teetering on the brink.

He’s dealt with scandal before. A family trip to a private Bahamas island yielded a damning 2017 ethics report. The SNC-Lavalin affair threatened his government. Photos of Trudeau wearing brownface and a turban rocked his 2019 election campaign.

Pressure is mounting from all sides for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who faces a divided caucus, the NDP joining other opposition parties to vote no confidence, and the incoming president of the world’s superpower promising economy-crushing tariffs while dubbing him the “governor” of a 51st U.S. state.

Where can the prime minister take it from here?

My head is still spinning at how deftly Chrystia Freeland has played her hand, nimbly exiting the Titanic just before iceberg impact and then quickly resurfacing as the saviour of the nation, with (incidentally) a suddenly improved shot at becoming prime minister.

Let me be clear: I’d be pleased with any development that would spare us the nightmare of a Pierre Poilievre victory.

The majority of Ontario’s Liberal MPs have come to the consensus that the prime minister needs to go.

Saturday morning, 51 of the province’s 75 Liberal MPs met virtually on a zoom call to discuss the past week’s developments — from Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell resignation as finance minister to the growing calls for Justin Trudeau to resign.

During the hour-long meeting, no member of Parliament — including cabinet ministers — pleaded the case on camera for the prime minister to fight the next election as Liberal leader, according to seven sources on the call, who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity.

How soon is he gone? That is the Question.