Cartoon by Megan McCoy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin controversy has shown his progressive values to be a facade, which has been disastrous for left-wing political ideology in Canada.
Trudeau was elected by people who wanted a change from the politics of years past. He was young, approachable and seemed to stand up for an increasingly progressive Canada. In just four years, he has revealed himself as the same old, corporate-interest-driven politician we have seen repeatedly.
The fear this controversy is causing in the electorate will hurt our country’s social tenets for years to come.
Just like in the aftermath of the Liberal Party’s sponsorship scandal in the early-2000s, the pendulum of Canadian Politics is set to swing back to the right — in an election year nonetheless.
Any headway Trudeau has made — or was planning to make — in the name of liberal ideas to this point can be thrown out the window.
Indigenous reconciliation?
It won’t mean a thing when the Conservative Party inevitably come to power after this.
National carbon tax?
If you think that will make it to the floor of an Andrew Scheer-led government, you’re a fool.
Gender equality?
It’s not 2015 anymore and women are jumping ship from Trudeau’s 50–50 cabinet at an alarming rate.
In the past month, Trudeau has lost two women in prominent positions from his ever-shuffling cabinet.
Jody Wilson-Raybould was demoted from Attorney General and Minister of Justice to Minister of Veterans Affairs in early January. She then resigned on Feb. 12.
In the same shuffle, Jane Philpott, former Minister of Indigenous Services, replaced Scott Brison as President of the Treasury Board after his resignation. She then resigned from her new position on March 4.
Wilson-Raybould said despite the pressure she felt from multiple members of the Prime Minister’s Office — including the Prime Minister himself — to be lenient in the SNC-Lavalin case, she did not believe what transpired was illegal.
There is, however, a fine line between what is legal and what is ethical — and that line can be fuzzy in the realm of politics.
Canadians are seeing Trudeau and his Liberal Party on the wrong side of that line and the latest National Campaign Research Poll conducted among 1,590 Canadians has Conservatives (37 per cent) with a 5 per cent lead over the Liberals (32 per cent).
We’ll all feel the repercussions of that in the election this fall.