Justin the What? Leader? Idea Man? Mascot?

We often feel we can do everything better than people who are in the spotlight. Because I realize it is awfully easy to fall into the role of armchair quarterbacking, I try to be reluctant to be critical of public leaders. I don’t always succeed in my restraint. Sometimes watching such people is just too painful or amusing. 

I have had a few years now to observe our Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau. I have hoped for the class shown by his father. Admittedly, Pierre Trudeau was a hard act to follow. He was head and shoulders above world leaders in his intellect. Even Andrei Gromyko even admitted that. And Trudeau Snr. had a sharp wit and a thoughtful response on call. We certainly didn’t agree with much of what he legislated, and we exhaled in relief when he more than once stepped down from politics. Yet we had to admit we had experienced a phenomenal leader. 

Justin seems to have fallen far from the tree. Gosh, but he’s a mice nice guy. That’s the problem. We need more than that. Justin makes a great mascot when what we need is a quarterback. As a nice guy, he focuses on equality of outcome (and marijuana). He seems to want everyone to share the harvest. I guess Pierre never Justin read the story of The Little Red Hen. Or maybe Justin was daydreaming when it happened. You just can’t rob from Peter to pay Paul without Peter eventually pretending he is Paul. Either that, or Peter decides to move to a friendlier jurisdiction and presses a button to take his wealth there also. Pierre had his National Energy Program. It was a big part of what undid his government. Justin has his tax reform. And it will be a failure because he doesn’t realize that his tax system has to compete in the world marketplace of tax systems. 

Sometime in the next 655 days an election is mandated. Maybe the Governor-General will have mercy on us and call it sooner than later. The problem is who is there to take Justin’s place? Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh both present well, but who knows what kind of PM either would make? I would rather trust Elizabeth May because she has proven herself hard working, principled, and clear thinking. Too bad about some of her policies though. She wanted to renegotiate NAFTA. I bet when she wished for that, she never hoped the other side would be Donald Trump. 

I wish that the libertarian party would seem less like the anarchy party and get themselves organized around some effectual leaders.