Quitcherbitchin, Canada. You have exactly the government you wanted. Politicians practised in the use and abuse of power, elected with a false majority, under the sway of multinational companies who hold our workers hostage to achieve their demands. It doesn’t matter if they’re Liberal or Conservative. The system elects people like that, because that’s the kind of system it is.
So don’t let’s go all Andrew Scheer, screaming about resignations and calling in the police. One thing every commentator agreed on last week was that his rant was over the top. And personally, I objected to the fact that he just enjoyed it too much.
Jodi Wilson-Raybould.
A lawyer, a purist. Not a politician. Taking on the whole system single-handed. Going to stand up for everything that’s just and true. Which she did, in
However, she set herself against the Machine (and I’m not talking about the Liberals). Whether it’s Lavalin or Bombardier or Big Oil from Alberta, the chorus of “jobs, jobs, jobs” will never fade as long as we keep bowing to their pressure.
When discussing the fact that SNC Lavalin may not be allowed to bid for government jobs for ten years, a friend of mine suggested with a straight face that those government jobs were going to get done anyway, weren’t they? And by Canadian workers? If SNC Lavalin can’t make a go of it without breaking the law, perhaps someone more honest will.
The Big Scam
And let us not forget (because I keep saying it) but the “Jobs, jobs, jobs” line is just the latest buzz-word for what used to be called trickle-down economics, and then became “supply-side economics.” No matter which way you spin it, today’s reality consists of rich companies getting all the breaks by persuading the next economic layer down (managers and investors) that some day they, too, can reap the big profits (they can’t). Also persuading the next layer down (small business) that the government must be “business friendly,” (they’re big business friendly). And then they persuade the poor workers that their jobs depend on all this money the government is handing out. Which doesn’t trickle anywhere but into the pockets of big business and their shareholders, who are probably not even Canadian. I wish someone would do the math: take the number of dollars the government has given to Bombardier and divide it up among the amount of wages it produced. Find out if it really did any good.
The Solution
The temporary solution for the Liberal Party is to acknowledge the validity of Wilson-Raybould’s case. (Duh!) They should grasp desperately at the medium-term solution to the problem that Wilson-Raybould suggested, herself. You can’t have the same person as Minister of Justice and Attorney General. One is a political position, the other is a legal position. The Liberals can quite legitimately take the defence that they were putting political pressure on her as Minister of Justice, while telling her (this seems to be true) that as Attorney General, it was all up to her.
They could even do a little “pat on the head” patronizing because she’s a newcomer and doesn’t understand the political realities of that complex job. Which is to some extent true. Idealists don’t last long in parliament. Then they turn to the people of Canada and say, “We’re going to fix it!” and divide the job up. They could even give her the Attorney General’s job back. After they’ve let SNC Lavalin off the hook, of course. Then all will be forgiven, and the Liberal Party can settle down to trying to save their majority in the next election. Which they might even deserve, if they could pull this off.
But They Won’t
As Paul Wells said in At Issue on CBC on Thursday, they’re going to now attack Jodi Wilson-Reybould’s credibility, which is completely stupid, because at the moment she has a whole lot more clout with the Canadian public than most of the PMO staff, including the guy at the top. But the Liberal leaders are into power mode, where winning the battle is all that counts. That’s the kind of people they are; we elected them because of it.
And then if the Canadian pubic is as smart as they sometimes are, they will hand Trudeau a minority government in the next election, requiring him to put his training wheels back on and learn to do the job properly with — dare we dream? — a bit of humility.
The Long-Term Solution
If we want to cure the problem, we have to do two things: first, get the big money out of politics. As long as politicians are making decisions regulating businesses, there is no way businesses should be giving money in any way to politicians.
Second, we have to change the electoral system to one where you need a real majority to run the country. A system that requires cooperation with others instead of overpowering everyone. BC just turned their backs on it. Quebec says they’re going to try it. The rest of the developed world uses it.
When is it our turn?