Roxham Road Crossing: Failure of Leadership

Image from Google Street View.

Recently, Premier Legault of Quebec has announced that the province’s social services are overwhelmed by asylum seekers using the unofficial Roxham Road border crossing. There have been two responses from Federal party leaders, one more inane than the other.

First, Conservative Polievre. His perfectly predictable knee-jerk response is, “Close the crossing,” and he is kind enough to give 30 days before the sky will fall. While this demand might appeal to his less-than-astute party base, it is rightfully countered by the statistic that the border is about 6,000 km long, all of which is technically an unofficial crossing. I hesitate to draw your attention to the picture above. 0 Avenue runs straight as a die along the 49th parallel for 28 km in Surrey and Langley, B. C. Most of the way the border is a two-strand barbed wire fence. And nobody’s likely to freeze to death trying to cross here.

Next and Worse

I’m sorry to say I found Liberal Trudeau’s response even less useful. His solution is, “Renegotiate the Safe Third Country agreement.”

Why is that so lame? Because as usual, the Liberals are hiding behind Trudeau’s “I really care about you” façade to hold whole lot of meetings and panels, and not deal with the real problem. Which, in case anybody missed it, is that the whole social service network in Canada is falling to pieces.

We’re going to accept the refugees. Nobody argues that. Let’s deal with them in a humane and proactive way. I gather one of the main problems is the same as for every citizen-government transaction in the country: a hold up in the paperwork. In this case, it’s work permits. These are people willing and able to work, and the bureaucracy is the only thing holding them out of our workforce, where they are needed.

Election Meddling

And while we’re at it, what is Trudeau’s response to the “Chinese Interference in Elections” outcry? He pats us all on the head and says, “There, there. Nothing to worry about.  Canadians should be able to depend on their election process.”

That’s the whole point, Mr. Trudeau. I remind you that you’re coming up to the middle of your latest tenure, and once again, you’re mouthing mollifying words and doing nothing. The prospect of another four years of the same does not appeal to me. While I realize that the present inflation is not your fault, history tells us that many people vote where their pocketbook tells them to. Just like the last election, many people will be voting NDP to make sure you don’t get a majority.

The Bottom Line

The Liberals have a very short timeline to show some real progress on all their promises. Failing that, I’d say Mr. Trudeau has served his purpose, and is gradually moving from leader to albatross in his effect on the party’s chances. With Trudeau in charge, the Liberals will be lucky to hold on to their minority position in the next balloting.

Their only hope in that situation is that Mr. Polievre continues to be an even less palatable choice.

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