GUNTER: Liberals heading into election a desperate party

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With his Atlantic, Ontario and now Quebec caucuses suggesting Justin Trudeau resign, if he comes back from his holiday ski trip with any announcement other than, “Thanks folks, but I’m outta here!” our prime minister is an even more power-mad narcissist than U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. And that’s saying something.

With or without Trudeau at the helm, the Liberals are going to go into this year’s election a desperate, nasty, scared party.

Just look at a recent tweet by Adam Vaughan. Vaughan was a downtown Toronto MP for two terms until 2021, and while not still in the Commons he remained the embodiment of Toronto-centric Liberal thinking.

In his social media message, the former CBC journalist tried to blame the spike in crime under the Trudeau Liberals on – wait for it – the Harper Tories.

“The Conservatives stuff the jails,” Vaughan claimed. “Complain about bail. And blame all but themselves. The party of crime and punishment has never made Canada safer. That job falls to people who fight for social justice as a solution to criminal justice.”

The problem with Vaughan’s claims: They’re simply not true.

In the nine years since the Liberals were first elected, violent crime in Canada has risen over 40%. More than 200 people a year have been killed by someone out on bail or another form of early release.

For instance, the pair who have been charged with the murder of a 20-year-old Edmonton security guard last month both have criminal records that would curdle your blood. Armed robbery, assault, kidnapping and more.

They should never have been out of jail, but thanks to the Trudeau government’s bail reforms, they were free to shoot Harshandeep Singh fatally in the back.

According to a report by Vancouver’s Fraser Institute, during the Trudeau years, “violent crime rate in Canada increased by 43.8 per cent,” and now exceeds the violent crime rate in the United States by 14%. Property crime in Canada now exceeds property crimes in the U.S. by over 25%.

Despite Vaughan’s delusions to the contrary, the country was very much safer before his Liberal party made it next to impossible for judges to keep arrestees in custody, even if they have long lists of prior convictions.

Whether Trudeau resigns in the next few days, or not, it’s smug, angry, twisted messaging like Vaughan’s that will dominate Liberal speeches and ads between now and election day. They intend to run against either Donald Trump or Stephen Harper, or both, and scare supporters to stay in the fold.

It won’t work. It will appear to voters as a desperate tactic, even frantic, and swing voters are reluctant to vote for desperate, frantic parties. Just ask Kamala Harris and the U.S. Democrats.

But here’s the best evidence yet of just how desperate the Liberals are: Before New Year’s, the idea was being floated in Ottawa that Trudeau was reluctant to step down (despite being abandoned by his caucus) and there wasn’t enough time before the election for a robust leadership campaign, so the proposal was for Trudeau stay on until March, then resign. An interim leader would be appointed who would lead the party in the upcoming election while promising that after the vote the party would hold a full-fledged leadership contest.

It is a testament to how out-of-touch and dreadful the Libs are that they would come up with such a harebrained, out-of-touch proposal – even if they never carry through.

What voter in his or her right mind is going to cast a ballot for a pig in a poke? “Vote Liberal! Then we’ll tell you who are leader will be. Maybe you’ll like them, maybe you won’t. But by that time it will be too late. We’ll already have your ballot.”

If the Liberals did that, they’d win even fewer seats than if Trudeau stayed on.