EDITORIAL: Liberals only care about themselves

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From foreign interference to manipulating Canada’s criminal justice system — recall the SNC-Lavalin scandal — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to put their partisan political interests ahead of the interests of the people of Canada.

The situation is no different today, with Trudeau and what little remains of his government — which is near death and on life support — desperately attempting to revive their political fortunes by posing as would-be Captain Canadas, ready to protect their fellow citizens from a looming tariff war with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Their strategy — also adopted by leading Liberal leadership contenders like Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland — is to hope that when Canadians finally go to the polls in a federal election, which is now imminent, they will forget about a decade of Liberal scandals, waste, reckless and irresponsible spending and political corruption because, the Liberals claim, they are now standing up to Trump.

This has become the Liberal mantra in every election after their first victory in 2015 — create a bogeyman, this time it’s Trump, typically it’s the Conservative party leader who they then suggest has a hidden agenda to ban abortions, outlaw same-sex marriages or similar nonsense.

The truth is Trudeau and Co. are once again defying the will of Canadians when it comes to the possibility of a tariff war with the U.S.

That’s apparent from a new Ipsos-Global News poll released Monday which found more than three out of every four Canadians surveyed — 77% — do not believe the Trudeau government has the necessary mandate to negotiate with Trump on tariffs.

(Ipsos polled 1,001 Canadians from Jan. 17 to 20, using an online survey, weighted to reflect the demographics of Canada’s population.)

Instead, they want an immediate federal election called to give the winner the necessary backing from Canadians needed to negotiate with Trump on their behalf.

More than a year of polling has suggested the result of that election, which the Liberals have been desperately trying to avoid for months, will be a strong Conservative majority government led by Pierre Poilievre.

This after the opposition parties combined forces to vote non-confidence in the minority government Trudeau presides over, Trudeau himself having announced his intention to quit and not run in the next federal election.