EDITORIAL: Will he stay or will he go?
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There’s an axiom that says fish and house guests get stale after three days.
When it comes to prime ministers, the magic time frame is about seven years. After that, those who wish to replace them get restless, especially when the PM has a legacy of boondoggles and botched policymaking.
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EDITORIAL: Will he stay or will he go? Back to video
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In the case of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, party members are frustrated by their plummeting poll numbers and a succession of bad goofs.
This week, the calls for him to move over grew from whispers in back rooms to loud statements that his time is up.
“The prudent course of action is for another Liberal leader to rise from the impressive Liberal caucuses and safeguard those policies he was actually able to accomplish,” Senator Percy Downe wrote in The Hill Times this week. Ouch.
Appointed in 2003, Downe, was chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chretien. He likely didn’t make such a remark in isolation. His Senate seat is a safe perch to send up trial balloons on behalf of potential leadership candidates.
Two days later, a story appeared in the Globe and Mail quoting former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney saying he hasn’t ruled out a run for PM. He didn’t rule it in, either. Carney also served as governor of the Bank of England.
“It’s not a decision I need to make now,” he said.
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He’d be wise to look to the unfortunate experience of former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. He returned to Canada after a career in academics abroad to be dubbed “the visiting professor” by the Conservatives. Under his leadership, the Liberals were reduced to third-party status and Ignatieff lost his seat in the 2011 election.
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The party line is that it’s disloyal and ungrateful to conspire to unseat Trudeau. He brought them from the political wilderness to government and has kept them in power through two more elections since 2015.
The truth is that under his watch, this country has never been more divided. He ignores the Prairies and Western Canada while allowing provocative moves by Quebec’s government — that put English speakers in that province at a disadvantage — to go unchecked.
Trudeau’s dad, Pierre, once famously took “a walk in the snow,” announcing afterwards that he wouldn’t run again.
Winter’s coming, prime minister.
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