Don Martin: Trudeau's emissions plan fits a pattern of inconsistency and delusion
Sometimes, you just have to shake your head.
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister until 2025 and possibly beyond, runs a government that excels at being predictably inconsistent, transparently delusional, occasionally devious and excessively obsessed with the latest shiny object.
Think not? Let me count the ways leading to Tuesday’s latest grand delusion.
For inconsistency, consider this week’s declared purchase of the F-35 fighter jet. It comes a dozen years after the last time Canada announced we were buying them, before being interrupted by Trudeau’s promise to never EVER buy that particular jet.
The timing for this $19-billion flip-flop, which cabinet ministers blamed on their own bureaucrats, was obvious.
The government whipped out the F-35s to give its April 7 budget the cover to spend big on jets to bolster its feeble military investments at a time when the rest of NATO is arming up.
Sticking with military matters, there’s a nagging inconsistency in Trudeau pledging more lethal weapons to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion, which most Canadians rightly support.
But it ignores the fact Canada’s largest arms export is to Saudi Arabia, which is doing a ramped-up Putin-like “special military operation” on Yemen, using Canadian armoured vehicles, which a United Nations report says is “helping to perpetuate” the war.
Then there are the shiny political lures that almost always hook Trudeau.
Next month, Global Citizen is hosting a glittery star-studded event to help Ukraine. Given how he’s already promoting it on his office website, you just KNOW the prime minister will be basking in coverage from the front of the global online stage.
Meanwhile, young girls are again being denied schooling in Afghanistan while starvation takes hold. This, in a country where nearly 160 Canadians died defending human rights. So far, crickets on the prime minister’s social media accounts.
And, finally, the prime minister does have a devious side.
On Wednesday, Trudeau will make an overdue visit to the Williams Lake First Nation where 93 burial sites linked to a former residential school have been found.
This is right under the flight path he took for a surfing getaway on the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation last fall.
However, this visit comes the day after a big-ticket Liberal fundraiser in Vancouver, which allows the government jet to transport the prime minister and cabinet ministers on the taxpayers’ tab for an overnight getaway, which, I must stress, does not make him the first prime minister to overlap public duties with partisan activities.
But, all of the above is a long winding way of getting to the biggest head-shaking development of the week, the 270-page grand plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the pivotal fight against climate change.
You can only hope these ambitious targets can be met because it’s vital for our planet’s future.
But this is a far cry from a concrete plan. It’s barely a blueprint. More like a wish list sprinkled with pixie dust and REM-sleep levels of dreaming.
Consider the biggest culprit, the oil sector, where emissions have increased by an eye-popping 137 per cent since 2005, even with coal-fired power plants being mothballed.
The feds say the new target must see emissions suddenly drop by 42 per cent in just eight years, apparently forgetting their promise to boost Canadian oil and gas exports to Europe to help reduce its dependence on Russian energy.
When asked how Canada’s oil patch could ramp up production to help Europe and still meet its dramatically reduced domestic emissions target, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson declared that people “oversimplify these issues."
Canada, he said, must “walk and chew gum at the same time” by helping meet Europe’s post-Russian energy needs, while remaining on track for deep cuts in domestic emissions. Gosh. Look who’s simplifying now?
The government also insists 60 per cent of new car purchases must be electric in just eight years, this in a sales market where EVs now register just five per cent of sales. How? No idea beyond something called a “sales mandate” now under development.
The bottom line, according to Green Party’s Elizabeth May, is that just five pages of charts in the entire door-stopper of a document actually matter because they flesh out the goals with some bare-boned hints of hopeful action.
Of course, it’s hopeless because none of this will come to pass.
We haven’t met an emissions reduction target in our history and there’s every probability the next prime minister will gut or shelve this plan in any event.
But it fits with Trudeau’s consistently inconsistent political behaviour. He reaches to the stars for self-reflected glory without having his feet grounded in reality.
That’s the bottom line.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Police arrest 3 Indian nationals in killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Suter scores late goal, clinches series for Canucks
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Human remains found in rural Sask. possibly a decade old, RCMP say
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Canadian doctor concerned new weight-loss drug Wegovy may be used inappropriately
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Local Spotlight
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.