Tom Mulcair: Is Justin Trudeau just playing out the clock?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a fireside chat with Michael Sheldrick, co-founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Affairs Officer at Global Citizen during a Global Citizen Now event on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Nov. 17, 2024 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

Justin Trudeau recorded a long video on the subject of immigration and released it over the weekend. It was a howler.

In it, he blamed Canada’s immigration crisis on: the pandemic, provincial premiers, colleges and universities, “big box stores” (not joking) and, maybe a teeny, tiny bit, his own government.

Not a word about the plan he espoused to bring Canada’s population to 100 million by the end of this century.

He was on track for that. Canada had 36 million souls when Trudeau came to office in 2015; we now number close to 42 million, and counting.

The problem, of course, is not with immigration itself. Every Canadian understands that unless you’re First Nations, Inuit or Métis, your family immigrated here at some point in its history.

The problem is that Trudeau was radically increasing immigration without a thought to the predictable effects on availability of healthcare, education facilities and, most importantly, housing.

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He’s paying a very heavy political price for that negligence, and it is one of the key reasons he’s some 15- to 20-percentage points behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in the polls.

We are blessed to live in a place that is peaceful and prosperous and where voters get to decide who will govern them.

It hasn’t always been easy, but the result is there to see.

The recognition, by most Canadians, that colonialism and racism towards Indigenous Canadians, in particular the residential school system, is a stain on our collective history is encouraging for our shared future. Real compensation by the federal government has been part of a path to reconciliation.

In contrast to the vast policy debris field of the Trudeau years, Trudeau’s sincere determination to create a true nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Canadians is one of his finest accomplishments.

But even there, he just can't seem to follow through.

The Boissonault problem

The debacle of fake claims of Indigenous ancestry by Liberal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault should have been dealt with decisively -- and rapidly. Instead, they’ve been like water torture for Trudeau as details drip out day after day.

Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Minister Randy Boissonnault speaks at a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. The chair of the Liberal party's Indigenous caucus says Indigenous identity is "complicated" after a former member and current minister is being questioned over his claims to Indigenous identity, along with two current members. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

No, a prime minister doesn’t have to take care of all the fine details of a mess like this himself. That’s why you have a chief of staff. But Trudeau and Katie Telford are now wandering around the empty castle that was once the Prime Minister’s Office, completely cut off from the concerns, and perceptions, of average Canadians. Issues like this one are no longer handled, they are handed off.

Trudeau knows the consequences of a shuffle

Trudeau promised when he came to office that if there was even a whiff of impropriety in his government, he'd deal with it decisively. After all the revelations came out concerning Boissonnault—his sketchy Indigenous claims and his business dealings—how is it possible that he remains in cabinet?

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There have been six departures from cabinet in recent months with no replacements so far. Boissonnault would be the seventh.

Trudeau, of course, knows the consequences of a shuffle: in addition to pleasing the new members of cabinet, he’d create a far greater number of disappointed and dissatisfied MPs who thought they’d be next in line to be named ministers.

Meanwhile, the federal cabinet looks like Swiss cheese. The lamentable handling of this core obligation to have a full cabinet, in our government based on ministerial responsibility, is hurting the country as a whole.

Another boondoggle?

The Conservatives continue their filibuster in an attempt to draw attention to the truly scandalous behaviour of the Liberals in yet another boondoggle. This one involves a sustainable development technology fund that was so rife with cronyism, conflicts of interest and illegal subsidies, that Trudeau forced out its leaders (whom he’d appointed) and tried to bury the whole thing by sending its budget to another government agency.

The Conservatives, doing their jobs as official Opposition, have been hounding Trudeau to hand over the documents, as ordered by Parliament itself. So far, the Liberals have steadfastly refused and have continued to try to shunt everything off to a committee.

It’s a gong show that few, outside the confines of Parliament, are paying attention to; but it has the unmistakable smell of a government at the end of its regime.

Trudeau is cornered, but is unwilling to let the people decide. He’s grasping onto power thanks to an NDP that has been embarrassing as it continues to support the Liberals, come hell or high water.

The problem, of course, is that there’s still a country to run, and the government has run out of gas.

Parliament can’t function, yet Trudeau continues to spend as much time as he can on the road (who can blame him for playing hooky? It’s no fun at all for him in the House).

U.S. President Joe Biden, right, talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as world leaders gather for a G20 Summit group photo, in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 19, 2024 (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Trudeau strongly supports Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use long range missiles into Russia. Shouldn’t there be a debate here in Canada on such a crucial issue for the future of the planet? Apparently not.

What is our game plan for trade with the new U.S. administration? So far, all we’ve got is the laughable reassurance that everything’s going to be fine, because the Liberals have already thought about it.

There are pressing issues that need an active, engaged federal government that is a willing partner of the provinces on key issues like healthcare, energy, environment and housing.

How is the bureaucracy supposed to know which way to turn when their political masters have their heads elsewhere?

Hubris is an amazing thing. Shut yourself off from the world and you can convince yourself that everything’s great across the land.

Except, it isn’t.

Trudeau has presided over a historic drop in the fortunes of the Liberals, but can’t seem to shake his core belief that we really, really need him.

Time is fast running out for his party’s one chance for a reset: proroguing Parliament and holding a shortened leadership race.

Maybe that’s the point: Trudeau is playing the clock, either to his eventual successor’s total disadvantage, or to satisfy himself.

Has Trudeau gone from ”Sunny Ways” to “Sonny Stays”?

Tom Mulcair was the leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017