Nothing worse than most other administrations in Canadian history (some scandals, some corruption, nothing that I would consider unusual or extreme). Some people are salty because, like most politicians, Trudeau didn’t deliver on all of his campaign promises.
The thing is, Prime Ministers (and Premiers) seldom stay in power for more than two consecutive terms in Canada. That’s when voters seem to insist on going to look for a new magic wand to fix things (never mind that it’s never worked in the past).
In the end, it’s all a popularity and media manipulation contest.
Beyond his backtracking on election reform when early results indicated it’d be a long, tough battle to actually change and re-educate people?
He ran on transparency, and while he has been faaaar more transparent than Harper, thats a low bar, and I expect better.
Hes had his share of scandals, which isn’t good (SNC, ArriveCan, off the top of my head)
He supported the transpacific pipeline, which I personally am against.
The Liberal party drastically increased immigration rates beyond what the systems to help get them started (think transferring education credits, language barriers, community programs, etc) could handle. The current housing crisis is at least in part due to that.
All in all, not a terrible PM by my judge, but I tend to lean further left than him, so it’s not like I’d vote for PP no matter what Trudeau did.
Ahhh shit yeah election reform. That remains my biggest gripe with him actually. Good point bringing up the pipeline, I get why it was needed but it still stings. Immigration, while I agree is being executed poorly, is unfortunately needed for a stagnant nation like ours. I think I agree that he’s not terrible but not great. However, his ineptitude gets blown away out of proportion by the cons and I feel like lefties are afraid to voice their support.
Beyond his backtracking on election reform when early results indicated it’d be a long, tough battle to actually change and re-educate people?
Trudeau Liberals bailed the moment they saw they weren’t going to get the ranked ballots they wanted because literally everyone else (including all the advocacy groups) were backing Mixed-Member Proportional.
He ran on transparency, and while he has been faaaar more transparent than Harper, thats a low bar, and I expect better.
This is the same government that is sending hundreds and thousands of completely censored pages to committees. This isn’t better than Harper, this is right out of the same playbook.
Hes had his share of scandals, which isn’t good (SNC, ArriveCan, off the top of my head)
In all honesty, ArriveCan likely didn’t have as much to do with the Liberals as it did with a long broken procurement process. SNC on the other hand was a direct perversion of justice by the Liberals and Trudeau himself and that alone warrants removal in my eyes.
I am very left and would not vote Conservative, but the Liberals have shown they are just as capable of crony capitalism, and they are willing to protect Canada’ oligarchs and the economic pyramid scheme.
If only Singh wasn’t an ass we might see another orange wave, but as long as he’s busy protesting Quebec’s culture that’s never going to happen and Canada will remain divided.
This is the same government that is sending hundreds and thousands of completely censored pages to committees. This isn’t better than Harper, this is right out of the same playbook.
Or the FIPA push through at the last minute despite significant protest about the terms, with his rationale or internal discussions never being released?
One big one I remember from the time was the daily itinerary of the PM, which Trudeau pledged (and followed through on) posting. The quality is sadly lacking, but its still waay better than nothing, which was what Harper provided.
Trudeau is not open and transparent, but compared to Harper? Miles more.
BONUS: Came across this Star article discussing the various scandals Harper was involved in during his tenure, in case anyone needs a refresher.
The better question may be, what has he done right?
That’s not to say it’s a right/wrong binary, but rather: What has he made better? How has he improved the lives of people living here?
His biggest accomplishment has really been not being Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer, or Erin O’Toole. And the biggest reason to vote Liberal in the next election is him not being Pierre Poilievre.
Child Benefit, Daycare subsidy 10$ a day, Greener homes grants, Greener home loans, new tax bracket on the rich (twice), home building accelerator funds, huge infrastructure spending, independent senate, supporting trans rights including affirming care benefits for federal workers, women’s healthcare access including pressure on previously restrictive provinces to provide, pension boost from 1/4 to 1/3, GIS increase, rollback Harper’s change to retirement age(OAS) back to 65 from 67, Canada disability benefit, lifted 91 long term water boil advisories, student loan interest cancellation and extended repayment terms.
But anyway he’s done nothing of note, and we should treat him with scorn and derision. It will be especially helpful if that scorn and derision help reenforced the done nothing image the CPC wants to project on Trudeau, and helps elect a Majority CPC government.
I guess. But when assessing the PM tenure, I’m more concerned whether the political landscape was good enough to pass good legislation or not, regardless of who proposes/pushes the most for it. Otherwise I’d end up just assigning almost everything good the Liberals did right as an NDP win (which may be fair but it’s not useful when discussing PMs).
But I see the Liberals as important articulators the NDP can only negotiate with when the Liberals leadership has the social capital to side with progressives. I think they did a good job managing the average Canadian voter-base for a decade, before the pendulum swing inevitably going back to retrogrades.
As someone who was in elementary school under Harper and (obviously) not into politics…can I ask for an abridged version of your view on Harper’s terms and what your biggest complaints were with his leadership?
I’ve done some looking online for a while, but it’s hard to find good retrospectives on his whole stint as prime minister and not old single-issue news articles.
All that comes to mind when I think Harper is:
Islamophobia
some budget problem that caused some kind of short-lived governmental crisis
He converted several social welfare programs to tax credits (meaning people had to have the money up front to participate, and wait for a refund at tax time). He slashed funding to scientific research that didn’t promote his worldview. He fired public researchers for speaking about their research that contradicted his narratives. He sold off the federal wheat pool to foreign interests. He began the country’s push toward a private healthcare system. He slashed funding for social support systems. He changed provincial equalization payments in a way that put extra strain on poorer provinces.
He made things easier for the rich and those from hegemonic social and ethnic groups, while making things harder for the rest. As is the conservative way.
Yeah I mean I don’t want to be presumptuous, but that seems like all there is to it. I do know the whole SNC Lavelin and ArriveCan controversies aren’t good looks, but other than that, I think he’s been a really good PM. I actually SEEK out info that says otherwise because I feel like I’m going crazy being the only one to say it.
What exactly has Trudeau done wrong? I keep seeing comments like this but I can’t recall anything.
Nothing worse than most other administrations in Canadian history (some scandals, some corruption, nothing that I would consider unusual or extreme). Some people are salty because, like most politicians, Trudeau didn’t deliver on all of his campaign promises.
The thing is, Prime Ministers (and Premiers) seldom stay in power for more than two consecutive terms in Canada. That’s when voters seem to insist on going to look for a new magic wand to fix things (never mind that it’s never worked in the past).
In the end, it’s all a popularity and media manipulation contest.
Beyond his backtracking on election reform when early results indicated it’d be a long, tough battle to actually change and re-educate people?
He ran on transparency, and while he has been faaaar more transparent than Harper, thats a low bar, and I expect better.
Hes had his share of scandals, which isn’t good (SNC, ArriveCan, off the top of my head)
He supported the transpacific pipeline, which I personally am against.
The Liberal party drastically increased immigration rates beyond what the systems to help get them started (think transferring education credits, language barriers, community programs, etc) could handle. The current housing crisis is at least in part due to that.
All in all, not a terrible PM by my judge, but I tend to lean further left than him, so it’s not like I’d vote for PP no matter what Trudeau did.
Ahhh shit yeah election reform. That remains my biggest gripe with him actually. Good point bringing up the pipeline, I get why it was needed but it still stings. Immigration, while I agree is being executed poorly, is unfortunately needed for a stagnant nation like ours. I think I agree that he’s not terrible but not great. However, his ineptitude gets blown away out of proportion by the cons and I feel like lefties are afraid to voice their support.
Trudeau Liberals bailed the moment they saw they weren’t going to get the ranked ballots they wanted because literally everyone else (including all the advocacy groups) were backing Mixed-Member Proportional.
This is the same government that is sending hundreds and thousands of completely censored pages to committees. This isn’t better than Harper, this is right out of the same playbook.
In all honesty, ArriveCan likely didn’t have as much to do with the Liberals as it did with a long broken procurement process. SNC on the other hand was a direct perversion of justice by the Liberals and Trudeau himself and that alone warrants removal in my eyes.
I am very left and would not vote Conservative, but the Liberals have shown they are just as capable of crony capitalism, and they are willing to protect Canada’ oligarchs and the economic pyramid scheme.
If only Singh wasn’t an ass we might see another orange wave, but as long as he’s busy protesting Quebec’s culture that’s never going to happen and Canada will remain divided.
Really? The exact same playbook?
Dug up a few articles from some of the bigger transparency issues I remember from the Harper days. Harper set up a Supreme Court Nominee public committee, then bypassed it entirely. The process Harper used to appoint them remains, to the best of my knowledge, hidden and about as opaque as can be.
Trudeau recognized this, and created a new advisory board which provides waaaay more information. . Scroll down this link and see the info they provide on the process. They include educational history, groups and organizations they belong to, teaching activities, pro bono efforts, etc. They also define the qualifications and assessment criteria so everyone can see how they’re being graded, as can the public.
Harper was pretty against reporters and media in general. Here are two more links discussing the terrible relationship with the press and reporters that Harper had.
Or the FIPA push through at the last minute despite significant protest about the terms, with his rationale or internal discussions never being released?
One big one I remember from the time was the daily itinerary of the PM, which Trudeau pledged (and followed through on) posting. The quality is sadly lacking, but its still waay better than nothing, which was what Harper provided.
Trudeau is not open and transparent, but compared to Harper? Miles more.
BONUS: Came across this Star article discussing the various scandals Harper was involved in during his tenure, in case anyone needs a refresher.
The better question may be, what has he done right?
That’s not to say it’s a right/wrong binary, but rather: What has he made better? How has he improved the lives of people living here?
His biggest accomplishment has really been not being Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer, or Erin O’Toole. And the biggest reason to vote Liberal in the next election is him not being Pierre Poilievre.
Weed, dental care, capital gain tax, carbon tax, decent COVID response (by western standards)
Can’t say much more because I wasn’t paying attention to canpoli 3y ago
Child Benefit, Daycare subsidy 10$ a day, Greener homes grants, Greener home loans, new tax bracket on the rich (twice), home building accelerator funds, huge infrastructure spending, independent senate, supporting trans rights including affirming care benefits for federal workers, women’s healthcare access including pressure on previously restrictive provinces to provide, pension boost from 1/4 to 1/3, GIS increase, rollback Harper’s change to retirement age(OAS) back to 65 from 67, Canada disability benefit, lifted 91 long term water boil advisories, student loan interest cancellation and extended repayment terms.
But anyway he’s done nothing of note, and we should treat him with scorn and derision. It will be especially helpful if that scorn and derision help reenforced the done nothing image the CPC wants to project on Trudeau, and helps elect a Majority CPC government.
Oh hell yeah, the CCP changes have been good. Great list!
The NDP got dental care through. The Liberals delayed enacting it significantly, and we’ve ended up with unnecessary needs assessments.
But I’ll grant you the rest.
I guess. But when assessing the PM tenure, I’m more concerned whether the political landscape was good enough to pass good legislation or not, regardless of who proposes/pushes the most for it. Otherwise I’d end up just assigning almost everything good the Liberals did right as an NDP win (which may be fair but it’s not useful when discussing PMs).
But I see the Liberals as important articulators the NDP can only negotiate with when the Liberals leadership has the social capital to side with progressives. I think they did a good job managing the average Canadian voter-base for a decade, before the pendulum swing inevitably going back to retrogrades.
As someone who was in elementary school under Harper and (obviously) not into politics…can I ask for an abridged version of your view on Harper’s terms and what your biggest complaints were with his leadership?
I’ve done some looking online for a while, but it’s hard to find good retrospectives on his whole stint as prime minister and not old single-issue news articles.
All that comes to mind when I think Harper is:
He converted several social welfare programs to tax credits (meaning people had to have the money up front to participate, and wait for a refund at tax time). He slashed funding to scientific research that didn’t promote his worldview. He fired public researchers for speaking about their research that contradicted his narratives. He sold off the federal wheat pool to foreign interests. He began the country’s push toward a private healthcare system. He slashed funding for social support systems. He changed provincial equalization payments in a way that put extra strain on poorer provinces.
He made things easier for the rich and those from hegemonic social and ethnic groups, while making things harder for the rest. As is the conservative way.
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Yeah I mean I don’t want to be presumptuous, but that seems like all there is to it. I do know the whole SNC Lavelin and ArriveCan controversies aren’t good looks, but other than that, I think he’s been a really good PM. I actually SEEK out info that says otherwise because I feel like I’m going crazy being the only one to say it.