Even On His Way Out, Trudeau Found A Way To Weaken Canada One Last Time

By Spencer Fernando, Exclusive to the National Citizens Coalition

Ultimately, a leader’s legacy is defined by what kind of country they leave to their successor, tempered by an understanding of the crises they faced while in office. 

For example, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper left Canada with a nearly-balanced budget and a robust economic foundation, despite having faced the worst global economic crisis since the great depression.

When Harper left office, crime was on the way down, separatist movements in the East and West lacked support and influence, Canada was largely respected on the world stage, and things were so stable that the biggest issues in the 2015 campaign were whether we should legalize marijuana and run small budget deficits for three years or not.

This points us to another way in which we can judge a leader’s legacy: How high are the stakes when they leave office?

If a country faces existential challenges upon the departure of a prime minister, it’s a safe bet the outgoing prime minister was ineffective.

If a country faces relatively inconsequential challenges, it shows that the outgoing prime minister did a good job on the big files.

Through this lens, we can see that while Stephen Harper, Jean Chretien, and Paul Martin all had serious political differences, they all governed well enough to leave Canada in solid shape when they left office.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for Justin Trudeau.

Let’s put aside all the noise and partisanship for a second and look at the reality Canada faces as the Trudeau era ends.

Violent crime is up.

Our once internationally respected immigration system has been broken.

Our standard of living is in decline.

Our social programs are overburdened.

Our debt and deficits are up with little to show for it.

Our military is severely underfunded.

And we are facing the threat of economically devastating tariffs from the incoming U.S. administration.

Canada faces challenges that are not only consequential but potentially existential. Our country faces a threat to our sovereignty and economic prosperity that most would have thought unthinkable.

In short, Trudeau leaves Canada as a much weaker nation than it was when he took office in 2015.

All of this is bad enough.

But to add insult to injury, Justin Trudeau has managed to ensure Canada is at a position of maximum weakness due to the way in which he is departing the scene.

Had Justin Trudeau called an election in December following Chrystia Freeland’s departure from the federal cabinet, we could be weeks away from electing a government that would have a strong mandate to lead Canada through this perilous moment.

Canadians would be weeks away from rendering our judgement on the Trudeau era, and – if the polls are even close to being accurate – we would be on the path to electing a strong Conservative majority government that would provide Canada with stability.

That Conservative majority government would also have something else that is deeply important right now:

The strength of a democratic mandate from the voters. When facing potential tariff threats or infringement of our sovereignty, it is essential for the Canadian government to negotiate with the strength of Canadians behind them.

A new government with a strong majority would have that.

And if Justin Trudeau had called an election in December, he would have at least done something good for the country on the way out by giving us a chance to negotiate from a position of relative strength and national unity.

But that’s not what he did.

Instead, he put the interests of the Liberal Party above the interests of the Canadian people by proroguing Parliament.

Canada will now spend MONTHS being governed by a deeply unpopular lame-duck prime minister while Parliament is absent.

All so the Liberals can deal with their internal squabbles.

It’s a final act of selfishness from a politician who was never able to differentiate his well-being from the well-being of the nation he was given the honour of leading for nearly a decade.

And while he will move on to some cushy position, Canadians will be left to pick up the pieces.

Spencer Fernando is one of the most popular and prolific political voices in Canada. He is a writer and campaign fellow for the National Citizens Coalition. Join the mailing list to receive his exclusive weekly columns in your inbox.

For more from Spencer, visit his website, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.