Friday December 9, 2016
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 9, 2016
Dark skies dim Trudeau’s sunny ways
Whether they are miscues or gaffes, the past few weeks have seen the shine wear off the Liberal government, more than 13 months into its first mandate.
May 20, 2016
Call them wobbles, or missteps, mistakes, or worse.
Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef was forced last week to apologize for slagging opposition MPs as lazy after she tossed aside their electoral reform report.
As she stood Monday, Conservative MPs heckled they smelled “toast,” a taunt that her career was on the line.
Monsef appeared unconcerned. She had trailed into the Commons, late, sat down and asked aloud, “Where’s Jim?”
That’s her seatmate, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. He capped last week’s approval of two new pipelines by suggesting defence and police forces would deal with protesters. Carr, an otherwise strong performer on government bench to date, was absent for Monday’s question period.
So was the prime minister.
Justin Trudeau was elsewhere in downtown Ottawa at a coding workshop for high school students to launch computer science education week. Ottawa locations are often photo op venues for the prime minister. But Trudeau was nowhere to be seen Friday when his government hastily reversed a decision on the location of a new Ottawa hospital. It left egg on the face of another star Liberal cabinet minister, Catherine McKenna, whose campaign rhetoric had backed the wrong locale and forced a lengthy, pointless re-examination. (Continued: Toronto Star)
