If the Liberals have a soul, they should be searching it now

If the Liberals have a soul, they should be searching it now

Given the stunning electoral turnaround in the Toronto St Paul's byelection on June 24, 2024, Trudeau doubled down on his assertion about political survival.  It sounds like Canada will get more of the same from the Liberals for now.  However, the byelection result has opened the door for the usual quieter voices in the Liberal Caucus to go loud.  They might ask about what policy changes they can make.  What can they do in magic policy tricks to change their electoral prospects?  How can the Parliamentary Caucus of Liberal MPs clarify that Trudeau has to go?  Those are the wrong questions, as they avoid the central issue.  Canadian governance in the NDP-Liberal style, has been repudiated.

It is often said that the only accurate poll is election day -well, now we have one.  There may be a few more byelections before the big day next year.  The Toronto contest was widely described as a referendum on Trudeau's leadership; the Liberals knew it and they fought hard.  Many Cabinet Minsters visited the riding to campaign and raise party profile.  Voters were having none of it. 

The Liberal Party's future is now in the hands of Liberal MPs in the Caucus.  Also, how long will the NDP hang in and prop up the losing Liberals?  The NDP vote went down in this byelection.  It is too late for them to pull the plug on their ‘supply agreement’ and escape blame. 

The whole situation reminds me of Matthew 23:25-28  New International Version  25.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  26  Blind Pharisee!  First, clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.  27  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  28  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

The stunning Liberal loss in Toronto-St. Paul's is a seismic shift that will reverberate for weeks.  There are both local and national perspectives.  In the local community, Jewish folk were not happy with the poor antisemitism response by the government arising from the Gaza war.  Additionally, voters from some better-off residential areas were negative about the recent budget change to increase the inclusion rate for capital gains.  The last-ditch change concerning terrorist policy by listing the IRGC as a terrorist group, although welcomed, turned cynical as just too little too late.

Nationally, the cost-of-living crisis has affected everyone, especially rents in the riding.  There is an overarching appetite for political change, and Trudeau fatigue is real. 

Although the winning candidate, Don Stewart, and his team worked hard and did not make mistakes, they were surprised at the win.  Nevertheless, they knew they were doing well in the Liberal stronghold, as on the doorstep, Pierre's Poilievre's message of "Axe the tax.  Build the homes.  Fix the budget.  Stop the crime." resonated.  Voters know the simple phrase represents a deeply considered approach to governance, democracy, and human rights.

After the political earthquake, what does it mean for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre?  There may be even more media trolling on Conservatives, and indeed the negative dirty tricks will increase.  The cadre of social-media anti-conservative subversives will now work overtime.  More "blocking" and "unfriending" may be needed as Facebook Conservatives defend themselves.  Twitter X has already gone insane and is nearly unreadable. 

The legacy media will manufacture more doubt and controversy about the "cold-cruel and small" Conservatives, as the Deputy Prime Minister said of Canadians.  In response, voters rejected the whole high-minded NDP-Liberal cabal.  

One can hope beyond hope that the Toronto Star would either go broke or clean out its editorial rooms.  Can the legacy media generate a healthful national conversation about what can be improved, changed, cleaned out, and built?  Can Conservatives more truly be described as bringing hope rather than fear, and administrative accountability rather than another scandal? 

Instead of the government having a million reasons and laws why one cannot do something or go somewhere, freedom and personal dignity need to flourish.  Recall that several truck convoys and other democratic displays of disgust that arose over the past years arose for real reasons. 

Will the surprise electoral win wake up the country?  Backroom conversations among Liberal MPs must now spill out.  The speculative polls about Liberals have been confirmed as accurate.  The Prime Minister and his insiders can no longer spin myth-making for their Caucus.

The Liberal Party was repudiated at the polls.  The policies they are driving are not resonating.  Yet we have heard from the prime minister and all the government defenders, that they must listen better and be more empathetic to what voters are saying.  The Prime Minister says that he shares the voter's pain and frustrations, but he does not apologize that he made their pain.

There was no admission from Cabinet Ministers that being Liberal 'Canadian style' is a rejected and dismissed ideology.  Their disgraced way of thinking has produced behaviours, policies, and administration that have been corrupt, immoral, mercenary, and narcissistic.  Underneath all the Liberal political word salad, what is being rejected in 2024 is the Canadian version of leftie ideology and the social and economic devastation that it has brought to Canada. 

Liberals have deceived themselves into thinking they need better communication and empathizing with voters' wishes.  They believe the problem is that their wonderfulness is not understood or appreciated.  They just need to feel the voter's pain and frustration to overcome the Liberal unlikability and trust gap of the Prime Minister's entourage. 

While Cabinet Ministers say that the byelection outcome was a wake-up call, does anyone expect that suddenly they will become truth-tellers?  Will the thousands of hidden documents and secret payoff deals be divulged?  In their smug pirouetting, they think it's the voter who needs to change, not the NDP-Liberals.  The issue is not a communication exercise gone wrong, as more reflecting and listening won’t do it. 

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland revealed the inner dead soul of the Trudeau Liberals.  She said on national television, that those voting Conservative would be voting for a vision of Canada that is cold and cruel and small, and who are in favour of cuts and austerity, not believing in ourselves as a country, not believing in our communities and in our neighbours.  It was pugnacious but also revelatory.

The Liberal self-deception disease was on full display.  It is the notions of the self-anointed self-congratulatory justification for social policy. 

There is a blind and arrogant vision of Canadian Liberalism that views political opponents and contrarians as unworthy, who do not possess their Liberal gnosticism (special insider knowledge).

In Toronto-St. Paul's, when put to the test, which allowed voters to express themselves in a secret ballot, there were enough citizens who spoke up and said they had enough of Liberal arrogance.

After nine years of lurching from scandal to scandal, breaking the Bank, and undermining Parliament itself, many believe it’s time for a change at the ballot box.

When such a full tide is on the move, an incumbent Prime Minister and Party cannot reverse it. Trudeau's problem is that many Canadians have stopped listening and don't want to converse with him or the Party.

The bottom line is not about whether Trudeau will quit, but when.  Liberal policy credibility is in a shambles.  This is not just about an ‘unqualified actor’, as there are now dozens of Liberal MPs whose seats are destined to be lost.  It is obvious to reason that if a downtown Toronto riding stronghold can turn Conservative, then the entire metro region of Toronto could change. 

If Trudeau calls it quits, the Conservatives can muster the same reality criticism that put them over the top on Monday.  It is about both the self-deluded personalities and the myths they peddle.  Whoever takes over would have a monumental hill to climb.  The story of Kim Campbell is the lesson.