Is the honeymoon finally over? This is a question being posed ‘round the country as more head-scratching decisions trickle down from our floppy-haired PM’s office on Parliament Hill.
Two new oil pipeline projects – Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain line and Enbridge’s Line 3 – received the green light this month, the former of which hopes to triple that line’s capacity.
A glancing over of Castro’s crimes against humanity was heard the globe over by way of the now infamous “controversial figure” quote in a statement following the dictator’s death that was supposedly given “on behalf of all Canadians” – though few Canadians would ever bow their heads in respect to a tyrant such as Fidel.
A breaking of promised allocations for green infrastructure (we’ll now see $5 billion invested over five years, instead of $6 billion over four) and home care (where was that “immediate” plunging of $3 billion to bolster services when the Liberals’ fiscal commitments were announced in March?) was glaring in the first federal budget.
And men who have sex with other men still can’t donate blood to help those in need – unless they’ve abstained from the horizontal hustle with another bloke for at least a year, that is.
The “non-partisan collaborative citizen initiative” TrudeauMetre.ca tracks the performance of Trudeau’s Liberal government against the 223 campaign promises made during the election lead-up. At the time of writing, about 400 days into office, Trudeau’s tally is a bit of a mixed bag – though not one necessarily worth deploring, yet.
With 37 promised initiatives already achieved and 68 in progress, there indeed is steady movement on the politicking front. Of course, of recognition are the 28 broken vows made to Canadians, those among the aforementioned including a phasing out of subsidies for the fossil fuel industry (there’s a lock on at least one for liquefied natural gas through 2025), and the adjusting of the middle-class tax bracket was supposed to be revenue-neutral (instead it’ll cost us $1.2 billion per year over five years). And let’s not get started on the other 90 assurances that haven’t even gotten discussed over a power lunch just yet.
But after a year that saw Trudeau canoodling everyone from his wife in Vogue to baby pandas at the Toronto Zoo, flashing his pearly whites as he danced in the streets with the LGBTQ community, and still getting to spar in the boxing ring, many Canucks have been left bloated by the constant PR tour and are thirsting for some true substance.
So who really is this man we elected on October 19, 2015? Is he truly the harbinger of change, brought to the Hill to fortify our nation? Or is he more a product of the political system than we originally thought?
Certainly, even his recently reported appearance(s) at cash-for-access fundraisers with Chinese billionaires is cause for many a raised eyebrow, and questions his moral aptitude when it comes to international business affairs.
More will be revealed about this generation’s Trudeau legacy in due time. And while we wait in anticipation to see just how Trump’s America will affect, for the better or for the worse, the Canadian condition, one thing is for certain: the doe-eyed phase of Canada’s newest long-term relationship is coming to an end.
It’s time we remind our boyishly-handsome PM he’s got a list of chores that needs attending.
RELATED LINK: Justin Trudeau’s Hair: Why do we Care?
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