Another historic year for Canada lies before us – a new United States administration that has threatened us with tariffs and the certainty we will be having a new prime minister in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau limped over 2024 so politically bruised that he decided against giving any year end interviews. Certainly, in my living memory I do not know of any other Prime Minister who has not given any year end interviews.
The last month of 2024 saw the crumbling of his political promise of “Sunny Ways”. A lot has happened since Mr. Trudeau’s electoral victory speech on October 19, 2015, when he proclaimed to Canadians and the world that Canada entered a new era of a “Sunny Ways” government.
“Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways. This is what positive politics can do. This is what a causative, hopeful – a hopeful vision and a platform and a team together can make happen. Canadians – Canadians from all across this great country sent a clear message tonight. It’s time for a change in this country, my friends, a real change.”
Laurier giving a public Address
Mr. Trudeau’s “Sunny Ways” reference was a tip of the hat to the speech given by former Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier at Morrisburg, Ontario, on October 8, 1895.
Laurier was hounded by the press of his day to give his take on what was known as “The Manitoba Schools Question.” That debate involved whether the francophones in Manitoba had a right to be educated in French and their Roman Catholic faith. It was a debate over public funding for religious schooling in the French language.
Thomas Greenway, the Manitoba premier of the time refused to give public funding to the French Catholic schools.
Laurier was asked about his position on the matter. Coming from Quebec where French Catholic schools received government funding Laurier knew his answer would be highly scrutinized. If he supported Greenway’s approach he would be seen as a traitor by Quebec. If he took a hard stand against Greenway, he feared that the English majority in Manitoba would be against him.
Laurier then referenced Aesop’s fable of the argument between the wind and the sun that wanted to take the coat off a traveler. The wind blew cold and hard against the man but the man held his coat close. When the wind died down the sun shown bright and hot and soon the man, who was now sweating took his coat off.
Laurier’s speech then turned to the issue at hand.
“I am not here to solve this question, because it is not in my province to solve it,” Laurier acknowledged. It was a provincial matter not a federal matter. “The government are very windy,” Laurier stated, “They have blown and raged and threatened, but the more they have threatened and raged and blown the more that man Greenway has stuck to his coat.… If it were in my power… I would try the sunny way. I would approach this man Greenway with the sunny ways of patriotism, asking him to be generous to the minority, in order that we may have peace amongst all the creeds and races which it has pleased God to bring upon this corner of our common country. Do you not believe that there is more to be gained by appealing to the heart and soul of men rather than to compel them to do a thing?”
Notice again the words of Laurier:
“[S]unny ways of patriotism, asking him to be generous to the minority, in order that we may have peace amongst all the creeds and races which it has pleased God to bring upon this corner of our common country. Do you not believe that there is more to be gained by appealing to the heart and soul of men rather than to compel them to do a thing?”
Justin Trudeau’s appeal to the “sunny ways” of Laurier sounded well and good in 2015 upon his election. Unfortunately, if we look over the rule of Prime Minister Trudeau we will find that his was more the rule of the Wind in Aesop’s fable than that of the Sun. We have no choice but conclude that Justin Trudeau did the very opposite of what Sir Wilfred Laurier advocated. Instead of “appealing to the heart and soul of men” Justin Trudeau sought to compel everyone to do his bidding.
Chrystia Freeland is but one of a host of the “Team Trudeau” who met the familiar fate of being compelled to do Mr. Trudeau’s bidding. She now ranks with – Jody Wilson-Raybould, and Jane Philpot. These three along with a host of others were part of a team that dramatically changed Canada for the worse since 2015 election.
Chrystia Freeland, along with former Finance Minister Bill Morneau, racked up an astronomical Canadian debt to over $1.2 trillion. This was the same team that complained and criticized Stephen Harper over a minister’s $16 orange juice she was charged when she attended a conference in her role as a cabinet minister.
Jamie Sarkonak noted that Wilson-Raybould weakened our justice system by repealing Harper’s mandatory minimum sentences in criminal cases. She made bail easier for offenders. Of course, for anyone watching what happened to Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy 2022 Wilson-Raybould’s bail reforms were of little assistance. It just goes to show that when government has a particular animus against a perceived political actor it matters not what the law is. Despite being a Metis that was no help to Lich as Wilson-Raybould’s expanded rules to allow race-based sentencing discounts in bail decisions were also of no benefit to Lich.
Jane Philpott, the former Liberal health minister, changed the criminal law to allow more drug consumption sites to proliferate around the country. Now our country is saturated like never before with drug problems that were unheard of prior to 2015 Sunny Ways Election.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet come before the press since Chrystia Freeland threw a wrench in his spoked wheel. Press reports had it that Mark Carney would be taking Freeland’s place as Finance Minister but when Freeland’s explosive resignation letter became public Carney seems to have backed away. Mr. Trudeau was forced to give the post to his longtime friend Dominic LeBlanc.
To say Canada is in a mess is an understatement. Our dollar is at or below 70 cents US. Just as a comparison on October 19, 2015, it was at 76.83 cents US and our national debt was at $619.3 billion. Today our national debt is $1.24 trillion and increasing at $110 million per day. Somehow that $16.00 orange juice was the very least of our concerns!
The new Donald Trump administration threatens a 25% tariff on Canadian goods and Canada has a Prime Minister running away from the media. Fifty Ontario Liberal Members of Parliament recently came to a “consensus” that the Prime Minister must step down. Wayne Long, an MP from PEI states, “the prime minister is clearly living in a delusional false reality” that he can continue “but we’re not a ship that’s taking on water we’re the Titanic right now and we need to really change direction.”
On December 20, Jagmeet Singh, announced that the NDP will vote non-confidence against the Liberal Government in its next opportunity. This now means that Mr. Trudeau must act quickly, either he:
- Resigns: allowing for a leadership contest which is fraught with a lot of trouble as potential candidates will not have much room to distance themselves from Mr. Trudeau and his policies;
- Dissolve parliament and call an election: which in all likelihood will lead to a defeat at the polls but at least the loss will be on his shoulders and the Liberal party will be forced to rebuild afresh;
- Prorogue parliament: that will end the current session of Parliament and allow him to continue to rule until he needs money for the government to operate. Upon reopening he will be able to outline his long term plans in a Throne Speech but will no doubt have to face an immediate election with the loss of confidence in the House.
Proroguing parliament will mean that all current legislation not passed will die with the end of the session. This is good news for those of us who have been extremely troubled by his Bill C-63 Online Harms Bill.
The irony of Justin Trudeau’s use of the Sunny Ways analogy from the time of Wilfred Laurier must not be lost. Instead of an administration marked by a soft approach of leadership that used dialogue and negotiation the Justin Trudeau Era has been one of manipulation, cajoling, and use of ultimate state power. From the firing of unvaccinated civil servants to the use of the Emergencies Act against the peaceful protestors during the COVID 19 pandemic to his serial mistreatment of his own cabinet ministers and his caucus along with the implementation of ideologically charged government polices the use of the “Sunny Ways” rubric has been but a cruel joke on the Canadian people.
The struggle for freedom in Canada continues. The mistreatment of the Canadian truckers in February 2022 is now being revealed as but part of a legacy that has been anything but “Sunny Ways”.
Sir Wilfred Laurier’s question remains, “Do you not believe that there is more to be gained by appealing to the heart and soul of men rather than to compel them to do a thing?”
Therein lies the lesson of the Justin Trudeau Era in Canadian politics: well sounding platitudes followed by threats and intimidation is no replacement for substantive, meaningful, purposeful and respectful engagement with those in opposition.
