I spent the fall season trying to build up my YouTube channel by posting political commentaries. It was enjoyable to explore online / on-camera expression as well as practice my editing skills.
I focused mostly on the U.S. election and made many predictions based on how I thought the presidential race was going. Like many, many people, I was deeply disappointed that many of the historical harbingers I've relied on - like the 13 Keys to the White House, like Michael Moore, to name two - were completely wrong this year. Like many, I hoped in my heart that basic human decency and sanity would overcome the evil that is Donald Trump and his racist MAGA movement. I was wrong.
I have been contemplating how I want to continue that vlogging. YouTube can be a tricky but interesting beast to take on. I'm still planning on producing more videos, once I settle on a consistent approach that I can sustain on that platform. But in the mean time, I wanted to get these words down on this blog.
With Trump returning to power amid a conflict-ridden world where despots are winning the day, we are now living in a more dangerous, more hateful world. I would say American voters - 49.8% of them who apparently voted for Donald Trump over the more qualified female candidate who had run a better campaign in three months - did a great job in undermining democracy itself.
If a convicted felon, liar, rapist, seditionist, narcissistic man boy like Trump can win an election simply because those voters mistakenly believe a white male businessman who once hosted a hit TV show about firing people is better for their economic prospects, we are in serious jeopardy.
We are seeing the impact of 30 years of misinformation caused by fake rightwing media like Fox News, reinforced by social media echo chambers where truth and shared facts have gone to die.
The last four years have been tough on all of us. The pandemic threw us all for a loop and many of us have yet to fully recover. Private sector vultures took full advantage of the situation to steal even more from us, making basic human living a major challenge. Housing costs and all costs of living have soared, eating up many gains individuals have managed to make in this tough economy of the 2020s.
As we enter 2025, things look bleak.
In Canada, we are facing a federal election that is likely to see the incumbent Liberals - like so many incumbent parties the world over - tossed out of office.
Justin Trudeau has worn out his welcome. It's time for him to finally resign and rid us of his long-tired schtick.
I voted for Trudeau in 2015 and have appreciated many of the big picture policy changes he has implemented. His main mantra of helping the middle class spoke correctly with the times and his government did manage to lift hundreds of thousands of people and families out of poverty with the Canada Child Tax Benefit. His government also negotiated child care agreements with the provinces, a much needed boost for the economy. Other policies like legalizing and regulating cannabis, or eliminating the rotten partisanship of the Canadian Senate, were much needed and appreciated.
Trudeau didn't sweat the details, though. His immense flaws are now well-known. A penchant for big announcements followed by little follow-up or attention to detail. His virtue signalling has grown tired and meaningless in the face of the forces we are now staring down. While his response to the pandemic seemed to work for most Canadians' health and kept the economy from collapsing, he has been ineffective ever since.
The public is simply sick to death of Trudeau now. Myself included. It's difficult to justify wanting to keep him in power any longer considering the ineptitude we've seen lately.
His big successes are now far in the rear view mirror.
Mid-December, Chrystia Freeland did the country a great service by exposing the nasty nature of their sunny Prime Minister. It bafflled most Liberals, let alone Canadians, to hear that Trudeau told Freeland days before she was expected to deliver a fall economic update that he was demoting her and setting her up to take the fall for his government's economic misdeeds. It was a stab directly in her face after years of misplaced loyalty.
Trudeau is said to be contemplating his future. Any decent, smart leader would've seen the writing on the wall months ago and left in order to let his party renew and the country move on. But not the narcissistic Trudeau. He has to be pushed to see past his rose-coloured worldview.
It's over now. If Trudeau stays, the party he resuscitated will be destroyed in the 2025 election. It will be a crushing and destructive end to the Trudeau legacy, which has been up until now fairly intact.
If Trudeau leaves now, he actually protects that legacy by falling on his sword. Conservatives are licking their lips at the prospect of handing Justin one of the biggest electoral defeats ever suffered an incumbent. His resignation would deny them that satisfaction.
And pave the way for some kind of Liberal renewal.
It's crucial at this time that, if Trudeau quits, the Liberals implement a quick and democratic process to replace him. The process needs to be seen as fair and just. No anti-democratic appointments that circumvent the tough but needed work of a leadership campaign. Any move to push out contenders in order to anoint an insider like Dominic Leblanc will prove to Canadians the rot didn't just stop with Trudeau. It will be proof the rot has affected the entire party and the whole party needs to be decimated.
No, Liberals need to get this right now. A fulsome and quick leadership following a prorogation of the House of Commons could be wrapped up by the end of February. I'm fine with Justin Trudeau staying on as caretaker prime minister so he can put what skills he may yet possess to work combating the threat of Donald Trump's wacko agenda.
Who would I support as Justin's successor? Nobody closely associated with Trudeau's government, which has been less than stellar and largely incompetent of late. It's time to turn the page and return to some semblance of management, reason, focus and energy. The next leader should be someone from the outside, someone who can prove they are charting a more moderate, inclusive, intelligent, careful approach to the country's stewardship.
At the outset, based on what I've heard from him and his writings and public statements, that person may well be Mark Carney, in my estimation. There are many pros and cons to Carney's possible candidacy. I think a lot of his success will depend on how well he performs in a robust and competitive leadership race. It's his to earn. If he fumbles or fails to prove he's got the political chops to match his considerable vision and policy skills, it will justly slip away from him.
But at the outset, I have to say no to Chrystia Freeland (who is a terrible communicator, notwithstanding her resignation letter) and no to Dominic Leblance or anyone else who served in Trudeau's cabinet.
I don't trust nor really want to find out what kind of government Christy Clark would manage, based on her record leading the BC Conservatives - er "Liberals" - in government.
But I am deeply curious about what kind of government Carney would run. His mild-mannered, thoughtful approach to public policy would be a welcome change from empty, superficial, showman Trudeau, not to mention the crude assholeness of Pierre Poilievre.
Even if Carney were unsuccessful winning the next election, I'd still want him to stick around to lead the rebuild. I'd still want to see him eventually back in power. I can't say that about ANY of the other Liberal contenders.
So there it is: Trudeau must go now. The Liberals must run a fair and democratic leadership race. And at the outset, I hope Mark Carney wins it.
We'll see what the next few days and weeks and months hold for our country.
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