My favourite Vander Zalm story is from 1978 when he was the BC Minister of Human Resources. A Victoria cartoonist published a cartoon of a grinning Vander Zalm ripping the wings off flies. Vander Zalm sued and won damages, but the decision was overturned by the BC Court of Appeal. This was an important precedent for free speech in Canada. But my favourite part was that after the lawsuit was launched, another cartoonist published a cartoon of Vander Zalm ripping the legs off a cartoonist. LOL! The original cartoon can be seen on this page.
It was. BC politics were pretty bizarre in the 70s and 90s too. It was embarrassing.
With the Alberta election today, I read your column about politics, how Canadians generally trust the system more than Americans do theirs. I’m like that, don’t care about my political party and love shoveling three times a day. I could move there.
Sure. But you’re probably thinking of shovelling snow. That’s only one of the options.
So, the issue of what to do with 24 Sussex (the Prime Minister’s residence) is once again in the news.
And like clockwork, the Conservatives are trying to spin this as “Justin Trudeau just wants us to buy him a mansion!!!”
This is why we’ll never fix or replace 24 Sussex. The Conservatives won’t do it, because they hate government, and spending money on government, and the Liberal can’t do it, because every time they try, the Conservatives latch onto it as a call to arms.
So we’re stuck with a rotting piece of crap, that everyone agrees is an embarrassment, but which no one will ever fix.
That’s why responsibility for this has to lie with the National Capital Commission and not Parliament.
Is PP willing to move out of Stornaway and move into a townhouse in Downtown Gatineau?
Of course not! PP having a mansion is no problem at all!
Trudeau, at the end of his term when not personally benefitting, should designate funds to either fix or replace it. It’s an embarrassment that says a little too much about Canadian efficiency. While one might jump on Poilievre, his actions are no different or more blameworthy than a thousand other politicians. Although they lack courage, the media might well lambaste one who makes a reasonable decision just because it is easy to do.
It would be spun as "Trudeau is just doing favours for his buddy, (Insert new Liberal Leader here). Just a cushy home for (Insert new Liberal Leader here). They always stick together. Corruption! Don’t vote for (Insert new Liberal Leader here).
We hate, HATE, (insert new Liberal Leader here). You should hate them too!"
It would. But a courageous politician would either fix it, replace it or sell it. There would be those who would pretend to be upset. But it is still the best course of action, and smart people know it.
Ahhh, that means politicians will NEVER do it.
Working so far.
The thing is, this is still a government project. He could allocate the money today to find or build a new residence, and he, personally, would probably never actually live there. The odds are he’ll be out of office one way or another long before the process of establishing a new residence is complete.
And there is no guarantee that the next gov’t would continue that decision.
True. Fifty years from now, there’s a reasonable chance people will be having this same discussion. My suspicion is Trudeau will likely seek the nomination again and this was perhaps a source of family friction. I could be wrong and often am, so will not speculate further on a private matter.
My point was if such a decision was made by a politician, the predictable kerfuffle and campaigning (though disingenuous) makes it likely to affect enough votes that it would be better made by one not reseeking office. Even if the decision was said to come from arms length by a senior bureaucrat.
“Today on CBC Meta Google Evening News, PM Michel Hadrian Trudeau opens the new Matter Transit Centre at the Greater Moosejaw Megacity”
Nitpick: A leader of a party in Canada does not “seek a nomination “. Trudeau has stated in the May 2023 Liberal convention that he intends to lead the party into the next election. With a current minority government, that could take place virtually anytime on or before Oct 20, 2025.
I suppose you’re right. But if the party disagreed with that decision than there is a mechanism to eventually vote, no? Freeland seems well qualified, not sure how much, if anything, there was to speculation Anita Anand was shuffled to Treasury to discourage big ideas.
According to the Liberal Party of Canada Consitution section M.44.b.iii (warning: PDF)
A Leadership Endorsement Ballot can be called and if the leader fails to be endorsed, they are immediately removed.
This is one of the fundamental differences between our system and the US. We have parties, which have memberships and organizations. The choice of a leader of a party is up to the members, through the party’s leadership process established by the party organisation.
That is a completely separate process from the general election. The leader of each party is chosen well in advance of the election, so we don’t have an interminable election campaign like the US, where the nominations for presidential candidates start over a year before the general election.
There is no office of prime minister in the Constitution. No-one is nominated to be elected prime minister. The general election is a campaign for the 338 seats in the House of Commons. Each party leader stands for election to one of the ridings, just like all of the other candidates. If a party wins a majority of seats, that party leader becomes Prime Minister.