On Monday, September 20, 2021, Canadians will be voting in the 2021 Election. This election might be more important than what most Canadians realize. Its implications will impact every Canadian, including Canada’s relationships with the rest of the world. It will determine how Canada interacts with its fellow democracies, and with totalitarian regimes, which are making the world a more dangerous and tension filled global community. Unfortunately, many Canadians vote based upon their partisan biases. If there ever was an election where Canadians should drop their partisan views and not vote accordingly, this is the election.
Although a Party’s platform is important, the most compelling aspect to consider this election is leadership. Leadership encompasses many qualities: character, honesty, integrity, pragmatism, transparency, non-duplicity, selflessness, and trust. Since the Liberal Party and its leader have been in power over the last 6 years, it is reasonable to consider Justin Trudeau’s character, and reputation in light of leadership. Are there reasons why Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party should not be reelected as the governing Prime Minister and governing Party of Canada, respectively?
There are many reasons why Justin Trudeau should not be reelected as the Prime Minister of Canada. According to reports, during a music festival in British Columbia in 2000, Justin Trudeau, who was then 28 year old teacher, was accused of groping a female journalist. When Justin Trudeau was confronted with the alleged assault, he apologized to the journalist. Unfortunately, like many female victims, the journalist didn’t make a formal complaint to the authorities. As a professional teacher, Justin Trudeau demonstrated poor judgement and disregarded the dignity of a woman.
In another demonstration of his character, while being vetted for the Liberal Party’s leadership position, Justin Trudeau hid information from the officials who were vetting him. The purpose of the vetting process is to find out if there are any harmful, embarrassing or questionable activities that a candidate was involved in. It is crucial for a candidate to be honest. Unfortunately, Trudeau was dishonest. He chose to conceal several embarrassing situations — all having to do with racism. As a professional teacher and adult, Justin Trudeau chose to darken his skin and present himself as an Arab. Should he have known better? Of course, he should have. When Trudeau was questioned about the event, he said that he made a mistake. He then was asked if he was involved in similar incidents. He said that he could not remember. Later, it was revealed that he was involved in at least two other social events where he was masquerading as a Black African, and indulging in the moment. Journalists asked Justin Trudeau how many other times he was involved in such incidents. Trudeau answered that he could not remember. Journalists then asked why he didn’t reveal the information during the vetting process. Trudeau answered that he was embarrassed with what he did; therefore, he didn’t divulge the incidents. Was that a reasonable answer? The purpose of the vetting process was to disclose any embarrassing or incriminating information — the good, the bad and the ugly. Did Trudeau do so? No. Should Trudeau have been honest and disclose the information? Yes. Did he? No. Why would Canadians vote for Justin Trudeau to remain as Prime Minister when he chose to coverup and conceal information that would determine if he was fit to run for the Liberal Party leadership?
What about the relationship between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party and the WE Charity’s $1 billion dollar scandal? The WE Charity had a pristine image. However, the image started to unravel in 2020. During the Covid pandemic, Trudeau and the Liberal Government made a nearly $1 billion dollar decision that would spell the end of the WE Charity. The approximately $1 billion dollar scandal was a programme where the Liberal government awarded to give the WE Charity the money to run a programme, which would connect young people with volunteer opportunities. The young people would be paid, in many cases, below minimum wage. Ironically, the WE Charity started in order to address child slave labour. For administering the programme, the WE Charity would be paid $43.5 million dollars at a time when the organization was financially faltering because of a lack of donations. However, the programme wasn’t tendered to other organizations to bid on. Why?
To make matters worse in the scandal, neither Justin Trudeau nor the Finance Minister Bill Morneau recused themselves from meetings that discussed awarding the student volunteer programme to the WE Charity, despite that both Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Morneau had affiliations with the organization. Over several years, Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophia Gregoire Trudeau made several appearances at WE Charity events. Justine Trudeau was asked if he, his wife or family members ever benefitted financially from the WE Charity when appearing at WE events. Justine Trudeau answered no. However, it was untrue. Justin Trudeau’s wife was paid over $32,000 to supposedly cover her expenses at WE events. If so, why wasn’t this payment communicated to the public when journalists asked Justin Trudeau the question? Justin Trudeau’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, was paid $250,000 by the WE Charity organization to speak at WE gatherings. And Justin Trudeau’s brother, Alexandre, was paid $32,000 to speak at 8 WE events, according to BBC News. The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Washington Post, and other prominent news agencies have also reported on Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party’s connection with the then WE Charity.
Like Justin Trudeau’s wife and family, Morneau and his family benefitted from the WE Charity. The WE Charity paid for two vacation trips, one to Ecuador, South America and one to Kenya, Africa, for Morneau and his family at a cost of $41,000. As well, one of Morneau’s daughters was working for the WE Charity at the time that the student programme was awarded to the organization. Because of the scandal, the Ethics Commissioner was investigating both Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau for violations of conflicts of interest. This was Justin Trudeau’s third investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into three separate issues. In the first two investigations, the Ethics Commissioner charged that Justin Trudeau was guilty for conflict of interest violations. How is it possible that Justin Trudeau wasn’t removed from political office for the violations?
The SNC Lavalin scandal is, perhaps, the most egregious of all the scandals that Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party were involved with. SNC Lavalin, the Montreal, Quebec based construction behemoth was involved in contracts in Libya, Africa. SNC Lavalin was accused of bribes, and fraud — $43 million and $130 million, respectively. The RCMP had investigated the corporation for other previous financial and political infractions. The Honourable Judy Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s Justice Minister and Attorney General, had the task of deciding if SNC Lavalin would be formally charged, which would have prevented the construction giant from bidding on construction projects in Canada and abroad that involved the Canadian government. The Justice Minister and Attorney General could defer prosecution, which meant that the company would pay a fine; however, it would still be able to bid on national and foreign projects. The decision was the Attorney General’s decision to make without political obstruction and influence.
The determination of SNC Lavalin’s fate was and is solely the responsibility of the Attorney General. The Attorney General’s decisions around such legal matters are required to be made without any political interference. Such decisions are based upon the separation of powers between the government and justice branches, and rest solely with the Attorney General. Such decisions are based on the rule of law. However, through investigative journalistic reporting, the Globe and Mail broke the story that the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his inner circle were interfering with the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould’s decision regarding SNC Lavalin. It was reported that Justin Trudeau and his inner circle were pressuring the Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to pronounce deferred prosecution for SNC Lavalin’s bribes and frauds. Justine Trudeau declared that the Globe and Mail’s findings and reports were false. However, Justin Trudeau’s denial was proven to be fallacious.
Soon after the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould refused to give into Justin Trudeau and his inner circle’s pressure and interference, Justin Trudeau made a cabinet shuffle. He removed the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould as the Justice Minister and Attorney General, and demoted her to Veterans Affairs. The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from Cabinet. The Honourable Jane Philpot, one of Trudeau’s most trusted cabinet ministers, also resigned from Cabinet because of her loss of confidence in how Justin Trudeau and his office handled the SNC scandal. Justin Trudeau and his Cabinet decided to remove both the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould and the Honourable Jane Philpot from the Liberal Party caucus. Essentially, they were fired. Both women ran as independents in the next election. Jody Wilson-Raybould won a seat in her riding; however, Jane Philpot didn’t. How can Canadians even consider Justin Trudeau as a leader and the Liberal Party as the governing party after this breach of the rule of law, and their spurning of the separation of the political and judicial branches?
Meanwhile, the Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion, investigated the matter to determine if Justin Trudeau and his inner circle interfered with the Attorney General and pressured the Attorney General to make the decision of deferring prosecution of SNC Lavalin. The Ethics Commissioner completed his 63 page report. After a relatively thorough investigation, he concluded that Justin Trudeau and his inner circle violated the separation of powers between the government and judicial branches. Ethics Commissioner Dion came to his investigative conclusions despite the fact that Justin Trudeau and the PMO’s office prevented certain MPs from being questioned by the Ethics Commission and testifying. This obstruction was made possible by Justine Trudeau exercising Cabinet privilege. According to critics, Justin Trudeau violated the rule of law. Given the Ethics Commissioner’s findings, how is it possible that Justin Trudeau was able to continue in office? Has the RCMP convened an investigation, unobstructed, into whether the Prime Minister’s office and his inner circle interfered with the rule of law? Apparently, there are concerns of obstruction of justice committed by Justin Trudeau and his inner circle.
Following Justin Trudeau’s interference with the Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, Afghanistan has become the latest fiasco that involved Justin Trudeau. After over 20 years of helping the people in Afghanistan, the world — including Canada — deserted the Afghan people. The Taliban is back in power where women and girls face austere measures. As the Afghan government forces were falling like dominoes, and towns and cities were being overrun by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Justin Trudeau stated that Canada would remain until all of Canada’s nationals and Afghan allies, who helped and assisted Canada in Afghanistan, would be airlifted out to safety. Trudeau added that Canada would remain, even after a USA pull out, if all Canadian nationals and Afghan allies weren’t accounted for. However, Justin Trudeau did the opposite. Canada pulled out of Afghanistan as the United States of America continued to secure the Kabul Airport and evacuate USA nationals and Afghan allies. In contrast, Justin Trudeau left hundreds of Canadian nationals and Afghan allies stranded. Instead, on the very day that Kabul fell to the Taliban, Justin Trudeau called an election. Shocking! Instead of ensuring the security and well-being of Canadian nationals and Afghan allies, Trudeau sought greater power and forced Canadians into an election, an election that stranded Canadian nationals and allies who supported and risked their lives to support and assist Canadian soldiers and other Canadian personnel. And now, despite Justin Trudeau’s narcissism and cowardly act, Canadians sit on the precipice of possibly handing Justin Trudeau the office of Prime Minister and the Liberal Party the governance of Canada. How is it even possible, partisanship aside, to even consider Justin Trudeau for Prime Minister and the Liberal Party for the government? On the day that Kabul, Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Justin Trudeau called an election. Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party abandoned Canadian nationals and Afghan allies who risked their lives for Canadians in Afghanistan.
In this Election, Canadians have a significant decision to make. Canadians need to set aside partisanship and their own personal biases against any leader or party. Canadians need to ask themselves the following: Does Justin Trudeau deserve to be Prime Minister based upon the preponderance of evidence that illustrates a person who assaulted a female journalist, lied during the vetting process by concealing information, interfered with the decision making of the Attorney General, obstructed justice, violated the rule of law, abandoned Canadian nationals and Afghan allies in Afghanistan, and called an election on the day Kabul fell? Partisanship aside, do Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party deserve to represent the Government of Canada?