South Coast Today - justin trudeau

Trudeau should have pressed for Keystone, says Ambrose

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 20:40:09 +0000

It's very nice that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was feted in Washington but Canada should hope for concrete benefits from his new relationship with the U.S. president, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said Monday.

Ambrose, who was in Montreal to meet with female business leaders, said the prime minister "did the job he should do" during his trip to the United States in order to "make connections" with President Barack Obama.

She said she was disappointed, however, that Trudeau didn't take Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr with him to Washington or press the president on energy issues affecting both countries.

SEE CANADIAN PRESS STORY HERE

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KEYSTONE PIPELINE

Broad support for federal Liberal priorities

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 13:49:10 +0000

Abacus Data recently completed an in-depth nationwide LIFE IN CANADA’S COMMUNITIES study for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Tuesday's news release from the study is the third in a series based on this study.

Abacus asked people to react to recently announced federal priorities that relate to cities and communities. All six items tested found majority support (ranging from 58% to 74%) and very little opposition (no more than 10% on any item).

There appears broad support for the federal government investing in infrastructure, clean technology, public transit, and affordable housing, according to an Abacus poll published Tuesday. According to the poll, there is broad agreement with the idea that municipalities should have more say in the choices of what infrastructure to prioritize. And, 64% agree while only 10% disagree with the idea of putting a priority on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"In an era when some issues show sharp partisan divisions it is worth noting that the tendency across all major parties is to support rather than oppose these priorities," says the Abacus web site.

Conservative voters appear less enthusiastic about investments in clean tech, affordable housing and public transit, but are still more supportive than opposed.
When it comes to reducing carbon, more Conservatives agree (40%) than disagree (28%) with putting a priority on this. Worth noting, in Alberta, 58% agree, and 17% disagree.

Support for the priorities appears fairly consistent across a broad range of groups in Canada. On a handful of items there is more support among those on the left and centre of the spectrum than on the right, but these are more differences of degree than of direction.

SEE ABACUS WEB HERE

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Trudeau Liberals could look radiant compared to train wreck about to unfold in U.S.A.

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:51:56 +0000

Burning down the Harper legacy serving Trudeau well

As the Stephen Harper years piled one onto another, debate grew in the capital over how much of his Conservative legacy would become a fundamentally ingrained part of Canada.

Would successive governments be unwilling or unable to lift the rocks and get at the philosophical underpinnings of almost a decade of Harper?

Turns out, a lot of the Conservative agenda can be overturned, and rather quickly.

SEE TIM HARPER STORY IN THE STAR

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Will Trudeau double down on spending if deficits balloon to $90B?

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 19:19:49 +0000

The country’s fading economic prospects could put the federal government on track to run $90 billion in deficits over the Liberals’ four-year mandate, a new report from National Bank estimates. In the report, the Montreal-based bank predicts the public books will sink deeper into the red due to the combination of a weakened economy and Liberal promises of billions in fiscal stimulus.

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Why has Trudeau adopted Harper's language on 'non-combat' Iraq mission?

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 12:16:51 +0000

The new Canadian role in the anti-ISIS coalition actually takes its roots from a decision taken 16 months ago when Justin Trudeau decided he could not align himself with Stephen Harper.

'The Liberals have announced they would continue the ground mission—in fact triple the number of the Canadians on the ground—and call it “advise and assist.’’ It wasn’t “non-combat’’ then and it certainly isn’t now,' writes THE HILL TIMES columnist Tim Harper.

If Harper wanted to bomb Islamic State targets, then the Liberals didn’t want to do that. There was principle at play and internal Liberal debate, but with an election looming, a third party leader had to put as much daylight between him and an unpopular prime minister as possible.

So it is strange that Trudeau this week has adopted the language of Harper in promoting his broader anti-ISIS effort because that language could cause him even more trouble than it caused Harper.

When Harper announced his decision to commit six CF-18s and 69 advisers on the ground in northern Iraq, he told the House of Commons three times in one speech that the advisers were engaged in a “non-combat” role.

SEE FULL TIM HARPER STORY IN THE HILL TIMES

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New political powerhouse in Heritage minister

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 13:53:47 +0000

FROM THE HILL TIMES: With numerous big NCC projects underway and Canada’s 150th celebrations on the horizon, Ottawa is set to become a ‘critical file’ for the minister from Montreal, say insiders.

New federal Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has the potential to become the capital’s most politically powerful minister in her role as the minister responsible for the National Capital Commission, say insiders.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) chose to put the NCC back under the portfolio of the Canadian Heritage minister, making Ms. Joly (Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Que.), 37, the point-person to oversee all the NCC’s major projects in the city over the next few years and to oversee the planning the federal involvement in Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017.
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Trudeau: I want to legalize weed, but they won't let me

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:48:00 +0000

This article was first published on Reason.com. Justin Trudeau ran against Stephen Harper in part on a promise to legalize marijuana, and said he was going to " get started on that right away," signaling a departure from the Harper administration's anti-pot stance.

Now, Trudeau has said his efforts have hit a snag—international treaties. They were, uh, there during the election campaign, even if they were left unmentioned by the candidate himself.

The Canadian Press reports: The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest.

That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

Internationally, says a briefing note prepared for the prime minister, Canada will also have to find a way to essentially tell the world how it plans to conform to its treaty obligations.

The treaties—the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and (because, hey, what's in a name, two more), the Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances—date back to the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Canada made a reservation to the second treaty, about permitting the use of peyote for magical or religious rites by "small, clearly determined groups," mimicking a U.S. one.

A similar argument came up in the United States a couple of years ago when some critics of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington insisted these international treaties required the federal government to prevent legalization, a spurious argument Jacob Sullum demolished:

Under our federalist system… states have no obligation to punish every activity that Congress chooses to treat as a crime.

The Supreme Court has said, based on a dubious reading of the power to regulate interstate commerce, that the federal government may continue to enforce its own ban on marijuana in states that take a different approach. But that does not mean the feds can compel states to help, let alone force them to enact their own bans…

Even if treaties could override federalism, the agreements [critics cite] do not purport to do so. The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs says compliance is subject to "constitutional limitations" and undertaken with "due regard to [signatories'] constitutional, legal and administrative systems." The 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substancescontain similar provisions.

The federalist approach taken in the United States by advocates of marijuana legalization has brought or is bringing recreational marijuana into the legal market in four states plus Washington, D.C. and allowed a plethora of local jurisdictions to do the same, and allowed states to try more restrictive than legal, but no longer totally prohibitionist, approaches, like legalizing medical marijuana or small amounts of the non-medical stuff.

Trudeau is facing some difficulty with the provinces.

A former Liberal prime minister, Jean Chretien, flirted with a bill to decriminalize marijuana in 2003. It was concern from the United States, not concern about international treaty obligations, that helped kill that effort.

And while marijuana legalization was thought to be driving young people to the polls, unlike in the U.S., the provinces themselves haven't made much of an effort to legalize marijuana.

They have a different constitutional structure in Canada. Maybe Trudeau can ask permission from the Queen? He can tell her because it's 2016, that's why.

Ed Krayewski is an associate editor at Reason.com.

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Trudeau government gets strong approval in new poll

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 14:49:22 +0000

Approval from 57% of those who voted for the NDP

FROM ABACUS DATA: Today, 53% say they approve of the performance of the federal government, similar to the 51% we measured in December. To put this in context, at no point during 2015 did the Harper government find an approval rating higher than 37%.

Also noteworthy is that a year ago, 2 out of 3 people thought the economy was doing well; today, 2 out of 3 describe it as poor.

Today, just 25% disapprove of the performance of the government, even though 60% voted for another party. This underscores the challenge facing opposition parties, as Canadians are inclined to give this government some time to establish its agenda.

14% of those who voted Conservative voters approve of the Liberal government’s performance so far, as do a striking 57% of those who voted for the NDP.

Approval of Prime Minister Trudeau personally is at 57% while disapproval is 24% underlining that a very large proportion of the positive feeling about the government has to do with reactions to Mr. Trudeau himself.

Detailed Assessments of the Prime Minister

We explored reactions to Mr. Trudeau’s performance in office on 17 different items.

• On all 17 items a sizeable majority (never smaller than 67%) said he was doing an acceptable or better job.

• On his worst rated item, “dealing with ISIS”, only 34% give the PM a poor rating.

• Four items stand out for showing the strongest positive assessments: “level of openness and accessibility’, approach to “dealing with the news media” “personal values in how he approaches his job” and “representing Canada internationally”

• Close behind these were “working with the Premiers” “aboriginal relations” and his selections to Cabinet posts.

• On handling the economy, managing the federal budget, and dealing with taxpayers money, Mr. Trudeau gets acceptable or better ratings from 70%-72%.

• On his approach to refugees, 40% give Mr. Trudeau a good rating, 27% acceptable, and 32% a poor rating. Deeper analysis shows that this issue more than any other creates a clear dividing line between Conservative Party supporters and other voters.

• When it comes to reforming the electoral system, 37% say the PM is doing a good job, another 44% acceptable, while only 19% are unhappy at this point in time.

• In the wake of the COP21 agreement, 44% give the PM a good rating, 40% acceptable, and just 17% say “poor” when it comes to how he has dealt with climate change and greenhouse gases.

• On “what to do about the Senate” 32% say Trudeau is doing well, 45% acceptably, while 23% offer a poor rating.

Mr. Trudeau receives positive reviews from most of those who voted NDP: large majorities describe his performance as acceptable or better on all 17 items. A majority of Conservative voters rate Mr. Trudeau’s performance as acceptable or better on 10 of the 17 items.

The Upshot

According to Bruce Anderson: “The positive feelings about the federal government so far, despite a weakening economy, challenge the conventional wisdom that politics is always about the economy.

While the government is getting pretty good marks for handling challenging substantive issues, the most positive assessments continue to have a lot to do with appreciation for the tone and attitude of the Prime Minister towards others.

Recalling the degree to which both his major opponents built campaigns on the assumption Mr. Trudeau would not wear well with Canadians, it is very clear that they have their work cut out for them now. So far, Mr. Trudeau is converting what was hope that he would do well into a feeling that he is proving himself fit, and then some, to hold the office of Prime Minister.”

Methodology

Our survey was conducted online with 1,500 Canadians aged 18 and over from January 8 to 12, 2016. A random sample of panelists was invited to complete the survey from a large representative panel of over 400,000 Canadians.

The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association policy limits statements about margins of sampling error for most online surveys. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.6%, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

Abacus Data Inc.

We offer global research capacity with a strong focus on customer service, attention to detail and value added insight. Our team combines the experience of our Chairman Bruce Anderson, one of Canada’s leading research executives for two decades, with the energy, creativity and research expertise of CEO David Coletto, PhD.

- See more at: https://abacusdata.ca/how-do-we-feel-about-the-trudeau-government/#sthash...

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Trudeau has four years to show what he can do

Timothy Gillespie — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 12:50:56 +0000

Trudeau has effortlessly mixed serious policy with brazen self-promotion

EDITORIAL FROM GLOBE & MAIL: According to Justin Trudeau, Justin Trudeau began making the world a better place before he was even born. He tells the story in his memoir,Common Ground, of how his pregnant mother rebelled in 1971 against rules at the Ottawa Civic Hospital that forbade husbands from accompanying their wives in the delivery room. Margaret Trudeau was furious, he writes, and said if the hospital didn’t relent, she would have her first child at 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minister’s drafty official residence.

“When word of my mother’s protest reached the hospital’s board of directors, they promptly abolished the old-fashioned restriction, followed by other hospitals in Ottawa and eventually across the country,” he said. “I like to think that, along with my father, I helped my mother strike a blow against old-school patriarchal thinking.”

You can see him smiling when he said that, of course. Mr. Trudeau may like to take selfies, but he is not so vain as to think he influenced the world from inside the womb. In fact, the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history (only Joe Clark was younger) has proved that he is rather more than a pretty face smiling into a cellphone camera. His come-from-behind election victory in October and his self-assured transition into power are compelling evidence that there is more to the man than a famous name and good looks. Anyone still saying otherwise is delusional.

Plus, he has now officially changed Canada, his in utero experience notwithstanding. Mr. Trudeau’s election is as altering as Stephen Harper’s was in 2006, when a straight-talking, optimistic Conservative leader took the country out of the hands of a tired and corrupt Liberal Party. Power in Canada shifted westward just as the economy was heading in the same direction. When oil prices were peaking in 2011 and the Conservatives won a majority, it felt as if Canada was heading into a long period of uninterrupted Tory rule.

Mr. Trudeau undid all that with a campaign based on sunny principles that voters could relate to: openness, optimism, inclusiveness, an enlarged federal government that works to bring out the best in Canada’s potential, and a modest redistribution of wealth to benefit the middle class at the expense of the rich. He ignored his opponents’ efforts to portray him as too inexperienced to lead the country, and even exploited them with smart advertising that turned those efforts on their head. He was solid on the hustings and in debates, never getting distracted from his message, but rarely sounding like a robot reciting memorized lines. He was lucky, too. Mr. Harper and Tom Mulcair, the NDP Leader, ran weak, tunnel-visioned campaigns, and the long writ period allowed Mr. Trudeau to recover from early stumbles. The stars aligned for the Liberal Leader and his team, which is something that often happens to politicians who work hard in a determined and intelligent fashion.

Since taking power, Mr. Trudeau has effortlessly mixed serious policy with brazen self-promotion. This is a world leader completely at ease with social media and its possibilities and pitfalls. One minute he is announcing a cabinet that is 50-per-cent female; the next he is posing provocatively for Vogue magazine with his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau. He was front and centre on Twitter at the Paris climate-change summit and the G20 meeting in Turkey, while his cabinet back home orchestrated the arrival of thousands of Syrian refugees on a tight deadline. When the first refugees arrived, he was there to meet them not only with selfies but also with a well-crafted speech that was replayed around an admiring world.

Canada at the end of 2015 is simply not the Canada at the beginning, for better or for worse. Based on the general mood of the country, it is for the better. There is a palpable sense of relief that the darker side of Mr. Harper’s politics – the fearmongering, the targeting of Muslims, the identity politics – didn’t win the day. And there are legitimate reasons to hope that Mr. Trudeau’s Kennedyesque idealism about the ability of a federal government to unite a county can be translated into real policies and laws that make this an even better place to live.

Let’s be honest, though – Mr. Trudeau is untested in office, and many of his patriotic utterances are still annoyingly saccharine. His honeymoon shields are set to maximum and have deflected all incoming fire to date, including the “nannygate” mini-scandal.

His honeymoon aura will fade quickly, though, when bureaucrats block his path, when civil service unions currently in negotiations refuse to share his collegiality and go on strike, when natural and man-made disasters are somehow blamed on his government, and when the partisanship of Parliament eats away at his resolve to be above it all. Only then will we know what he is made of. As delusional as it is to still think Justin Trudeau is just an expensive haircut, it is equally so to insist at this point that his auspicious debut will translate into positive policies in the long term.

There is also a touch of hubris to Mr. Trudeau and the smart people who surround him. It’s reminiscent of the crippling “best and the brightest” syndrome of the Camelot years that convinced the Kennedy White House it could win the war in Vietnam. The new Prime Minister sees himself as a force for good – an attitude that is as necessary for politics as it is dangerous. But unless matched with self-doubt, that kind of thinking can blind a government to reality, lead it to ignore valid criticism and make terrible mistakes.

Mr. Trudeau has big plans for Canada. He intends to be transformational, and he hopes he can bring the country with him down his sunny path. The world is a precarious place, and Canadians want a leader who can keep them safe, prosperous and confident about the future. He has four years to show what he can do.

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Grit caucus cell phone ban a lack of trust?

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 12:50:26 +0000

As the third-place party before the Oct. 19 federal election, Liberal MPs were free to carry their wireless devices to their weekly national caucus meetings. Now that they’ve formed government, MPs and Cabinet ministers have to turn in their smartphones and tablets before the start of the secret caucus meetings to avoid “distraction,” though critics say it raises questions of trust within the Liberal caucus.

“The rule across the board is that whether you are the Prime Minister, or a member of Cabinet, or the chair of the caucus, or an ordinary member of the caucus, you leave your BlackBerry or your tablet at the door,” Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale (Wascana, Sask.) told The Hill Times last week.

“Two things: you should be paying attention. Caucus is a very precious rare two hours every week when members of the caucus get to talk to each other and the Prime Minister in the most candid of ways. You need to make sure that the conversation is confidential. And secondly, you need to make sure that nobody is distracted. While the conversation is going on, we need to pay attention to each other. That’s what it is about.”

SEE HILL TIMES STORY HERE

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