Some political moves are complex, requiring a delicate balancing of competing interests and priorities. Some are tough moral calls, with reasonable people disagreeing over the right course. <\/p>\n
And then are those political moves that should be the equivalent of empty net goals. Theyre supposed to be an easy score. Theyre supposed to be hard to miss. <\/p>\n
And yet, faced with such opportunities, the Trudeau government has often displayed a remarkable ability for seeing an open net, misfiring and instead scoring an own-goal. <\/p>\n
Theres a discernable pattern of unforced errors, lapses in judgment, self-harming secrecy and worse. Coming from a PMO that sees itself as Mensas gift to Ottawa, its more than a little puzzling. <\/p>\n
Consider the botched appointment of Madeleine Meilleur to the post of Official Languages Commissioner. <\/p>\n
As a Franco-Ontarian and former Ontario cabinet minister, Ms. Meilleur is arguably well qualified for the position. But shes also a just-retired Liberal politician, being offered what is supposed to be a non-partisan job. And most importantly, the job the government tried to give her wasnt its to offer. <\/p>\n
Read more: Madeleine Meilleur drops bid to be Canadas languages commissioner <\/p>\n
The Official Languages Commissioner is an officer of Parliament. She reports to Parliament, not the government of the day. Traditionally, the appointment is made by across-the-aisle consensus, or something close to it. That the government didnt clear Ms. Meilleur with the opposition before announcing the appointment is hard to understand and impossible to justify which is why it provoked such an outcry. <\/p>\n
Heritage Minister Mlanie Joly, who is ultimately responsible for putting forward a nominee and conducted the final round of interviews with prospective candidates, is surrounded by people who used to work for or with Ms. Meilleur. It turns out that Ms. Meilleur also spoke prior to her nomination with senior staff in the Prime Ministers Office, who also used to work at Queens Park. <\/p>\n
The process that led to the appointment initially held in secret; later revealed amid public pressure has even drawn fire from minority language groups who fear the office has been tainted. <\/p>\n
Theyre not far wrong; this has every appearance of a Liberal government looking after a member of its political family, while undermining its own claims to believe in greater parliamentary accountability and transparency. <\/p>\n
This week, faced with the ongoing outcry, Ms. Meilleur withdrew her name from contention. <\/p>\n
This should have been a simple, non-controversial, non-partisan appointment. The government transformed it into an own-goal. <\/p>\n
And remarkably, this is not the Trudeau governments first such hubris-driven, self-inflicted wound. <\/p>\n
There were those attempts plural to rewrite the rules of parliamentary procedure without all-party consensus. <\/p>\n
There was that time the Liberals presented draft legislation clearly aimed at undermining the arms length Parliamentary Budget Officer. <\/p>\n
And there is the ongoing controversy over the Prime Ministers Christmas vacation on the Aga Khans Caribbean island. The story began when the government refused to tell the media, and Canadians, where the PM was. The move was pretty much the definition of self-defeating: A sure sign that you have something to hide is that you are very visibly hiding it. <\/p>\n
More recently, an entire Question Period was devoted to Mr. Trudeau repeatedly refusing to say whether hed been interviewed by the federal Ethics Commissioner about the trip. <\/p>\n
In a related vein, the obvious solution to the controversy provoked by Liberal ministers holding secret pay-to-play fundraisers involving people who do business with his government would have been to stop them, immediately. <\/p>\n
The newly-introduced Bill C-50 is an important step forward, as was the Liberal Party decision earlier this year to make its fundraising more transparent. Both go a long way to removing the secrecy around party fundraising. The government has ultimately moved in the right direction but first, it spent months exhausting all other options, while denying there was a problem. <\/p>\n
The paradox is that this is a government that has at times demonstrated flexibility and shown a willingness to change its mind. Reversing course on the PBO legislation was the right thing to do, even if it required last-minute amendments in committee to do it. <\/p>\n
But why not just take the right course, first? <\/p>\n
The Liberals came to power promising radical transparency, and a clean break with practices they decried under former PM Stephen Harper. And yet, for all the Sunny Ways branding and all the carefully curated photo-ops, there are too many moments when the Trudeau government comes across as puzzlingly, insistently Harper-esque. <\/p>\n
It is not a good look. <\/p>\n
Follow us on Twitter: @GlobeDebate <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More:<\/p>\n
Globe editorial: Another case of Liberal hubris and self-harm - The Globe and Mail<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some political moves are complex, requiring a delicate balancing of competing interests and priorities. Some are tough moral calls, with reasonable people disagreeing over the right course. And then are those political moves that should be the equivalent of empty net goals. Continue reading