Trudeau Government's False Hopes for Fresh Start
Trudeau's Bid to Put Canada into State of Suspended Animation While He Rules by Decree
On the morning
of January 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
announced his plans to resign, adding that he plans to stay as
Liberal
leader and therefore Prime Minister until the Liberal Party
selects a new leader.
Trudeau prorogued the House of Commons for a full three months, until March 24, 2025. Why March 24 may have something to do with the fact that the House of Commons has a supply period that ends on March 26, when it considers the government's spending plans for the fiscal year. At that time, the House is supposed to vote on whether to agree with the estimates and appropriation bills before the end of each supply period. These bills are then sent to the Senate for approval.
No sooner had Trudeau made his announcement outside his
official residence Rideau
Cottage, after the Governor General agreed
with his request to prorogue Parliament, than media reports
started
underscoring the self-serving nature of this move, saying:
"The move means opposition parties can't trigger an election with a non-confidence motion before the Liberals have a new leader, and all parliamentary business has stopped."
In this way, news reports, pundits, experts, et al. set the stage for what are called opposition parties to rail against this self-serving move while speculation is rampant about who is throwing their hat into the ring to replace Trudeau, and on it goes.
There are indeed many many ways to show how self-serving Trudeau's proclamation is and Canadians are sure to hear them all in the coming days. For all intents and purposes, the next federal election has just been announced, bypassing rules on how much money those vying for positions of privilege and power can spend to promote themselves and hide what they really stand for and who this serves. All those who represent the rich and powerful are vying with might and main to control official state policy for the benefit of their own faction of the rich minority, plunder the state treasury in light of the pending protectionist wreckage promised by Trump and present the image of themselves they think best represents what they say Canadians stand for. Meanwhile, Canadians exercise no control over any of it.
As for the Liberal Party's obvious hope for a fresh start, it is so utterly hopeless, it is pathetic. "Let bygones be bygones," they are telling Canadians. "Whatever happened before 9:00 am today does not exist. Just swallow what we are telling you today, rank the choices for next prime minister we have to offer and put your fate and that of peace, freedom, democracy and of the social and natural environment in their hands if you hope to live to see another day."
And the cartel parties will rant and rail about why Canadians should choose them instead.
Canadians can readily see that all such hot air, palaver and rants in no way help them analyze the nature of the profound existential political crisis in which not just the Liberal Party is mired, but all the cartel parties, the cartel party system, as well as Canada itself. Events are taking place fast and furious all over the world. Donald Trump is assuming the presidency of the United States in two weeks. During this period, the peoples of the world can expect any number of disasters. This distraction in no way helps Canadians prepare for them. It does, however, tell them they need to rely on themselves and their own efforts to find a way forward.
Far from presenting Canadians with a path which inspires confidence, Trudeau and his advisors seem to think they can put the country into a state of suspended animation. They seem to think the world will stop while they connive in cahoots with their counterparts in the U.S., Europe, Israel, and all countries where the lackeys of the U.S. imperialists are making deals so that the U.S. can escape the verdict of history and be declared the world's indispensable nation once again.
Suspended animation means the most vital functions of an organism cease, short of death. In other words, in the name of high ideals, Parliament is suspended but it allegedly continues to exist. It is just dormant, hibernating until spring!
What a laugh! The Arctic winds seem to have finally frozen the brains of the narrow private consulting and marketing firms that come up with such schemes to the point of no return!
If only the peoples of the world did not exist and all attempts to extinguish them and their fight for rights, then, maybe .... but of course, this is silly talk. Canadians and the peoples of the world exist. They are fighting. Their resistance movements are defining who they are and what they stand for, such that all attempts of the imperialists and their stooges and agents contribute to their own downfall, not the downfall of the peoples of the world.
The announcement of Trudeau's plans and the prorogation of Parliament for three whole months has already unleashed an election campaign frenzy. But that is not all. It is also tantamount to a declaration of seizure of emergency powers. It means that the government will function by using the prerogative ministerial powers which one government after the other has procured by passing legislation to give this impunity a legal veneer.
This will not go over well with the Canadian working class and people.
The Liberal Party seems to think it can get a new lease on life, reinvent itself in the image they seem to think is the incarnation of everything Canadians want, and life will be hunky dory. It is no coincidence that Mark Carney's scripted New Year's resolutions even call for supporting bringing the Stanley Cup back to Canada as a Canadian value which unites us! This is an example of how trite their pandering for support gets!
What is the path
forward for Canada? Who decides the direction of
the economy, of the nature of relations with the United States?
Of
social policy and all that Canadians want? These are the
central matters of concern for Canadians. The antics of the
rulers
merely serve to show
Canadians that they had better take measures which empower them
to take
the decisions which affect their lives.
This is a time for Canadians to avert all the traps being laid for them by the rich and their retinues in media, government, academia and the various transmission belts they have within the ranks of the people. Their sinking ship of state needs more than Popeye the Sailor man and his can of spinach to rescue it.
Canadians can now expect rule unfettered by any constrains whatsoever for the next three months, while the new U.S. president Donald Trump shows that he is the person-of-state assigned to break all constitutional barriers to acting with impunity. Canada will have to contend with how he uses the presidency's executive police powers to declare the U.S. the "indispensable nation" and the Canadian people will have to contend with both the Trudeau government and that of Donald Trump.
Trudeau's entourage has now been unleashed to compete for the spot of top dog. It is a sorry sight indeed. Marketing firms are colluding and contending behind the scenes to create images they think can win the hearts and minds of Canadians. All it does is make a mockery of what Canadians stand for when they speak in their own names. Which they will continue doing, day after day, week after week, action after action.
This is certain, while all the Liberals and cartel parties are offering is fraud.
Canadians must empower themselves to make sure Canada stops paying the rich, stops destroying the natural and social environment by attacking all sections of the people in the most brutal ways, stops committing genocide, stops militarizing the Arctic, stops committing crimes against the rights of all, and for Canada to be a zone for peace.
In 2025, all out to make way for political renewal and to make Canada a zone for peace! Empower yourself now!
Notes
Transcript of Trudeau's Announcement
On January 6, Trudeau presented his plan to prorogue Parliament and resign as Liberal leader after a new leader is chosen, at a press conference outside his Rideau Cottage residence. His remarks were filled with Liberal jargon about helping Canadians, serving the middle class, standing in defence of Canada, peace, providing solution to climate crisis, getting the economy ready for the future, all of which are cover-ups for paying the rich, increasing impunity for those with positions of power and privilege, presenting support for genocide as support for human rights and democracy, the integration of Canada into the U.S. war machine as free trade.
Here is what Trudeau said:
Every morning I've woken up as prime minister, I've been inspired by the resilience, the generosity, and the determination of Canadians. It is the driving force of every single day I have the privilege of serving in this office.
That is why, since 2015, I have fought for this country -- for you -- to strengthen and grow the middle class.
Why we rallied to support each other through the pandemic, to advance reconciliation, to defend free trade on this continent, to stand strong with Ukraine and our democracy.
And to fight climate change and get our economy ready for the future. We are at a critical moment in the world.
My friends, as you all know, I am a fighter.
Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians. I care deeply about this country. And I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians.
And the fact is, despite best efforts to work through it, Parliament has been paralyzed for months after what has been the longest session of a minority parliament in Canadian history.
That's why, this morning I advised the governor general that we need a new session of parliament. She has granted this request and the house will now be prorogued until 24 March.
Over the holidays, I've also had a chance to reflect and have had long talks with my family about our future.
Throughout the course of my career, any success I have personally achieved has been because of their support and with their encouragement.
So last night over dinner, I told my kids about the decision that I'm sharing with you today.
I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process. Last night I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process.
This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
The Liberal Party of Canada is an important institution in the history of our great country and democracy. A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election.
I am excited to see the process unfold in the months ahead.
We were elected for the third time in 2021 to strengthen the economy post-pandemic and advance Canada's interests in a complicated world, and that is exactly the job that I, and we, will continue to do for Canadians.
Following these remarks, Trudeau spoke with reporters. He made light of the strident calls for his resignation and the infighting within the Liberal caucus. He repeated that his move was necessary to clear a legislative stand-off in the House of Commons and expressed confidence his government would survive a confidence vote when Parliament returns.
"It's time for a reset," he said. "It's time for the temperature to come down, for the people to have a fresh start in Parliament, to be able to navigate through these complex times both domestically and internationally."
Besides other things, he also expressed his regrets that he did not reform the electoral process to get rid of the first-past-the-post method of counting votes after the 2015 election as he promised. Instead, he tried to impose a system based on ranked ballots which was soundly rejected in an outcry of national proportions at that time, which he did not mention! Perhaps this is the method the Liberal Party convention will use for its leadership race. Since it has no members and it prides itself on being a big tent which is inclusive of everyone, maybe it will hold a write-in vote which ranks the choices and results in voters' third or fourth choices getting a majority of votes and thus being elected.
Ranking ballots is as undemocratic as undemocratic gets. While it is a method of making choices, it has absolutely nothing to do with changing the system of representation which deprives the people of power.
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 1 - January 6, 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/TS55011.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca