On the eve of another federal election, where we’ll be asked to choose between the feckless, the disingenuous and the mendacious, here are two thoughtful pieces from Maclean’s that offer more light than heat.
Paul Wells looks at Justin Trudeau’s mixed record on the world stage, which was dominated by COVID-19, quarrels with China, and dealing with Trump and NAFTA. “It’s been a brutal half-decade, and the Trudeau government handled much of it with a grim focus that produced good results.”
Jen Gerson questions why Canadian political parties are so quick to ditch their leaders after just one election. “Parties are treating their leaders like pump-and-dump penny stocks. Dear Leader is expected to perform, and to deliver results, with their success measured by whatever metric their membership values; power, influence, material resources, electoral advances, or simple moral chattel. Assessing a leader’s performance by these metrics, on these timelines, is as bloodless and shortsighted as reciting an earnings-before-taxes balance on a quarterly dividend statement.”
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