Trudeau, Off to a Running Start

Whispering in the Wind (WITW 100) December 2, 2015

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s agenda for Canada is not only very long, it is very complex and touches on some of the basics of governance.  During the election campaign Mr. Trudeau promised big change as to how the country would be governed and committing to something like 171 promises if he and his Liberal party were to be elected as government.  October 19 saw Justin Trudeau winning 184 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, thus forming a majority government – two weeks later he announced a smaller cabinet with 15 women members (fulfilling at least two of his promises).  Another promise made was to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada by the end of 2015 – the scheduling has been re-vamped; 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of December and a further 15,000 by the end of February, 2016.   Regarding the new government’s commitment on “climate change” targets, the new prime minister has let it be known to Canadians and the international community that the green- house gas emission targets, as set by the previous government are to be the starting point and more ambitious targets will be set in cooperation with his provincial counterparts.  Not to be forgotten are the tax measures Mr. Trudeau promised to the middle class and the wealthiest Canadians – and that means immediate changes to the tax code are necessary, if the tax breaks (or hits) are to be in effect for the 2016 taxation year.  To deal with the taxation issue and to give Canadians a better feel for what is to come in the next year or so, Canada’s Parliament will convene on December 3^rd, starting with the Speech from the Throne.  Overall Mr. Trudeau has demonstrated that he is off to a running start and has shown, at least domestically, that he intends to follow-up on his 171 commitments, but only after due, responsible consideration.  Internationally, I think it is a different story – primarily because of Mr. Trudeau’s decision to withdraw Canada’s fighter jet support from the US led coalition and the war against ISIS.  In my view, Mr. Trudeau misjudged the situation in the middle- east and the coalition’s strategy to wipe out the ISIS base of operations in Iraq and Syria – and there no doubt in my mind, there are consequences when a country breaks rank with a coalition.