Former Ontario premier David Peterson told me he quit politics for health reasons. He said the people got sick of him.
Last week, President Joe Biden quit the 2024 election race, mere weeks before his party’s nomination convention. He said he was leaving to protect democracy.
Well, maybe. But there are some other good reasons why Biden belatedly and seemingly begrudgingly left the race.
Running for office isn’t a personal decision. It starts with an individual making the commitment to begin the journey but, early in that process, it becomes by necessity a group effort.
It takes people and money to win a campaign. Biden was bleeding support when he finally got the message that his time was up. He may not have run out of ambition but he darn sure was running out of cash.
Political leaders in Canada face a similar dilemma — they can’t win on their own. Canadian elections are cheaper and raising cash isn’t as crucial as it is in the United States.
But leaders need the support of people beyond the cadre of camp followers who run elections for a living. They need the party faithful to believe, win or lose, they represent the future of the party.
Justin Trudeau has lost that support.
For months, Trudeau has known most Canadians will not vote for him in the next federal election. You don’t need to be a political savant to figure that out.
Canadians are simply sick of him. No amount of foreign costume parties or fake cultural divides will solve that.
No doubt the politicos who have tied their futures and their income to the Trudeau brand are still plotting and scheming to find a way to some sort of victory, even if that victory is just keeping Trudeau in power for a little longer. But, it is a vain and selfish effort.
Protecting Trudeau has already ruined the political lives of some of the brightest lights in the Liberal tent. Jody Wilson-Raybould, Jane Philpott and Bill Morneau were once the best and brightest in the Trudeau cabinet. Now they are political roadkill, sacrificed to protect Trudeau.
Now the Trudeau brain trust, desperate to find someone not named Trudeau to blame for a by-election loss and sagging polls, have set their sights on Chrystia Freeland. That’s right, the new target for blame is none other than the deputy PM and finance minister.
A couple of weeks ago, leaks from senior officials in the prime minister’s office suggested Freeland was to blame for the government’s misfortunes. Apparently, she is just not a good communicator.
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This is a classic political hatchet job. First, Freeland’s abilities or lack thereof aren’t some new discoveries. She has been Trudeau’s minister of everything for years. Second, the world’s best carnival barker couldn’t sell Trudeau’s economic plan.
Covertly attacking Freeland demonstrates the Trudeau government has turned its fire inward. That’s not a winning strategy.
It’s also strong evidence Trudeau has lost his party. He is, now and forever, yesterday’s man in the Liberal party.
Next week at the Democratic Party convention, people will say nice things about Joe Biden. But, if Kamala Harris loses the election to Donald Trump, Democrats will blame Biden for being the stubborn man who stayed well past his time.
Someday soon, the Liberals may feel the same way about Trudeau. His time in office will be forever marred by his dismal treatment of the best of his cabinet.