The turbulent events on Parliament Hill this week culminated in a spectacular policy flip-flop on the part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Acknowledging they made mistakes, Trudeau backed off from his wide-open immigration policy that has allowed millions of foreign students, refugees and new immigrants into this country over the past three years.
According to Statistics Canada, the population grew by 242,673 in the first quarter of this year. In 2022-23, Canada welcomed 468,817 newcomers and the year before that, almost half a million people came here – 493,236. In 2020-2021 the figure was less than half of that – 226,314.
After an attempted palace coup and an uncomfortable caucus meeting, a defiant Trudeau declared he would fight the next election.
His MPs are getting backlash from the fallout from unchecked immigration from their constituents. The immigration policy fuelled high housing costs and stretched social services and healthcare to the limits.
“We didn’t get the balance quite right,” Trudeau said, in what passes for an apology in his world. Quite right? Canadians are struggling with soaring rents and the dream of home ownership has become a nightmare for young people.
So what unpopular policy will get tossed next? Could the carbon tax be on the chopping block? If Trudeau’s seen the light on immigration, courtesy of his disgruntled backbenchers, could he be setting the stage for a major climb down on that unpopular measure?
Trudeau admitted his immigration about-face is fuelled by his burning ambition to stop Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre from becoming prime minister.
“We have to ensure we put all measures in place to beat Pierre Poilievre and prevent him from cutting the programs and services that Canadians need,” he told reporters.
What arrogance! Is he clinging to power because he believes that Justin Trudeau, and only Justin Trudeau, can lead this country? This is a democracy. He has only a minority government. It is axiomatic in a democracy that voters are never wrong. Right now, the polls are showing they’re overwhelmingly rejecting Trudeau and his pie-in-the-sky policies and are pleading for a grown-up to take over.
He’s had nine years to show us his leadership capabilities. Now it’s time for voters to decide who they want to form their next government.