There’s just something about Justin Trudeau these days that just makes people want to quit.
On Thursday, Seamus O’Regan announced he was resigning as a cabinet minister – he will stay on as a local MP until the next election but will not seek another term.
The former Canada AM star, and groomsman in Trudeau’s wedding party, said family pressures are at the root of his decision to leave political life after nine years.
There is likely a lot of truth to that – the life of a politician, especially a cabinet minister, can be hell. The hours are long, the abuse is harsh, the travel you once thought would be glamourous is a slog.
O’Regan is also caring for his mother and lost his father during the pandemic.
“Ultimately, my family comes first,” he said. “I need to be a better husband, son, uncle, and friend, and this job means, and deserves, a lot of time in order to do it well.”
There is no doubt that family considerations weighed heavy on O’Regan, just as they are weighing heavily on all MPs, but especially Liberals MPs and cabinet ministers at the moment. Any sacrifice for family must be weighed against the reward of accomplishing something worthy of the sacrifice.
Given the Liberal political fortunes, the ability to see any reward in the future is quite difficult. The party is in the dumps in terms of polling, a fact that hasn’t changed in more than a year.
If you won’t have a chance to be in government, to accomplish important goals, family commitments weigh heavier. Let’s be blunt, there is no counterweight to all the sacrifice going forward for Liberals MPs and cabinet ministers – they are headed for defeat.
We can expect more Liberal MPs to consider spending more time with their families over the course of the summer.
Not just because of the polls, there is also the way that Trudeau and his team are treating their own. Consider the fate of Chrystia Freeland whose very job and position in cabinet were questioned by senior, yet anonymous, Liberals on the front page of The Globe and Mail.
Anyone with experience in politics or media knows stories like that don’t appear by accident, they are planted. Top officials in a government don’t question the abilities of the finance minister and deputy prime minister unless they have approval to send a message.
Trudeau has left Freeland dangling for the last week over allegations that he and his top advisors don’t think she’s done a good job of selling the government’s economic package. Freeland has said she has Trudeau’s confidence, Trudeau has said she remains finance minister – for now.
Meanwhile, Trudeau held meetings with former Bank of Canada Governor and reputed Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney this past weekend trying to get Carney to join the government. This after reports from the Globe and the Toronto Star that Trudeau wants to replace Freeland with Carney.
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
For all of Freeland’s faults, and they are many, she has been a loyal soldier to Trudeau. Now her reward is being stabbed in the back by the man she has served.
Given the public sentiment towards politicians of all stripes, I’ve often wondered why anyone would run for office. Add to that how politicians treat each other and it’s amazing we can fill a ballot come election time.
There have been 16 Liberals leave or announce they won’t run in the next election. O’Regan won’t be the last announcement, the list will grow, especially on the Liberal side, before the House resumes in September.