Some Thoughts

First I am quite impressed with the quiet competence of the Liberal government.  

Their efforts have kept the infection and death rates down to manageable levels and when this virus escaped China that is all that could be expected of any government.  In addition, the financial assistance that the government has provided is assisting most Canadians in weathering the storm, at least for now.  This thing could go on for a long time so we will have to see how the government continues to provide assistance.

I just read today that the government has finalized a contract to buy millions of syringes for when a vaccine is available.  That is forward thinking during a crisis and it is these little things, away from the big headline events that indicates their competence.

For certain they have not been perfect but they have been good enough that none of the errors they have made have been sticking to them.  The government's opponents have been trying to find fault but all they can do is rant and rave about things on the periphery, such as renovations to Harrington Lake or bringing forward the summer recess of Parliament by a couple of weeks.  Although a new one is Mr. Trudeau's long pause before answering a question about the troubles currently gripping the US.  Mr. Trump is becoming increasingly unhinged, as his re-election chances seem to be slipping away, so Canada has to tread lightly and Mr. Trudeau did that today while making a point.

A second thought is I am impressed with how well the Federal and Provincial governments are working together.  The Federal government contributed a great deal to keeping infection and death rates down but they could not have done it without the full cooperation of the Provincial governments.  Certainly, some of the Provincial governments have made some more pronounced missteps but by and large they have shown a high level of competence as well.

Canadians are interesting folks.  They very much prefer competent governments over governments with "vision".  In fact, a government in this country cannot advance their vision until they have demonstrated their competence in governing. 

Donald Trump missed an opportunity.  The COVID-19 virus was a golden opportunity to step up and demonstrate that he could handle an actual national crisis instead of just a self-inflicted political crisis.  It would really not have been that hard to do.  Justin Trudeau has demonstrated how it is done, along with a few other political leaders in the West.  All he had to do was listen to the medical experts and calmly reassure Americans that they would get through this crisis.  His base would have eaten it up because they take everything he says an does to be perfect but he would also have created alot of goodwill with non-aligned voters in the US as well. 

No one should be surprised by the spreading unrest in the US.  This has been building for sometime and it was only a matter of time before it exploded into a full blown national crisis.  When you add the pressure of everybody living under the threat of a deadly virus then you are delusional if you believe something unrelated to the virus would cause some or all of that pressure to be expended in a totally different direction.

Donald Trump missed another opportunity with his handling of this crisis.  Again, showing some empathy for people of colour and using his position to attempt to relieve the pressure would have put him in good stead with independents.  

Usually, a sitting President does not lose their bid for re-election.  Mr. Trump is in real danger of doing just that.  The polls in the US show that Mr. Biden has a clear lead in the Presidential race.  Yes, they said the same thing in the last election but in that last one Mr. Trump was the challenger up against a nominee for the incumbent party that had been in power for eight years.  People were lusting for change as they often do after eight years of the same guy running the show.  This time he is the incumbent.  He is deeply unpopular outside of his base and he is widely perceived to have bungled the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and it is becoming more widely perceived that he is bungling the reaction to the current unrest in the US.  

There is still six months until the November election and in normal times that would be plenty of time for him to recover and win it.  However, these are not normal times.  The COVID-19 virus is going to leave a permanent scar on the psyches of voters in the democratic world and how their governments have handled the crisis will be remembered when voters go to the polls.  As well, the current unrest, in the US, is happening close enough to the election that it will not be completely forgotten by November.  If the impression of voters remains that he bungled the handling of both not much could save him in November.