It was a grave political error to invite Prime Minister Trudeau to the Finance Committee meeting. It was an even bigger error to show up to that meeting with nothing new to ask him, with no great revelation that could have put him off his messaging.
You had to know that he would show up extremely well briefed and they should have known that he would have kept his wits about him regardless of how belligerent they became.
They failed to do all of this and the result is their one-and-only chance to question the PM over WE came and went with the PM on top. He managed to get his message out without any interference by any of the Opposition MPs.
Of course the invitation to appear before the Committee was tendered in the belief that the PM would turn them down, as most PMs in the past would have done. That would have given the Opposition another talking point. I could imagine the panic that gripped the leadership of the Opposition Parties when Mr. Trudeau said yes. At that point the leadership of each party should have got together "in a room" and come up with a strategy on how to question him. Instead, it was amateur hour. None of the Opposition Parties strategized how to question the PM and so all they did was give him a free hour in which to present his side of the story.
Which brings us to the media. Thankfully for the Conservatives and the NDP the media has been pushing the same narrative as them. The media is invested in that narrative as much as the Conservatives and the NDP so they will not let the PM's testimony interfere with that. However, he is the PM so I suspect that what he said will receive a fair amount of attention in the media over the next few hours and that is not good for said narrative.
Oh yes, many would not have been paying attention to this outside of what the media was telling them. So, the first time that many might actually focus on this issue will be to see Justin Trudeau being his usual calm self answering questions from increasingly frustrated and belligerent Opposition MPs.
What about the future? The questioning of the PM was supposed to be the climax. The coup de grace by the opposition. Instead it was a dud. I am certain that they will do their best to keep this thing in the news but once the PM has spoken many will wonder why they would continue to talk about it. You accused the guy of all sort so things. You questioned him on them and he answered the questions. What else is there to say?
A final note, Mr. Trudeau looked like he became more relaxed as the time went on. Hell, a couple of times I would even say he was enjoying himself. I imagine that he went in wondering if they would throw a curve ball at him, some issue or accusation that had not been discussed before, that we would have had to field. As it became obvious that they had nothing new he began to relax.
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This is frightening when the press is more invested in propaganda than facts. Literally nothing the PM said contradicted the numerous testimonies of the K-brothers and the civil service, so why is this still a story? I don't think it's only because the profit model reflects a desire to see sensationalism or scandal juicing the ratings. I think it's also because the media ownership class are themselves in the pocket for the Conservatives and that they also have a personal dislike of Justin Trudeau.
So many of the pundits refused to engage with the actual content of the K-bros' testimony, preferring instead to remark negatively about them being "smug" and then going further to compare them to Trudeau himself. They're dangerously insecure and they can't stand both his self-confidence (which they consider to be "arrogance") or his "virtue signaling" (projection, their belief that he can't genuinely want to do the right thing without some benefit to himself, because that's what they would do).
This entire nothingburger of a story rests entirely upon populist shaming of the Trudeau family and the K-bros as being "elites". The media is rife with lowlife garbage nobodies who don't get the opportunity to brush with the VIPs, and can't fathom the notion that some VIPs exist who do actually have an interest in helping people, young people especially. No, there must be some nefarious purpose to it, and even though there isn't, the media aids the Conservatives and NDP in manufacturing one.
The only scandal here is that the insane jealousy of the Canadian politico-media complex destroyed a kids' charity to wage political damage against a well-meaning prime minister and even his wife, brother and ailing mother. Who is, in fact, an activist and accomplished individual in her own right and at the same time has been Canada's favorite punching bag for 50 years. For the K-bros to defend her as such only further angered the hornet's nest. Margaret Trudeau has every right to give Charlie Angus a well-deserved punch in the mouth. All four of his teeth should become souvenirs in her purse.
This is post-truth politics the likes of which begat Brexit and Trump, and it's jarring to see Canada caught up in it just the same. I thought SNC was multifaceted yet stupid. Charitygate has far less bite to it and yet is 10x more disturbing in how it has taken on the mold of a broader vendetta from day 1. It actually makes me sick to even watch. I sent an email to the PM encouraging him and his family to pursue lawsuits against all of these people for reputational damage and intentional infliction of pain and suffering. I have no doubt that the K-bros will, but he should too. Something needs to be done to break the hold of the propaganda press and the political malcontents they run interference for at the expense of balance, integrity, and people's lives.
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