Here’s a suggestion for whoever ends up as new leader of Canada’s loyal Opposition, which is supposed to happen by the end of this month, absent a postal strike.
There are four people seeking the job. They’ve been campaigning for months, and if you still can’t name them you’ll understand the point of this suggestion. They remain largely anonymous because they have yet to propose anything interesting enough to catch the public’s attention. Anyone who wants an alternative to the accident-prone government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is presumably looking for something different. The four candidates all insist they’re like night and day compared to the Liberal leader, but — at least as far as the favourites go — you’d have to look close to spot it.
So here’s the idea. I admit right up front that it’s not revolutionary, nor will anyone smack their forehead and declare, “Jeez, that’s genius. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Call it the “Cheapskate Pledge.” Canadians by and large dislike ostentatious displays of wealth by elected officials. We don’t appreciate them getting above their station. One reason the whole WE affair has become stuck in the craws of so many is the oh-so-conspicuous privilege of the characters involved: a trust-fund prime minister and his moneybags finance minister slipping a billion-dollar deal to a couple of cocky kids with a transparently high opinion of themselves. It bugs people.
So the next Conservative leader should do this: make it loud, clear and in public, that his (or her) administration will treat the public dime like a dime is still worth something. Be a cheapskate when it comes to public finances, especially when the money is largely being spent on events that serve to enhance the image and stature of the government, its members and its leaders, rather than the needs of the country and its people. And put it in writing.
This thought is inspired by the news that Ottawa managed to sell off 575 brand-new vehicles, bought for the sake of a two-day summit, at a loss of just $4.5 million. The vehicles included 154 Chevrolet Suburbans, 140 Chrysler 300s, 28 Dodge Chargers, 97 Toyota Siennas and some Ford Escapes, Mitsubishi Outlanders and Nissan Rogues. They were used to ferry around hundreds of officials during a G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Que., in 2018. If you have trouble recalling the glorious outcome of the summit, here’s a reminder: a communique was eventually released pledging to “promote a rules-based international order,” invest in growth “that works for everyone,” prepare for “jobs of the future,” “advance gender equality and women’s empowerment,” “build a more peaceful and secure world” and a bunch of other swell stuff that any Grade 8 class could have thought up as a model for what they want to do when they grow up.
What you may better recall is that U.S. President Donald Trump threw one of his famous temper tantrums , denouncing his host, Trudeau, as “very dishonest and weak,” while a Trump adviser proclaimed “there’s a special place in hell” for foreign leaders who aren’t nice to the president.
Ottawanians probably think they did great to lose just $4.5 million on the transaction. They could have saved much more if everyone had stayed home. Charlevoix was just another example of the pointless, costly pastime of summiteering. Former prime minister Stephen Harper had a similar experience when a 2010 summit in Toronto produced days of street violence , some really bad policing tactics and epic wastes of money : $2 million for a fake lake by the Gardiner Expressway, a $100,000 gazebo, $10 million on upgrading an airport that was never used …
Summits aren’t the only ostentatious displays of public preening that we could all do without. Trudeau will admit to spending $2.3 million chasing a seat on the United Nations Security Council, though if all ancillary costs were included one suspects the actual expenditure would be much higher. Fellow Liberal Bob Rae will soon be off to New York to hobnob with fellow ambassadors from countries that wouldn’t know human rights if they fell over them, and think women are there to be ogled and fetch coffee. Lord knows how much that will cost, and why a former socialist like Rae needs to ponce around with his excellency the ambassador from Saudi Arabia, where critics of the crown prince get murdered and chopped into little pieces.
None of these payouts amount to much in the grand scheme of government spending. A regime that can find a home for $350 billion in borrowed money without breaking stride isn’t about to notice a few million here or there. But outside the bubble, people care. In politics it’s often the small stuff that matters: Bev Oda’s $16 orange juice , Mike Duffy’s expense claims for living at home, Bill Morneau’s forgotten French villa , the extra plane Trudeau used to carry his canoe while campaigning on climate change. If you don’t watch the pennies, why would anyone trust you to watch the billions? One of Trudeau’s earliest acts as prime minister was to swan off to Paris with 155 people in tow to sign on to a climate pact they’d just made a mockery of by jetting across an ocean for no better reason than a giant photo op.
The new Tory leader should put in writing a pledge to host no summits, cut attendance at other international confabs to the barest essentials only, reduce UN spending to minimal levels, post all expense accounts no matter how puny, slash government advertising and generally cultivate an image of Canada as a tightwad country that hates to pick up a bill. It won’t reduce the debt but it might win back some respect for a ruling class that can badly use it.
National Post
Twitter.com/kellymcparland
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