GUNTER: Governor General should avoid hastening Trudeau’s departure

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I want Justin Trudeau gone as much as the next sane Canadian, but I don’t want the Governor General messing about in the democratic process just to hasten the prime minister’s departure.

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To be sure, Trudeau needs to go.

For one, our economy is in meltdown. Productivity is declining. Investment is weak.

Not only is job creation inadequate to keep up with the flood of immigrants the Liberals have permitted into the country — and still are permitting — but Canada’s unemployment rate has risen nearly two points in the past year-and-a-half because private-sector job creation has been miserable thanks to higher interest rates, inflation, taxes and regulation.

Then there’s trade. One-third of our gross domestic product (GDP) is based on exports and three-quarters of our exports are bound for the United States. That means fully one-quarter of the entire national economy — approximately $530 billion a year and perhaps five million jobs — depends on our exports to the U.S.

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Now, when our largest trading partner is on the verge of swearing in a president who threatens that trade, our self-absorbed prime minister is so preoccupied with trying to save his political skin that he cannot devote enough time to preserving the economic bond that is most vital to Canadians’ standard of living.

At a time when clear, competent leadership is needed on the Canada-U.S. file, our prime minister is instead holding the country hostage while he meditates on his future and jet sets from one western ski resort to another. Talk about being a narcissist.

If Trudeau decides to stick around until the general election in October, he will only magnify all that economic damage until voters can hand him his inevitable pink slip.
Undeniably, the best thing for the country would be for Trudeau to go. Now.

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So why would it be wrong for Governor General Mary Simon to act on Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre’s written request of last week that she prevent Trudeau from proroguing (suspending) Parliament when it reconvenes in late January?

Trudeau’s motive would be purely selfish. He would dissolve the current Parliament to prevent a vote of confidence that, if it passed, would trigger an election he would certainly lose. Simon could give the Opposition parties a chance to hold their non-confidence vote by telling Trudeau she would not consent to such an egotistical prorogation.

Except, if she did that it would set a dangerous precedent for our democracy. We shouldn’t want the current or future, unelected Governor General deciding who gets to be prime minister based on news reports, opinion polls or letters from the opposition leader.

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Conservative MP John Williamson, chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, is seeking to have a non-confidence motion voted on by Parliament as soon as Jan. 30.

But he might need Mary Simon’s cooperation because Trudeau could call for a prorogation as early as Jan 27.

Williamson is probably correct. In a letter he sent to his committee’s members on Friday, the New Brunswick MP argued, “It is now clear that the Liberal government does not have the confidence of Parliament.”

A majority of MPs — Conservative, Bloc and New Democrats — have publicly pledged to vote non-confidence. Couple that with the many Liberals who have stated Trudeau should resign and Williamson makes a pretty convincing case.

But the key is that many, particularly the NDP and Liberals, have not yet formally voted to bring down the government. As clear as their disgust for Trudeau is, their public statements are just talk until they cast formal votes.

A letter from half or more of MPs calling on Simon to deny Trudeau a prorogation might be enough. A majority vote by the Liberal caucus that Trudeau should resign would also be hard to ignore.

But for the Governor General to act on a letter from the leader of the Opposition, or an avalanche of opinion polls and media reports, would be a precedent even Trudeau haters shouldn’t want.

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