As of this publishing date, the historic win by the federal Liberals turns exactly one calendar year old.
No party has ever come from third to first in that fashion in our democratic history and this electoral accomplishment will continue to echo into the future for years to come.
However, it must be said that the first year of this government can be summed up in a single word: disappointing.
For all the planning that went into achieving electoral victory, Trudeau's Grits have definitely fumbled enough issues and wholly discarded their only good ideas (read: small business tax credit) to make one wonder if they were actually prepared for the power they received last year.
I will admit that I've been harsh on this government from their inception and my own political bias does colour how I see every action or inaction of our current federal ministers.
Furthermore, I have already explained the failings of this government at length very recently, so for the sake of brevity as well as fairness, I will try to keep to a list with more facts than colour.
Fact No. 1 (a): We were promised a much smaller deficit budget during the election.
The amount of debt that this government has been willing to pile on is incredible. Also, in the preamble to their first budget, the historically low interest rates as well as the need to spur aggregate demand are cited as the bedrock dogma of this government's fiscal policy.
Fact No. 1 (b): That terrifies me.
Fact No. 2: We are getting dangerously close to trade constipation. The lack of political will being exerted to stop interprovincial squabbling and get our goods to tide water or markets other than the U.S. is a serious deficiency.
Regardless of the reasons behind this intransigence, the ultimate goal must be to get our goods moving again. We are being left behind by more economically intelligent regimes - and they will reap the rewards.
Fact No. 3: Carrying on the economic argument, we are in for even more problems if the softwood lumber agreement, now long expired, starts an all out trade war on one of our most important industries.
Tariffs on our wood along with low prices on minerals and energy could put Canada into another recession quickly - and that carbon tax on top of it all is not going to help.
Fact No. 4 (a): In all things political, Mr. Trudeau and gang need to practice message control, implement internal checks on spending, and refrain from taking a photo with any less than three premiers at a time. I may not like this government, but between the inconsistent messaging and the cozying up to some premiers more than others, I have grown to outright distrust it on just about every issue and statement.
Fact No. 4 (b): Trudeau's dad wasn't owned by any province.
Fact No. 5: The list of deficiencies for this government are too many to number, no matter how you're counting, but the most important of them all is this - if Canada is back, this isn't where anyone worth talking to wants to be.
The list I just provided sounds like a list of problems that an old government should be leaving behind, not a shiny new government's list of ongoing projects. Yes, governance is hard, but it is even harder when you fumble issues as a matter of course.
Trudeau remains exceedingly popular, particularly in groups where context and facts do not matter. But three more years of this kind of mismanagement, and one can only hope the Dauphin is sent back to his room at Stornoway or perhaps even further from Parliament.
My advice to the current government is to get back to fundamentals: stop the selfies, the limo rides, and meaningless gestures at the godforsaken UN.
You were elected to fix the country - get to it!
