Farewell, Maryam
First posted: Sunday, December 04, 2016 07:52 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, December 04, 2016 10:32 PM EST
Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef had no choice but to apologize last week for her public condemnation and belittlement of the special all-party House of Commons committee assigned to study the possibility of electoral reform.
Hers was an unprecedented insult.
Now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no choice but to dump Monsef from cabinet, and apologize to Canadians for over-estimating the abilities of such a political neophyte.
Not only did Monsef wrongly slam the committee for shirking its duty and producing nothing, she accused it of intentionally failing to make the “hard choices” surrounding electoral reform.
The committee did nothing of the sort.
What it didn’t do, of course, was recommend Trudeau’s preferred ranked-ballot system which is skewed to elect progressives ad infinitum. And nor did it recommend the tearing up of our first-past-the-post system which has served us well for the almost 150 years.
It recommended, instead, a national referendum to consider proportional representation, neither of which Trudeau wants.
This caused Monsef to derail, and turn whatever remaining confidence Canadians may have had regarding her capabilities as a cabinet minister into a huge question mark.
It is now more than clear she doesn’t have what it takes.
Yes, Monsef is young, at 31. And, yes, she is also a rookie MP.
Those may be good excuses for a minor slip-up, but not for someone whose job it is to find consensus in changing our voting system, and convincing Canadians that she knows what she is doing.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose said that, if Trudeau had been in the Commons when Monsef tossed out her insults, she likely would have called for Monsef’s resignation.
We have no such hesitation.
Trudeau should not have appointed her in the first place.
For Canadians to have confidence in their federal government, regardless of political partisanship, they must have confidence in the competence of those who hold the reins of power.
Electoral reform is no small matter, and if Trudeau remains determined to see it through, he must install someone in cabinet who has the kind of gravitas that exudes competence and commands respect.
Maryam Monsef falls incredibly short on both.
She needs to be set aside.
Farewell, Maryam | Editorial | Opinion | Toronto Sun
First posted: Sunday, December 04, 2016 07:52 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, December 04, 2016 10:32 PM EST
Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef had no choice but to apologize last week for her public condemnation and belittlement of the special all-party House of Commons committee assigned to study the possibility of electoral reform.
Hers was an unprecedented insult.
Now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no choice but to dump Monsef from cabinet, and apologize to Canadians for over-estimating the abilities of such a political neophyte.
Not only did Monsef wrongly slam the committee for shirking its duty and producing nothing, she accused it of intentionally failing to make the “hard choices” surrounding electoral reform.
The committee did nothing of the sort.
What it didn’t do, of course, was recommend Trudeau’s preferred ranked-ballot system which is skewed to elect progressives ad infinitum. And nor did it recommend the tearing up of our first-past-the-post system which has served us well for the almost 150 years.
It recommended, instead, a national referendum to consider proportional representation, neither of which Trudeau wants.
This caused Monsef to derail, and turn whatever remaining confidence Canadians may have had regarding her capabilities as a cabinet minister into a huge question mark.
It is now more than clear she doesn’t have what it takes.
Yes, Monsef is young, at 31. And, yes, she is also a rookie MP.
Those may be good excuses for a minor slip-up, but not for someone whose job it is to find consensus in changing our voting system, and convincing Canadians that she knows what she is doing.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose said that, if Trudeau had been in the Commons when Monsef tossed out her insults, she likely would have called for Monsef’s resignation.
We have no such hesitation.
Trudeau should not have appointed her in the first place.
For Canadians to have confidence in their federal government, regardless of political partisanship, they must have confidence in the competence of those who hold the reins of power.
Electoral reform is no small matter, and if Trudeau remains determined to see it through, he must install someone in cabinet who has the kind of gravitas that exudes competence and commands respect.
Maryam Monsef falls incredibly short on both.
She needs to be set aside.
Farewell, Maryam | Editorial | Opinion | Toronto Sun