under the bus should be the liberal theme song .
Because…it’s 2015-ish…For political staffers who worked for former finance minister Bill Morneau when he resigned in 2020, Thursday morning must have felt like Groundhog Day.
“Tension rises between Freeland, PMO over economic messaging, low approval ratings,” read a Globe and Mail headline splashed over the newspaper’s website Thursday.
The story quoted unidentified Liberal sources stating that the relationship between the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is “tense” because she has been “ineffective” at selling the Liberals’ (lack of) economic policies. In a statement, PMO spokesperson Ann-Clara Vaillancourt said the Globe’s assertions “are not accurate.”
On Parliament Hill, on social media and in private messages and political chatrooms,
many highlighted the uncanny resemblance between that headline and article to one, by the same reporter, published nearly four years ago in August 2020:
“Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s job could be in jeopardy after clashes with Prime Minister, sources say.”
That story created a ripple effect leading to Morneau’s resignation just days later, as finance minister and Liberal MP.
“The leaks and planted stories had poisoned the atmosphere to the point where there were few, if any, alternatives available beyond submitting my resignation,” Morneau wrote in his 2023 book Where To From Here.
In an interview, Morneau’s former deputy chief of staff Sharan Kaur said that what she saw in the article Thursday morning was the beginning of the same “playbook” that led to her ex-boss’s frustrated resignation four years ago.
“This is exactly what happened before. It’s just very unprofessional,” she said. “The real issue is that the PM is polling at an all-time low, his popularity is low” and he isn’t changing things “top to bottom” at the Prime Minister’s Office, she added.
The question is whether the prime minister’s inner circle is moving against Freeland the way it did against Morneau.
As they say in financial circles, past performance is no guarantee of future results.
For political staffers who worked for the former Finance Minister when he resigned in 2020, Thursday felt like Groundhog Day
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