Two years into the Trudeau 2.0 Minority Term, which day will Justin call the election that only he wants?

[Ron in Regina]

(The above is also designed to capitalize on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s recent statement that his party now prepared to bring down the government in the new year. In the wake of Chrystia Freeland’s dramatic resignation as finance minister, Singh wrote a letter saying the “Liberals don’t deserve another chance” and that he would vote non-confidence in the next sitting)

…& on that note:

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

(The above is also designed to capitalize on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s recent statement that his party now prepared to bring down the government in the new year. In the wake of Chrystia Freeland’s dramatic resignation as finance minister, Singh wrote a letter saying the “Liberals don’t deserve another chance” and that he would vote non-confidence in the next sitting)

…& on that note:
View attachment 26469

Is that a picture of him walking to his private plane, fueled by taxpayer money, where he can fly all by himself and save the environment in the process?

 

[Ron in Regina]

Is that a picture of him walking to his private plane, fueled by taxpayer money, where he can fly all by himself and save the environment in the process?

I think it’s an old picture of him walking to his private plane, fuelled by taxpayer money where he can fly all by himself and save the environment in the process.

There’s probably a more recent picture of him jumping onto Air Force Zero (emissions)….

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I think it’s an old picture of him walking to his private plane, fuelled by taxpayer money where he can fly all by himself and save the environment in the process.

There’s probably a more recent picture of him jumping onto Air Force Zero (emissions)….
View attachment 26473

He only does it to hurt conservatives' feelings.

 

[Ron in Regina]

He only does it to hurt conservatives' feelings.

It’s only the hypocrisy that rings like a bell, kind of like Pavlov’s dog. Since he stopped wearing a costume for every event, he’s down to just one plane at a time usually, so that’s progress.

 

[Ron in Regina]

In those circumstances, a prorogation — which would effectively press the pause button on the work of Parliament to force an agenda reset — could be tempting. But political insiders agree that it is unlikely that it will happen unless Liberals want an early election.

Refusing to leave.....is that not what Lefties claim Trump wants to do?

Anyhow, Liberals have not shied away from prorogation when faced with difficulties in the past.

Andrew Perez, a Liberal Party strategist and principal of Perez Strategies, said that prorogation is almost certainly fait accompli. “I don’t see how the government can avoid prorogation,” he said. “If they don’t, they’re going to be defeated and plunged into an election in the first week of February.”

In 2020, they suspended Parliament’s work for just over a month as the government was reeling from the WE Charity controversy. At the time, Trudeau said he wanted to “build back better” after the pandemic and the NDP voted to keep the government in power during the confidence vote, etc…

Surprise/surprise above there Jugmeet. With more members of the Liberal caucus losing confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership — and one-time ally Jagmeet Singh now promising to introduce a confidence vote to topple the minority government — Perez said putting Parliament on ice is the only way for him to save his political skin.

The Bloc is now the favourite among Quebec voters, which would give the party just enough of an edge to flip more than a dozen close ridings currently in Liberal hands.

Proroguing would also enable the Liberals to choose a new leader, should Trudeau choose to put his ego aside and toss in the towel.

“Prorogation would allow him to create that 90-day window in the Liberal constitution for a leadership race,” Taylor said. “But, Justin Trudeau promised he would be the one to lead the Liberals into the next election, and he’s usually pretty firm on commitments that involve himself and his ego honour.”

Sunny ways

Perez outlined three potential scenarios for Trudeau in the coming year:
1) he stays on as PM to face his government being toppled before seeing the party wiped out in the coming election;
2) he announces his resignation in January before proroguing parliament to allow for a leadership race;
3) or he steps down and allows the party to appoint an interim party leader and PM to preside over a throne speech and budget before leading the Liberals into a 2025 election.

Trudeau proroguing parliament becoming more likely, say strategists — Toronto Sun

With the NDP now promising to topple the government, the PM may see value in hitting the pause button on Parliament

apple.news

Perez suspects scenario two is most likely.

Lame duck (politics) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

“Prorogation would allow Trudeau to remain as PM until the new leader was selected,” he said.

“It would allow Trudeau, in his remaining weeks or months in power, to deal with this existential tariff threat and not worry about parliament, and allow the party to have a leadership race — you can’t have cabinet ministers running for leadership crisscrossing the country and then having to run back to parliament for question period and confidence votes.” (???)

What is the average number of MP’s Actually attending Parliament in person most sitting days since COVID? I’m guessing it’s a significantly less than 338.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Not exactly. The "lame duck" period refers to the time between the new Congress sitting, and the inauguration of the new President.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Not exactly. The "lame duck" period refers to the time between the new Congress sitting, and the inauguration of the new President.

Is it possible the term can pertain to more than just American politics?

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Is it possible the term can pertain to more than just American politics?

Nope. We coined it, we get to define it.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Nope. We coined it, we get to define it.

Ok. The first time the phrase is known to have been used in its metaphorical sense was in the 18th century; it was used at the London Stock Exchange to refer to a stockbrokerwho defaulted on his debts. In 1761, Horace Walpole wrote, in a letter to Sir Horace Mann: "Do you know what a Bull and a Bear and Lame Duck are?" And in 1791, Mary Berry wrote that the Duchess of Devonshire's loss of £50,000 (equivalent to £7,000,000 in 2023) in stocks was "the conversation of the town," and that her name was to be "posted up as a lame duck".

Anyway, unlike in some countries, there is no "lame duck" session of Parliament in Canada between the general election and swearing in of the new Parliament. In almost all cases, the outgoing prime minister or premier hands over power directly to their designated successor after a few weeks at most after a general election or shortly after a leadership election…almost all cases…meaning not all.

Usually, when the leader of a ruling party steps down, they also relinquish their caucus leadership role at around the same time, so there is no need for an interim caucus leader…like currently being proposed.

The power of outgoing Canadian parliamentarians is limited. Instead the departing prime minister or premier and cabinet ministers that were members of the now dissolved parliament will serve in an "acting" or "caretaker" capacity (i.e. not being able to make important appointments nor policy declarations) until the new parliament convenes.

While Pierre Trudeau retired from politics in 1984, he directly handed power over to John Turner after the leadership contest. However, Trudeau recommended that Governor General Jeanne Sauvé appoint over 200 Liberals to well-paying patronage positions, including Senators, judges, and executives on various governmental and crown corporation boards, widely seen as a way to offer "plum jobs" to loyal party members. These appointments generated a severe backlash across the spectrum.

Turner had the right to recommend that the appointments be cancelled: advice that Sauvé would have been required to follow by constitutional convention. However, he let them stand and made a further 70 appointments himself.

Turner refused to produce a written agreement he had made with Trudeau before taking office, documenting a secret deal that saw Trudeau (Sr) step down early. This is seen by many as Trudeau (Sr) attempting to exercise some lame duck influence before resigning as Prime Minister. Sins of the father & all that excepted, hasn’t Trudeau (Jr) already stacked the senate with his choice “independent” senators as a parting gift (?) but that could be just a coincidence?