Letters: Trudeau Liberals are planning a Bloc party

Readers comment on the dalliances of the Trudeau Liberals, the drama of the presidential election, the coming of Carney and more

Published Sep 22, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  9 minute read

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meet on Parliament Hill in a file photo from Nov. 13, 2019. Blanchet says the Bloc will support the minority Liberal government in a non-confidence vote expected this week. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press

‘No more safe spaces for Canadians?’

Re: There are no more safe spaces for Trudeau’s Liberals — Montreal byelection loss proves it — Terry Newman, Sept. 17; and Bloc Quebecois ready to extract gains for Quebec in exchange for supporting Liberals — Michel Saba Sept. 8

As enjoyable as it may be that the Liberals are witnessing the erosion of their role as the “national governing party,” I humbly suggest the headline for Terry Newman’s column be changed to “no more safe spaces for Canadians.“

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With the ripping up of the NDP agreement with the Liberals, we now have the prospect of the Liberals shifting toward the Bloc to retain their control over Parliament. So we move from an NDP/Liberal agreement with no tangible relationship to modern economic theory, toward the unique regional separatist bias of the Bloc to keep the Liberals in power.

Couple this shift with the ongoing pugilistic relationship with Saskatchewan over carbon tax remittances to the federal government, plus the cold war with Alberta over the green agenda. Not to mention the ongoing immigration train wreck that continues to generate misery for every hopeful future homeowner and for all taxpayers who must pay for increased social services.

While all this is happening, Canada’s economic performance is entrenched at the bottom of the OECD range projected well into the next century.

As for the military, who cares? Certainly not the Liberals, who seem content to ride on the coattails of the Americans.

So the question remains: where is there a safe space left for Canadians?

Raymond Foote, Ottawa

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No sooner than Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh go through a nasty breakup than the Bloc comes a courting, with a list of demands. Apparently, Canada is for sale by the Trudeau Liberals, and the price to Canadians is that Trudeau remains in power. That is something we cannot afford.

What happened to service to country, duty and altruism as motivators to high office? Clearly the Liberals would prefer to preside over the ashes of what once was Canada, just as long as they get to call the shots.

Trudeau’s brand of politics may not be the oldest profession, but it appears to be the most distasteful. Canada needs an election now.

Robert S. Sciuk, Wellesley, Ont.

I’ll never understand why my taxes pay the salaries of Bloc MPs and their constituency office expenses in Quebec. How on Earth can a political party be a contender in a federal election when it runs candidates in only one province? In order to qualify as a national political party in a federal election, that party should have to run candidates in every province across the country. It’s nuts that the rest of Canada is paying for a Quebec separatist party.

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Bob Dawson, Sherwood Park, Alta.

Let votes decide U.S. election, not bullets

Re: FBI investigates assassination attempt on Trump at his golf club — Sept. 15

After two assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life, President Joe Biden needs to allow the highest level of security for both him and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. There are many in the power structure who intensely dislike Trump and will do almost anything to prevent another Trump presidency. We should all hope that November’s presidential election will be decided by the people and their votes and not by an assassin’s bullet.

Dave Gallo, Ancaster, Ont.

Mark Carney and the Canadian economy

Re: Mark Carney gets hired to tell Liberals they’ve been doing it all wrong — John Ivison, Sept. 10; and The Carney-Trudeau political romance will likely end in tears — Michael Higgins, Sept. 10

One should not be too concerned with any influence Mark Carney may have over the Canadian economy as he holds a number of senior positions in major organizations. In fact, I suspect that all of those entities are now questioning their relationship with Carney, as few people could handle that tremendous workload. They are surely having second thoughts regarding Carney’s commitment to themselves.

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The Trudeau Liberals are simply attempting to deflect widespread criticism of their poor economic record over the past nine years. Besides, if history is any indicator, Justin Trudeau will soon be showing another bright light the alley door.

Richard Stonehouse, Delta, B.C.

The list of those whose careers and/or reputations have been damaged by Justin Trudeau is appalling: Bill Morneau, Marc Garneau, Jody Wilson-Raybould, etc. What makes Mark Carney think that he can escape the same fate?

Some easy research will show the financial chaos Canada is in: The federal government is currently spending $46.5 billion per year on debt-servicing charges. To put this in perspective, federal health transfers to provinces total $49.4 billion a year. But Trudeau justifies the spending of borrowed money as “investing” in Canadians.

Carney has no choice but to recommend reduced government spending while at the same time encouraging business investment in Canada. This means an end to federal intrusion into provincial matters, especially resource development. Or will Carney side with his climate cohorts at the UN?

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H.K. Hocquard, King, Ont.

Hiring Mark Carney to advise the Liberals on how to get out of the mess they have made of our country is an admission of complete incompetence and guilt. It shows they do not know how to fix the country after driving it into the ditch. And it shows that Justin Trudeau has no clue about any of this.

Count me as a non-believer that they will “fix” anything.

Mike Bradley, Tiny Township, Ont.

Health care not ‘free’ in Canada

Re: Kamala Harris channels Justin Trudeau — Jack Mintz, Sept. 13

It’s shocking that Jack Mintz describes Canadian health care as “largely free.” The 2024 budget for health services in Alberta is $26.2 billion in a province with a population of approximately 4.8 million. We continue to shovel eye-watering amounts of money at a system that offers 12-hour emergency queues and years-long surgery wait lists. The cherished myth of free health care in this country is a main reason behind the resistance to fix it.

David Korchinski, Calgary

Ukraine needs aid now

Re: Give Ukraine what it needs to end this war — Derek H. Burney, Sept. 4

It seems that every day Ukraine announces an agreement with some country for military and humanitarian aid. All are welcome given the daily news of another horrendous Russian bombing or missile strike on Ukraine’s schools, hospitals and other civilian targets.

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Yet, what rarely makes the news is that the aid will not flow for months if not years, and that often it is provided conditional on not crossing Russian “red lines” which would lead to escalation. However, Russia has already escalated its brutal campaign as far as it can except for using nuclear weapons. Limiting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself has led to countless deaths and unnecessarily prolonged the war.

Furthermore, why would Russia use nuclear weapons on territory it seeks to annex, and given the prevailing winds, risk contaminating its own territory with the fallout?

This is not a border dispute, or a limited inconsequential skirmish. Ukraine’s very existence is at stake, as is the stability of the rules-based world order. Ukraine needs aid now, and it must be free to use the weapons like any responsible western nation would do if attacked. Piecemeal, conditional support will only lead to more death and destruction, as well as cost the West. The time to act is now.

Wasyl Wysoczanskyj, Etobicoke, Ont.

Taking a stand against antisemitism

Re: When it comes to antisemitism, silence is complicity — Avi Benlolo, Sept. 13

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Although I was not born Jewish, I’ve been wearing a Star of David pendant for four months now, since it became apparent that antisemitism isn’t waning in Canada.

My rationale is that if everyone in Nazi-occupied Europe in 1941 who supported democracy and the rule of law had stitched a yellow star to their clothing, the Nazis and their sympathizers would have been vastly outnumbered and would have had to rethink their pogrom.

As per Benjamin Franklin’s timeless aphorism, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

Dave Sim, Kitchener, Ont.

Elon Musk’s ‘tasteless’ tweet

Re: Trump says Swift ‘will pay the price’ as Musk says ‘I will give you a child’ after Harris endorsement — National Post staff, Sept. 9

“Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life,” Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk tweeted after singer Taylor Swift declared her support for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Smith, signing her post “Childless Cat Lady” in a poke at Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance.

That has to be one of the most tasteless things Musk has ever said. If fact, I venture that in most Fortune 500 companies, it would merit a call from the human resources department. However, since he’s a billionaire, and owns X/Twitter, he gets away with this sort of thing. I, for one, won’t be buying a Tesla anytime soon.

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Terry James, Vegreville, Alta.

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Shame on Tucker Carlson for airing historical ‘rubbish’

Re: Churchill was a hero, Tucker Carlson should get better guests — Conrad Black, Sept. 14

Forgotten, or never known, by many is that if Hitler had won the Second World War, the peoples of Europe, Britain and much of the Americas would today be existing in slave states under the heel of the Nazi jackboot. It was Winston Churchill’s relationship with Franklin Delano Roosevelt that helped to negate the influence of the not inconsiderable sympathy with Hitler and his Nazi regime that permeated elements in the U.S. and which was buttressed by considerable alignment in South America. The likes of Tucker Carlson and his erstwhile guest might not even be alive today.

Carlson is an entertainer who should refrain from passing himself off as a knowledgeable, accredited commentator on historical or current affairs. He evidently is unable to distinguish between internationally recognized, accredited and knowledgeable historians and what Conrad Black quite appropriately refers to as “riff-raff.”

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Worrisome is that such a large number of Americans actually watch Carlson’s program and that such a wide voice was given to this unknown purveyor of what Black rightly described as “rubbish.”

David Green, Thornhill, Ont.

Preserving sanity and economic sense in the U.S.

Re: Harris sanity and Trump policy would be a winning ticket — William Watson, Sept. 17

William Watson considers Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris sane, and I’m sure she would pass any test in that regard. But, let’s keep in mind that Harris was directly involved in keeping Joe Biden with his unbalanced mind in office, as the nominal president, instead of supporting application of the 25th Amendment to remove him from office for the good of the country.

Tariffs are paid both by the consumers of the country that imposes them and by the foreign exporters on whom the tariffs are imposed. Maximizing consumer benefit should not be the only consideration for trade policy, especially when Chinese economic growth is a primary security threat for the U.S. and the rest of the world.

It is certainly correct, as Watson claims, that Harris is a pragmatist. As Bernie Sanders recently said, she pragmatically abandons her true desired policies simply to try to get elected.

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Watson argues that electing Donald Trump involves negative externalities — what negative externalities he fails to enumerate. But since Trump was in office from 2016 to 2020, and then Harris/Biden for the past four years, it’s pretty easy to compare the state of the U.S. and the rest of the world under both regimes. This comparison requires no elaboration.

Alex MacMillan, Kingston, Ont.

National Post and Financial Post welcome letters to the editor (200 words or fewer). Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Email [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

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