EDITORIAL: Don’t blame Poilievre for doing his job
· Toronto Sun
See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source
Visit esporist.com for more information.
The rush of support for Prime Minister Mark Carney after he ordered his negotiating team to quit trade talks with the U.S. is understandable.
Canadians don’t like getting pushed around by those who threaten our financial wellbeing and our sovereignty with bully tactics.
But we’ve adopted a topsy-turvy attitude about who can and can’t speak on our behalf.
Critics slammed Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for doing his job. Poilievre has demanded the public be told details of the deal and asked that Parliament be recalled to discuss it.
Just doing his job as Opposition leader
“Canadians must see it to judge what options are on the table,” he said. That’s a reasonable request for the leader of the Official Opposition, yet critics suggest his demand is unpatriotic. That’s nonsense. It’s the job of an Opposition leader to hold the government to account. There’s nothing unreasonable or un-Canadian in doing so.
In the absence of hard information, there’s rampant speculation on social media about what caused the deal to fall apart. So let’s see it.
In Ontario, provincial New Democratic Party leader Marit Stiles demanded Premier Doug Ford recall the Legislature, and all the progressives nodded in agreement. Ford may not have been the most elegant critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, but he’s certainly been one of the most effective. Telling Trump to kiss his rear-end certainly got the attention of American news outlets. When Ford pulled U.S. booze off the shelves of provincial liquor stores, he gave Canada its most effective bargaining chip. His anti tariff ad that so angered the Trump administration was widely criticized here for having upset the deal. In light of recent events, it’s clear there was no deal when it aired.
Meanwhile, why is Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow going on U.S. media, suggesting she’d be fine to shut off electricity to America?
She’s in the middle of a re-election campaign, and this plays to the gallery. Her progressive supporters are cheering her on from the sidelines, when they should be telling her to zip her lip.
Let’s get things in the right order: Opposition leaders hold governments to account. Premiers defend their provinces’ commercial and industrial interests. And local attention-seeking mayors should keep their opinions to themselves and not speak on behalf of an entire nation and its trade policy.