In 1970 Claude Charron was the youngest member ever elected to the National Assembly of Quebec. Re-elected a few times and as a high-profile cabinet minister, Charron astounded everyone by being caught red-handed trying to steal a tweed jacket from an Eaton’s store. The jacket still had its price tag on it when he was apprehended. Charron then resigned his cabinet post, his once-promising political career coming to a sad end. His ultimate humiliation came later when he was stopped for impaired driving.
There was much speculation as to just what had happened. To begin, he was under a great deal of pressure. And as a Parti Quebecois politician, dealing with the constitutional ups and downs, his announcement that he was a homosexual (in a time that was still a big deal) didn’t help. Charron fit the psychological profile of other affluent people who do something foolhardy, like shoplifting. And, not because they needed the item, but because they felt overwhelmed by the pressure of their lives. They subconsciously want a way out, feeling trapped in their positions of responsibility.
Charron later described the way he exited politics as a “political suicide”.
Another Quebec politician seems to fit Charron’s description. A politician who continually places himself in scandalous situations — groping incidents, wearing blackface, accepting a luxurious island vacation, deliberately violating well-established justice system boundaries, and, now, giving a billion-dollar government contract to a highly questionable “charitable” organization that had paid, previously, $300,000 to his family.
That Quebec politician is our Prime Minister.
Could it be that Justin Trudeau is signalling that he is in over his head and wants out? Recall: Trudeau’s qualifications going into the 2015 federal election — an election win that surprised everyone and put him in power — were extremely thin. Before becoming the elected Liberal member for Papineau, Trudeau had few accomplishments that would justify obtaining Canada’s top political job. Without his famous name, it is doubtful that he would have risen much further than his drama teaching career. That was the highest position — and a part-time one to boot — that he had occupied before using his famous name to enter politics.
When he came to power the country was in sound financial shape, respected on the world stage, and reasonably contented. Canada now reels with a debt to exceed one trillion dollars, with a Prime Minister now openly mocked by world leaders. His policies have racial groups at each other’s throats. While it is true that an unprecedented pandemic is part of this volatile mix, it should be remembered that immediately before COVID-19 hit, our country’s transportation system had been virtually paralyzed by an assortment of climate, indigenous and professional agitators, and was already seriously in debt.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems powerless to do anything about the calamities that have struck our nation.
Perhaps the latest WE Charity scandal is a sign from a beleaguered Prime Minister that he recognizes that he should never have been placed in this responsible position in the first place. This would be a good time for him to arrange a graceful exit.
Originally Published in the Winnipeg Sun
Brian Giesbrecht, a retired judge, is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
