Litany of PM complaints

Re. David Buckna’s letter Poilievre stokes anger, fear (Castanet, Feb. 21)

David Buckna is correct in stating (Public Order Emergency Commissioner) Justice Paul Rouleau said, in part, "After careful reflection, I have concluded that the very high threshold for the invocation of the Act was met".

However, what Buckna fails to mention is the following from the justice: "I do not come to this conclusion easily, as I do not consider the factual basis for it to be overwhelming. Reasonable and informed people could reach a different conclusion than the one I have arrived at. I also reach this conclusion reluctantly."

Anyone reading Buckna's comments would be led to believe there was no question the threshold for the invocation of the Act was met. However, reading all the facts would certainly lead to the opposite being true.

He also refers to (Conservative leader Pierre) Poilievre and his supporters as "far-right" and Poilievre as a "fear-mongering far-right politician". This is how a typical Liberal elitist attacks anyone who does not buy into the Liberal dogma. He criticizes anyone who supports Poilievre as believing everything Poilievre says, yet has immersed himself so deep in the Justin Trudeau Liberal “kool-aid” he is not able to acknowledge and listen to an opposing view.

That is cancel culture at its finest and reflects Trudeau's disdain for anyone with "unacceptable views,” being those not aligned with his view of the world.

Buckna suggests similarities between Poilievre and (former U.S. president) Donald Trump. In my opinion, the similarities are between Trump and Trudeau. Trump has serious ethical and integrity issues, as does Trudeau. The (federal) ethics commissioner, Mario Dion, outlined a number of ethical breaches by members of the Liberal government, including three by Trudeau. He was clearly frustrated by this and commented, “the act has been there for 17 years for God's sake".

More prominent recent violations include one involving Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary Greg Fergus when he petitioned the CRTC on behalf of an acquaintance to grant a small television station a broadcasting license in Quebec.

Another involves International Trade Minister Mary Ng, who handed her friend contracts worth $20,000 for media training. Ng’s excuse was that no one in her office flagged this. Dion's comment was, "There is simply no excuse for contracting with a friend's company". There were 100 staffers in Ng’s office that do media work.

No one who breached ethical rules has resigned. Trudeau's response to the ethics breach was that "it sucks". That from a politician who has been in breach of ethics rules three times. No wonder nobody in the Liberal government pays attention to ethics.

Bev Oda, was a cabinet minister in (former Conservative prime minister Stephen) Harper's government and resigned in 2012 over $1,000 of expenses, including a $16 glass of orange juice. She paid back the expenses. Someone in the government delegation at the Queen's funeral spent between $6,000 and $7,000 per night for a hotel room and the Liberals won't tell us who it was. A perfect example of Liberal elitist behaviour.

Buckna quotes Gary Mason, a columnist for the Globe and Mail. Mason wrote a column in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 21 titled "Justin Trudeau's Liberals have entitlement problems. Big Ones." The column says, "The lack of respect they routinely demonstrate toward a public whose trust they promised not to betray is beyond disappointing."

Here are some examples of Justin Trudeau's statements.

"Our platform will be fully costed, fiscally responsible and a balanced budget." (April 2015), “I’ve committed to running balanced budgets...Liberals balance budgets." (July 2015) and in August 2015, he talked about "modest deficits" followed by a balanced budget in 2019. On Sept. 17, 2015 he said "I am looking straight at Canadians and being honest the way I always have. We will balance that budget in 2019."

The federal debt facts:

2015—$628.91 billion

2016—$634.44 billion,

2017—$651.54 billion

2018—$671.25 billion

2019—$685.45 billion

2020—$721.36 billion

The total federal debt (as of fiscal 2022) is $1.134 Trillion. Federal debt interest payments will cripple us and future generations.

Then there was the SNC Lavalin affair. When it first broke in the pages of the Globe and Mail on Feb. 7, 2019, Trudeau stated: "The allegations in the Globe story this morning are false". On Aug. 14, 2019, Dion found Trudeau improperly pressured former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to reach a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin.

After the report was released, Trudeau wouldn't apologize for what the Dion ruled to be improper political influence in the SNC Lavalin scandal because he was trying to protect Canadian jobs.

The number of jobs potentially at risk was minuscule and the company would easily manage a ban on federal projects. It was a pathetic attempt to buy votes in Quebec.

Buckna suggests that perhaps a website called PPW (Pierre Poilievre Watch) is required to fact check what Poilievre says. One isn't needed for Trudeau because we already know not to trust anything that comes out of his mouth.

Canada is broken and Trudeau is the reason why.

Mark S. Bragagnolo