Trudeau: The Trudeau Liberals race as the near-death experience mounts

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Chickens with their heads cut off run around. In politics, we've come to expect this posthumous behavior from the federal Liberals.

Their electoral chances are as good as dead, and their leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, appears to have little dependence on his party.

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And yet they go around madly sticking to their unsavory policies, ministers and leaders, fixing it and running it.

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Environment and Climate Change Minister Stephen Guilbault continues his crackdown on climate extremism, saying no new roads should be built in Canada.

The result is a political fiasco.

Alberta and Saskatchewan have always opposed most measures. But Guilbeau is now losing the support of the public, provincial governments that were once at least neutral, and, most importantly, the powerful climate action lobby.

Accidents happen by themselves. Trudeau and Guilbeau held on to the carbon tax even after the disastrous deflation of the home heating oil “carve-out” policy, which mostly benefited Atlantic Canada.

Their false response is that no one understands it, damn it! — was actually a planned break for the farmers, but it seemed like another sudden release.

Revealed as a purely political tool, the carbon tax is poised to challenge a potential new leader like Mark Carney. Even the new democrats believe that we should leave the tax and stay at that level.

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Now, Guilbeault has amended the Impact Assessment Act to bring it in line with a Supreme Court ruling that significantly undermines provincial powers.

Guilbeau never admitted it was a defeat. He sees the decision as a simple matter of policy rather than a 5-2 strike by justices not generally known for their hostility to federal power grabs.

Alberta was predictably angry about the amendments. Prime Minister Daniel Smith was forced to file another lawsuit, saying that Guilbeau was always making moves and acting as usual.

“When you see that the first draft is unconstitutional, you can't just amend it and make it constitutional,” said Alberta Environment and Protected Areas Minister Rebecca Schultz.

“That's really the problem here. Minister Guilbault still has the ability to participate in projects that fall under provincial jurisdiction.

“Ultimately, this piece of legislation is unconstitutional. We will take this matter back to court and I am confident in our position because their changes do not really address the issues we have raised.”

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The problem is that legal uncertainty leads to even more delays in the construction of important projects. After the court decision, Ottawa banned the designation of new major projects. It has been seven months since it came into force.

The powerful regulatory body overseeing all of this, the Impact Assessment Agency, said in a statement:

“The decision to mark the projects is not made. Consideration of any new designation applications will continue only after the amended legislation comes into force, as appropriate.

Most surprising is the climate action lobby's fury over Guilbeau's amendments.

“Overall, the bill is a complete federal waiver to address proposed high-carbon projects like onshore oil mines,” Stephen Hazell, a retired lawyer and federal regulator, told National Observer, Canada's leading chronicler of climate events and policy.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May said the government was “erring on the side of stupid”. May sees the ruling as an opportunity to move forward with the legislation, rather than a retreat to satisfy claims of provincial jurisdiction.

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He is a politician who believes that a virtual martial law should be imposed on the country to deal with the climate emergency, with all power given to Ottawa.

And these people are more or less natural allies of liberals.

It's here that Trudeau and his crew are racing to find a murky middle ground on everything from climate action to taxation and Israel's war on Hamas (no major religious group in Canada supports the Liberals, according to a new poll). from the Angus Reid Institute).

Dumb, Dead Ducks – Choose a bird metaphor.

Don Braid's column appears regularly in the Herald

X: @DonBraid

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