EDITORIAL – Credit to the Orange Man for electing Carney and the Liberals

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

LET’S GIVE CREDIT where credit is due. The outcome of the federal election is due — not entirely, but mainly — to one man, and we know who that is.

Donald Trump gives himself credit for it, as he does for most other things. Ninety per cent of the time he’s as likely to be wrong as to be right but this time he’s correct. That such an odious human being has the power and influence to determine the result of an election in another country, especially ours, is an amazing thing but it’s sadly true.

He wasn’t the only person who influenced it. Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre made an unwitting but highly effective team to help bring it about. Trudeau, for his descent into an amazing depth of national unpopularity, and Poilievre for fumbling the ball late in the game.

Had Trudeau carried through with his insistence on running again, Poilievre would be the prime minister elect and the Conservatives would have won a majority government. But, at the last possible moment, Trudeau realized what he must do, and stepped down.

Poilievre, in very large part, achieved that. By so effectively undermining him, by turning him into a villain, he set himself and his party up for stupendous success at the ballot box. But one of the most insightful analyses I’ve read in the few days since the election is that, by doing so, he also set himself up for ultimate failure.

A smarter politician would have tackled Trudeau on his weaknesses but stopped short of toppling him. Had he allowed Trudeau enough room to carry on, Canadians would have rejected him based on his scandals and his carbon tax. Trump would have been nothing more than a spectator.

And Mark Carney? He wouldn’t have made an appearance but with Justin Trudeau out of the picture Trump became the perfect issue, and Carney the better man to face him. Had Trudeau been the candidate, Trump would have had a Canadian prime minister to deal with today who was much friendly to his views, though no one should claim Poilievre would have been a patsy.

So, the election came down to three men if you exclude Carney. And Trump, by so thoroughly belittling his northern ally, has no one but himself to blame for the outcome.

He can pretend it was an achievement, but it was the opposite.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.