It Would Not Work as Fiction

Jane Philpott, in better days.

It just keeps getting better.

Now Jane Philpott has claimed that Trudeau’s expulsion of herself and Jodi Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal caucus was illegal.

Michael Chong, the actual author of the relevant law, agrees.

Whether she gets anywhere with her present case or not, Philpott’s raising of the matter keeps the SNC Lavalin corpus delicti in the public eye. And reinforces the impression of Trudeau as someone who bullies and who plays fast and loose with democratic traditions and the rule of law. The optics for him are grim.

It seems to me this is another case of bad judgement on Trudeau’s part. He claims the caucus was behind him in wanting to expel the two ex-ministers. If so, why not then have held a secret ballot, as the law requires? Even if it failed to fully conform to the law, any such vote would have been a moral counter to their claims the move was illegitimate.

Instead, unless he is lying about the level of caucus support, Trudeau stupidly insisted on showing he was boss by an arbitrary exercise of power. This looks like panic from someone who feels matters are getting out of his control. He had to publicly swagger. It makes him look like less than an adult.

In the meantime, most of Philpott’s local Liberal riding association executive has resigned. That’s probably a litmus for the level of enthusiasm Trudeau can expect from Liberal activists and volunteers in the next election, even if they retain their party loyalty.