Garneau Gone--But Not Forgotten?

 

Justin Trudeau’s attempt to duck or stall a public inquiry into election interference keeps looking worse. As other commentators have said, his plan to, sometime in the coming weeks, appoint a “special rapporteur” who would after some period of study report back to him on whether he should then appoint some kind of panel to investigate himself in private is only a smokescreen and a stall. It mostly puts everything on ice until after the next election, with some assurance that anything that comes out stays secret. And he can refuse to talk about it, on the grounds that it is the subject of an active inquiry and sensitive to national security.

At this point, given his resistance to investigation, we must assume that whatever has been going on in terms of Chinese government interference in Canadian politics is much worse than we have yet seen—and Trudeau is heavily implicated.

Another feather in the wind is the sudden resignation from Parliament of Marc Garneau. Might this be related? It is unusual for someone to resign their seat well after the last, yet well before the next election. Exceptions are if they have been offered some important job elsewhere. Or if a career pinnacle has been reached, and hanging around would be anticlimactic. Neither seems the case here. Granted that he is long in the tooth and past retirement age--he's still youthful compared to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Why not sit it out until the next election, fulfilling his commitment to the voters of Westmount-NDG, saving the expense of a byelection, and simply announce he will not run again?

I suspect that, as a Liberal insider, and a former Foreign Minister at that, Garneau probably knows the truth, or much of it, of the CCP situation. He sees the roof is going to come crashing down soon now. He has a personal reputation and legacy to protect: he was Canada’s first astronaut. He does not want to be tarnished by the tar when it hits the wind turbines. Or, to throw another metaphor in the Mixmaster, time to get off this sinking ship.

Having in the past had leadership ambitions, he might also want to be away at arm’s length, untarnished by association with the discredited regime, just in case there is an option to take up the Liberal mantle when Trudeau falls. This same calculation probably dooms any future leadership hopes for Chrystia Freeland; she’s too closely associated with Trudeau. Removing himself from politics and waiting in the wings worked for John Turner, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin. The elaborate praise and bonhomie Garneau expressed to all others in the Chamber, on Parliament Hill, in the media, and in politics generally suggest a man not burning any bridges. He wants to be remembered well and welcomed if he happens to come back.

My guess is that, if a proper investigation is eventually held, it will find that Justin Trudeau himself has benefitted financially, and substantially, from some connection to the Chinese government. He was in on the attempt to juke the elections, whether or not it made a substantial difference.

And what if an investigation finds that it really did make a substantial difference?