Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Welcome to Your Ghastly New Trudeaupia, Canucks

This is what you wanted; this is what you'll get:
An immediate task for the immigration minister will be figuring out how to fulfill the Liberals’ plan to accept 25,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq by the end of the year. Details are expected quickly once the government is sworn in, with a combination of military transport planes and charter aircraft employed to bring the refugees to Canada. But whether the goal can be accomplished by Dec. 31 is still a question mark. 
The Trudeau government is under pressure from Quebec to quickly match the province’s $1-billion bailout of Bombardier’s troubled new aircraft program. Propping up the company’s C-Series jet program is widely seen as an iffy investment, but the Liberals, who were given an unexpected vote of confidence by Quebec voters, may feel compelled to come to the aid of the Quebec industrial icon. 
With the economy still struggling as a result of the oil-price shock, the government will need to move quickly to implement its main economic stimulus promise — the Liberal plan to double investment in roads, public transit and other infrastructure to $10 billion a year. The Liberals will have to get off the fence on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact initialed during the election by the Conservative government. Trudeau says he’s in favour of free trade, but the TPP could be trouble for Canada’s automakers. The government will also want to move quickly to fulfill its pledge to cut middle-class income taxes. 
Other issues needing immediate attention include Trudeau’s promises to open a new “nation-to-nation” dialogue with First Nations and set up an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women; drafting new legislation on doctor-assisted suicide; withdrawing military aircraft from Canada’s mission against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and reforming the Conservatives’ far-reaching anti-terrorism legislation. 
Marshalling combined federal-provincial action on Canada’s efforts to tackle global warming will be a high priority. To that end, Trudeau has invited Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and other provincial leaders to accompany him to the crucial UN Paris Climate Conference that opens in late November. 
On foreign affairs, the Liberals are committed to reorienting Canada’s international role to re-establish the importance of multilateral action through institutions like the UN...
"Real change": yup. But it's the bad kind--the kind that'll make a terrible mess of things very quickly.

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