A country divided

​Recently Prime Minister Trudeau's former star Finance Minister, the Honourable Bill Morneau, authored a book titled “Where To From Here, A Path to Canadian Prosperity”.

As is common when promoting a new book, Mr. Morneau has done several media interviews.

What is less common, is that Morneau levied some heavy and serious criticism against Prime Minister Trudeau and his office known as the PMO.

Mr. Morneau makes several allegations along a theme suggesting PM Trudeau often ignores or rejects “carefully considered calculations” for announcements that sound good or are too focussed on the “news cycle and social media” dictating decision-making, arguing that “Trudeau lost sight of fiscal prudence and the goal of securing Canada's long-term prosperity.”

The former Finance Minister summarizes PM Trudeau’s style of governance by stating:

“During the period when the largest government expenditures as a portion of GDP were made in the shortest time since the advent of World War II, calculations and recommendations from the Ministry of Finance were basically disregarded in favour of winning a popularity contest."

As a member of the official opposition,  none of this comes as any surprise as these comments do tend to accurately reflect the governing style of PM Trudeau.

What does come as a surprise is PM Trudeau’s former Finance Minister now openly coming out and stating it so publicly. 

My reason for sharing the comments of the former Finance Minister is not to focus on the style of governance by this Trudeau Liberal government but rather something else. 

In his book, Mr. Morneau alleges that PM Trudeau “used vaccine mandates as a wedge issue during the 2021 election” and suggests that doing so “further polarized the debate in Canada.”

The question for this week's report relates to this statement.

As we enter 2023 and have now been collectively dealing with the impacts and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic going on three years now, many people have experienced this period very differently.

So my question this week:

Based on your own experiences in life, do you encounter more polarization today compared with what you experienced pre pandemic?

​I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.