Roy Green: Canadians preparing to bid adieu to Trudeau?

If a federal election were held today in Canada, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals would lose to the Conservatives, according to national polling by Ipsos for Global News.

The Liberals would generate 33 per cent of the vote, while the Conservatives would get 38 per cent. Trudeau’s party has dropped 5 points since December, while Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives have climbed 7 points.

The New Democrats would be third at 21 per cent and the Green Party taking 5 per cent.

According to Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, Trudeau’s misfortunes are self-inflicted.

“It’s the first time we’ve shown, since before the election, any time the Liberals have been behind,” Bricker says.

The Prime Minister’s questionable decision-making in office includes his recent trip to India, which included 14 Liberal MPs.

The disappointing visit was intended to generate trade and strengthen cultural ties between the two countries, but instead Canadians were left to observe their Prime Minister dressing up in outlandish Indian outfits that even veteran New Delhi journalist Shivan Vij chuckled about during our interview.

Not everything in India was oddly entertaining (like Trudeau’s attempt at Indian dancing). There was the sinister presence of convicted attempted murderer Jaspal Atwal and the question about Atwal being included on the guest list for an official Canada-sponsored event.

When I asked Vij if Trudeau’s time in his country had negatively impacted the Indo-Canadian relationship, his answer was immediate: “Absolutely.”

It’s not only Trudeau’s India fumble which has caused even ardent supporters to look more closely at their PM.

The list of missteps is lengthy: an admiring eulogy for one of the world’s most cruel despots, Fidel Castro.

An angry declaration that dual-citizen convicted terrorists would no longer face possible stripping of Canadian citizenship (see Bill C-6).

There was the rushed payout of $10.5 million to settle a $20-million lawsuit by admitted terrorist Omar Khadr. Trudeau’s chatter about how settling the suit had likely saved Canada millions of dollars was irrational. No one knows how Khadr’s suit may have concluded in court.

During one of his fairly frequent town halls, Trudeau was quizzed about why he and his government were opposing Canadian military veterans’ class-action lawsuit demanding pension fairness for wounded and injured CAF members.

Trudeau’s response that veterans were asking for more than the government can afford was met with national frustration and compared to the saddling of Canadian taxpayers with funding the PM’s family vacation to the Aga Khan’s private Bahamian island. The cost to you and me: just over $215,000.

Never mind that the federal Ethics Commissioner discounted Trudeau’s claims about the trip and declared him guilty of multiple ethics violations.

Justin Trudeau continued idealizing terrorist elements by defending allowing Canadian ISIS fighters to return to this country. He insisted they were capable of “extraordinary” contributions to Canada, while remaining silent while the people of Iran rose against an oppressive government.

Trudeau has declared himself a feminist, yet while attending an Ottawa mosque that required female members of the Liberal caucus to enter through a side door and remain segregated from the men on a raised balcony, he happily declared all was well, including with “the sisters below.”

The Prime Minister and his Justice Minister challenged a Canadian jury for a not-guilty verdict for a Saskatchewan farmer in the shooting death of a 22-year-old Indigenous man, after the man and his friends (who had been drinking) had driven their vehicle onto farmer Gerald Stanley’s property and the situation had deteriorated.

Did Trudeau or Jody Wilson-Raybould follow the Stanley trial sufficiently closely to deliver their instant “Canada can do better” second-guessing?

Then there was the PMO photo-op with Justin Boyle and family just before Boyle was charged with a number of offences.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister until very recently had no time for Bonice Thomas, sister of Robert Hall, a Canadian traveller kidnapped and murdered by ISIS-affiliated terrorists in the Philippines.

Trudeau has been involved in more questionable incidents than are cited here. In 2015, the Conservatives argued Trudeau was not quite ready to be the Prime Minister of Canada.

Come 2019, sufficient numbers of Canadian voters may also endorse that view.