As Andrew Scheer stares at his opposite across the parliamentary aisle, the Conservative Party leader must scarcely but regularly believe his great and good fortune.
Sheer — really just days ago, according to national pollsters — was approaching the starting gate for the run-up to the Oct. 21 federal vote with an attraction to voters similar to that of an unadorned paper bag under a Christmas tree.
Scheer played Clydesdale to Justin Trudeau’s butterfly. With little flash in a world of cyber soundbites, Scheer was dealing with yesterday’s story while Trudeau was writing the next day’s headlines.
Then a series of letters charged into Trudeau’s life, and almost poetically in triplicate: JWR, SNC, PMO.
SNC and JWR became Twitter favourites sans-hashtag, because that wasn’t necessary. SNC and JWR have chased Trudeau and his PMO into a series of ever-changing and unsustainable defensive positions since the day Trudeau first announced publicly the original Globe and Mail article on SNC, PMO and JWR was “false.”
But it wasn’t then and isn’t now.
Speak the words “justice committee” to Canadians anywhere in this land. The default response? An eye-roll.
Drop “9,000 jobs” into an engaging conversation and on autopilot the talk switches to Trudeau, SNC, PMO and JWR.
Spice up the chatter? Add Butts and Wernick, or Philpott and Caesar-Chavannes.
Trudeau is navigating with a damaged rudder. Challenged by protesters Wednesday evening at a Liberal fundraiser in Toronto who sought to draw the prime minister’s attention to mercury poisoning in First Nations communities, Trudeau’s silver spoon clanked to the floor. “Thank you for your donation,” he said.
An apology followed the next morning.
WATCH: ‘Thank you for your donation’: Trudeau to First Nation protesters at Liberal fundraiser
An IPSOS poll for Global News reveals Trudeau now has a lower approval rating than Donald Trump. Scheer and the Conservative Party of Canada, meanwhile, own a significant and steady lead.
Willie Nelson’s classic Turn out the lights, the party’s over may be premature, but the hands of Canada’s voters appear to be reaching for the switch.
Roy Green is the host of the Roy Green Show on the Global News Radio network.
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