Lesser evilism and Trudeau’s legacy

Justin Trudeau has resigned as leader of the Liberal Party after almost 10 years in power. He has prorogued parliament until March 24 so that the Liberals can choose a new party leader.

 

This follows months of speculation, sagging poll numbers and the recent resignation of deputy PM and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland.

 

Trudeau’s approval ratings have been dismal for years now—a recent Leger poll said only 11% of the population thought he would be the best choice for PM if an election was called.

 

Since the resignation caucus members have been telling the media that the real issue was that Trudeau had moved too far to the left and they particularly referenced the deal with the NDP as an indicator of that leftward trajectory.

 

This is absurd. A cursory glimpse at the Trudeau record shows he was a safe pair of hands for Canadian capitalists. He was the perfect encapsulation of what the Liberal party has always been. They use progressive language to mollify opposition while consistently doing the bidding of the Bay Street bosses.

 

So, Trudeau bought the trans Mountain pipeline in 2018 to ‘keep the project alive’ and to expand fossil fuel infrastructure and then proceeded to join the Montreal demonstration during the global climate strike the next year. The hypocrisy is staggering. None of his allegedly progressive credentials stand up to any level of scrutiny. 

 

While people are justifiably frightened by the prospect of a hard-right ‘convoy’ inspired Conservative government, we need to understand that the road to the right is paved by the failures of the extreme centre to actually address the many crises working people are facing.

 

It is because of the Liberals' failures on affordability, housing, climate, and reconciliation that the far-right found space to situate themselves as the alternative to the status quo. 

 

Attacking workers rights

 

Only a few weeks ago, Trudeau’s labour Minister Steven MacKinnon forced striking postal workers to shut down their picket lines thus depriving them of their most powerful tool to gain needed wage increases and better working conditions.

 

Jan Simpson, President of CUPW said “This order continues a deeply troubling pattern in which successive federal governments have used back-to-work legislation or, in this case, its arbitrary powers to let employers off the hook from bargaining in good faith. What employer would move on anything when they know the government will bail them out? Once again, the government has chosen capital over workers by taking away our leverage to get a good deal.”

 

That back-to-work order was not an anomaly but the norm for the Liberals under his watch. They had already forced port workers in Montreal, Quebec and BC back to work in November 2024. CUPE, which represents the Montreal dock workers, called the decision "a dark day for workers' rights.”

 

And he forced striking workers at Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City railways back to work in August 2024.

 

While some look to the anti-scab legislation that was passed under the Liberals as a good step forward, in practice the Liberals have replaced the messy and unreliable method of forcing scabs through a picket line with quieter and reliable labour board orders that suspend colective bargaining rights. 

 

Cost of living

 

Under Trudeau's watch, the cost of living grew at a staggering rate. He may not be the only one responsible—provincial governments and the pandemic bear a lot of blame as well for the crisis—but he also didn’t do much to alleviate the suffering.

 

More than two thirds of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. The cost of rental housing has more than doubled since he took office with a one bedroom apartment going from a country wide average of $966 in 2015 to $1,954 in 2024.

 

His attempts to address the issue were wholly inadequate with a $500 tax break for renters which is a drop in the bucket for people reeling from higher costs. Worse for Trudeau his boutique tax cuts are widely perceived as being divorced from the reality that renters face.

 

Yes, provincial governments have jurisdiction over housing policy but the federal government could have used its much larger pool of resources to build affordable housing. The policies they chose, however, were completely inadequate for the needs of the people.

 

Likewise, while health care is a provincial responsibility, Trudeau does have levers that he could have used to save public healthcare—mainly by enforcing the Canada health act. But instead he applauded Doug Ford’s privatization schemes as ‘innovation’ and has done nothing to end the erosion of healthcare in provinces across the country.

 

And as the cost of groceries skyrocketed during the pandemic Trudeau didn’t at any time call for caps on price increases which could have solved the problem. Instead he allowed the grocery oligarchs to raise prices and gave them millions of tax dollars to buy new fridges and freezers despite record profits.

 

Indigenous rights and reconciliation

 

Trudeau began his tenure stating “no relationship is more important to me and to Canada than the one with First Nations, the Métis nation, and Inuit peoples. Let me say it once again. I give you my word that we will renew and respect that relationship”

 

He also appointed the first Indigenous person, Jody Wilson-Raybould as Minister of Justice and Attorney General. He also announced the first national day for Truth and Reconciliation.

 

He, quite famously, didn't participate in any official ceremonies on that day but was found surfing in Tofino, BC while the events commenced.

 

But his primary focus remained on the needs of Canadian capital and so he maintained attacks on Indigenous Sovereignty.

 

He promised to end the contaminated water crisis on First Nation reserves and then spent millions in court cases to deny the right to clean drinking water. Federal government lawyers argued in a class action suit initiated by Shamattawa First Nation that the government has no legal obligation to provide clean water for First Nations.

 

He oversaw the expansion of pipeline projects against the wishes of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs who have court-proven legal jurisdiction over all land use on their territory. Trudeau didn’t care. He stood with the BCNDP government when they sent the RCMP in to attack Land Defenders and spent more than $50 million on police to end their blockade.

 

We must remember that the ensuing “Shut Down Canada” movement in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people became a political crisis for Trudeau as blockades and protests raged across the country. His government was only allowed some respite from the crisis because the Covid pandemic shut down the blockades.

 

Trudeau has continued the Canadian ruling class tradition of maintaining settler-colonial attacks on Indigenous people from coast to coast.

 

Genocide Justin

 

Under Trudeau the Canadian state has remained in lockstep with the needs of Western Imperialists. He doubled military spending over the course of his rule while opening up 5 new military bases.

 

He maintained the sale of Light Armoured Vehicles to the Saudi government despite numerous reports that they were being used in war crimes against the people of Yemen.

 

And he maintained Canadian would support the Israeli state, selling weapons to Israel and buying weapons from them during the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

 

In every public statement on the subject he always reiterated that Canada ‘will always defend Israel’s right to exist in peace and security.’

 

Conclusion

 

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Trudeau was in power for almost a decade and it has been, for most working people, a decade of increased hardship.

 

The few advances on questions of pharmacare, daycare and dental care are helpful but totally inadequate to the scale of the crises.  

 

Of course, he is not the only politician who deserves our anger at the deterioration of our living conditions but he did have immense power to intervene and simply didn’t do so on any significant level.

 

He also adopted many of the same racist policies of the right in an attempt to shore up support for the party. The recent announcement of mass deportations has only emboldened the racists.

 

And the result is a resurgent far-right that will use these grievances to build a base of support for an angry and racist shift in official government policy if the Conservatives are elected.

 

There are parallels. In the US, the utter failure of the Democrats to offer any real alternatives to the ravages of capitalist greed has led to another Trump term.

 

Lesser evilism is no solution to the many crises we face. It is a recipe for paralysis and irrelevance for ‘progressive’ forces from the union bosses, NGO’s and official opposition in the NDP which hitched its wagon to the hated Liberals with its supply and confidence agreement. 

 

Illusions that the Liberals would be a bulwark against the policies of the right should have been destroyed by now given the bankruptcy of their record these past 9 years. But those illusions are reborn with every failure of the left to provide a serious, meaningful alternative for working class people to the parties of the 1%.

 

The solution to this revolving door of hated prime ministers isn’t going to be an electoral one. The real fight will happen at the blockades by Indigenous Land Defenders, on the picket lines with the hundreds of thousands of workers who have struck over the past few years, with the hundreds of thousands who have marched to end the genocide in Gaza and with the Immigrant workers and students marching and fighting for a just anti-racist immigration policy.