Trudeau’s cabinet needs to tailor its communications to today’s political realities

OTTAWA—It’s a sure bet that most of the hundred or so people shouting obscenities and waving “Fxxk Trudeau” flags at the prime minister in Belleville last week didn’t know he was making an appearance in the eastern Ontario town to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the Liberals’ signature family support program. The Canada Child Benefit, which now provides low-income families with $6,000 to nearly $7,500 a year for children under the age of 18, was a key promise by Justin Trudeau on his way to a Liberal majority victory in 2015. It greatly improved on earlier programs, and has been credited with reversing the trend of increased child poverty in this country in the years before the Trudeau government took power. The program is, of course, only one among hundreds of initiatives brought in by the federal Liberals—at the cost of untold billions of dollars—meant to improve conditions across the full range of socio-economic activity for Canadians. All governments wear out their welcome, but, quite apart from the nutcases in Belleville, it has to be said that the Trudeau Liberals seem to be getting next to no credit for all their efforts to make this a better country for everybody. If the Liberals are going to have any chance of neutralizing the Conservatives’ now well-established lead in the polls, Trudeau needs to elevate cabinet ministers with the communications skills to take on Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre and break through what seems to be widespread indifference and lack of information among voters about the federal government’s efforts. To date, you’d have to say that the Trudeau Liberals, despite endless opportunities, have largely failed when it comes to communications. Trudeau himself seems to think it’s uncouth to brag too much about his accomplishments, and the entire Liberal team tends to deliver their messages in the high-toned, slightly erudite manner characteristic of the House of Commons circa 1975. In one key area, Trudeau has had two finance ministers with very little ability to generate excitement about the government’s strategy or galvanize confidence in the economy. Bill Morneau just didn’t have the speaking ability. In Chrystia Freeland’s case, she did an excellent job getting Canadians through the pandemic, but these days she seems exhausted and a bit overwhelmed—to the point where all the talk about her becoming the next Liberal leader has evaporated. Consider that, even though the economy has done fairly well in the COVID aftermath, Canadians are dismayed and angry about their economic prospects, with a large percentage of the public—perhaps a majority—thinking incorrectly that the economy is in a recession. And business investors continue to sit on their hands rather than plow their earnings back into productivity-enhancing purchases. On the energy file, it’s not at all clear that most people have been made aware that they get all—or most of—the added fuel costs from the carbon tax back from Ottawa. And, if Trudeau gets any credit in the West for spending $30-billion to build a pipeline to increase shipments of Alberta crude to tidewater, I’ve never seen it. Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly is not a great communicator, and Defence Minister Anita Anand, for all her competence and welcome dedication to the Ukraine file, comes across as remote and cerebral. And Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has been unable to pull off any public relations miracles on the politically dicey files he’s been stuck with. On the important handling of the federal government’s position on the 2022 trucker occupation, Trudeau didn’t seem to rise to the comms challenge until he spoke at the Emergencies Act inquiry nine months later. All this is complicated by the Trudeau government’s unprecedented reliance on pay-as-you-go federalism, in which Ottawa puts up huge funding to bring the provinces on board on childcare, health, dental care, climate mitigation, industrial development, pharmacare, and other programs. If it overcomes federal-provincial animosity and gets the job done, everyone should applaud. But, from a political point of view, the general confusion about which levels of government have responsibility for what undercuts the likelihood of the federal government getting the credit it might hope for. The housing file is a case in point. Thanks in part to Poilievre’s seemingly successful effort to blame the housing crisis (along with everything else) on Trudeau, the federal government is in a position where it is paying the price politically for an issue that only partly falls within its jurisdiction. Trudeau needs a spokesperson on this file who can make sense out of the federal government’s array of multi-billion-dollar housing programs, cement co-operative action with the provinces, and ensure the public has some understanding of where the housing problems lie and who is responsible. In particular, this means confronting Poilievre’s meaningless argument that the housing shortage and sky-high prices are the fault of federal “gatekeepers.” In general, the Liberals need some leaders who are not afraid to raise their voices, and who realize that today’s politics are not the sedate politics of 30 years ago. Les Whittington is a regular columnist for The Hill Times. The Hill Times

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Trudeau’s cabinet needs to tailor its communications to today’s political realities

The Liberals need leaders who are not afraid to raise their voices, and who realize that today’s politics are not the sedate politics of 30 years ago.

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