On Wednesday, Trudeau\u00a0sat and listened impassively as Scheer and a succession of opposition\u00a0MPs\u00a0charged the finance minister with hypocrisy and conflict of interest. Most pointedly, Morneau\u00a0was accused of exploiting a “loophole” in the ethics code, echoing\u00a0the kind of problem the finance minister’s tax reforms were meant to address.<\/p>\n
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- Liberals continue tax change tour<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Please, no questions for the finance minister: Robyn\u00a0Urback<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
With open palms, Trudeau\u00a0insisted\u00a0his finance minister had followed the conflict of interest rules and the ethics commissioner’s advice. The opposition jeered and moaned. The prime minister slipped and referred to the “conflict of ethics” commissioner and the opposition howled in mockery.<\/p>\n
In keeping with his new\u00a0practice on Wednesdays, Trudeau took every question. And, in keeping with their desire for a different tone, the Liberals around him refrained from clapping and cheering.<\/p>\n
But, eventually, Trudeau’s passivity began to give way.<\/p>\n
\n ‘Will the prime minister just admit that his minister of finance has violated the Conflict of Interest Act, or is he just too busy working hard for the French villa owners, or those who are working hard to become French villa owners?’<\/span>
\n – NDP\u00a0MP Jenny\u00a0Kwan<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHe accused the other parties of “personal attacks” and “wild accusations” and “petty politics” and “partisan politics” and “gutter politics.”<\/p>\n
“Shame on them,” he finally said of the opposition, overreaching.<\/p>\n
This\u00a0he contrasted\u00a0with a government that remains\u00a0“focused on what matters to Canadians”\u00a0\u2014 things like cutting taxes, helping families, building roads and\u00a0reducing unemployment.<\/p>\n
Mocking the finance minister<\/h2>\n
Of course, the propriety of the finance minister also ultimately matters to Canadians. Even if the average voter doesn’t go to bed each night worrying about the Conflict of Interest Act.<\/p>\n
The government surely would have been better off\u00a0if Bill\u00a0Morneau\u00a0had set up a blind trust (as Trudeau\u00a0himself did several years ago). Just as, to use an earlier affair, the prime minister would have been better off spending his Christmas vacation somewhere other than the\u00a0Aga\u00a0Khan’s island.<\/a><\/p>\n
Perhaps\u00a0in exchange for letting the Trudeau family crash at that\u00a0villa in France, the prime minister could introduce Morneau to his financial adviser.<\/p>\n
![\"Question](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4322632.1507848141!\/cpImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/question-period-20171003.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFinance Minister Bill Morneau has been a popular target for the opposition lately. (Fred Chartrand\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Regardless, Trudeau\u00a0will be better off if he can avoid losing his finance minister. And if there are no further revelations about the minister’s finances, the government might be able to wait out the opposition’s outrage (there will surely be something new to yell about soon enough), though the government’s pension legislation might now be irreparably tainted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Morneau’s absence\u00a0from the House is being noted and his wealth is being loudly mocked.<\/p>\n
“Will the prime minister just admit that his minister of finance has violated the Conflict of Interest Act,” asked NDP MP Jenny Kwan, “or is he just too busy working hard for the French villa owners, or those who are working hard to become French villa owners?”<\/p>\n
That sort of wordplay stings.<\/p>\n
And that sort of privilege can breed contempt.<\/p>\n
Is better still possible?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Amid the indignation\u00a0on Wednesday, Trudeau seemed to want to project confidence. But he might not want to sit too comfortably.<\/p>\n
The greater danger is if this whole affair further exposes some deeper problem, be it carelessness, arrogance, a government that is more style than substance, or even just the impression\u00a0thereof.<\/p>\n
It has been two years of such stuff.<\/p>\n
There were the questionable fundraisers<\/a>, questionable expenses<\/a>\u00a0and the remarkable feat of fouling up<\/a> the appointment of an official languages commissioner. The government made a mess of electoral reform and stumbled into a brawl over parliamentary reform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All the while, there have been questions about this government’s ability, even willingness, to simply get things done.<\/p>\n
This is a government that prides itself on “getting the big things right” and perhaps none of the controversies to date\u00a0qualify as “big” things. Meanwhile, truly big things might be accomplished in the next two years: a pipeline or two, major infrastructure projects,\u00a0measurable progress toward\u00a0improving the welfare and independence of Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n
- Please, no questions for the finance minister: Robyn\u00a0Urback<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n