TRUDEAU ISN’T INTERESTED IN BEING THE PM, HE WANTS TO BE PREMIER

So, Trudeau makes bold promises like this: “It’s too hard to find an affordable place to rent, especially for younger Canadians. That’s why in Budget 2024, we’re taking action to protect renters.”

Yet the truth is he can’t accomplish anything here without the express and full cooperation of the provinces, some of whom won’t like the PM meddling in provincial jurisdiction.

“The answer is simple, it’s no,” Quebec Canadian Relations Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters. “Tolerating this new invasion of Quebec’s jurisdiction by the federal government, which wants to meddle in our affairs, is out of the question.”

It’s unlikely that Quebec will be the only province that takes issue with the federal government meddling in their affairs. There is absolutely no need for the feds to get involved in this issue.

If Trudeau really wants to run all kinds of social programs across the country, then he should run at the provincial level. This is clearly where his heart is at, it’s what he spends his time, and our money, obsessing over.

Meanwhile, he lets areas of federal responsibility wilt and whither from neglect.

Our military, already a shadow of its former self, is facing budget cuts in two weeks’ time. In addition to recruitment and retention problems, the military recently announced that we would no longer train our own Air Force pilots but instead send them to Texas, Italy or Finland.

It’s just one of many major embarrassments over the past several years.

Our allies no longer see us as a reliable partner on many fronts, as evidenced by Canada being excluded from intelligence sharing operations with the Americans, Australians and Brits. We were similarly cut out of a defence agreement with these same countries.

In the wake of the horrific attacks Hamas carried out against Israel on Oct. 7, U.S. President Joe Biden convened a call with major allies including Britain, France, Germany and Italy. The country the American president did not call was Canada, a G7 and NATO ally and the country with the fourth-largest Jewish population in the world.

“Gendered language,” was Trudeau’s immediate and unprompted answer.

While Trudeau claimed that Canada left the world stage under Stephen Harper and that he would bring us back, the opposite is true. Under Harper, three Canadians chaired G20 committees during the 2008-09 financial crisis — Harper himself, the late Jim Flaherty and then Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.

That would never happen today.

Instead of focusing on the things the federal government is responsible for, Trudeau focuses on provincial issues and in so doing hurts national unity, another key responsibility of any federal government.

Let’s face it, Trudeau doesn’t like the job he has, so maybe it’s time he looked for a new one.