Scheer and Singh are both weenies, which is Trudeau's biggest asset at this point. Rona Ambrose was much better than Scheer as opposition leader. Heck, Raitt is handling this better than Scheer. Mulcair was much better than Singh as well. At least Singh had the sense to call for a public inquiry rather than going straight to demanding a resignation and calling the RCMP, as Scheer did. Bad strategy. Reminds me of the episode of "The Office" where Michael Scott is taking an acting improv class, and every scene he acts, he pulls a gun, because "the most dramatic thing that can happen in a scene is, somebody pulls a gun!" You can't always reach straight for the gun, Scheer, you hapless mook.
CBC now reporting that Trudeau is considering a "statement of contrition" regarding how the SNC situation was handled.
I gather Liberal boosters are hoping that Butt Man will arrive and save the day tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.
Because I realize that this is normal politics, and it happens all of the time. Most politicians with their outrage meter not set to full have said as much. It's not like they were asking for something illegal - that would be different.
Which politicians said that?
One problem with this "it happens all the time" is that people make the same argument for shoplifting or cheating on taxes. Maybe it does happen, but that doesn't actually make it okay and people still get punished if they get caught.
The second problem is that if you are seen to be bending the rules to get SNC-Lavalin out of a jam, why can't you bend the rules for the next person who's stuck in a jam? Why couldn't they, you know, help Meng Wanzhou? Send her home to China instead of holding her for extradition? Hey, why not? Better than getting into some kind of trade war or diplomatic dispute over this, right? If we can bend the rules for SNC-Lavalin, why not bend the rules for Meng Wanzhou? If you tell China that "we're a nation of laws, and we are holding Meng Wanzhou because we have to," and they say "really? What about this SNC stuff? Why can't you help us out like you helped them out?" ...what do you tell them?
-k