Category: Chairman’s Desk

Amid all the bluster of Donald Trump’s persistent, pathetic and frankly anticlimactic simulacrum of a power grab, it is easy to forget just how much is at stake.

For weeks, we’ve seen the president and his attorneys wheel out their sock puppets to show-and-tell the nation their conspiracy theories of election fraud — with all the rhetorical and legal prowess of a fourth-grade holiday pageant. Even though they have been tossed out of court after court, the freakish tragicomedy of it all is causing real, lasting damage.

What’s more, unlike the damage Trump has wrought on some of America’s more resilient institutions (the courts, the Justice Department, the intelligence community), this farce strikes at the heart of an already weakened facet of public life: faith in democracy.

At a time when so many Americans feel either disillusioned or entirely removed from the process by which their leaders are chosen, the president’s campaign has further undermined the most sacred aspect of secular life.

Every few years, in democracies around the world, citizens of every walk of life journey to community centres, places of worship and schools to participate in a ritual that binds us all. In doing so, they pay testament to their belief in the promise of modern democracy. They believe that their votes, cast in those musty halls and church basements, will be counted fairly, without fear or favour — and that our leaders will accept the result.

That promise is an article of faith. The very bedrock of our democracy.

Yes, many Americans have changed the channel on Trump and Rudy Giuliani’s noxious lies. But as they spin malignant fables about Dominion Voting Systems and a conspiracy among Georgia Republicans, remember: voters are watching. America is watching. Perhaps worst of all, the world is watching

First, voters. Prior to the 2020 election, which saw nearly unprecedented voting figures, the U.S. had fallen behind most developed democracies in voter turnout. This trend has been driven by a number of factors, not least of which being the determined efforts of state legislatures to disenfranchise and disillusion certain voting populations — especially in urban districts and among Black Americans.

This reality is troubling in itself, but it also points to an incredibly fragile democracy which is further imperiled by Trump’s efforts to convince Democrats and Republicans alike that the election game — like so many others in his alternate reality of America — is rigged against them.

Second, the nation as a whole. As the U.S. enters a year that could present even greater challenges and cause for division than 2020, it needs resolute leadership and a federal government that can genuinely work to unite Americans. That will be no easy task for Joe Biden’s administration, but it will be made even harder by the implications of Trump’s fraudulent claims of a “stolen” election.

Recent polling shows that upwards of 70 per cent of those people who voted for Donald Trump genuinely believe that Biden’s win is illegitimate; that the election was, indeed, stolen from Trump. If that’s the case, Biden’s aims of unity and reconciliation are dead even before he raises his hand and takes his oath of office. Those voters will simply never accept him as their president. It will be Obama redux, with the result being even less appetite for bipartisanship and even less getting done in Washington.

Finally, the rest of the world.

It will take years to mend the damage Trump has done to international relationships, global co-operation and general comity among allies.

Since Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, U.S. diplomatic strength has relied on a sense of exceptionalism rooted in the morality and stability of American democracy. Now that the president’s actions are more befitting a Kim than a Kennedy, it will be that much harder for the State department to scold Russia, Iran or the many despots whose actions it routinely condemns in the UN. “Look,” they will say, “you’re just like us.”

In the end, we can take comfort in the fact that Trump’s efforts will fail. But we cannot lose sight of the very real damage he will have inflicted — and the work it will take to clean up his mess.

This article was originally published in the Toronto Star on November 29, 2020.

As the country plunges into the second wave of COVID-19, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has returned to hosting reporters from his favourite spot: Rideau Cottage. And why wouldn’t he? After all, it’s the location that, early in the pandemic, helped drive some of his highest approval numbers.

Back then, the prime minister and his colleagues correctly sensed that a good crisis was a terrible thing to waste. They rose to the occasion with lavish spending — to the tune of $225 billion — and with an equally lavish communications strategy.

Sadly, the same could not be said for then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.

Amid the fear and panic that marked COVID’s first wave, Scheer never quite managed to strike the right note. In his defence, wars and pandemics make life difficult at Stornoway. How to attack the government’s missteps, without undermining public health? How to calibrate criticism so as not to appear churlish and irresponsible at a time of national crisis?

But Erin O’Toole has now arrived, having prevailed in a Conservative leadership race that saw the party attract more than 100,000 new members. And he has brought with him a new strategy: tack towards the centre, and appeal explicitly to blue-collar, unionized workers.

That’s why the second wave of this pandemic may well be as much an opportunity for O’Toole as the first was for Trudeau.

With Ontario and much of the country back into lockdown, there is truly only one issue that voters care about. And that plays to O’Toole’s advantage. It provides him an opportunity to build a big blue tent, without having to worry about pesky social issues which chronically divide his party and keep it out of power.

So the question becomes, where should O’Toole and the Conservatives focus their criticism? My suggestion: government competence.

Nearly a quarter-trillion dollars has gone out the door in a matter of nine months. If there are not multiple instances of mismanagement, incompetence, abuse and fraud in all that, I will eat the newsprint this column is printed upon.

Early examples are already emerging. Take, for example, this week’s case of the Madan family. Between April and June, the Madans are accused of having stolen $11 million of COVID relief funds. “Money was just being shovelled out the door with little or no accountability,” one source told the Star.

The episode does not inspire confidence. And it provides an opening for conservatives to shift the discussion to ground where they can win: their ability as prudent fiscal managers.

However, even as the pandemic presents these kind of opportunities, it will be challenging to break through a grim daily news cycle and to be seen as contributing meaningfully to the country at a time of this generation’s greatest need.

True political success will require an unconventional approach that rises to meet this singular moment.

So here is an idea: we know that so many people are hurting and so many communities are struggling across the country. Why not have the Conservative Party mobilize their members, including the 100,000 new members who signed up to support O’Toole or other leadership candidates, and organize a national day of community service? A national neighbour-to-neighbour effort to help those who are suffering alone and isolated. A program that would appeal to all of our better angels just at a time when we, as a country, need it the most.

And here is another one. The conservatives raised a record-breaking $5.6 million in donations last quarter. How about they donate the party’s entire fundraising proceeds for December to a charity that has been on the front lines of this struggle, like the United Way or Centraide?

And if I were Erin O’Toole, I would announce all of this from the front steps of Stornoway. After all, we maintain an official residence for the Opposition Leader — in part, as an expression of the value we place on dissent, even in the gravest of crises.

During this long, dark winter of the second wave, all of us — individuals, companies, organizations and communities — will find it impossible to do “business as usual.”

Why should the Conservatives be any different?

This article was originally published in the Toronto Star on November 22, 2020.

Alexander Pope has long promised us that “hope springs eternal,” but in Canada we know we are entering a less pleasant and more dreary phase of the pandemic which has upended the lives of so many.

Much of the summer — and for a time, the fall — brought good news of case counts stabilizing, businesses reopening and ways to safely spend time with family and friends.

Regrettably, those times were not to last. And so now, we ride a carousel of bad news turning faster and faster as we spin into winter.

The rules around dining out have ebbed from encouraging to disconcerting. Parents and guardians with children in school have been bewildered by the rules intended to ensure a safe learning environment. Talks of cancelled holidays and celebrations stretching into the new year are particularly upsetting to many.

But at the core of our beings, we know that these changes are necessary. That, until we get a vaccine, we are not close to having this virus beat.

And so, this week’s news was greeted with outsized hope: potentially viable COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer, respectively. The news bolstered markets. It even changed the channel on some of the more worrying developments in Donald Trump’s “Minsk on the Potomac,” as the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser dubbed his pantomime of an authoritarian power grab.

But for all the good news from the field of science, the field of political science threw a flag on the play.

That’s because, from the perspective of public opinion, the promise of a successful COVID vaccine seems a double-edged sword.

For some time, we have allowed distrust in institutions, and especially the government, to grow unchecked. One of the results is that conspiracy theorism has become the order of the day. And making matters worse is the separation triggered by shutdowns, which has further reinforced the sense that our individual realities are miles apart.

This shift, along with the rise of both the anti-vax movement and misinformation generally, poses a singular threat to the potential success of a COVID vaccine. We know the efficacy of a vaccine relies on significant uptake among our communities. Problem is, there remains a large swath of Canadians who balk at the idea of a government-distributed vaccine.

Maybe the way around this problem is for the government to get out of the way and let the private sector step up.

Ticketmaster is just one example of a company that is preparing for the eventuality of a vaccine, announcing last week their plans to verify customers’ vaccination status before permitting attendance. When they are allowed to reopen, many restaurants will no doubt devise a similar system of compliance.

Skepticism will abound if the government mandates vaccines, but nothing will stir people to a jab sooner than the promise of access to their favourite haunts and activities. What’s more, if a vaccine is free (or cheap) and accessible to every single Canadian, firms will be well within their rights to implement these policies.

At the same time, a vaccine’s distribution will rely on a level of global coordination that has not been executed — or even pursued — in some time. Joe Biden’s inauguration will not immediately grease the gears of international institutions and alliances that haven’t been tested practically since Donald Trump took office. Nor will Inauguration Day entirely reverse the retreat of America from its position as a co-ordinator of global health responses.

And this is where government has a clear role: to ensure that Canadians have the vaccines we need, distributed to where we need them.

At the end of the day, Canadians will need to take the vaccine.

While this winter will be long and difficult, the sacrifices we make now until vaccines are ready will make it easier for us to return to a form of “normal.”

A normal includes the simple things like a return to dinners out with friends, movies with family and other rituals that bring us together and out into our community.

For that, I will happily get a vaccine. Eagerly, in fact.

I hope you will too.

This article was originally published in the Toronto Star on November 15, 2020.

While the sane world acknowledges — and in many corners, celebrates — president-elect Joe Biden’s victory, Donald Trump and much of the Republican Party hang onto their election denialism the way Linus hangs onto his blanket.

From an anthropological perspective, it is a fascinating phenomenon: there is clear cognitive dissonance in accepting the surprisingly strong down-ballot Republican results, while questioning the results of the presidential election at the top of that same ballot.

The election results played out as many observers anticipated: Trump took an early lead and then mail-in ballots put Biden over the top.

What the observers didn’t predict was that Trump would use the long delay in announcing results to mount a quixotic campaign to discredit the election results themselves.

Now, relax, those same observers implore us. The president is very unlikely to prevail. While that may be sad news for Trump as he looks ahead to January 20, the rest of the Republican Party is watching the calendar for another, earlier date: January 5, when two run-off elections will determine Georgia’s Senate seats.

While liberals are celebrating easy wins in swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, or having a laugh about the idiotic Giuliani press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, their eyes, and their efforts, should be on Georgia. After all, the Georgia elections are the big prize. Those run-off elections, to be held at the start of the year, will determine control of the Senate. If the Democrats take the two seats, the Senate will be split along party lines, 50-50, with Democrat vice-president-elect Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote.

Lose, and the Republicans will retain control of the chamber, once again saddling America with their version of a minority government. The consequence? Much of Biden’s agenda will be foiled before it is even out of the gate.

And that, my friends, explains the decision of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and other ranking Republicans to embrace Trump’s otherwise insane election denialism. Turns out, they need him just as they always have. Trump is key to turning out the Republicans’ base voters. Consequently, both of the party’s senatorial candidates in Georgia are tied to the lame-duck president, even more than they are to the Republican Party itself.

Just look at the shocking statement jointly issued by both GOP candidates, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, on Tuesday. Claiming that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, had “failed to deliver honest and transparent elections,” they called on him to resign. (He has refused.)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution subsequently reported that the president and his aides had pressured the two into taking this step, “lest [Trump] tweet a negative word about them and risk divorcing them from his base” ahead of the run-off.

Although Trump has lost the state and because it is a run-off election where casual voters are less likely to turn out, the party’s ability to goose the base and drive turnout will be more important than ever. It will also prove to be an enormously expensive undertaking — the Democratic candidates claim to have raised $10 million over the last weekend alone, and Republicans are fundraising furiously on the back of Trump’s ongoing legal challenges.

But Trump continues to be Republicans’ lucky rabbit foot. His hold remains so strong on the base that no Republican can afford, politically or financially, to leave him behind.

So where does this all lead? It’s hard to know. Perhaps after the dust settles in Georgia, McConnell and others will finally toss Trump overboard. The problem is, the run-offs are perilously close to Inauguration Day on January 20. It will be too late to have cooperated with an orderly and peaceful transition. It will have hobbled the U.S. response to the out-of-control COVID-19 pandemic. And it will have contributed to a serious erosion in the trust Americans have in their own democracy.

What’s more, there is no guarantee that Trump will ever go quietly, whether on January 5, January 20, or ever. It is no great stretch to see him decamping to Mar-a-Lago, setting up TRUMP TV as a rival to Fox News, and continuing to exercise his grip over the Republican Party — at least until he runs again in 2024.

This article was originally published in the Toronto Star on November 8, 2020.

On Friday afternoon, it looked increasingly likely that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would secure the 270 electoral votes needed to earn the title of president-elect. It also became clear he wouldn’t be given the tools to drive sweeping change anywhere other than at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

True, Biden has probably sent Trump packing from the White House, but the same cannot be said for their respective parties.

As things stood on Friday, the Democrats failed miserably in their attempts to dispatch Republicans from other branches and orders of government. The Republicans held the Senate. Gained five seats in the House. Held five and flipped one statehouse. And Trump increased his own raw vote by nearly seven million votes.

The result? Mitch McConnell and other congressional Republicans will argue that Joe Biden has no mandate from the American people; that he has no right to move the country in a different direction. However, they are wrong — Biden did earn a personal mandate.

Biden secured the support of some 74 million Americans. And he did it without stoking the politics of division and anger that have come to define politics across the United States.

True, millions of voters endorsed Donald Trump’s vision of America. But the clear message from the suburban voters, among other groups, was a loud rebuke of Trump’s four years in office.

Although Trump and his party will try desperately to undermine the legitimacy of Biden’s win and the legitimacy of their own political system along the way, the writing is on the wall. Come rain or shine, Joe Biden will most likely be sworn into office on January 20, 2021 alongside a Democratic house majority and a Senate whose balance of power will be decided in two January run-off elections.

But what will Biden be able to achieve, assuming he becomes president? Well, if Senator Mitch McConnell is to be believed, very little. Sources close to McConnell have signalled that the majority leader intends to restrict Biden’s independence in selecting his cabinet. Never mind the fact that presidents are generally given wide leeway in choosing their team — it is shameful that McConnell could not even wait for the final results before stirring up exactly the divisive obstructionism that is his calling card.

McConnell’s comments highlight the emerging dynamic that will define Biden’s potential presidency: the impossible task of uniting a country while leading a divided government. As if his task was not already challenging enough, this reality will seriously frustrate Biden’s ability to unite its progressive and moderate wings and deliver for his party.

Unless Biden can take decisive action on issues like climate change and racial justice, progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders will resist attempts to bring them into the fold. Without their support, it’s hard to see how the president-elect can protect his moderate allies in the Democratic leadership. As it is, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are vulnerable to a leadership challenge and, in Schumer’s case, a 2022 primary challenge from oh, say, a popular, young, progressive congresswoman from Queens.

Mending those divisions will not be an easy task. But in a peculiar way, Biden is uniquely — perhaps singularly — suited to the job. He served 37 years in the Senate, plus another eight years as Senate president while Obama’s VP. He knows not only McConnell, but moderate Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, whose support he will need to achieve policy wins.

More importantly, Biden is determined to govern. Unlike Trump, whose four years in the presidency constituted a rolling, never-ending political campaign, Biden has a platform for his term. He has a determination to remind Americans that politics is about policy, not polls. He has ideas for rebuilding the nation and for improving lives in states — both blue and red — across the country.

And most importantly, the way things currently look he will have a personal mandate, one underpinned by the largest popular vote in American history and the first rout of an incumbent president since 1992.

So, we’ll have to wait to hear from Republican leaders and final vote tallies to know more about the fate of Biden’s policy objectives. But for now, the only thing they should be saying is, “congratulations, Mr. President-elect.”

What a relief that would be.