FORSETH: If the Liberals have a soul, they should be searching it now

The Liberal loss in Toronto-St. Paul's is a seismic shift that will reverberate for weeks. Yet despite the stunning rebuke of June 24, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubled down on his old ideas... and it sounds like Canada will get more of the same from the Liberals going forward. There are both local and national perspectives. In the local community, Jewish folk were not happy with the poor Liberal response to antisemitism, arising from the Gaza war. The last-ditch change concerning terrorist policy by listing the IRGC as a terrorist group, although welcomed, looked cynical as just too little too late.Additionally, voters from some better-off residential areas were negative about the recent budget change to increase the inclusion rate for capital gains. One might well ask whether the byelection result has finally opened the door for usually quiet voices in the Liberal caucus to speak up. They could ask for example about:What policy changes they can make. What can they do in magic policy tricks to change their electoral prospects? How can the Liberal caucus clarify that Trudeau has to go? But even these questions — trenchant though they are — avoid the central issue: Canadian governance in the NDP-Liberal style, has been repudiated.How long therefore will the NDP hang in and prop up the Liberals? The NDP vote went down in this byelection. I'm sure they noticed that judgment. Indeed, the whole situation reminds me of the New Testament passage in which Jesus calls out the political leaders of His people for their hypocrisy: "On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."Trudeau fatigue is real. Although winning candidate Don Stewart and his team worked hard and did not make mistakes, they were surprised at the win. Nevertheless, they knew they were doing well in the Liberal stronghold as on the doorstep, Pierre's Poilievre's message of "Axe the tax. Build the homes. Fix the budget. Stop the crime." resonated. Voters know the simple phrase represents a deeply considered approach to governance, democracy, and human rights.After the political earthquake, what does it mean for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre? Expect more media trolling of Conservatives, and more dirty tricks. The cadre of social-media, anti-conservative subversives will now work overtime. Twitter X has already gone insane and is nearly unreadable. The legacy media will manufacture more doubt and controversy about the "cold-cruel and small" Conservatives, as Deputy Prime Minister Freeland said of them. In response, voters rejected the whole high-minded NDP-Liberal cabal. One can hope beyond hope that the Toronto Star would either go broke or clean out its editorial rooms. Can the legacy media generate a healthful national conversation about what can be improved, changed, cleaned out, and built? Can Conservatives more truly be described as bringing hope rather than fear, and administrative accountability rather than another scandal? Instead of the government having a million reasons and laws why one cannot do something or go somewhere, freedom and personal dignity need to flourish. Recall that several truck convoys and other democratic displays of disgust that arose over the past years arose for real reasons. Will the surprise electoral win wake up the country? Backroom conversations among Liberal MPs must now spill out. The speculative polls for Liberals have been confirmed as accurate. The prime minister and his insiders can no longer spin myth-making for their caucus.The Liberal Party was repudiated at the polls. The policies they are driving are not resonating. Yet we have heard from the prime minister and all the government defenders that they must listen better and be more empathetic to what voters are saying. The prime minister says he shares the voter's pain and frustrations, but he does not apologize that he made their pain.There was no admission from cabinet ministers that being Liberal 'Canadian style' is a rejected and dismissed ideology. Their disgraced way of thinking has produced behaviours, policies, and administration that have been corrupt, immoral, mercenary, and narcissistic. Underneath all the Liberal political word salad, what is being rejected in 2024 is the Canadian version of leftie ideology and the social and economic devastation that it has brought to Canada. Liberals have deceived themselves into thinking they need better communication and empathizing with voters' wishes. They believe the problem is that their wonderfulness is not understood or appreciated. They just need to feel the voter's pain and frustration to overcome the Liberal unlikability and trust gap of the Prime Minister's entourage. While cabinet ministers say that the byelection outcome was a wake-up call, does anyone expect that suddenly they will become truth-tellers? Will the thousands of hidden documents and secret payoff deals be divulged? In their smug pirouetting, they think it's the voter who needs to change, not the NDP-Liberals. The issue is not a communication exercise gone wrong, as more reflecting and listening won’t do it. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland revealed the inner dead soul of the Trudeau Liberals. She said on national television that those voting Conservative would be voting for a vision of Canada that is 'cold and cruel and small,' and who are in favour of cuts and austerity, not believing in ourselves as a country, not believing in our communities and in our neighbours. It was pugnacious but also revelatory. The Liberal self-deception disease was on full display. It is the notions of the self-anointed self-congratulatory justification for social policy. There is a blind and arrogant vision of Canadian Liberalism that views political opponents and contrarians as unworthy, who do not possess their Liberal gnostic special knowledge.In Toronto-St. Paul's, when put to the test there were enough citizens who spoke up and said they had enough of Liberal arrogance.After nine years of lurching from scandal to scandal, breaking the bank and undermining Parliament itself, many believe it’s time for a change at the ballot box.When such a full tide is on the move, an incumbent prime minister and party cannot reverse it. Trudeau's problem is that many Canadians have stopped listening and don't want to converse with him or the party.The bottom line is not about whether Trudeau will quit, but when. Liberal policy is in a shambles. This is not just about an ‘unqualified actor.’ If a downtown Toronto riding stronghold can turn Conservative, then the entire metro region of Toronto could change. So now it is about both the self-deluded personalities and the myths they peddle. Whoever takes over would have a steep hill to climb. The story of Kim Campbell is the lesson.

FORSETH: If the Liberals have a soul, they should be searching it now

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