KRUGGEL: Is Justin Trudeau going to burn down the Liberal Party?

 

That's a silly question. He would never do that. No party leader would do that.

 

Except, he's now sat there for two weeks, over two weeks actually, heading into three, mulling his future.

 

He's heard the calls to resign going back to August when the by-election defeats rolled in. He told the party he would carefully consider their words and that he'd talk to them about his future. If anyone paid attention the Liberal MPs got their answer not directly from Trudeau, but instead the media when he told the media he was staying on.

 

Trudeau never had any intention of resigning in the fall. 

 

Why might he be taking his time?

 

The first possibility is that he's seeing what golden parachute is being prepared for him. Don't kid yourself, the Liberal Party of Canada can grease wheels like no one else. Trudeau expects a career after politics that sounds important and pays well. A token role on a few boards at some large companies, along with being named a lecturer at a university might be enough to persuade him. 

 

The second possibility is that Justin Trudeau thinks he can win the next election if given the opportunity. Most people that are good observers of politics would say that is not borderline but outright delusional.

 

The third possibility is that Justin Trudeau is an arrogant, narcissist that is going to hang on and burn the Liberal Party to the ground out of spite.

 

I personally think he's seeing what the party can do for a golden parachute. That's the logical answer and it is well rooted in history.

 

Would he actually want to lead the party into another election? He probably does. Anyone looking at the numbers today, and we have a lot of data - a record amount of polling data - knows he could not win the next election. He can win his own seat. That's about it. So I do not think he'll lead the party into the next election.

 

Would he burn the party to the ground out of spite? In my mind, no, he would not do that. Yet, there are people out there in the political community, as it were, that think he might. 

 

Trudeau is a man with a lot of privilege. His whole life is an expression of privilege. He's never had to actually work for anything. Work, for him, was something to try out. Bills were never a problem. His father left him with a lot of money. Applying for a job, no sweat, his name opened doors. 

 

When he ran for Parliament the seat was effectively opened for him, and only him. When he ran for the leadership, his challengers were all B-Team Liberals. Anyone considered strong didn't run. 

 

Justin Trudeau, today, is being told he's not wanted, or welcome. He's being told no. I wonder if he's ever really been told no. I know kids that were raised by parents, spoiled as they say, that as young adults were nightmares. They were never told no. They felt entitled to everything they wanted. And they lashed out when they were denied.

 

This is why I titled this post Is Justin Trudeau going to burn down the Liberal Party? It seems so farfetched to me that this is a possibility I would consider devoting more than a single sentence to. Yet, here I am several paragraphs in. I can see the sliver of probability here. 

 

Could he actually do that? Of course. The Liberals didn't avail themselves of Michael Chong's Reform Act. They removed the party's ability to remove the leader. They have no tool to dump Justin Trudeau. The BC United party found out the hard way what a nearly legally omnipotent leader can do. Kevin Falcon killed the party with the stroke of a pen back in August. 

 

The only person that can stop Justin Trudeau, is Justin Trudeau.

 

Still, I believe he's looking for the golden parachute. I have to believe that. I don't think I'd be able to look at politics the same if we had a leader that burned his own party to the ground out of spite.