MOOSOMIN — Twenty minutes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned to the confines of Rideau Cottage, Souris-Moose Mountain MP Dr. Robert Kitchen called with his reaction to what he just witnessed.
“I wanted to hear exactly from his lips, exactly what he was saying to make sure I heard it correctly,” he said. “My best way to describe things is we’ve just finished Christmas and the New Year, and during that time, I’m sure a lot of people made a lot of Christmas wishes and New Year’s resolution wishes, etc. And I suspect a lot of people can now say that those wishes came true.”
Kitchen admitted he was a little surprised that Trudeau chose the timing he did for the announcement.
“Yes, to some extent,” he said. “I figured his narcissistic view of things was going to lead him to say he wasn’t going to step down and he would take this to the very end. So that may have surprised me a little bit, and that’s, as I said, why I wanted to hear exactly from him.”
In response to Trudeau’s words about the current government having a positive impact toward the middle class, Kitchen did not agree.
“It’s been smoke and mirrors throughout,” he said. “Recently, with the fall economic statement and what transpired from that, he had basically said, ‘Oh no, no, we’re going to stay within our boundaries,’ based on the budget that they presented last spring, where it would only be a $40 billion deficit. Yet it turns out that the fall economic statement indicates it was going to be a $62 billion deficit, and this whole process is to try, and in many ways, divert Canadians’ views away from the fact that he spent $20 billion extra dollars and added that to our deficit. And now people are going to forget about that, and yet, he’s continually adding to our debt and our deficit.”
On the move to prorogue Parliament to March 24, Dr. Kitchen noted how speculation loomed before the official announcement.
“Ultimately, with prorogation, everything that’s on the table right now dies,” he said. If it hasn’t been passed and received Royal Assent, it died and has to be re-entered.”
With the return to the House in late March, an election call could be the outcome.
“Whoever the new leader will be, they will be the prime minister and will come back with a throne speech, which will give some direction as to where they’re going,” Dr. Kitchen said. “Ultimately, that gets presented in the Senate, and then it’s brought back to the House, where it is debated. It is a confidence motion, and based on what is said during that, we’ll have to wait until that time as to whether there is confidence.”
No matter who will be leading the Liberal party, the opposition Conservatives already have their course of action decided.
“We obviously have no confidence, no matter who this Liberal leader will be, because the policies will be very similar to what they are now,” Dr. Kitchen said. “So we are hoping that opposition parties will support the non-confidence, and we would see a call for an election at that point in time.”
