Tom Mulcair: As Trudeau's front line struggles to move the puck up the ice, Freeland's fiscal update is a penalty shot
Nothing bugs a hockey coach more than the defence passing the puck back and forth, instead of moving it up the ice. This is how it seems Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's first line is handling the big issues of the day, appearing more and more trapped by a disciplined Conservative team with its eyes on the prize.
Skilled players like Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland give the impression that they have no ideas left as to how to even enter the opposing zone, much less score points with the electorate.
To continue the metaphor, Freeland's fall economic update is like a penalty shot. She's alone on the ice and all eyes will be on her as she executes moves that may well determine her chances of eventually succeeding Trudeau, or achieving a come from behind boost in the polls. She shoots she…?
Guilbeault's case is more difficult. A gifted communicator when it comes to talking to the more progressive side of the Liberal base, he's learning that you can't only pass to your left wing.
Much like Stéphane Dion in 2008, Trudeau bet the farm on a carbon tax. Problem is, it's the farm that doesn't want to pay, and now Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is executing a play he learned with Harper in 2008. You go after one part of the carbon tax at a time. Home heating oil, then farming fuels…and so on. For your opponent, it's like peeling an onion slowly, you just keep making them cry.
Much like Dion's carbon tax plan, that he called the "Green Shift," Guilbeault's scheme has been attacked as a tax on everything. Dion paid a heavy price for failing to understand the effectiveness of the Conservative line of attack.
Guilbeault worked tirelessly to develop his climate plan, having paid a heavy price with his erstwhile colleagues in the environment movement for going along with Trudeau as he poured tens of billions into a new oil pipeline and approved offshore drilling. He is now being left to sputter about sticking around as minister if Trudeau continues to lop off parts of the carbon tax plan, as he did when he paused the tax on home heating oil to appease his Atlantic MPs.
There is one potential star on the Liberal bench who was brought in mid-season and has been showing strength and determination. Housing Minister Sean Fraser knows what to do with the puck. The problem is no one else on Trudeau's team appears to.
Not only is he a clear communicator, he has pulled off an incredible feat in going from almost no knowledge of French at the time of his appointment to a nearly fluent command of the language of Molière.
He's been given the housing file and his age group knows that they're the first Canadian generation to have less chance than their parents of ever owning a home. He gets to promise loads of cash but there's little time to garner enough wins to reach the playoffs.
In today's fiscal update, Trudeau and Freeland will again talk groceries, as they did in the spring budget. At least then, there was money attached, about $500 for a working family of four. Problem is, that family's grocery bill has gone up by $1,100 this year, and they're still hurting.
Instead of continuing to help directly, as he did in the spring, Trudeau is going to promise to bring in new legislation to try and stop price gouging and collusion in the grocery oligopoly. The obvious difficulty with that promise is that it gives precisely zero help to working families who, more and more, are giving the Liberals and the NDP a pass and paying attention to Poilievre, who has managed to convince them that he's on their side.
Like hometown crowds in arenas across Canada, Canadian voters are going to be rooting for a good outcome.
In Ottawa, it seems there is only one dominant team on the ice right now and no amount of stickhandling seems likely to convince voters to root for the team that's been promising – and failing to deliver – for most of the last decade.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Conservatives call on Elon Musk to step in after Liberals provide loan to Ottawa-based satellite operator
A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
Sunken superyacht believed to contain watertight safes with sensitive intelligence data
Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the US$40 million superyacht that sank off Sicily in August, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, multiple sources told CNN.
Myths busted and lessons learned: John Vennavally-Rao on his surgery to reverse his ostomy
Twenty-seven year Â鶹ӰÊÓ reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao shares his story of what it was like to have an ostomy bag as part of his health-care battle. 'I’m grateful for what it did to extend my life,' he writes in a personal column for CTVNews.ca.
The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
Heavy metal exposure could increase cardiovascular disease risk, study finds
A new study is adding to emerging research showing that exposure to metals such as cadmium, uranium and copper may also be associated with the leading cause of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease.
Unusual flippered feet are making their way into the Saint Lawrence River this weekend. Led by underwater explorer and filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are combing the riverbed near Beauharnois in Montérégie to remove hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.
Hezbollah targets base near Haifa after Israeli strike in Beirut killed 37, including top commander
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced that it fired a barrage of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel early Sunday following an Israeli airstrike more than a day earlier that killed at least 37 people, including one of the militant group’s senior leaders as well as women and children.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
Local Spotlight
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.