EDITORIAL: Liberal filibuster is a slap to transparency

No matter what Chinese government influence there may have been during the last election, the outcome was clear: Voters refused to give Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a majority government he tried to achieve by calling an unnecessary election. More people voted for other parties than voted Liberal.

They handed him a rebuke and kept him to another minority. It’s time to remind him of that humiliation now, as it seems to have completely escaped his memory.

His smugness and the arrogance of his MPs this week in filibustering a parliamentary committee that sought to force the prime minister’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, to testify about what security briefings she and Trudeau received on foreign interference in our elections. It was a shocking abuse of parliamentary process.

Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and NDP MPs tried to pass a motion calling for Telford to appear. After filibustering all morning, Liberals on the committee refused to show up in the afternoon and the committee could not continue because of a lack of quorum.

That’s a slap in the face to voters demanding answers as to how much the prime minister and his staff know about foreign interference and when they knew it.

Trudeau’s swaggering self-importance stems from the so-called “supply and confidence” agreement with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. In voting for a minority government, Canadians elected to hold Trudeau accountable. Singh swept that away when he signed a deal to vote with Trudeau until June 2025. So, the PM is back to his high-handed, bob-and-weave ways of deflecting blame on everyone except himself.

Instead of calling a public inquiry, Trudeau will appoint a “rapporteur” — whatever that is — to probe the interference. So this yet-to-be-named person of his choice will investigate him. So much for transparency. Trudeau will investigate himself.

On Wednesday, highly respected Quebec MP and former astronaut Marc Garneau quit. While he has yet to give a reason, when a person of integrity chooses to quit in the midst of such a grave scandal, it sends a message that even his own MPs have had enough.

Meanwhile, Trudeau and his inner circle are foundering like dinosaurs in the tar pits. The more they struggle, the deeper they get stuck in their own malodorous muck.

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