The election is over and Toronto can now do what it always does: wait to see how the new federal government helps this great city in the months ahead.Should you hold your breath? No, not unless you have David Blaine DNA.But, first, congratulations to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal posse for somehow squeezing multiple scandals into a Chrétien-style chokehold and getting the electorate to thumbs-up a second term, which is like Hollywood green-lighting a sequel to Reefer Madness in 1936. Granted, Trudeau’s majority now appears to be headed for a minority. That’s like going from limo service to Uber Pool. But if the Liberals play nice with other party riders in Parliament, who knows, maybe they can reach their stated policy destinations: issue by issue, region by region, debate by debate.A minority government is like a three-legged coffee table: it can be surprisingly stable until someone decides to smash an elbow down on that unsupported corner.At the very least, Monday’s results prove modern Canadian controversies are a shadow of what they used to be. After Trudeau eked out a second win, no future historian will have the stones to shoehorn “SNC-Lavalin” or “blackface” into the same taxidermy as, say, the Pacific Scandal, Tunagate, Airbus, Shawinigate, Sponsorship, or my personal favourite, Pierre Trudeau’s “Fuddle-Duddle” Incident.The morning after a general election in Canada is always a strange feeling for a Torontonian. You educated yourself on the platforms and the promises. You analyzed what was happening nationally and internationally. You dutifully shunned Netflix for CTV and CBC. You thought long and hard about the forces tearing the world asunder and then queued in a line on a Monday to get your democracy on. And then the votes are tallied and all you can do is … wait.The problem for Toronto, over the last half-century, is that Hogtown problems can never compete for pri ...
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