Trudeau enjoys extended honeymoon as Canadians feel confident

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government are enjoying an extended honeymoon as Canadians feel optimistic about the direction the country has been given by the new Liberal government.

A year ago on Oct 19, 2015, Trudeau’s Liberal party won 184 seats with 39.5 percent of the vote in the 338-seat federal parliament to prevent a fourth consecutive run by the rival Conservative party.

Party leader Trudeau played a pivotal role in winning the election, adding 150 seats mostly taken from two other parties – 67 from the Conservatives and 59 from the New Democratic Party.

Other than election pledges, Trudeau’s charisma was a defining factor in the 2015 election. Some international media called it “an election that launched a thousand selfies, including shirtless ones”, indicating that for the popular and handsome PM, leadership qualities were in his blood. His father, Pierre Trudeau, was one of the longest serving prime ministers of Canada – first from 1968 to 1979 and then from 1980 to 1984.

Showing a different trait of leadership, Justin Trudeau appointed half of his cabinet colleagues from among female (15 of them) liberals, while an Indian-origin Canadian Harjit Singh Sajjan was appointed Defense Minister.

In 2015, Mr Trudeau permanently expelled two MPs accused of sexual harassment from the Liberal fold. The year before, he removed all Liberal senators from the party caucus to show he was serious about reducing partisanship in the Senate.

Lorne Bozinoff, founder of the polling firm Forum Research, has been quoted by the BBC as saying that the prime minister has done well "both in substance and style" over the past year - charming Canadians with his open manner and moving ahead on key election commitments.

According to a recent Ipsos survey, a majority of Canadians, 54 percent of them, say that things in Canada are heading in the right direction, placing Canada in the top five countries among  25 polled.   

Though 54 percent of Canadians surveyed say that things are generally going in the right direction here, globally that number shrinks to an average of just 38% when all 25 countries are combined. Conversely, 46% of Canadians say things in Canada are on the wrong track, but this more negative view is far more pervasive at the global level, where 62% feel the same.
The survey was conducted among more than 10,000 people in 25 countries.

So far the Liberal party has managed to keep some of its election pledges.  The prime minister has launched an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, reduced taxes on middle-class Canadians and later followed through on his promise to bring in 30,000 Syrian refugees.

The Trudeau government is working on introducing changes to the current immigration system. The previous Conservative government at the end of its tenure made it harder for new immigrants to become Canadian citizens. The new system, likely to be introduced this fall, will ease some of the rules for immigrants to become citizens of Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Reuters

Though Trudeau’s government is enjoying an extended honeymoon, it has suffered from a few stumbles too. His government has faced repeated questions over a CAD 15 billion deal to sell light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, a country known for its appalling human rights conditions.

Within the country, fixing First Nation problems from education to water infrastructure, is also taking time for this government for which it is facing a lot of questions.

Looking ahead, Trudeau’s party has promised to legalize marijuana in 2017, though it still has to figure out how the potential CAD 10 billion pot market will be regulated.

Trudeau had promised "sunny ways" on election night, he shows flashes of his pugilistic side as he elbowed a fellow member of Parliament and tugged the arm of another after growing impatient over what was seen as an attempt to slow the course of a vote in the House of Commons. Even before becoming prime minister, he demonstrated a willingness to be politically ruthless.

However, the Canadian public is ready to give Trudeau’s government some more time to perform on its promises.