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Jane Philpott & Jody Wilson-Raybould are the only ones (beyond perhaps the Kinsellas) who know their weird plan to improve transparency by tearing down the most transparent Prime Minister & government in #cdnpoli history. /1
Trudeau added Prime Minister's question period, released mandate letters, doesn't hide from media & press conferences like Harper did, doing access to info reform, unmuzzled scientists, freed public servants & StatsCan to present facts & the PM is still doing open town halls. /2
JWR & Philpott are confidants, friends & colleagues who obviously discussed all of this in advance. PM knew to tie their futures together inside cabinet. No one can deny that they're in this together at this point. They can say it's sexist to bring it up, but it's a factor. /3
Trudeau, every time he is criticized for not being transparent, doubles down to talk about the issue more, defend his view daily, has admitted imperfection, allows dissent inside caucus, allows disagreement until it becomes a total distraction from governing for Cdns. /4
At this point, speculation has built up this thing so that people are waiting for arrests & nonsense that isn't coming - it will have done a disservice for democracy, transparency, and incentivized future (conservative) governments to just better hide this stuff. /5
No one else but @JustinTrudeau in the PM's seat would've let this go on this long in the pursuit of educating people about our system, even if it's a reputational hit. He is trying to fix the system too so that these complaints come up again. That's what a leader does. /6
Even if Jane & Jody get to fully say that the PM is not a nice guy behind closed doors, yelled at them, pushed the DPA too hard calling it lawful advocacy that was in a gray area, and isn't perfect - OK... You made your point. Enter mea culpa. I'll still vote for him. /7
They apparently want "Canadians to decide for themselves" who @JustinTrudeau is. And they will. In October. And they'll hopefully still vote for the guy who raised the bar, and not turn back to a party that lowered it to it's very lowest. That's what's on offer otherwise. /8
Throughout this "scandal" - we have at times inappropriately blended and mixed fact & fiction, speculation & adulation, politics & law, ego & imperfection, and many other things. Canadians have news exhaustion over #SNCLavalin Affair & are capable of making up their minds now. /9
While a small minority may be waiting with baited breath for @janephilpott & @Puglaas to take the stand to have a judge decide if the PM inappropriately interpreted the shawcross doctrine - Canadians are yawning. These two people have devalued other issues for attn for them. /10
We have to move forward, but letting them air grievances about the PM behind closed doors versus the ones Canadians see - I just don't care anymore if he's not perfect. He's better than the alternative and how can you still claim to be on board with that anymore? /11
It's clear Jane & Jody didn't come from partisan politics. They're trying to change "the system" from the inside. Liberals have already done so much to make it harder on themselves by raising the bar of transparency. It comes off a bit empty to pretend we haven't come a ways. /12
Every government seeks to raise the bar a bit each time. And the Liberals still can. Jody & Jane could've done that from the cabinet table & by directly being able to tell the PM once a week they don't think he's living up to his promised level. He'd listen. Scheer won't. /13
I'm not trying to be a sycophant. I tried to convince people that Harper was so terrible they should abandon him, but (if this isn't a matter of law & is a matter of principles in politics) then I'll stand by the guy whose principles have been highly transparent for yrs. /14
