PETERS: Term limits for prime ministers? Seems like a good idea now

Term limits like those imposed by the U.S. constitution are one of the few enviable components of the American system.

Just take a look at what is playing out in Ottawa as we speak.

Justin Trudeau has been the prime minister of Canada for nine years now.

Apart from the 2015 Red Wave, Trudeau has never been popular in Western Canada. Nine years on, that distaste has spread throughout the country and into the Liberal inner circle.

This is the problem with a party riding the wave of a leader’s personal popularity.

When his party was elected, Trudeau came in like a breath of fresh air after a decade of stodgy Stephen Harper.

It was four years after the death of Jack Layton and progressives needed someone they could rally behind.

Trudeau promised to do things differently. “Canada is back,” he boldly declared.

In the west, the shine quickly wore off. Gradually, more and more people saw behind the performative smokescreen to see hypocrisy.

The chorus of those who saw through it grew and grew — including such high profile names as Jody Wilson-Raybould, Jane Philpott and now Chrystia Freeland and Jagmeet Singh.

Trudeau talked the talk of progressivism, but ultimately did things the same way they have always been done.

Like a carton of egg nog left out on the counter for too long, Trudeau’s brand has soured. It’s too late to save it.

When we go back to the polls next spring, that souring will take the Liberals down with him — and just at a time when Canadians needed confidence in a government to stand up to the existential threat to the south.

Some form of term limit on a prime minister would have done the Liberals, Trudeau’s legacy and the country as a whole, a lot of good.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by James Peters

PETERS: Term limits for prime ministers? Seems like a good idea now

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