Cohen: Here are the winners and losers in Canadian and world politics for 2019 – Ottawa Citizen

The last year of the second decade has had its winners and losers. Some are obvious, some not.

In Canada, the federal election clarified things. Justin Trudeau won and lost. Jagmeet Singh lost and lost. Andrew Scheer lost and won and lost.

Trudeau follows his father into the purgatory of minority government; he will either see a way back to a majority in three years or resign. Yet his achievement this autumn should not go unheralded. In a country where the provinces have defeated one progressive government after another since 2015, in a western world turning conservative, the Liberals were re-elected.

Singh acted like a winner on election night; he danced into his election headquarters and gave an endless campaign speech, ignoring his party’s stunning reversals. His performance was brazen and shameless, but this is the way for politicians today.

Singh acted like a winner on election night; he danced into his election headquarters and gave an endless campaign speech, ignoring his party’s stunning reversals.

He was outdone by Scheer, who debased himself in the leaders’ debate with a performance laced with malice. It was breathtaking to see our politics descend into character assassination.

Poor Scheer had so little sense of himself that he didn’t seem to know what job he held before politics, why he had U.S. citizenship and, most critically, how he felt on homosexuality. Had he had any self-knowledge, he could have addressed all of these points with a little honesty. Now’s he’s gone, a historical footnote, who will be seen as the party’s placeholder between Stephen Harper and Rona Ambrose.

Other politicians fared well. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy prime minister) becomes the Minister of Everything. François-Philippe Champagne (foreign affairs) becomes chief diplomat. Catherine McKenna (infrastructure) gets big money to build things that the country needs – and she will.

Mélanie Joly (economic development) returns from exile to a senior portfolio. Johnathan Wilkinson (environment) and Marco Mendicino (immigration) get a seat at the head table. Mona Fortier (minister of middle class prosperity) has no earthly reason to be in cabinet, which may explain why she was given an Orwellian portfolio, presumably named by a naïf in the Prime Minister’s Office who had just read 1984.

In Parliament, the big loser is Jody Wilson-Raybould. She won her seat, sadly for her, and now endures the exquisite punishment of being a defrocked senior minister with no suite, staff or ministry. Her soul-mate, Jane Philpott, wisely made her point and lost her seat.

In the provinces, Doug Ford goes from weakness to weakness. His triumph was appointing (then firing the next day) Tyler Albrecht, a 20-something lacrosse player, as Ontario agent-general in New York City. It showed a premier who was all ignorance and impulse.

Ford’s soul mate, Jason Kenney, was a winner in Alberta until he turned whiner. Now he talks up western alienation to distract Albertans from draconian budget cuts in a province without a sales tax.

In the United States, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi passed several important bills (albeit dead on arrival in the Senate) and impeached a president. She united her fractious caucus and proceeded masterfully. She is a heroine.

She is joined, as winners, by those Democrats (and a former Republican) who put their seats on the line to protect the integrity of the House, and, as they did in the articles of impeachment, the security of the union. Other heroes include the former and serving diplomats who testified before the House committee at risk to their careers.

Abroad, Boris Johnson emerges a winner. If Brexit goes badly and the United Kingdom goes into recession, though, he will wear it. If Scotland leaves, he will preside over the end of the U.K.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu comes out a loser, under indictment for corruption and trying to hold power in another election. It’s unlikely. In France, Emmanuel Macron is in trouble, which may have less to do with his well-intentioned reforms than his country, which like Spain, may be ungovernable.

All of this makes the real winners of 2019 Canadians. Our quarrelling and complaining notwithstanding, we managed to get the national government we wanted, and some new faces, too. In an unsettled world, we muddled through – again.

Andrew Cohen is a journalist, professor and author of Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History.