Opinion: Do the Liberals even understand what a conflict of interest is? Does a fish know it’s wet? – The Globe and Mail
Open this photo in gallery:
Newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus is escorted into the House of Commons by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 3.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Do Liberals understand the concept of conflict of interest? Do they have any coherent theory of the division between the partisan or personal interest and the public interest? Does the distinction even occur to them?
The question arises in the wake of the Greg Fergus affair. Mr. Fergus, though newly selected as Speaker of the House, is no stranger to politics. He has been a member of Parliament for eight years, and a parliamentary secretary to various cabinet ministers for most of that time. He would presumably have watched other Speakers in action, and would have some notion of what the job entails: in particular, refereeing between the contending parties in the House a job for which the first requirement is impartiality.
The Speaker must not only be fair to all sides, but must be seen to be, if he is to command the cross-party confidence needed to maintain control of the House. Since the Speaker is also an MP, elected to Parliament as a member of a particular party, the onus is on the Speaker at all times but especially on a new Speaker to show that he can put those partisan ties aside. I belabour this point not because it is new or surprising, but because it is obvious.
And yet one of his first acts as Speaker was to make a testimonial video for a partisan chum, to be shown at a partisan gathering, and to do so wearing the robes of his consummately non-partisan office.
This is hardly the most serious issue before Parliament. On its own it could be put down to an individual error of judgment. But coming on the heels of a string of similar errors by Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers, it suggests something, shall we say, systemic.
The Prime Minister alone has been responsible for at least three, from the Aga Khan trip to the WE Charity affair to SNC-Lavalin; the latter two also ensnared his finance minister, his principal adviser and the clerk of the privy council. Then there are your garden-variety ethical lapses, from the MP who hired a relative to run her constituency office to the cabinet minister who awarded contracts to a friend.
Mr. Fergus himself was previously caught in an ethics violation, as parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, after writing a letter to the CRTC in support of a television channel with an application before it, leading an exasperated ethics commissioner to call for mandatory training in conflict-of-interest issues for all ministers and parliamentary secretaries.
The thing about all these scandals is that they did not seem, for the most part, to stem from a desire for personal gain or a conscious intent to break the rules: Even in the matter of SNC-Lavalin, those involved seemed somehow to have persuaded themselves they were colouring within the lines.
Rather, what appears to have been at work is a kind of vast unawareness, a genuine cluelessness that anyone could find the promiscuous commingling of interests on display political, personal, business, bureaucratic objectionable. That does not make it better; if anything, it makes it worse. Crooks at least know what laws theyre breaking.
Certainly it is more intractable. It is the consequence of decades of Liberal hegemony, not only political (since 1891, the federal Liberals have won two elections in every three) but more broadly. Liberals, and liberals, are so dominant in our politics, and in the little worlds that revolve around politics the bureaucracy, the courts, the universities and, yes, the media that I think it really is difficult for them to imagine that there exists a world outside their own, except in some vague theoretical sense.
Add in the thousands of activist groups the party has taken care over the years to cultivate with public funds, or the immense archipelago of subsidies to businesses large and small across the country, the whole apparatus of Liberal clientelism, and you have a whole agreeable universe of Liberaldom, a cosmos of comity. A person could spend their whole career inside without ever encountering an unfriendly face.
Thus if they reward or are rewarded by or otherwise are too close to their friends, it is not because they are Their Friends, since as far as they can tell there is no other kind of person. To ask, do Liberals understand conflict of interest, is to ask: Does a fish know it is wet?
Take Mr. Fergus. I said he was no stranger to politics. I understated the matter. Before he was an MP, he was national director of the federal Liberal Party. Before that he was a staffer to two cabinet ministers. Before that he was president of the Young Liberals of Canada. His whole life, in short, has been spent in the company of other Liberals.
That hardly makes him unique. The most blinkered partisans on the Conservative benches are also political lifers, of which the party has more than its share. But Liberal lifers have two things their Conservative counterparts lack. One is assured access to power. Two years in three, historically, Liberals have been in government; in the third, they have been busy preparing for it.
The other is the divine rightness of their cause. Liberals have always been prone to being corrupted by power, but the current crop of Liberals are unique for being corrupted by their own virtue. The preening moral vanity that is a signature of the Trudeau Liberals the gratitude, as in the Pharisees prayer, that they are not like other men is not, alas, an act. They truly believe it, to the point that they are literally incapable of conceiving of themselves doing wrong.
It isnt only that they are surrounded by people like themselves, in other words: They are surrounded by people who think like them, and whose first thought at all times is that whatever it is they are thinking must be for the Good. If they are aware that there are other types of people or other ways of thinking, it is only as a cautionary tale like the ogres in folk stories, an example of the threats that lurk for the unwary.
So, for example, when it came to appointing someone to look into allegations that China had interfered in Canadas elections on behalf of the Liberals and that various Liberal cabinet ministers had looked the other way at it it was the most natural thing in the world for the Prime Minister to appoint, as special rapporteur, a lifelong family friend, one of 23 governing members of his family foundation, and a previous beneficiary of the same governments patronage.
A cynic would suggest the Prime Minister appointed someone he could count on to keep shtum. I think it literally didnt occur to him there was anything wrong with it. I think he thought this was a perfectly splendid appointment. As, indeed, did many others outside his immediate circle, who applauded it at the time. Some still do.
If all of this leaves the impression that the Conservatives are the victims of the piece, it shouldnt. Liberal political and cultural hegemony is as much the Conservatives doing not only for the political ineptness that has so often delivered the Liberals safely, even miraculously, into power, but for their own willingness to inhabit the stereotypes Liberals make of them.
If people in the bureaucracy, or the law, or the universities, are inclined to see the Conservatives, and conservatives, as the barbarians at the gate, it is not entirely a matter of snobbery or bias. It is also because, all too often, especially of late, they have acted like it. Tory paranoia is not entirely unwarranted, but neither is it entirely undeserved.
The long and honourable conservative tradition of skepticism of intellectuals that is, of overzealous, overweening intellectuals has congealed into a hostility to science, to expertise, even to facts. The proud conservative tradition of defending Parliament, and parliamentary prerogatives, has given way to fantasies of abolishing judicial oversight, or ignoring the division of powers, or simply defying the law. Conservatism, as such, with its bedrock insistence on rules-based orders and limited government, has increasingly been subsumed by populism, which acknowledges no such rules or limits.
None of this is the least bit necessary. It is not written in stone that the universities must always be hostile to conservatives: If conservatism is not adequately represented in the academy, the answer is to reform the academy, not to demonize it. If the courts lean left, focus on building a body of conservative legal scholarship, and conservative jurists, rather than running roughshod over judicial independence. If the media arent giving you a fair shake oh, come on: Youre in the media manipulation business. And were easily manipulated.
Would an incoming Conservative government be viewed with some suspicion by the Ottawa bureaucracy? After all that has gone before, probably. But most of them are fair-minded professionals with a job to do. A smart Conservative government would look for ways to build alliances and get things done; it would give the benefit of the doubt to those that gave it the benefit of the doubt. A dumb Conservative government would carry on with the same strategy of polarization and picking fights that got it there.
Each of the parties has its faults, in other words. Both are, in their own way, the product of Liberal hegemony what the late Richard Gwyn called one-and-a-half-party rule. If the besetting Liberal sin is arrogance, the feeling they are (literally, in some cases) born to rule, the besetting Tory sin is resentment, the sense that everyone and everything is stacked against them. Given power, then, both tend to abuse it: the Liberals, because they can, the Tories because, as they see it, they must.
There is only one cure for this, in the end: contestable politics. Only when either party, in any given election, can as readily expect to be in government as in opposition, will each be relieved of its particular historical baggage. Only then will our politics converge on decent democratic norms.
The rest is here:
Opinion: Do the Liberals even understand what a conflict of interest is? Does a fish know it's wet? - The Globe and Mail
- The conservative American talk-show host wiping the floor with liberals - The Telegraph - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Leftists are determined to date each other - and not settle for liberals: Politics are the new religion - The Guardian - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Liberals and conservatives respond divergently to stereotype portrayals of race and gender - Nature - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Native Americans Were Not The Ones Offended By 'Redskins' Name. White Liberals Were. - OutKick - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Liberals could slip out early from first sitting day to attend party fundraiser - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Small band of independents offer Liberals and Labor a path to power in Tasmania - The Guardian - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Tasmania election: Labor's hopes of governing still alive despite Liberals' five-seat lead - SBS Australia - July 20th, 2025 [July 20th, 2025]
- Liberals, journalists, and celebs extremely sad over late-night ally Colbert getting the boot from CBS - Fox News - July 20th, 2025 [July 20th, 2025]
- Jeremy Rockliff says he expects crossbenchers will allow Liberals to form government as it happened - The Guardian - July 20th, 2025 [July 20th, 2025]
- Casey Briggs predicts the Liberals will win the largest number of seats in the Tasmanian parliament - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - July 20th, 2025 [July 20th, 2025]
- Liberals easily win most seats at Tasmanian election, but Labor may form government - The Conversation - July 20th, 2025 [July 20th, 2025]
- The Courts Liberals Are Trying to Tell Americans Something - The Atlantic - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- The Liberals Were Right: Neo-Nazi Turns on Trump Over Epstein - The New Republic - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Letters: White liberals with Trump anxiety, welcome to the world outside your bubble - San Francisco Chronicle - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Fox News Co-Host Says Liberals Should Treat 'Nazi' Like the N-Word - bet.com - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Bank of Canada, Crown corporations to trim budgets to align with Liberals cost-cutting plans - The Globe and Mail - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Opinion | Why Left-Liberals Are Downplaying Violence In Spain - News18 - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Globe editorial: The Liberals need to show their cost-cutting ambition - The Globe and Mail - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Superman Shows How Far Liberals in Hollywood and Politics Have Veered From Ideal of the American Way - The New York Sun - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Canada's minister of health is an unknown to most, but Liberals call her the 'godmother' - Yahoo - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- VIDEO: Will party infighting harm the Victorian Liberals chance to govern? - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- LIBERALS FAIL ON BAIL: Canadians need to be safe from violent offenders - Toronto Sun - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- In Trump Era, Gender Gap Widens in Tandem With Apparent Mental Health Divide Between Liberals and Conservatives - The New York Sun - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Bluesky liberals celebrate JD Vance being booed with his kids at Disneyland - FOX 8 TV - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- On NPR and at elite universities, liberals should openly admit their biases - The Hill - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Liberals fawn as emotional Tucker Carlson rips Trump for 'ignoring America's biggest problem' - Daily Mail - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Neon Liberalism #34: Are Liberals Losing the Culture War? - Liberal Currents - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Liberals need to test US-style primaries to engage with voters - The Australian - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Conrad Black: Liberals must retreat from their climate obsessions - National Post - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Larry David/Obamas Pairing Shows Why Liberals Win - Hollywood in Toto - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Liberals and conservatives live differently but people think the divide is even bigger than it is - PsyPost - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Liberals Laud Fake Story that ICE Agents Are Resigning In Droves - newsguardrealitycheck.com - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Letters: Campus life harmed by liberals who believe they're always right - NOLA.com - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Jesse Kline: Liberals get a crash course in the importance of natural resources - Yahoo - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Liberals pick Chantale Marchand to run in Arthabaska byelection - Montreal Gazette - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Justin Ling: Mark Carney is the reincarnation of the Chrtien Liberals. Thats not a bad thing - Toronto Star - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Jesse Kline: Liberals get a crash course in the importance of natural resources - MSN - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Where are the Liberals When Iran Mass-Deports Millions of Afghans? - The European Conservative - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- The Supreme Courts Liberals Have an Impossible Task. One of Them Is Charting the Way. - Slate Magazine - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Opinion: The Liberals launch another expenditure review: This time, we mean it - The Globe and Mail - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Liberals could find out soon whether their rushed projects bill will spark another Idle No More - National Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Wealthy White Liberals Reportedly Urge Democrats To Be Willing To Get Shot Opposing Trump - dailycaller.com - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Albertas PCs Might Rise from the Dead. Not the BC Liberals - The Tyee - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Cryo-liberals are still dishing up deranged delusions - The Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Wealthy White Liberals Reportedly Urge Democrats To Be Willing To Get Shot Opposing Trump - AOL.com - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Liberals, Conservatives, And Independents Form Initiative To Fight For Democracy And Freedom - thedailypoliticususa.com - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- How the Liberals are eroding workers Charter-protected rights - Canadian Dimension - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Liberals dont want Muslim women to demand rights in the Hindutva era. Theres no right time - ThePrint - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- New polls show the Liberals opening large lead over the Conservatives - iPolitics - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Another Saturday Night - Liberals Are Patriotic! updated with how to help the central Texas flooding - Daily Kos - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Vancouver has a new civic party the Vancouver Liberals - Business in Vancouver - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Liberals Lose Trust on Health After 11 Years - Mirage News - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Newsom warms to building, but will California liberals allow it? - Washington Examiner - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Liberals Are Declaring That The Fourth Of July Is Canceled This Year And Even Threatening To Sue People Who Celebrate For Emotional Damage - Whiskey... - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Peter Menzies: Justin Trudeaus legislative legacy is still haunting the Liberals - The Hub | More Signal. Less Noise. - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Opinion | Memo to liberals: Diversity can be conservative - The Washington Post - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Liberals Are Going to Keep Losing at the Supreme Court - The Atlantic - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Hollywood Liberals Slammed as 'Disgusting' for Bleating They Weren't Invited to Jeff Bezos 'Vulgar' Wedding - RadarOnline - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Forget female quotas, its mediocrity thats killing the Liberals - The Australian - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Fatal flaw of liberals is belief that being right is enough | Opinion - The News-Press - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Liberals want Americans to depend on government - Washington Times - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- If old school white-anting Sussan Ley on gender quotas works, the Liberals may pay a heavy political price - The Guardian - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- HUNTER: Have Liberals had their come-to-Jesus moment on crime? - Toronto Sun - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Random Musing: Why some Indian liberals are celebrating Zohran Mamdani and think he is the new Obama - Times of India - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Liberals In California Are Banning Books Again - The Daily Wire - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- 'Liberals need to reconnect with people's deep feelings of being disrespected,' sociologist says - Perspective - France 24 - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Threat of Trump should drive liberals from the middle ground | Opinion - The Portland Press Herald - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- If the Liberals want to appeal again to aspirational Australians, they could start by taxing wealth | Judith Brett - The Guardian - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- The Weekly Wrap: The Liberals must abandon their internet regulation agenda - The Hub | More Signal. Less Noise. - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Data breach may have exposed 200,000 home-care patients' information, say Ontario Liberals - Yahoo - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- M. imeka criticized the Slovak government after the summit of liberals in Brussels for not diversifying gas supplies - European Newsroom - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- ANALYSIS: David Petersons Liberals are remembering the good times. Ontarians should, too - TVO Today - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Carney Liberals urged to ditch DST as Trump terminates trade talks with Canada - Toronto Sun - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Martin Regg Cohn: History reminds Ontarios languishing Liberals that they need to make their own luck - Toronto Star - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Arab Journalists and Liberals Praise U.S. Strike On Iran: The Iranian Threat Is Over; Trump Saved Humanity; God Bless America - MEMRI | Middle East... - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Conservatives report better mental health than liberals. I think I know why. | Opinion - USA Today - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Federal Liberals reintroduce cybersecurity bill meant to protect critical infrastructure - The Globe and Mail - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Threat of Trump should drive liberals from the middle ground | Opinion - Lewiston Sun Journal - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Opinion: The Tory future may lie with the Liberals - Winnipeg Free Press - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- FIRST READING: All the hidden extras buried in the Liberals fast-tracked omnibus bills - National Post - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]