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Undaunted by this or by dreadful polls, the prime minister accepts no responsibility or blame and his only solution is to launch a listening tour in order to ask Canadians what to do, and to give a speech at the world’s biggest mining conference, held in Toronto each year.

The speech, an advanced version of which is already online, will simply add to the carnage with its word salad message that “environmental policy is not just good for the planet, but it’s also good for business,” whatever that means.

Then there’s the tour which is, in itself, passing the buck and an admission of half a decade of failure. “In the coming year, we want to hear from you on how to innovate and transform our economy to keep good jobs here and create new ones … We will be launching pathways soon so that industries, citizens, Indigenous peoples can inform Canada’s clean transition,” Trudeau is to say in a speech.

The tour won’t get underway until April, said sources. Translation? The meetings will simply stall and defuse tensions and will spend a couple of years asking Canadians what to do because the government doesn’t know what to do. Never did.

Leadership is about knowledge and judgment. It’s about adhering to the organizing principles of the nation, weighing all strategic options, adopting best practices, and adhering to the national interest. The “national interest” is not about clinging to power by making micro-alliances with as many noisy, vested interests as possible. That’s what this regime has done and is why it shares power with socialists, greens, secessionists, American eco-NGOs, 632 First Nations, certain regions, and any hereditary chieftain no matter how questionable their influence or authority is.