Trudeau backtracks on promises, grows in popularity: political panel
'How long can that last, when you trade goodwill for more goodwill? It's not unlimited,' says Zain Velji
Justin Trudeau seems to be able to do what most politicians would love to do — if only they could pull it off.
"He's actually backtracking on promises and becoming more popular as a result," said political commentator Janet Brown.
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During the October election campaign, Trudeau made roughly 200 promises on everything from resettling Syrian refugees, to stopping the ISIS bombing mission, launching a national inquiry into the missing and murdered Indigenous women and implementing a revenue-neutral tax break for the middle class.
He's already broken some of those — the middle class tax break will cost the federal treasury $8.9 billion over the next six years, and even after pushing back his initial deadline on Syrian resettlement, it's unlikely the federal government will meet its new target of 25,000 by March 1.
"How long can that last, when you trade goodwill for more goodwill? It's not unlimited," said campaign strategist Zain Velji.
Hey Twitter! Tomorrow marks 100 days since we took office. And I’ll be taking your questions live from <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterCanada">@TwitterCanada</a>. Use <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/First100?src=hash">#First100</a> to ask!
—@JustinTrudeauOn the eve of Trudeau's 100th day in office, a panel of political commentators weighed in on whether the new prime minister is all talk and no action, and what Albertans can expect from him in the months to come.
"People are wanting tangible things," said Velji.
"I think the real kicker is if he can move forward on that infrastructure a lot faster than expected, that will be a real shot in the arm."