Trudeau thought he could 'pull a final rabbit out of the hat' until recently: former adviser
Trudeau’s stubbornness helped his rise — but also his fall, says Gerald Butts
Justin Trudeau's self-confidence and stubbornness helped his rise to power almost a decade ago, but those traits also played a role in his downfall, says a former close adviser.
"I've long had a theory about prime ministers, that none of them ever retire if they think they can win another election," Gerald Butts, who was once one of the prime minister's closest advisers.
"And I think that up until a few weeks ago, Mr. Trudeau thought he might be able to pull a final rabbit out of the hat of his political career. But after Chrystia Freeland resigned, I think he finally realized that it was time."
Trudeau announced Monday that he will resign as prime minister once the Liberal Party chooses a new leader. Parliament has been prorogued until March 24, but opposition leaders have pledged to bring a non-confidence motion at the earliest opportunity, aiming to trigger a federal election.
Butts served as Trudeau's principal secretary during his first term, and played a big role in the prime minister's successful 2015 election. He resigned in 2019 amid the SNC-Lavalin controversy, and is now vice chairman and a senior adviser at the political consultancy firm Eurasia Group.
Butts spoke to The Current's Matt Galloway about the prime minister's resignation and whether it should have come sooner. Here is part of their conversation.
Do you think he should have gone earlier?
I think it's hard to say that he left at the appropriate time, if I can put it that way. It would have been a much more orderly transition for — most importantly — the country and certainly the party had he gone sooner than he did.
But … I know how difficult those jobs are, and I don't want to be one of those people screaming from the sidelines. But it's hard, you know, it's hard to look at the circumstances that the country is in now and not say we'd all be in better shape had he gone last spring.
Knowing him as you do, how much responsibility do you think he takes for where the party is right now?
Like most politicians at the end of their political careers, he is trying to put into perspective the full sweep of his career, right?
It's easy to say at a low moment in politics that you're responsible for the bad times.
But I think he's also trying to put it in perspective that the Liberal Party he took over in 2013 was certainly not the Liberal Party that you and I grew up with. It was in third place, at its lowest electoral ebb of our lifetimes. And he also, I think understandably, wants to be recognized for bringing it from that position into a majority government.
You know, there's a reason we're all still reading Shakespeare or at least interested in Shakespeare. These narrative arcs are eternal and with tragic heroes, the things that serve them incredibly well on the way up often serve them incredibly poorly on the way down.
And in Mr. Trudeau's case, I think that's his admirable stubbornness and self-confidence, which had he not possessed those qualities and in spades in the spring of 2015 … I'm not sure we'd be having this conversation right now.
You wrote on Substack recently, these are your words: "In happier times, Mr. Trudeau was a scrappy young leader with an admirable sense of optimism about both his country and his party." What happened to that Justin Trudeau, do you think?
My political idol and my first mentor in politics, Dalton McGuinty, used to say that governing is corrosive to your idealism. That there are things that you have to manage every day, and you're beset by problems from all sides.
I think that over time those things accumulate and they're a grind, Matt. They affect the way you look at the world. They affect your body language and posture. And I think that's why most politicians have a natural best-before date. And [for] prime ministers in this country that seems to be somewhere in and around ... 10 years.
This is a question that I asked Justin Trudeau when he was here in the studio, which is why so many Canadians dislike him. This is a personal thing … Maybe there's elements of the party, maybe there's elements of larger politics, but he himself has become a lightning rod. Why do you think that is?
That happens to people in politics, it's almost a law of nature. I don't think political science is a science like physics or chemistry, but there are certain universal trends that seem to be observable for all politicians of a certain type.
I think Justin's been the main character of this drama for a long time. And people are tired of the drama.
Audio produced by Julie Crysler, Joana Draghici and Kate Swoger. Q&A edited for length and clarity.
