The wrong man just resigned.One can imagine the conversation in the Langevin Block, fabled home of the Prime Minister’s Office. “Well, somebody has to walk the plank on this one and it’s not going to be the PM. That leaves you, Davie. Start writing your ‘I quit’ letter.”But seriously… maybe it’s not Lametti who should be resigning.Maybe it should be Mr.Trudeau?A little context: There was a time when the ministerial author of such a notable pig’s-ear as an ‘unreasonable and unjustified’ invocation of the War Measures (Emergencies) Act, one that the Federal Court declared ‘violated the Charter,’ wouldn’t need to be told to resign.He would just sit down and write the awful admission of blame, and salvage some sliver of honour as he walked out the door. In fact once the principle of ministerial responsibility would have allowed for no other course.Nobody does that any more, alas — at least you’d be hard pressed to find an example since the incumbent prime minister first formed a government in the fall of 2015.Indeed there was a time, only eight years ago, when the very act that now requires somebody’s head on a pike, would never have happened. The act would never have been invoked, because in those happier times before the advent of 'sunny ways,' people in power knew the difference between legitimate protest and an actual emergency.But, let us give David Lametti the most expanded benefit available of what is nevertheless a considerable doubt. Perhaps he did resign in response to his own mortified feelings of regret, now clarified for him by a perceptive judge?Who could really think that?To start with, there is a ‘sorry, not sorry’ tone in Lametti’s resignation, a card drawn from the same pack of non-apologies as, ‘I am sorry you were offended by what I said.’Lametti cites for example, ‘an extraordinary time: a pandemic, an occupation of border crossings and downtown Ottawa necessitating the invocation of the Emergencies Act. I am proud of the role I played in each of these situations. The pandemic and the occupation required balancing the protections of the Charter with the rule of law and the health and safety and economic well-being of citizens.”‘Proud of his role?!’Does he mean his role in freezing people’s bank accounts?Or his responsibility for the injuries inflicted on peaceful protesters after the cossacks were unleashed upon them?We must hope his text message exchange with Minister Marco Mendicino about the availability of tanks was just jolly fun.Whatever it was, none of it sounds like something somebody would say, as they fall upon their sword. Where is the concession of the errors pointed out by the Federal Court? Where is the regret for the egregious assaults on privacy and personal freedoms — now confirmed as the extreme and needless over-reactions we said they were, at the time? What it does sound like is the kind of resentment one might expect from somebody who had been told he needed to take the fall before he got the push.And perhaps that’s understandable. David Lametti was hardly a lone ranger. The action he took was backed by the entire cabinet and most important, authorised by the prime minister himself. Of course, he feels like a scapegoat. He is.The application of the War Measures (Emergencies) Act was in the end, the responsibility of the prime minister. (Western Standard columnist John Thomson, writing on Twitter ("X") took a playful run at writing a resignation for Mr. Trudeau. An ‘A’ for Mr. Thomson’s effort.)But be assured that what the Liberals are working on now is not the prime minister’s exit.Instead, they are about to launch a campaign of bluster and denial.‘We did nothing wrong. The court is wrong. We will appeal. It was Canada’s dark night of the soul. We will always have the backs of Canadians and protect them from people with unacceptable opinions.’That will come from one side of their mouths.But from the other side of the mouths of the people who David Lametti served? They're dumping him.‘A no-hoper.’‘He had just one job. He needed to go.’‘It was David Lametti’s responsibility and he was a total failure.’ And a failure, of course, is a stranger in his own house. He can console himself with this thought. There will be others like himself, before this matter is done.
