It's a damn shame, but I have no grasp whatsoever regarding Canadian politics. I had the general impression that Stephen Harper was just this side of "stomp a baby seal to make friends and influence people" level of evil, and in the general sense he was horrific for energy and the environment.
But the sad truth of the matter is, all I know about Justin Trudeau is he's the son of Pierre Trudeau and basically my age and also terrifically good-looking. He really is. Fine, actually. Also unlikely to be baby-seal-beating evil. Which may actually sum up my political "need to know".
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Hi Vixen, Canadian politics is complicated.
The easiest way to understand the Trudeau election is to think about the Godfather trilogy. Now imagine that Michael was killed early on, and Fredo became the head of the family. However, rather than running a brothel like Fredo did, imagine that Fredo's only job was that of a part-time drama teacher. What could possibly go wrong with a drama teacher going up against Putin?
Two enormous structural problems for Canadian politics are language and representation by population.
1. The francocentric political class maintains control of the Canadian political system because Canadians have to be able to speak and write lucidly in French like a native speaker. Think of the church having all its official, political language being Latin.
This causes what is known as western alienation. The people of western provinces often do not grow up speaking French. They speak English. As a consequence only a few people in the west have the language skills to do anything in connection with parliamentary requirements.
2. Representation by population. The provinces are a little like states, but they do not have senators like we do. Their representative power rests strictly on the population. Almost all the population of their 30 million citizens is bunched around the eastern seaboard. As a consequence, western views seldom rise to a level of political strength. For example, Alberta is the largest energy producer among the provinces, but because it has fewer people they are never given commensurate authority.
So the French and the eastern provinces run the show; what they say, goes.
Then there are at least 4 political parties, and French Montreal threatens to secede periodically.
Justin Trudeau is taking constrol over a party that has the unique experience of actually appointing a made member of the Bonanno crime family that intersected with governments and private sector financial arrangements: Alfonso Gagliano, appointed by Jean Chretien, served in several cabinet positions. Gagliano was shown to have direct connections with Vito Rizzuto, a capo in the Bonanno family who was stationed in Montreal. Vito was actually one of the guys that Joey Massino brought down from Canada to help carry out the hits you saw in the movie Donnie Brasco. Massino, who had owned a restaurant frequented by politicians in New York, was in a power struggle with Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato for the top seat at the Bonanno table. Joey demonstrated his trust in Vito by asking him to come along on the hits, thereby cementing the continued solidarity between Canada and the United States.
This period in Canadian history simply cries out for a movie done by Martin Scorsese.
This is the party now run by the pampered and privileged part-time drama teacher.
I did notice the very first thing Trudeau did was pull out of fighting ISIS and start turning to welcoming refugees. Now, for all I know, this might just make sense for Canada, having a lot of room and not being as militarily built up as, well, us, but it was an awfully quick turnabout.
But that thing about having a made guy as a government facilitator in a money role is pretty fascinating. On the one hand, you know, a soldato is at least, discrete, committed and disciplined. On the other hand, the flip side of these qualities is being shady, loyal to the family, and kicking back whatever you can to your crew's enterprises.
I can't imagine his takings were more shameful than some lobbyists working in the States on the straight side of the books, though. Players change, grift is the same.
Actually Alfsonso Gagliano was probably or is probably also a capo. And it only came to light later that he was a Bonanno. Prime Minister Chretien knew he was a Bonanno, and his successor Paul Martin knew, but gradually it began to come out. Eventually when he would go into parliament, other members would whistle the them from The Godfather.
I don't have to tell you that installing a capo as public works minister reeks of corruption.
Frankly, there is no telling to what extent Trudeau's party is in bed with gangsters as part of a racketeering enterprise. The rumor is that they launder their money through the Canadian stock market. Pretty ingenious when you think about it.
Vito Rizzuto was widely regarded as the don of Canada. Through a long-winded process of legal manipulation of extradition laws he was finally brought to the United States and did 10 years in a Colorado prison. Not bad for contributing to multiple homicides.
The connection grew out of events surrounding an imported sports car with something like $84,000 worth of dope stuffed in the panels. Long story short, Gagliano then excused himself by saying he was just Rizzuto's accountant. (Governments and mafia families always need a good amico nostro to cook the books.)
While Vito was inside planning to come out and take over the world, there were several spectacular daytime violent mafia hits on his administration. Probably this was carried out by the Cotroni clan, a Calabrian rival that had actually hooked up with the Bonannos prior to the Rizzuto rise. Carmine “The Snake” Persico had to go down earlier and straighten out who was going to be dominant in Canada, and after the sit-down the judgment fell to the Rizzuto clan.
Many years before Carmine got blown away in New York City when Cesare "The Tall Guy" Bonventre and the other zips stepped back and let the hit take place, because Carmine had developed the French connection (the Marseilles-to-Canada connection) for himself. Carmine and Joseph Bonanno had established the Bonanno faction in and around Montreal. In this Canada is a little like Chicago with one mafia family controlling the cosa nostra interests rather than New York with 5 families.
Anyway, Gagliano left government when Stephen Harper became PM, and Rizzuto apparently got the message sent to him by the Neapolitans, also Bonanno's. The political situation in Trudeau's party is full of corrupt and naive useful idiots. Do not expect much help from Canada anytime soon.
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