Chris Selley: Cheers to the Liberal backroom renegades, even if I disagree

Radio-Canada brought news this week of a schism among the federal Liberals’ backroom staffers: 52 have apparently refused to campaign for the party in the upcoming LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection, in protest over the party’s perceived insufficient support for Gaza.

These are so-called “exempt staff,” not regular civil servants. They serve entirely at the party’s pleasure, and the party will not be pleased by this — especially since this news arrives not long after the Liberals lost the Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection over the party’s perceived insufficient support for Israel.

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Liberals are getting it coming and going. An Angus Reid Institute poll conducted in May found Jewish and Muslim voters were both becoming less likely to vote Liberal.

Byelections are very susceptible to odd swings. Thanks to their usually minute turnout figures, they can be dominated by one or two issues, and thus are rarely good reason to freak out about anything.

But the Liberals often seem like a party waiting to freak out, nowadays. Not even Michael Ignatieff managed to lose Toronto-St. Paul’s for Carolyn Bennett. And while LaSalle-Émard-Verdun’s predecessor ridings did succumb to Jack Layton’s “orange wave” in 2011, they have been reliably Liberal before and since.

Justin Trudeau’s leadership could very well hang in the balance. And he has only himself, and the nature of the party he leads, to blame.

The Israel-Palestinian conflict is a conundrum for all big-tent centrist parties, in that it divides not at all along simplistic ideological lines. The anti-Israel side attracts as much devotion from the most conservative imams as it does from most tattooed campus lefties. And it has been fascinating since October 7 last year to watch some progressive Jews part ways with their usual teammates, clearly aghast at the antisemitism they’re encountering from their anti-racist brothers and sisters.

Amid all this, the Liberals’ comms savants genuinely still seem to think they can whiffle and waffle their way toward a “balanced” position on Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will satisfy pretty much everyone — that by arranging words. phonemes and calming gestures in just the right order, Justin Trudeau and Mélanie Joly and the rest of the crew can convince Canadians that the government is equally supportive of Israel and of the people in Gaza.

They won’t. They can’t. Certain conflicts just don’t work that way, and the question of Israel and Palestine is probably the ne plus ultra example. But it’s as if the Liberals have concluded they’re in power after all these years because they never directly answer a question about anything, and not in spite of that. If they just keep spinning, something will surely come good. They know no other approach.

The Young Liberal staffer or volunteer is one of the most unique species in the Canadian hinterland. It is passionate about all manner of subjects and causes, from electoral reform to universal basic income, high-speed rail, boycotting Israel and shutting down the oil sands — and yet has somehow decided, against all logic, reason and historical record that the Liberal Party of Canada, of all things, is the engine to haul their brave social visions across the finish line.

Clearly they were misled terribly somewhere along the way about the fundamental nature of this party, which is to govern no matter what the cost. As such, I rather enjoy the prospect of revolt from within, even if I disagree with its substance.

I enjoy the prospect within any party nowadays, really. Imagine if more elected officials — who cannot be fired without cause except by voters, unlike these renegade staffers — took such bold stances on issues dear to their hearts. We might even have a functional parliament.

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