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It’s been seven months since Trudeau was elected as Prime Minister of Canada. While many of us are still celebrating the end of over nine years of Harper, it’s important that we keep our new leader accountable. Thankfully rabble.ca bloggers are on the case. 

Bilan Arte, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students discusses the federal government’s broken promise to invest $50 million per year in the Post-Secondary Student Support Program. This increased funding was part of Trudeau’s campaign promise to implement the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, no new funding means Indigenous communities will continue to be unable to support all students interested in pursuing post-secondary education. Arte reminds us this parliamentary session ends in less than a month and implores us to call on the government to fully fund access to post-secondary education for Indigenous and Inuit students. The Canadian Federation of Students currently has a petition to that end. 

From Indigenous education to the environment, Seble Samuel examines Trudeau’s claim that Canada is “back” on climate change. Samuel says this is in contrast to the National Energy Board’s recent conditional approval of the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline. While Trudeau promised to improve the environmental assessment and the board’s review process, which lost credibility during the Harper era, he has yet to enact these changes. This expansion will increase the number of oil tankers from 60 to over 400 in the Vancouver Port annually. We will have to wait and see if Trudeau will fulfill his commitment to the environment over the next seven months.

#Elbowgate continues to be a hot topic on social media and in Canadian political thought pieces. Karl Nerenberg offers his two cents about what it reveals about Canadian’s attitude towards Parliament. Reflecting on Harper’s time in office he says it has changed how we view the democratic process. He also says While Trudeau has made some positive changes rolling back the Harper agenda, he has continued to rely on the habit of ending debate through closure. Nerenberg notes that it is easy for politicians to make promises when they are in opposition and then ignore those promises when in power. Hopefully the criticism following elbowgate will reinvigorate the Liberal party to fulfill these promises. 

Finally, not letting the Tories slip through the cracks David J. Climenhaga writes about Stephen Harper’s resignation and Sen. Mike Duffy’s acquittal. He says media has failed to mention that Harper waited so long to resign to preserve his Parliamentary privilege so he would not have to testify at Duffy’s trial. Climenhaga asks the question that has been on all of our minds since the trial began: how much did Harper know? As well he criticizes Jason Kenney’s mockery of a man in smocks and a stethoscope pictured at the Alberta NDP’s climate leadership plan announcement. He notes that federal Conservatives have often worn scrubs and military uniforms for photo ops including a recent photo featuring leader Rona Ambrose. 

That’s it for this week’s blog roundup, make sure to check out more rabble.ca blogs to find out what’s happening in your world.

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

Emily Blake

Emily Blake

Emily Blake is a multimedia journalist with a master’s of journalism from the University of British Columbia. Her areas of specialization include gender, politics, human rights and media ethics....