And Morneau is gone...

I was kind of shocked over the timing of this. I don't really understand this move, politically speaking.

Just days ago Trudeau defended Morneau saying he has his full trust to remain in his job. And then he resigns. Of course, in between all of this was a threat from an opposition party to force an election if Trudeau, Telford and Morneau didn't resign.

Personally, I think this is an absurd request. Especially in the middle of a health crisis. To say basically "dismantle your entire organization or face an election".

At the same time though, I felt Trudeau should have fired Morneau over this earlier. I don't really know why he didn't. There were likely ways this could have be done to preserve his reputation. But, Morneau's conflict was the most egregious. And the longer this goes on, the more people conflate all of the conflicts as being equal. Which can be seen in the absurd demand that all of them step down.

I still don't know what Telford's conflict is, but Trudeau's in this matter is trifling and I doubt that the investigation will lay and clear amount of blame at his feet and will instead recommend actions which can be put in place in the future to prevent this sort of concern.

My opinion is that the PMO should have reacted as follows:

Acknowledge that the degree and nature of Morneau's actions are different than those of the PMs. 

Further, acknowledge that the PM would prefer to suspend Morneau pending the outcome of the investigation, but make some statement to the effect that Canadian's deserve ministers they can trust and the office of the Finance Minister is too important to leave in such a state that they have decided to remove Morneau from the position. 

It could end on a note of the PM feeling sure that Morneau will ultimately be proven innocent of wrong doing and that he still has the confidence of the PM.

This move would allow the Liberals to take some control of the narrative. Right now, the PMO has treated all those under investigation equally which has allowed the opposition to control the narrative and damn them all equally as well. It would also show the Liberals to at least be taking some action in the matter.

Honestly, I think this farce will actually hurt the party more than simply continuing to do nothing would have. Few will believe the narrative provided and it simply makes the party look even more corrupt. It looks like they are refusing to publicly accept anything but that they will still stab each other in the back in attempt to placate the opposition.

[update]

I just read that Trudeau now plans prorogue parliament. If true... he has actually managed to sink lower than Harper. Harper often used prorogation to avoid scrutiny around scandals. But, he didn't let them blow up in his face AND THEN do this on top of that. I hope it isn't true. I feel it will certainly impact his chances at re-election. I think many Liberal supporters could at least look to the lack of prorogation as a sign that the administration was willing to face the scrutiny and questions.