JWR and Jane Philpott kicked out of caucus

I believe the decision by the Liberals to kick both out was a major mistake.  Yes they are a bit of a distraction, but taking this approach just makes a bad situation worse.  Trudeau should have all along just admitted he made a mistake and apologized.  Had he done that the issue would be forgotten and the public would have moved on.  If anything I think his handling more than the actual scandal is the big problem.  One of the big tests of any leader is how well they handle the unexpected and that can often make or break political careers.  Down under in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern has handled the Christchurch mosque shooting extremely well and I expect a major bump in her approval rating.  By contrast Trudeau has handled this poorly and makes me concerned if something unexpected happened such as another recession, natural disaster, terrorist attack etc., Trudeau would not have the right judgement to lead us through.  I also think we need to think more about party discipline.  Watching the Brexit debate in UK and also other issues even before, the mother of all parliaments using the Westminster system gives MPs far more freedom to take different views and I believe we should too.  Cabinet members should be required to support the government on all issues, but backbenchers should be free to take differing viewpoints and vote differently as long as it is not a vote of confidence.  Most people don’t agree with any party on every issue, I certainly fall into that category, and requiring blind obedience if anything probably reduces the talent pool we can attract to politics since only those who are willing to fall in line will run.  I don’t think Lavscam necessarily means Trudeau is done or Scheer will be next prime-minister, but I think the odds of another Liberal majority are well under 50% although not zero and likewise the possibility of a Tory majority exists although also less than 50% too.