Trudeau's legacy on Island and beyond

Trudeau announced yesterday he’ll resign after the federal Liberal party holds a leadership race—no date set yet.

“I think for most Canadians, it was a relief,” Michael Prince, acting dean at UVic’s Faculty of Human & Social Development tells Capital Daily.

“And maybe some said ‘Hooray, it's time to see you go,’ and others just, ‘Your time is up.’’’

Prince says, on the whole, the Tofino-travelled Trudeau let a lot of Islanders down.

“There wasn't a voice here,” he says drawing attention to the absence of Liberal MPs on the Island. “There wasn't a cabinet presence here on the Island.”

Trudeau’s promises to pump up the middle class have been unfulfilled, his pipeline pause was more pipedream, the healthcare system remains to be a matter of patience over patients, and Island issues including housing, the toxic drug crisis, the environment, and the cost of living continue to seed concern.

Prince applauds Trudeau for finally finding funding for housing but again, it came after the bell. “An unappreciated, positive effect of the Trudeau years will be some of the federal dollars flowing into the housing infrastructure,” Prince says.

Prince says Trudeau managed to stickhandle COVID and skillfully manage Donald Trump in his first term as US president. He also made $10/day childcare a reality and helped pull hundreds of thousands of Canadian children out of poverty with his child benefit program. While he introduced some environmental protections to our oceans, Trudeau has been slow to spend on the Navy in Esquimalt and the Air Force in Comox.  

One of his failures, Prince says, was mismanagement of immigration where he opened Canada’s doors too widely. “The numbers ramped up at a time that were just more than the country could absorb, and we weren't providing adequate housing, we didn't have the jobs,” he says.

If anything, Prince says Trudeau, 53, should’ve pulled the plug earlier.

“I think he left it too late to really give someone in the party a running chance,” Prince said.

Whoever that someone turns out to be—disgruntled former finance minister Chrystia Freeland who abruptly resigned from cabinet last month, former Bank of Canada gov. Mark Carney, and former BC premier Christy Clark who reportedly has been taking French lessons, are all expected to toss their chapeaux into the ring—is likely going to be leading a third- or-fourth-place party, with the Conservatives primed for power and the Bloc Quebecois a step up on the NDP to form the Opposition, Prince predicted.

“Whoever takes it over, their main goal will be to get the party to rebound by some points in the polls, and to maybe help mitigate the disaster they're about to have fall upon them.”

Bigfoot, the often disputed legend said to roam the forests of the Pacific Northwest, has long left believers intrigued and naysayers rolling their eyes.

It’s easy to file away sightings with the likes of the Loch Ness Monster or Okanagan’s Ogopogo, especially since no photographic or video evidence has confirmed the existence of the large and hairy human-like would-be creature.

Still, some scientists have dedicated their research to unlocking the truth of the legend. One, at North Carolina State University, has been testing DNA from possible Sasquatch remains sent in by people across the US. Another researcher in Idaho has dedicated his life to studying Sasquatch tracks or Anthropoidipes ameriborealis (North American ape foot). He says tracks have been found throughout the continent—a difficult discovery, he says, given the moist forest and acidic soils in the areas believed to be home to the creature.

One place they could explore for evidence of Bigfoot? Vancouver Island, according to the Nuu-chah-nulth people who have many stories about seeing the Sasquatch, with their own unique names for the creature.

Huu-ay-aht First Nations knowledge keeper Qiic Qiica says the belief in Sasquatch, or C̓ac̓uqḥta, is widespread and deeply rooted in his culture.

“Our people, historically, were always hunters. In Nuu-chah-nulth culture, there are a number of animals that we just don’t hunt. One of them is C̓ac̓uqḥta. Another one is the wolf, we don’t hunt them because they are a pack animal, we believe they live like us. Same with the orca,” Qiic Qiica said.

Qiic Qiica says some of the greatest predators in North America are rarely seen.

“More often than not, they see us and we don’t see them,” he said. “Think about how elusive the wolves are, how elusive the cougars are. From our point of view, the C̓ac̓uqḥta is even more elusive than the most elusive. It really is the hide-and-seek champion.”

Find out more about the Island Indigenous connection to the legend of Bigfoot—and why some scientists believe we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility of its existence.