By Bob Groeneveld
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After a succession of years that turned out to be serious stinkers 鈥� Donald Trump was elected president of the USA in 2016, and wasn鈥檛 impeached in either 2017 or 2018 鈥� 2019 turned out surprisingly positive.
Not only did Trump finally get impeached, but Andrew Scheer didn鈥檛 succeed in his bid to become Canada鈥檚 prime minister. Don鈥檛 take that as an endorsement of Trudeau The Younger; I didn鈥檛 say 2019 was a 鈥済reat鈥� year, just that it was better than it could have been.
The summer of 2019 also bucked the recent trend of increasingly unbearably longer hot and dry periods. Overall, weather-wise, it was closer to what used to be a normal summer 鈥� at least here in 91原创 鈥� than we鈥檝e had in a couple of decades.
As I鈥檝e mentioned here before, 2019 was also the year that started with learned veterinarians predicting that our beloved Sam would soon be squeaking his last chew toy 鈥� yet he鈥檚 still with us to this day. And while I grieve for friends who were not so lucky with life and loved ones, and understand that their memories of the past year won鈥檛 be counted among the highlights of their lives, I can鈥檛 help but remember the year fondly, if only for those extra months of obstinacy plagued upon us by that dear, sweet poodle.
And now we have 2020.
The United States Senate is preparing to make a mockery of the House of Representatives鈥� impeachment of a president that has been making a mockery of their democracy, and 2020 is shaping up to be a repeat performance of the Orange Plague visited upon the so-called Free World in 2016.
It would all be a source of wry amusement, except Canada is both geographically and economically situated directly in harm鈥檚 way between Trump鈥檚 New Amerika and the rest of the world stage.
And only a couple of weeks old, 2020 is already blowing its dark clouds into Canadian politics. The Conservative Party鈥檚 past is raising its ugly head in the form of former leader Peter McKay, who is deemed a front-runner in the race to lower the bar set by Scheer in last fall鈥檚 election.
McKay, the old and wizened among us will remember, was the guy who won the leadership of the grand old Progressive Conservative Party with the resolute promise that there would be no merger with Stephen Harper鈥檚 upstart Canadian Alliance鈥� and then resolutely handed the keys to his party鈥檚 executive washroom to Harper in exchange for a promise that he could keep his own seat there.
Yeah. The people who so desperately despised the Liberals that they elected Conservatives like the ones we got in 91原创 must really relish the though of McKay being their standard bearer if and when Trudeau鈥檚 minority falls.
And now 2020 has botched the relatively mild and pleasant winter that 2019 started building.
It鈥檚 like Trump and Obama鈥� 2020 is bent on wrecking any good that its predecessor did.
