​Last month, the approval rating for Justin Trudeau dropped below 50% for the first time since his Liberal Party’s election in 2015.

49% of Canadians now disapprove of Trudeau’s performance. 46% still approve. 4% don’t know.

Trudeau’s approval ratings hit a high of 65% in September of 2016. They have been slowly and steadily falling since then.

Among age groups, Trudeau still polls at 56% approval in the 18-34 age bracket, 45% for voters in the 35-54 bracket and 40% for those 55 and over.

The semi-good news for Trudeau’s Liberals is that his approval ratings are still higher than the Conservatives (36%) and the New Democrats (39%). The bad news is that Trudeau’s disapproval rating is also higher, with more Canadians saying it is “time for a change” (46%) than say he should be re-elected (32%).

Wow. It seems like only yesterday (2017) that Justin Trudeau made the cover of Rolling Stone, which unabashedly asked, “Why Can’t He Be Our President?”

However, Rolling Stone also featured an adorable cover photo of Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev a few years before, so the cachet of having your picture on the cover of Rolling Stone may have lost some of its allure. Particularly since Editor Jann Wenner recently admitted to sexually molesting another man.

Trudeau’s Liberal Party assumed power after 9 years of relatively quiet and responsible governance by the Conservatives under Stephen Harper. Trudeau inherited a scandal-free government with a balanced budget.

By 2015, the Canadian economy was steadily improving, despite the collapse of world oil prices to below $50 a barrel. Our housing market dipped a bit after the 2008 meltdown, but not nearly as much as in the United States. And it quickly rebounded, with double digit increases in home values being the norm rather than the exception.

But people were tired of Stephen Harper. Canadians longed for something new and exciting. With his telegenic persona and broad name recognition inherited from his famous father, Justin Trudeau was a perfect political fit for an electorate that preferred style over substance.

Like President Trump, Trudeau continues to be dogged with ethics questions that are mostly fluff.

Trudeau’s critics drone on about his 2016 visit to the Aga Kahn’s private island. Trudeau admits it was a freebie vacation, courtesy of a billionaire who does business with the Canadian government. Big deal. In the real world, it’s called a perk.

Trudeau’s finance minister, Bill Morneau, is a multi-millionaire; but who in politics isn’t these days? Morneau continues to be pilloried in Parliament and the media for not following ethics “rules” regarding reporting of private income, even though he was assured by the ethics commissioner that he was following those rules at the time.

Nothing will come of these charges, except to prove, once again, that liberalism is the political sanctification of envy.

Last year, Trudeau tried to secure a trade deal with China. He failed. Not much political fallout though because trade is not a particularly sexy issue. Besides, Canadians have never had it so good, economically.

The Canadian press (Toronto Sun) was much more interested in covering Trudeau’s choice of socks—which featured yellow rubber ducks—when the prime minister made his recent visit to the World Economic Summit in Davos. Other than a few photo ops, Trudeau accomplished nothing and left the Swiss gaggle of 1%-ers to spend their face time with President Trump.

Unlike his libidinous father, Justin Trudeau has a deserved Obamaesque image. Lovely wife (his first) and three nice children. Good for him.

Unfortunately, Canadian politicians from all parties have had a rough time lately with sexual harassment claims. Here are just a few….

Trudeau’s Sports and Persons with Disabilities Minister had to resign last week amid charges of sexual harassment. Liberal minister Kent Hehr, a quadriplegic confined to a wheel chair, is accused of making a lewd statement to a female staffer a few years ago. Hehr allegedly called her “yummy.”

Global News reports that Hehr suffered “a seizure” at his home in Calgary last week. I wonder if the stress of being charged with a career-destroying sexual offense had anything to do with the “seizure.” Sounds to me like “seizure” could be NewsSpeak for heart palpitations due to anxiety over unproved charges of sexual impropriety.

When the public is preoccupied with Dr. Phil politics, some important issues are ignored. Like abortion.

Trudeau’s Liberals now require that organizations applying for government grants to hire summer students must attest that their core mandate is in line with the government’s position on “reproductive rights.” In their determination to force their abortion views on those who may disagree, applicants must check a box confirming their acquiescence to the new rule or they can’t submit the application.

In other words, any organization that does not agree with the Trudeau government’s wholehearted support for unfettered abortion at any stage of pregnancy need not apply.

The right to an abortion is not granted in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canada has no Roe v. Wade. Trudeau should review the Charter. After all, it was his father who championed the document as Prime Minister in 1982. Historians have given Trudeau the Elder much credit for its passage.

Canadians are hardly unanimous in their support for partial-birth abortion or sex selection procedures that allow girls to be terminated for the sin of being girls.

But let’s face it: in the end, it’s all about the money. In Washington state and elsewhere, sex selection clinics are good business.

Blaine, Bellingham and Seattle have a steady source of clients from Vancouver, B.C. that do not want to put up with long Canadian wait times for ultrasounds. This has been going on for years. Are we ready to deal with the resulting societal imbalance from an unnatural predominance of men? See Huffington Post story.

Maybe it’s Justin Trudeau’s arrogance that is driving his poll numbers down. Or his flippant disregard for the real issues, like his refusal to accept that Canadians who hold views different from him—and his Liberal caucus—should be ineligible for public funds. Funds to which they, as taxpayers, contribute.

Love and anger are potent motivators in both life and politics.

Two years ago, many Canadians felt the love. The fact that the love may now be turning to anger should come as no surprise to Justin Trudeau.

Update - July 6, 2018:  The fallout from the Liberal's "attestation clause" continues.....what was dismissed as "kerfuffle" by Justin Trudeau in January has now become a significant issue as the Liberal's poll numbers continue to fall.  

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-resistance-to-the-summer-jobs-nonsense-is-heating-up?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1530890870