There really are no true friends in politics.

At the centre of this maelstrom is the Prime Ministers Office, led by Katie Telford, who also appeared before the finance committee on Thursday. Tension is said to exist between PMO and Morneaus office over the latters insistence to appoint Tiff Macklem (over Telfords preference, Carolyn Wilkins) as governor of the Bank of Canada.

It is the chief of staffs job to keep her boss out of trouble when it comes to conflicts of interest, yet this is the third occasion that Trudeau has been subject to an investigation by the ethics commissioner on Telfords watch.

It seems inconceivable that the Liberal Party will go into the next election with the same slate of senior staff and ministers that have blundered so often and left the party at the mercy of their opponents.

The WE affair is convoluted at one level. Was WE really the only organization that could administer the program? But its essence is simple do voters believe Trudeaus account, that nothing untoward happened and the government simply approved a volunteer program recommended by the public service; or the Oppositions contention that a cash-strapped charity with close links to the prime minister and finance minister was bailed out by the government.

At this point, the majority 57 per cent, according to Abacus think the Liberals used public money to reward their friends.

Trudeau may have persuaded those still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But there are fewer and fewer of those people.

Canadian-born economist John Kenneth Galbraith once claimed that all successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.

This feels like a government that is starting to splinter and split.

Email: jivison@postmedia.com | Twitter: IvisonJ

Read the original post:

John Ivison: Whether Trudeau's testimony worked or not, the winds of change are blowing for Liberals - National Post