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Trudeau's verbal porridge and serene smile have carried him along. Until now: Neil Macdonald

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Methinks folks should watch the circus in Ottawa that CBC is promoting right now and imagine Mr MacDonald's next opinion piece N'esy Pas?


https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/03/trudeaus-verbal-porridge-and-serene.html





https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/trudeau-talking-points-1.5044266


Trudeau's verbal porridge and serene smile have carried him along. Until now: Neil Macdonald




2049 Comments




JOHN CHUCKMAN
JOHN CHUCKMAN
"Trudeau's verbal porridge"

My God, that's a strikingly accurate phrase.


Tom McLean
Tom McLean
@JOHN CHUCKMAN

Porridge is good for you

Albert Rising
Albert Rising
@Tom McLean
Too much porridge just results in a lot of crap.

Albert Rising
Albert Rising
@Tom McLean
I’d hate to be at one of your dinner parties.

Tom McLean
Tom McLean
@Albert Rising

Doubt it.. we have lots of fun

Robin Trower
Robin Trower
@JOHN CHUCKMAN

I love it when Neil unloads with both barrels.

More please.

Guy Stone
Guy Stone
@JOHN CHUCKMAN i appreciate CBC for this article. Fairness is important - mix up positive and negative viewpoints of all political parties

John Dirlik
John Dirlik
@Robin Trower

Neil did a masterful job as CBC’s foreign correspondent in Jerusalem, earning him in Canada the wrath of that lobby that doesn’t exist, for that country that cannot be criticized.

David Amos
David Amos
@John Dirlik I agree

David Amos
David Amos
@JOHN CHUCKMAN I liked this one obviously because methinks that lawyer and her buddy Joly will be the nest to bail on Trudeau N'esy Pas?

"A few hours later, at a rally in Toronto to gin up support for a carbon tax, Trudeau made a manic entrance, grinning and high-fiving and flesh-pressing and trying to look happy, before grabbing Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in an awkward hug, and, puzzlingly, yelling, at a Liberal rally, "Are there any Liberals in the house?"

Adam Gajewski
Adam Gajewski
@JOHN CHUCKMAN
Justin Trudeau simply doesn't have the intellectual acuity to cope - that is coup de grâce.

Jan Lenova
Jan Lenova
@JOHN CHUCKMAN
anything is better that the sludge "porridge" of Scheer and the 3 Little Bears, from the Conservatives.

Jan Lenova
Jan Lenova
@JOHN CHUCKMAN
wow, the most liked Con post, is also the least deepest. -no surprise.

Trevor James
Trevor James
@Jan Lenova strawman argument, article is about JT

Jan Lenova
Jan Lenova
@Trevor James
so any "porridge" is a meaningful discussion.?
Article is about JT, your's is just more deflection and pomp.

David Amos
David Amos
@Jan Lenova "just more deflection and pomp.deflection and pomp."

Speaking of deflection I am watching Trudeau's buddy Gerry taking to parliament right now if he says 9000 jobs anymore methinks he will set a record about deflecting an issue N'esy Pas?











mo bennett
Jessica Ma
Canadians need someone they can respect representing them to the world, not a narcissistic boy that has poor communication skills and twisted ideals.


Neil Gregory
Neil Gregory
@Jessica Ma

True! Unfortunately he isn't that much different from Harper or Scheer or their counterparts at the Provincial level, Ford and Kenny.
mo bennett
mo bennett
@Jessica Ma look Ma, no socks either.

M K
M K
@Jessica Ma

Vast majority of Canadians are still taking a back seat to rural riding voting structure.
Conservatives would not even be taken seriously as party if the Canadian vote represented the population.

John Sollows
John Sollows
@Jessica Ma

Stephen Harper?

Andrew Scheer? Doug Ford? Jason Kenney?

Justin isn't perfect but please!

Taylor Sutherland
Taylor Sutherland
@John Sollows
That’s what worries me the most... as bad as Trudeau is, the alternatives are downright scary.

Brandon Hoffman
Brandon Hoffman
@M K oh, that would be amazing, Quebec and Toronto deciding everything that happens in Canada. They'd probably come up with a plan to tax Canada into being taken seriously, haha

Daniel McKay
Daniel McKay
@Jessica Ma I'm interested to see what round 3 will present. Bernier's timing may turn out to be impeccable - no trust in the Cons or Libs, the Dips are run by a man who won't publicly place his religion behind his politics, the Greens are still trying to be taken seriously by non-greennecks.
The PPC is a clean slate, unproven to be the same old party. My gut tells me they will prove to be the least unpalatable choice on the ballot, for many voters.

Kevin Delaney
Kevin Delaney
@Jessica Ma
I often wonder who Team St Petersburg or Team Trump would like to see as Canada's PM. Team St Petersburg does not care really as Canada is just a nothing burger to Vladimir, more a training ground for his pro / con pot stirring posting team. Now, team Trump & his brand of Republicans... that is a different matter. That lot has issues with Nations who do have a socialist attitude towards the welfare of its citizens and Team Trump can only wish for an ultra Conservative Canadian government... which is... Never Going To Happen.

Louren Organzo
Louren Organzo
@Daniel McKay
"My gut tells me they will prove to be the least unpalatable choice on the ballot, for many voters."

Maybe so but I think that all that will do is ensure the Liberals make it back in

Tony Walters
Tony Walters
@Jessica Ma "Canadians need someone they can respect representing them to the world"
Surely you can't be talking about Andy, so who did you have in mind?

Daniel McKay
Daniel McKay
@Louren Organzo That's entirely possible, we'll see how far the Liberals fall before election day.

Gorden Feist
Gorden Feist
@Jessica Ma "Canadians need someone they can respect representing them to the world, not a narcissistic boy that has poor communication skills and twisted ideals."

But I'm guessing you would be fine with Trump.

David Amos
David Amos
@Jessica Ma Methinks that Mr Macdonald can claim that Trudeau's charm carried him along but everybody knows his buddy Gerry Butts carried the weight and pulled his strings N'esy Pas?

David Amos
Content disabled.
David Amos
@John Sollows "Justin isn't perfect but please!"

Methinks your point is that its ok to be corrupt because the others are worse N'esy Pas?



Jan Böhmermann
Jan Böhmermann
@Jessica Ma

And who would that be?

David Amos
David Amos
@mo bennett YO MO Methinks you are enjoying the grilling of Gerry Butts as much as I N'esy Pas?

David Amos
David Amos
@John Sollows Methinks its too bad so sad folks can't read my reply to you N'esy Pas?










Paul Reed
Paul Reed
Trudeau started with an open floor, and has painted himself into a corner. It’s just a matter of time now.


Tom McLean
Tom McLean
@Paul Reed

Its always a matter of time

Jack Cochrane
Jack Cochrane
@Paul Reed soon after he was elected I told many friends and relatives to give him enough rope and he will hang himself and that's exactly what happened. He was never qualified to handle a majority government and Canada really, really needs to look seriously at it's system of government that lacks the checks and balances necessary to allow such a system of democracy. Far too much power given to a group far too unqualified.

Michael Flinn
Michael Flinn
@Paul Reed Not true - Trudeau was the problem from the beginning - and we elected him anyway - out of pique.

Kevin Delaney
Kevin Delaney
@Paul Reed
Agree. A personal lack of political depth and a failed PMO got him to a self-dug-hole that he cannot dig himself out of. In fact he will most likely dig it deeper. So where does Canada go from here??
In my opinion Canada's best outcome is a minority government coming out of Oct 2019. Force a Leadership change in all 3 Parties. Force a policy review in all three Parties. Our smaller political Parties are narrowly focused and incapable of total perspective government. Our 3 larger Parties are a mess.
The NDP are fractured beyond a national unified platform hope.
The Conservatives need to find the word... Progressive again.
The Liberals need to find truth and honesty.
Canada needs a re-boot re our politics.

David Amos
David Amos
@Kevin Delaney I Wholeheartedly Agree Sir











Tom McLean
Craig Sweeney
All virtue, no substance. This whole fiasco is devolving into a huge embarrassment for this Country. In the end we all lose.


Tom McLean
Tom McLean
@Craig Sweeney

You are so wrong, its hard to think of where to start

Ed Norton
Ed Norton
@Craig Sweeney
Of course, the big question is whether Andrew Scheer is prime ministerial material.

And of course, their is the issue of whether Conservative policies and ideology are palatable to the majority of the Canadian electorate.

I am self-defined centrist but lean progressive. I am not, and may never be ready, to vote for the Conservative party.

Mike Scott
Mike Scott
@Ed Norton I will take him over the clown show in town now.

Travis Ladwin
Travis Ladwin
@Mike Scott

Don't pretend like it would have been different no matter who was leading the Cons.

Kevin Delaney
Kevin Delaney
@Craig Sweeney
The virtue was a sham.

Gorden Feist
Gorden Feist
@Craig Sweeney "In the end we all lose."

We certainly will if the end result is another Conservative government.

David Amos
David Amos
@Craig Sweeney "In the end we all lose."

Methinks as an Independent candidate who has lost in 6 elections thus far I have the right to say that democracy and justice are not about political party leaders losing their masks of virtue N'esy Pas?










Stephen David
Stephen David
His arrogant smirk is gone lately....I guess reality is sinking in hard.
No majority for you!!


Juergen Hesse
Juergen Hesse
@Stephen David
No majority for the Conservatives, because they are going to be hammered in Quebec for the next 10 Years.

M K
M K
@Stephen David
In reality, conservatives would never ever win anything even remotely close to a majority if Trudeau would have made sure the Canadian popular vote represented our country...as it should. Unfortunately Canadians have to take a back seat to the usual foreign lobby the conservatives kiss up with promises of moving an embassey for, like puppet Trump.

Mike Scott
Mike Scott
@M K haha that was a broken promise by your hero.

David Amos
David Amos
@Stephen David Heres hoping











Travis Ladwin 
Ric Ferriby
the endless verbiage goes with the constant channel changes and Canadian peoplekind are getting tired of being fed meaningless political mush.


David Amos
David Amos
@Ric Ferriby YUP










Travis Ladwin 
Al Kap
I always cringe when I hear Trudeau speak. Reading this article brought back to mind much cringing.


David Fraser
David Fraser
@Al Kap CBC radio news,, a.k.a. the Liberal Cheerleaders, gets turned off in this house when St Justin comes on.

David Amos
Content disabled.
David Amos
@Al Kap "I always cringe when I hear Trudeau speak."

Methinks a lot of his peoplekind are are cringing as his buddy Gerry Butts speaks to parliament right now N'esy Pas?


David Amos
David Amos
@Al Kap "Reading this article brought back to mind much cringing."

Methinks if folks could read all the comments they would cringe even more N'esy Pas?








Travis Ladwin 
Roger Andrews
Nailed it!!!

Very insightful article.


Taylor Sutherland
Taylor Sutherland
@Tom McLean
I’ve been a liberal all my life, but I can’t call myself a Liberal these days. Neil’s article sums up the reasons for that. Verbal porridge indeed.

Jack Russ
Jack Russ
@Taylor Sutherland
You can be a Liberal and believe that Trudeau isn't the right man for the job.

David Amos
David Amos
@Jack Russ True











Travis Ladwin 
Wilfred Craig
The worshiping liberal press has carried Trudeau along.


M K
M K
@Wilfred Craig ....
I see the Harper infiltration of CBC is still going strong.

John Dirlik
John Dirlik
@Wilfred Craig

Forty four out the the 45 largest English newspapers in Canada (including that allegedly “lefty” G&M) repeatedly endorsed the Conservatives at election time.

The “worshipping liberal press” is sheer fantasy.

Jake Swan
Jake Swan
@John Dirlik even the national post openly endorsed Trudeau (presumably because Conrad Black also wanted a DPA).

John Dirlik
John Dirlik
@Jake Swan

Opinions are one thing; sheer fabrication another.

James Stanton
James Stanton
@John Dirlik Scheer fabrication?

David Amos
David Amos
@Wilfred Craig Oh So True











Travis Ladwin 
Albert Rising
Not a big fan of Neil but he nails it here.


David Amos
David Amos
@Albert Rising Methinks you should watch the circus in Ottawa that CBC is promoting right now and imagine Mr MacDonald's next opinion piece N'esy Pas?




Trudeau's verbal porridge and serene smile have carried him along. Until now: Neil Macdonald

He either doesn't think the public deserves a straight answer, or just isn't capable of delivering one


Trudeau could have answered his former justice minister fact for fact. Instead, his statements have been as stilted and contrived as the optics. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)


If you're looking for some instructive reading, go look up an aggregation of utterances by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Some are already famous for their loopiness: budgets balance themselves, the government shouldn't call honour killings barbaric, we need to rethink the definitions of space and time, we should say "peoplekind" instead of "mankind" (he may actually have been making fun of himself with that one).

Most, though, are just syrupy, unmemorable banalities about values and optimism and respect and caring for one another.

Like this masterpiece of tautology the day he was sworn in as prime minister: "The diversity that makes this country so strong is a diversity of views that will carry us forward."

Trudeau's happy blather was digestible enough at first, particularly after nearly a decade of Stephen Harper. Like tapioca after heartburn. But as it kept coming, picked up and amplified by his cabinet ministers, it began grating on the nerves, the way retail Christmas-carol Muzak does by late November.

Eventually, it became clear that our prime minister didn't really have much else to say. He relies more heavily on talking points than any Canadian leader in my memory (40-plus years), his answers swollen with extraneous words and catchphrases crafted by his messaging experts.

Meaningless talking points


He and his ministers are capable of answering nearly any question with some vow of support for "the middle class and those who are working so hard to join it," an annoyingly meaningless phrase that's become a banner for his government.

In any case, this verbal porridge, delivered with a serene smile, has carried him along. Until now.
With his government sinking into a self-inflicted crisis, it's beginning to appear that Justin Trudeau simply doesn't have the intellectual acuity to cope.

Look at his response to the testimony of Jody Wilson-Raybould last week. She had just finished delivering a measured, unambiguous indictment, accusing him and his staff of attempting to pervert justice for political gain.


Trudeau gave no substantive reply last week to Wilson-Raybould's remarkably serious accusations. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
He could have answered his former justice minister fact for fact. Instead, Trudeau appeared a few hours later in Montreal, two rows of nervously smiling party volunteers arranged behind him, a newly elected MP standing haplessly to the side. His statements were as stilted and contrived as the optics.
"We will stand up and defend and create jobs, and we will always defend our institutions and rule of law."

The government has "consistently defended Canadian jobs while defending our institutions and the independence of our judiciary."

Stephen Harper was mean, said Trudeau, herding his predecessor into questioning about Wilson-Raybould's charges, and he did favours for the wealthy, while Liberals "invest in Canadians" (a favourite line, whatever it means). His central job as prime minister is to stand up for jobs and defend our institutions.

And so on. Not a spontaneous syllable, not a second of candour or actual reflection. Certainly no substantive reply to Wilson-Raybould's remarkably serious accusations.
Trudeau could have talked about the difficulty of having one member of cabinet coexisting as both a political minister and attorney general, a problem Wilson-Raybould herself addressed, but no. He could have given his own version of discussions with her. But no.

This is a man who either doesn't think the public deserves a straight answer, or just isn't capable of delivering one.

And there was the flicker of condescension he's shown before; it was important, he said, that Wilson-Raybould be able to speak, and he was glad he'd allowed her to.

Uh-huh. He was glad.

It was much the same performance this week, after Jane Philpott followed Wilson-Raybould out the cabinet door, declaring she could not square her constitutional obligations as a minister of the Crown with the evidence she'd seen of political interference.


Philpott resigned as Treasury Board president Monday. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters)
A few hours later, at a rally in Toronto to gin up support for a carbon tax, Trudeau made a manic entrance, grinning and high-fiving and flesh-pressing and trying to look happy, before grabbing Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in an awkward hug, and, puzzlingly, yelling, at a Liberal rally, "Are there any Liberals in the house?"

Then, more empty message track.

"In a democracy like ours and in a space where we value our diversity so strongly, we're allowed to have disagreements and debate, we even encourage it. This matter has generated an important discussion."

Oh, and also, he's taking it all seriously. So there's that.

Happily, the Commons justice committee actually is taking it seriously. Even as, at exactly the same time, Republican members of a congressional panel spent the afternoon childishly heckling former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's efforts to testify – one of them erected a giant placard reading "Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!"– the multipartisan panel in Ottawa behaved like adults.
Unlike her own party leader, who is as devoted to message track and empty rhetoric as the prime minister, Conservative MP Lisa Raitt's questioning of Wilson-Raybould was serious and probative. It was in fact a public service.

As was the scoop by Globe and Mail journalist Bob Fife (along with Steven Chase and Sean Fine), who detonated this crisis.

The question now is whether Canadians are going to hear any real answers from their prime minister, if indeed he's capable of offering any.

Actually, there are more honest moments in the pantheon of Trudeau's quotations than in any of his performances in the past few weeks.

Back in 2013, former Global anchorman Tom Clark asked Trudeau about his intellectual substance.

His answer: "You know, I'm not going to go around reciting Pi to the 19th decibel or you know wave my grades, or test scores to people. I'm going to simply do what it is that I have to do." Most people can't recite Pi to any decibel, let alone decimal.

In another encounter with Clark a year later, this time jammed into the cabin of Clark's little airplane, he talked about the necessity of educating people (read: all of us).

"I am a teacher. It's how I define myself. A good teacher isn't someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed."

To the National Post's John Ivison, he declared: "Who cares about winning? We should focus on serving." (Actually, according to Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau cares a great deal about winning, to the point where he's ready to overturn a prosecutor's decision, if that's what it takes).

But it was to CTV that he was probably most candid.

"At one point," he told the program W5, "people are going to have to realize that maybe I know what I'm doing."

Or not. On the evidence of the past few weeks, I'm thinking not.

This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read our FAQ.

About the Author


Neil Macdonald
Opinion Columnist
Neil Macdonald is an opinion columnist for CBC News, based in Ottawa. Prior to that he was the CBC's Washington correspondent for 12 years, and before that he spent five years reporting from the Middle East. He also had a previous career in newspapers, and speaks English and French fluently, and some Arabic.


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