Champion of diversity or high-profile hypocrite? Who is Justin Trudeau, anyway?
13200 Comments
David Raymond Amos Welcome back to the Circus folks Trust that I will enjoy playing my part again in Fundy Royal
Steve Bannatyne I simply feel that Trudeau cannot be trusted.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Steve Bannatyne: Methinks many would agree that no incumbent can be trusted That is the reason so many folks don't bother to vote N'esy Pas?
Richard Dekkar “Just not ready” was the gross understatement of the past four years.
Never ready. Ever.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Richard Dekkar: Methinks many would agree that Mr Scheer is no better prepared to run a government than Trudeau. At least after 4 years Mr Butts should have learned enough to tell his buddy what not to do N'esy Pas?
Sukhbir Powar It is pretty clear Trudeau is a shallow lightweight. He just mouths politically correct platitudes, but stands for no principles or ethics.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Sukhbir Powar: Methinks Mr Butts and the RCMP know that I can easily prove that all the other party leaders have no ethics either anyone can Google their names and mine N'esy Pas?
Clark Unrau Justin the self righteous savior who was front and center to destroy anyone who didn't live up to his standards showed no mercy. Now with his tail between his legs he wants forgiveness. Not going to happen from me and many others. We saw what you did to others like Admiral Norman and Jody wilson Raybould and Jane Philpott. Plus many others on your crusade of moral superiority. Now it's hits the fan and you should get the same punishment you gave and tried to give to others.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Clark Unrau: Methinks Mr Butts and the RCMP know how easily I can prove that Admiral Norman and the Tag Team of Jody and Jane are every bit as unethical as Trudeau is Its truly amazing that they won't admit it now N'esy Pas?
Hermann Wendt What I question is, how can he or the members of his government who defend him through all this be able to meet with foreign heada of state and beyond taken serious. It was bad enough with all his other bad decisions like dressing up ad dancing around. But now with this on his resumè, I can't see anyone taking him serious or willing to negotiate with him fairly.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Hermann Wendt: Methinks its rather easy for them to do because they have all the dirt on the other foreign leaders byway of our spys within the Five Eyes N'esy Pas?
James Murray The media is as much to blame for this as is Trudeau. Building Trudeau up like some moral authority on a pedestal and backing off when he stumbles. The media was relentless in supporting the liberals and a cabinet resignation over a $15 glass of orange juice but will sweep this one under the carpet in a matter of days.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @James Murray: I concur
James Bilodeau 'Champion of diversity'. i can believe that. Never have I seen Canada so divided and angry. Way to go Blackface, you democracy pirate.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @James Bilodeau: Well put
Neil Gregory Trudeau II and his Liberals have been a major disappointment since they were sworn in as Canada's government, but then, what else would one expect. When he was chosen to lead the Liberal party Trudeau II had a grand total of five years experience as a Member of Parliament, and no leadership experience or proven leadership skills. He was chosen simply because he had a famous name from a by-gone era that could be exploited and marketed by the Liberal Party of Canada as thereat messiah who would save the country from Harper's Conservatives, and unfortunately for Canada, that is exactly what happened.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Neil Gregory: I Wholeheartedly Agree Sir However Harper and Mulcair did themselves in byway of their own words and deeds Trudeau was elected merely because he promised to legalize dope, courted the feminist and the gays. 4 Years ago the liberals were a far better alternative to 4 more years of Harper and a mindless NDP opposition running the circus. Methinks Trudeau the Younger's sunny days are over but he get to oversee the circus again merely because his opponents are worse clowns than he N'esy Pas?
James Bilodeau Canada would be stupid to vote this man back in.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @James Bilodeau: Methinks we have been called worse names by Quebeckers constantly wanting to break up Canada N'esy Pas?
Joe Chabot Trudeau's implosion is caused by one thing. It's not the media; it's the narcissist Justin Trudeau.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Joe Chabot: YUP That and poor advice from his buddy Mr Butts
Kasper Kane Even during his insincere apologies he managed to preach and blame everyone but himself.
He said "We need to do better" No "we" don't . You Mr. Trudeau need to do better or better still, resign
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Kasper Kane: I found that incredible too but I was not surprised.
Methinks he thinks he is wonderful N'esy Pas?
Lenny Griever I'm expecting the next CBC poll to show no impact on Trudeau's ratings.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Lenny Griever: I am willing to bet on it
Dave Johnson Unbelievable that our country will support such gross negligence and hypocrisy displayed by Justin Trudeau.
Arrogance unmatched.
Canadians can do way better than this dishonest man...
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Dave Johnson: Methinks you wish to forget an lot of questionable would came before him N'esy Pas?
Michelle Dubois Justin does not have the capacity for personal growth because he can't be truly introspective. He unconsciously deals with his flaws by projecting them onto everyone else and then lecturing them.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Michelle Dubois: Methinks you talk just like his shrink N'esy Pas?
Tony Trowel 1) Justin Trudeau's action shocked and hurt people across the country 2) Justin Trudeau's actions were an embarrassment for Canada to the rest of the world 3) Justin Trudeau's actions are the very actions that he holds all others morally accountable Sorry Aaron, you can't justify or water that down.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Tony Trowel: Cry me a river
Champion of diversity or high-profile hypocrite? Who is Justin Trudeau, anyway?
All human beings contain contradictions - but when politicians undermine their own images, they pay a price
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau reacts as he makes a statement in regards to photo coming to light of himself from 2001 wearing "brownface" during a scrum on his campaign plane in Halifax, N.S., on Wednesday, September 18, 2019. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
There's probably nothing in the Canadian political strategy textbooks about how to pivot away from blackface.
Justin Trudeau and his campaign are trying, though, as they must. He addressed the photos and video that emerged this week at length Thursday afternoon. What was supposed to be a Liberal rally on Thursday night was turned into a town hall that permitted Trudeau to talk about his failings, but also some other issues. On Friday morning, Trudeau made a new campaign commitment to implement further restrictions on firearms.
The first questions from reporters after that announcement were about guns. But eventually the queries turned back to the offending images — 11 questions in total about blackface and its ramifications.
Those questions are likely to keep popping up for a while yet. But even if reporters and voters stop asking Trudeau about blackface — a natural consequence of reporters pursuing the story of the day — this episode will never really die.
Trudeau, more than any other politician, understands the power of an image. And this week's images might persist as reason to question who Trudeau is, or to frame a narrative about what kind of leader he really is.
A lifetime of contradictions
Perhaps more than any other recent Canadian politician, Trudeau has been surrounded by questions about who he is for his entire career — a consequence of his famous last name, his public stature and his lack of a track record in some serious-seeming pursuit like business or law.
Was he a callow young man or was he an inspiring leader? Was he just a pretty face or did he possess unique gifts? Was he not ready for high office or was he just the right sort of person for the job?
There are testimonies to who he was in his teens and 20s (when he apparently still thought that blackface was okay). But those accounts include contradictions.
In Magnetic North — a short biography authored by Alan Hustak in 2017 — one person describes Trudeau the high schooler as "a bit of an attention seeker" who "knew the reaction he could provoke," but also someone who knew himself and was "extremely sensitive to what was going on around him." But Trudeau has said he could be shy and he has been described as a natural introvert.
Mary Margaret Jones, who ran the sexual assault centre at McGill University where Trudeau volunteered, has described the Trudeau she knew as "really emotionally available" and more able to discuss difficult issues like consent and rape culture than most young men his age.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is shown in this 2001 photo published in the yearbook of West Point Grey Academy, a private school where Trudeau was teaching at the time. (Time.com)
Students at West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver told Hustak that they remembered Trudeau as "energetic,""slightly nerdy,""eccentric" and "goofy." Hustak relays a story of Trudeau accepting a student's dare to ride a skateboard down a steep slope. The future prime minister fell hard and ended up covered in mud.
"We were all in stitches," the student told Hustak. "What kind of a teacher would do that kind of thing?"
Perhaps the same kind of teacher who would show up to sell raffle tickets at a charity gala dressed as Aladdin with his face and arms and hands painted brown.
Justin Trudeau was "emotionally available"— and goofy. Pierre Trudeau was a showman and so was his son.
As a backbench MP and Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau was a mix of high-mindedness and stumbles. He swore at the environment minister. He made a silly comment about China. He made a very unfortunate joke about hockey and Vladimir Putin.
Principles and pratfalls
He also talked about changing the way politics is done and embracing diversity and tackling income inequality and combating climate change and pursuing reconciliation.
Either way, almost nothing that Trudeau does is done quietly.
His time in government has been a similar mix of ideals and pratfalls. Because of his office, the falls have landed harder.
His trip to the Aga Khan's island was used to undercut his stated commitment to the middle class. His trip to India revived the charge that he was insufficiently serious. The SNC-Lavalin affair undermined the claim that he was going to do things differently.
Those ideals, meanwhile, proved hard to live up to. Compared to the track Canada was on in 2015, emissions are now projected to decline by 200 megatonnes, pending further policies. But Trudeau also bought a pipeline (even if he was clear from the outset that he supported building a pipeline).
Whatever the government has done to improve its relationship with Indigenous peoples, it also has surely disappointed them.
Trudeau has spoken of few issues with more passion than diversity and tolerance — perhaps overly so in some estimations. His government has enacted policies in line with that rhetoric (though one can debate whether it has moved fast enough or far enough). He has condemned white supremacy and directly challenged those who try to stoke fears about immigration — even confronting a heckler at an event in Quebec. Trudeau is likely the first prime minister to ever talk about privilege or intersectionality or unconscious bias.
Trudeau's full exchange with Quebec heckler
Here is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's heavily scrutinized exchange with a heckler at an event in Sabrevois, Que., on Aug. 16. 6:08
"It's time we recognize that anti-black racism and unconscious bias does exist,"Trudeau said at a reception for Black History Month in 2018. "It's time we hear — and believe — the stories of men and women who have been judged by the colour of their skin." That might've been a good moment to confess his own failings. Almost any moment would've been better for him than the current one.
Human beings are complicated and flawed. But political leaders have trouble claiming such allowances.
Having invoked a high standard, Trudeau is now charged with being a hypocrite. If you found Trudeau to be arrogant or haughty before now, you are no doubt appalled by the contradiction. Having been built up as the internet's "boyfriend" and an international darling, he is being taken down a peg (and because he is such a global figure, the story is getting wide notice).
He has walked himself out on a very long pier while forgetting to ensure that the planks behind him are sound.
Do those photos invalidate what he has stood for and said over the last four years? Do those images mean he shouldn't have been so strident? Or do they mean he just should have been upfront about his own failures, and sooner?
Will he be forgiven?
\ Trudeau will be pressed to explain how he became who he was in 2001, how he got from 2001 to 2019, and whether he ever thought about what he'd done. There are, as many have noted this week, broader issues to address coming out of this scandal. And Trudeau could put himself into that story.
Beyond the takes of columnists and pundits (the press pack has been known to misjudge the severity of controversies from time to time), voters will weigh and judge. Trudeau might be forgiven. What those images show is already turning out to be a matter of personal perspective. But the narrative will be up for debate.
Justin Trudeau pictured at Le collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in the school talent show singing Day-O in blackface makeup. (CBC)
Greg Lyle, an experienced pollster, wrote this week that much will depend on whether voters view the photos as an "episodic" failure or a "thematic" one — whether the photos are interpreted as a one-off lapse or part of a larger trend that speaks to who Trudeau is and how he has governed.
Even if dismissed now as lapses from Trudeau's past, the images will linger into the future as nagging memories, either to be brought up again at inconvenient moments or to be reinforced by future missteps or other excavated sins.
Trudeau can say that who he was in 2001 is not who he is now. But who he is was already a matter of debate — poked at by Conservatives who say he's "not as advertised" and an NDP leader who says Trudeau is more "pretty words" than real change.
Trudeau didn't win the last election on his own; his party's policy promises played a role as well. Those promises can now be measured against what the Liberal government has done. And the Liberals are putting forward new proposals now.
But the idea of Trudeau is more complicated now. As might've been clear before 2015, he has shown himself to be an imperfect carrier of heavy banners. But this week has directly challenged him to account for who he was supposed to be.
Trudeau was a public figure before he was a politician and he has always been a matter of some conjecture.
"One of the first things I said when I won my nomination [in 2008] is, look, there's people out there who have incredibly high expectations, there are people out there who have incredibly low expectations," Trudeau told me in an interview earlier this year. "I'm fairly certain I'm going to disappoint everybody by being somewhere in the middle between the stratosphere and the depths."
By that measure, at least, he has lived up to expectations.
