BY VIDYA GOPAUL
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had a habit of showing arrogance since he took office in 2015. Justin’s father, the former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau also showed quite of bit of arrogance in the 70s and 80s, but it was an intellectual arrogance, which I admired, even though I did not admire some of his policies.
He showed the middle finger from a train he was riding in the western Canada. Coincidentally, Justin Trudeau was in that same train too. I remember his unforgettable quote during the Quebec crisis, “Just watch me…,” which he said to a CBC reporter on the footsteps of Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Since Justin Trudeau took office in 2015, right at the beginning of his Prime Mistrial life, he took a vacation to the Aga Khan’s island. When he was asked him why he decided on that location, he said, “I am sorry, I regret it. I should not have done it.”
It was found that he violated the ethical principles of a Prime Minister. Then came the costly, meaningless and unworthy trip to India. Not only did the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, not acknowledge his arrival in India, but he took several friends along for the trip who had existing criminal records.
That trip was such a disaster that, to date, people are scratching their heads as to why he took it in the first place. Then came the SNC-Lavalin scandal. I vividly remember when Global News broke the news about the scandal — Trudeau came to a podium and with a straight face and said, “That is false…” Afterwards, it was found that he was heavily involved in that scandal and fired female cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould while defending his political interference actions. Now, recently, he took a family vacation to the beach of Tofino in British Columbia on the very first recognized for Truth and Reconciliation Day as a public holiday.
After repeated invitations from various Native Indian leaders, he refused to attend any ceremonies with them. After he enjoyed and finished his holiday, he turned around the next day and said the same unworthy words since he took office in 2015, “I am sorry. I regret it. I apologize. It was a mistake. I should not have taken that vacation…” It sounds like the boy who cried wolf too many times.
When will he learn the lessons of not fooling the voters? Time and again, and God knows how many more times, he will show the same rhetorical behaviours in the future! He does that with a straight face. I must hand it to him because he makes his voters convinced that he is so genuine in nature.
Coming back to the same old age wishes of a politician’s career, “votes, votes, votes!” During the SNC- Lavalin scandal, every time when he was asked why he broke the law, his only answer was and is, like a broken record, “I am here to save jobs for thousands of Canadians…” Really? He broke the law, fired one of his top cabinet ministers, interfered politically in that process and then with a straight face had the courage to say in front of the microphone to the public that he did it in order to save jobs for Quebecers?
Well, he did that because that is where there are lots of votes! If you can get the majority of votes in Quebec and Ontario, that guarantees you to become the next Prime Minister of Canada. Quebec, and specifically his riding of Papineau, is his bread and butter. He has made the subway station platform in Quebec his chief launching point for prior campaigns to meet and greet the Quebecers.
And he has done so many more times to greet, hug and present gifts to other organizations and charities. But he refused to meet and greet the Native Indians who have lost their children while implementing the residential school system in Canada. Why? Well, that is where the votes are! If meeting and greeting the First Nation communities would bring votes, I can assure you he would be there in seconds, come hell or high water!
There is something mysterious about his feelings towards that demographic that makes him not too readily accept them. As a Prime Minister, you think he would show empathy towards the families who lost their children during the establishment of the said residential school system.
In my opinion, a leader of a country must show some maturity, unbiased respect for the entire population, embrace people of all walks of life, treat everyone equally, create unity among all political parties and thank all voters, regardless of whether those people voted him or not, and that they gave him or her a chance to become a supreme leader. I leave this with you to ponder, ”Remember, Justin Trudeau will be there if there are votes. No vote, no show.”
