To the editor,
When elected as Canada’s prime minister in 2015, Justin Trudeau became an instant darling of international media. His popularity grew when the U.S. administration changed in 2016, and he was seen as the diametrical opposite to the new occupant of the Oval Office.
Many times he was anointed as the new Leader of the Free World by progressive media organizations world-wide. His stated philosophy of gender equality, Indigenous reconciliation, transparency and openness in government resonated to all corners of the globe, where he travelled extensively to promote himself.
Things were nowhere near as rosy at home, as Canadians quickly saw through the thin veneer of his self-proclaimed “Sunny Ways,” and were soon grumbling at his mumbling, bumbling and stumbling way of explaining his government’s failures. Many campaign promises were broken or abandoned, and his arrogantly pretentious, privileged and pompous attitude had many wishing for an adult leader rather than one with so many juvenile shortcomings.
Yet he was still very popular abroad until the SNC-Lavalin scandal broke last month. For someone so enamoured with himself, who never foregoes a chance of posing for a selfie, he has become increasingly uncomfortable in the glare of the klieg-lights when answering basic questions surrounding the resignations of two high-profile female cabinet ministers.
His story has changed on a daily basis, and the parliamentary testimony of the former Attorney-General has laid to rest any misconception that his “Sunny Ways” doctrine included something different from previous benevolent dictatorships in the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office.Way back in 1775, Samuel Johnson stated that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” and now Mr. Trudeau hides behind a fallacious story that he’s protecting jobs in Canada.
In truth, even if SNC-Lavalin is disqualified from government contracts if found guilty on pending bribery and fraud charges, their contracts would be undertaken by other construction firms, who would employ the 9,000 workers whose jobs he claims are endangered.
Now the international media has gotten hold of the gist of the story, and are surprising their news consumers with new facts about the Canadian PM’s pathetic duplicity and incompetence.
When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Canada in 2016, I can vividly remember the travelling British Royal Press Corps enthusiastically comparing Justin and Sophie Trudeau to Tony and Cherie Blair when they were first elected in the U.K. a couple of decades ago. There were hardly enough superlatives to describe these new Canadian media darlings, but 30 months later there are no such superlatives, and nobody forgets how soon Tony Blair’s adulation and popularity faded rapidly when he was caught lying.
Bernie Smith
Parksville