Liberals will tear down their own for superficial mistakes of the past, despite sincere apologies made, while consequently facilitating the election of true unabashed bigots. The pipeline is another issue where progressives uncritically will hold their leaders to unreasonable standards, knowing full well that that oils sands oil is coming out of the ground at some point (at the right $ per gallon) and moving it by safe pipeline is much better than transporting it dangerously by rail. I can empathize when conservatives accuse us liberals of lack of critical thinking and virtue signaling.
61
''La Ligue des Noirs du Québec’’ (The league of Black People from Quebec - literal transltion) came out with a communiqué stating that Trudeau did not have to apologize, that his political path with diverse communities spoke for itself.
23
The larger question of cultural appropriation is pertinent to this discussion. "Twas in the moon of winter . . ." (the Huron Carol) and the numerous Black Gospel songs shouldn't be sung by Caucasians, right?
But I've also roared with delight when young East Indian kids mimiced their parents' foreign accents, as completely innocent entertainment at a Hindu wedding.
Seriously, we're taking this issue much too seriously, and Justin Trudeau's woes are to a large extent nothing but schadenfreude in an otherwise very boring electoral season. Jealous and mean campaign politics can masquerade as political correctness, and this "storm" will blow over soon.
11
The front page of the CBC is a picture of two burgers and the story headline is Can eating meatless meat save the planet.
The Arrogant Worms explained it all two decades ago in their song Forgive us We're Canadians that begins with "We always say we're sorry."
The election will be about our relationship with our second biggest existential threat our Southern Neighbour. All our political parties except the far right conservatives break away party read from the same hymnal and reversing manmade climate change is our highest priority.
The Trudeau story may be fodder for the US and UK press but Canadians real don't give a darn. 40 years of being told by government that wearing masks is a danger and we should seriously consider painting our faces.
We are in the midst of truth and reconciliation with our aboriginal population. Black face, brown face or other colour face is not worth discussing with the Canadian electorate even as we watch US news where arguing about nothing seems the raison d'etre.
Quebec's Bill 21 resonates because whether Civil Servants might be allowed to wear overt religious symbols at work really tests what it means to be Canadian.
Nothing is more Canadian than apologizing for wearing brown face because arguing about nothing when our world is in trouble is what crazy countries do. We know who Trudeau is, he is a son of privilege who chose to run in a district where he lived, a district that is multi ethnic, multi racial and working class.
6
A son of Margaret Trudeau is a flake. The dickens you say.
Anyone who thinks that wearing blackface is the headline from Trudeau's life before politics is naive. Electing him prime minister was and is a colossal joke.
4
Tempest in a teapot by Liberal haters.
As someone with Arab ancestry as my name suggests (from the progeny of Mohammed at that as all Syeds are) Trudeau did nothing wrong. What is he apologizing for?
In fact he showed love for middle-Easterns just as his father had done doing sword dance with the Sheiks.
Keep it up Justin. Let the dogs bark as the Caravan moves on.
19
I just saw a press conference where a reporter asked Trudeau how he "could ever go into a mosque again"? This need to shovel sensationalistic manure is embarrassing, nothing Trudeau has done that says he is a raving racists. Journalists needs to stick demonizing the real demons.
19
The woke bloodbath continues.
17
Eventually, only shameless thugs like Trump will run for office.
20
What overblown drivel. As if we’re supposed to be shocked by human mistakes on an otherwise solid leader. Any idea what Alberta (Conservatives) (oil) would have done if he stopped the pipeline expansion (not new, expansion). Goodbye economy. SNC? Oh dear, other countries demand under the table bribes to complete deals. What a shocker! Dumb and ignorant antics when we were young, no, not me! I perfect, just like you and the other political parties are wonderful choices... if you love to hate gays, for one, and impossible policies for the other.
Yup, Trudeau has to go, everything is better with the other guys. Here I stand morally sound and perfect. That’s the leader I want. It’s my birthright!
6
funny how they call trump a racist and he seems to be the only one who has not painted his face black.
10
Liberals need to learn that if you live by the sword you die by the sword.
Trudeau has to go.
4
Absurd. We've all made a few stupid mistakes. He's apologized for Christ's sake! Something Trump would never do. What an inconsistently politically incorrect world!
16
When Americans read this line "Slowly but surely Americans are learning we Canadians can be just like you: very, very racist.", do you nod your head in agreement or do you feel like you've been insulted?
2
I can't comment on his politics in Canada but could we please have a moratorium on insensitive stupidity and move on., or go back to the days of tar and feathers. Don't cast the first stone the good book says.
2
Trudeau and the governor of Virginia receive "get out of jail free" cards because they are men on the left.
A conservative who did not make a single racial utterance in his entire life, but wore blackface 20 years ago? The left and the media would be calling for his head.
4
As a woman who has endured idiotic comments from men in a male dominated workplace, I wish the title of the article was worded less objectifyingly.
6
The liberals eat their own. This coming from a Democratic. The purity test upheld by this publication has become sickening. All it does is enable the right. And the NYT is leading the charge. I’m a lifelong fan reader of this publication and about to pull the chord on my subscription in disgust.
10
Our conservativism is nothing like Americas lol andrew scheer is all for all the good stuff the liberals are for but with a brain behind it. The libs like to say he will bring up abortion (it's obvious he will not) they like to say he is against gays (he is not) they say he is against protecting the environment (he is not) he just has a smarter approach to buisness and wants Canada and the citizens that live here to have a better chance at raising there family's and not being taxed to death. Harper lasted as long as he did for a reason and scheer is a different leader but intelligent as well
2
Yes,but the Blackface arguments are a joke.
2
The difference between what people think and what pundits think people think:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/letters/article-letters-to-the-editor-what-readers-think-of-justin-trudeaus-racist/
1
Perhaps you need to come south to a Trump rally sometime before you make perfect the enemy of good in Canada.
7
What is the deal with the blackface thing? Never did it and never saw anybody do it, other than old clips of Al Jolson. If you’re a racist, why would you make yourself up like someone you hate? And if you’re not a racist, why would you do something sure to offend African Americans? I must be missing something, but I just don’t get what anybody who did it would think was funny about it.
3
Give me a break! He was dressed as Aladdin not in insulting blackface. Talk about fake news! Pathetic bleating from the over-educated and over-sensitive! And I am no Trumpite.
4
Justin Trudeau might be an embarrassment to Canadians, but not because he dressed up -- and made up -- as Moor for a costume party. He went as Aladdin, for heaven's sake.
A goodly amount of "PC" -- shorthand for what used to be just good manners -- is an excellent thing. When suddenly every white is guilty of racism and every black is an utterly innocent victim, however, then we have turned "Turn about is fair play," along with our human relations, into a farce.
It wouldn't occur to me to dress up as anything. But if a Laurence Olivier could no longer make up to play Othello, or even get the part of Othello, why should a black man play Alexander Hamilton? Or play Billy Bigelow in "Carousel" as a black man? And why can't little girls dress up as Diana Ross, a distinctive music icon, no matter their color?
We are going down the same perilous slope that Southerners did when so many of them decided that, as Atticus Finch mocked in court, defending Tom Robinson, "All Negroes lie, all Negroes steal," and no Negroes are to be "trusted with our women." Anyone with half a brain knows that there are fools and criminals of every color and creed.
7
"...very, very racist." ?
Careful, Ms. Gismondi. At this rate we're going to run out of things to become outraged about.
10
Get a life! This man is one of the good guys. In the past we all did and said things that would be offensive today as we have all, well most of us, have grown up and learned a lot! Leave him alone and concentrate on Donald and the Rethuglicans! They are the real culprits on the planet!!!
6
Any mistake Justin Trudeau made wearing blackface in his youth I am sure is totally forgiven by the thousands of desperate Syrian refugees who have found a safe home in this decent, honourable country, led by a decent honourable man.
14
Meanwhile, back here in the states, we’re facing the biggest threat to our own country (and possibly the world order) in the form of an imbecilic, narcissistic buffoon.
And YOU’RE worried about what Trudeau wore to a party 20 years ago?
The world has gone mad.
14
Who out of the fifty Black Canadians did Trudeau offend anyway?
5
What’s his obsession with black face and brown face? He did it a number of times. Is he racist? Wished he was of a more interesting race? I want to understand the psychology of white men so obsessed with self-transformation into a black man.
1
Why does this article have Chinese characters in the byline?
2
Improper, unconsciously racist, politically stupid, but those incidents pale in comparison to the lying, corrupt, unethical and downright criminal behavior we have endured from our President and members of his administration.
2
Trudeau and Liberals have enemies, the worst and the most bloodthirsty are from the Parti Quebecois. Their leader said he din’t think Trudeau was a racist. Makka Kotto, a influent former MP from the same party, said that Trudeau was light years away from being a racist.
In my humble opinion, political parties that have tried to slander Trudeau as a racist are going to get slaughtered in the next election.
P.s: I hate the guy.
2
fake liberals r like fake conservatives
often they say & do what their base expects from them
btw #Trudeau is in hot water cuz he pressured his department of justice to go easy on a Canadian co that bribed Libyan government officials in return for contracts
he ended up firing her
2
He’s still dreamy. If you don’t want him, Oh Canada, send him South.
1
He wore blackface in 2001; when he was a school teacher. Frankly, it was tiring listening to self-righteous Canadians knock our President for so long.
2
I wonder if Peter Sellars were alive would he be pilloried for "The Party"? How about the Japanese upstairs neighbor in Breakfast at Tiffany's Mickey Rooney? Yeah, he sure ain't Japanese. Lets forget for a moment that Placido Domingo is getting all the #metoo he probably deserves and focus on his singing of Othello in yeah you can't make this up fast enough, blackface. What is the matter with people......
I wouldn't count him out yet. The choice in Canada is now between an idiot who did racist things once, versus a white nationalist, anti-immigrant, hard core conservative.
4
If you think Scheer will be a better boyfriend, you’re nuts.
4
Let He (or She) without sin cast the first stone.
Enough with the "Oh, it was only a matter of time before he disappoints us" mawkishness. The guy is doing a decent job as Prime Minister, and if he wore blackface 20 years ago, big whooptidoo. Would you be happier if he never wore blackface but was perfectly happy with Black folks being shot or harassed or denied justice?
If you are guilty of the racist thoughts you occasionally have, please take it easy and focus on the decent thoughts you have the majority of the time and let those grow and get stronger. Don't obsess over others' failures to feel better about yourselves.
Black folks, African American or Canadian or whatever nationality, deserve a fair shake in life and equal opportunity. They do not need our permanent pity, to be told they are some kind of lost souls since their ancestors were kidnapped, etc... 90% of whites who came to America between 1600-1945 came here because their lives were hell and they wanted to get out and start anew. Who knows what horrors many of them were running from, and many ended running into. Most history belongs best in the past. Same with the Slavery burden, African Americans in 2019 do not need to be seen as connected to slavery in any way any more than Europeans should be seen as descendants of serfs or victims of rape and whatnot. Clean slate. Clean hearts.
4
I’m a Canadian of Arab descent, married to a Haitian-Canadian.
We would accept Trudeau Having a thousand blackface videos from the late 90s as long as the other choice is the Conservatives, the same ilk who are creating laws to marginalize Muslim women in Quebec, who have been trying to stop BLM movements from protesting across the country, who want to dismantle the safety net that allow those of us with less to have a decent set of circumstances, who want to destroy
Multiculturalism and push a vision of a homogenous set of (white) values. Who want to marginalize women, and secretly go back on abortion rights and LGbTQ rights.
Yeah, as long as that’s the choice, blackface is the last of our concerns.
Ms.Gismondi’s woke virtue signalling would send us straight to that hell, again. I know she may want an NDP win, but it won’t happen
She should just let minorities express their feelings, and juge for themselves what they will feel. We will be the judge of what is best for us.
Because we know who our allies are...and who our enemies are.
6
An embarrassing hit piece by the NYT. Not funny and so petty. Needs some investigative journalism to establish context and intent by the author. Meanwhile Trump, "Look over there, Canada, that guy made the First Lady all schwarmy." (See photo)
2
Please stop this black face witch hunt with Trudeau. It was a custom party, not a KKK party, for God’s sake!
15
This piece is petty and inaccurate. Canada is bigger than just Trudeau and all in all it is faring way better with their leadership than the US’ fire in a madhouse under Trump. The criticisms over his brownface antics don’t take into account that there is a generational context here:
Yes, stupid.
No, we weren’t as socially “woke” in 2001 as we are now. There isn’t anything in Trudeau’s bio that says he is a racist. It was a dumb idea but not a racist one.
Having said that, it’s ironic that Trudeau is now on the receiving end of the exaggerated PC backlash he sorta used to his advantage in the past.
9
How quaint
2
This is a classic example of yellow journalism. The “so called” journalist’s only goal is to damage Trudeau. Before writing this false article, did it occur to her what’s going on in the world.? The man in the White House and his cronies are involved in destroying basic foundation of US and the world. He gets away with so many criminal activities. Why there are double standards? No human is perfect. Trudeau is a great compassionate world leader. He is performing very well trying to keep a harmony in the world. It is not an easy task because of the political environment controlled by Putin and con man. Damaging him yields nothing except helping the right wingers to destroy democratic norm in the world. The sensational title of the article speaks a lot about the “integrity” of the journalist as well. By the way wearing a brown face in an Aladdin theme party is not racism. This was made up to damage Trudeau like the author did in this article.
11
If Joe Biden is our candidate, we will have the same lesser-of-two-evils choice to make in 2020. Do you want a full on, racist, misogynist, retrograde nincompoop to lead the country? Or a slightly less racist, misogynist, retrograde nincompoop who at least purports the right values to lead the country?
2
It’s interesting how democrats and liberals live in their protected bubble where they can do no wrong. Hypocrites!
5
Being held to account for an act from 20 years ago by the morals of today.
Does anyone seriously think Mr Trudeau is '...very, very racist'?
10
Ms. Gismondi feminist Glee is pathetically evident in this useless political essay. The Canadian prime minister is no saint. However, he owned his mistake. I'm sorry in this country our president is breaking our constitution and blames it on fake news. Donald Trump uses a bronzer made by Frito-Lay and blames energy saving lightbulbs. This nonsense is about Halloween costumes and America is in constitutional crisis. Go away Melissa Gismondi America has real problems.
6
Canadian media and many pols assume that sins USA must be sins Canada. But context matters. White supremacy is rampant in USA. There are such fools in Canada too but it's not rampant.
But the whole USA blackface sin is misunderstood. It's not blackface--indeed imitation/impersonation is a form of flattery. Hardly an affront.
Rather the affront is that Jolson etc. was allowed to imitate/impersonate blacks in venues prohibiting them. That's the sin.
Otherwise it's just Halloween or costume party. This Trudeau/Closet Racist thing is asinine.
And so is the costume parties of many Americans. Fools will accuse them of being racist because as kids they chose Indian--native American--costumes to go trick or treating. Or Arabian knights.
4
I like Trudeau. Isn't this all a bit harsh? He was being silly, maybe a bit stupid too. But does he have to be sliced this way for silliness 20 years ago? This sort of thing prevents smart sensible people from standing for elections. Soon we'll have idiots and only thugs in office.
7
Remember when "Borked" became a verb?
Now you can add "Frankened" to the list.
Think about it.
4
Who cares????? Canada is not a serious country. Just a bunch of virtue signaling drones who don't have a single independent thought amongst them.
2
The only time I ever heard anyone use the "n" word was during a year I lived in Calgary. It was said as if it was in frequent usage and entirely unabashed. I, an American, was the only person among my coworkers to object. I saw pejoratives about South Asians spray painted onto bridge struts, and often heard slurs concerning First Nation peoples. All this amidst to self-righteous assertions about how superior Canadians are morally to Americans. I think the playing field is far more level than Canadians might like to think. I found the generality of Canadians I knew in British Columbia and Alberta to be as ignorant about the US and the vast diversity of Americans as are Americans about Canada and its citizens.
3
To his credit, “Black is not the new Orange”. Need I explain?
When will the liberal left go after people who take advantage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and drape their dogs with phony "service vests" so they can parade them around in airports and grocery stores. This selfish behavior is a disrespectful to disabled Americans who can't afford a legitimate service dog..
We never talk about that! Because the liberal left are the biggest abusers of the loophole!
2
If pretending you are something you are not, like another race, is grounds to be judged unfit, what are we going to do:
*With Asa Yoelson, called "the King of Blackface", who we know as Al Jolson?
* Or Ira Grossel, who played Indian Cochise in Broken Arrow?
* Or Johnny Wiesmuller playing Tarzan, the King of the Africa Jungle?
How fortunate for Asa, Ira and Johnny that they died before the PC police took over and we started imitating the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
5
On the same day that this "blackface" story is the lead in Canada, the American headline is that a national security whistle blower, concerned that our president may have committed a serious national security breach, is being silenced by the justice department and possibly with the encouragement of the white house.
7
It’s quite amazing how far good looks and me too #metoo and minority pandering can get you in Canadian politics!
1
Hey there, Canadian here.... not all of us agree with your synopsis. Wow, the mighty press swings so far left and right it is hard to tell what country we are speaking of, 'cause it is politics, tribal stuff. The Conservative Party here in Canada, along with all the other 'getalongs' are a hoppin' on the Trounce Trudeau bandwagon. Politics as usual. We prefer ya'll keep your opinions to yourself. Sorry
Oh Canada!
Justin Trudeau is human, humans make mistakes. The fact that he was a teacher is impressive.
He wasn't dressed in KKK garb.People grow up this isn't the biggest mistake a head of state has committed. In our country we are in daily chaos with our problematic occupant of the WH.
We got bigger fish to fry in the USA.
4
This is sad for Canada if it means a right-winged fool gets elected.
4
This a ridiculous click bait fest, like the vaping hysteria. He was a drama teacher in costume. Who cares?
5
Welcome to the pile on! Yes, Trudeau has proven himself to be a politician trying to satisfy a wide range of conflicting constituencies. Yes, Trudeau did stuff that is seen as quasi racist now but then was just poor taste. Fine. Whatever.
There is one thing about Republicans that I admire: they close ranks and protect their own (unless you are as outrageously racist and stupid as Steve King). If he were a Republican, Al Franken would still be in the Senate.
So I am closing ranks. I will support Trudeau and the Liberal Team.
6
Do I have to remind you fold that just as the Tweeden photo was released and a chorus of nine trolls shouted that at last we were seeing the TRUE Al Franken, the Times published a poisonous oped column about how the only decent thing Al could do was resign immediately and slink away to disappear forever?
Remember that? Remember how PLAYED you felt afterwards?
Well, here you are again, and what have you learned? Clearly, the Times has learned nothing, but what about the rest of us?
Jeeze guys, lay off the blackface stuff! Trudeau was a teacher at a private school and he dressed up for the school play! All this happened 20 odd years ago.
Take him to task for his electoral reform and the interference in the Lavalin legal process, but lay off this makeup farce!
5
I would gladly, really gladly trade heads of state with Canada. The venial sins of Trudeau pale next to the mortal sins of the treasonous, criminal, narcissistic despot that we currently have.
3
Pretty hard to play the Sheikh of Arabi if you look Sir Galahad.
3
I get it that Trudeau is faaaaar from perfect, but you have to remember - we have Trump, arguably the most ignorant, racist and narcissistic American politician of the modern era.
3
Canadians want him gone because he is a hypocrite, He preaches virtue but practices excess and extravagance. He promised open government but blocks police investigations and tries to influence prosecutions. He claims to be a feminist but attacks women. He is a fraud and an international embarrassment, and he is a liar.
I'm not interested if he was in blackface at parties twenty years ago.
I'd only be concerned if he did it last week.
You really want to compare him to Donald Trump?
4
Congratulations Ms. Gismondi you have made good sport out of the Trudeau blackface debacle running around the corner att 18 years hence. So glad you can afford the joke but conservativism will delay, inhibit and distort the pressing issues of the day. Can't wait to go back to the fight over the victims of communism memorial while we keep melting. And while you're at it; don't think that you speak for all Canadians living south of the border. This Canadian will keep her cool and be sure not to read your upcoming book.
2
Strange, his enemies seem to be the only ones up in faux outrage. I was hoping the slime of our current administration wouldn't seep across the northern border. Oh. well.
1
Please, you are overblowing this matter. Hopefully, he won't do an Al Frankin.
Trump is who needs to be impeached
3
jeez...dressing up as Alladin or a calypso singer...aren't these different from the racist tradition of pejorative black face with a negative stereotyping - fueled by contempt ?
when kids dress up for Halloween as sexy flight attendants or bums...do we attribute despicable values to them--misogyny or class-ism ?
Enough already with the excess indignation that now serves reactionary white supremacists in their cynical attack on flawed progressives.
Context must be restored to judgments.
217
I wonder how dismissive of Trudeau Canadians will be if his downfall means the election of the Conservative Party. We Yanks have seen this story before and, we're here to tell you, it doesn't end well.
1133
@the passionate reader:
"We Yanks have seen this story before and, we're here to tell you, it doesn't end well."
Don't be so patronizing.
Canadians know what their Conservative Party has come to represent. Trudeau's predecessor Stephen Harper was a pea-in-a-pod with GWB, including having come from the Oil Patch (Harper was prime minister of Alberta during the tar sands ascendancy).
The current Ontario PM, what's-his-name-Ford, is another piece of work who'd win easily as a Republican in many a red-state south of the border.
The pipeline to British Columbia is, basically, an alternative to a different pipeline that would have connected to the Keystone XL project in the US. From my POV, Canada had three choices — stop producing Albertan tar sands oil altogether (politically unrealistic, even if environmentally sound), build an infrastructure to export to China, or build a different direction to sell it to the US. Trudeau's government seems to have chosen whom they regard as a superior customer, as is its right.
What I find dismaying (from my perch one step removed from the Canadians-in-US community) is how Trudeau's re-election campaign is being sabotaged by Nixonian dirty tricks. But as my Canadian ex-pat "spies" tell me, it's no surprise — Harper is closely affiliated with US political operatives who know how to ferret out dirt and then shovel it in abundance.
It's a shame that NAFTA-II doesn't regulate the export of political immorality from the US into Canada.
145
@the passionate reader
I agree the vacuous Albert E Newman as Conservative leader is frightening to think of as having the ability to lead anything.
While he disparages Trudeau first as an engineering student, then a former teacher, being a rural Saskatchewan insurance agent doesn't prepare you for anything.
66
@the passionate reader
I will suggest that we Canadians are well aware of what is happening in USA and rather than Trudeau's downfall this so called downfall this non scandal scandal has seen Trudeau's popularity in Canada's populous provinces rise dramatically because we have real problems and we know of Trudeau's ease in dealing with Canada's new reality of accommodating the desires of all our citizens. Our largest city Toronto is now minority majority and we accept and rejoice at our inclusiveness.
79
Please. I’d swap Him for Trump in a nanosecond.
Seriously.
1350
@Phyliss Dalmatian
So would I. The current mountain in a molehill continues to surprise me. Aladdin is a storybook character who has to look mysterious if children are going to connect with magic. Would you prefer a Canadian dressed for business emerging from a kitchen teapot? Please.
Time for adults to pay attention to the serious problems we all face.
136
Everything is not relative to Trump - he is not the benchmark!
16
@Phyliss Dalmatian Me, even faster.
27
If I was a Canadian I wouldn't vote for Trudeau in a blue fit. A virtue signalling, white, progressive, liberal. No thanks.
But to label a guy, particularly that guy, racist because 18 years ago he went to a fancy dress party with a black face is absurd.
Over my life I have met Americans of all races, colours, religions, political leanings and more. All great people.
But you guys have to really get over this mundane stuff.
5
What has happened to our NY Times, and other formerly well-respected sources of journalistic integrity? We've subscribed for 20 years, and lately, I truly wonder where to turn for news that is important, fair, and accurate.
5
It would be sooooo nice if the Times published writers who know something about Canada and Canadian politics and who are capable of conveying this knowledge to American readers, almost all of whom are woefully ignorant of anything Canadian.
It would be great to see some acknowledgement that Justin Trudeau and his party came to power because Canadian voters chose to throw out the deplorable and Trumpesque Stephen Harper, whom I've heard called "Canada's Khadafi."
5
What is the significance of the women around Alladin?
1
That's one view, but it does sound like that of a political operative rather than a typical Canadian voter. I expect better of the NYT but it did contribute to the election of Trump with its smug editorial slant so maybe my expectations are too high.
The liberal party is the party of winning, and it holds the centre. The ndp holds the left. The two thirds of Canadians who abhor the politics of division practised by Harper's Conservative party chose the centre and thankfully the liberal party was there with a candidate who could credibly take the win. End of story, get over it.
Trudeau's politics are predictably Liberal party fare and to his credit Trudeau has fulfilled his expected role as statesman healer of the body politic remarkably well without shirking necessary and impopular decisions including pushing out an incompetent justice minister and buying a pipeline.
If you think herding cats is simple give it a shot Melissa , but like Sangheet Singh I think your prescriptions and premature dismissal of Trudeau demonstrate is you have as little understanding of the mindset of Canadian voters as that vapid opportunist or Scheer for that matter, on this subject.
5
I know we’re not allowed to say it, but this blackface thing has gotten crazy. It was a different time, and dressing up like another person/race/gender/ should not be conflated with racism. Little by little people like me are being driven out of the Democratic Party which has lost its way completely.
8
Your counting these Canadian eggs waaaay before they are hatched.
3
Reports of his death in the eyes of joe public are greatly exaggerated....IF Canadians elect him... it will speak volumes about how low an opinion they have of the other party leaders... they too live in glass houses.
1
This is much ado about nothing. He is no racist. Extreme political correctness like this brought us Donald Trump and Brexit. I hope Canada is wiser.
8
Yes, let's all elect conservatives because our liberals aren't perfect. That way we can go from unintentional racism to real racism. Please.
3
Houston is under water, yet the costume malfunction of a foreign leader 20 years ago makes a big splash on the NYT front page online. What excites the journalists so? Do they tell us who floated the story as Canada heads into an election? Will a tar sands crony benefit from the expose? Will Putin get another shot at destroying Western democracy? Stay tuned.
5
Some peoples standards are to high. Not that I liked him or thought he was a good Prime Minister. To me he epitomized privilege. With wealth, the right parental connections, the best schools and well good looks and social graces he rose to a position he didn't earn. You would expect more from Canada, unless you actually spent time there.
The alternative would be, a competent politician with an impeccable credentials and track record with the right ideals. Not that she could have served as as Canadian Prime Minister but think about it, she was totally devoted to job and respected by all. Although she had no skeleton's in her closet, she managed to destroy many lives at Waco. You remember Janet Reno who may well be the template for a perfect politician for some here.
Dustin Trudeau, over whom I will shed no tears, shows the impossible standards held by the far left can destroy anyone who tries to accomplish anything good in the world. This meaningless scandal shows that the Useful Idiots on the left should not govern and should never arise above the title of dog catcher. Our comrades in the USSR had a solution to them. Perhaps we could learn.
2
He's exactly what those of us who actually researched into his past, thought he was: a rich, self-entitled trust fund kid with zero life experience outside of bars, thrill sports and drama classrooms. A nice guy to hang out with and have a good time (sans the black face, of course), but definitely not PM material.
As it was rumored, an interim leader of the Liberals once said Justin "wasn't the brightest guy in the room."
As luck would have it though, Canadians hated Stephen Harper and voted him out. Justin became the de-facto PM; less a vote for Trudeau than a vote against Harper.
For those of us here in Vancouver who had heard the hard-partying stories, knew about the pedophile room mate and such, it was only a matter of time before one of those enemies he made - both in and outside the party - presented something on the record. The fondling of the female reporter was first, but all the other rumors died away...until yesterday.
I wonder what shoe will drop next?
So true! just like Hilary, and her emails. And Benghazi. Trudeau makes me sick.
Maybe we can have Donald Jr go up there to run the place?
2
Postmodern Left devouring itself.
8
It’s good to see the liberals falling in their own traps. You can’t expect them to learn a lesson. They were surely meant for their political enemies. Canada was on the verge of politically turning right, anyway. This “blackface” incident would push liberal Mr. Trudeau over the edge. Canada was to politically follow United States, United Kingdom and many countries in Europe. President Donald Trump is their inspiration. Tropism is a worldwide common people’s movement to overthrow the liberal power-elite. The decline and the fall of liberalism is a world-wide phenomenon. Everywhere you see the removal the left-wing liberals and their politics. On the other hand these castigating rules of “political correctness” were made by liberals themselves. These were invented by left-wing liberal groups in the American academia and the media. They were supposed to uphold their sanctimonious purity tests of race and gender politics. Like the me-too movement, feminists and the civil rights politics who have made todays imperatives, a moral obligations or conduct that was unconditionally and universally binding─ apply retroactive to decades ago situations. And these constrains were designed to attack and neutralize their current right leaning political opposition. What you are seeing now is quite the opposite of what the left expected to happen─ leftists themselves becoming the victims of their own narrow-minded dictates.
1
Ha ha good article. Zero doubt that California's Gov. Gavin Newsom with be the next 'dreamy boyfriend' to implode. Tall with a pompadour and glam mate d'jour, not that bright and a shameless flack for whatever Leftist governance tells him to do. Ruining the state, completely irresponsible, he may actually be recalled, just an embarrassment.
As usual the USA is proud to display it's ignorant misrepresentation of Canadian politics. We don't need any lessons from the Land of the Depraved and and Home of The Greed. a fake democracy founded on genocide, slavery and ultra-misogyny, where the demos taps out at 'We, the 4% of the People'.
1
If he didn’t know that putting on Blackface , wearing an Afro and singing Day-O might be offensive to minorities and now can’t remember how often he did it, is he the right individual to lead Canada ?
1
In reply to scientella:
@scientella
May I suggest that, unsurprisingly since Canada is a different country, things are different in Canada?
I, too, wondered what exactly was so bad about blackface so I looked into it. It turns out there's a specific history.
For decades in the US, stage performers in blackface entertained white audiences by pretending to be black idiots. I don't have to go into detail.
This practice naturally hurt black people's feelings and the practice finally fell deservedly into disrepute.
So, while to a Canadian the impersonation of someone of another race or nationality for a party or Halloween celebration need not involve any condescension in the least, to Americans it's understandably a fairly big deal.
How this American reality is supposed to apply to Canada is much less clear to me.
4
Does any rational adult actually think there are any politicians in Canada or America, or the world for that matter, that are not sleazy crooks. I think it is what is expected of politicians. People speak about Obamas honesty and integrity but it looks like he is probably the biggest sleaze politician of all cashing in on book deals and media deals that are obviously pay backs for something since Obama and his wife are certainly not worth what they are getting paid. Hopefully DOJ will take a look at the Obama deals. But those deals just illustrate how corrupt and sleazy all politicians are.
1
In Canada, those who previously did not support the Liberals are clutching their pearls and wailing. Most people could care less.
His actions over the last four years speak so well.
Really a non-issue.
2
One blackface is insensitive.
Two blackfaces is inexcusable.
Three blackfaces is psychological.
Catching your boyfriend in blackface 3 times is like catching your boyfriend in woman's lingerie 3 times.
Something deeper is going on.
You should to be supportive instead of accusatory. You're hurt and confused, but so is he. Help him come to terms with himself, and both of you will be in a healthier relationship.
2
Nice hit piece. Who cares. It was a photo in a school yearbook. No one noticed it til yesterday? Go run to your safe spaces and google the IMDb voice actors in 1992's Aladdin made by Disney. Any outrage that the whole cast was white? Didn't think so. "For Canadians, it has been a long time coming". Who are you speaking for?
4
I guess I’m surprised Canadians even know what blackface is
It’s such an immature thing to do, never understood why people thinks it’s funny.
1
If we decided that every parent who on one occasion had lost her or his temper and slapped or spanked their child - 18 years ago - deserved to be categorized as a violent, out-of-control child-beater and have their children taken from them, lose their jobs and live in disgrace, there might very well be more orphanages than homes.
Witness the New McCarthyism. Are you now or have you ever been...?
3
Congratulations dummies. You just got Trump re-elected.
Everything has context, including dumb jokes like this. And yes, they are very dumb. But hysteria over things like this makes the problems much, much worse and actually breeds racism and hatred from many fronts. The only thing worse than clueless humor is clueless political correctness. Please stop.
2
So, Canada pillories its leader for something stupid he did nearly 30 years ago while the US gives a pass to a leader that does something anti-democratic nearly every day. Send him over - we'll trade!
3
What downfall?
1
um. this writer needs to give their head a shake. Most of us Canadians are shrugging this off. The haters are loving it, but they are not a majority.
4
It's a non-story story. Give the guy a break.
4
This is politics of today. Nobody seriously believe that what you did in a masquerade party 18 years ago should disqualify you unless you carry racist ideas today.
4
Trudeau retains the one advantage he shares with whomever wins the Democratic nomination: his Conservative opponent welcomes avowed white supremacist support.
1
If voters keep demanding perfection from liberal politicians and excuse monstrous abuses by conservative ones, we are going to be left with only the monsters.
And we're literally going to cook to death because of global warming too.
3
Ivanka does not care.
Well, Canadians, good luck and all. Let’s see if you take the path of US liberals and destroy your own best people, who are unavoidably flawed.
1
Let me get this straight: If you dress up for a theme party, and the theme involves making your skin brown to be in character, that makes you a racist?
I know there is history here, dark history, but not every made up character qualifies for outrage. Including this one. I’m too busy for this nonsense. Next.
5
First, you live in a bubble: most Americans couldn't tell you the name of the Canadian PM. Second, blackface has history in Canada. Third, what does feminism have to do with SNC-Lavalin? Last, if Trudeau is "despised on the right" then he must be doing something good.
1
Bah. I’m a Canadian ... and if you ask me, his apology for the black-face was very acceptable. He fessed-up to it, took accountability, and used it as a platform to talk about what is right. What more can you hope for? The S.C. Lavalin affair ... not cool how he pressured an institution that is supposed to be independent of government (oversight) .... but I believe his explanation (well covered in the NYTimes): An institution of Quebec was possibly about to implode and take a lot of jobs with it. He moved to save it. And lastly, the trans mountain pipeline ... that just irritates me because I’m with Greta. BUT, at the same time, he has promoted tolerance and diversity (versus racism and bigotry) at every point. He has stood his ground against a Bully (Trump). He has banned-single use plastics. He has stood-up to Big-Oil (and Premiers in its pocket) and protected our coastline and mountains. He’s been to countless Pride parades .... and he has produced a TON of jobs (highest quarter since 2017). AND he had Melania at “bonjour.” NOT BAD FOR A P.M. Jeeez.
6
So written by a person who is out-outraged-ing real brown and black people.
Here's a factoid. Canada's immigration policy does not discriminate based on national origin. America's does. And no, Donald Trump did not make it so. It has been so since 1776. It still is.
When we fix it, let's talk about brownface. Please keep calling your Congressperson to fix it in the meantime.
2
Hey, cool neighbors to the North...
Can always move to Greenland...
Wait too long, though - there'll be a big beautiful wall blocking your way...
I'd be willing to bet this elevates Justin in Ivanka's eyes.
I’m curious why an article in the NYT questioning Trudeau wasn’t written 3 years ago? Do we always have to wait for a crisis and “I told you so?” Why was Rolling Stone so naive if questions were obvious to Canadians? What does this say about the agenda of the American media?
1
Compared to Trump, Trudeau is Churchill.
2
The fact is no one can possibly believe Trudeau is a racist, looking at his & Canada's record on openness & tolerance....Most Americans understand that young men sometimes make poor choices for costume parties, but that Alladin was not in the Klan....Trump on the other hand, now there is a racist.
4
On behalf of the Prime Minister of Canada I'd like to apologize to genies everywhere for his mythical appropriation.
4
Stop the 'muricasplaining, it's insulting to my intelligence and embarrassing for you.
Trudeau has nothing to apologize for. Canada has its own foibles but America it is not and in Canada blackface is not racism, it's just makeup. You don't want your culture wars, so what makes you think we want them?
3
I guess I’m missing something happening here - but Aladdin is a fiction, a story. Once written down, someone made pictures to go with it. Like - not a real person, right? I heard that in China they make him Chinese. (Meaning - well, like, you know what...; sorry, sorry.)
What I’m NOT missing is that the ‘something happening here’ is a national election. And keep up the juvenile PC trashing and you could get – wait for it.... ANDREW SHEER! Or that other guy with the long cloth hat – JAGMEET SINGH! of the NDP. I certainly would never vote for either of them. But if the abject apologizing doesn’t end TODAY, I won’t be voting period. So get over it, Trudeau. And tomorrow morning, get beyond it, and on with it. If not, you are going to lose a lot of support, seriously.
1
What I find so amusing here is that so many Candiens who live here endlessly criticize the US and extole the virtues of the Canadien health care system choose to live here.
1
This is all boring up here. Still, with a 2 day focus span appearance is everything. The media spins their take on it and I'm supposed to believe them. Not. The media doesn't go into detail up here. And we don't even have a national papier. Any way I'm going to bed. Work tomorrow, so I can give the Fancy boys half my paycheck.
1
In the age of Trump, it's a wonder this is even in the news.
1
hes done more for the people over there than any president has over here thats for sure
There is a bit of delicious irony here, in that an opinion article that decries Trudeau's poor taste and choices uses a headline with such poor taste and choices.
Women unfairly bear the brunt of judgment based on appearance, but that does not justify its usage in a major newspaper's opinion article. We wouldn't use "hot girlfriend" to describe Rep. Tulsi Gabbard or FLOTUS Michelle Obama or Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Let's not use similar language here.
1
Arabian Nights - maybe he should have dressed up as a horse. Ridiculous in the extreme. The same for anyone dressing up as Native American, Asian, Greek, etc 30
Years ago!!!
4
Downfall?? Seriously?? Some years ago, he went to an Arabian Nights costume party in costume.
Around here, kids in the elementary school dress as both Puritans and American Indians for their Thanksgiving day presentation. Have they ruined their political futures??
4
This piece is just a shameless act of self promotion by the author to get her name into the press ahead of her book release. The Canadians I know and who vote Liberal see this differently. So, to speak about JTs fall from grace is premature and inaccurate. To claim to represent Canadian opinion is preposterous.
5
Is it considered offensive if a Black or Brown person wears whiteface? Just wondering?
3
So can we call what Trudeau did a “cultural barbarity” or have we forgotten that little nugget of pure racism from the Conservatives?
Hair can be “luxuriant” but not “luxurious.”
3
Blackface has a long and painful history for African Americans in the US. From what I know such blackface was donned in minstrel shows by whites to create a caricature of blacks and ridicule them. I get why people are shocked by it. But brown face is different. There is no painful history of brown face for people of South Asian descent (that I’m
aware of and I’m South Asian). At the very worst it’s just stupid. Not offensive exactly but just a bad ridiculous costume of a white guy dressed in a kurta and turban with a dark face to match. It simply doesn’t have the same bitter connotations that black face does. Which probably explains why the voters interviewed in the Times story who judging by their names are of South Asian origin, are going to vote for him or not based on his policies not his costumes or the painting of his face.
1
Bombshell report? Give me a break. If Canada blows this and reverts to Stephen Harper as the Left engages in a circular firing squad, I'd call that a bombshell. Meanwhile, the real issues are the pipeline and other sorry political embarassments, not what Mr. Trudeau did as a young bozo.
2
I am a Canadian and I have to say I am stunned by the comments I read on this site. Your quick defense of Justin Trudeau shows your absolute ignorance of the damage he has done to my country. And your bashing of Trump seems to ignore the economic achievements that have been made during his term of office. You have record unemployment rates among Blacks ,Hispanics and Women. He has renegotiated trade deals to America's advantage. He has forced other Nato countries to finally pay their share of costs. And he is securing your southern border and this is only a small listing of what he has achieved. As a student of American history I know that no other American President has matched his achievements since JFK and Ronald Reagan. By contrast the Canadian economy is dying under Trudeau's incompetent watch. So if you don't want Trump we will gladly take him. You can go back to high taxes and high unemployment. And please spare me the comments that Obama was the one who achieved all these successes. as only a fool would believe that. You people are nuts.
3
Why do we feel comfortable talking about Trudeau in such sexualizing sensual language?
Please stop.
You would vilify such speech if it was about a female politician.
5
"The Downfall of Canada’s Dreamy Boyfriend."
Because that's what it's all about. Dreamy.
2
Canada has a champion of liberal values worthy of the international stage.
Chrystia Freeland.
Really! This is so silly. He was a kid! You just found out his wasn’t perfect. Wow!
Is this worth all the coverage?
4
The hypocrisy is amazing. When did costume parties become racial? Aladdin was not a white Canadian get past it. Obama is depicted as the first black President of The United States. How does the fact that his mother was white and his white grandparents help raise him factor in to the persona of his being black?
Sometimes a costume is just a costume it’s not a racist statement.
6
Sorry, but I don't see that wearing brown face to a party is a "Bombshell." Actually, I don't see that it is significant at all.
..-- Of all the things that people do that are destructive & harmful to the world.. it would seem that wearing make-up to a party doesn't even deserve mention..
... If he had dressed in drag.. would that be bombshell.??
2
I'm struck as to how all the scandals in this article (even something as racially offensive as Blackface) seems like such small potatoes compared to what the U.S. is dealing with and where we are headed.
Can Canada single-handedly completely trash the Earth's ecosystem or start WWIII? Nope.
Can the U.S. when we have a corrupt or crazy enough president? To quote Obama: "Yes we can!"
1
What Trudeau has done pales in comparison to what Sheer has done, previous leaders of Canada, the US, France, Italy, Israel, and other nations have done.
Totally blown out of proportion in the NYT.
2
Yes 20 years ago who would have thought politically incorrect....Sorry folks most of us priviledged whites thought that way....Have i changed yes....has he changed most likely.....And yes he is a lot of fluff.....But he does talk about climate change...but that contradiction was evident when the Govt purchased a pipeline with taxpayers dollars....has he brought in any meaningful climate change programs....No.....So now we have a Conservative- opposition....A front for the oil companies with deep roots with religous right....anti lgbq.....Trump 2.....even Trump likes Andrew Scheer.....Trudeau was not dangerous....Trump 2 is dangerous
While it may be a political weapon to be exploited, it appears that like with the Virginia governor, the non-white folks don't seem to care about this. Non-whites know that there is big difference between boorishness and being racist.
91
I dressed as the Ayatollah one Halloween, many years back. I wore makeup. And nose putty and a turban. So what? Am I therefore an Anti-[whatever ethnicity Iranians are] racist?
Question: Are folks shocked(!) because by Trudeau's dressing like an Arab at an Arabian Nights party because it's racist, or because it's "cultural appropriation"? How was he supposed to dress? Like Walt Disney?
What's next? Burning Village People records because they wore costumes, and offended Native Americans, cops, construction workers, and God knows who else?
126
When does this insanity stop. People are being punished for their actions from 20 years ago when no one was actually hurt or damaged. Another overblown hyped up situation. How does a white person play a dark person's role in a party 20 years ago? Was their any PC guidelines then? We blame people for dressing in different garb as Cultural Misappropriation.Is Justin Trudeau really a racist person? That is the question people need to answer.His actions today lead me to believe he is not a racist person.That is what he should be judged by. Mr Trudeau was not a racist 20 years ago either.So please relax and let us not be too dramatic.
14
So now everyone’s trashing Trudeau because he wore brown face makeup 20 years ago? Compared to what Donald Trump has done, that’s minuscule, childish and thoughtless, but minuscule. Give them a prime minister like Trumo for a few years and they’ll be quick to forgive.
9
At 66, I remember PM Pierre Trudeau and Margaret. Hard to fathom Justin couldn't know right from wrong in these "blackface" incidents. I wouldn't think of disrespecting another race, even in costume. Have these politicians lost their minds? My apologies to all robots, I once wrapped tin foil around my head to be a space cowboy for a party.
3
Let's stop conflating mocking with costume.
Blackface is very different from darkening one's face. It is not demeaning to have a darker face, is it?
There are plenty of racists on the world to attack, who will gladly admit it and offer no apology for it.
Let's leave non-racist people out of it, and fail to respond to the last tweet heard around the world.
8
If Canada is that mad at him, then how about a switch.
Send Trump to Canada and well take Trudeau.
4
I guess I should shelve my ambitions to run for Office -- turns out there is a photo of me running naked to a swimming pool when i was 4 years old. Won't be able to face the the music when that gets published....
9
The comedic aspect of the Justin Trudeau era has been the outright refusal of America's progressive-biased media to honestly cover their boyfriend's mismanagement of Canada.
Citizens there complain of the rapid growth of the population with more than a fifth of its people born in a foreign country (mostly Asians) and that fact's devastating effects on Canada's French and English culture.
Glad to see Canada is as messed up as the US. Poor Justin Trudeau... hahaha. The guy is getting roasted for something that happened, what, nearly 2 decades ago? He could probably have taken a page from Trump's handbook and just refused to apologize. But the guy actually has the decency to say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong, and I did something messed up." And for this perceived weakness, he'll pay with his head.
Shame on NY Times for jumping on the bandwagon at each step. From his perceived anointment as the anti-Trump to his 'downfall'. And to J Singh, I'm glad you stood up to people when you were younger. What about embracing people as they change for the better and admit they are wrong?
5
All this uproar about “blackface” or wearing makeup of another race other than your own is a big tempest in a teapot. Enough! Both in Canada and the US. North Americans are more sensitive to racial issues today. This whole uproar about Trudeau’s poor choices decades ago is absurd. Find a real objection to a politician based on current norms. Based on what Trudeau has done since he was 25 years old. Then I will listen. I am not suggesting minimizing allegations of sexual misconduct...those are different. Different entirely. But this is about Trudeau wearing makeup as a joke? He was immature and made a poor choice. Have you no REAL issues to discuss?
5
You cannot make up this stuff.............I bet the comedians will have a field day with one! Better make sure the comics are vetted and approved first tho.......
2
Talk about a mountain out of a mole hill... At least to my limited circle and from all the comments I have read from ordinary people (not the bloviating political commentators) people recognise that dressing up at a party 20 years ago is not the crime of the century. I know looking back now it seems out of place but at the time....really, nobody batted an eye. Holding 2001 Trudeau up to 2019 societal norms is not exactly fair. Would he do it today, of course not. And frankly, it seems a little suspicious that this pimple of a story was sprung at this time, after last week having Andrew Sheer accept the apologies of a legion of Conservatives running that have posted/written/said outrageous homophobic, racist and very politically incorrect things.
7
"Slowly but surely Americans are learning we Canadians can be just like you: very, very racist."
For the many Americans who do know Canada, this cheap shot is utterly absurd. But much more important, it shows the writer has no clue about the virulence of deep seated racism in the US. It also demeans Americans' heroic struggles against this racism, which to this day sees schools even in New York City deeply segregated, abominable White-Black income and incarceration disparities, and continuing horrific killings of unarmed African American civilians by police despite the intense campaigns of groups like Black Lives Matter and the mainstream media.
Many of us in the US did know the Trudeau failures Ms Gismondi highlights, but while the revelations of his racist behaviour have shocked us and Canadians themselves, using such Prime Minister's failings to claim Canadians are a deeply racist society akin to the US is laughable.
If Americans do not know Canada, then this Canadian writer knows the US even less.
4
You are wrong, Ms. Gismondi. This is a storm in a teacup driven by media sensationalism (apparently, including you) and predation. This is also an unnecessary diversion from the real racism that still rampages in the US from White House down. Canada's and its premier's morality put to shame those of the US. The only attitude they deserve from Americans is admiration and humility.
6
Whatever happened to "Tall, Dark and Handsome"? Mimicking a character from the burning sun of the Arabian Peninsula is not an insult, I do get very dark when I go to the beach.. Up to that point.... , now... "blackface" impersonations had another connotation..an evil one.. did he do that?
2
And what is the track record of the Conservative Party on race? And I mean on something more important than a fancy dress party.
3
"Who is the real Mr. Trudeau?”
So I guess in the final analysis good looks and charisma are not enough.
Mr. Trudeau reminds me of the "Apple of Sodom" (Calotropis procera ). Handsome green globes on the outside, but inside, a toxic milky sap. The (ancient ) historian Josephus claimed that the fruit dissolved into ashes and smoke if picked.
1
The only people getting excited about this affair are white progressives and conservative opponents. Those in the news media are straining to inject the matter into what has been a really dull campaign to this point. Trudeau's conduct going back 20 years, and more, is indicative of privileged wealthy insouscience. Most people of colour dismiss it preferring to focus on the man's actions as prime minister. The same goes for the great majority of french-speaking folks in his home province of Quebec, who view the reaction as being somewhat unique to a small clique wihtin the english-speaking provinces. Be wary American readers of Canadian journalists reporting on Canada. They speak only for themselves. The NYT could do better by soliciting Quebec journalists opinions on this topic and others.
5
Sad to see the enablers posting mea culpas for Trudeau. He was and is an arrogant self absorbed elitist who has accused others of racism on the flimsiest of grounds but whitewashes his own behaviour.
1
Good god, where does this end? Progressives get more puritanical by the day.
4
Apparently, when it comes to politicians like Trudeau, beauty, like color, is only skin deep, particularly when it is hidden by shoe polish.
Why is it so hard for liberals to admit that the different races don't actually like one another; that they have cultural differences, they make fun of one another, that people of each race favor co-racialists in business dealings, employment, friendship, marriage? Why is that so hard to admit, why are liberals shocked? Well, of course, they aren't shocked, they're using race as a stick with which to beat their opponents, or as a kind of threat to intimidate and 'get' something by race-shaming others, both publicly and privately. Liberals aren't necessarily the 'other-oriented' sweethearts they pretend to be.
4
This is an embarrassing column and does not align with what my Canadian friends say. Good luck Canada, with the next Tory Government.
2
I find this strange. How can anyone alive today be sure that their behavior, as duly recorded second-by-second by the info sphere that we willing live and participate in, will be found acceptable by the standards and mores twenty or thirty years hence? Yes, I think someone (a white someone) who wears a black face in 2019 in order to pretend to be someone they are not really has to examine their motives and consider the reactions that someone who is not white might have.
I think it is a shame that Prime Minister Trudeau is caught in this dilemma for something he did twenty years ago. That said, today his counterpart in the United States, President Trump, paints his face and hands (and likely the rest of his body, something I would rather not visualize) everyday stinking day with the most unnatural of bronzers in the vain effort to make him look like someone he is not. I find this parallel deeply troubling. Where is the outrage directed against Trump's choice of blackface?
2
Whatever happened to understanding life as a learning experience? He was twenty-nine years old, participating in an event whose theme was The Arabian Nights. It seems to me that Melissa Gismondi has adopted the American way of judgment. One strike and you're out. Americans are as tough on each other as they are on the rest of the world. You can't blame Ms Gismondi for seeing things that way. Living amongst them makes your mind shift to the right. Let's hope the NYT prints an informative op-ed from a Canadian living in Canada!
2
I have never thought much of anything about him. Whether he's up or down I could care less.
Gismondi offers no actual evidence that American women's opinion about a politician would be so simplistic as to gush over a "dreamy boyfriend." It seems even women fall into the trap of accepting lazy gender stereotypes about women and politics.
1
Some of us, black and brown may be disappointed but he is much better leader than we see many around . He apologized and should be forgiven with generous heart.
2
The Harper government, if memory serves, destroyed a priceless set of environmental records dutifully recorded by generations of civil servants. Is this the party the Canucks want in power?
1
He still does a great Gordon Lightfoot karaoke. Look, he’s two or three faced depending on the event and the make up. Willful blindness, a politicians cognitive dissonance are a staple of a true chameleons repertoire.
Who even wants to remember or drudge up sorted misdeeds of a life of privilege.
Oh Canada, thy light burns brightest in the hypocrisy of its leaders.
As a constituent, you are BUYING a PERSONA and rarely, very rarely, indeed, a REAL MAN.
1
Trudeau’s political CV has always been rather thin on qualifications, other than general beef cake-iness. The guy is easy on the eyes, but perhaps not the sharpest tool in the shed (to mix several metaphors). That said, how much ink must be spilled on this latest “scandal” w/r/t a fancy dress party 20 years ago?
It's amazing what many of you will excuse from a wealthy entitled handsome young man. Were he not physically attractive I suspect those defending him would change their tune.
This is a biased report, surprise, surprise. Justin Trudeau did not "kick out" the two uber-feminist/identity-politicians in his cabinet (who had defied the will of the entire cabinet, it should be added). He allowed the principal minister to drag him through a 6-week fake negotiation, where she tried to blackmail him into accepting her entire agenda, and where she had no intention of bargaining in good faith. At that point, the Party itself forced Trudeau to expel these two mavericks. By the way, according to what I see, it's the English-Canadian media who are "outraged," not the average Joe and Jill. The blush may be off the rose, but the Opposition smells far worse.
1
Anyone who excuses Trudeau stupidities of decades ago should take the same position on Kavanaugh
How many men think nothing of appearing at Halloween parties in drag, as nuns, nurses, etc? Drag/burlesque is a thriving entertainment outlet — men in makeup and prosthetics, pretending to be women.
Am I supposed to be threatened, or insulted, by that? Really?
I have zero issues with a guy painting his face for an Arabian nights party. I have waaay more issues with men in real time asserting that they want primacy over my body and my reproductive rights.
Get real folks.
3
Many of us canadians living in the U.S. are not at all surprised. Especially those of us who remember his father. Live by the sword, expect to die by the sword. The fact that he has lasted this long is simply because he is a creature of the left.
This is a hugely exaggerated account. Elected on a wave of enthusiasm after a decade of dour leadership under the Concervatives, of course the honeymoon comes to an end and portions of the public are disappointed. That's always the rule. The blackface incident certainly has tarnished Trudeau's reputation and, coming in the midst of an election, it could be fatal. But without that, only a Canadian living in the U.S. could believe that progressives now view Trudeau as somehow fake.
1
"Disgraced politician"? Know the room. We're Americans (mostly) Shouldn't be hard to see what we tolerate in a politician. Time for Canada to catch up.
I'm a bit confused about what the offense is. Is it that the school held an Arabian Nights party and Trudeau participated? Or is it that he blackened his face as part of his costume?
First, Trudeau's critics seem to be appropriating the genuine disrespect of African Americans shown in the use of blackface in the US context, and applying it to a very different context. This case is nothing like Gov. Northam appearing in blackface next to someone in a KKK outfit.
Second, this whole view of appropriation used to criticize Trudeau is very contemporary. Few people, if any, in those days viewed a party themed in another culture, like celebrating Chinese New Year or something, as offensive. I'm not so sure we should now, but even if we should, this is a striking case of applying current mores to a different time. This is not like Jefferson should have known better than to own slaves.
I have always viewed myself as very left/liberal, but instances like this alienate me from my brood, and I fear provoke understandable right-wing hostility to the left.
2
So your boyfriend was Prince Hal ere he was Henry IV.
Fer chrissake, he was a high school teacher. HIgh school teachers are meant to be embarrassing (see every high school movie since the 1980s).
If you're dumping Justin, don't get all weird when you see us hanging in my neighborhood on the southside of town.
1
"Down here, Trudeau’s brownface and blackface episodes are bursting the Canadian exceptionalism bubble. Slowly but surely Americans are learning we Canadians can be just like you: very, very racist."
Very densely packed, that.
Americans are very, very racist. (Not 'some Americans' or 'many' or 'most'? Just 'Americans'?) Trudeau is very racist. Canada is very racist. Americans are realizing it all of a sudden ("bubble bursting") but also gradually ("slowly but surely"). And the author has managed to ascertain the extent of this epiphany across the vast United States in a span of just hours. My, how superhumanly perceptive and plugged in you are! On the contrary, it's likely one of her like-minded friends said something to her along these lines on the phone last night.
Then there's the dropping of a loaded pejorative word, exceptionalism. It is ordinarily used to convey strong skepticism about or condemnation of US national and foreign policies of the past and present. For example, making war on North Vietnam may be held to show the wickedness of American exceptionalism. Here it's used to tarnish an entire country, when she could have simply said (I mean asserted) that Canada is no exception.
The whole piece overflows with sloppy rhetoric, self-congratulatory virtue signalling, and a herd-style way of thinking likely originating from learning to expertly please the TA a few years back.
2
Similar happend in Brazil, after several corruptions scandals by consecutive socialist presidents, voters went all the way to the extreme right to elect Bolsonaro to deal with the same corruption. That worked out well...
I think Ms. G writes an article like this as purely sensational journalism. She has degrees from both a Canadian university and an American one. Her biography states “she divides her time” between living in the US and living in Canada. She is writing a book comparing the U S and Canadian culture. Her main goal seems to be more about saying provocative statements to bring attention to herself. To further her career. She is one of those hybrids who is neither tangerine nor orange. Neither peach nor plum. She is a hybrid seeking to fill a niche to justify living in two countries. Well, okay. You got our attention.
Now about Trudeau. It is difficult to take this author’s statements seriously. If a physician and his father and his grandfather are all in the same profession does this constitute a “medical dynasty?” No. Is the same true if a woman and her mother or father were both district court judges...is that a “judicial dynasty?” No. Ms. G. suggests Justin T. was elected merely on the shirttails if his father’s career as PM. I disagree. Name recognition is a big step in the career of an elected official. But a father and son both being elected officials as PM does not constitute a dynasty. Maybe 3 in a family....maybe then. But not 2. Not 2.
You are merely being provocative. As such, I dismiss your critique of Justin Trudeau as merely seeking attention for yourself. For the editors of your future book.
Write something thoughtful and I will listen.
3
In 1960 my Girl Scout troop planned a minstrel show. Although most girls didn’t quite know what that meant, my father did and he wouldn’t let me participate or continue in Girl Scouts. If a Jewish man, born during WWI,the grandson of Eastern European immigrants, who only was a high school graduate had that level of awareness 60 years ago all of those claiming benign ignorance of more recent acts are lying.
47
I once made a similar mistake. I was in a NJ lockup on a marijuana charge. A guy called me out. Which is often the case with newbie loners. Not having any experience as a fighter, I tried to put on a tough guy act and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Which happened to include the "N" word. It was out before I even realized I'd said it.
Needless to say even the white guys steered clear of me after that. We were outnumbered 6 to 1 and they didn't want to get caught up in my nightmare. But I didn't run. I didn't sleep either, but I didn't ask the guards for protection.
The next day a black leader came to talk to me. They knew I was Canadian and my charge had some weight behind it. I apologized and asked for forgiveness. A few days later prison authorities put me in a position where I'd be forced to interact with black inmates. We got along well. Eventually it all smoothed over because they realized my mistake wasn't who I really was.
The same could happeen with Trudeau. Canadians know he made a serious error in judgement. But they've known him since he was a child and don't see him as a racist. Americans should also realize Canada has it's own alt right who've been attempting to demonize him since the day he took office. And regardless of Trudeau's imperfections, Canada's conservatives are worse. Especially when it comes to diversity.
104
I get it ... I have aways been uncomfortable dressing for Halloween. The whole event is about making for the best costume. I can see in the moment, after go to the costume store and picking out the best one, you may want to finish your act with make up. Costume balls are very competitive. If we want to end young people behaving wrongly . It should start with our mix messages .
1
Enough! Is enough! He made an error in judgement. We ALL do from time to time. Everybody on this planet has said and done racially inappropriate things - then we intellectually and emotionally grew up, but unfortunately for Trudeau his error was caught on film.
I can sympathize with someone who made a mistake and corrected it with a track record of helping minorities and opening doors to people fleeing war torn countries. We need to stop perpetually punishing people. No one heals on either side.
I’m saying this as a minority.
15
Seriously, why is it taking everyone so long to figure out, that all these decades-old and unimportant but headline-grabbing photos and videos are coming out right before the election on purpose? The conservatives in Canada have put together this excellent piece of character assassination just in time to get their version of Trump into office.
So wait and see, this nonsensical and pointless griping will get Trudeau out of office, and he'll be replaced by sheer conservatism with Scheer. And Canada will suffer its version of Trump, anti-abortion, anti-gun control, and so on, and I hope they learn a vital lesson from it.
11
So much is lost by ignoring context. I do not go along with the implied link between a thorough costume effect and racism. That is ridiculous. At one time excellent actors were costumed for major movies as other races and religions. It is not automically bad. Even when practices and conceptions of racial awareness change, it is the height of intolerance to insist that well meaning people should have had the foresight to see how it would be viewed over a generation in the future. They cold no more do that than we can right the wrongs in the past via a time machine.
4
The way I see it, is at least Canada has a leader that can admit he made a mistake and has apologized for it. He appears sincere. He hasn’t made recent racist remarks. We’ve all made mistakes in our lives, the honest people can realize their past regressions and admit it to themselves as well as to others. We have a wanna be leader that doesn’t believe he’s ever made a mistake in his life, and has never apologized for anything he’s done wrong. I’d rather have a leader that can admit his poor decisions, whether they are 30 minutes ago or 30 years ago.
6
As a Canadian, do I believe Justin Trudeau is a racist, no. I believe he shares many traits with his father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau a former Canadian Prime Minister. It took over 20 years to dig ourselves out of the debt he so freely put on our tax tab. Justin is pretty free with our tax dollars too and he also appears to have no problem with the national debt. He has lived his life in a comfortable bubble, separated from the trials and tribulations of real life. He is not a racist, but is a child of privilege who sometimes has a problem discerning what is politically correct. He does need to be held to account for his past and recent decisions.
The Conservative Party leadership changed after the last election and to put things in context, the Conservatives are well left of America's Democratic Party. They support our social programs and promote diversity. They are nothing like Republicans.
4
Yeah, I thought Trump's political career was dead when the Access Hollywood tape emerged. It didn't. I thought it would die with a variety of other misdeed, gaffes, and a near endless parade of lies. If Trump is the new yardstick, Trudeau has a long, long, long way to go before he bottoms out. As '45 likes to say, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
4
This story title is false. Stumble should have been used instead of 'downfall.' Liberals apologize for their mistakes and move on. It's the right thing to do and our PM has done it. The majority of conservatives seem unable to admit a mistake, and have little to offer but criticism and selfish motive.
6
His "undoing"?? "He’s not all he’s cracked up to be"?? No, he pretty much is, despite stupid things done in his youth. I'm not buying, and I want him in power. I predict you'll soon find this "swing of the pendulum" is well underway and shared by most.
6
I am sticking with Trudeau 100%. This story is way overblown by the press. Mr. Trudeau is not a racist. He was at a costume party for God's sake. Cut the guy some slack. People are over reacting and Time magazine is trying to sell more magazines. But for goodness sake please don't turn our country into a far right mess as it is south of the border. We have enough to deal with. Climate change, forest fires, trade war, etc... This took place at a party years ago when he wasn't even a PM. This will not alter my vote, I will be voting for Trudeau 100%.
7
I honestly think this is a tempest in a teacup, drummed up to embarrass the PM in the middle of an election campaign. While I also agree with commenters who say this was a mere indiscretion in a different time in a different place, there is a more fundamental reason I reject the attack -- because what holds true in the U.S. does not necessarily hold true in Canada. Blackface has an association with slavery and the subjugation of the black man by white society in the U.S. No such association exists in Canada. Slavery was banned there in 1807 -- before it was banned in any U.S. state -- making Canada the first place in the British Empire to do so. The legacy of slavery has never been an issue there. That is a U.S. nightmare. Virtually every colored resident of Canada is a legal immigrant or descendant of one. Justin Trudeau was merely dressing up as a Disney character, not some victim of white oppression. I think he should have made this clear and refused to apologize, instead of assuming the mantle of U.S. guilt.
OK, go ahead -- call me a racist.
6
It’s rather hard to believe the extent of indignation and public shame that some brown make-up generated. I personally think it is ridiculous to even take into account this fact when evaluating Mr Trudeau’s career.
6
Come on folks, get back to the real issues!
Let this diversion die and look at overall policy platforms. Trudeau has disappointed me, and once again I will be forced to choose the lesser of evils AND have to vote strategically because his promised electoral reform never happened! Most likely that means a Liberal vote from me. SIGH!
This is one of those (many) times where conservatives can just sit back and let liberal democrat progressive justice warriors do their work for them. We run around labelling everything racist and offensive, and sacrifice a candidate, or in this case a PM, who, although flawed, at least has a sense of justice, service to his country, and a desire to develop more equitable programs and policies. But I guess it's better that Mr Trudeau will be punished for doing something stupid 25 years ago. If people don't vote for Mr Trudeau because of his political track record that's one thing, but if they don't vote for him because of a photo taken years ago, then I'm not sure where we're going with this. I guess Margaret Atwood can write a novel about it.
5
Ms. Gismondi, I refer you to Al Franken. Before you start talking of "downfall" you may wish to consider how the Franken crusade turned out for the Democratic Party. Liberalism's many opponents are all too satisfied with its sanctimonious desire to consume itself.
6
The sense of enjoyment that people are getting by seeing a very decent person get trampled just to make themselves better is staggering.
5
Genuine question please. Why is fancy dress considered racist? I understand some of the history of how blackface was used long long ago, but that was very different to this example of Mr. Trudeau. It just makes little sense to me as dressing up or altering your appearance to look like someone else to play a character is racist? Perhaps that's because I grew up in a rural UK town where I never saw any hints of racism.
Also if it is racist why does it stop at black face. Why is a White European not racist if they dress up in Chinese clothes? Or African tribal wear? They are still mimicking a different race...
I don't see the film white chicks being removed from popular streaming sites?
4
This isn’t Brent Kavanaugh’s drunken, belligerent, assaultive behavior, nor DJT’s ludicrous audio admission, nor Harvey Weinstein’s attack dog mode. It’s costumed, albeit inappropriately, frivolity by a 20 year old. Have we gone completely mad? Is there no longer any sense of proportion or context? My goodness me. How bizarre the world has become.
6
The writer of this article is relying on misinformation regarding multiculturalism. The government of the day implemented multiculturalism as a political agenda to 'show' support for various cultural groups. There was no, and never has been, a need for government funding to encourage various cultures to retain, maintain, or express the culture. It's a ridiculous idea, a myth.
1
The stories from the Arabian Nights were and are not offensive or demeaning to Arabs. Neither is dressing in a costume depicting characters in those stories. Blackface depicting African Americans is.
The face of the Canadian conservative leader viewing the picture of Trudeau in costume wasn’t aghast or horrified, it was gleeful at the opportunity he had to manipulate Canadian voters. I’m betting Canadians are more savvy and sober than we are.
4
I was at a party in Darien, CT recently where the theme was "mariachi", or Mexican, or something. I was the only person there not dressed like a cartoon Mexican (except for the Mexican staff of the event, who all looked thoroughly embarrassed).
But what to take away from this?
You could argue that the event was racist, but it was deemed acceptable because Mexicans "aren't Americans". Let's be honest, we are a deeply racist country; we believe literally everyone in the world is "less great" than we, "the greatest country in the world", so who cares what a few Mexicans think.
You could argue that it's not racist, that there's no harm in dressing up for events like this. I've seen the host dress as an Irishman and a German. Sure, it's cheesy, but is it offensive?
But do I think that Trudeau is a bad person today because 20 years ago he wore the same blackface that was popularized for decades on jam jars? Absolutely not.
On the face of it, the world has changed a lot in 20 years - and in other ways, remarkably little. But one thing that is true for Trudeau, and anyone hung out to dry for things they did a long time ago, is that we all did really dumb stuff when we were very young, and we all have the capacity to grow and learn.
2
It is refreshing to see critical comments made about a Canadian by Americans, rather than the other way around.
Trudeau will be forgiven, as he was quick to say the only thing that really matters to Canadians- "I'm sorry."
15
@North Not if the ‘sorry’ cam from somebody who is not a media darling!!!
Even before this story landed, the NYT has been publishing articles consistently critical of Trudeau, with no attention whatsoever to the appalling record and policy positions of the Tories. Why the desire to take Trudeau down? Looking for a better fit for Trump? Yes, Scheer and the Tories, especially in in Alberta, would make great partners for Trump - meaning lapdogs. Trump must be very pleased with Time magazine now.
And to progressive readers of the NYT, please, take a look - you'll find that the Liberals have done pretty well for progressive causes compared to the wasteland of Harper's reign. Consider AOC's recent astute comments on the difficulties of actually governing v. taking maximalist positions when positioned as activists.
17
My understanding is that Mr Trudeau appropriately apologized for his behavior twenty years ago. That bothers me more than the behavior. PC judgement seems to have captured the day. If this isn't a tempest in a teapot, I don't know what is. Should the Canadian election be decided by this non-event, Canada--like America--will deserve the leader they elect.
17
This only helps get right-wing politicians in power - News and opinion media overreacting to politically incorrect decisions, forcing the accused to over-correct.
The majority of people can think for themselves and they end up looking for a voice of reason, in all the wrong places.
13
Although I have an affection for Canada, have lived there for a time, and have a Canadian branch in my family tree, I am less than concerned for Mr. Trudeau: he's a politician caught up in a mess, and I leave it to him, his advisors, and ,ost especially Canadian voters to sort it out. However, there is a buried nugget in this article to which I call attention, being the Canadian goal of "multi-culturalism", a phrase I heard often while living there. This is different than what we strive for here, however imperfectly: assimilation. There is a big difference between the two, even if one is free to puruse either in these two liberal democracies. Assimilation is the pursuit of the hyphenated American in which "American" is the common unifying noun and "African", "Jewish", "Italian", etc. are modifying adjectives. It partially helps explain why hardly anyone in this country speaks anything other than English. It explains why home grown terrorists are not nearly the problem it is in other multi-cultural-pursuit societies such as the UK. We've a long distance to go, and the bumps along the road can be measured in some cases in centuries. However, to paraphrase Dr. King, we'll get there. And we will not stop trying.
3
It’s just another example of the astounding hypocrisy, history of bad judgement and lack of intellectual heft of JT.
This isn’t the scandal he should resign-over - that was when he obstructed justice and again, showed us who he really is, with his treatment of dissenting Cabinet members.
It’s true, that the bar is pretty low now, in what we expect and how we view our leaders, but Canada needs and deserves better than an empty suit that has spent their mandate mismanaging global affairs, not accomplishing much on their own initiative, other than weed legalization - virtue-signalling, burning through cash and indebting our grandchildren, yet to be born.
Liberals have benefited from a decent economy, relatively speaking, without Oil ...but the country is fractured, every major development file is hamstrung under regulations and consultations that never end, and the good times economically are coming to an end...plus, we are actually broke, even though we live kind of large, it’s on credit...
Could be some painful times ahead for all...doesn’t seem to be any white beacons, and certainly not JT...
9
Think people still should cut Mr Trudeau some slack given many positive policies he has pushed for and continues to pursue. There have been setbacks but remember many such things surprisingly spring up closer to elections which also shows some investigative motive of the opponents
12
So glad for the opine writers that this has come to light. Now they can make some bread as well as vent their astute knowledge of Canadian politics, Canadians in general, as well as Canadian mores and beliefs. I’m sure their machinations and opinions will greatly influence American readers, who will no doubt come to the conclusion that we elected in 40 days or so someone who promised and failed to deliver on some platforms, while keeping his word on others. How unique! Readers will see he has flaws where prior the media made him out to be special.
Now that’s unique isn’t it?
To American readers who are surprised that our leaders and indeed our citizenry are not perfect, I sincerely apologize...it’s something we so with regularity to each other and the world. Consider it an asset as it is usually genuinely offered.
We happen to be in an election mode now, so every hiccup will be prosecuted with upmost zeal and indignation. The right wingers will pontificate, the leftists will agonize and the know nothing’s will just get on with their empty existence until another scribe offers brilliant insight. Seriously, I am astounded that little minds can create incredible vignettes of the frailties of the human condition. Each of us should sit down one day and list every event that appeared harmless decades ago, but today is an automatic disqualification to forever hold a responsible job, position, relationship.....whatever! Someone made a dollar today saying nothing.
23
I hear you, I hear you - but aren't you letting the hypothetical perfect be the enemy of the actual good and the ally of the potentially far worse?
22
God help me if I were judged by the things I did 20 years ago...Not to excuse Trudeau's actions. But a little perspective goes a long way.
31
@i'm no hippie
Trudeau would make the perfect govenor of Virginia, no?
Please ask Justice Kavanaugh whether the corrupted East Coast 'news' media can be completely obsessed with things done 35 years ago.
I find the public’s reaction to be more embarrassing than what Trudeau actually did.
Yes, his actions were regrettable and hurtful, but I do not believe that there was any genuine racist intent.
I listened to a man of Indian origin on CBC radio who said he painted his skin white to participate in a Shakespearian play. He said he never thought his actions were racist and neither do I.
I also remember the old Star Trek shows where some of the Klingons had their skin darkened for their roles.
Let’s please have some perspective here and not always resort to mass hysteria when someone makes a few mistakes. Because that’s all they were. And he has now made a sincere apology.
31
@Michael
I think your position is fair and sensible.
I would note, however, that the relative dearth of native Klingon actors forced Star Trek’s producers into a quandary: achieve a degree of verisimilitude by modifying the actors’ appearances, or bow to the forces of political correctness and do what?
Of course, in the 60’s and 70’s, cultural appropriation and political bias as directed at the Klingons were not the issues they are today.
9
Note that Trudeau himself says his actions were racist; so how do you, fear reader, know what his intent was?
How you can equate an Indian man painting his face white and a white man in brown- or blackface is really beyond me.
Left of center Americans' love of Trudeau was always baffling to me. While he did not blunder his country into an unnecessary war, he did chart a career path not that different from GW Bush. Both men rose to lead their country and both had a father that did the same. Admittedly, I don't understand Canadian politics, but a CV filled with snowboard instructing and elite school teaching is not the type of background democrats would usually accept in a presidential candidate. Is it just that he's dreamy or reminds people of other young and charismatic American leaders? How did he escape the usual hand-wringing about unearned privilege and all that?
7
Much of the same is true about Macron in France. In the face of Trump, many Americans (including the media and often the NYT) and expats have clung to these two foreign leaders as a beacon of hope that everything wasn’t going South. They became the darling of public opinion, “Make the planet great again” said Macron while backing out of most environmental reforms and proposing deep slashes in research funding... we should be asking for results from these leaders and hold them to higher standards than just being much better than Trump.
6
For anyone who's wondering who Melissa Gismondi is, she's a Canadian historian (Ph.D., Virginia).
On September 3, 2018 she had this to say in The Walrus, a Canadian magazine:
"As a historian, I used to think our country's past wasn't worth studying. Podcasts helped change my mind."
Ok.
26
In the words of Desmond Tutu, there is no future without forgiveness. If we insist on forever judging people according to their low points from long ago, our self-righteous indignation will be the only thing left in the wreckage. How does Trudeau's behavior look over the last year? 5 years? 10 years? In other words, who is he now? Let's please stop pretending that it's a huge revelation that people aren't born perfect.
57
Wise wise perspective here. Thank you.
2
The 2015 story wasn't so much surprise at the Liberal Party's victory, but rather that it was a majority government, with the NDP performing very poorly when polls indicated a better showing. The NDP's "front man," Tom Mulcair, could very well be the most articulate man in Canadian politics but the NDP wasn't competitive. This led to the Liberals winning a majority and not having to form a coalition government, thus, Trudeau.
The name Trudeau appears to be Canada's one political weakness. A thoughtful electorate, more serious than not politicians, and a more responsive system describe Canada, in comparison to the US. However, the two Trudeaus seem to be the rock stars of Canada's voters with substance as evasive as the best US flim flammers.
The first one, (Joseph Philippe) Pierre (Yves) Elliott Trudeau, had as many mysteries as his many names. Presumed by all to be liberal and "modern," he (like Trump) attempted to set records busting down doors doing unconstitutional searches and arrests. "Reason before passion" had a heavy hand. But one can't go up against stardom.
Justin's turn seems to be all show and no go. "Everyone" hated the former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but he was hard to unseat. Of course, a Trudeau could do it. Maybe not next time. Then again, Pierre stayed around "forever."
One has to remember that the Conservatives in Canada are somewhere to the left of Obama in the United States. That's because the Democrats here aren't "liberal" anymore.
5
I’m a Canadian living in the US and you are absolutely wrong about conservatives in Canada being to the left of Obama in the US.
Andrew Sheer - our current conservative leader - voted against the Paris agreement in 2016 and then changed his position in 2017 in the hope of not being compared to Trump.
His stance on gay marriage and abortion would be considered far Right, even in the US.
When Trump announced in December 2017 his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Scheer did not take a public position. However, in 2018, Scheer stated that a Conservative Canadian government, if elected in 2019, will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
On immigration, Scheer wants to prioritize helping those he considers the most vulnerable refugees, namely religious minorities like Christians in the Middle East who face death for conversion away from Islam.
After conservatives running in the Fall election were caught making homophobic and racist comments on social media, he said he would still support them as long as they apologized.
Sounds familiar?
2
I think Canadian Voters are wise enough to recognize that while what happened twenty years ago matters, what matters most is what party best represents the best short and long term interests of Canada.
Mr. Trudeau is the just party leader. What the average American Voter must remember is that in a parliamentary system of Government what matters most is how well the Liberal Party Candidates fare in each of their respective ridings or representative voting areas. Mr. Trudeau is not
running as a national candidate, only the leader of his party.
What matters most is the effectiveness of the party to win at the local level not the national level.
If if it looks like Mr. Trudeau is a continuing burden to the party in the election or post election, the Liberals can always tap a new party leader in Ms. Chrystia Freeland. She is smart, articulate and she would make an excellent Prime Minister if the Liberals win.
What the Canadian Election will come down to is the outcome of a handful of critical ridings in Western Canada and Ontario. The Canadian Electorate is smart enough to recognize that in the previous election Mr. Trudeau's Party won largely because voters at the local level voted for the "Anybody but Stephen Harper's Party."
In the final analysis, Canadians may be disillusioned with Mr. Trudeau and the Liberal Party but I don't think Canada is ready to return to "Mr. Harper 2.0 Conservatives" in the form of the new Tories and Mr. Scheer.
30
Ms. Gismondi's personal views are not shared by the majority of Canadians. JT is not perfect, but he's a far cry better than the other available options in October's election.
The two decade old Aladdin event may have been insensitive or poor judgement, but the intent and context was not racist.
60
Dear Mr. Trudeau,
I forgive you for dressing up in the garb of a different culture back when we all did it ALL THE TIME. Some of us understand that we were all less sensitive to the plight of minorities back then.
Dear the rest of liberal Canada,
If Trudeau were walking around is such garb in 2019 I think we'd all agree that he would not be fit to lead a country like ours. Condemning liberals for not having advanced cultural understanding back when they were young and the times were different is patently ridiculous. Let's not get carried away because the conservatives are stoking this fire with everything they've got.
74
@Franklin
I totally agree with the point that some things, done when young, do not a rogue make. Dressing up in the garb of a different culture back when is definitely not a litmus test.
However, "brown face" and "about-face" are two different things entirely. The pipeline with its nasty, climate changing tar sands extraction and promised parliamentary reforms are not minor things and he should be held accountable.
That doesn't necessarily mean throwing the baby out with the bath water but it should mean washing his mouth out with soap.
1
Well, we are deeply, globally in an age of "the ends justify the means", so sorry if I don't with your version, Ms. Gismondi, but rather opt for the expediency of Mr. Trudeau who has proven himself not to be an existential threat.
Let the globe recenter to rational politics where people are not openly being threatened and we can revisit these crimes. Until then, I'm giving him a huge pass. Call me a hypocrite if you want but I don't care. We are, essentially, at war. And I stand with Trudeau as strongly as possible.
26
This is why political dynasties are bad.
He is leader of Canadian government because his dad was, much like the issues we faced in the US with Bush, the myriad of Kennedy’s and an attempted Clinton continuation.
Stop electing people because their dad, uncle, grandfather, etc was xyz.
3
@stan
there was only 1 president Kennedy. There was only 1 president Clinton. There were no "dynasties" in either case. There just were not. It is not logical to claim there was. The only follow-up to both were senate positions by Ted K. and HRC. Neither of which equate "dynasty" at all. In the least. Not not one bit. It's all in your mind. Bush I and Bush II WERE close to being a dynasty. 12 years in the white house collectively separated by 8 years, waging related profiteering wars.
Trudeau's dad died 19 years ago. He was Prime Minister for 4 years from 1980-1984, 35 YEARS ago. There is no "dynasty" in Canada.
28
@Mathew
Pierre Elliott Trudeau was prime minister of Canada, 1968–79 and 1980–84, nearly 16 years. (Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia). While I wasn’t a big fan at the time, there is no doubt that he was an extremely intelligent and well-educated leader with a strong vision for Canada. He was a serious, thoughtful person who stood head and shoulders above today’s politicians in Canada or the US. Unfortunately, Justin takes after his mother!
7
Pierre Trudeau was PM from 1968 to 1984, other than a brief stint as opposition leader for a few months in 79-80.
2
Wow, this is total character assassination. Compared to people like Trump or Ford, Trudeau is a saint. Like Obama or Bill C, not perfect, but vastly preferable to the alternative. Politics is ALWAYS about the lesser of N evils. I've never seen a situation otherwise in reality/practice.
50
I think people are making much too much of this situation.
Everyone, Trudeau included, realizes such behavior is not acceptable.
I think we can all agree this isn't who he is and it would be a shame to see a career ruined because of inappropriate behavior from two decades ago.
Accept his apology and move on.
28
The Liberal Party has always been the party of business with a traditional conservative approach to economic policy and a liberal approach to social values. They espouse paying down debt when times are good and not indulging in tax cuts and other right wing economic policies.
Buying the TransMountain Pipeline fit into that mold and the move was applauded by many indigenous groups, many of whom have been invited to take an ownership position.
He was a drama teacher who went to an Arabian Nights party dressed as a character from a work of fiction, including that character's facial colour. You wouldn't have expected anything different from a drama teacher.
24
I’m trying to make sense out of all this. Here’s a capable and popular statesman being ostracized for... having painted his face brown? XX years ago? People who do such things deserve Donald Trump 20 times over.
25
Is the election over? Have Canadians elected somebody else? I must have missed it.
8
As a Canadian living overseas--whose absentee ballot will arrive on his doorstep today--that so many Americans don't understand why this is so disturbing sort of is the exception that makes the argument. Canadians haven't seen a populist sexist, misanthrope usurp power. We didn't go into Iraq. We took all the planes that the US turned away on 9/11, despite the security risk to our airports. Our identity is about doing the right thing, being the quietly reliable neighbour, finding satisfaction on striving to make our values align with our actions. Trudeau pivoted left in 2015 and hoovered up votes from the NDP. Many of those voters were already looking at the NDP or Greens. We. Don't. Like. Poseurs.
4
@John Egan
That's one view, but it does sound like that of a disappointed NDP voter and nothing more . The liberal party is the party of winning, and it holds the centre. The ndp holds the left. The two thirds of Canadians who abhor the politics of division practised by Harper's Conservative party chose the centre and thankfully the liberal party was there with a candidate who could credibly take the win. End of story, get over it.
The politics are predictably Liberal party fare and to his credit Trudeau has fulfilled his expected role as statesman healer of the body politic remarkably well without shirking necessary and impopular decisions including pushing out an incompetent justice minister and buying a pipeline.
If you think herding cats is simple give it a shot, but like Sangheet Singh I think your comment demonstrates you have as little understanding of the mindset of Canadian voters as that vapid opportunist or Scheer for that matter, on this subject.
3
I guess our “boyfriend” has grown up and become a bonafide politician! Proof is in the fact that the Conservatives needed to resort to playing hardball in this contest. So they went personal and leaked this party photo. I expect that those who accused him of a racist action had at one point in their life masqueraded as a black or brown character. And remember Al Jolson? He did it for a living! That was then. This is now. Things and people change.
My vote isn’t changing!
31
Carrying forward the reasons why Trudeau is being shunned, does this mean that it's not ok for drag queens to be drag queens? Can my daughter not wear a Mulan mask? Can a dark skinned child not wear a superman mask?
Where does this go?
26
It is about common sense and you are correct.
Chances are the Liberal party will still win, if for no other reason than Canadians aren't going to pull a Bernie-or-Bust and make sure that Scheer wins to spite Trudeau. That said, I'll be absentee voting for Jody in my riding.
4
It is the eternal arc of the mediaverse: overhype and then tear down. Inflate, then puncture.
A great many Canadians merely thought: well, he’s not Harper. And indeed, he hasn’t been — he’s restored a lot of decency. But he has been very much a politician, too. Collectively, we didn’t want a darling, just less of a viper. On the whole we dislike appearing smug on the world stage — or calling attention to ourselves at all.
I voted NDP (which has never won federally), so had modest expectations of Justin, though even those have been confounded. The pipeline purchase was a shock; the dressing up in traditional Indian garb in India, truly cringe-inducing. He inherited Pierre’s penchant for grabbing attention, but not Pere Trudeau’s smarts.
But the fact of these images and videos surfacing at this moment smacks of a hit job, and, as probably intended, it’s likely to sway the election. The Liberals made this bargain, hoping to ride to a second term with Justin at the helm. Historically, the Liberals are the “natural governing party” because they occupy the centre of the spectrum. But after just four years, this big tent is looking tattered.
3
Americans should know that Justin Trudeau doesn’t have a single ounce of racism in his soul and body. This is a big ado about nothing. Canada doesn’t need a conservative as Prime Minister and certainly not Scheer. We have had Harper long enough.
34
Justin Trudeau still has my vote.
18
Canada, if you're done with Mr. Trudeau, can we have him, please?
30
Approval polls on Trudeau were not much ahead of Trump.... 18 months ago! Yet the left continued to think he was some wildly popular figure. Another case, like Obama, where leftist popularity was confused with true, broad popularity.
BTW- Obama's average Gallup daily approval rating was lower over his full Presidency that Bush Sr, Bush Jr, Reagan, Clinton, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson... and Nixon. Only Carter, Truman and Trump are lower. Don't wanna believe it? Google it.
I, as a white man, once imitated Miles Davis. For the purposes of humor. I'll be turning myself in to the nearest Thought Crime center, which is half an hour south in Santa Monica (at this time of night.) Whatever my sentence is, I shall deserve it.
19
On one side of the border a leader who does foolish things in the present. On the other side, a leader who did foolish things in the past. The border itself, an imperialist inheritance.
8
What an oddly distasteful article. I went to school in Montreal with Mr Trudeau, and even then he was all style over substance and a person who commonly spoke and acted before thinking. Does it make him a bad person? No. Not even close. He has always been a relatively harmless buffoon. He has worked hard to manufacture an aura of the sophisticated and urbane man in his father's image. He is not his father, nor is he sophisticated and urbane. However, he is not a bad person, nor is he racist. Furthermore, the conservatives have overplayed their hand with this muckraking and the use of conservative newspapers to do their bidding. Canadians will forgive an apologetic PM, because gloating over character foibles is not one of our national characteristics.
23
@Clive Christy
I love how you seem to believe that you know what's in his heart, that he's fundamentally a good person while his political opponents must necessarily be fundamentally evil people in their hearts.
@Clive Christy If Justin Trudeau is a "relatively harmless buffoon," why not replace him with his Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland? She seems to be a smarter and more accomplished person than Trudeau.
No one up here really cares too much about his blackface at a dress-up party 20 years ago and, obviously, no one at that fancy private school did much either. Instead, it's his hypocrisy. There's example after his example of him going after others for perceived departures from progressive orthodoxy, or him reversing course on his stated principles for political expediency, which is exactly the SNC Lavalin Affair. He's all socks and fancy dress and no consistency.
7
Frankly I don’t care about any of this. If you are in costume, how is this different from donning a wig to look like that person?
Is there a law against dressing up as a famous black singer?
People take offense way too easily. Worry about the big stuff like trump killing off the environment and why so many young black men are failing. Hint: I don’t think it’s because Justin dressed in character for a costume party.
Did he make fun of blacks or just emulate them? There’s a difference.
19
Honestly, this story is so ridiculous. There is so little interest in this from the public here in Canada that one reporter on the CBC was so underwhelmed by the people she interviewed on the street that she finished her story by saying there should be voters out there who are outraged at this. Crickets.
And the leader of the Conservative party who stated earlier this week that if any of his candidates found themselves in this sort of situation and apologized would retain their nomination as Conservatives, is twisting himself into knots to walk it back so he won't let it apply to Trudeau.
Thanks to your politics, if slime won't stick to Trump, it has become difficult to make it stick to anyone.
18
Qualities of true leadership:
Trudeau apologizes. Trump doubles down ... on everything.
14
Well, as a Canadian who will vote on October 21, I can only say this: Trudeau is not perfect, but do I really want to go back to the Conservative Party only 4 years after getting rid of Stephen Harper? Absolutely not. I remember how the Conservatives have always been the lapdogs of the United States and I shudder when I imagine Andrew Scheer dealing with Donald Trump.
As for this "controversy", does anybody seriously think that Trudeau is a racist? If you look at his record as Prime Minister, he's certainly not. Can he be naive and bit of a lightweight? Certainly. But he's the lesser of two evils.
23
He can always run for office in Virginia as a Democrat.
7
He may not be perfect, but wanna trade?
15
Even so, I’d still take Trudeau over Trump ANY DAY
9
Trudeau can be arrogant, he can be dismissive but I do not think he is a bad person, nor do I believe he is a racist. Today, he did what so many of us should do and that is acknowledge our white privilege. He seemed sincere when he admitted he was indeed in black face but was oblivious to the hurt and pain it caused people of colour. He may very well lose the election, but he stood up, admitted he was wrong and owned this shortcoming fully.
His Conservative opponent is salivating and will undermine Trudeau and his apology at every opportunity. It is up to us, as Canadians to decide if Trudeau is sincere or not. I do find it rich that the anti-immigrant Conservative leader will run with Trudeau’s dreadful mistake right to our election day. I think I would rather have a man who is willing to admit his mistake than a man willing to blatantly politicize it for personal gain.
21
Listening to CBC today I heard one head of a Canadian Islamic organization describe the black/brown face thing as a distraction and ask that we focus on something important, like climate change. I agree with her.
The media’s response to this had been to hope it’s a big story. It isn’t.
(To be fair to the media, they may have latched onto this ‘scandal’ because it is way less scary than everything else going on these days:
6 hurricanes
Brexit
Trump
Saudi Arabia realizing Iran can wipe them out
etc.)
15
This dumb story about Justin Trudeau dressing up as Aladdin when he was young kept popping up as a top story on the NYT website, for at least 24 hours. You just can’t even believe anyone is taking all this seriously. Can we please move on to today’s issues?
This is political correctness carried to the extreme. Racism involves intent. Does anyone really believe that Justin Trudeau is racially insensitive? Emerson's " a foolish consistency is the Hobgoblin of little minds" fits those political correctness police, who are beginning to resemble the religious police in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
12
@Don Shipp.
I call them the New Puritans. Use it if you like.
1
Amid our blackface controversy in the Old Dominion, I gotta wonder: what in the heck makes these sorts of men put shoe polish on their faces?
It should not have been funny when Al Jolson did it. Now it's completely inexcusable. So why does anyone with any political aspirations still put shoe polish on his face?
I say "his" knowingly. Never seen a woman do it.
Just asking. Seriously.
3
Love the generalizations here! Way to go!
1
Funny Ms. Gismondi, we don't see it that way at all. This American style smear campaign is a sleazy conservative play. Poor Scheer. Lacking, personality, I could forgive, but original thought and ethics? never.
12
This is such a non-story. I haven't seen the blackface picture but the so-called brownface is just a costume and makeup. If he's thought to be doing an offensive caricature of Middle Eastern people, why is it OK for Will Smith to play exactly the same character in the Aladdin movie? He's no more Middle Eastern than Trudeau. And what bearing any of that has on Trudeau's ability to govern, or how it makes Canada "very, very racist," is beyond me.
19
@Perfect Gentleman
The two situations are in no way the same and you know it. Will Smith didn't change the color of his skin when he played the genie.
Is anyone else worn out by the Outrage Culture yet?
26
Wait. Do I have this correct? Twenty years ago Trudeau attended a Arabian Nights costume party dressed as Aladdin?
How does this constitute a "downfall" or make him a racist?
18
@Mae
Then why is it different when it happens in the USA?
The question is not whether or not someone should be found "guilty" for something he did twenty years or fifty years ago. It's not about individual character or actions. It's about collective white culture and consciousness. I wish white people would understand that blackface reflects an arrogant assumption that it's okay to occupy brown and black bodies. Google "blackface on college campuses" and you'll find that white college kids still love playing grotesque blackface dress up at white-only parties. This must be why white readers of this paper find this practice so unremarkable and charming and forgivable. For brown and black people. it is simply humiliating to see some white guy mock their bodies in this way.
4
@MP
Canadians, certainly a decade or two ago at least, aren't necessarily aware of the history of American blackface. I would say not even one in ten were aware of it before Kavanaugh, and maybe two in a hundred in 2000.
If your countrymen hadn't indulged in the nasty stage practice in decades past, no one anywhere would consider it bad.
I support condemnation of it in the present day, but to expect people in other countries to have condemned it decades ago is going too far. That's your history, not ours.
2
The writer forgets that Trudeau fulfilled campaign promises of making his cabinet (nearly) 50% women, installed a turban wearing Sikh as Minister of Defense, marched in gay pride parades, and in general continued the legacy of a multi-cultural society, not to mention standing up to the punk who is president of the United States. Canadians in general are comfortable living in a society in which there are all kinds of immigrants and we welcome those in need.
I predict most Canadians don't really care if a dude has fun at an Arabian Nights party, these are costumes after all. As for Mr Jagmeet Singh of the NDP, his party has never come close to power, which is shy one of party's knick-names is "Nothing Doing Party." Politicians will always take advantage of trivial headline grabbing stuff and many political journalists specialize in dramatic exaggeration.
14
I haven’t seen any pictures of Trump or Stephen Miller in blackface. But who do I think is more racist- them or Justin Trudeau?
Blackface may be crass, insensitive, and insulting, but it usually isn’t intended that way and doesn’t keep me awake at night. Racist people do.
15
If someone would look over my life with a fine toothed comb, I hate to think of the really stupid stuff I did in my youth. I am sure all of us have done something we are not proud of. Why judge his actions then by where he is and believes now. Also our sensibilities have changed; many of us are now aware of how racists blackface is. Some of us did then but that is usually because we lived with and had friends of color who let us know. We were aware, but most white people had no clue.
8
Show me a perfect politician, please.
It will be a huge waste for Canada if it replaces Trudeau someone like a mean spirited Harper or a know-nothing Rob Ford.
All around the world, we need less of this purity arms race nonsense that has infected the left.
12
"The Downfall of Canada’s Dreamy Boyfriend"
Hogwash! With a BEAST of a man, nay, a beastly IMITATION of a man like Trump sitting in the Horror House, we should reflect on the fact that is NOT the face one paints on, but the face one shows to the world. In that, Justin Trudeau has proved over and over he should be revered, not reviled, and most especially not for something as trivial as donning a painted colored face. Better a disguise, makeup and costume at a party, than the ugly face of lies, corruption, and TOTAL disregard for American democracy by no less than the man who disgustingly calls himself "your favorite president."
12
Our Governor in Alabama also wore a blackface when she was younger. She said it was a mistake and life moved on. The same will happen with Trudeau.
As a writer wrote some time ago much ado about nothing. It is amazing how some of the writers in the past got it right.
8
The cutie has feet of clay. Goodbye
Dear Canada,
If you toss Trudeau over this you're throwing the baby out with the bath water. What you're going to wind up with instead, is a more polished version of trump. You've witnessed every day what he's done and is doing to America, to you and others. Don't open the door for a Canadian version. Take it from us, it's like opening the door to a rabid skunk - a lot of stuff gets broken trying to get him out, his bite can be deadly and the stink will take forever to wash off.
Sincerely and very exhausted,
America
17
People from Canada will always be one up on people from the US.
No long history of slavery.
5
look at what you have as a leader, then judge...over a costume almost 20 years ago at a theme party....really?
6
The Canadian Conservative party is not synonymous with the Republican party of yore, let alone the Trumpian monstrosity it has become since 2016.. It is pro-public health care and courts immigrant and minority support, among numerous other differences. About equivalent to a centre left Democrat, as a rough comparison. Its Canadian.
And hey its an election- all the major parties have been digging dirt for a month now, the Liberals as hard as any other.
But what makes this so great for Canadians who've always thought that Trudeau was an underqualified not terribly bright poser is how it shows up against his holier than thou attitude- if you weren't quite as inclusive, quite as progressive, quite as feminist as Justin , you were just a bad person period. Well chickens and roosts.
Still take him in a heartbeat over Trump of course.
2
@bobw you forgot to mention that the Conservative Party is also pro-electoral fraud. In-and-out, robocalls. remember?
1
Well not really. The writer reveals a anti-Trudeau bias that is certainly widespread in my province of Alberta but not necessarily in the country as a whole. While it’s too soon to tell what the consequences of the photos will be, the PM’s track record as a strong campaigner who makes genuine connections with voters cannot be ignored. Don’t count him out yet. And Albertans are happy he bought the pipeline. He just needs to get the thing built.
13
Any American familiar with Canadian politics already knew that Trudeau wasn't much of a leader. It's the contrast with Trump that makes Trudeau look like a superstar.
11
I found myself deeply irritated by the immense smugness of this article. Is Trudeau less popular now than four years ago? Absolutely, but what politician maintains that level of popularity? Has he made some embarrassing blunders? Yes, but there have also been remarkable strides, particularly (and interestingly, given the current controversy) in terms of diversity and the representation of women in cabinet. And as with all politicians, the choice to support him doesn't exist in a vacuum. The alternative is Scheer, who has not offered the sort of full-throated apology Trudeau for his truly odious comments about gay marriage.
So what, exactly, is the point of this? To me, this piece is reminiscent of the Republican complaints that Obama was more movie star than president. You can congratulate yourself for being cynical, for not being fooled, but if you do you miss the genuine moments of change. And instead you end up with the grey men of history like Scheer or Harper before him, or even worse, the populist demagoguery of Trump or Johnson.
Better the flawed idealist than either of those choices, I say.
65
The author posed a question at the very end. "Who is the real Mr. Trudeau?" Here is your answer. A captive puppet of the oil industry. Many of those corporations and their bankers are foreign controlled. They have no concerns about climate change nor about the fate of Canada. In this he is no different than his Conservative Party opponents. The difference between them is that Conservatives make no secret of their attitudes. They scoff at climate change science and they promote the petroleum industry shamelessly. Trudeau and his Liberals put up a smokescreen of progressive social programs which have fooled many voters. He made especially glowing promises to reduce greenhouse gasses one day and literally the very next day greenlighted another huge oil pipeline. Our third party - the New Democratic Party likewise presents itself as socially progressive, as if progressive principles can be followed in social programs but not in our relation to our environment. When it comes to environment they can only talk about "protecting jobs", a vestigial echo of what used to be a workers' party. It is heartbreaking as the NDP is the source of many of the best qualities of Canadian life, such as our fine and affordable medical care. They have expunged the word "Socialism" from their self-description. We have a lovely, young Green Party, but still very small. You asked who is Trudeau, and this is my answer. A captive puppet. There are others waiting to fill that role.
4
@B. Mused
When those on one side call you a "captive puppet of the oil industry" and those on the other side say you couldn't care less about the oil industry and its workers, you're probably going about things just right.
1
Yet another dream shattered. That's too bad, as PM Trudeau was quite useful to Americans on the left. Where to turn now is the question.
American conservatives, however, have paid much less attention to the PM; to most, he's simply been Canada's current leader.
One wonders, is there any chance the PM can do a Ralph Northam and weather the storm despite the optics?
2
@BayArea101
It wasn't much of a dream and it wasn't shattered either, for that matter, because was never a hero, and he's still a decent guy.
4
Thank you. I really thought he was my dreamy boyfriend, and I think I don't want to call him back for a few days now.
But he has treated me well, as well as my friends, and he really seems to now be a dreamy guy.
4
Why does this matter ? It was away in the past, could be just honest mistake or somebody who didn't know any better back then or not thoughtful but not ill intention or evil act. Even if it was ill intention, couldn't somebody learn and evolve already and now
regret it?
shouldn't his actions now or during his leadership matters more or speaks more about who he is ?!!.
21
There's no undoing. Trudeau is a GREAT man who will be forgiven 1000x for mistakes he made in the past. The 'scandals' against him reveal the bland nature of Canadian politics.
LONG LIVE Justin Trudeau - may he live to 120, From a grateful fan.
42
I fully intend to vote for Trudeau, despite his mistakes and scandals - none of which, BTW, even hold a candle to what Trump does on a daily basis. Ms. Gismodi notes four instances of Trudeau doing something objectionable. To be frank, it's not much more than this and, most importantly, the alternative to Trudeau is Andrew Scheer, a man who heads a Conservative Party that desperately wants to quadruple the amount of oil Canada produces, has no effective climate change plan and, in its last iteration under Stephen Harper (who continues to pull strings in the backrooms) tried to legalize discrimination against Muslims and declared war on Canadian scientists. In short, Scheer is infinitely worse than Trudeau and his election would set the country back by decades. In politics, we must be practical. No leader lives up to expectations, but we must be willing to vote for the less than ideal to stop the truly awful.
60
Melissa, Not for nothing, but the United States is still imploding, and for many Americans Canada remains a beacon of hope.
Whatever Justin Trudeau may have done twenty or thirty years ago with brownface or blackface, it has little bearing on the person that he is today.
It is important that these incidents be put in their proper context. One must look at his age primarily regarding the balckface, and as for the brownface I personally feel it is way over reach he was attending a Fancy Dress party in an Aladdin costume .
Fast forward to today Trudeau has shown himself to be a leading voice for Liberalism and opponent of Populism on the world stage.
For me the 'Now' is what matters.
In terms of the upcoming Canadian election I just got done watching a BBC piece interviewing Canadian voters, thankfully it appears that common sense is prevailing, people are upset and annoyed, but this issue will not it seems change many votes.
After all Americans knowingly elected a candidate running for President who openly boasted about groping women , and how they liked it because he was a star, in addition to that fact that on national TV he mocked a disabled man.
This election in Canada is too important to allow for it to become about Justin Trudeau's behavior as a teen and a young adult. The last thing Canadians or the world needs is a Trump wannabee in the shape of the Conservative Candidate to be elected as their Prime Minister.
51
Oh, big deal tbh. He apologized, it was a long time ago, he admitted it was a stupid thing to do. Let's focus on what is really important:
He still leads the party that is committed to the environment and to the well-being of working people. The alternatives are Trumpian terrible.
46
@Donna huh? He is a huge supporter of tar sands oil extraction, an environmental disaster of the highest order. He is same as Trump when it comes to environment.
Voters still don’t get it. Politicians- all politicians - are self aggrandizing, power hungry hypocrites. Power, fame and fortune are what drives them. Some are worse than others, true. None are altruistic. Never, ever fall in love with them. You will only be bitterly disappointed.
8
If Trudeau had done this last week I could understand the outrage. Frankly, I'm sick of seeing people demonized for things they did years, and years ago before these things were considered racist. I wish somebody would have the guts to stand up and say this right out loud. I am somewhat disappointed in Trudeau but not for some trumped up reason such as this. The man is not racist. Give me a break! Had this info been made public prior to the campaign Trudeau may have taken a hit but people tend to ignore mud slinging stories that only come to light during a campaign. Not only this, but people also know this story is out of context in comparison to the sensitive conditions of today.
39
@Jenny Durke. Absolutely right! The party was themed Arabian Nights. Aladdin was not white.
It was years ago before the PC Police took over. I remember years ago in high school having Hawaiian luau-themed parties. Do you think we went dressed as kangaroos?
No! And some even realized that by dressing up as a person from another culture, there was much to be learned from having done so.
16
@GOOne of the 2 Sikhs pictured in another shot from the same night is mystified. Everybody was into full dress mode......and had a god time. JT is not stupid nor a racist.
People have to get a grip here. This happened 20 years ago or more. The milieu in which Trudeau blackened his skin was more a themed costume party rather than a mean spirited racist event. Yes, it was bad judgement. He has apologized and his political adversaries need to stop grandstanding.
25
It was also a time when Othello was in many productions still ‘blackface’.
Could we hear from Arabs (Aladin was one) if they are offended please?
4
Comparing the followers of Trump and Trudeau, it's hard to escape the wisdom of the old adage that conservatives are tribal, while liberals are fratricidal.
7
The truth is Trudeau has already fixed this.
He admitted he was wrong.
That was a display of compassion and empathy for those people that felt awful when they saw the images.
He did not attack the accuser like the U.S. administration.
Very good Mr. Trudeau. And you have certainly made lemonade out of the lemons. I imagine your team loves you more than ever, now. A true leader. Sigh....
16
This issue is being overblown... by an American newspaper no less. Ask us here and tbh no one really cares - we just look south of the border and are just thankful we don't have any of that craziness. We have bigger issues to deal with than this.
I'd much rather have Trudeau that have alternative Trump-lite Conservative party with a majority government. That is even worse than having Trudeau as prime minister in my opinion. I can deal with the pandering to the media and whatever else you can criticize about him. He hasn't been great, but he hasn't been terrible either.
19
Canadians getting all apoplectic about Justin’s Trudeau’s having painted his face as part of a costume nearly 20 years ago has turned the tables on US-Canadian relations. It is now this country that is literally bordering on the ridiculous.
11
Finally, the world is taking notice Canada. But of course , the “scandal” so absurdly silly. Naturally, Trudeau’s adversary’s are taking full advantage. Politics is rough sport, and opponents are going to act opportunistically to give him a good kicking when he’s down. To do otherwise would an outrageous dereliction of itself. And by the way I’m a strong Liberal supporter.
11
It astonishes me that many people who have bayed for blood when others make the same racist choice now excuse a Trudeau for making a ‘mistake’.
You can’t say blackface is an inexcusable sin for some and a childish mistake for others. It’s exactly this sort of inconsistent selectiveness that social conservatives latch onto and turns people off from social justice movements.
To say that it doesn’t matter because of his record isn’t good enough. This article points out just how shallow that record really is compared to his image. Being an attractive social media darling is just about the only reason I can see.
9
@Karl
You can tell far-left notions of fairness are all rot by how often they indulge in this sort of self-contradictory hypocrisy.
They never tire of bragging about their concern for fairness, but then they show they have little better idea of what it means than the far right.
Maybe it's just a matter of time before I stop telling people I'm a liberal. They'll just get the wrong idea.
2
@Karl
I think you nailed it. Make him bald, overweight and older and he would be destroyed for this.
2
The writer simply doesn't understand Canadian voters. Skewer yourself a couple of times on national media and people will eat it up. As much as I may dislike Trudeau, he is playing it like a pro, and I believe this will push him over the top.
13
My perception is that there is less of a "national outrage" and more of a perceived opportunity by those who don't like Mr. Trudeau in the first place to bloviate in the media.
In the latest events, those that are the most "offended" by Mr. Trudeau's "racist insensitivity" also support policies in real life that are less progressive and inclusive than those of Mr. Trudeau's government.
23
We should bear in mind that 18 years ago few people in Canada would have considered "blackface" or "brownface" as racist. There has been a breathtaking change in political and cultural norms since 2000, and it's somewhat unfair to burden public figures with blame for things which at the time were not really blameworthy. Analogous accusations have been thrown at Conservative leader Scheer regarding his previous opposition to gay marriage. Trudeau and Scheer have responded with apologies or acknowledgments according to today's standards, but this really should not be carried too far.
9
Okay, everyone, let's posthumously berate Laurence Oliver for his performance of "Othello." I personally feel both his makeup and his performance were embarrassing, but hey, he was just doing his job. And while we're at it, get your cameras at the ready to photograph the kids who show up at your door on Halloween, just in case one of them ever tries to run for office. Really, people?
24
Totally let’s get out the sensitivity police. This is absurd. Ridiculous
2
“Who is the real Mr. Trudeau?”
Well, I am a native-born American living in Canada as a dual citizen and I will tell you my opinion. On environment, Trudeau has left me very disappointed. On ethics, ditto. However on multiculturalism this article needs a reality check. What Trudeau did with blackface has evaporated into the ether, while the refugees he invited into our country are real people raising their families today in a country that has very low cost health care that Americans don't dream of. They were welcomed with open arms. The Saudi daughter who fled her father, locked herself in a room in an airport and kept the whole world riveted to her cries for help? I went to bed one night very worried about this desperate lady. The next morning the news greeted me that she was safe in Canada. There was a photo of her being embraced by a Canadian immigration official. It brought tears to my eyes. That's the real Trudeau and the real difference he has made in the world. We need Trudeau now. He needs to grow up, and we need to give him the room to do so.
38
@Anne Sherrod: As a dual US/Canadian citizen who’s lived in Canada for 50 years and who wouldn’t think of moving back to the USA with its present political climate, I couldn’t agree with you more. Has Trudeau made mistakes? Surely. Show me the politician who hasn’t? But, judging by the composition of his cabinet and the role model he’s set in welcoming refugees, the last character flaw I would assign to him is racism. One of my fondest memories of his term as PM is a picture of him welcoming Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada in the middle of winter. He brought heavy winter coats with him. For that alone, I’m more than willing to give him a pass on this current nonsense.
6
I am thoroughly sick of the "gotcha " culture that delights in dredging up embarrassing incidents without acknowledging that we humans are flawed creatures who make mistakes but who can also learn and grow.
There is an ugly, vindictiveness here.
34
This is all very disappointing. But, to be honest, Justin's actions reflect one of the core beliefs of all whites in British settler nations: that being white makes a person a little more Canadian/American/Australian than someone who is not. All of the racism--big and small, explicit and implicit, institutional and personal--embodies this reality. Even for the most progressive and egalitarian whites, non-whites live and work in Canada and the United States with less claim on the nation as whites. Sometimes, we are celebrated, other times we are belittled or attacked, most of the times we are tolerated--yet we are never the same.
1
Gismondi condemns Trudeau for very unusual reasons.She justifies her criticism as she says that Trudeau did some things against his image or was a”political Hardball” or violated an environmental law or was not true to his image.She condemns Trudeau as if he did something so outrageous that he should be banished from Canadian politics.In that case,should Barack Obama be demonised because a Democrat lost the Election after he left the job?Does it not say that Obama was such a bad ruler that he paved the way for Hillary Clinton’s defeat?I find it strange that Trudeau should be condemns for something he did 18 years ago as a teacher.Or as Gismondi says that he is anti-feminist because he expelled two female politicians from his party as he viewed them as unviable or dangerous political rivals or liabilities.Evicting rivals is the daily job of a politician who want to survive.Theresa May was sacked as Prime Minister by her party.Should it not have been done?Grismondi hints that Canadians thought so highly of Trudeau that they are now disappointed.Being Prime Minister itself means that he will be subject to erosion&unless there are miracles,Trudeau like all others will lose unless he retires.Thus far,Trudeau has done nothing so bad,that he deserves ignominy.I wish Canadians compare him to the dozens of other pompous,insensitive,corrupt rulers there are in the world&give him a chance.Look at his competition?That should be enough to vote for Trudeau once again.Wake up Canada!
13
Give him a break. He was young and foolish. He knows that. Let him get on with the business of governing. I believe he will come out of this a better person and a better leader.
10
"As Canadians living in the United States, we tried to tell you: That dude you thought was your dreamy boyfriend?"
As a Canadian living in Canada, this actually doesn't make much of an impact with voters. Was it stupid? Yes it was, but have some perspective here. He has apologized and his record over the years has been pretty good on social issues. This doesn't rise anywhere near to the things Biden has done and continues to do, never mind someone like Kavanaugh.
As for SNC-Lavalin, this has to be one of the biggest manufactured 'scandals' I've ever seen. It's had pundits and reporters (particularly for the Globe & Mail) hyperventilating, but it's another non-issue for voters and won't sway many if any voters. We've found the antics of the two ex-ministers who resigned much more unsavory. Honestly, the whole thing boils down to -
"The Prime Minister applied so much pressure I didn't change my mind".
and Canadian voters are smart enough to have figured that out.
24
This article is the opinion of someone writing and selling a book. Canadians offline, understand this is a nothing burger.
Shame on us if we give this anything more than a slight shrug.
18
Only US liberals fell in love with the guy. For the rest of us, as these events and his earlier influence scandal unfolded, just another politician with a media strategy.
4
I feel compelled to agree with the first 5 comments I read here. This article is really jumping the shark (over blowing things by a significant amount). Trudeau's political decisions may be debatable but they are justifiable and rational and the blackface business is regrettable, but not fatal and his apology sincere. The question is where will draw the line on this "cancel culture" crusade. What great leader in our past could withstand this level of scrutiny and judgement? What person is so flawless to deserve our unrestricted admiration? I am adding Ms. Gismondi to my list of "people who are part of the problem," but I still wish her well and would not want to get her fired because she went too far in one editorial.
9
I'm brown. Not sure what's wrong with some white painting himself brown.? Looks like he's playing a character. Even if not, I don't see the point of the outrage.
20
So if I have this right, it sounds like the brownface episode (....from 18 years ago) coming to light, was really the straw that broke the camel's back?
More kneejerk political correctness.
Sure, white folk dressing up in brownface has a bad history. But now everything has become far too black and white (pun intended), with no allowances.
Can't dress up like Pippy Longstocking with freckles and a long red wig (could be seen as insulting to those with freckles...or making fun of redheads).
Can't have any public statues of people who did things deemed 'bad' (guess that means we have to take down pretty much every public statue, for surely if we dig deep enough, we'll find statues of people who cheated on a spouse, underpaid an employee/worker, made an off-color joke, cheated on their taxes, etc.)
Was this all really about a litany of offenses that Trudeau has made over the years, or was the brownface episode the one thing which, in our ultra-PC social media influenced world, the ultimate thing he could not surmount?
10
We (Americans) will trade Trump for Trudeau in a heartbeat.
11
The writer Guimond has missed a crucial point. Trudeau's attempted interference and pressure with the Attorney General and the decision of the prosecution undermines democracy. The Prime Minister cannot interfere with prosecutorial discretion. It is lazy journalism to simply refer to his interference as a slight against feminism.
8
So, dump Trudeau over something that no Conservative would resign over, and replace him with Canada's Trump. Got it.
16
The modern day crime against humanity, labelled Cultural Approbation by the current dictators of social morality, is a fad that seems unlikely to endure, because it has no boundaries and requires no malice. If it exists at all, then each of us is guilty. Just as we are guilty of imperfection and mortality. As a famous and very wise Jewish philosopher once said, over two millennia ago, “Let him who is entirely without sin, cast the first stone...”
I shudder to think what the next generation of moral arbiters will have to say in judging the musings of a non-Believer who chooses to quote Jesus Christ.
5
@Robert Richardson
If that famous Jewish philosopher ever comes back around, I'd expect to find him eating in a Chinese restaurant. The right-wing fundamentalists would excoriate him for not keeping kosher; those on the left would accuse him of cultural appropriation.
He'd likely respond, “Let him who is entirely without sin, cast the first stone.” I doubt that he'd apologize.
2
Trudeau is shallow, but that is not his worst offense. How bad is he? Let me count the ways: deficits, cronyism, hypocrisy, choosing cabinet members because of their sex/ethnicity, not because they are competent. He acted criminally in the SNC Lavalin scandal.
I can’t wait to vote.
He is a disgrace. When visiting a mosque, he had his female ministers relegated to the bleachers. How is that for an apostle of equality.
He puts on disguises all the time. How’s that for cultural appropriation. He said at one point that Canada would accept all refugees, and of course he had to take it back, as he was facing a serious backlash from Canadians.
He is an empty suit, with an empty head, except for the fact that hot air takes the room of brain cells.
3
@Danielle Davidson: Well, be happy then that my vote will cancel yours. Electing Scheer would be like electing either Ford or a mini Trump. No thanks. Canada deserves better.
1
It would take a lot more than this regrettable incident to sink that dreamboat.
9
Goodness. There's Justin Trudeau, and then there's Donald Trump.
12
It seems there is the mistaken impression, amongst some commentators here, that this blackface incident is the big gripe with him. It’s not. The gripes are about broken promises, one of which has to do with the pipeline and how he dealt with that.
1
Not sure what the criticism is here. I hope the media realizes that when you crucify people for minor offenses you end up with Trump. No one his or her right mind would run for office in this climate.
11
Oooh. Bad judgment for sure. But it’s up to the Canadians to decide. I think most people have had too many opinions and unneeded commentary from Americans. We have our own issues to resolve.
5
Perhaps Ms. Gismondi should take pause before proclaiming the downfall of Mr. Justin Trudeau!
Seriously, the issue of proportional representation is a non-issue and was quickly forgotten by most; god forbid it being adopted in Canada lest we become ruled by the radical extremes like in Israel. As for the conflict with Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott, Mr. Trudeau did not want a major Canadian engineering company to unravel on the basis of a decade old bribe in Lybia. A point can easily be made that Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott eventually pushed their political luck too far, hoping to unseat Mr. Trudeau. No self-preserving politician would have kept them on board.
As for the brown/blackface issue, this is a serious issue but it should not be viewed through American optics. Slavery is not Canada’s original stain. We have, for the most part, evolved into an open multicultural society. Mr. Justin Trudeau has been the strongest proponent of this vision which originated with his father; his recent deeds speak louder than his partying twenty years ago. Certainly, the best way to regress in this respect would be to elect a Conservative government.
16
It is fascinating to read the many mea culpas for Mr. Trudeau’s behavior in the comments section. I am sure if the shoe was on the other foot; that is, if Mr. Harper was outed for such behavior, the moral outrage would be intense.
As an American democrat and liberal, I wish no harm to Mr. Trudeau, but I can smell hypocrisy in these comments from thousands of miles away.
Blackface is bad and apologies at this point are self-serving at best and seem from afar disingenuous.
3
Oh please. This actually smacks of oppo-political hit job. Where did this footage come from? Some nice do gooder just thought that everyone should know JT’s not all that?! Sorry. This reminds me so much of Al Franken. Everyone panicked, and rushed to judgement and a very good man was essentially removed from his job, which he did very well, because of photos depicting him fake touching a woman. Wasn’t even touching her.
I hope the Canadians vote their conscience and prove that they are indeed smarter than we are.
20
Ridiculous. Even with all the effort that this article puts in trying to sound offended, it comes out as the epitome of banality.
Once you think 1 second about it, there’s really nothing there. Don’t try to take a ridiculous high ground on such a minimal thing.
15
Who is Elissa J. Gismondi? As a Canadian in my 60s who has followed politics for a lifetime, even the headline and introduction to this article is unrecognizable. “A long time coming?” Canadians are not as taken with the “dreamy boyfriend” (her own description) of Justin Trudeau as this “journalist” would have you believe. Canadians see him as a person with a famous father, of course, but also as a leader with his on integrity and ability. She seems to have been either very naive or just waiting, like his political enemies” to write such an article. Her political leaning as being anti-Trudeau are the real motivation for this article. For most reasonable Canadians, including people of colour, this is not the end of the world and his apology is understood and appreciated.
23
I was over him when he refused to limit the massively polluting tar sands: as spineless as any other money-grubbing politician.
Don't fall into this trap of mass hysteria. There's nothing "racist" about painting one's face, wearing costumes, or anything of the sort. In fact, it shouldn't even be a point of contention in the United States despite its history of slavery, due to the guaranteed right of self-expression. And here we're talking about Canada, which is a completely different country without America's history of slavery. It seems as if American liberals are trying to export their neuroses to other countries. This is a slippery slope that leads to Stalinism and "the thought police" and people need to regain their senses. What else are you going to be paranoid about, tanning salons? Coal miners? The negative literary connotation of the words "dark" or "blacklist?" The world has moved past the leftist terror of the Jacobins and the Communists, but political correctness (PC) can metastize into a similarly dangerous reign, and we should keep that in mind.
9
He sounds just like Obama - talks a good game but toes the establishment line when it comes to action.
2
Good article, but the writer did not understand the reasons the Prime Minister bought the Trans Mountain pipeline - it had nothing to do with supporting the oil and gas industry, believe me!
4
Amazing that such a fuss is made over some face make-up that a Canadian politician wore to a party at age 29. At the same time we all but worship George Washington as "The Father of His Country" and he was a big time slave owner.
8
For God's sake Canada, get a grip. If Trudeau loses to a mini-Trump in Canada and Trump wins over here, where are we going to escape to?
16
'"He is getting so embarrassing."' Getting? He was always considered a bit of a joke, frankly. And yet he is all there is between Canadians and a right-wing conservative Prime Minister who opposes gay marriage and abortion. His pipeline betrayal is truly awful - (something either party would have done, though) - but foolishly dressing up as an Arabian prince is not the same as wearing blackface in America. Context is very important here.
9
Whatever you say about Trudeau, he was not racist 20 years ago and he is not racist now. This article makes ridiculous pronouncements.
18
again, absurd.
I don't really like the guy or his policies or attitude.
But for all his supporters to 'jump ship' and jump on the cancel-culture bandwagon cuz he wore black-face so many years ago is crazy.
How has he treated people of color since then? Pretty darn good right? Did he admit he made a mistake? Yes. Did he do it again? No. Has he not led 'your' people in so many great ways and carried your 'flag.' Yes.
I'm no supporter of this guy and don't agree with many of his positions. But for his supporters to instantly jump ship as if he'd never done anything of value for 'your side' and as if he hadn't stood up for so many of your values is ridiculous. Knee-jerk-insanity.
The left, if they ever had one, has truly lost it's collective mind in almost every way.
3
Let's all get over this black face thing!
As a child over the years I was Aunt Jemima, a hobo, Madame Butterfly, a gypsy, a cossack, Charlie Chaplin and whatever/whoever else. Only in the last decade has everything become wrong. I am sure on Halloween or costume parties every race/ethnic group puts on a costume of something.
Let's not worry about Canada, we have much more horrify things going on in this country with our president.
9
This is way overblown. One incident dates back to his high school when he wore black/brownface at a school concert, presumably with the encouragement, or at least under the supervision of, the teaching staff. The second incident seems to have taken place at a staff party at the school he then taught at, a party with an Arab theme (he was apparently dressed as Aladdin). The pictures were not taken at some neo fascist assembly, or a private event for racists or xenophobes. Not the smartest move, given his future in public life and the subsequent shift in public mores. He may not be the smartest of guys, but he's not some secret acolyte of Strom Thurmond. Get this behind you Justin and get on with running the shop.
11
This article should be retitled "Build them Up and Tear Them Down: The Business of Media Hype."
Gismondi's issue, it seems, has less to do with Trudeau and more with the way the media has hyped him since he emerged on the world stage.
8
The headline and article proclaim Trudeau’s “downfall.” Really? Can’t we wait and see what happens before jumping to the end of the story?
5
Stop it with this culture of outrage.
12
Campaigning is done in poetry, governing is done in prose. Still Trudeau has done much more for liberal policies than his predecessor, the universally hated Stephen Harper. The blackface incident is only taken seriously by the chattering classes who paint it as just short of Nazi behaviour and indicative of a deep-seated streak of racism. Reactions by normal citizens on TV are much more qualified, even among "racialized" commentators, who see it as rather innocent. The SNC-Lavalin affair is much more complex than Ms Gismondi paints it. Justin's father, Pierre Trudeau, would just have told his critics to fuddle-duddle off, but Justin is too nice and polite to say so. Anyway, Trudeau's main rival, Andrew Scheer. still has refused to apologize for some deeply homophobic remarks he made as a young MP.
6
I'm a Canadian living in Canada and as far as I can tell, no one cares about this story as much as the New York Times. I live in one of the largest cities in Canada and the Trudeau story was not on the front page of our newspaper, but it was on the front page of the New York Times! I'm amazed at how eagerly the NYT is jumping all over Trudeau and, by extension, Canada. This article in particular is so far removed from what people are actually talking about here that I can only see it as the author's wishful thinking. It makes me wonder- does bashing Trudeau make you feel better about Trump? Sad.
14
@ES
It was front page of the Globe and Mail, and made all the evening news discussion panels.
I don't exonerate the PM at all for doing something stupid long ago, except to say look at his policies, the make up of his cabinet, and the things he says as leader. Is he a politician who thrives on division? No. Is he a guy with a long track record of saying things that are racist? No. Does he push for policies that play into race fear? No. Is he a politician who is more style than substance? Perhaps. I'm a long time Liberal supporter, but I didn't applaud Trudeau's rise to the top of his party. And yet, in today's world, his approach and character should count for plenty.
490
@CM
//Is he a politician who thrives on division?
Yes. Dividing people by skin colour and/or ethnic background, religion and promoting them solely on that basis.
//Does he push for policies that play into race fear?
Yes. Having no regard for the environment, infrastructure or suitability of people he wants to bring into the country to double Canada's population by 2048.
Sorry, but you can't run a country when the vast majority of people you bring in are unqualified beyond minimum-age jobs and pretend minimum wage workers are going to lead to prosperity.
Minimum wage workers stay that way for at least a generation - especially when you're cutting education funding in favor of international students who pay more tuition than Canadians.
An increasing number of refugees are already homeless now that the generous government stipend has run out and they have to survive on meager welfare payments like other Canadians in Toronto. Perhaps you'd know that if you were to walk downtown Toronto sometime.
11
@Viv
I'm in downtown Toronto every working day, and I don't see the great flood of homeless refugees you seem to. I see the mentally ill, addicts and other unfortunate souls. Granted, I don't know their stories, but neither do you.
I have, however spoken to many cab and Uber drivers, who have found a new home here. Supportive care workers, doctors, architects who are working two jobs until they can get the further certification they need to practice their disciplines in this country.
I concur that his stand on environmental issues are sadly lacking. He's a friend to big oil. Absolutely. But your suggestion that his stand on the environment somehow relates to race fear as a political tactic says more about you than about him. If you're afraid, that's your problem.
52
@CM
I am looking forward seeing how smart is Canadian people when they interpret these wrongdoing he made a long ago.
It will show if democracy is a good system or not!
10
The NDP is in distant third place. The Conservatives don't have a majority of the ridings and the Liberals can throw Trudeau overboard after the election, but don't count on it.
1
Justin Trudeau is a very good person and the best candidate.
Let's look past the smoke and mirrors.
9
This is all small potatoes compared to our hot potato.
15
Indeed. His misdeeds are small compared to Trump's, Johnson's and many other world leaders' ... so let's not be so extreme.
3
He has apologized for these incidents and learned from them. I appreciate his honesty.
11
No. Absolutely no. You cannot, you will not write up Trudeau in this manner. None of this matters. PC nonsense is not the basis for an electoral decision.
The Liberal Party is the basis for the realization of progressive dreams. Trudeau is a Liberal. ‘Nuff said.
199
@KxS Did you read the column? It actually does exactly the opposite of what you're complaining about: it argues that we Canadians (including many Liberals) have already grown disillusioned with Trudeau because of his *policy* decisions—which she then itemizes.
8
@KxS. Trudeau (father and son) have been a disaster for Canada...starting with the “Charter” with is an anathema fro a Parliamentary democracy. JT has shown himself to be a sheep in wolf’s clothing who has no concept of how to govern...his only job has been a part-time drama teacher for several months and it now shows. The guy is a disgrace and does not deserve to be (re)-elected to anything. Progressive dreams mean nothing other than endless apologies, rampant corruption, and feckless spending. Enough, before we have no country left!!!
There are many thing Justin Trudeau did wrong and that’s why I am not voting for him.
But this “issue” is quintessential to the problem of political correctness.
6
I am about as left wing as one can get but I really am puzzled by this outcry. It was a costume party, a theme party. Wasn't the 'browness ' a charcharacteristic of a character (who probably was not blond -haired and blue- eyed or even merely fair-complexioned? ) People come in a number of shades -- that's a fact, not an insult.
23
To counter. That same brownness extends to Jesus but I don't think I've seen a brown Jesus around much.
In matters like these perhaps better to first hear from black and brown people before dismissing it out of hand
1
Perhaps it’s my lack of privilege, but it has never dawned on me to dress as another ethnic group. I am a person of color, but the idea reeks of condescension and has undertones (if not overtones) of mockery.
I will admit that I’ve had ideas that needed to be challenged and addressed and I just feel like this conversation needs to take place. I understand that perspective is everything. If I were to walk a mile in his shoes I maybe see how he could think it was humorous at the time... and now he knows.
Still love you Mr Prime Minister!!
1
@Magdalene Ruzza
Identity politics - you reap what you sow.
As an American expat in Canada, I'm not sure whether America's view of Trudeau particularly matters to Canadians as they go to the polls. I also do not think blackface carries anywhere near the same connotations as it does in the US--it is not hard to believe that the young man didn't give it much thought.
These views are from someone who was on the Washington Mall demonstrating for Civil Rights in my day.
There is enough to think about for us here, particularly about his election opponents, without referencing the US.
13
@mignon it’s a mistake to believe that one poorly written article by one writer seeking clicks represents the views of most Americans, or Canadians for that matter, no matter how much the writer asserts this.
I can agree that Trudeau has become something of an embarrassment. However, the problem with the article is that it misses the fact that in Canada the chief of the executive is not directly elected and does not wield the powers of an American president. As a result, party platforms are more important, and regardless of Trudeau’s past misdeeds, the Liberal party’s policies on such things as immigration are incommensurabile better than those of the conservatives, which verge on the xenophobic. Fortunately, voting for my local MP rather than for an all-mighty Leader who, like Trump, can pretty much trample over his party to have his way, means that I get I chance to support a set of political ideas, not the vagaries and weaknesses of an individual, however charismatic he/she may be.
15
@Luca
Given that he has the actual legal power to stop an RCMP investigation before it even starts, yes he does not wield the same powers. His powers are far greater.
6
But wait - isn’t Trump currently arguing, today, that the constitution says a president cannot be investigated?
3
@Ian B
Except he already was investigated, and is investigated. The Mueller report was an investigation. The Congress had investigations, and still does. The Senate had investigations, to.
What is he arguing in court for, if he has the same power as Trudeau?
In case you missed the memo, there was no Canadian Mueller or a Canadian Mueller report. Why? Because he stopped people from talking to the RCMP.
Imagine if Trump had the legal authority to stop people from talking to the FBI, DOJ or Special Counsel.
I voted for him and liked him, but when he so quickly reneged on the electoral changes, he lost me.
I don't want to judge him based on some youthful indiscretion, and the whole SNC Lavalin was a tempest in a teacup, IMO.
But there is something else happening here. The list of small encounters that suggest an entitled rich kid will alawsy get his way: these dress up moments, his touching a female journalist, his manhandling MPs in the commons, his sarcastic remark to protesters at an announcement, his refusal to acknowledge ANY regret with the Aga Khan and India episodes - they all speak to a sense of entitlement.
We already have one of these with the jumbo-sized Doug Ford in Ontario.
I wouldn't ask him to resign, but I sure won't be voting for him.
Green all the way.
And yes, relative to 45, and Brexit Al, Trudeau is a breath of fresh air.
7
Mr. Trudeau went to a fancy dress party where he dressed for the occasion. What can be wrong with that? There seems to be this superficial tip-toeing around not being white, yet the reality is quite different. Canada is one of the best countries in the world and Time and similar publications are just trying to appear relevant.
22
Trudeau’s current plight points up the important issue relevant to him as well as Brett Kavanaugh of whether we should judge public figures based on who they were and what they did decades ago or on how they have evolved as adults and who they have become.
9
@Delmo
Comparing Trudeau and Kavanaugh is ignorance at best
How about we do a MLB type trade? We trade trump for Trudeau and we throw in Greenland for good measure.
8
its ok, Virginia has a governor and Lt. gov that are overlooked for doing a lot of questionable things, its fine if you're a democrat.
10
At 65 years old I am a very different person than I was in my twenties. I have done many things I am not proud of, but I have also learned from my mistakes and changed my words and actions. I have learned that ideas that seemed irrelevant to my youthful self (honor, integrity, courage and commitment), are the sine qua non of a good and meaningful life.
Don't judge Justin Trudeau on what he did as a young man, judge him on what he does today. Judge him on what values have guided him as Prime Minister.
34
The same should apply to Brett Kavanaugh.
2
Did you see his performance at his hearing?
2
@Delmo I agree, unless Mr. Kavanaugh committed a crime. Dressing up at a party can be in poor taste but is not criminal.
As an American who has Canadian family and visits Canada often and admires Canada and as a pragmatist who thought the comparable youthful foolishness of Virgina's governor to be overblown, I find this article to be even more overblown. I am not defending Trudeau or his party (and, in fact, respected the Conservative by Canadian standards Harper). But Trudeau is presiding over a country that is the envy of the world. He has not hurt its reputation. As for his support of the Montreal-based company, it must be recalled that supporting jobs in the province of Quebec is essential to the Canadian political system and confederation. His father presided when Canada came close to a breakup over the place of Quebec.
19
Justin Trudeau made mistake. I do not believe that his intentions were malicious or sinister. He has apologized tremendously for his misstep. I believe he is genuinely contrite in his response. We should accept his apology and move on!
19
We'd still take Trudeau in the States over what we have now. The way things are these days in the world- any essentially decent leader is worth hanging on to.
13
These were all from when he was 20. None of us at 20 is very wise, mature or developed. We evolve, thank God. I’d be embarrassed to say what I did and didn’t do or think at 20, fresh from a small, mostly white, conservative town. And really, Aladdin was one of his costumes — we’re upset because he went olive? Clearly, he was all in on his costumes. I say move on — let’s focus on Trump obstructing justice again.
12
Is it fair to say that at the time Mr. Trudeau wore the blackface makeup as part of his Aladdin costume it wasn't widely appreciated, as it is now, that this would be received by many as offensive? And that a sensitive, decent individual who has lived through the shift to the current cultural landscape wouldn't do it now and would condemn himself for doing it then?
As a counterexample, I'm thinking of drinking beer to excess and then pinning a young woman down on a bed, putting a hand over her mouth and fumbling with her clothes. I think it's fair to say that there was never a time, at least while anyone currently living was alive, when the wrongness of that hadn't been established. And certainly, in today's environment, a sensitive, thinking individual who regularly drank to oblivion back then wouldn't respond to such allegations with cold defiance sans humility.
Decent people, when they slip inadvertently into indecency, apologize. Indecent people don't.
30
Nope. It was just as offensive in 2001 as it is today. He knows it. And so does every other “decent” person I know. The difference is that privileged white boys/men got away with it then, unlike today.
1
Extremist viewpoints, such as the present article, represent the ethnic, racial and gender politics that unconsciously accept the polarization agenda personified in Trump and the Republicans such as Moscow Mitch. In Canada it is Harper, the Fords, and their successors.
Those with the goal of gaining greater rights and respect for all, seek to convince others to move toward greater acceptance and understanding of the adverse experiences and of the rights of others. The rights to respect and equality.
Trudeau is an example of someone who has worked for and accomplished advances in the positions and rights of minorities and women as evidenced by his record in office. He has moved away from (and perhaps even forgotten) his insensitive actions of decades ago.
Trudeau’s personal changes ought to be respected. That change is what is sought of everyone whom we want to convince that all others deserve respect and their rights. And so, Trudeau ought to be judged on who he is today and what he has done and can do for Canada.
20
Taking shots at Justin Trudeau has quickly become Canada’s second most popular sport, right after hockey which, interestingly, starts with a face off.
7
Canadians have never had the idealistic view of Justin Trudeau that the American media has had. He's clearly not an intellectual heavyweight, and his personal style can be cloying. But he has put the country on a more progressive path, and was a welcome change from Stephen Harper. Has he been more talk than trousers? Yes. But the checklist in the article is unfair.
On electoral reform, he did bring it before Parliament, but there was no cross-party support (deemed necessary for such a major change) and the public was getting cold feet as well. So he decided to abandon it, rather than forcing it through with just Liberal Party votes. Good decision or bad decision?
On the pipeline, his repeated pledge has been to balance the economy with meeting our emissions goals. There is some opposition to any expansion of Alberta's oil sands, but Alberta itself has been in a major downturn since the 2014 collapse of oil prices. Trudeau's strategy was to support at least one pipeline - allowing Alberta to get world prices for its oil, rather than the heavily discounted price it gets from the US Gulf Coast refineries - in return for getting a reluctant Alberta to sign on to emissions caps for the oil sands and to agree to a national carbon tax. When the company threatened to cancel the pipeline citing delays caused by First Nations and West Coast protests, the feds bought the pipeline to convince Alberta of its intent to honour the compromise. Good decision or bad decision?
19
I do not exonerate Mr. Trudeau at all on this, but why does the press and the world hold him to a higher standard than Trump? Trump has committed a thousand no-no's and no one blinks. It is absolutely ridiculous that Trump gets a pass on ALL of his faux -pas and everyone else is placed under a microscope.
705
@Steve President Trump has hardly been given a "pass". Perhaps you have never heard of the Mueller report?
I can easily turn the tables: why is JT to be given a "pass" when Trump, by any measure, has not?
22
@Barooby What he means by "given a pass" is that despite doing much worse much more often Trump became and is still president of the United States. "Given a pass" = impervious to any criticism.
34
@Barooby
The Mueller report was barely heard, then forgotten. Trump has been given a “pass” by everyone in his administration. Perhaps you have never heard of William Barr?
44
I truly hope that Trudeau's errors in judgement do not mean that Sheer will not be elected. This would be a disaster for Canada as he is sometimes compared to Trump with his conservative leanings.
8
@valerie
Andrew Sheer is a democrat in the US sense and is now more than ever suitable to be PM.
This series of incidents puts many Canadian voters in a bind: the leftist NDP has no chance of forming a government, and the other alternative to Trudeau's Liberals is a Conservative party to whom many are loath to give their votes (and for good reason given the Conservatives' penchant for stoking right wing populism and lacklustre policies on climate change). Likely more voters will turn to the Green Party to spite Trudeau and his foolishness, but it all might come at a steep cost.
6
We need to think about what real harm is, because there is A LOT of it being done in the world today. Was JT's behavior reprehensible? Yes. Is it doing active harm now? I'm not sure. The pipeline deal and the obstruction of an investigation are instances of real harm. But we find it harder to be outraged those than we do about oblivious racism.
2
Seriously?
As a politically active Canadian, I take offense at this writer's premise that Canadians are that shallow or pretentious.
We do actually look for policies and substance when we cast our votes, or have preconditioned responses to a political party that has no comprehensible bearing on reality.
We have watched the insanity of voting behavior in the USA and will be carefully to avoid the same mistakes and stupidity.
42
@truth be told. Nowhere in this article did I find the suggestion that Canadians are shallow or pretentious.
1
It sounds to me as if many Canadians are disillusioned with Trudeau. Fair enough. Personally, I don't know enough about that to comment intelligently. However, I fail to see how the current scandal is anything but an excuse to bring down a politician some don't like. The cancer of social media is driving the politics of fake outrage. making it permissible to judge a public figure's MINOR indiscretions based on today's moral standards, even though they weren't considered indescretions at the time.
13
"Perfect is the enemy of the good."
-Voltaire (commonly attributed to him)
This constant search for a golden form of perfection in politicians is a fool's game. The Outrage and Cancel culture cannot end soon enough.
19
Justin Trudeau was involved in theater for a while. The guy is outgoing and loves acting and costumes. These are neutral traits of personality, not faults or vices. If this is the worse of him — and it isn't; he is a bit of an intellectual lightweight and prone to superficiality (oh actors! ) — then all is just fine.
19
The outing of these pictures is a political move akin to Comey's saying they found more Clinton emails, three weeks before the election. The photos of Trudeau have existed for a long time. It is reasonable that the NDP is behind this sudden revelation. Canadians should be wary of political tricks. Comey claimed he was worried we would have a fake president if Clinton was elected. We do have a fake president only it incompetent Trump. Canadians should be careful that they don't elect a fake Prime Minister based on political manipulation.
17
@S.L.
True that.
I wonder which face the Conservative Contender Scheer would choose, the Alt-White or the Alt-Right?
2
@S.L. The Conservatives did it.
There is a photograph of me at four years old (1965) wearing a head dress with feathers, swinging a tomahawk and war-whooping through the back yard.
Should I turn myself in to the virtue police?
Should I turn my parents in?
My point is: we have to allow that times change; what passes by unnoticed in one generation invites scrutiny in another. This is as it should be. But surely we can allow one another some clemency to change with the times, and be wary of judgments that harshly condemn others in the feeble light of our latest enlightenment.
I'm finding the negative reaction to Mr. Trudeau's lapse in judgment more frightening than his blunder, and with greater pernicious consequence.
56
C'mon, please. Canadians cannot toss Trudeau unless there is a better alternative. And there isn't. His climate policies are a major wimp-out, but let's keep him in office and make him change. Otherwise things will be much worse. We just need to figure out how to elect more Greens to Parliament, without tipping the balance to Conservative.
15
How well do we really know anyone, never mind a politician who is the son of a politician. Few humans are perfect. Maybe my mother. Otherwise?? This is a trivial and irrelevant mistake in judgement, but honestly who cares now? No way this is his downfall I hope. For Canada's sake.
10
When I was about 7, my parents purchased a sombrero and some makeup and sent me out for Hallowe'en dressed as a "Mexican". The next year, I sported a feathered head-dress and makeup of a more reddish hue. I had no idea 7 year olds could be racists. There goes my dream of being elected Prime Minister.
Honestly, standards and expectations change. Indeed, the very definition of racism has been moving from "don't say bad things" to a much more general definition of cultural appropriation, systemic advantage for whites, racial/class privilege etc.
As these more expanded aspects of racism gain further support, we are stumbling across a lot of people who engaged in an activity decades ago that we now decry. Fair enough - make 'em understand they did wrong. But the endless pillorying of people who did a stupid thing 30 years ago is not helping matters.
As for Justin, well, he certainly ain't his father. But as to his political opponents reviewing old year books looking for dirt? C'mon. Seriously??
18
If he falls because of the false equivalence of standards imposed then IMO Canada will be the poorer for it. The SNC Lavalin scandal seems to be in the same mould.
After so many years of Harpers anti-environment, anti-science government, and the choice to return that Scheer, Ford etc. seems to be offering I would hope Canadians view things objectively and with a bit of wisdom when voting.
12
Melissa, nobody in Canada knows what you are talking about. You are just spilling words onto a page and jumping on the bandwagon. We are proud to have Trudeau as our prime minister on both sides of the political spectrum. His 'downfall' hasn't been 'swift' (there has been no downfall), and it has not been a long time coming. Of course he has had his controversies. I don't like some decisions he's made. When people used to wear costumes that involved changing skin complexion, it was innocent, and no one thought of it in racist overtones. The underground railroad came to Canada. He asked for our forgiveness, and for many Canadians he has it.
30
Thank you, Paul T! Exactly! We Canadians (most of us anyway) are intelligent enough to know to put things into context. Why would anyone care what someone wore to a costume party twenty years ago? He was dressed as Aladdin! This is a crime? This actually offends people? It’s ridiculous that it’s newsworthy. What ‘downfall’ is this writer talking about? Nothing Trudeau has done since becoming PM has been remotely racist. In fact, his policies have been the opposite of racist. We Canadians are kissing the ground that we don’t have an ACTUAL racist as a leader as the USA does. This nauseating political correctness has reached its limit. It’s what drives people to vote for someone as crass and criminal as Trump. I’m as far left as you can get in terms of saving the environment and other leftist policies (and if I were in the US I’d vote for Elizabeth Warren or Bernie), but please, spare me the political correctness and pretend outrage. It’s just silly and phoney.
8
@Paul T Speak for yourself. While this latest episode isn't the catastrophe some media outlets make it out to be, it is just another reminder of Justin's hypocrisy. That, more than anything, leads me (and many others I know) to despise him.
2
So not a thing - will be amusing to read her story post election.
6
This column appears to wrap its criticism of Mr. Trudeau in questionable assertions about the national mood toward him. (The author speaks on behalf of most Americans too. I'm sure someone somewhere once described the Obama-Trudeau relationship as a "bromance" - a notion she presents here as a straw man - but did it resonate widely with U.S. public opinion?) If the author has beefs with Mr. Trudeau over electoral reform, the Trans Mountain Pipeline, SNC-Lavalin and “a host of others” (her words), why not just make the case instead of presenting it as “this is what everyone thinks”? The technique is not so different from “I’m getting lots of calls, thousands of calls, agreeing with me,” which we in the U.S. hear regularly.
14
Well, I beg to differ: he may or may not lose the elections ; he is not undone
7
He sincerely apologized. He did not lie. He did not try to spin it. He made a mistake as a young man which he regrets. I wonder if any Canadian politician can stand this type of scrutiny and not have embarrassing or unethical behavior uncovered. Get over it Canada please.
18
Justin Trudeau has been one of the most progressive and positive leaders in Canada's history for the support of racial minorities. To try and judge him on such a costume party incident is not only unfair but profoundly hurtful to Canada! When will this extremism stop?
21
He created the most diverse Cabinet Canada has ever known. He welcomed more Syrian immigrants than a Conservative government ever would have. But for something he did 20 years ago, and has now apologized for, he is considered racist and unfit to govern the country?
13
Speaking of plays, this is Much Ado About Nothing. The Canadians are not happy with Justin? They should find their own Donald.
8
Not so fast.
Did you see street interview on this issue.
News media were hysterical and seeking for "the downfalls" but most brown-skinned people replied by saying it's bad but forgive him. I think brown-skinned people in Canada are more collected than scandal seeking medias.
16
The true colors of more than one liberal have been revealed since 2016. I doubt we can ever go back to the pretense of a difference between conservatives and liberals when it comes to nonwhite people.
1
Trudeau seems to to have a thing about 'dressing up'. I recall he made a fool of himself when he visited India by dressing up in Indian garb - not once, but at every opportunity during his week long visit.
2
What I'd like to see is an article that tells us Americans what would happen in Canadian politics, if Trudeau resigns now.
2
As a rare Albertan who voted Liberal & had a high hopes for Trudeau the Younger, I must say he has been a disappointment to a degree. However, I think the issues are policy & not whether he attended some costume party decades ago in "brown face". Ill advised? Certainly! However, he has apologized so let`s move on to focus on policy.
10
Judge him on his record as politician and prime minister, but if you condemn him for wearing brown make-up at a costume ball where he pretended to be Aladdin, what would you say if someone, pretending to be George Washington at a similar ball, was wearing fake dentures, just to "get the look right"?
Wouldn't that offend all people with dentures? "Ageism" vs. "racism" -- and what about common sense?
9
Justin Trudeau does not have a coherent and deeply thought-out set of principles, nor does he much useful life experience. Yes, he possesses some vague, superficial notions of diversity and the charter, but he ill-suited to lead a serious nation.
It struck me recently that Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist from Sweden, has more native intelligence and seriousness of purpose in her small finger than does the dilettante who occupies 24 Sussex.
2
Maybe the PC police should consider this... if a man who has for 20 years been a beacon of liberalism and equality once donned brownface in the setting of a costume ball and NOT in a show of obvious racial animus, maybe our thinking that this behavior is an unacceptable evil is over exaggerated. We have the cart before the horse. We should look at a person's objective character and use that to impute motives to prior remote behaviors rather than the other way around.
10
The question I have is why wasn't this brought out during Trudeau's first campaign?
4
Too good to be Trudeau!
1
He apologised several times and said he regrets it. Move on. Vilifying him over and over just seems mean. He made a mistake and said he was sorry. Why crucify him?
8
Robert Downey Jr was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for a role in which he wears blackface throughout the movie. The movie was Tropic Thunder and it was released in 2008.
Go back and read some reviews of the movie that were written at the time. Some criticize the blackface, some don't.
In the last few years, the wearing of blackface has become an outrage, yet just 11 years ago, it was deemed Academy Award worthy.
10
... and so Canadian progressives will now bury Trudeau, the result of which will be a Conservative Prime Minister. Congratulations
1
@Tony in LA. Tony, we could not hope for a better result!!
Your Trudeau may have worn brownface multiple times and lost the confidence of a lot of Canadians, but wanna trade?
4
For Canadians aghast over Trudeau's missteps, let's trade him for Trump as soon as you want to.
2
The article makes the common mistake regarding the use of generalizations as in “Americans” and “Canadians”. “Americans” were not in love with Trudeau, the liberal end of the spectrum was. Most others didn’t pay any attention to him and therefore had no opinion, or thought that he was just another empty suit politician like Obama whose coattails he tried to hitch a ride on.... a politician celebrity.
2
@The Judge
Obama, an empty suit? I guess you haven't taken a good a look at the oversized suits the current occupants wear. They're overly big, they don't fit him, his ties are too long and he's an unindicted co-conspirator also referred to Individual-1 in the Mueller report. 45 defines empty suit.
1
No one is perfect. This day in age, when every last detail of a public figure's past is laid bare, we see few who come out unscathed (and how many of those are just lucky a camera wasn't there). Find a white male 30+ who hasn't said/done a single racist/discriminatory/highly insensitive thing and wow what a find. The truth: no white man can understand what it's like to be non-white. Therefore, in a white male dominated society, the idea you can find an abundance of [insert word to describe racially "woke" candidate] is nonsense. The mere idea that a white man can be "racially woke" to the point they can "perfectly" represent non-whites is nonsense. Oh, I know many who would disagree. The only way to combat this sort of inherent racism is to have a more diverse leadership. White men are not capable of delivering what non-white people need. We're all a bunch of racists, every last one of us. Accepting that and working to build the best understanding of those different from us is all we can do.
1
Well at least this article didn't stop at Brownfacegate and listed all those things that made him a less than perfect lefty poster boy.
I still don't like the way he's been brought low. Why is this his undoing? This is not like us. This is a borrowed political tactic from south of the border that will take down our Al Frankens whoever they may be now and in the future.
I read that there is dirt digging on every Democrat candidate in every dusty old yearbook the Republicans can unearth with the hope they can scuttle the chances of those who might otherwise rise to the top.
This is not democracy and if we fall in line with those tactics we, like the Americans will end up with the leavings rising to the top - those who don't have to give a farthing for what they've done because they have immunity and the unwavering support of others just like them.
I truly hope, for the sake of our country, Trudeau will be given his walking papers for all the things Ms. Gismondi lists because that would be just and a lesson to all future politicians of how not to run a country. If this petty gotcha take down is his undoing, it will also be ours.
2
Well, I hate to be the first one to tell you, No one is who they seem to be. No, not even you. Not even Martin Luther King Jr. was 100% pure as it turns out. Not even Jesus, if you think about it--I mean he did disappear for 20 years after all. God knows what he did when he was away. No, no one is perfect in this world. Pip-pip, cheerio, stiff upper lip. You'll make it through life. Really. Try not being so hard on everyone--OR--be hard on everyone equally.
5
"The US had a tendency to pretend Canada diidn't exist until Mr. Trudeau came along???" Americans who were adults in the 1970's remember another Trudeau quite well and I don't mean Pierre. Margaret Trudeau, Studio 54 regular, entertained millions of Americans with her ridiculous behavior that would today probably be characterized as unmedicated bipolar.
5
@Eli Margaret Trudeau, Justin's mother, is indeed bipolar. It's a disease, not something to be made fun of.
1
@Eli: And your point is?
1
Aw shucks! C’mon now. The media told us Trudeau is good and pure and progressive and against all the things that Trump’s identified with, like racism, dishonesty and corruption. Now the media is telling us Trudy’s public “golden boy” image may be yet another hoax? Naw, naw. The media never misleads us ,,, well, anyway at least not until it does.
1
Dear Canadians who have turned on their Prime Minister:
your neighbors to the south will be pleased to exchange heads-of-government (actually, heads-of-state as well, as far as that goes).
Deal?
If not, then stop whining.
While I am at it, we have come to a consensus that blackface is offensive, and to be eschewed. But let's not pillory our public figures on the sword of today's evolved standards for what they did yesterday.
President Trudeau? How soon can you move in?
4
I gave up on dreamy politicians after JFK. Maybe if we stopped looking for idols, we could make calculations beyond grunting “he good, he bad.”
3
Combined with the Haida (NW Pacific Indigenous people) raven tattoo on his shoulder, you've got to wonder how Trudeau sees people of other cultures/ethnicities.
1
Nobody north of the border ever saw him as a "dreamy boyfriend".
Any Canadian that reads, knows the many places he failed to live up to the hype.
This "downfall" started soon after he was elected.
So just as the US media built him up, it's now time to tear him down.
Predictable, reliable and a bit late in coming … had anyone been paying attention.
He's just another politician, what did you expect?
2
It is totally amazing how some shoe polish applied to someone's face decades ago can change the entire political horizon of a nation. WOW...
3
The author is counting chickens very quickly.
2
Fiddled during 2014 nomination sham in south Vancouver; even now, tolerates minister who wanted to send the Canadian army against pipeline protesters; misled the country on SNC Lavalin interference; Grassy Narrows snide remark; revelled in the glee of his caucus after removing highest ranking female aborginal official in Canadian history; and now this humiliation. Walking, talking, preening gaffe track.
Outer show, inner emptyness.
1
Hypocrisy thy name is Justin Trudeau.
3
Dear PM Trudeau
Do not do an “ Al Franken”!
This was purely sophomoric behavior and you’re too good a leader to be brought down by this .
Weather the storm
“ This too shall pass”.
7
Melissa, Melissa,
Do you really think dressing as an actor in an "Arabian Nights" themed school play almost twenty years ago represents the "downfall" of JT and all he has accomplished and, could yet be accomplished?? Yikes!
10
“We tried to tell you. He’s not all he’s cracked up to be.” This statement reflects my experience in recent years talking about Trudeau with Americans, usually liberal. But, judging from comments on this paper’s boards, I don’t sense there has just been the rapid disillusionment south of the border that the writer refers to. Many Americans wonder what the big deal is and continue to see him in some sort of aura. I can only attribute this to a comparison with Trump. I - and many Canadians, I suspect - prefer to set a somewhat higher benchmark. For all the reasons cited in this article and more, Trudeau has not delivered as Prime Minister. As the writer suggests, the latest affair is not simply a past error which stands out in contrast to his otherwise good government. Rather, it is yet another indication of his poor judgement and failure to do what he preaches.
2
This story is being overblown, tbh. I care about what he says today, the actions he takes today, and the actions he is going to take tomorrow. Being outraged and complaining about these things don't solve anything. Give me a better solution, show me a perfect human. We have all made mistakes, this is part of being human. Accept the apology and move on with your life. We have bigger problems to deal with.
540
@Cherokee But would you -- or Trudeau for that matter -- extend the same charity toward a conservative, like his counterpart Andrew Scheer, had he done the same thing?
8
@Dan
Yes, we would.
Scheer himself last weekend said that he supported members of his party, if they acknowledged past wrongdoings, showed remorse, asked for forgiveness, and acted with integrity in their subsequent years. Sounds like Trudeau fits that bill.
14
@Dan - Yes, I would and I do not like Scheer. If it was the same unthinking (stupid) choice made decades ago without malice, I'd say move on. Trudeau has been on an apology tour facing Canadians and answering questions. He is being frank about his poor judgement and harm such behaviour can cause. He is sorry. Mr. Scheer on the other hand has a number of candidates in his party that have spewed racist, homophobic, and mistruths and Scheer says as long as they apologize - its fine with him. But he himself would not apologize today when his hypocrisy was exposed.
17
This was a private costume party, with a theme. Remember that not so many years ago there was rampant insensitivity regarding Halloween costumes: Native Americans, Orientalism, pick your favorite ethnic stereotype. We have since evolved and become more aware.
Additionally, only recently has the opera and theatre world realized that skin darkening makeup for productions such as Otello and Aida is no longer acceptable. I do not believe this is an incident of "blackface" with an overtly racist intention, but a mistake and lapse in judgement from years ago.
If there is no redemption to be found, no ability for people in public service to show their evolution then all we are left with is either those with a perfect past or those who believe they have nothing to apologize for (i.e. Trump). I'll take those who admit mistakes, atone and evolve.
22
I also made horrible errors of judgement as a young man under the influence of testosterone and the dream of popularity.
12
According to reports, Trudeau apologized promptly for his egregious embrace of this derogatory racial stereotype. When called on it recently, he is said to have apologized without delay, excuses, or obfuscation. The pipeline and Lavalin are inexcusable. And not the only issues with his government. But to be pragmatic in this problematic world, compare him in a ranking table with other world leaders, asset for asset, fault for fault, compute their balances, and then address each leader in descending order of gravity.
3
Moral relativism is good?
While these images of Trudeau are embarrassing, so was his family's ethnic outfits they donned during their India trip. He seems to me to have been exposed to people of different cultures as the son of a former Canadian Prime Minister. These incidences could well be the result of a playful need to keep playing dress-up well into adulthood.
While not agreeing with all of his decisions as Liberal leader, the outreach his government has made to communities of colour and his commitment to making refugees welcome in this country is far more exemplary than that of any Conservative leaders past or present have done.
39
When one enters an Indian temple one is encouraged to wear local clothing. To be in India and wear local clothes is not any different from an Indian wearing a western suit in London. Please, people...
1
Perhaps the lesson should be elected officials are not saints--they are servants of the people, elected by the people, FROM the people.
They shouldn't be crucified for not being perfect. But they should also not be paraded around by our political fringes--left and right--like rock stars. Leave that to M Trudeau's father,.
3
Yes what he did was wrong, I am brown but am not that much hurt by what he did. He is young is willing to grow and learn, I still trust him more than the other choices. This incident may actually help him get better. The other party leaders were totally unforgiving like they have done nothing wrong in their life. It will be really disappointing if our election is decided on this incident.
43
Economy is good. Unemployment is low. Climate change is being addressed. Refugees still welcomed. Every Canadian I know is rolling his/her eyes at the uproar. I think we may be more pragmatic than Americans.
57
@Diana. So you’re okay with buying the pipeline?
2
@Diana
This is a tempest in a teapot. Going back so far and being offended over this minor issue is absurd. I'm an American, for what it's worth. I've seen far worse...if you get my meaning.
2
@Diana Please don’t speak for all Canadians. Empty promises on climate change while buying a pipeline that threatens our coastline, interference with the rule of law to protect a corrupt corporation, obstructing the RCMP from investigating his interference, and now his serial use of blackface. Roll your eyes all you want, but many of the Canadians I know are disgusted.
Trudeau needs to talk to Canadians, pointing out that there is nothing, read NOTHING, improper in going to a costume party in a costume. There is not a racist connotation, NONE.
He should also point out that his actions in the Lavalin affair were nothing new in Ottawa. Previous leaders gave done worse for decades.
He can also clue in the people of Canada that what Lavalin did was, and continues to be, standard practice in many parts of the world where western companies are seeking contracts.
16
@Greg While I cannot disagree with what you are saying, the problem is that Trudeau set himself above those things, claiming that he was going to do politics differently, transparently and honestly. What we see in what you have stated exposes the lie. That is the problem.
4
Almost all elected leaders (with the exception of Trump and maybe Boris J.) start out as "perfect" and it's a downhill slide from there. Trudeau is no different. Started out as the "golden boy" then over time some faults started to show up. The bottom line is he (or any other leader) seen as an overall liability or asset to his or her country. That's the determining factor.
8
Have you met the alternatives? Go by the names of Scheer and Singh. No?
Well I think I'll take my chances with Trudeau, then because, thanks for the 'muricasplaining Melissa, but I'm not convinced.
G'day.
85
We face shifting winds of political correctness that re-interpret history.
Who has led a perfect life?
I'd like to believe I've been kind and fair to all. But I'm sure you could find folks who disagree. 320+ millions folks have 320+ million different ideas.
Sigh.
35
By all accounts the Canadian economy seems to be in good shape. While not perfect, Justin Trudeau appears to have done a decent job. The dark face is not good, but his record on Immigration, gender, sexual orientation and minority rights trumps his childish insensitive behavior. Further, not only have his policies made a difference domestically in Canada, but globally as well, and that’s really big and helpful. The SNC-Lavalin issue is a bit baroque, but probably not an impediment for re-election. Hopefully, he’ll be re-elected and now that he’s been roasted, he’ll adopt a more proactive approach to government reform
80
I'm an American living in Montreal. I feel this article is unfair to Justin Trudeau and inaccurate in its representation of how Canadians are reacting to the blackface photographs. I found his apology sincere and given my own country's present leadership troubles astonishingly refreshing.
361
As one of the few Americans who regularly follow the news in Canada, the possible collapse of Trudeau's standing is surprising only in the fact it was due to such a banal series of past pranks and faux pas. In reality, his tenure has been increasingly stained by political scandals including direct interference in investigative issues related corporate malfeasance.
It should not be forgotten that Mr. Trudeau's rise was based not on his qualifications and abilities so much as his name. As a legacy scion, Mr. Trudeau captured the hearts and minds of nostalgic Canadians longing for a return to a golden era of liberalism not seen since his father left office.
But Justin is not Pierre. And these are not the 1960's and '70's.
An objective observer has to ask the hard questions that arise not from a petty revelation of indiscretion but from an inability of Mr. Trudeau to take firm positions. Consider simply how a PM who attests to being "green" and environmentally progressive goes forward to finance oil pipelines through pristine wilderness? How does such a person who professes profound concern with the plight of indigenous peoples and insists on a gender-equal cabinet then dismiss from his government an indigenous woman when she begins to probe malfeasance?
Because of his youth, good looks and legacy name, both Canadians and liberal-minded non-Canadians have given Justin Trudeau too easy of a ride.
17
@George
You're right, the questions you raise are important and do warrant serious thought, perhaps even more than your scare quotes suggest you've given them.
W/r/t the pipeline issue, many of the indigenous tribes whose reserves the project would come into contact with are actually in favour of the development. A lot of these are very remote communities with few resources; the pipeline could drastically alter their quality of life and as such the question of the environment is probably of secondary importance to them.
I'm not taking a pro-pipeline position here, but I do want to point out that the issues are complicated.
8
@George The indigenous Justice Minister was not dismissed, she resigned. She was booted out of the caucus when she continued to damage the Liberal party, not realizing that politics is a team sport.
5
@George
Versus Andrew Scheer who has never had a job other than politics his whole life.
1
I thought the US resents foreign interference in its elections. The Time photo publication and this op-ed in the NYT can be seen as attempts by the US media to interfere in our Canadian elections. The question is why and what do they want to achieve?
133
@RM
Not fair. This is an editorial based in responsible international coverage, as any nation should practice to know its friends as well as its opponents. One is more likely than average to read in this publication praise for the good that one does as well as criticism for the harm that one causes, as is the case here. This, to me, is a mark of journalistic professionalism and balance.
3
@RM so would you have the NYT shutter all of its foreign bureaus? Sould they not publish non-Americans' OP-ed pieces? Have you ever noticed the proximity of the Canadian Embassy to the U.S. Capitol? Didn't think so.
Seems like a terribly biased article against Justin Trudeau without any balance. While our Prime Minister has definitely made some wrong moves, it's a little galling to have Melissa Gismondi perceive that all his decisions were wrong when many of us support the Canadian Government purchasing the pipeline -- in fact, if you check the polls, most Canadians support our oil industry. Also, as much as the Raybould situation was unfortunate, the issue is far more nuanced than Gismondi depicts. I can only hope her upcoming book takes a more substantive perspective than just glossing along the surface.
93
@Leslie it's an opinion piece. Fairly spot on too.
@Leslie Many of us are horrified by the purchase of the pipeline and the threat to our Coast. You may want to check your definition of most.
1
@Pete Roddy Yes, from your perspective. As you mentioned, this is all opinion.
My grandad was born and raised in British Columbia, my dad born and lived his first few years there until they moved to the States.
I grew up with Canadian uncles, aunts, and cousins and still know many Canadian family and friends.
Canadians are pretty much like other people, and not very much different than Yanks. They enjoy the myth that they are somehow special, though. And most of them are perfectly aware that it's a myth.
18
Considering that this man came into the job as Prime Minister without any related experience in government , a university drop-out and no meaningful work experience (in his words today, "lived a privileged life" ) I think he did reasonably well as a weak leader.
17
@Ron B: he may not have had any political experience ( remind you of anyone in Washington) but growing up can you imagine the people that were at his house & the discussions led by his father, who many consider Canada's 'best' Prime Minister?
The person waiting in the wings, Mr.Scheer , sold insurance for a year before entering politics at 25. Is many years of work a pre- requisite for being a 'strong leader?
23
@Ron B Trudeau was an opposition Member of Parliament for seven years before assuming the Prime Ministership. That is not lack of "any related experience in government", even if not in an executive role.
15
@Ron B - university educated, held jobs in the public and private sector before becoming a Member of Parliament for his Montreal riding, won leadership of the Liberal Party, won the 2015 general election. Your portrait of the man is inaccurate.
12
Is it me, or does the "The Downfall of Canada’s Dreamy Boyfriend," seem a little off?
Clearly these latest revelations are disappointing from someone who should have known better, and his position on the pipeline and other matters are also troubling. But then, this American. who only casually follows Canadian politics, has gotten the sense that the Prime Minister has amassed a record of diversity for that nation, something that seems laudable in comparison to the U.S., even before Trump became the U.S. President. In the end neither Canada nor the U.S. need a "dreamy boyfriend."
55
Well, the insane thing about all of it is, a few days ago I had no concept that Mr. Trudeau had ever done anything like this, not much concern about the scandal over the A.G. being mistreated either. Suddenly it's all shown up within a couple of days. And, unlike our Gov. Northram, it seems like it'll destroy his career.
And the horrible thing is, Canada will then get, by default, an anti-abortion, anti-transgender, anti-gun control, anti-immigrant, anti-everything guy named of Scheer.
So it looks like this huge, successful assault on Mr. Trudeau's character was done as a campaign tactic by the equivalent of Trump up there. I mean, Scheer is no Trump, but you get the idea.
It looks very bad, and I don't like this rush to judgment, but I think until there is at least direct proof of Mr. Trudeau having an affair in their equivalent of the oval office, or something at least mildly politically damaging, then I hope he gets through this. If he doesn't get through this, Canada is going to get much less liberal in a hurry.
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@Dan Stackhouse
First, he may not lose. And second, if he does, it won't be 'by default'.
4
@Dan Stackhouse
"Canada is going to get much less liberal in a hurry."
---------------------------------------
The majority of Canadians will welcome this.
1
@Dan Stackhouse you're over the top.
Gismondi s call on the election is as worthless as her hit piece. Chill. Trudeau will get in because of these vapid accusations, not in spite of them. Makes Singh and Scheer look like hopelessly grasping at straws...
2
You'll pardon me if I find the premise that American progressives were snookered by Trudeau slightly offensive.
I read the pipeline story. I read about the engineering company scandal. I saw the shine come off Trudeau.
I see him for what he is, and reckon I've got plenty of company.
35
@Taz you know very little then, because in the intervening years, he has become the greatest champion of multiculturalism since his father.
And that’s what really protects us minorities in Canada.
If wokeness casually increases minority suffering, no one has need for it.
2
Well, he's sure not a Donald Trump type! I don't think Liberal voters in Canada want to go back to the Conservatives rule with their mean policies, or ensure that happens by parking our votes with the NDP. Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. He was admiring the people he copied, not demeaning them. He has apologized and I believe he is sincere.
Some of the details in this article are not correct: The justice minister was demoted to another portfolio in the cabinet. She was not kicked out of the party; she refused the cabinet reassignment, resigned from the party and sits in Parliament as an independent. The other female cabinet minister resigned her post and chose to sit as an independent in support. Unfortunately, they also chose to play the race and feminist cards as their reasons for leaving the party when the Prime Minister's decision had nothing to do with that. Reassignment happens to male cabinet members all the time in any parliamentary system and most take the decision gracefully. I am a feminist and have been successful in my profession but I have never attributed to my gender any setback I encountered on the way. Pick yourself up etc ...
Comments on Trudeau's gene-endowed hair (Would you prefer he shaved his head?) and socks are as irrelevant to the situation as are comments on a woman's appearance; it's simply a means of belittling her and him.
117
@jazzlady JWR and Jane Phillipot were kicked out of caucus. The Party stood by the dear leader and booted out those who spoke truth to power. Admirable?
As an American caught up in our own political drama, I can’t really assess Trudeau’s tenure as PM. But it seems absurd to me to me that anyone would care what Trudeau wore to a costume party 20 years ago. What did he do that was so unspeakably awful? The theme of the party was Arabian Nights, and he dressed accordingly, at a time when most people would not have thought this to be a grave offense. And it was two decades ago. Times change, and people evolve. With the entire world falling apart, is this really where you want to put your focus?? If he’s been a terrible leader, then vote him out. But please don’t do it for this reason.
650
@Island Waters
Agreed. Your comment provoked a search that yielded the following: “22 Everyday Things You Did 10 Years Ago That Now Seem Really Weird”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexlee/why-did-we-think-phones-needed-to-flip
6
@Island Waters. Well said. The writer's statement that
"Americans are learning we Canadians can be just like you: very, very racist" seems extremely overblown.
An ignorant kid dressing up like Aladdin or other characters for a party is certainly
"very very insensitive", or
"very very clueless" perhaps (since his dad was already a famous politician) or
"very very unkind" and so on.
But piling on to the media frenzy and calling Trudeau "very very racist" seems (even in light of his less than ultra-liberal record of governing) unfair and inaccurate. Those words are better applied to Donald Trump, who is no comparison to Trudeau.
I hope Canadian voters will take Trudeau's entire governing record into account along with the alternatives they have to choose from -- just as I hope US voters will closely examine Trump's.
14
The so called SNC scandal was a very different type of scandal (no money, sex or favors) and the writer suggests that the Trudeau should have been softer on the then-justice minister because she was a women. That's not equality.
It seems like Canadians are not different from Americans in seeking the perfect rather that the progressively better. There are 3 left of center parties and one right wing party which is allied to the Republican Party in the US. The left will splinter the progressive vote (just like we did) and the Conservatives (with similar Republican views on race, guns, immigration) will win with much less than 50% of the vote. How is that better for environmental, immigration progress and diversity in Canada?
Canadians, hold your nose and vote for the Liberal Party. Its all that stands between North America and decay.
96
@Sipa111 You've mischaracterized the SNC scandal. It wasn't about giving special treatment to the justice minister because she was a woman. It was that Trudeau pressured her not to charge a Canadian company that was involved in illegal activities in Africa because it would cost jobs and therefore votes in Quebec. She stood on principle and he fired her. Gender has nothing to do with it, except in how condescendingly people interpreted the scandal and her role.
And - as for the environment - the Green Party of Canada has a magnificent platform. Splintered votes work differently in a parliamentary democracy - the tie breaker can wield a great deal of power in our system.
26
@ValerieThe leader of the Green party would be ahead in the polls if they weren't so anti resource development. I like most of their policies, but they will never form a government in my lifetime.
5
@Valerie,I beg to differ on a couple of points. The attempt by the PM and his chief of staff and the clerk of the Privy Counsel was to get the justice Minister to appoint a former Supreme court Justice to present the pros of using a "deferred prosecution option" created by his predecessor - Conservative PM Steve Harper as an alternative like the US Justice Department uses. Like Maggie Thatcher, "the lady was not for tuning". As as for the Green party, they are a one-note party with little else in common ideologically and a leader who vacillates on her ability to corral her future caucus on anything like abortion rights, public pensions and even sovereignty (one of her star defectors in Quebec is an avowed separatist.
9
Around 2000 I was waiting in line at a very popular Indian restaurant in Vancouver. It was a place that did not take reservations, so one could arrive and wait for an hour or so to get a seat. I was in line (near the front) when in saunter sin Mr. Trudeau and his date who were immediately seated by the proprietor. Now it is on the proprietor that he sat Mr. Trudeau in front of a lot of people who had been waiting. But it was on Mr. Trudeau that he accepted the offer to be seated. I've always seen the episode as an example of Mr. Trudeau's privilege (being famous, at that time, for nothing more than being his parents' son) and his sense of entitlement. The "brownface" issue smacks of that same privileged background. The difficulty is that Mr. Scheer is a throwback to Harper who was a disaster in many ways (including wreaking havoc on the entire justice system). Now we will have an increase splitting of the center/left vote that increases the risk of Scheer getting a chance at being prime minister. Trudeau should stand now - maybe someone can become our Ms. Ardern.
15
@Stephen
Interesting. My youngest daughter served Trudeau and his wife at a lounge in Vancouver a number of years a go and said they were very polite (and didn't drink any alcohol).
9
@Stephen
That should be stand down now (in the last sentence).
@Stephen
Troudeau got seated ahead of you, sorry to hear that. At least he did not use his staff or guards to sneak him in from the back door into a private room, to that he demonstrated his common man self, walking through the front door admist the crowd, to be seen and patted. Donald Trump would have demanded that the resturant be cordoned off, emptied out of customers, so he and wife could have his dinner surrounded by his security detail only.
3
My dreamy boyfriend? You may be overestimating how much I think of him at all. But having a sociopath for President here in the US, I might just might start paying more attention as a diversion from our own dangerous situation. We could be on our FIFTH National Security Advisor by the time I'm done writing this.
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@fred burton
I give this comment a Pulitzer. Thank you.
...And I'll add that, heck, FEMA personnel are leaving in droves, many times for JAIL. ...Not to speak of the whistleblower pipeline that got "sabotaged" by the terrorist in the DOJ or DNI (take your pick). Whew!
1
Come on. It is NOT racist to dress up as someone from another country.
I have a picture of me at a party as chinese...so I could wear a nice chinese silk top from my grandmother. And I put chopsticks in my hair, and painted black eyeliner.
Does this make me racist?
I mean this sort of insane political correctness makes people so mad they turn to Fox news.
433
@scientella
Apparently it does - seemingly we enjoin all cultures into ours here in Canada.
Just ridiculous.
9
@scientella Yes! I am so P.C.ed out!! A costume party 20 years ago with the theme of Arabian Nights!!! Give me a break! I am a lifelong Democrat but sometimes I listen to Tucker Carlson and he makes more sense than the Democrats!! We lost Al Franken, a very good senator, to Me Too gone mad!! I was totally against Kavanaugh's confirmation, but this latest with the assault accusation where the "victim" doesn't remember the assault.
33
@scientella If we wear togas at a Toga Party, are we all biased against Italians or Romans? Of course not. You hit the nail right on the head. If I star in a stage play and dress like Lawrence of Arabia in flowing white robes and headdress am I a bigot? Or is it the darkened complexion/makeup that sets people off? You are right, this has be taken to absurd extremes.
50
Canada, we count on you to be North America's voice of reason. Please don't make a meal of this nothing burger. Or, we'll trade you your guy for ours. You want to see what sleaze, lies and corruption REALLY look like?
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@Scott S.
Agree to an extent but that "about face" on the pipeline was worthy of the complete and total derision of the people who voted for him.
His failure to make the promised reforms also show him as the political opportunist that he is albeit not on par with our Commander in Grift on lies and deceit.
3
@Scott S.
No deal.
But California is an adult nation on its own and will do fine against corruption, synonymous with Trump.
3
@Blanche White That's reasonable and I don't like the pipeline either. But we can't have this 100% perfection purity test for everyone. As they say "you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs". Sometimes you have to meet in the middle, or even sacrifice some ground, for the pursuit of the bigger picture.
12
Look. We all get the outrage, but it will be very telling if Canada's PM goes down over a sophomoric act done decades ago. Donning blackface, while repugnant and idiotic, harms no one in real time. It's a costume, an offensive costume.
Meanwhile, our "president" rolls along without hindrance, pause, or speed bumps. Despite an hourly tally of actions, threats, policy choices and tweets that actually threaten world stability and do harm in real time, we're told nothing can be done until elections.
Tell that to the children in cages, adults in prisons, patients desperate for healthcare, Muslims and Jews suffering deadly violence at the hands of White Nationalists who take their cue from the WH, women suffering an uptick in sexism and violence because it's winked and leered at by the man in the highest office in the land and those who care about the environment as we watch all protections being stolen away.
Our world is in crisis precisely because --not by accident, or coincidentally but literally because--we cannot ever manage to do triage right. There IS a person causing unmitigated damage to every facet of life, not just in this country, but in the world.
And it's not Justin Trudeau.
Entire news cycles will be spent diverting attention from the real and present danger that sits in the White House. Which is why so many of us increasingly feel we're doomed. Because the species that cannot even spot where the real danger lies is a species in its dying days.
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@AhBrightWings
Everything is about Donald Trump, even Canadian things!
Nothing will happen. It never does anymore. Oh wait... he is more on the liberal side...yeah...he'll resign.
10
Reminds me of all the Hillary Clinton "scandals" that arose during the 2016 election season. Who spilled the "racist" beans on Trudeau? Canadian opponents, or Russia? He may not be the "dreamy boyfriend," (or Barack Obama), but I'd still take him over Trump or Johnson. Look out, Canada.
184
@luckygal Of course it was his opponents - specifically the Conservative party who are running attack ads by the minute with the tag line "Justin Trudeau: Not As Advertised" and in a lugubrious tone referring to "an administrative rocked by scandal". Too obvious for words.
8
I know little of the day to day and what he did 20 years ago is 20 years ago. After living with the GOP and Trump this seems very mild. If the people of Canada don't like his current policy vote him out but don't do it for 20 years ago and don't elect a trump!
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@Concerned Citizen.
I believe the demands for Kav's impeachment have more to do with his utterly inappropriate and decidedly un-justice-like behavior in his own confirmation hearing. He lied outright about his binge drinking (which seems to be a serious issue in his life even now) and made outrageous vindictive threats that should completely preclude his nomination for a lifetime high court job. Sure, if he wants Kav can deny his youthful indiscretions up and down (whereas Trudeau acknowledged his and apologized) but we don't have to put a mean drunk on the Court, there are more deserving candidates.
3
@Concerned Citizen. There is a big difference between black face and rape however I do agree you are assumed not guilty. He did come across poorly at the hearing and now more stuff. Seeing his job it should be looked into.
1
I had high hopes for the JT and enthusiastically (and financially) supported him , but the reality has been a long slide:
- the incredibly embarrassing trip to India
- the 'apology tour' regarding much of Canada's past , even for events before Canada existed
- the willingness to actively tank the economy of western Canada but go to the wall to protect a small number of Quebec jobs (even bully his Justice minister). Standard practice for politicians based in central Canada
- the hypocrisy of calling out other politician's past short comings without owning up to his own
The saddest part of Canada's current politicians is that none of the other leaders are any better
19
@geoff: Actually the other leaders are worse. So keep that in mind when you cast your vote on Oct.21. (Aren’t you Americans envious of our short election “season”?)
2
I don't know any Canadians, regardless of how they voted in the last federal election, who even think for one second of Trudeau as our 'dreamy boyfriend'. ICK.
I did vote for him in 2015, as I wanted to see the end of the anti-science, anti-women, weird religious views that shaped his suppressive policies--of Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Having witnessed the debacle of the Trump presidency, so far...I may hold my nose and vote for Trudeau again, rather than 'waste' my vote with my local NDP or Greens, as they are both way behind, to defeat my local right wing candidate, who figuratively goose-steps behind Andrew Sheer.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
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@Nellie McClung difficult ult choices that must unfortunately be made, i will be doing the same if the vote split may usher a CPC gov.
12
@Nellie McClung Same here and lets hope that the majority of Canadians feel the same.
2
@Nellie McClung Exactly, I will also be holding my nose to vote Liberal again, but it will be done with a bit less reservation knowing that it was the opportunistic, self-righteous Andrew Scheer who handed over that video to the media. I have even less respect for Scheer now.
4
Beyond the immediate political frenzy, the emergence of Trudeau’s blackface images has also cast a spotlight on a deeper thread of systematic racism in Canada.
Canada’s Indigenous population is disproportionately represented among murder victims, prison inmates and the child welfare system. First Nation communities struggle with enduring poverty and exclusion. Black residents of Toronto are 20 times more likely to be shot dead by the police than their white neighbors.
Balpreet Singh of the World Sikh Organization, describe Trudeau’s use of blackface as “mocking” and “hurtful” – but then pointed to Quebec’s provincial government which recently introduced legislation banning public sector employees from wearing religious symbols – a law that disproportionately targets visible minorities.
“A picture of the prime minister in blackface is bad. But the fact that there’s a province in Canada that is telling the members of certain religious groups that they’re second-class citizens and won’t be employed – that’s really a thousand times worse,” he said.
19
@B. Granat
And by the way, there is no evidence to support the statistics that a black person is 40 times more likely to be shot by police in Toronto than a white person.
Here's a list of all police shootings in Canada. Besides the fact that the overwhelming majority are not black people, the number is laughably small. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_Canada
2
@B. Granat So true. I live in Montreal and I am outraged by Quebec's ban (Bill 21) which targets Jews, Muslims and Sikhs - and it is very popular with the white francophone rural population outside of Montreal. One reason the NDP, which once had many seats in Quebec, has no chance now is that their Sikh leader wears a turban and would not be allowed to be a judge, policeman or teacher. Trudeau opposes this bill and has threatened to have the federal government intervene.
2
It’s incredible that Trudeau continues to get a pass by so many US American liberals despite his very reactionary policies on the environment, continued safe third country settlement agreement with the US and his complete disregard for First People’s’ Sovereignty. Of course he’s better than Trump, but that’s a low bar and I’m not about to start measuring politics or politicians by the ‘Trump Standard.’ Neither should anyone reading this. The blackface video is an atrocious example of privilege and bigotry. Vote for the New Democratic Party. I would.
9
@Tony Robert Cochran unless a vote for NDP leads to A CPC majority, which would be a 2016 sized disaster
2
@Tony Robert Cochran I voted for the NDP previously but now they do not stand a chance and I would rather not divide the vote to get back the Conservative Party which is way worse than the Liberals,
2
I think there is a difference between "blackface" as done by Al Jolson and others of his time where the performer created a hideously unrealistic black oval on their face with exaggerated features and insulting accented speech and expressions and gestures, as opposed to the use of makeup to realistically impersonate a member of a race other than one's own.
Now if in fact Trudeau was trying to transform himself into a realistic-looking less pale "Aladdin" as was reported (I haven't seen the photos), then his youth and enthusiasm for a realistic portrayal without bad intent doesn't seem so bad to me.
Or am I just missing the fact that what his offense is has little to do with youthful indiscretion and more to do with political infighting.
64
Al Jolson was paying homage to a type of song and a kind of singer. There was nothing snarky, mean, or racist in his rendition either of "Mammy" or of "Swanee."
1
@Ben
He was 29 years old and a high school teacher at the time - I'm not sure that counts as youthful. I think the "enthusiasm" to dress up so much is kind of creepy in and of itself.
1
@Ben At the time, Al Jolson was not badly regarded, even by blacks. The widespread identification of "blackface" with racism is a very recent phenomenon, at least in Canada. We are seeing people judged according to today's standards, which have evolved with breathtaking speed since 2000, for things they did long ago and were not then deemed harmful.
6
We humans are not only remarkably complex creatures, but we change over time. We make some wonderful decisions and twenty seconds later, we make stupid choices. But more than that we are also the product of our environment and the culture we grow up in, which for no fault of our own, we find ourselves immersed in. Judge everyone by the stupidest decision they have ever made, the most embarrasing moment you remember, and there will abe no one left standing. At all.
790
@NYer
Agreed. Now let's just extend that understanding to our political opponents as well as those we favour, and then we can sleep well knowing that we have the real integrity and not just a pose of it.
19
@NYer
Well in this case there are quite a number of “most embarrassing moments.”
6
Once a generation or so, Canadians elect a Conservative government to remind themselves how badly the Tories govern.
There's a reason the Conservatives dumped heir old name, Progressive Conservatives.
34
@Lew Fournier
I applaud him for delivering on the electoral reform he promised.
@Lew Fournier
They dumped the old name because the then PM hated the word "Progressive".
Disappointed might be in order. Racist, by whose standard and compared with what? And, as most of the coverage ignores, how does he compare with the Conservative party leader? Another Trump-light in North America? I know who I would support.
27
I fail to see the signnificance of this 'revelation' of an event that took place 18 years ago, when Justin Trudeau was a young man.
153
@CanadianBoy Exactly. As a fellow Canadian, overreaction to all this nonsense is just simply ridiculous (but I guess not surprising in this woke period we live in). The media in particular is really fanning the flames on this one, including this editorial.
Overall. Trudeau has done a fine job as PM. Sure, I've shaken my head a few times over his presentation to the world but most of his election promises he has delivered on. The Trudeau name has been disliked by a significant minority of Canadians for well over 40 years.To those people, he'll never win them over.
18
Justin Trudeau is not "getting so embarrassing" because he was always embarrassing.
The problem here isn't so much that JT ended up being an illusion so much as it is that liberals all around seemingly have a never ending love affair with younger, good looking faces despite the red flags that are visible to others.
The same can be said of Barack Obama, Emmanuel Macron, Gavin Newsom, John Edwards, and dare I say JFK once upon a time.
For liberals in the US who are so obsessed with confronting the pervasive white privilege in their own country, they sure seemed to ignore that of JT. He was a drama teacher (who could afford to be one because he's wealthy) while he rested on the family name and pretty looks to propel himself to Prime Minister. That's the epitome of white privilege if I've seen any.
And this man was supposed to be Obama's chosen woke one to be the bulwark against Trump's authoritarianism? No way. JT has shown plenty authoritarian tendencies when it has suited him politically.
The liberal bubble is popping and we should be happy to dispel the illusions.
15
@Jason W I agree i cant stand the fact that people vote based on their hormonal needs more then on the vision those people bring forth. And i dislike dynasties and the need for a famous saviours like television personalities going into politics. (Although we need to allow exeptions ofcourse) . As if big countries dont have enough people that can raise to vision ? Its all part of the chaos we are in now.
2
@william j. I guess that’s how Reagan got to be President
1
@Greg a
Reagan was old and wrinkled by the time he was elected. Wrong comparison.
Critiques of Trudeau make sense. This blackface issue is very bad, and he and the Liberal party will face repercussions--deservedly so. Trudeau marketed his party on his personal image and there must be a reckoning to some degree. Penalties make sense.
What doesn't make sense is this continual argument that because politicians don't live up to their overhyped images, they are therefore worth less than dirt and should be dropped. It's this extreme, unreasonable expectation that is part of what makes politics so toxic today. Of *course* he didn't live up to his impossible image. That doesn't mean he's unfit to govern. Drop the utopian visions: he's a flawed person, as they all are, as his eventual replacement will be. The real question is: which of these flawed people is best suited to lead the country?
26
I am one of those Canadian-Americans who has been bewildered by the US liberals' love affair with Trudeau. He is the Trump of the left - has no qualifications for his job, is obsessed with his self importance, and fires people who contradict him.
9
He reminds me of Hugh Grant - he seems like he's in a perpetual rom-com, where he can blunder left and right and his good will shines through no matter what. I mean, he said he has “always been more enthusiastic about costumes than sometimes is appropriate"! Did he steal that line from an upcoming Hugh Grant movie or something? Completely disarming.
14
The dream of an immaculately conceived politician continues to elude Socialists.
14
@Mark
The Liberals are not even close to socialist.
Too much charisma and not enough substance.
8
The problems we have with the US President make this story read like the Princess and the Pea.
188
Bring him here to the US. He'd fit right in Trump's cabinet now that his "true colors" have been exposed.
1
This article doesn't explain what's embarrassing about him. The episode of wearing brown makeup at an Aladdin-themed high school party was deemed innocuous enough at the time it happened that the school thought nothing of publishing photos of it in their yearbook. The issue can be debated, and surely there must be other problems with Trudeau, but the article traffics in the conclusion that he's damaged goods and deserves to be dismissed without making the case for why. Not every whiff of a tabloid scandal is cause to write a political obit.
127
Interesting to see NY Times publishing an anti Trudeau piece by a conservative writer just as elections are approaching. Trudeau is still be best choice among the candidates and his base will not be easily shaken; we have not forgotten Harper yet.
120
@Ramin
Perhaps you missed all the positive and laudatory articles about him. Check the archives.
@Ramin I doubt if a Times op ed, regardless of who it is written by, holds much sway among the Canadian electorate.
@Ramin
you're kidding, of course......if so the majority of Canadians are with you.
Bah, in a few days, you will be back with your Trump's obsession and will forget about it.
19
The headline made me laugh and the article is hard to take seriously.
69
It's a lot easier to forgive the "dreamy boyfriend" when you live, everyday, with a "nightmare of a stepdad". I can see where you might think we Americans are not up to date with your Prime Minister's faults but, the truth is, it's impossible for a country on the brink of fascism to concentrate on the foibles of a true democracy just to our north.
91
As an American living in Canada for almost 55 years, (a Canadian citizen since 2000), Ms Gismondi comments remind me of my early years in Toronto. Canadians that I met then invariably projected an inferiority complex that seemed to always end up comparing Canadians to a vastly superior American cousin. Even when presented with someone or something exceptional, the common wisdom was that it couldn't possibly be since it was local, not from New York city or London. Well, Canada has changed ,and the new confidence in itself and it's values that has seen tremendous growth and inspired social programs will hopefully inspire Canadians to look past the "see, I told you so" attitude and judge the candidates on their record and what they represent. I certainly am not embarrassed by Mr. Trudeau and his values. Perhaps we can have an opinion piece on the state of politics in the USA by Ms Gismondi.
48
@fred
i'm a canadian who lived in japan for many years. also travelled pretty extensively.
my feeling about canadians' attitude toward americans is opposite of yours.
we have a superiority complex when we look at the usa.
that reality means we often think we're better than we are. never compare ourselves with oz, sweden, germany......being better than the usa in things i think are important--national health care, life expectancy, infant mortality rates, murders, capital punishment, maternity/paternity leave, tolerance and more makes it a better place to live.
being better than the usa is a pretty low bar.
9
Wow, a political figure who isn't perfect. As a Canadian I can honestly say I haven't agreed with some of the things he's done and there have been plenty of mistakes. If you don't live your life on social media, as a Canadian, I think we still have it pretty good. Our system of government, democracy is still in tact and hasn't been destroyed. Looking around the room at some of our close allies the same can certainly not be said. While completely distasteful if this is what makes sensational news during an election, I'll take it. Good 'ol boring Canada.
718
@Tyler says an entitled white. Meanwhile, which of Canada’s “close allies” has had their democracy “destroyed”? At best this is premature, at worst wishful thinking.
5
@DEG Brexit ring a bell? One of Canada's closest allies. As a Canadian, I agree with Tyler and would add that the reason our democracy is in tact and the country running well with a steady economy is because we overwhelming rejected our own Cons with Harper Inc. I'll taking boring over chaos. We need to make sure that we do in the upcoming election
34
@Tyler
you need way less fingers to count the politicians that are not crooks that the ones that are.
They did not learn "let him who is without sin cast the first stone", now they are feeling the retribution of their actions.
6
In all likelihood, it will be a Liberal minority government. As unlikable Mr. Trudeau is at present, he and his party will be seen as hold-your-nose preferable to the odious Mr Scheer and the contemptible Conservatives.
Mr Singh and the NDP are toxic nationally right now - content only to be Canada's conscience in the House of Commons, especially now with rolling out what is in effect sovereignty association in the their Quebec campaign. This position is a no-go for the rest of the nation and is really playing with fire.
It will be interesting to see where Ms May and the Greens end up with NDP support collapsing.
11
I'd been aware of Trudeau not being who he made himself out to be on the world stage, when Canada knew the truth. I ws also aware, from the times I visted Canada, of their problems. I won't mourn for Trudeau, he deserves his downfall after this, but I hope this doesn't trigger the right winning the election. Don't be like us Canada, be Canada, a much better society in the main, than the US.
4
@Andrea W: Neither the NDP nor the Green Party have a hope of forming the next government. That being the case, the choice boils down to the very conservative Scheer or Trudeau. Which would you choose?
I hope this is the beginning of the end for a twitter powered liberal orthodoxy that rivals Christian fundamentalism. We need fewer ideologies and more genuine ideas, less reading from dogmatic screeds and more real conversations, and certainly less virtue signaling and more actual virtue!
26
@JG So true. When context, nuance and especially intent are ignored, we substitute mindless orthodoxy for critical thinking. There are no degrees of offense, just binary choices: sinner or saint. In this culture, Al Franken's juvenile oafishness deserves the same punishment as serial sexual predators. And Justin Trudeau's brownface is equal to the white supremacists marching in Charlottesville.
Happy to Trade 5 Trumps and spouses for I Trudeau. We'd definite win that trade deal. We'll even throw in a pence or two to sweeten the deal.
142
Not exactly "high crimes and misdemeanors". Sorry, but in a world teetering on the edge of collapse, how someone presented himself at a party twenty years ago seems like a pre-Trump case of "Gotcha!"
112
As a dual national living in the US, this article must be seen as a superficial commentary on a politician who admits a mistake nearly two decades ago, but needs to be viewed and judged on his record as PM, a record that I believe is a positive one. Certainly there will be those who critique some of his actions, but no one can deny he makes every effort to represent the nation in a positive way. A better assessment would be to compare Trudeau's policies with those of his conservative rival. No contest.
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@Viv
He has not cut doctors' salaries. That is a lie. His government has introduced change to the tax code that remove some of the unfair tax advantages that were in place for people like doctors. The advantages were completely unfair and allowed well paid doctors to effectively pay a lower tax rate than employees earning less money
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@Viv
"He has attacked doctors, cut their salaries "
Wow.....JT is more powerful than I realized b/c medical care (including compensation) is a provincial area, not a federal one. Trudeau doesn't have any powers in this area. Fact check!
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@Viv Canada and his prime minister are highly regarded in the EU.
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If I had the choice of Trudeau who was so naughty years ago, when social standards and the consciousness of them were different, to the election of the Conservative Party, I wouldn't hesitate to choose Trudeau. Ms Gismondi has lost her sense of perspective. It's so easy to vilify someone who doesn't fit into the current societal standards but please go deeper! There are other more important criteria for a government leader.
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@Alexandra. You do know he was a teacher, right?
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@Alexandra
Social standards were not so different back them.
So, what I’m reading here, after being sympathetic to Justin Trudeau, is that white politicians, on either side of the U.S.-Canadian border, have always worn a mask. Whether this is because they’re nativists or because it’s simply a reflection of their constituents is a question that cannot be honestly answered without deconstructing living myths. People kill for lots less.
All things considered, I wouldn’t reject Prime Minister Trudeau out of hand. From all evidence, his predecessor was in the mold of what we would find in our President Barack Obama’s successor. Reactionary and recalcitrant: poor qualities.
Perhaps America has been cherry-picking its portrayals of Mr. Trudeau like folks dropping in on a buffet: take what you want.
Last night, when this story broke, I concluded that it was a hit job by conservatives determined to smear what we, below your border, thought to be a popular and highly-principled chief of state. If we have been deceived or naive, then that’s on us for not being attentive.
The larger question now is what will Canada do? Is a second Trudeau term beyond possibility or is this embarrassment just another that come with high office?
We here have choices too, mostly about corruption and fitness for office. Up there, it seems, you must decide whether or not to recall a man whose youthful indiscretions disqualify him and, in exchange, prefer a prime minister whose past may reveal much, much worse than what we’ve been reading for not quite a day.
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@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18. Youthful indiscretion? He was a TEACHER.
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@Jackson... A teacher so what ???
@Jackson You really need to, excuse the pun, tar him with your Woke brush. Again, you have seized upon hearsay but it serves your need to vilify no matter what. Hearsay not because there is evidence that Trudeau's teaching has harmed his students irreparably, but just aligning the dates of his teaching with your nasty imagination. Get real.
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It looked like the NDP were about to tank in the upcoming election, but I can see many ethnic voters switching to them from the Liberals, who have large support among minority voters because of their generous immigration policy.
And Mr Singh's ethnic identity might create a sympathy vote.
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Having lived and worked in Canada and in the USA for many years, decades, I could tell you the differences between Americans and Canadians are subtle, difficult to detect.
The differences between regions in America are at least at great as the differences between Americans and Canadians.
Why would anyone ever think that Americans are racists and Canadians are not?
Over the centuries of Canada's existence there has been plenty of racism exhibited by the French English divide, the "two solitudes."
And of course racism toward indigenous people in Canada and people of color.
Justin was gifted with great wealth, a well known last name, a political heritage, the son of former long term Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, personal charm, good looks, youth, and nepotism.
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@David, Interesting points. if one has to compare the two countries, Mr. Trudeau's equivalent would be Senator Booker as far as political figures are concerned. Obviously, Senator Booker is African American and from a middle-class background. For some reason. Senator Booker is not gaining traction among Democrats here.
Oh the left... so worried about boutique problems that never end up agreeing about the perfect representative, only to lament later the victory of Trump-like conservatives. Will we ever learn that perfect is enemy of good?
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@LAP Well said -- we already have examples of this pattern in the US, but this might just be a reminder that Canada has learned nothing from their southern neighbor's follies.
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@LAP
I'm a Bernie-Warren fan, and I agree. Get the nuts and bolts correct. We don't have time for, as you say, "boutique problems".
A broad agenda addressing Anthropogenic Global Heating , economic justice, and nuclear war are IMO most pressing.
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@Slipping Glimpser
Economic justice, a green new deal, an end to foolish wars, healthcare as a human right - now there’s an agenda. Which politician....? Oh, right- Bernie Sanders.
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Stephen Harper.
Trudeau is right to apologize profusely for this bizarreness of (what I hope is) his past, and should apologize as well for his support of job- and planet-killing pipelines; but Canada must not bury him, certainly not until they're SURE they've got someone who can keep those two words or their successor from making Canada an embarrassment to the world again.
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