The first picture you will recognize as Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minster sufficiently deluded to believe that he had a deal with Adolph Hitler that could keep his country out of the war. The claim that the pact meant "Peace in our time" is consigned to the annals of history as highly ironic.
The second picture, of course, is that of Justin Trudeau who, you may think, has nothing in common with Chamberlain. In that assumption you would be quite wrong.
The rest of the world has issued condemnation of Donald Trump's most recent demonstration of his racism:
However, instead of taking the principled stand required, our prime minster, Justin the Gormless or, if you prefer, Justin the Lesser, had this to say:
Some would laud this as diplomatic.
I call it moral cowardice.
.. it lands somewhere.. not sure where, if at all
ReplyDeleteLet's just accept he failed to opine.. showed no spine..
.. so why even bother appearing.. Justin ?
A cardboard cutout would have been more useful
Agreed, Sal. That deer-caught-in-the-headlight look of his does no one any good.
DeleteIt would help if he simply enunciated Canada's take on immigration. Contrast has its strengths.
ReplyDeleteWhile offering that contrast, Owen, I think he should also express the odium Canadians feel about Trump's racism.
DeleteAnd you were expecting - what?
ReplyDeleteNothing, Mound. I offer this post only as a counterpoint to the unjustified fawning he seems to elicit in many quarters.
DeleteLorne, I've been thinking about this post. We see in Trudeau a real disappointment. We had hoped for so much more. But what if Canada, as it has become configured in this age of neoliberalism, has locked us into this level of degraded leadership? What if Trudeau is as good as we'll get from here on in? It would mean leadership woefully inadequate to the great challenges facing our country and our descendants over the remainder of this century. Absent genuine electoral reform will this be our lot?
ReplyDeleteWe seem, as a nation, Mound, to have lost the ability to imagine a better way, and because of that, I tend to side with your assessment. I see nothing on the horizon to suggest improvement; Jagmeet Singh, I fear, is presenting himself as another version of Trudeau. Nothing he has said so far suggests that his vision differs from Justin's. Had Trudeau not betrayed all of us with his abandonment of his promised electoral reform, there might have been a reason to hope, but I don't think that is likely to rematerialize in the near future.
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