John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
“The real face of Justin Trudeau”
"So, is Trudeau really different, deserving of this much affection, to the point of adoration?'
I don't know where the author sees this.
Maybe in the first flush of his victory over the widely disliked Harper, but not today.
Trudeau has worn rather thin with many Canadians.
He has made serious blunders, as during his extravaganza trip to India. An embarrassment, altogether.
He has been ineffective in several very important internal matters, as with the pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast for exporting crude to Asia.
His handling of international trade issues has been considerably less than stellar.
Some of his appointments, and notably Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, have proven less than happy.
His government has trapped itself in a real mess with China over the arrest of a senior executive of Chinese company Huawei. Canada will suffer reprisals for carrying out this stupid American request.
In general, his government, and again notably Ms. Freeman, has proven to completely toe the American line. Ms. Freeman has made statements that can only be termed Russophobic, an unacceptable perspective for a Canadian Foreign Minister.
His government appears to stand for almost nothing in international affairs, doing big business with Saudi Arabia while waiting weeks to take small steps after the horrible Khashoggi murder.
Not a word against the horrors of Yemen or those of Israel at Gaza. Nor of America’s assault on Venezuela or its dirty business in Syria and in Ukraine.
In general, he has proven himself far less daring and able than his late father, Pierre, still remembered as a great and individualistic Prime Minister. There was a man who actually challenged the dictates of Washington, as in his relationship with Cuba.
But Canada, like all so-called democratic Western states, offers voters a pretty limited choice at election time. Not quite so limited as the voter choice in the United States – where choice approaches zero with the Democrats and Republicans and the imperial interests that drive them both equally – but limited, definitely. So, we’re likely stuck with him for a while.
