Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Scandals — A Guest Post By John Fioravanti

Posted on by under Global Issues, guest posts, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Today is a good day to step away from the Trump circus here in the U.S. and see what’s happening in the rest of the world.  A few days ago, I asked if any of my friends in the UK or Canada would be interested in writing a guest post about the situation in their own country, perhaps help us all understand a bit better.  John jumped right in and provided his take on the issues that have injected a bit of chaos into Canada’s upcoming elections (21 October).  His post led me to ask some questions, which he happily answered, so there is a Q&A at the end of the post.   Thank you, John, for taking the time to do this for us! 

john fioravantiI will preface my remarks with the admission of bias. I have been a supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada my entire adult life. While I do not think that the party or its leaders have always been right in their decisions, I do believe that this party has done more to advance the interests of all Canadians than the other major party, the Conservatives. As well, I do not present myself as a legal expert.

The SNC Lavalin affair was an internal Liberal Party squabble that the Conservatives twisted into a full-blown scandal. Jody Wilson-Raybould was Trudeau’s Justice Minister and she was asked to intervene in a criminal case involving the Quebec engineering giant, SNC Lavalin. Trudeau and his office repeatedly asked her to use a new legal tool to reduce the impact of the criminal outcome of the case to protect 10,000 jobs in Canada. She refused to budge. When Trudeau made Cabinet changes, she lost her plum position and was moved to a less prestigious portfolio. As far as I’m concerned, this was a huge mistake on Trudeau’s part. She then, quit the Cabinet in a huff. Another senior Cabinet minister, Jane Philpott, supported Wilson-Raybould and resigned her portfolio as President of the Treasury Board.

Both women went to the press citing wrongdoing on the part of Trudeau and his office. The Conservatives jumped all over the squabble claiming it was a terrible scandal. Trudeau tried to keep things civil within the party, but both women kept criticizing him and his office in the press. Their behaviour was a total violation of party solidarity, so the Liberal Caucus (elected Liberals in the Commons) voted to expel both women from the party. In the upcoming election they are both running for re-election as Independents.

In August, the Ethics Commissioner filed a report claiming that Trudeau actions were a violation of ethics in government. Believing he did nothing wrong, Trudeau refused to submit his resignation.

A couple of weeks ago, someone (a Conservative muck raker no doubt) found pictures of Trudeau taken in 2001. He had attended a masquerade party and wore black face as part of his costume. For this he has been branded a racist. Good grief! It may have been a stupid thing to do, but racist? He’s not done anything like that since, and he has worked hard to advance the cause of refugees in this country (most are people of colour). The charges of racism are the opposition parties’ pathetic attempt to bring him down in this election.

I don’t buy any of it. And it looks like most people here in Canada don’t either. Recent polls are showing the Liberals and Conservatives in a virtual tie with the Conservatives ahead by 1%. It will be a very interesting evening on election night as we watch the results pour in from across the country on Monday, October 21st.

Q&A:

  1. In this country, politicians (including the president) are often bought and paid for by large corporations, notably the fossil fuel and firearms industries. Do you think that Trudeau’s motivation in asking Ms. Wilson-Raybould was at the behest of SNC Lavalin, or was it genuinely, as Trudeau said, in order to save jobs?
    • Yes, large corporations and interest groups donate to politicians and political parties up here too. The Conservatives always have the biggest war chest at election time because their policies align best with Big Business. In the SNC Lavalin affair, Trudeau asked then Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to offer the engineering giant a type of plea deal. Trudeau told the press that SNC Lavalin communicated that if they were successfully prosecuted, they would move up to 10,000 jobs out of Canada. The CEO of the company subsequently denied this on national TV. His denial was later repudiated by written proof provided to the news media of his letter to the Trudeau government. According to my research, SNC-Lavalin employees donated $110,000 to the Liberals between 2004 and 2009. The company later reimbursed these individual contributions – in violation of Canadian election laws. The company also donated to the Conservatives on a smaller scale.
  2. Your system, being somewhat different than our own, leaves me with another question: You say that both Philpot and Wilson-Raybould are running for re-election as independents this month.  Would that be re-election to the Cabinet positions they previously held, but left?  What do you think their chances are?
    • Our system is very different from yours, Jill. Your president selects cabinet members from a pool of experts belonging to his/her own party and then the Senate confirms most of those appointments. Our Prime Minister selects his/her cabinet from the elected members of his own party in the House of Commons. Often, the PM doesn’t have the expertise among these people, so each government department has an expert civil servant, the Deputy Minister, who will instruct and advise the actual cabinet minister – who makes the final decisions. Jody Wilson-Raybault and Jane Philpott are running for re-election to their seats in the House of Commons – as is Trudeau and the other party leaders. Cabinet ministers are not elected to Cabinet. If your party wins the most seats in the general election, that leader is appointed Prime Minister by the Governor General (represents the Queen) and the PM, in turn, will select the Cabinet from his own elected members. So our Executive Branch is not separated from our Legislative Branch. Cabinet Ministers are answerable to the entire House of Commons during the daily Question Period. Most often, Independent candidates are not elected. However, these are different circumstances, so the Media is watching their ridings closely. Will they get back into Cabinet? Not a chance! It is interesting to note that Conservative leader Andrew Scheer invited both women to join his party. They turned him down flat.
  3. I’m torn on the blackface issue.  Recently, similar pictures surfaced showing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam in blackface back in his college days.  For me, that was a deal-breaker, and I did see it as racism.  Still do.  But yet, I find that I would not wish Trudeau to be replaced, or voted out because of it.  Which, of course, leaves me questioning my own values.  I think the reason I am more tolerant in Trudeau’s case is because he has taken a very accepting and welcoming stance regarding Middle-Eastern immigrants that puts the U.S. to shame, so I really don’t see Trudeau as a racist.  How has he responded to this … has he explained or apologized?  Do you think there is any way he could negate the effects of this?
    • Trudeau has apologized many times for the blackface pictures. Although people may take offence, by itself, it does not constitute racism. If you combine that instance with racist, anti-immigration remarks since then perhaps the moniker fits. As you point out, Trudeau has done more to help Middle Eastern refugees get into Canada than the US has done. He also met the first planeload of refugees when it landed at Pearson Airport in Toronto and helped in the distribution of winter coats and other winter clothing. He shook their hands and welcomed them warmly. I saw that on TV. That’s a racist? I think not! He apologized saying that it was a big mistake on his part and there is no excuse. So he has not tried to justify it in any way. Sometimes, I think we have become hyper-sensitive about racism. It is ugly and it exists here in Canada – always has – but this man is not a racist.
  4. I don’t know much about Scheer, other than I do not like his opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. What’s your take on him?
    • Andrew Scheer is an acolyte of the previous Conservative leader, Stephen Harper. I despised Harper because he was an autocrat within his own party. No elected Conservative in the House of Commons was allowed to make ANY statements in public without approval from his office. That Conservative caucus was muzzled the entire time Harper was Prime Minister. As well, like Donald Trump, Harper would never appear at an open Town Hall Meeting to field questions from We the People. He appeared only at Conservative rallies that could be controlled. I have no doubt that Scheer will behave similarly. He talks about putting more money in the pockets of the middle class, but I don’t believe it. The Conservatives have ALWAYS cow-towed to the rich 1% and why would that change by this Harper acolyte? Yesterday, Scheer announced that he would reduce Canadian foreign aid by 25% in order to fund his promises to the middle class. That is not playing well in the Media. Canada has only 33 million people – 10% of your population and we have never been able to afford a large foreign aid package or a large military budget, but Canadians are sensitive to their reputation in the UN and the world. Scheer is slapping that sentiment in the face. Like Doug “the Thug” Ford elected Premier in Ontario a year ago, we have no idea exactly what Scheer would do if he was elected. I don’t trust him and he is not an impressive speaker.

Thanks again, John, for this enlightening post and conversation!  

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53 thoughts on “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Scandals — A Guest Post By John Fioravanti”

  1. Pingback: The Results Are In — And So Is Trudeau! | Filosofa's Word

  2. John, this is well done. I like the comments as well. I like what Trudeau represents for Canada. I go back to his welcoming of Syrian refugees just after he was elected. And, he is not perfect.

    I do agree with the comments that he by in large not racist, but committed a racist act. He should have known better. Yet, I would hate to debate some of the dumb things I have done in my younger days.

    Keith

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Keith. Trudeau is refreshing in his energy and his genuine concern for the people of Canada. As you say, he’s not perfect but he’s head and shoulders above Andrew Scheer.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Me too Keith… I worked in a male oriented environment in Canada. In the 1970’s-1980’s, Mysogony was rife. Fed up with the guys ogling women with rather large (ahem) chests, and making inappropriate comments about the size of them on their pictorial pinups, another female worker and I came back from a lunch break one day, with balloons strategically placed under our sweaters. We were making a point on how women are judged but other women might have seen that as inappropriate. It did cause a laugh as a new salesman walked in and asked about the very ‘healthy’ girls, but it was such a ludicrous thing to do in hindsight. When the salesman came over to chat me up, I removed the balloons, causing the whole room to crack up as he stepped back, shocked. Kind of made my point, but it really wasn’t appropriate. I only enforced stereotypes, I didn’t dispel them.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Thank you John for your insight as a canadian native, particularly on SNC as in the UK the coverage ranged between between ‘The End of Canada as We Know It’ and ‘Who, what, where now?’. I see your politics is alive, and kicking. I’m keeping out of it…Save that any Party with the word ‘Conservative’ in its title is to be viewed very, very carefully
    As for the Blackface incident…. Jill knows my views on how do deal with all kinds of Intolerance would have me censured by many civil rights groups and the UN, however this one can be filed under ‘Person when a Youngster at College Did Something Crass and Insensitive… What’s New?’…No one, but no one wants their youth under a media microscope.
    Thanks Jill for the format.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. I
    An enlightening post by John. I do keep some tabs on Canadian politics and do know that Trudeau treads some very thin fences, especially on environmental issues. He definitely outshines the Conservative Government though. I used to work in a University, and most of the education establishment tend to vote Liberal. I do have a question though. What percentage of people are shifting from the Liberal camp to the Green camp of Elizabeth May?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi, Collette, thanks for your comment here. I know that the Green Party is mired in 4th place in the polls, slightly behind the NDP. I’ve not seen any analysis that suggests how much support, if any, that the Greens have taken from the Liberals.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Dear all, fascinating discussion – and yes, interesting to hear more about Canadian politics! I agree that here (= Dutch, German, Austrian news) we get mostly things about Trudeau, but not a lot/nothing about the more complicated background of Canadian internals.
    Talking about complicated: I have been pondering this “blackface costume” question for some time. Suze wrote that any dress up as a black/brown person done by a white person is automatically racist. And I see her point. But. I remember dress ups and games from my childhood days (this would be about 35-40 years from now…), and we did dress up as Indians or Chinese or black people for games and in carnival. Not to mock anyone, but because we wanted to BE like them. For us these were personifications of adventure, of foreign countries and we played those roles because we loved stepping into stories and acting them out. Of course, looking back those stories were cliché (but the coloured persons were not per se de “bad guys”, very often they were the heroes), but nevertheless the urge came more from wanting to feel what is like being in a different country/culture than from anything else. (And you have to bear in mind that in a small town in the South of Germany, there were no “real” role models from different countries/cultures to meet, so we looked to stories when dreaming away.)
    Of course I see the difference between a girl’s play and the dress up of an adult. But still. I know that some things are wrong not matter the context, but I wonder … it is sometimes difficult to look at behaviour from the past with the knowledge and ideas we have now.
    And one last thought: If my son wanted to dress up as a character from Marvel’s “Black Panther”, would it be racist? But ok if he wanted to dress up as “Iron Man”?
    Looking forward to your thoughts, dear all!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you for your thoughts on this difficult topic. I recall dressing up in costumes as a kid back in the 1950s and 60s – usually for Halloween. In the small town where I grew up, I don’t remember any black families. New Canadians were from Italy and other parts of Europe. The very first conversation I had with a black person occurred when I was in first-year university. I had no personal experience with persons of colour as a kid and our costuming wasn’t racist. Trudeau wasn’t a kid in his situation, so he demonstrated insensitivity to the fact that persons of colour would find his blackface offensive. He has owned that mistake in judgement and apologized. His actions as a politician put him above reproach with regard to racism. If some wish to condemn him as a racist, that is their decision.

      Liked by 2 people

    • Hey my friend! Long time, no see! I hope your summer vacation was great! We really need to get back in the habit of emailing! I miss you!

      As to your thoughts on the blackface incident. Sigh. You are right … it is complex. I do like your analogy of dressing up as people of various ethnicities as a child, and of doing so not to mock, but out of a sense of admiration. That is one thing I hadn’t thought about before. I have always believed, though, that an adult who wears blackface makeup is doing so as a mockery, or at the very least ought to know it is wrong. But … does that negate everything else that person does for the rest of his life? Does it mean that person can never be considered a person of integrity, no matter how much good he (or she) does? It’s a conundrum for me, but in the case of Prime Minister Trudeau, I just don’t think it should keep him out of office. For one thing, he has done much good during his tenure, and for another, the alternative to Trudeau is an abomination, in my book, similar to Trump and Boris.

      Again, good to see you!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I know where this comment is going to start, I know not where it is going to end.
    You, John, and V, are obviously prejudiced (not racist, just refusing to give Wilson-Raybould a fair consideration kind of prejudiced, for whatever reason). She was elected to serve her riding, and chosen by Trudeau to head the Department of Justice. That is EXACTLY what she did. With all the pressure put upon her by Trudeau, SNC Lavelin bosses and lawyers, other Cabinet and Liberal Party members, and even career government workers, she held strong to the letter of the law. SNC Lavelin broke the law, and deserved to be called on the carpet. Threatening to let 10,000 people go was extortion, and that charge should have been added to the slate, which it was not. Why not?
    Jody is the most honest parliamentarian in Ottawa, and she should be praised for it, not ripped apart. Trudeau wanted to keep Quebec Liberal, and if that is not playing politics, I don’t know what is. I hope he pays for it with his political life. The Liberals are better than the Conservatives, for sure, but in case you haven’t noticed there are other political parties in Canada who have never been given a chance to show what they can do. Again, not just you but all of Eastern Canada are prejudiced against them.
    You say the Liberals are responsible for all the social improvements in Canada? That is pure BULLSHIT, to paraphrase the villDJ idioT in the States. Look back in time, and see who championed those advances before the Liberals followed suit. Almost every one of them came from the the NDP, or its predecessor the CCF. Old Age Pensions, Universal Health Care, Child Allowances, Unemployment Insurance, Workers’ Compensation, public ownership of Energy companies, affordable Daycare, and others all belong to CCF/NDP, not to the Liberals. Please give credit where credit is due.
    But Eastern Canada believes the rhetoric that Socialism is Evil, and now the Green Party is evil too. And between Ontario and Quebec you control the government of Canada. I hope you are proud of your choices. Liberals kowtow to Big Business, even as do the Conservatives. I’m not saying that the NDP or the GREENS and perfect, but they certainly are better. And I hope to hell Trudeau loses his seat in parliament.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I shall bow out on this one and wait for John to respond in the morning, for I don’t know enough about it to make any intelligent response. I would only say that I don’t like what I see of Scheer, and have, for the most part, respected Trudeau. I’d hate to see what Scheer and Trump together could cook up. 😱

      Liked by 1 person

    • Wow! You are absolutely correct about the origins of Canada’s social policies, the Liberals adopted them and made them the law of the land. I’m sorry that I don’t share your support of the New Democratic Party or the Green Party. But if I ever turn away from the Liberal Party, I would vote for the NDP or the Green Party before I’d support the Conservatives. Perhaps you’re right. Maybe one of those smaller parties would do a better job. I don’t know and neither do you. The reality is that neither of those smaller parties has enough support to win a federal election. I’m disappointed that neither the Liberals or the Conservatives are talking very much about environmental issues while Elizabeth May of the Green Party has unveiled a substantial policy platform that covers the entire spectrum of current issues. Despite this fact, the organizers of some Leadership Debates see fit to exclude her. I don’t watch them anymore. They are verbal free-for-alls that I find offensive. I may be prejudiced, Rawgod, but I’m also a realist. Thanks for your comment.

      Liked by 1 person

      • No problem, John, I just wanted to give you a different perspective. Did you really not know the origin of those social programs? If not, I can see why there is no respect fot the smaller parties.
        It is also why I am in favour of minority govts, because then the small parties can get some power, which is how those programs got passed. Minority govts have to rely on help, or they dissolve quite quickly. And it a much better system than the either/or American system. (Poke Poke.)

        Liked by 1 person

        • Yes, I’m well aware of the historical contributions of the CCF/NDP over the decades. However, my point was that it was the Liberal Party that put these policies in place. The difficulty of putting the NDP or the Green Party into a new government is the few seasoned veterans among their MPs, and that’s especially true of the Green Party. I will agree that minority governments can work better than a majority government but the spectre of a snap election, if co-operating parties have a falling out, is large. The average minority government lasts a year and a half. If they changed the rules so that a minority parliament would have to run the full course of 4 years, then I’m all in favour. Otherwise, it is pretty costly for the taxpayer. I think the whole parliamentary system needs an overhaul. I’m sorry Trudeau broke the promise about electoral reform he made in 2015. That would have given the smaller parties a greater voice in the Commons. And an appointed Senate is preposterous in the 21st Century! But first we need to save the planet and the ONLY party that has a great plan is the Green Party. If Trudeau is elected, I hope he steals the Green plan and puts it into action. We all know that Scheer will never do that!

          Liked by 1 person

          • Scheer will try to be a mini-Trump, just like Kenney, and just like Ford. Did you hear Kenney cheated even more than we knew he did in his party’s leadership race. How can be be the Premier of Alberta when he had to cheat to get there. What is good about our system? Nothing.

            Liked by 2 people

            • I know and I remember the Media pointing out his corruption – but the voters don’t seem to care. I think the system needs tweaking, but the voters are the main problem – too many fall for just about anything.

              Liked by 1 person

    • Excellent points. Many people don’t know that many of the social programs put into action by the Liberals actually came from the NDP – most notably our Health Care System. An interesting point is that currently in the polls the Green Party is fourth behind the NDP yet when asked the questions “who would you vote for as a leader” polled with Elizabeth May ahead of Jagmeet Singh. So, apparently many Canadians don’t like the NDP’s current leadership.

      Liked by 1 person

      • What they don’t like is his turban. That is all they can see. No matter what we believe about ourselves, we are still a racist country. How many people of colour are actually in government? I don’t know, but I can bet that they are only elected in riding where people of colour dominate the population. Wilson-Raybould is one of the few exceptions, but to look at pher you cannot tell she is native. I am Metis, but I look white. I never suffered the way most of my native-lòoking countryfolk did. It is not until I reveal my ancestry that some racism rears its head. Then people look at me funny, and I can see the wheels turn. Is he, or isn’t he? And a Metis friend of mine is blond-haired, blue-eyed, and pale white-skinned. People tell her to her face she is not Metis. What kind of racism is that? We are not who we are!
        But I digress. My apologies. The NDP will never get elected under Singh, and that is a condeming truth about Canadians.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Reblogged this on The Secular Jurist and commented:
    Excellent information and perspective on the upcoming Canadian election. Well done Jill and John! I think Trudeau erred when he allowed SNC Lavalin’s threat to influence his actions. I’m sure he was concerned about the potential loss of 10,000 jobs, but democracy can’t function properly when coerced by corporate power. If SNC Lavalin committed a crime, it should be legally punished – end of story. Corporatism has been undermining democracy throughout the western world for decades now, and look what it has brought down upon us – socially destabilizing inequality, xenophobia, and nationalist nutjobs like Trump and Boris. I hope Trudeau learns from this mistake and survives. The 2016 U.S. election tragically demonstrated that unabashed status quo leaders like Hillary Clinton have fallen out of favor with the public. It demands and deserves better.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thanks, Bob, I appreciate your kind words and thoughtful commentary. While I agree with your view about Trudeau’s decision in the SNC-Lavalin affair, the loss of 10,000 jobs would have been mainly in Quebec and that would have cost the Liberals dearly. Trudeau needs strong support in Quebec and Ontario in order to be re-elected. To stand on principle, and risk the job losses, hand the separatists in Quebec more power in the federal government and saddle us with a Conservative government would be a steep price to pay. It is a tough problem.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Yes, it is a very tough problem. People today are looking for more creative solutions, however. Political leaders need to start thinking outside-the-box. The neoliberal dynamic of caving-in to big business interests just isn’t working anymore. If SNC Lavalin truly is a “strategic” concern for Quebec, then the federal government should have all sorts of tools at its disposal to address it. The too-big-to-fail argument resulted in the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession. Corporations shouldn’t have that much power. In the past, U.S. presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and FDR were successful at curbing it. It’s now time to revisit some of those remedies.

        Liked by 2 people

        • I agree, Robert, and the best way to curb the power of big corporations in politics is to legislate low-cost election campaigns so that elected officials are not in debt to said corporations. I don’t know how that can be accomplished, but we need to take the gun away from these corporate welfare bums.

          Liked by 2 people

    • Many thanks for the re-blog, Robert! As an outsider looking in, my thoughts are that yes, Trudeau has made some mistakes, but then, what leader doesn’t? And overall, I think he stands heads above the rest.

      Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks for your kind words! In my view, Justin Trudeau is a colossus yet has a very different style of leadership from his father, Pierre. He’s certainly made mistakes, but he owns them and apologizes. He’s very good fielding questions in Town Hall meetings with voters – and there’s always a few there to heckle. But he keeps his cool and answers the questions. Good luck with Johnson and Brexit.

      Liked by 3 people

  9. I appreciate reading more insights on Canadian politics from Canadians. Thank you for sharing this post.

    Firstly, I’m someone who considers myself a Liberal. I’m a supporter of Justin Trudeau, and I’m blatantly terrified that we’re staring down the barrel of a Conservative Government the next four years. Do I agree with everything that Justin Trudeau does? No. Goodness, no. But, as a whole, the policies, practices and governance of the party are what I most closely align with. I will be voting for Trudeau in the upcoming

    Two points I’ll add in from me for discussion’s sake:

    Jodi Wilson-Raybould throws a lot of stones for someone who lives in a glass house. In the three and a bit years she held her job before being let go, she alone, tallied up spousal travel expenses over $120,000 – 1/4 of what the whole cabinet used. THE WHOLE CABINET (all 30+ of them). When asked about why her travel expenses were so much more than anyone else in the cabinet she simply said public service shouldn’t come at the cost of family. I’m not opposed to her seeing her husband, I just think the fact that taxpayers paid $120,000 for her to see her husband when the average round trip for Vancouver-Ottawa flights is $650-$700, and can go as low as $350 if booked in advance, seems like… a lot. (Comments from her on the subject are here… and there’s not many comments at that: https://globalnews.ca/video/5885987/jody-wilson-raybould-reacts-to-report-on-spousal-travel-expenses)

    SNC Lavalin was a very sticky situation that I agree, the Conservatives have played out to be way more of a controversy than it is. I have a hard time taking stock in anything Jody Wilson-Raybould dishes out though, as she seems quick to criticize but seems to be above the media when the criticism is turned towards her.

    My second point for discussion: Black Face is racist. It is a racist action. Whether you’re the Prime Minister, Ralph Northam or any regular ole person in North America or anywhere in the world, it’s racist. Without words, without any racist rhetoric, a white person dressing up in black face, or brown face, or darkening their skin tone is racist because it turns black people into a costume and strips them from their humanity. Historically speaking, black face came about because white people were so entitled that they did not even want to see the humanity of black people in front of them. They created a black-face costume to paint people of colour in a clown-like manner, creating the notion that unless you were white in society, you were not to be accepted, nor treated with the bare minimum of being a human being.

    Do I think Trudeau is a racist person? No I do not. Do I think he did a racist action when he put on blackface? Yes I do. Was it out of racism or just plain idiocy? I think it was out of idiocy. Will I vote against him because of it? No. Again, because I think it was out of idiocy and not out of racism. He’s apologized and I do believe he understands what he did was wrong. The point I Just wanted to note was the action on itself, no matter who does it, is a racist action. As a society, we need to acknowledge that for sake of fair treatment of all races and people of all cultures and all backgrounds.

    Alright, I’m done rambling now. I really enjoyed reading this, and I appreciate you both for sharing this today. Great post! Great insights. I was glad to read.

    Liked by 5 people

    • “Without words, without any racist rhetoric, a white person dressing up in black face, or brown face, or darkening their skin tone is racist because it turns black people into a costume and strips them from their humanity. ” AMAZINGLY HONEST! Thank you.

      Liked by 6 people

    • Thank you very much for your kind words and for leaving this detailed comment. Ever since the SNC-Lavalin affair surfaced, I thought Jody-Wilson Raybould was self-serving and was happy when the Liberal caucus ejected both her and Jane Philpott. I share your fear about the Tories winning with a majority. If it is a minority government, both he and Trudeau would be restrained and in that scenario, I hope that there is more attention paid to the environment.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. The part of all this that surfaced in our news was the ‘fancy dress’ – I’ll call it that because people forever have dressed up for parties and shows. How silly to rake up something that was just messing about. If he had dressed up as a woman – as men have done for centuries – would he have to apologise to transgender people?

    Liked by 3 people

    • Excellent point! This is political muck-raking by Trudeau’s opposition. The Conservatives have always waged attack campaigns because most voters would not support what they actually want to do if they achieve office. I’ll bet Trudeau would look gorgeous dressed as a woman! Heaven forbid!

      Liked by 3 people

      • First, my apologies for the late comment. I was ‘off computer’ for several days. I think the context of Trudeau’s brown/black face dress was key: First, it was 20 years ago; second, they were costume parties; and third, he was a drama teacher. From reading many comments on Canadian news sites, the general consensus is that it was a foolish, insensitive act, but the man is not a racist.

        Liked by 2 people

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