Trudeau warns of workers’ anxieties
HAMBURG • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used one of Germany’s most prestigious black-tie galas to tell business leaders to “get real” about addressing the anxieties of their workers in an uncertain world.
Trudeau delivered the no-holds-barred message to an audience of 400 politicians, business leaders and other notables at the annual St. Matthew’s Banquet, a 700-year-old event in which the elders of the city-states invited foreign guests to celebrate their friendship.
Last year, former British prime minister David Cameron addressed the gathering and laid out his plan for battling his country’s Brexit forces. Cameron failed and Britons voted to leave the European Union, part of a global wave of disruption that culminated with Donald Trump’s victory in the November presidential election.
Officials say Trudeau was mindful of the whirlwind global changes that have taken place since, especially in Europe — rising anti-trade resentment and a backlash against immigration — when he accepted the invitation to address the banquet.
Trudeau has spoken repeatedly in Europe this week about the need for politicians to address the “anxieties” of working people, who are fearful of the pace of change, and of being left behind in the globalized world.
And he has spoken of the need for politicians to do a better job explaining the tangible benefits of agreements such as Canada’s free trade deal with the European Union — a pact the European Parliament ratified earlier in the week.
But the prime minister ramped up the message on Friday night in Hamburg, all but telling the corporate elite seated before him to shape up, and stop profiting at the expense of their employees.
“No more brushing aside the concerns of our workers and our citizens,” the prime minister said in prepared remarks. “We have to address the root cause of their worries, and get real about how the changing economy is impacting peoples’ lives.”
He even adopted some of the language of anti-trade movements.
“When companies post record profits on the backs of workers consistently refused full-time work — and the job security that comes with it — people get defeated,” he said.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called Trudeau a friend of Europe and praised the Canada-EU free trade deal as an answer to the “new nationalism” in the United States.
Trudeau said he understood the “irony of preaching about the struggles of the middle class to a sea of tuxedoes and ball gowns, while wearing a bow-tie myself.”