Trudeau’s sentimentality triumphs over his reason

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals end 2017 buoyed by unlikely byelection victories in Quebec and British Columbia, unbloodied by two new opposition leaders and riding a robust economy. In the afterglow of Canada’s sesquicentennial, the country enjoys a contentment unseen in years.

Canadians are comfortable with their prime minister of smiles, socks and selfies. Two years later, Trudeau still benefits from not being his dour and detached predecessor. We accept a leader who is more temperament than intellect, overlooking the gap between instinct and execution.

Still, this government has made mistakes, and has eroded its appeal. Most are small, but collectively, they reveal decisions made in haste, out of sentimentality.

Consider, for example, Trudeau’s handling of his visit with the Aga Khan on his tropical island a year ago. Trudeau’s instinct was to keep it secret, and it cost him.

He should have announced he was the guest of a great friend of Canada. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives had conferred honorary citizenship on the Aga Khan. Instead, Trudeau hid it and set off an ethics investigation.

No one seemed to say to Trudeau: “This visit is fine. It is in Canada’s interest. Explain it. If you want to take your family on a holiday, too, pay the difference. No fair- minded person will question your motives—– or the Aga Khan’s.”

This government shows the same misjudgment in other matters. Why, for instance, did no one in the Prime Minister’s Office insist Bill Morneau put his assets in a blind trust when he became finance minister?

When Fidel Castro died, Trudeau issued a statement that was all emotion and no reflection. A skilled hand would have drafted a statement noting Castro’s place in history as well as his ugly authoritarianism.

When Trudeau created his cabinet, he made gender equality a virtue. Yet he appointed women who should not be there; one was dismissed, another demoted. What about seeking the best of either sex? If that means a cabinet of 80 per cent women, good.

When the government decided to give the former U. S. Embassy on Wellington Street to Indigenous Canada, it was unfazed that it was killing a long- sought national portrait gallery in that space. Or that the building is a colonial cast- off, insulting to architect Douglas Cardinal and other aboriginal Canadians who see better places in Ottawa to celebrate their culture. It mattered more to the government that Canada do something — anything — to make a statement. Again, sentimentality trumped sense.

When the government unveiled the National Holocaust Monument, no one in the PMO seemed to vet the wording of the introductory plaque, under Trudeau’s name, which omitted “Jews,” the second time for that kind of omission.

When the government approved a skating rink on Parliament Hill, no one seemed to question why it cost millions. And no one working for Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly persuaded her, initially, that it should stay open longer than two weeks.

This government has a galaxy of stars: Catherine McKenna, Jim Carr, Jane Philpott, Chrystia Freeland, Marc Garneau, Ralph Goodale. It has worthy goals: fighting global warming, recasting the frayed relationship with Indigenous Canada, investing in infrastructure, managing Donald Trump to save NAFTA.

But the prime minister needs an adviser in his circle who is older and wiser than he is. He needs someone of experience, memory, maturity and judgment among his young titans — so self- satisfied and self- confident. Someone to tell him when he’s wrong. Someone to blunt his impulses. Someone to free him from this tyranny of small mistakes before they become big ones.

Andrew Cohen is a journalist, professor, and author.