POLITICAL DATELINE

Is a globe-trotting prime minister likeable or a liability?

Every November starting in 2015, it’s been easier to find Canada’s prime minister on the road, far away from Ottawa. Trudeau has now made 29 international trips since he came to power two years ago, according to his office’s own tally this week. That’s more than once a month, basically — and about half of those 29 trips (14 to be exact) were to the United States. A lot of the trips happened in November, too, this being prime time for international summits in Asian nations.

We’ll recall that Trudeau spent much of his first few weeks after his November 2015 swearing-in out on the road, meeting foreign counterparts. That’s where the whole “bromance” with Barack Obama started — in happier and simpler times for the Canada-U.S. relationship, obviously. But is all this travelling worth it? It’s probably useful to separate that question into two parts — is the travelling bringing benefits to Canada, or just to Trudeau? (Prime ministers don’t get airline points, so we’re talking here about reputational benefits, not free merchandise or trips.)

Trudeau seems to be getting rock-star treatment most everywhere he goes, and that must be nice for him, but what’s the payoff for Canada? I’m not sure I have an answer to that — at least not yet.

Trudeau definitely travels more than Donald Trump, who was only on his second international trip when he was touring around Asia for the past two weeks. Trump hasn’t yet paid a call on Canada either — dispensing with the long-held practice for presidents to make this country their first foreign trip after inauguration. There were some rumours that Trump would manage to fit in a Canada visit before the end of this calendar year — possibly away from Ottawa or Toronto — but speculation on dates and venues was being kept very discreet so as not to give potential protesters a lot of lead time to organize.

Have Canada-U.S. relations been affected by the lack of a Trump-Trudeau meeting here? Probably not, though a lot of trade experts would say that the ongoing dispute over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) means that it’s hard to imagine them getting much worse.

Trudeau also appears to enjoy travelling more than his predecessor, Stephen Harper, did, but to be fair, he has fewer restrictions on him. Harper was leading a minority government for his first years as prime minister, meaning he couldn’t stray too far away from home for fear of missing a crucial vote in the Commons.

Just as well, though. A few years ago, WikiLeaks revealed leaked diplomatic cables from the U.S., in which Harper was reportedly vexed about the November travel flurry — especially the two trips to Asia required in late 2009. U.S. embassy officials in Canada reported to Washington that Harper “generally dislikes foreign travel.” Harper was also overheard telling someone on a Latin American trip in 2011 that “three days is a long trip for me.”

Clearly this is something that Harper and Trump might have in common (though it’s hard to imagine much else). Sometimes it’s fun to daydream about what a Harper-Trump meeting would look like — from the awkward shaking of hands to a total inability of either of them to make small talk. For Harper, sitting down with Trump would probably resemble those rare, awkward occasions hanging out with mayor Rob Ford.

There are multiple conversations going on in Ottawa these days about the value of foreign trips, not just for Trudeau but for all MPs. CBC News reported this week that MPs and senators are expected to spend $4.5 million in world travels this fiscal year — up $1 million from last year.

While that’s quite a bit of money, I’m generally a fan of these junkets, because it gets MPs of different parties out of the toxic, hyperpartisan Commons and forces them to get along . They learn to co-operate when they get out of Ottawa — see each other as human beings — and that’s a good thing.

Zipping around the planet in airplanes is not exactly “on brand” with a climate-conscious government, however. Just earlier this month, the Washington Post ran a piece headlined: “For the love of Earth, stop travelling,” which contained a suggestion to limit personal travel to about 5,000 kilometres a year. Canada’s prime minister hits that target almost every week.

Travel is always going to be part of the job of a politician. At the moment, Canada’s Parliament is led by a frequent flyer and filled with lots of other road warriors. It’s probably a good idea to keep asking them — for the environment’s sake, for our budget’s sake — is it really all worth it? sdelacourt@bell.net