Trudeau’s hypocrisy on display long before the ‘blackface’ debacle

Justin Trudeau’s hypocrisy was on full display long before this election campaign began, behaviour that repeatedly proved he didn’t always walk all his uber-progressive talk as a feminist, as an ally to people of colour, Indigenous peoples, and the LGBTQ community.

But apparently many people missed or deliberately ignored a lot of signs, including the fact the prime minister was twice found guilty of ethics violations.

Even Canadians who paid little attention to the SNC Lavalin scandal and the intricacies of deferred prosecution agreements know two women who stood up to Trudeau quit cabinet on principle and were kicked out of the Liberal caucus. Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott felt compelled to quit the cabinet that Trudeau had boasted to the world was 50 per cent women.

And they weren’t even the first female Liberal MPs to complain in 2019 that Trudeau did not like women who said something he didn’t want to hear. Celina Caesar-Chavannes, a black MP from Whitby, said Trudeau yelled at her when she told him she wasn’t going to seek re-election, telling her she didn’t appreciate all he had done for her. Trudeau apparently experienced the exchange differently, but whatever happened in private, Caesar-Chavannes soon found herself sitting as an independent MP.

The prime minister promised to help fund a treatment facility for people suffering from decades of mercury poisoning in the remote northern Ontario community of Grassy Narrows. When a protester at a $1,500 a head Liberal fundraiser asked Trudeau to keep his promise, he thanked her for her donation as she was escorted out by security, getting a laugh from the crowd. Trudeau later apologized, but to people living with the effects of mercury poisoning who have heard empty government promises since the 1970s, his callous joke was another slap in the face.

It was the Liberal war room that kickstarted the nasty mudslinging in the pre-writ period of the election, digging up old anti-abortion or homophobic quotes from Conservative MPs and candidates, including the now infamous 2005 “dog’s tail” speech on samesex marriage by Tory Leader Andrew Scheer. Boldly, I guess, Scheer has refused to apologize for his comments or to say what his personal views really are.

So the Liberals can’t complain about the release of the pictures and video of Trudeau in blackface, images that rocked the entire campaign, and resulted in weak apologies and even weaker explanations from the prime minister. Trudeau used the wrong language when he quickly tried to broaden talk of his behaviour into something ‘we’ can all learn from. The images were especially hurtful to those who considered Trudeau a true ally, someone so woke he could never have done something so obviously racist, and done it at least three times. The best defence so far: it was stupid, but not racist. Well, it was both.

Trudeau blackened not only his face, neck, arms and legs during his repeated and really still unexplained decisions to imitate, and mock, people of colour. For some, especially younger voters, this maybe unforgivable. It’s certainly not understandable on any level. And while it’s secondary to the impact of his actions on people of colour, Trudeau also instantly undermined Canada’s position on the world stage, diminishing our stature and ability to lead by example.

The prime minister “accepts responsibility” for his blackface antics, but unlike any other candidate from any party in that situation, there are no real consequences for Trudeau, at least not before election day. If nothing else, all of his actions play right into the Conservatives’ advertising slogan: “Justin Trudeau: not as advertised.”