An example of leadership
There are worse things in life than a thorough humbling. Put to proper use, the levelling of an ego can be a blessing in disguise.
In that regard, it appears Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has used his comeuppance of the last 12 months wisely.
Along with the accomplishments of his first term, Trudeau produced too many selfies, a little too much self-regard and, in the end, a disconcerting dissonance between the posture of idealism and the reality of governing.
The SNC-Lavalin scandal showed an approach to governance that was anything but the new order and transparency on which the prime minister had campaigned.
A spectacular falling-out with two of his senior women cabinet ministers – Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott — saw him portrayed thoroughly against brand as something of an arrogant autocrat.
Then came the election of 2019 and the release of a gallery of photos of a much younger Trudeau in outrageous blackface and/or brownface.
Whatever the hue, it was a potentially lethal hit, suggesting that whatever sensitivity the prime minister possessed was of more recent vintage than most had thought.
Owing largely to the ineptitude of Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, Trudeau and his Liberals survived the election, albeit with a minority mandate.
But the prime minister had come to a crossroads. Would his second term see more of the same, or a fundamental change?
Trudeau retreated to Costa Rica over the holiday season for what seems to have been a period of soul-searching.
And judging by how he has handled the aftermath of the catastrophic shooting down of UIA Flight 752 over Tehran, it has paid off.
Since his return to Canada, newly bearded, the prime minister has displayed more gravitas, a laudable emotional feel for the needs of the moment, and a surer grasp on the demands of leadership.
For the country, it was difficult to comprehend the loss of accomplished professors and grad students from universities coast to coast, heart-scalding to see entire young families wiped out, extraordinary potential never to be fulfilled.
As the country mourns, Trudeau has been sure-footed in responding to a crisis that offered so many opportunities for missteps, and presents a testing time for a leader both at home and on the global stage.
If Trudeau has acquitted himself so well to date, perhaps it is because he understands sudden and grievous loss.
In 1998, Trudeau’s brother Michel was killed in an avalanche in the British Columbia back-country.
“I discovered that the cliché phrases were all based in reality,” Trudeau wrote in his memoir Common Ground. “I went numb, my heart sank and my blood ran cold all at the same time. Part of me was certain that Michel was still alive. I just couldn’t conceive of a world in which he wasn’t.”
Trudeau spent the following days handling calls and accepting condolences on behalf of the family. “They helped me deal with my severe emotional pain.”
Through those experiences, Trudeau came to understand that a great deal of what matters in relationships, especially in times of trial, is simply showing up.
In recent days, he has walked with the grieving at a vigil on Parliament Hill, travelled to Edmonton and mourned in the province hardest-hit by the death toll from Flight 752.
Trudeau has shown that he understands — unlike his counterpart Donald Trump in similar visits to Puerto Rico and Texas – that in tragedy the story is not about his feelings so much as it is the use he can be to others.
Over the past week and a half, Trudeau has been every bit as effective as consoler-in-chief as was former president Barack Obama during the many appalling mass shootings in churches and grade schools during his time in office.
Throughout, the prime minister has maintained a sure and comforting emotional pitch even as his anger was palpable.
Canada will not rest, he said, until it receives answers, “transparency, accountability and justice” that families of those who lost their lives deserve.
As days passed, Trudeau also calmly expressed the outrage of Canadians at the recklessness of the American president in setting in motion the chaotic circumstances in which so many of our countrymen died.
“If there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be home right now with their families,” he said in an interview with Global News. “This is something that happens when you have conflict and war. Innocents bear the brunt of it.”
That went just far enough to recognize the obvious: that Trump’s attack on a top Iranian general created the context for the tragedy that followed. But he stopped well short of blaming Trump for the death of Flight 752 itself. That’s the responsibility of the Iranian regime itself.
The prime minister appears to have done much more than cultivate facial hair over the holiday season. He seems to have summoned a more mature bearing and a clearer resolve.
Let’s hope he brings all this to the challenges ahead.
Trudeau seems to have summoned a more mature bearing and a clearer resolve.