Closer view of Canada’s PM-designate Trudeau

activist David Suzuki that his climate change views are “sanctimonious crap.”

Despite criticizing Harper’s politics of “fear and division” in campaign ads, Trudeau still had the sense to vote in favor of Harper’s Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, which bans polygamy, honor killings and some other cultural imports that run contrary to traditional Canadian values. Trudeau also voted in favor of Harper’s proposal to strengthen Canada’s antiterrorism legislation in the wake of the October 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Still, Trudeau has denounced Canada’s participation in U.S. coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State, claiming that a humanitarian role would be more suitable. No, it wouldn’t be. Killing the beheaders and resolving the crisis is the priority. Trudeau isn’t entirely wrong to denounce the nearly useless yearlong airstrikes, but the wise approach would be to advocate better intelligence, which has been sorely missing from coalition efforts.

Trudeau shines when he listens to opposing views. With a majority government negating the need to do so, one can only hope that Trudeau remains open to constructive dissent — if only because the resulting pragmatism has served him well. He should go out of his way to find people to argue with inside the big centrist Liberal Party tent. Unlike Harper, Trudeau has an ego that could withstand the disagreement.

Speaking of Trudeau’s predecessor, all the post-election Harper-bashing is grotesque. Overall, Harper has done an admirable and competent job as prime minister. He has simply been plagued by the kind of scandals and arrogance that unfailingly take hold when a Canadian political party enjoys power for too long.

Trudeau has mastered the art of using rhetoric to appeal to as big a swath of the political spectrum as possible, but this has caused some people to misjudge him. It’s his actions that tell the true tale. So far, he seems willing to act in the best interests of the country even if a policy might be at odds with his personal views. That’s what will make Trudeau particularly interesting to watch as Canada’s new prime minister.

Tribune Content Agency rachelmarsden.com