Matthew Lau: Canada's woke emperor has no clothes

 

Matthew Lau: Justin Trudeau is a vain prime minister who presents himself as an enlightened feminist, noble climate activist, advocate for Indigenous progress, and committed servant of social justice. PHOTO BY GEOFF ROBINS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILES

The fact is that Canada’s woke emperor has no clothes. At the start of the current election campaign, in an attempt to burnish his feminist credentials, Justin Trudeau vowed to turn the country’s supposed «she-cession» into a «she-covery.» But the evidence does not support claims of a «she-cession,» and it is plain to all with eyes to see that men as well as women suffered immensely from the pandemic and lockdowns. So the «she-covery» line, typical of the first two weeks of Trudeau’s flagging campaign, did not land well. Contrast this to when Trudeau first became prime minister and appointed a gender-balanced cabinet.

He was questioned by a reporter about his decision to appoint cabinet ministers based on their gender, and in demonstration of his ability to read a calendar and come up with fantastic non-sequiturs, he informed the reporter that the year was 2015. Those suspicions would have been reinforced when the federal government inserted over 200 pages of gender equality statements, gender and diversity statements, and «gender-based analysis-plus» into each of its last two budget documents. On top of these well-founded suspicions of embellishment, Trudeau’s mismanagement of his gender-balanced cabinet has been inconsistent with the feminist principles he projects. In 2019, after two capable female cabinet ministers, Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott, resigned from cabinet in a scandal of Trudeau’s making, he tossed them both out of the Liberal caucus.

His reputation for running a feminist government was not improved when last week, one of his underperforming ministers, Maryam Monsef of the gender equality portfolio, referred to the Taliban as «our brothers.» The Taliban is not well known for promoting women’s rights. Trudeau’s image as a climate saint has also deteriorated in the past six years. From the first days of his government there has been a consistent misalignment between the government’s extravagance and its lectures about how ordinary people must live more austerely in order to save the planet. As it does on climate change, the federal government also makes grand gestures on Indigenous issues.

There has been a significant increase in federal spending on Indigenous programs and an even greater increase in federal government pronouncements as to whose unceded land everybody is supposedly occupying. Canadians are usually tolerant of politicians’ incompetence, hypocrisy, and mumbo-jumbo, but the past 18 months have been trying for everyone, and significant government failures have left people’s impatience more inflamed than usual. As a result, many Canadians find themselves increasingly irritated by the woke emperor’s absence of clothing.

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Source: Matthew Lau | Financial Post