Trudeau: back to reality?
And there you have it: Justin Trudeau, the “maple boy” beloved of mothers-in-law, has announced his resignation. A very solemn declaration for a man who will nevertheless remain in office until a replacement is found. Pure Trudeau: leaving without really leaving.
But what happened to make the former star of the Young Global Leaders leave the stage before the final act?
A rise in daddy’s wake
The son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin Trudeau was born on 25 December 1971. He first pursued a career in teaching before going into politics. First elected as an MP in 2008, he quickly rose through the ranks of the Liberal Party of Canada. In 2013, he became party leader and set about revitalising the party, which was then in decline. Under his leadership, the Liberals won the 2015 federal elections, and Justin Trudeau became the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada.
A champion of wokeism, covidism, multiculturalism and climatism, Justin Trudeau paid no attention to the real problems of Canadians...
COVID, Nazis and other blunders
Let us start with the handling of COVID. Trudeau, the champion of forced vaccination and restrictions of every kind, had declared a state of emergency in the face of the truckers of the “freedom convoy”. Between freezing bank accounts and comparing the protesters to Nazis, he knew how to wield the carrot and the stick... without the carrot. As fate would have it, it was this same Trudeau who gave a standing ovation to a former member of the Waffen-SS in the Canadian Parliament. Ah, the magic of politics!
And how could we forget his closeness to the World Economic Forum and its Global Shapers? Between Macron, the eternal accomplice, and Trudeau, the Young Global Leaders are struggling to convince. Canadians, for their part, seem to have had their fill of these out-of-touch elites, quicker to brandish slogans than to solve the housing crisis or inflation.
The wind from the South?
Donald Trump’s victory last November certainly did not help. The return of the tycoon with his scathing tweets and threatening tariffs was enough to make Ottawa tremble. Trudeau found himself caught between Trump’s protectionist demands and a national economy already on its knees. Pierre Poilievre, his Conservative rival, was quick to take advantage and call for a tougher policy.
And then what? A wager on the future
Trudeau’s successor? Another Young Global Leader, perhaps? Chrystia Freeland, a fan of shaky plans, could be on the starting blocks. But in a country weary of elites moulded in Davos, the Conservative Poilievre could well play the role of the pragmatic outsider.
As for Macron, will he look at his Canadian counterpart with apprehension? The question remains open.
The BAM! editorial team
