The numbers I’ve seen in the press don’t add up, either. I thought I saw that he was talking about roughly $1.5 billion/yr in subsidy cuts, but my understanding is that his tax cut is more like $7 billion/yr. (If I have this wrong, someone please correct me.) I suppose he’ll make up the rest by “eliminating waste” and “finding efficiencies.”
I’m not really finding Scheer any more credible on the fiscal responsibility front than the Liberals. For all that the Liberals have exceeded their deficit targets, the debt to GDP ratio has been stable (actually declining slightly) which is hardly anything to get worked up about. I’d rather see modest deficits that don’t increase the debt/GDP ratio and govt services being provided at their current levels than tax cuts and either increased debts or cuts to services.
Good to know that the Conservatives will not continue to pour money into helping the oil companies, such as pumping money into the Trans-Mountain pipeline. I imagine voters in Alberta will take notice that the oil company subsidy tap will be turned off under Scheer.
Since I have no idea what “cancel culture” is, I can only assume it’s not as bad in Canada.
It’s not a great look but “brown face” in Canada doesn’t carry the same weight or meaning as it does in the States. He’ll ride this out ok if he watches his step.
It may or may not substantially damage him, but his core brand is being the woke white guy and now… well it’s gonna be hard to reconcile these photos with his brand, notwithstanding all the other shit that’s tarnished him this year.
The one positive thing about this is that his apology was swift, unequivocal in his condemnation of his own actions and sincere. But man, if you told me back in February when the blackface scandal with the governor of Virginia was in the headlines that Trudeau would be at the heart of a similar scandal later this year, I would have slapped you silly.
I’m willing to bet that Scheer wished hadn’t of said yesterday that an apology is sufficient to atone for past mistakes in judgement vis a vis one of candidates having racist remarks on Twitter.
From what I’ve read elsewhere, it appears to be synonymous with “boycott.” For example, “Let’s boycott ABC Industries’ products,” means the same as, “Let’s cancel ABC Industries.” Different terminology, but same objective.
I’m willing to cut Justin Trudeau a little slack on this one. First, he did it eighteen or nineteen years ago, when he likely never expected to be the PM, and he had no reason to believe the photo would never resurface to the Canadian public during his election race to remain the PM of Canada, nineteen years later–more likely, back then, it would amuse his circle of friends, and that would be it. Secondly, we all did things in our early twenties that we would take a second look at doing nowadays. Those of us who have reached thirty years or more beyond then, anyway.
I’m no fan of Mr. Trudeau, but I must say that I do not like the “negative campaigning” that has been occurring from all parties. Tell me what your platform is, not how the other person’s platform (and of course, it is interpreted in a negative way) sucks. Tell me what you will do for me if elected, not how the other side is going to screw me over if he or she is elected.
So, this is okay because he was just trying to impress his friends and it wasn’t likely he’d be PM? Article I read says Mr. ‘Woke’ was 29 at the time, btw. Well past the age that someone with the gravitas necessary to eventually be PM should be doing such stupid things. Interesting that he felt no need to bring this up earlier and use it as a learning experience for us all.
Anyone else envision him in an Indian hotel room, dressed as a Bollywood actor and holding a can of brown shoe polish, with a puzzled look on his face after his wife smacked him upside the head?
I’m totally willing to cut him some slack on this (note I am a pretty staunch Liberal).
Were these (there are 3 now) stupid, racist, irresponsible acts? Yes.
Is Trudeau a racist? No frick’n way. Look at how diverse his cabinet is, compared to I don’t know lets say the Trump cabinet. He has a Sikh as his minister of defense (who is doing a great job).
These all happened 18 years and like close to 30 years ago (in high school). He apologized and said they were stupid and racist.
The hyper partisans who hated Trudeau with a passion still hate Trudeau.
The rest of us are ready to move on to more substantive issues and policies.
Someone at my workplace (who I think tends to be center-right in political terms, and has no love of Trudeau) said something interesting - that she felt that one way to look at this was that Trudeau did some wrong things in his past … and this has actually helped make him a better man today. That perhaps part of the reason for who is is today is that he has looked back at things he’s done in the past, thought about them, and realized he was wrong. And that this growth is something she valued in a leader.
Yeah, just like Brett Kavanaugh’s indiscretions in college made him a better man today, right?
I wonder what you’d have to say if a photo of Andrew Scheer in ‘brownface’ turned up. Would you also conclude that this made him a better man, and therefore was not relevant to the election at all, or even a good thing?
Yes, but “a better man today” isn’t just something we assume he is, it’s something we can evaluate. Like, how did Trudeau address these issues? Did he, say, start ranting and crying about how he was being mistreated? Did he deny it ever happened? Did he think declaring his love of beer would make everything okay? No? Then yeah, he’s at least a “better man” than Brett Kavanaugh, and probably is better than he was back then.
This is just the Canadian version of “The Democrats Are The Real Racists!”, and it’s just as much obvious bullshit. Doing something stupid 20 years ago pales in comparison to the CPC’s open embrace of racists today.
Well Sam, I’m just reporting what a colleague said to me. Your mileage may differ.
Most folks I know are analyzing the situation on it’s face, and are not bringing up the “Oh ya, what about this other guy in the US, huh? What about how he was treated, huh?”
And if a photo like that turned up for Scheer, my reaction would largely depend on a couple of things:
how he handled it via an apology
what he has done in the intervening time, and how he has behaved.
Analysing these two factors are needed before deciding whether an individual has learned from poor past behaviour, or if they still hold poor beliefs. So you have to look at each case and the totality of the individual. Sorry this is not a simple answer.
For instance, Scheer has, in the past, denounced same sex marriage, and has made a less than flattering analogy with a dog’s leg. (note - I was not particularly bothered by his analogy - I think partisans made a big deal of very little). He has not gone to Pride parades.
Now – has Scheer learned and grown from this? Does he now accept that same sex marriage is not a horrible thing? Will he, as PM, go to Pride parades and accept that same sex marriage is OK? I’m not entirely sure. His actions, words and lack of apologies to date make this an unknown.
It is fascinating that the exact same behavior can be used both as a cudgel against a political opponent or be completely irrelevant aside from an opportunity for personal growth. Things that make you go :dubious:.
Who is Andrew Scheer today? Is their current behavior the same or different from their past behavior?
Who is Justin Trudeau today? Is their current behavior the same or different from their past behavior?
Who is Brett Kavanaugh today? Is their current behavior the same or different from their past behavior?
Who is Donald Trump today? Is their current behavior the same or different from their past behavior?
It really isn’t that hard to figure out. I know that Kavanaugh and Trump are the same scum they’ve always been. Scheer, I don’t know because he’s so wishy-washy. It isn’t hard to figure out why he’s wishy-washy. He knows his (probably) socially regressive views are not popular with most of Canada, so he has to make a show of being an old school Progressive Conservative for fear of driving away voters. At the same time, he cannot lose the socially regressive voters. But who knows, maybe Scheer has grown up too. Too bad his words and actions don’t indicate as such.
How exactly do you know that Brett Kavanaugh is the same today? No one can find a co-worker, male or female, who has a bad thing to say about him. The only dirt they could find was a maybe-something from 35 years ago. Even Ruth Bader Ginsberg has sung his praises.
So how exactly is Brett Kavanaugh the same?
The cognitive dissonance and double standards are amazing to behold.
There is some nuance here, and room for interesting thought.
One needs to look at the events in question, as it is clear that two events in two countries involving two different individuals with very different circumstances are not “Exact same behavior”
Also, as has been pointed out, one should also look at the RESPONSE to the past behaviors/acts. Has there been sincere apologies? Has recent behavior show to a reasonable person that they have learned from the past bad acts?
Some call this “double standard”, assuming that we must treat two acts identically, regardless of initial circumstances and present behavior. I disagree.