# How's Trudeau doing, Canada? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 13, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019 "2016-02-13T13:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/61 "2016-11-28T14:54:25Z")
Getting back to the question in the OP, The Economist thinks that Trudeau is doing well: [Liberty moves north: It is uniquely fortunate in many ways—but Canada still holds lessons for other Western countries](http://discover.economist.com/?a=21709305&cid1=d/dsp/Outbrain/dyn/21709305/20161012-00:00am/paid/display-LA/BR-PO/BRPII/n/subs/CA/BR-LIT&cid3=UM) (Note that the article was written before the US election, so refers to both Trump and Clinton as possible President.) > [@](#): > > Who will uphold the torch of openness in the West? Not America’s next president. Donald Trump, the grievance-mongering Republican nominee, would build a wall on Mexico’s border and rip up trade agreements. Hillary Clinton, the probable winner on November 8th, would be much better on immigration, but she has renounced her former support for ambitious trade deals. Britain, worried about immigrants and globalisation, has voted to march out of the European Union. Angela Merkel flung open Germany’s doors to refugees, then suffered a series of political setbacks. Marine Le Pen, a right-wing populist, is the favourite to win the first round of France’s presidential election next year. > > In this depressing company of wall-builders, door-slammers and drawbridge-raisers, Canada stands out as a heartening exception. It happily admits more than 300,000 immigrants a year, nearly 1% of its population—a higher proportion than any other big, rich country—and has done so for two decades. Its charismatic prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has been in office a year, has welcomed some 33,000 Syrian refugees, far more than America has. Bucking the protectionist mood, Canada remains an eager free-trader. It was dismayed by the EU’s struggle to overcome a veto by Walloons on signing a “comprehensive” trade agreement that took seven years to negotiate (see page 38). Under Mr Trudeau, Canada is trying to make amends for its shameful treatment of indigenous peoples, and is likely to become the first Western country to legalise recreational cannabis on a national level. > … > The second lesson is the value of knowing when fiscal austerity does more harm than good. Canada has been managing its public finances conservatively for the past 20 years or so. Now in charge of a sluggish economy, Mr Trudeau can afford to give growth a modest lift by spending extra money on infrastructure. His government has given a tax cut to the middle class and raised rates for the highest earners to help pay for it. These economic policies deserve to “go viral”, the head of the IMF has said. Canada has a further economic lesson to impart in how it protects people hurt by globalisation. Compared with America, its publicly financed health system lessens the terror of losing a job; it also provides more financial support and training to people who do. And its policy of “equalisation” gives provincial and local governments the means to maintain public services at a uniform level across the country. > > Perhaps most important, this mixture of policies—liberal on trade and immigration, activist in shoring up growth and protecting globalisation’s losers—is a reminder that the centrist formula still works, if politicians are willing to champion it. Instead of folding in the face of opposition to liberal policies, Mr Trudeau and his ministers have instead made the case for them. Although free trade is not the hot-button issue in Canada that it is in America, they have been tireless in listening to critics and trying to take their concerns into account. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/62 "2016-11-28T14:57:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > A _New Yorker_ humorist warns of the risk of increased American immigration due to a Trudeau photo: [Canada Fears Photo of Prime Minister with Pandas Could Worsen American Refugee Crisis | The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/canada-fears-photo-of-prime-minister-with-pandas-could-worsen-american-refugee-crisis) Just wait till Trudeau starts giving hair-care tips to The Donald… ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/63 "2016-11-28T22:51:58Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > You live in an area too remote or too small for public services, and you’re complaining that things are unavailable or expensive. I guess Hydro One put a gun to your head and made you live in the sticks. Either that, or you believe that I should be subsidizing your electricity delivery charges even though I chose to not live on Mars. > > Things in remote places are expensive. Hardly fair at all. There are always circumstances that come up - family or job being the biggest drivers in effectively pushing people to go where ideally they never would. And that leaves aside the people that simply can’t take living in a a city. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/64 "2016-11-29T13:50:56Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > Hardly fair at all. There are always circumstances that come up - family or job being the biggest drivers in effectively pushing people to go where ideally they never would. And that leaves aside the people that simply can’t take living in a a city. Great. That explains why someone would live in the sticks, it doesn’t explain why they’re justified complaining about the _cost of living_ in the sticks. Living somewhere remote and expecting it to have the same services of the city with the same cost shows a worrying lack of understanding of the infrastructure of civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/65 "2016-11-29T20:15:52Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > …Obama’s was much better, but it was an actual prepared statement. Here it is: [Statement by the President on the Passing of Fidel Castro | whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/26/statement-president-passing-fidel-castro) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/66 "2016-11-29T20:16:29Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Most people I know don’t care about his remarks. It’s just the conservatives trying to manifest scandals. It didn’t work with his hair, his name, his youth, or any other of his missteps. And it’s not working with this either. > > Remaarkably transparent manufactured tempest in a teapot, is how most of my friends view the whole affair. Meh. This nails it as far as I can see. The “usual suspects” are the ones making a big deal of it. Essentially those supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada, who have been trying desperately to smear Trudeau ever since he was elected as an MP. They hate him with the passion of a thousand burning suns and he will never, NEVER do anything right. It has driven them slightly insane that he punted their Dear Leader Harper out of power. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/67 "2016-11-29T20:54:32Z")
They’re trying every play from the Republican playbook. If we SAY it’s a scandal long and loud enough, it WILL be! Not gonna happen, I’m afraid. So he said some unduly kind things over a dead guy. We’re a very polite people, we’re cool with it. It’s kinda amusing to watch them try though! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/68 "2016-11-29T22:15:03Z")
It’s like the conservative party of Canada has somehow forgotten that we have had normal relations with the government of Cuba for 45 years. There are flights there. There are Canadian business interests there. Canadian tourists go there regularly. There are not a lot of South Florida ex-pats living in Canada. So Trudeau did not scream that Castro was a bastard after he died. We’ll get over it. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/69 "2016-11-29T22:17:07Z")
Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees! ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/70 "2016-11-29T22:51:16Z")
The Free World fought to rape Castro Communism. And Trudeau cockblocks the Free World. I don’t know which side I’m on anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/71 "2016-11-29T23:02:32Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees! Like living over a meth lab. I miss Robin Williams. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/72 "2016-11-30T00:34:55Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > Great. That explains why someone would live in the sticks, it doesn’t explain why they’re justified complaining about the _cost of living_ in the sticks. > > Living somewhere remote and expecting it to have the same services of the city with the same cost shows a worrying lack of understanding of the infrastructure of civilization. Everything’s a tradeoff. Property is cheap in the sticks, as are property taxes. Communications and travel is expensive. In big cities folks love to bitch about the cost of housing and taxes but forget about the cheap comms, travel, public transport, etc. Everybody takes for granted the good parts & whines about the bad parts of wherever & however they live. Nothing much to see here either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/73 "2016-11-30T00:38:36Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees! We will. Have fun with your Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/74 "2016-11-30T03:07:04Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees! While I may not agree with what Trudeau said, I think it’s miles ahead of someone who uses “rape” approvingly as a political metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/75 "2016-11-30T11:28:58Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees! You might want to review your posts for coherence before hitting “Submit.” If the Free World was trying to rape Communism, that does not speak well of (your idea of) the Free World. That said. > [@Grey](#): > > Like living over a meth lab. Do not hurl personal insults at posters outside The BBQ Pit. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/76 "2016-11-30T11:36:04Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Of course liberals don’t care. Their outrage over Castro was similarly lackadaisical. As opposed to (a number of) conservatives who spent the last decades reacting in horror, horror I say, over the mere existence of the leader of one small country who stopped promoting revolution decades ago. I’ll take lackadaisical over manufactured hysteria. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/77 "2016-11-30T13:02:55Z")
Er, um, “Being a Canadian these days is …like living over a meth lab!”, is a currently popular meme in Canada and meant as humour. I’m not seeing anyway for it to be interpreted as a PERSONAL insult. Who was it personally directed at? Any chance the moderation is a titch amiss here? (Just asking!) ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/78 "2016-11-30T13:18:27Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > As opposed to (a number of) conservatives who spent the last decades reacting in horror, horror I say, over the mere existence of the leader of one small country who stopped promoting revolution decades ago. > I’ll take lackadaisical over manufactured hysteria. Are the people he had killed less dead since he stopped promoting revolution decades ago? Ya know who else stopped promoting revolution decades ago? Stalin - should he get a pass since that too was decades ago? What difference – at this point, what difference does it make? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/79 "2016-11-30T15:31:19Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Er, um, “Being a Canadian these days is …like living over a meth lab!”, is a currently popular meme in Canada and meant as humour. > … I did not know that. A fine metaphor. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/80 "2016-11-30T16:01:45Z")
I’ve opened an ATMB thread to ask for clarification: [Williams quote a personal insult?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19819060#post19819060) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019.md?page=5)