Roundup: Giving succour to racists to own the libs

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That heckler the PM had an encounter with late last week turned into a big Thing today as it was revealed that she was a member of far-right and anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant groups in Quebec, and that her heckles were a set-up that Trudeau walked into. Trudeau himself offered no apologies for his response, but wouldn’t you know it – the Conservatives have decided to go to bat for this woman.

No, seriously. “Asking a question about the budget.” That was not “asking a question about the budget.” The translation of her (shouted) question was “I want to know when you are going to refund the $146 million we paid for your illegal immigrants.” That’s not a polite policy difference about interprovincial politics, as so many other conservatives have tried to intimate, that her question was the same one asked by three different provincial governments. It was followed up by her asking if Trudeau was tolerant of “Québécois de souche,” which some people translate as “old stock Quebeckers,” but that lacks the racially-charged nuance of the phrase, which some have likened to the “Quebec-speak variant of Master Race.” Add her “question about the budget” to this racially-charged phrase shows that she’s not concerned about the budget – she believes that these asylum seekers are stealing from Quebec. But, you know, it was “a question about the budget.” But wait – it gets better.

Andrew Scheer decided to weigh in and, ignoring all of what happened and the context, and the woman’s racially-charged language, Scheer attacked Trudeau for “name-calling” and “demonizing” people who are critical of him. Trudeau calling an avowed racist, with a history of public racism, a racist, is apparently “a vile [personal] insult” because he’s afraid of “legitimate criticism.” So yeah – way to go for offering succor to racists and white nationalists to “own the libs.” And while this woman’s apologists go on about how Trudeau “inflamed the situation” rather than answering her question – as though it was asked in good faith (it wasn’t) and wasn’t going to be immediately followed up with her racist remarks (which it was inevitably, given that this was demonstrably a set-up), you have to wonder just how wilfully blind Scheer and company will be in order to try and make Trudeau out to be the real monster.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1031727549896957952

Meanwhile, John Ivison says that confrontations like these are political gold for Trudeau because he can run against the image of a xenophobic Conservative party, which plays well to a certain segment of the population, while Chris Selley says that Trudeau needs to be careful when calling out intolerance because of his party’s own obnoxious tendencies.

Good reads:

  • In other Trudeau news, he says the next election will be a fight against polarization.
  • The government announced a pilot project for more weeks of EI for seasonal workers in certain areas while they continue economic diversification measures.
  • Two years after introducing a lottery system for family reunification spots, the government is reforming it yet again (but expanding it at the same time).
  • Harjit Sajjan’s trip to the Arctic didn’t come with new spending announcements, but rather talked about the importance of completing ongoing projects there.
  • Dominic LeBlanc is meeting with the three territorial premiers as the new ministers of Northern Affairs.
  • The government has officially begun its joint review of auto emissions standards with the US, before the US is set to weaken their standards.
  • Saskatchewan and Ontario are lining up against the environmental assessment bill, and one Senator is going to make it his mission to slow it down.
  • ITK president Natan Obed wants specific reference to the Inuit experience if we get a statutory holiday for residentials school remembrance.
  • There is word that the US and Mexico are wrapping up their bilateral talks, and that Canada could resume NAFTA talks later this week.
  • Here’s another preview of this week’s Conservative convention, including the fact that one of the speakers will be a Brexiteer.
  • John Geddes goes through the social science around diversity and inclusion in Canada, and finds the data show the opposite of what Maxime Bernier posited.
  • Pollster Bruce Anderson looks at the need for the parties to reach the moderate voters outside of their base in order to form government.
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at the pros and cons of an autumn prorogation and resetting the Order Paper.

Odds and ends:

The Scottish government is distancing itself of any references to Sir John A Macdonald, and excised mention of him from their website.

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Giving succour to racists to own the libs”

  1. Scheer and his Tories have snapped up what they feel is a juicy piece of meat by frying Trudeau over his call out of an “elderly” woman for racist remarks. Scheer will turn his party into a roast if he is not more careful.

  2. but that lacks the racially-charged nuance of the phrase, which some have likened to the “Quebec-speak variant of Master Race.”

    Who are the some? Or did you invent the quote?

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