Roundup: Yet another in a string of unforced errors

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It is easy to imagine the thought process that Justin Trudeau engaged in about Truth and Reconciliation Day – that he didn’t want it to be about him. That he wanted it to be a day for Indigenous people to speak their truths, and for Canadians to listen. That he didn’t need to be front-and-centre, being the emoter-in-chief as he so often is. So best to attend the ceremony on the night before, and then get out of the way.

And yet, somehow, he managed to make it all about him once more, thanks to yet another unforced error, compounding his record of unforced errors. And while he said that he spent the day on the phone listening to survivors, he also got on a plane to Tofino, BC, to spend time with family post-election. And that dominated the news, and the political talk shows, because he couldn’t have waited one more day so it wouldn’t look like crass opportunism and like he was taking the day as a holiday as people were insisting that we not do. It should have been blindingly obvious, but this is a prime minister who has so many blind spots that begin and end with him thinking that so long as his intentions are good that it won’t matter in the end. And once again, because of this blind spot, he has made it all about him, and took the focus away from the importance of the day (though one could also note that reporters and TV hosts making the huge deal about it, and harping on it rather than noting it and moving on should also have known better).

Good reads:

  • Some residential school survivors are calling for “a stand-alone Indigenous national museum with a residential school component attached.”
  • There is some pushback around the Canadian Forces’ planned ads targeting the recruitment of women, given the crisis of sexual misconduct in the military.
  • Here’s a look at how the Conservatives wound up losing votes in Alberta.
  • The Conservative Party president is warning that the member of national council who is petitioning for an early leadership review could be dropped from his role.
  • Alberta will be getting assistance from the Canadian Forces, the Red Cross, and some doctors from Newfoundland and Labrador, as their health system collapses.
  • Heather Scoffield looks to the evidence about how climate disclosures for corporations is starting to drive investment in greener technologies.
  • Philippe Lagassé cautions about how we describe the election results, because of how wrong descriptions can be used to mislead.

Odds and ends:

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4 thoughts on “Roundup: Yet another in a string of unforced errors”

  1. I disagree. One, because a “blind spot” is not a scandal. Two, because the fault is with the reporters and TV hosts who went looking for him in the first place, because they didn’t want to make this day about Indigenous people. They’re tabloid hacks obsessed with phony scandals, and they can’t quit their cash cow. They’re going to beg him to come back if they do end up chasing him out, because their ratings will end up in the toilet with nothing to gin up rage about.

    This vacation wasn’t an unforced error. It was an unintended middle finger to the bottom-feeding parasites of the decrepit fourth estate. People died in wars too; does that mean Memorial Day (US) barbeques are insensitive? How about doing early Christmas shopping on Remembrance Day? It’s not like he ignored them altogether. This day wouldn’t exist were it not for his government. PMJT has done more for Indigenous people in terms of *policy* than any other government since Confederation. Policy is what should be discussed and highlighted, not snarky dreck. For Harper and his minions (like Kenney and O’Toole), Indigenous people were “not high on their radar.” Careful of biting the hand that feeds.

    Everyone needs to leave Trudeau’s family alone. What’s he supposed to do, chain himself to his desk? The trash tabloids committed a potential security breach by tipping off his location to the gravel throwers and sausage makers who want to hurt him and his loved ones. His kids especially. Next up, chasing his car into a tunnel like the British stalkers did to Diana. Or hounding Sophie to the point of a nervous breakdown like they did to Margaret. As it is, because of the endless threats she’s been kept out of sight for her safety. The response from these same pack hounds, instead of being introspective as to their role in why she’s in hiding, has been to speculate that they’re divorced.

    I remember when Fife followed him to Disney during the SNC fracas. I remember some no-name from CTV shoving a microphone at Jodi Butts at their home, around the same time. I remember Elbowgate and Donutgate. I remember Lilley writing erotic fanfic about PMJT’s Christmas holiday in Costa Rica, and about his “Great Gatsby” adventure at the peak of We-Ghazi. And yes, I remember Rona ratting him out for the Aga Khan voyage when she was vacationing on some rich man’s yacht. Tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, meaning absolutely nothing.

    That kind of yellow-journalism gossip and habitual addiction to pearl-clutching Obama tan suit outrage is why I can’t take seriously these BS nontroversies, or the subhuman, Fox-wannabe muckrakers like Fife and this cub reporter from Goebbels News. They remind me of “D*ck” Thornberg in Die Hard. Anything for a story. Anything for useless filler and sensational scoop. I’m not buying it. PMJT deserves a mental health day. I’m sick of these people. Selfish, petty, jealous, miserable, and determined to drag everyone else down to their level. I never thought I’d agree with Trump on anything, but the lying press really is the enemy of the people. Fk them.

  2. I absolutely agree, JB. They pretended that Trudeau was trying to pull something sneaky or nefarious so they could “out” him – a triumph of journalism, to be sure!
    And with the side benefit of being able to ignore completely the actual purpose of the day, so they didn’t have to prepare for or set up uncomfortable interviews with Indigenous people and instead could “cover” them just by asking stupid questions like “and what do YOU think about Trudeau going to Tofino?”.
    The Canadian press gallery acts like they’re still in high school, they’re the nerds jealous of the Cool Kid Trudeau, hoping to snap an embarrassing photo to run in the school newspaper to “bring him down”
    Its actually because Trudeau doesn’t really like them, not as people – he’s bored by them, he doesn’t want to be friends with them at all, and they know it.
    The only thing way he could change this is to smooze with them — act like he is so pleased and happy to see them, give them a wink as he walks down the stairs, butter them up with little hallway chats and jokes, chit-chat about their kids’ soccer teams — in the US, its called “tire-swinging” because of the way John McCain ensured himself good personal coverage by inviting the media to off-the-record barbeques where one entranced reporter (McArgle-bargle maybe) famously gushed about how great it was to swing in a tire in McCain’s yard,

  3. One of the many problems with cult leaders is that they surround themselves with true believers who tell them only what they want to hear. Real political leaders ask for and are prepared to take advice that may run counter to their own bad instincts.

    If it wasn’t abundantly clear before, it is now, that Justin Trudeau is incapable of seeing how his own interests are not always at one with the country’s interests, let alone the best interests of the Liberal Party.

    Sadly, those who work in the current PMO are simply true believers in the Cult of Justin. As Althia Raj noted on At Issue last night [October 30, 2021] a shake-up in the senior ranks of the PMO is overdue. That this is unlikely to happen says much of what you need to know about the cult leader himself.

    • Raj is another acidic bully from Sun/Postmedia, who washed up at Arianna Huffington’s rag before it got bought out by a meme website. Trudeau has no lessons to learn from another itinerant gossip columnist from the same den of iniquities that produced the likes of Brian Lilley and Ezra Levant.

      I used to respect Hebert but she’s obviously sold out to the ToryStar’s new ownership just like the rest of them. They’re all a bunch of vain hacks from fossil media outfits whose retirement is long overdue.

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