Did He or Didn’t He
It was recently reported that our infamous Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau was involved in a groping incident that took place almost 20 years ago. Just to clarify, he was the groper and the woman who says the incident took place was a reporter at the Creston Daily Advance, a newspaper located in Creston, BC. The incident apparently took place back in 2000 during an event being held to raise money to support avalanche safety and involved Justin inappropriately touching the female reporter. It was reported at the time that Justin did apologize for the indiscretion, albeit a day later, but he apologized nonetheless. An article written shortly after the incident had Justin stating “I’m sorry. If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I would have never been so forward”. Such a comment seems to make it clear that the incident did happen and may suggest he had acted in a similar manner on other occasions. So, if he had known she was a reporter, he would not have groped her? So, does
that suggest that if you aren’t a reporter, he may touch you inappropriately as a way of getting to know you better? Obviously, this is something that happened long ago when he was much younger, but it does suggest his personal values at the time probably weren’t the best.
Guilt-free Apology
Now when the incident was brought up, Justin responded that he had thought about it very carefully but feels he did not do anything inappropriate at the time. I’m not sure about others, but I can’t think of any incident where I was not at fault but felt compelled to offer an apology. We know that Justin did apologize after the incident the next day. It seems when it comes to rules, our Prime Minister is not always on the same playing field as others and seems to draw his own conclusions as to what is allowed and what is not. Those that worked for the paper at the time of the incident say they have no reason not to believe the reporter that the incident did occur and that she felt very disrespected. Perhaps if the incident had involved someone else without the recognition that Justin had at the time, it would not have been reported. But it was and now Canadians have one more story about our Prime Minister that they can expect to come up again during the next federal election campaign.
Mild and Meek
Regarding other stories involving Justin, the United States President, Donald Trump, stated after the G7 meeting that our Prime Minister was “very dishonest and weak”. I think by now, most would agree that Donald Trump is not one to hold back on his thoughts or refrain from language most politicians would consider highly inappropriate. Justin Trudeau can try battling with the president and hit back with retaliatory tariffs, but this is probably a battle Canada will lose and it could cost our economy dearly in lost jobs and markets many Canadians now rely on. The Canadian economy is tiny compared to that of the United States. Donald Trump no doubt has his figures coming from somewhere in the ether, but if he decides to hit the Canadian economy, we aren’t going to win. How Canada is going to get steamrolled by Donald Trump and his “America First” campaign is something for a future post.
Cheers,
GP Joa