Liberal Pary of Canada & abortion 2: How old are those chickens?

The Right Honourable Joe Clark is the Jimmy Carter of Canada. Carter was undistinguished as a one-term president of the United States, but has carved out a niche for himself as a wise counsellor to succeeding presidents and an unofficial, well received American ambassador of doing good in other lands.

Joe was similarly a distinct failure in his nine months at the helm of the good ship Canada, failing to win the hearts of his fellow citizens from the grasp of the towering Pierre Trudeau. But he was an above average Foreign Minister under Brian Mulroney, and is now seen in many circles as a bit of a wise old throwback to the days when politics had more substance than sizzle.

But in his earlier years in politics, Clark was vilified in the media for being stiff and awkward in public, and for asking inane questions. Perhaps his most famous gaffe came during a tour of a poultry farm where, not knowing what else to say, he asked, "How old are those chickens?" On another occasion, he questioned a farmer concerning his holdings thus: “What is the totality of your land?” A typical Joe Clark joke at the time was: Joe Clark was given a set of cufflinks so he ran out to get his wrists pierced.

But those were different times. Now we are witness to not only questions but observations, pronouncements, even policies of surpassing inanity. Examples could be drawn from any and every point in the political spectrum in these days of hyper-partisanship and super-spin, but I'm particularly interested in the pronouncements of young Trudeau Jr., not because I don't like his party but because I don't care for him--not as a potential leader of Canada.

While well-known to political watchers like myself, not all of you may be aware of the series of public gaffes that have characterized Trudeau's faltering path to the leadership of his party. These are the statements of the man who wants to lead, and unite, our country:

On Alberta: “Canada isn’t looking good because it’s Albertans who are controlling our community and social-democratic agenda. It’s not working.” (Source: Toronto Globe & Mail, Nov. 22 2012. Note that Trudeau's remarks were made two years earlier.)

The Globe went on to report: Mr. Trudeau then suggested that the most important prime ministers in the recent history of Canada were also Quebec MPs, mentioning his father, Pierre Trudeau, and his successors Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. As part of his critique of Alberta politicians, Mr. Trudeau argued that Quebeckers were a crucial presence in federal politics.

On Quebec's place within Canada: "And I always say that if I ever believed Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper and we were going against abortion and going against gay marriage, and we were going backward in 10,000 different ways, maybe I'd think of wanting to make Quebec a country." (Source: CTV News, February 14, 2012)

 CTV was quick to note the response of fellow politicians to Trudeau's tremendous gaffe:

During the talk show, when (talk show host Franco) Nuovo expressed some surprise at Trudeau's remarks, the parliamentarian added: "Oh yes, absolutely. If I no longer recognized Canada, I know my own values."

When the comments spread from Quebec to a national audience over the next 48 hours, Trudeau attempted to tamp down the smouldering controversy on Twitter by stating he would never be okay with Quebec leaving confederation. Trudeau tweeted: "Canada needs (Quebec) to balance out Harper's vision that I (and many) don't support."

But the Conservatives were quick to seize on Trudeau's remarks, as well as refer to his father, the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau. "(Trudeau) grew up hearing about a strong, united Canada, but just last week he said he would favour Quebec independence," Tory MP Merv Tweed said in Parliament, adding that Trudeau should recant or further clarify his comments.

Meanwhile, Interim NDP Leader Nicole Turmel used the occasion to talk about her own federalism.
"I will let (Trudeau) choose his party, if he wants to go to Quebec, but for me and for the (New Democratic) party we are clear: we're a federalist party and we represent all Canadians," she said.

On which political administration he most admires: “There is a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say we need to go green, we need to start, you know, investing in solar. There is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about: having a dictatorship where you can do whatever you wanted, that I find quite interesting.” (Source: National Post, November 8, 2013)

His political opponents were quick to give their evaluation of Justin's remarks: 

The NDP also noted this wasn’t Mr. Trudeau’s first expression of admiration for the quasi-Communist rising global superpower. While on CBC TV’s Power and Politics, Mr. Trudeau noted the concerns swirling around the takeover of natural resources by a Chinese state-owned entity would be similar to those of a takeover by a Scandinavian state-owned entity.
 
Tim Uppal, the Minister of State for Multiculturalism, said Mr. Trudeau’s remarks on China show he is unfit to lead the “greatest democracy in the world.” “The comments made by the leader of the Liberal party are an insult to the many Canadians who fought for the basic values and freedoms that we enjoy today. His answer demonstrates again a long-standing position of our party that he is in over his head.”

On the seriousness of Russia's takeover of Crimea: “It’s very worrisome,” Trudeau said after telling the panel that he now considers Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to be illegitimate. “Especially since Russia lost in hockey, they will be in a bad mood. We are afraid of a Russian intervention in Ukraine.” (See the interview at this CBC News link: http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/World/ID/2439244214/ if you can put up with the ads that precede it.)

Trudeau admitted that he had made a poor joke. But given that Canada is home to the third largest population of people of Ukrainian descent in the world, it was seen as remarkably insensitive. The Ukrainian ambassador suggested that an apology was in order.

On legalizing marijuana: Trudeau quite rightly observes that the "war against marijuana" has not worked, and that decriminalizing it may rob criminal elements of a cash cow. He has also acknowledged that it should be kept out of the hands of young people who are susceptible to harm to their developing brains. But then he goes on to say that a number of studies have shown marijuana is less hazardous to health than alcohol and tobacco (http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2012-11-13/article-3119682/Trudeau-supports-decriminalization-of-marijuana/1).

Yet the president of the Canadian Medical Association does not accept such a positive view: A marijuana cigarette causes as much as six times the damage to an individual’s heart and lung health as a tobacco cigarette. As physicians, we take an oath, and one of the cornerstones of that oath is to “first do no harm.” This is why we do not support marijuana smoking, especially among young people (http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/08/27/chris-simpson-why-the-cma-chose-not-to-participate-in-the-governments-anti-pot-campaign/).
In my next post, I want to switch from political blunders and immature utterances to something even more serious: Trudeau's tendency to bludgeon his followers into submission despite their heartfelt moral convictions--while displaying little knowledge regarding the issues themselves.