Just the week before, when he invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with what was essentially a local police matter, Justin Trudeau was being compared to brutal dictators, like Xi Jinping. But now, after effectively saying “Just fooling” and revoking the same legislation he said was absolutely necessary to save the country from the perils of the evil working folk, a more apt comparison would be to Bozo the Clown.
After ruining the reputation of Canada abroad, severely damaging trust in Canada’s banking system, and confounding civil rights experts with his astounding overreach – going nuclear to storm bouncy castles – Trudeau has decided that now, that the bouncy castle threat has apparently has been vanquished, he doesn’t need that draconian legislation after all.
And even that brutal dictator, Xi Jinping, scolded Justin for going too far with his temper tantrum. When Ji tells you have gone too far – well, you have gone too far. I guess we can be thankful that Justin and his brutal Ottawa police buddies didn’t have tanks at their disposal. Beating up a few truckers, and brutalizing Rebel News reporters would have seemed like child’s play if they did.
But, here’s the real side splitter. In his little speech revoking the Emergencies Act – legislation that was intended for events slightly more worrisome than bouncy castles and free Sikh food” – Trudeau said this: “We need to constantly work to defend and improve our democracy, both at home and abroad”.
Now, that’s funny! Could it be that the temperamental Trudeau is giving us a sign that he is ready to move on? Remember that Trudeau was a drama teacher before deciding that he wanted to become the leader of every Canadian (and Canadians – for reasons I could never fathom – granted his wish). Could it be that he is announcing through his actions, and absolutely hilarious speech, that he is intent on becoming a stand-up comedian?
If so, I applaud his move. After spending the last two years in an entirely self-imposed Covid prison, Canada is certainly ready for some humour. I am in full support of Trudeau’s career move.
And perhaps he could take some of his cabinet colleagues with him. Those of us who watched Chrystia Freeland break into uncontrollable laughter as she announced Emergency Act measures that will permanently cripple the working people who stood up for the little that is left of our civil liberties – those Canadians holding “unacceptable views” – perhaps Ms. Freeland would care to join Justin on the comedy circuit.
And that new Ottawa police chief – whatever his instantly forgettable name might be – the one who ordered his police officers to brutalize decent Canadians, and tarnish forever the reputation of Canada as a peaceful and decent place – perhaps make him the new “Colonel Klink” on a Canadian version of “Stalag 13”?
So, there are definite comedic possibilities here. In fact, maybe a constitutional change: instead of “peace, order and good government” what about “tear gas, billy clubs and lots of laughs”.
Anyway, you get my idea. The sad fact is that this was once a great country. And we had very good leaders. Never mind the fact that our greatest leader, John A. Macdonald – “no Macdonald no Canada – is regularly toppled as a statue by dullards who can’t even spell his name – even our modern Prime Ministers were serious men. Mulroney, Chrétien, Martin, Harper, these were all people who were taken seriously on the world stage. Domestically, we all had our issues with them, but they were serious men, and they were taken seriously.
So, how did we get to this stage?
Maybe Canada will recover. Maybe we will be taken seriously again on the world stage.
Maybe.
Brian Giesbrecht, retired judge, is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
