Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Trudeau did not slow down relief efforts, so give him a break

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but who would be a politician? In particular, who would be a Prime Minister or President?
Case in point: when Justin Trudeau visited the Ottawa region community of Constance Bay recently to help with the ongoing sandbagging operation against flooding, of course it was going to end badly. One of the volunteers complained to Trudeau that he (and his security detail and the press corps that follow him everywhere) was holding up the relief efforts. The poor guy was trying his best, but various Conservative MPs and the right-wing press made hay by lambasting his efforts, blowing them off as insincere, meaningless, or even cynical, photo-ops (criticisms conspicuously not levelled at Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford, federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and other Conservative MPs and MPPs doing the same thing just a few days earlier).
But what's a mortal to do? NOT going there was not even an option, and would have laid Trudeau open to criticisms of Liberal elitist insensitivity.  Typically, to be seen not doing something is even worse than to be seen doing something badly. But how frustrating it just be to the right thing, knowing that it will still be criticized.
The PMs office did all the right things in checking in adclvance with the relief organizers that a visit would not impede efforts. After the event, an RCMP spokesperson confirmed that Trudeau did NOT in fact slow down sandbagging efforts at all. So, all this was purely partisan politics at play, individuals looking to score cheap points in an election year.

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