The spelling mistake is intentional. It is borrowed from many of the witty conservative wags who comment on the interweb. Let’s face it, the man does not always come up smelling like the rose in his late father’s lapel.
Let me preface my reasoning by saying that my comments come from the perspective of an ordinary shmo who has a mild, but ongoing interest in the news of the day. For four years I have observed Mr. Trudeau, after sweeping to victory in exciting fashion, make some promising first steps “because it’s 2015” and then stumble, bumble and occasionally dance through four years in the prime minister’s office.
The ways he has ‘stepped in it’ in Turdeau fashion come to mind quite readily: The screwing up of electoral reform, initially handing the job to someone apparently incapable of doing it, our own Peterborough MP, Maryam Monsef. The embarrassing ‘dress up’ in India. The SNC Lavalin affair. Now the ‘brown-face’ mess. Doubtless there are more I’ve forgotten or am ignorant of.
Of these, the most disappointing is the failure to produce electoral reform. Canada needs a system that provides proportional representation so, for example, ten percent of the votes for the Green Party translates to ten percent of the power in government. Otherwise we end up the prospect of ‘wasting your vote’ and strategic voting to avoid the evils of conservative governments.
Now conservatives in my view are not evil. They simply want to conserve that which they have worked hard for. They want to be “good for business”. Of course what is good for business tends to be bad for the working person, bad for the poor, bad for immigrants, and bad for social programs. If you go to the wealthier suburbs of Peterborough you see a preponderance of conservative election signs. In the funkier neighbourhoods it is the libs, NDP, and Greens. The conservatives are arguably the party of greed, of low wages, minimum and otherwise, and of ‘white privilege’. You might say they are not evil; they just tend to be short on virtue. I know for a fact that many fine people are conservatives, but as a party, they are not my thing.
So, do I hold my nose and vote for Turdeau? No. No nose pinching required. And his name is Trudeau. He is the son of the most fun Prime Minister I can remember this country ever having. When he isn’t apologizing for whatever, he can also be fun, charming and come across as sincere in wanting the best for this country. He got marijuana legalized; he successfully navigated the sinkholes constantly offered by the bizarre ‘leader of the free world’ in getting us a workable trade agreement. He, in short, seems like an intelligent guy who will learn from his mistakes and, if elected, do better in the next four years. He, and Maryam- who also seems like a sincere person capable of learning- will get my vote next month.
