The Parliamentary Dust-up--It's not funny. But it is!!

Hey, I take government as seriously as the next person. They make our laws, they represent our country on an international stage, and their decisions have gravitas that ripple throughout our lives and the lives of our children. None of those small things. They have power to divide or unite people and entire nations, and their actions can even impact the entire planet. Government members are elected to be our individual voices as we navigate this country forward. Having said that...

With regards to yesterday's 'dust-up' in the House of Commons... Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaa!

I cannot stop laughing! The silly antics of 'blocking' the conservative whip from taking his position so generously funded by our tax dollars...You're kidding, right? Our Prime Minister's patented I'm-going-to-solve-this-myself stride across the house...Tee hee! Matching father-son prime-ministerial F-bombs...Cute and classy! Our highest elected official manhandling another member of parliament...Shocking. The 'elbowing' of Ruth-Ellen Brousseau and the cries of 'molestation' and 'assault' from the NDP...So predictable. Tom Mulcair's face...Classic. The 'clearing of the benches' hockey-brawl style...Is this for real? The CBC floundering desperately and with futility to stand behind their man or, at the very least, sweep the whole thing under the rug. Oh CBC, what do I pay you for? Trudeau's initial bumbling attempts at apologizing sounding suspiciously like justifications for his actions. Giggle, giggle. The applause of his shocked liberal MP's, who would surely have crucified anyone else for the same actions, in response to those apologies...Chalk it up to mob mentality? The day-after sober apology delivered with all the contrived seriousness and bravado one would expect from our drama-teacher of a Prime Minister...I'm busting a gut. The cries of 'I told you so' and 'true colours' from Trudeau's critics who have been waiting for this opportunity which he so-very-generously served them on a silver platter with caviar and champagne...I couldn't script this stuff! The irony of Trudeau's government withdrawing M-6 after a time-wasting debacle that can only be blamed on the Prime Minister himself...Poetic justice. This. The culmination of what has been a rocky road paved by amateurs in the House of Commons these past 7 months...Hilarious! Droll! Are there any other words for 'funny?' Ahem. I will collect myself now.

Seriously, ahem, no seriously....

Nope, can't do it...

Bahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Expect More than 'Ordinary' from your Prime Minister

Do you want to hear something boring? Probably not, but hear me out. I am an ordinary person. I work a job lots of other people work. I fit it around our young family, I don't make gobs of money, and I am mostly ok with that. I occasionally kill time on my phone, putter around the yard on the weekend, frequent breakfast places with my besties, and I rarely miss my kids' dance classes, soccer practices, or show-and-tell days. Pretty ordinary and boring, right?

Now, what if I told you I was the top ranking official in a country of 30 million people? What if I told you I was elected to be in that position? What if I said I had invitations to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the World Economic Forum, or the G7 Summit, just to name a few? What would you think if I told you my influence was paramount in making laws that affect millions of people's lives? That my voice is heard in everything from hostage negotiations to vital military operations to world trade agreements and international aid? Would you think that those things were a little out of the ordinary? Perhaps, you'd agree that a position such as mine was actually quite an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility.

It is for this reason I have to beg to differ with those who swoon at the 'ordinariness' of young Prime Minister Trudeau. In the 6 months since he became Prime Minister, I have heard his title intermingled repeatedly with the word 'selfies', endured hoards swooning over nothing-much-political to do with a certain State visit. I've heard the words 'dreamy, hot, pilf, dreamboat, sexy' and others associated with his name. I've listened to people praise Trudeau for not being 'an economic robot' and giving him 'kudos for maintaining his personal interests' outside of his position. I've tried in vain to block out Star Wars jokes, phrases like 'engage' (code for lip-service) and 'sunny ways' (code for ???), comments on Sophie’s fashion sense, and countless pictures of our prime minister hugging people. Over and over again, and in ways that baffle, I hear Justin Trudeau being praised for being ‘ordinary.’ While this may or may not be the doing of the PM himself, the media and public fascination with what is, in my humble opinion, as much celebrity as ordinary is deeply concerning.

My plea to the Canadian public is this…Wherever you sit on the political spectrum, expect more than ordinary from your prime minister. He is not your friend. He is not (nor should not) be known for his celebrity. He is not an actor (oh wait, he kind of is). He is not a poster-child for the cause of the week. No. He is, in significant ways, responsible for the futures of your children. He has it within his power to harm or heal people around the world in their hour of need. He can make or break livelihoods. His influence exceeds any ordinary person’s by a LOT. He has the means to make this country shine or be a laughing stock, and, as an elected official, he is accountable to you. Hold him to a standard of extraordinary.

Consider that the time spent on engaging in the ‘ordinary’ might be better spent brushing up on, say, human rights issues before meeting the President of the People’s Republic of China, or perhaps, ‘engaging’ in ANY way at all with the energy sector that has been vital to this country’s economy for decades. Maybe one might even find it offensive that our prime minister takes the time to pose for selfies with fans(?) while the fate of hostages rests on his shoulders. Our prime minister has countless extraordinary opportunities and responsibilities like these, the likes of which are not shared by an ordinary citizen, and for that… hold him to a standard of extraordinary.

The fascination with the ‘ordinariness’ of celebrities/public figures is by no means unique to our Prime Minister, but I respectfully ask that, in this case, that fascination not be allowed to overshadow the gravity of his position. Please think twice before choosing to read or share any materials that do not reflect our Prime Minister’s extraordinarily influential position or any relevant policies. I would argue that this misguided hype is far from benign, that it detracts real time from real issues, and that Canada’s position on the world stage has already been compromised by this phenomenon. Whatever you do, don’t expect (and don’t reflect) anything less than extraordinary from this man.

'A platitude is a platitude is a platitude'--Quotes from a young Canadian prime minister

platitude: noun  plat·i·tude  \ˈpla-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd\  a statement that expresses an idea that is not new

2:  a banal, trite, or stale remark [i]

Do you pay attention to Canadian politics? Is this ringing any bells? If not, this is probably your cue to stop reading, but if you're having as much trouble listening to the sweet nothings of our new prime minister as I am, I dedicate this to you--maybe a little humour will help to get you through the next four to eight years??? You know, hand on my heart, I have been trying to give the guy a chance. After all, we are stuck with him for the time being, but, try as I might, I just can’t get on board with (or hide from) the contrived, fluffy stuff he says. Now, of course, one can make the argument that everyone spouts a meaningless platitude now and again, and, god knows, if you dug around or followed me with a microphone and camera for several years, there would be some serious doozies, but, the thing is…there was no digging required! Our mainstream media is all over this stuff! They eat up every banal word, spin it to his glory, and regurgitate it at every possible juncture. To me it seems that they are in complete solidarity with our young prime minister in his mission to tag a one-liner that will go down in the history books right next to his father’s famed ‘state-in-bedroom’ quote.   Well, to his credit (and my chagrin), there is no shortage of material…

1. (World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2016) “My predecessor wanted you to know Canada for its resources. Well, I want you to know Canada for our resourcefulness.” Just imagine this scene down at the auction…‘Investors, don’t push and shove. Get your pocketbooks and paddles ready. We are now taking bids on… let me see, did I read this correctly? Yes. We are now taking bids on ‘resourcefulness’. I’ll start the bidding at 1$. Who’ll give me 1$...’

2. (When questioned on the gender parity of his newly appointed cabinet, November 2015) “Because it’s 2015.”  The left just loved this one! How clever of Mr. Trudeau!  In just 3 short words, he was able to put all gender inequality in politics to right! Bravo. Now, if I held any of those cabinet positions, that would have felt more like a petulant pat on the head to me, possibly like my position was more a reflection of his cheap political branding than my actual qualifications, but who’s counting anyway, in these days of…

3. “Sunny ways, my friends. Sunny ways.” (Victory speech a Liberal election headquarters, October 2015). Interestingly, this quote is so impactful that apparently it bears using twice! The original Mr. Sunshine is actually Sir Wilfred Laurier…and yet, it’s meaning in any sort of pragmatic sense is still so lost on me.

4. In that same speech on election night, Trudeau stressed that Canadians had voted for “change in this country. Real change.” As opposed the last election…where they voted for stagnancy and ‘fake change’??? Incidentally, hasn’t every change of government in this country’s 150 year history been a vote for change? I wonder how many times this largely meaningless notion has won someone an election? Probably, on average, once every 4 to 8 years. ‘Change’ could mean anything, and, like any decent platitude, it expresses a concept that is banal, trite, and certainly not new.

                                                                                                                                   

5. (Press conference in the immediate aftermath of Paris attacks) Prime Minister Trudeau promises that Canada will offer “all possible assistance.” This might not have been strictly a platitude if it hadn’t been a complete lie.

6. (On smoking weed as an MP, August 2013) “I used it. Maybe five or six times in my life.” And for this he made no apologies. Now, regardless of your position on marijuana, isn’t it at least significant that the would-be prime-minister not only broke a law, but a criminal one, and had the gall to flout it to the Canadian public? To me, that shows enormous disrespect. Should all Canadians pick and choose willy-nilly which criminal laws we choose to follow and then broadcast these sorts of things righteously and publicly?

7. “I don’t read the newspapers, I don’t watch the news. If something important happens, someone will tell me.” (February 2001) An oldie but a goldie! Why would an aspiring politician keep abreast of current events and make their own judgments about them when other people can do that for him? I can’t think of any reason.

8. (At the US state dinner with Barack Obama, March 2016) “Fear is easy. Friendship? Friendship takes work.” Bravo. Good point, I think. I am just wondering what that means as it applies to any sort of policy, agreement, or legislation, or are you referring to the ‘work’ it took to create a media circus centering around the notion of the ‘Trubama bromance’? You know, this gets me more than anything. In a collectively dire time for both countries, does it do us proud that nearly all the coffee talk and most news headlines on this event centered around celebrity and photo ops? If this is what the Canadian public wants, no wonder they didn’t like Harper.

9. This is the same speech where JT, in his patented over-emphatic and pregnated with painful pause- for-effect style, stated, “There is no relationship in the entire world quite like the Canada/US relationship.” Cue applause. The same could be said about the Norway/Sweden relationship, or Smarties and M&M’s for that matter. What’s your point? Platitudinous, as usual.

10. “Canada doesn’t need empty rhetoric on the Arctic.” (September 2015) BAM! I couldn’t have put it better myself! Canada doesn’t need empty rhetoric on anything actually. Except…that, of course we must! We have elected our highest ranking official to provide plenty of it after all…empty rhetoric, like…

11. “We beat fear with hope.” (Victory speech October 2015) Oh, I think I might have thrown up a little in my mouth, because all those conservative voters out there couldn’t possibly have cast their vote based on something concrete like, say, a solid economic platform. Nope, they were all just spineless and scared. And now we can get down to the serious business of enacting some ‘hope’ and ‘change’ legislation.

I guess this long and, by-no-means-comprehensive list just begs one question…With all the stuff this guy comes out with, how will the history books ever even choose just one quote or two will adequately encapsulate all the fine qualities of this dynamic, young leader? I know I am struggling ;-)

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[i] "Platitude." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.