BONOKOSKI: Ballot box question is does Trudeau deserve second term?
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Let’s go back a bit. A couple of times before the election writ dropped, a pre-blackface Justin Trudeau was on TV throwing zingers at Ontario Premier Doug Ford and ex-Conservative PM Stephen Harper as if their names were actually on the coming election ballot.
The PM seemed to honestly believe he could scare Canadians with the spectre of a Big Bad Doug Ford blowing down their houses and the stone-cold Stephen Harper raiding the destroyed homes to kill off any survivors.
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And that the evil far-right temptress Faith Goldy, who’s running in no riding, was toxic poison directly linked to the Conservatives.
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These scare-the-bejeebers tactics appeared to be one of the Liberal war room’s main themes.
Remember, as the blackface shows, Trudeau is not the brightest light. His smarts are actually the intellectual property of Gerald Butts and Katie Telford, they respectively being the PM’s erstwhile principal secretary and chief of staff. They’re both policy wonks, and legitimate policy can lead a party to victory if they can rise upon the flak.
Trudeau, on the other hand, is just wonky.
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Before this blackface scandal, which has him playing silly bugger at least three times (once in a video), the theory was that keeping Ford demonized, and Harper equally slandered, and throwing in Goldy as a pot spoiler, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer would get hurt as well.
But, even before the blackface scandal, there was really only one ballot question.
Just one.
Do you trust Justin Trudeau enough after his first four years as PM to give him a second term in power? Think about it.
Let’s be honest. Trudeau’s now an established international embarrassment, and amply fits the definition of “wonky” as someone who is “unreliable, wobbly and unpredictable.”
How else can one explain Trudeau’s decision to visit India and dress up as if he were a manic star in some high-end Bollywood movie, and forcing his wife and kids to be as equally flamboyant and dippy?
Surely Butts, his university pal and then main aide, didn’t think he was serious until it was too late.
Or maybe Butts convinced Trudeau to at least not brown up his face, too.
It matters naught now, of course, because the international embarrassment of Trudeau dressing up like an affected poseur is now months in the rear-view mirror, and the damage has been done.
But you can’t unsee what we saw. And you can’t unsee the blackface images. Jeeez-uz, he even painted his arms and hands and silently hoped for years that no one would find out.
Those images, however, are now seared in our brains forever, and it should not be forgotten when we step into the polling booth on Oct. 21.
Justin Trudeau rubbed elbows with Kevin Spacey and Bono at the World Economic Forum's annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, in 2016. Hollywood blackballed Spacey after a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him -- starting in October, 2017 -- caused an international scandal. Spacey was charged with sexual assault in 2018, but the charge was ultimately dropped in July, 2019. Photo by Twitter
Justin Trudeau wraps his arm around 2016 Order of Canada recipient Peter Dalglish. In mid-2019, Dalglish was found guilty of sexually assaulting children in Nepal. He was sentenced to nine years in a Nepalese prison. Dalglish denies any wrongdoing and after the conviction, his attorney told the CBC, "We turn our attention to the appeal process in Nepal's appellate courts."Photo by Twitter
Justin Trudeau and Amin El-Maoued are pictured on a stage together in June, 2018. El-Maoued was accused of being an anti-Semite for his role in a 2017 rally he allegedly led where anti-Semitic chants such as "Hitler and Israel are the same thing" and other anti-Semitic views were expressed. El-Maoued received a community service award -- presented to him on behalf of Trudeau -- but had it taken away following backlash from the Jewish community. El-Maoued wrote in a Facebook post he "condemned anti-Semitism" as well as some of the "statements" made at the rally. Photo by Facebook
Justin Trudeau met with members of the Boyle family on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in late 2017. Boyle and his family were held in captivity in Afghanistan for five years. Boyle was charged in January, 2018 and is currently on trial. He has pleaded not guilty to all 19 charges, including sexually assaulting and forcibly confining his wife.Photo by Twitter
Justin Trudeau hugs Cuba's Fidel Castro in October, 2000. Trudeau has been criticized for his praise of the now-dead communist dictator. After his death in late 2016, Trudeau lauded Castro as a "remarkable leader" who was "larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century." Photo by Montreal Gazzette/Pierre Obendrauf
Justin Trudeau was interviewed by Jian Ghomeshi on the disgraced broadcaster's CBC Radio One show Q in 2014. No longer with the CBC, Ghomeshi landed in the centre of a sexual harassment and assault trial in 2014 and 2015. In his first trial, Ghomeshi pleaded not guilty and was acquitted of all charges. He avoided a second trial after he signed a peace bond which led the Crown to withdraw the remaining charge against him.Photo by Youtube
Justin Trudeau is pictured with Aga Khan. Trudeau was found to have violated ethics rule's in 2017 after he accepted a trip to Khan's island in the Bahamas. Trudeau did not advise the conflict of interest commissioner of his friendship with Khan and admitted to using Khan's personal helicopter.Photo by Twitter
Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, posed for a photo with Jaspal Atwal in February, 2018.Photo by Postmedia
Justin Trudeau posed for a group photo featuring Jaspal Atwal (right) in May, 2015. Atwal, a Surrey businessman, was a one-time member of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation. He has been convicted of attempted murder for his role in a 1986 terror-related shooting in B.C. During Trudeau's now infamous India trip, Atwal was invited to dinner with the prime minister by Canada's High Commission in Delhi in an apparent failure to vet the guest list. Photo by Postmedia
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Does Trudeau deserve a second term as PM?
We already know he’s prone to being a Pinocchio, which should translate into the question of whether we can ever again take him at his word.
We already know, too, through a retired judge and various constitutional experts, that Trudeau is also a little footloose with truth, and could have fully waived cabinet confidentiality to help the RCMP’s investigation into the SNC-Lavalin cockup.
The fact that he will not more than suggests he has something to hide, and that “something” casts the shadow of a criminal prosecution possibly ensuing.
Now, wouldn’t that take the cake if he were re-elected as PM?
It would surely turn his blackface a deep shade of pale, and all to the delight of untold millions who saw through his hypocrisy.
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