Oops.

[sorceror]

It's been too quiet here lately. And stuff is happening today, so...

It looks like Justin Trudeau is in hot waterCan he defuse this? Trudeau himself has yet to comment. However, other Liberals are trying desperately to spin it as a drive-by smear (implausible, since there's no denying he actually said what he said), or that it was taken out of

Comments

[dragonflymuse]

This is non-news. A politician who, years ago, said something controversial and maybe divisive? Hrm.

[sorceror]

It wasn't even two years ago - that's easily recent enough to be significant. All the more so as it comes right after he's been making overtures to try to win over Albertan support - makes him look, ah, less than sincere. Y'know?

To top it off, throughout the interview he takes a Quebec supremacist tone, claiming that the only decent Prime Ministers in recent memory have all come from Quebec, citing his father, Mulroney, Chrétien, and Martin. And later, he agrees with the interviewer that without Quebec, Canada is just a bunch of American-like provinces with no distinct culture.

And he isn't just any politician. He's the front-runner in the Liberal leadership race, and polls have shown that (before this, anyway) he might be able to revive the party's fortunes.

Do you really think this is all unimportant?

[dragonflymuse]

Yeah, kind of...

States here 'Just one day after Liberal MP David McGuinty was forced to apologize for his 'go back to Alberta' comments, a 2-year-old interview with leadership candidate Justin Trudeau has surfaced where he is quoted as saying the country is in bad shape because Albertans are in power.'

A two-year-old interview to me is old news especially when it seemed to rise from the ether after McGuinty makes his own anti-Albertan statement.

The Trudeau of two years ago was in a much different place, with much different priorities, than the Trudeau of today. God forbid that these intervening years have taught him to watch his words and not muddle content with intent.

He isn't the first politician who stuck his foot in his mouth and he definitely won't be the last.

[sorceror]

"He isn't the first politician who stuck his foot in his mouth and he definitely won't be the last."

But is this just a question of bad wording? Or is it what he really believes? And regardless of the truth, will he be able to convince everyone that it's the former?

[herladyship]

I think it's a pretty horrible thing to say, both to Albertans and other non-quebec would-be leaders.

[encephalin]

Seems he made an apology of sorts this afternoon. I guess he can try to explain away the Alberta reference but frankly, as someone who lives in BC, this does not all feel like simply an anti-Alberta/conservative comment. Wanting more Quebecers making federal decisions is not only something Alberta might not like, but the rest of the provinces as well.

[kdborg]

Stephen Harper made comments about Atlantic Canada, still became Prime Minister. So, I don't think it's going to have a big impact anywhere but Alberta.

Since Alberta has been solidly Conservative for a while now, I doubt this will have any effect.