REALity Volume XXXV Issue No. 6 June 2016
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thinks he is leading the parade for the “progressives”. He preens his moral superiority on such matters as climate change, the positive power of the UN, feminism, UN peacekeeping, etc. Most Canadians have other concerns and priorities. It is also known that these “progressive” ideas have spectacularly failed elsewhere, such as in Europe and the United States. Trudeau is leading a parade that has few followers, and is marching his imagined parade to nowhere.
Justin Trudeau’s policies indicate that he is trying to recapture what he perceives was the “Golden Era” of his father’s reign of power. That is, young Trudeau’s policies are duplicating those of his late father, in many instances. He apparently believes emulating his father will, to use one of his favourite expressions, “Bring Canada Back”.
Examples of the duplication of Trudeau Senior’s policies include, close relationship with China, wide access to abortion, feminism (which the father extravagantly funded), close ties with the UN, including a generous contribution to UN peacekeeping, a disregard for deficits and increased funding to all his own special friends and groups. For example, Trudeau Senior, gave loans to the Communist leaders of Jamaica, Michael Manley and Fidel Castro of Cuba and exalted these communist leaders’ “success”. Such policies all seem to be eerily reflected in the young Trudeau’s agenda which he believes will emulate the “glorious” times of his father’s past.
No example of this is better than Trudeau’s total support of abortion by refusing to allow any pro-life candidate to run for his party. It is to be noted Trudeau Senior brought in an abortion amendment in 1969 which included open access to abortion, and the Charter of Rights which threw out the abortion law entirely.
One of Trudeau Senior’s interests was the promotion of feminism, now severely outdated, and which Trudeau Junior, is duplicating.
On International Women’s Day, in the Globe and Mail (March 8, 2016), Justin Trudeau, stated “Because of my parents, I am deeply grounded in my own identity as a proud feminist”. Speaking at a United Nations Status of Women Commission on March 17, 2016, Trudeau stated: “I’m going to keep saying loud and clearly that I am a feminist…”
Later, that same day, at the 2016 Catalyst awards dinner held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, Trudeau received the Gender Equity Award. The Catalyst organization is a group which lobbies for equal numbers of women in parliaments, corporations and on boards of directors. Catalyst ignores the fact that females now dominate the fields of education, nursing, medicine, law, child care, and social work where males have little presence. Equality for Catalyst is a one-way street.
Feminist Ideology and Real Life
Trudeau has a considerable challenge ahead of him if he wants to implement the failed ideology of feminism in Canada. In finding female Liberal candidates, he admitted that he has found it very difficult to convince women to run for political office: “you have to ask a woman on average 14 times before she says yes”. He claims that if you ask a man to run, the first question he asks is “So when do I start?” He has also stated that women are more likely than men to refuse career opportunities because they are busy caring for children and elderly parents. For Trudeau, feminist ideology trumps the practical reality of life, including responsibilities for others.
Men must be feminists too, According to Trudeau
Justin Trudeau also stated, in his speech at the Waldorf Astoria, that men need to demand and support a “societal shift” and need to “get comfortable identifying ourselves as feminists.” In the March 8, 2016 Globe and Mail article, he affirmed “It is time for the full and equal participation of women in our social, political and economic worlds to be the norm, not the exception”. As if women are not already significantly contributing to Canadian society, not just in politics and the economy, as professionals and employees at all levels, but also, as volunteers, part time workers and homemakers. The reality is that women must also prioritize the requirements of their families: e.g., their children and their aging relatives. This is a crucial contribution that helps keep social service costs manageable and is vital for the well-being of society.
Feminism Denigrates Men
A well-known characteristic of feminism is that it denigrates men. Trudeau is caught in this trap. His gender equity cabinet is not, in reality, gender-based, but just gives that appearance. Five of the female appointments to the cabinet were not Ministers at all, but were appointed as Secretaries of State or junior ministers to assist the male Ministers. These women were symbolic only, since they did not have the responsibilities of the male cabinet members, but they were being paid the same, in true feminist fashion. When asked why he appointed a so-called gender parity cabinet, Trudeau flippantly replied, “because it’s 2015”. He would have been much more accurate if he had stated: “because it’s 1980” which was the time when feminism was in full bloom. Today, most Canadians have other priorities, such as the economy, health care, taxes and employment. Feminism is way down the list.
Trudeau stated in his UN interview, “Men should be lucky I only made it a 50% women cabinet because it wouldn’t be fair to go purely on merit based!” Does he mean that women on the whole are more capable than men? How sexist. He noted further that questions about moving a family and balancing work and family “only comes up later, if ever, in conversation with a man running for politics”. This is an insult to the many men in politics and other demanding professions, who go to great lengths to do what’s best for their families and to preserve their marriages.
Trudeau did acknowledge, according to the Globe and Mail of March 8, 2016, that “We also need to value work done at home – in raising of families – the same way we value work in the office”. This acknowledgement was likely due to the fact that his mother, Margaret, did not have a history of working for paid employment, and his wife, Sophie Gregoire, remains at home looking after his children (along with the help of two nannies, paid by the taxpayer). Trudeau added: “Women and men alike face judgment and discrimination for choosing to stay at home with their families, instead of remaining in the work force.” Equating mothers and fathers at home is a deceptive oversimplification since, in 2014, among couples with at least one child under 16, full time mothers at home outnumbered fathers at home 8 to 1 (70 to 1 in 1976), while single earner fathers outnumber single earner mothers 4 to 1 (25 to 1 in 1976).
Egalitarianism underpins the Liberal government’s intrusive social engineering. How ironic because the Liberals insist that women require special government intervention so that they can become equal. Thus, we have millions of tax dollars chasing after the equality mirage, resisted by women, even Liberal women (including Trudeau’s mother and wife), who recognize that the social infrastructure, marriage and the family, is equally important in life. The fact is, Trudeau, with his promotion of outdated feminism, is a leader without a parade. Trudeau is not the face of the future; he is the face of his father’s past.
Speech available at:
www.liberal.ca/justin-trudeau-delivers-remarks-at-the-2016-catalyst-awards-dinner/
Prime Minister Trudeau at the UN discussing gender equality:
www.cpac.ca/en/programs/headline-politics/episodes/90006936/