TRUDEAU, OR NOT-SO-TRUDEAU?

         It is said that a government is the heart and kind of every economy. We, the people, elect the government through elections. Just as we categorize certain leaders to be too good or bad to be real, the 2019 Canadian federal elections were a series of unexpected turns. 

The Liberal Party lead by incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with his minority government won 157 seats in the general elections. The Liberal party lost the majority they had won in the 2015 elections. The Liberal Party’s main opposition, the Conservation Party had a higher vote share of 121 seats, as a result they remained the official opposition. 

As Justin Trudeau officially began his second term, there prevailed a sense of alienation from the rest of the country. Let’s assess the factors that led to this not that surprising of an outcome-

The Scandals

Sometimes a man can be his own worst enemy and that was somewhat true in the case of Justin Trudeau. Various controversies looming over his Prime Ministership compromised his reputation in the minds of the Canadian populace.

One of them was a rather questionable outing with the religious political leader Aga Khan, on his private island, using the latter party’s methods of transportation, which is not allowed to a Prime Minister in office without the proper permission of the Ethics commissioner. This act was a direct violation of the Conflict of Interest Act and went against ethical guidelines, upon the basis of which the Conservative party leaded a thorough investigation against Trudeau.

Another scandal was the infamous ‘Brownface’ controversy. When Trudeau was teaching at a private day school in the 2000s, he wore brownface makeup for an Arabian Night themed gala. This was considered racially insensitive to a severe degree and made Trudeau the subject of worldwide criticism and ridicule. 

Earlier in his term Trudeau and the Liberal Party had taken a strong stand against climate change, promising environmental protection and progress in the long run. However, Trudeau’s government approved the much-opposed plan of a trans-mountain crude oil pipeline. This would help the Canadian economy by dropping oil prices drastically in its state of British Columbia and reducing its oil imports from USA. But the pipeline would also cause a significant surge in oil production and along with that harmful levels of pollution will follow, contracting his alleged pro-environment agenda.

With many other scandals encompassing the removal of a female Attorney General in a criminal case against a Canadian company for corruption and fraud, selling weapons to the middle-east et cetera, the integrity of Canada’s Prime Minster was questioned more than a couple of times in his first term. 

The Elections

In opposition was the Conservative Party’s leader Andrew Scheer, having made deals within oil industry promising tax cuts and exemptions in his campaign, was growing in popularity. However, he too wasn’t without complications. Openly opposing the LGBTQ+ communities, immigrant policies and introducing ‘Secularism Bill’ in Quebec that restricted civil servants from wearing their country or religion’s traditional attire, he was also not an ideal leader. Due to Canada’s growing inconfidence in Trudeau, votes were heavily swayed from Liberal to Conservative in the west. 

However, even though Trudeau was not without his faults, the Liberal Party in the past had made some radical decisions that still did keep them in the good books of the Canadian hearts, such as battling climate change, establishing gun control and welcoming immigrants with compassion. 

So, what happened in the elections quickly made history in Canada with Trudeau introducing the smallest to date minority government and assuming control in the position of the Prime Minister. Hardly anyone would call this a win, but at least he didn’t lose.

                                        ~Sakshi Harne (SYBA).                                             Isha Gokhale (TYBA)