Let’s be honest here. Justin Trudeau is not exactly the most intelligent guy in Ottawa.
Nice hair, good looking, cute smile, famous and clever dad, “interesting” mum, but he’s not likely to be passing any difficult exams in the near future, is he? He’s a lightweight, a privileged beneficiary of Canadian political nepotism, and he makes all the old guys in Canadian media feel good as they remember their sex and drugs days during father Pierre’s reign.
But he may well become leader of the Liberal Party, and perhaps even prime minister. Which is more than a little worrying because he is, as I say, not enormously bright.
A few days ago he went to speak at yet another school, because there is apparently no need to have lessons and learn things when you can hear a politician with a famous daddy and good hair prattle on. He was at A.Y. Jackson Secondary School in Ottawa, where he responded to a student’s question about “the Catholic backlash against provincial anti-bullying legislation.” The dauphin said Catholic opposition to gay-straight alliances was “repulsive.”
Now, you might disagree with the Catholic position, you might oppose it, but “repulsive?” The inescapable logic is that everybody who opposes gay-straight alliances is repulsive, which is not very inclusive or tolerant, Justin.
The boy wonder then went on to say: “There’s not a religion in the world that says ‘tolerate thy neighbour.’ No, they say ‘love thy neighbour.’ Acceptance, respect, building friendships, being open to each other, that’s what we have to build on in Canada.”
Not sure where to start. First, Justin clearly has no idea what religions teach and believe. Islam, for example, which is a pretty big religion, calls exactly for tolerance instead of love, and that’s if you’re lucky. Christians and Jews, people of the book, are to be tolerated as long as they pay a head tax and are obedient and respectful to Islam and Muslims. Hardly unconditional love. As for pagans, those who do not worship one God, they’re not even to be tolerated.
It’s only Christianity that clearly speaks of loving your neighbour, even if you disagree with him, and that doesn’t mean encouraging your neighbour to indulge in what you consider a dangerous and immoral lifestyle. That would not be love but convenient and sugary disregard.
Then there’s the obvious logical implosion of what Justin said next — accept each other, respect each other, be open to each other. But you just called your critics repulsive! Hardly encouraging of respect and friendship, and harshly intolerant and arrogant.
Which brings us to why Trudeau was there in the first place. Jamie Hubley, who was just 15 when he killed himself last year, attended the school. He was gay, but we now know the poor kid had suffered from depression for years, and while certainly feeling isolated as the only homosexual student at the school, the bullying was more because he was a figure skater and rather flamboyant. His father has said that gay-straight alliances would not have helped matters and would probably have made things worse. So, the father of the boy opposes GSAs, so he is repulsive.
Justin Trudeau. Not ready for prime time; actually, not really ready for playtime.
Michael is a weekly columnist with the Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg Sun newspapers, and in more than a dozen other daily and weekly newspapers across Canada. He is also a columnist for The Catholic Register, Catholic Insight, Catholic World Report, The Landowner, and The Interim. He also appears each Wednesday on Newstalk 1010 radio, and is a regular guest on networks as diverse as Russia Today and TVOntario.
He is the best-selling author of fourteen books, including biographies of G.K. Chesterton, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. He has contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography and several other anthologies. He is published in many countries and in more than a dozen languages. His last two books were on the best-seller list for more than ten weeks.
He has received several honorary doctorates and awards for his writing and broadcasting. In 2005 he won The Ed Murrow Award for Radio Broadcasting, in 2006 The RTNDA Radio Broadcasting Award, in 2007 the Communicator Award in Hollywood and in 2008 the Omni Award for his television show. In 2012 The Catholic Civil Rights League gave Coren the Archbishop Adam Exner Award for Catholic Excellence in Public Life, and in the same year he was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for services to media. Michael Coren is a frequent speaker on a number of issues. Please visit the Public Speaking page for more details.
- Police politicization: Law breakers ignored while law-abiding protesters treated like criminals - Sunday January 13, 2013 at 1:21 pm
- Ideological narcissism: Chief’s hunger strike tough to swallow - Monday January 7, 2013 at 9:15 am
- Fashion over debate: Sonny days ahead if Justin Trudeau gets Liberal leadership nod - Thursday January 3, 2013 at 1:29 pm
