Tag: Justin Trudeau

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Resistance forms against Trudeau’s approval of two pipelines

More than a hundred people gathered in Phillips Square to protest the Liberal government's recent approval of Trans Mountain and Line 9 pipelines. Photo by Adrian Knowler.

Mobilization erupts against Liberal government’s approval of Kinder Morgan and Enbridge pipeline projects

A crowd gathered at Phillips Square in Downtown Montreal Saturday afternoon to oppose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of two out of three pipeline projects: the Trans Mountain expansion and Line 3.

Roughly just more than 100 people cheered in solidarity as various speakers took to the stage to call for unity and mobilization against the decision made by the Liberal government to expand and construct two pipelines. The event was initiated by Montreal community member Shane Thompson, who organized the protest by creating an event page on Facebook.

“We see what’s happening, we see the injustice and we get angry,” event speaker Jamie Nicholls said to the crowd. He said while the approval of the two pipeline projects has made people upset and aggressive, we must look to our neighbours to the south of us as a good example of strength.

Event speaker Jamie Nicholls discusses mobilization against pipelines. Photo by Savanna Craig.

“We look at our brothers and sisters in Dakota––every time the police come they’re not taking up arms, they’re not fighting,” said Nicholls. “They’re standing there strong like a mountain, like a rock in front of this power,” Nicholls shouted as the crowd cheered.

“We have to go in love, we have to be strong, but not aggressive,” said Nicholls. “We are going to change this country and we are going to build a better momentum for our children––together we’re going to do it,” Nicholls said, concluding his speech.

Protesters resist Liberal government’s approval of Trans Mountain and Line 3. Photo by Adrian Knowler.

The Trans Mountain Pipeline was built in 1953. The proposed expansion involves a twinned pipeline adjacent to the original pipeline carrying crude oil between Strathcona County, Alta., and Burnaby, B.C., according to the Trans Mountain website. This expansion will allow the Trans Mountain pipeline to transport 890,000 barrels of crude oil per day, an increase from its current amount of 300,000 barrels, according to the same website.

The newly approved Line 3 project by Enbridge intends to replace line segments between Hardisty, Alta. and Superior, Wis., including construction of associated facilities, according to Enbridge’s official website.

The group of people cheered on as speakers expressed their disapproval of the pipelines, followed by a performance of traditional indigenous drumming.

Concordia Socialist Fightback Association participated in Phillips Square. Photo by Savanna Craig.

“The liberals are, in our view, a ruling class party––a party of the rich, a party of the oil barons, the party of wall street, bay street––just like the conservatives are,”  said Nick Payne, Concordia computer science student and member of Concordia’s Socialist Fightback Association. He said many people have compared Trudeau’s first term as an extension of Stephen Harper, former Conservative Prime Minister.

“There’s truth in that expression because when you serve the interest of capital, you have to carry out its economic and political program––which is to exploit and oppress working people and indigenous people and exploit the land without a plan,” said Payne.

“We’re here to talk to people who are radicalized by these events and trying to draw the connections to the system that produces environmental destruction,” said Payne.

“People are fundamentally coming to terms with the limits of capitalism as a system––it’s inability to care for the environment, it’s inability to avoid war, it’s reliance on racism and sexism––all these struggles are connected,” said Payne.

Jed Lenetsky has been very active over the past month towards Kinder Morgan protests in Montreal. Photo by Adrian Knowler.

“Even though Justin Trudeau has approved the pipeline, it doesn’t mean anything,” Jed Lenetsky, spokesperson for the event and organizer with Divest McGill told The Concordian.

Lenetsky said when the National Energy Board (NEB) approved the Northern Gateway Pipeline, many thought it was a finalized deal, however, many indigenous peoples went to court and won their cases, resulting in the rejection of the Northern Gateway Pipelines.

The Northern Gateway Pipeline, imposed by Enbridge, proposed to build a line running from Bruderheim, Alta., leading to Kitimat, B.C., according to Energy BC.

“If Canada is serious about being a climate leader and taking climate change seriously then the bottom line is that we cannot be building any tar sands infrastructure,” said Lenetsky.

Photo by Savanna Craig.

“The Kinder Morgan pipeline is going to lock us into more increased tar sands expansion for the next 30 years,” said Lenetsky. “We need to be moving off fossil fuels in that time and not burning more and sending them to other countries.”

“It’s also important to stand up against these pipelines because they are directly violating the rights of indigenous peoples who are concerned about their water and the health of their land,” said Lenetsky. “That should be an important issue for all Canadians.”

In Trudeau’s announcement approving the two pipeline projects, he said indigenous peoples were consulted, said Lenetsky. “What is the value of consulting people if you’re not going to listen to them?” said Lenetsky.

“As privileged people living in urban areas it’s our duty to show up and stand up in every way we can to support people on the front lines,” said Lenetsky. “This fight is not over, people are going to put their bodies on the line to make sure it doesn’t get built, people will go to court to make sure it doesn’t get built.”

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Opinions

The mighty emperor wears no clothes

Why the media focuses more on Trudeau’s image rather than politics

In the eyes of the international media, Canada has always been considered America’s dorky, progressive neighbour to the north and relegated to obscurity as a result. The image of a barren cultural wasteland, populated by hockey enthusiasts drinking Molson has dominated Canada’s foreign reputation.

Until 2015, that is. Canada went through a complete cultural makeover. Suddenly, Canadian musicians were everywhere. Artists like The Weeknd, Drake and Justin Bieber released new music and dominated the Billboard charts, pleasing their legions of loyal fans. Quebec-based director Xavier Dolan emerged as new icon in the film industry, winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival as well as directing Adele’s spectacular Hello video.

The height of this phenomenon came with the election of Justin Trudeau in October, 2015. The young, good-looking, progressive prime minister was the antithesis of the arduous Harper Decade and breathed a sense of life and excitement into Canadian politics. Something that has not been seen since the election of his father into office some 47 years prior.

The Guardian newspaper in the UK even dubbed this moment in time as Canada’s very own “cool Britannia,” harping back to the “British Invasion” of the 1960s. By some anomaly, for once when the word ‘cool’ was used to describe Canada, it was not in reference to its climate.

Photo by Andrej Ivanov.
With the international media fawning over our sparkling new hunky PM, or ‘PMILF’ (Prime Minister I’d Like to Fuck) as he has been dubbed by social media, national media soon followed suit. According to a report by Quebec-based media monitoring firm Influence Communication, generally after a PM is elected in Canada, media coverage typically drops off. Harper’s fell off by 79 per cent and Brian Mulroney’s by 69 per cent one month after they won their election.

Since 2015 however, the coverage of Justin Trudeau in the national media has increased by 40 per cent, according to the same report. And, unlike his predecessors, the coverage has been overwhelmingly positive.

The reason for this increase in positive coverage is mainly due to “the [tabloid] magazine style reporting” of Justin Trudeau, said Jean-Francois Dumas, president of Influence Communication, as quoted in Maclean’s magazine.

Throughout Trudeau’s time in office, national news outlets including the The Toronto Star, Vice Canada, and La Presse have opted to publish an abundant amount of fluff pieces about the Prime Minister. His many summer shirtless sightings, photo-ops with pandas, and his luscious locks has reduced many of Canada’s most prestigious publications to the same level as menial celebrity gossip mags.

It would seem as though “Trudeaumania” part II has firmly rooted itself in Canadian media’s prime-ministerial commentary, baring resemblance to a communist state’s media coverage of their glorious leader.

Graphic by Thom Bell.

Many could argue that this harmless ‘fluff’ is exactly that, and I would tend to agree, so long as this ‘fluff’ does not inhibit the process of meaningful conversation in the media. Since his election, it seems as though the Trudeau administration has been covered with a cloak of invincibility and has been seemingly impervious to any scandal.

Take the 2016 “Three Amigos Summit” for example. It is the annual meeting of the heads of government of Canada, Mexico and the United States, which took place in Ottawa in June. The important issues discussed during this year’s summit included national security, human rights and the environment.

However, much of the coverage centered around a fan fiction-like narrative of the bromance between three relatively good looking leaders, with many articles—such as Vice—reporting on the awkward three-way handshake between the commanders. This is particularly shocking considering the fact that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was accused of ordering the execution of eight peaceful protesting teachers’ union members and that Barack Obama had criticized Canada’s involvement in NATO, according to Reuters. Both of these issues did not receive a lot of coverage on a national level.

Canadian news outlets are severely failing their audiences. The job of the media is to be critical and journalists play a crucial role in the democratic process by holding politicians accountable and keeping them honest. Recently, however, it seems that news outlets are more concerned with sharing the latest shirtless Trudeau meme than offering a meaningful, in-depth analysis of this government’s policies and actions.

While we may all be enjoying Canada’s fleeting moment in the sun, it is my hope that we don’t wake up burned because of it.

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Opinions

Second generation of Trudeaumania

This past week, Justin Trudeau announced he had changed his mind and would throw in his hat for the Liberal leadership race.

Hundreds of Liberal supporters leapt to their feet and cried, “Arise! For our time has come to vanquish our foes from of old! The reincarnated man lives in on in the image of his son!”

I clearly exaggerate, but the rhetoric often bandied about by Liberal supporters of the young Trudeau is often sweeter and more dangerous than high-fructose corn syrup, and I say this as a Liberal member myself.

Don’t get me wrong; Trudeau is an exemplary Canadian. His work with Katimavik, a registered charity that educates Canadian youth through volunteer work, is indicative of that. He chaired the program from 2002 to 2006. Then add his work with relief efforts in Haiti in 2010, his previous work with Canada Reads, and you’ve got an exemplary citizen.

But does that make a great leader? Potentially, a great prime minister?

The biggest issue with Trudeau’s candidacy is his lack of a track record within the political realm.

“He studied this and that at university,” said writer Dan Gardner in a column for the Ottawa Citizen. “He spent a little time as a high-school teacher. He sat on the boards of various good causes, as those born with wealth and connections often do. He tried his hand at a various opportunities — acting in a miniseries, host of the Giller Prize — which were offered to him because he’s famous and nice to look at.”

And that’s the problem. Simply being famous and “nice to look at” does not equate to great leadership. This isn’t American Idol or a Twitter popularity contest. This is our country.

People seem to be overcome with a second-generation of Trudeaumania when speaking about Trudeau. However, the parallels between generations are limited the familial bond, and don’t actually mean anything more than that.

Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau had experience prior to throwing his hat in the ring. He earned a law degree at the Université de Montréal, studied at both Harvard and the London School of Economics, and had a brief session at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris.

He also worked in the Privy Council Office of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and, later on, became minister of justice. All of these are indicative of a great education, intellectual policy-making, and leadership potential.

When Trudeau spoke, people cared because he did it with a vigor and charisma that could only have stemmed from knowledge, experience and passion. When his son speaks, the passion is present, but the message is meaningless, due to the overuse of cliches and lack of real experience.

The truth is that people want something to believe in. The economy is in dire straits; people are generally unhappy with Ottawa’s administration, and they want to see some radical change. At the end of the day, you need someone who can make tough decisions, not someone who will try to appease you with empty promises.

The truth is that the answer doesn’t lie in making Trudeau a leader. It comes with fundamentally changing the very essence of the Liberal party, to rediscover the policies that worked for them, the new policies that the future needs, and engaging voters of every age by finding the commonality that makes us proud to be Canadians.

Could Trudeau be the answer in a few years, if he took on more responsibilities than being the party’s critic for Post Secondary Education, Youth and Amateur Sport? Definitely. But the first priority for him should be to become a contender.

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