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The Coat of Arms

The Student News Site of Menlo School

The Coat of Arms

The Student News Site of Menlo School

The Coat of Arms

Justin Trudeau and Canadian politics: what Americans need to know

Justin+Trudeau+and+Canadian+politics%3A+what+Americans+need+to+know

While the United States is in the midst of a historical election year, here’s what Americans should understand about recent Canadian politics. Creative Commons image from Wikipedia.

By Nolan Peterson 

      Oh, Canada (pun intended, of course). The land of maple syrup and hockey. But moving past the common jokes often cracked “aboot” Canada is the realization that they are a powerful country within the international community.
      According to the US State Department, over 300,000 people cross the common border every day, and over $760 billion dollars worth of goods was traded between the two countries in 2014, emphasizing the tight relationship between the two countries. As President Kennedy famously said in front of the Canadian Parliament back in May of 1961, “Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies,”. Over the past 100 years, Canada has become the United States most important and loyal ally.
      Now that we’ve established the fact that Canada is indeed important, we, as informed global citizens, must also take note of Canada’s political culture and their new prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
      There are three main political parties in Canada. In the House of Commons (basically the Canadian House of Representatives), there are 338 delegates, or “seats.” One seat is taken by the inconsequential Green Party, and another ten are occupied by Bloc Québécois that is more commonly known as the Quebec Independence Movement.
       Then there are the big three: the New Democratic , the Conservative, and the Liberal parties. The New Democratic Party (NDP) has 44 seats in the House of Commons, and they’re basically the Bernie Sanders of Canadian politics. Higher tax rates, acceptance of Syrian refugees, and the expansion of public health care including the decriminalization of marijuana fill their list of priorities.
       The conservatives are the American versions of Republicans, with 99 seats in the House of Commons. The conservatives had been in control since 2006 before the recent elections. They controlled the House and party leader Stephen Harper was the Prime Minister for eleven years. These are the anti-abortion, lower tax rate supporters– like typical American Republicans sans the evangelical Christianity bit.
       Both the New Democratics and the Conservatives had some problems with their candidates that ran last year. The Conservative challenger to Harper, Jerry Bance was caught on an undercover T.V. show urinating in a coffee mug while fixing a sink in one of his clients’ houses, then washing out and putting back in the clean rack of the washing machine.
       In an even worse PR mess, NDP representative Alex Johnstone was put in the spotlight after she posted a picture on Facebook of the Auschwitz concentration camp with a NSFW joke captioned below it. When she was asked what she was thinking when she created the post, she said, “Well, I didn’t know what Auschwitz was, or I didn’t up until today.” Did I mention she was also on the school trustee board in Ontario? I can’t even make this up.

        These mishaps gave Trudeau’s Liberal Party a chance. The liberals have 184 seats and are basically the Hillary Clinton’s of Canada minus all the shenanigans of e-mails and Benghazi cover-ups. Luckily, they didn’t have any screw ups like the other two parties … at least not to our knowledge (C’mon Canada).
        Beyond Trudeau’s party affiliation however, he’s been in the spotlight for a long, long time. Justin’s dad, Pierre Trudeau, was the prime minister from 1980-84. Justin grew up in 24 Sussex (the Canadian White House) as a kid with his two brothers while his dad was prime minister.
        The junior Trudeau however, was never really destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. There’s this great video online of Justin showing off his great “party trick” in which he can casually interrupt a conversation to make it look like he fell down the stairs. This sort of immaturity certainly raises everyone’s attention, as no one wants a leader with a bad party trick.
       Trudeau has also shown his moments of brilliance and pure genius over the years. In 2000, Justin delivered a eulogy at his father’s funeral which sent waves of emotion around the Canadian media. Soon came the rise of Trudeau as a politician, and he’s never looked back.
       After giving his speech, Trudeau decided that public speaking and carrying on his father’s legacy is what he should do. After some failed stints in modeling and acting, Trudeau ran as the liberal representative for the district of Papineau, close to Montreal. Due to the way representation works in Canada, it’s still a position he holds today. Now he has the national outlook on his plate rather than just a local one.
       In the end, there are doubts as to what kind of Justin Trudeau the world will see of him in office. Is it the loveable kid older Canadians so vividly remember? The party trick wannabe? The emotional eulogy speaker? Whatever it is, we as members of the global community will soon discover who he truly is.

 

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