Canada: A Model For America?

Mike Kozinski '21, Guest Writer
April 12, 2018
Filed under Opinion

The common American perception of Canada is that Canada is just like the United States except with none of the problems of United States. Canadians are portrayed as Americans who had the good sense to elect Justin Trudeau, enact gun control, establish a universal healthcare sys- tem, and do everything on the Democratic Party wish list. In reality, Canada is no different than any other nation-state in that it has to deal with a gaffe- prone and subpar government. The personi cation of those problems in Canada is none other than Prime Minister himself, Justin Trudeau. Dur- ing his tenure as Prime Minis- ter of Canada, however, Justin Trudeau has proven repeatedly that Canada is just as capable as the U.S. of electing gaffe- prone and subpar leaders. Trudeau’s prominent gaffe was praising Cuban dictator Fidel Castro after his death. In his official statement, Trudeau called Castro a “legendary revolutionary,” and he said of Castro: “While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people.” This statement does nothing more than demonstrate how tone-deaf Trudeau is to reality. Castro imprisoned dissidents for dissenting against him and LGBT+ Cubans sim- ply for being LGBT+, so to say that he had “tremendous dedication and love for the Cu- ban people” is ludicrous. In and of itself this gaffe would be a slight incident in an otherwise competent government, but this gaffe is indicative of the Trudeau government’s incompetence. Trudeau recently took a trip to India, and it has been repeatedly condemned in the media. The Washington Post said that the trip was “a total disaster.” In a move that can either be attributed to apathy or incompetence, a Canadian of cial invited Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted of attempting to assassinate an Indian government of cial in 1986 and of assaulting the former premier of British Columbia, to a dinner meant to honor Trudeau. If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited a Quebec separatist convicted of trying to kill Canadian government of cials, Prime Minister Trudeau would be outraged, and he would not treat the is- sue with the same ippant attitude he has treated his trip to India. This attitude of hypocrisy extends to matters of national security. Convicted terrorist and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr became a millionaire after the Trudeau government paid him C$10.5 million to settle a court case Khadr had waged against the Canadian government. Khadr was captured in Afghanistan after he had killed U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Speer, and Khadr himself had con- fessed to throwing the grenade that killed Speer. Meanwhile, despite promises in Canada’s 2015 election, Trudeau’s government actively ghts Cana- dian veterans in court who are trying to get the bene ts they were promised after their service. If President Trump praised dictators after their deaths, invited convicted attempted murders to of cial dinners on foreign trips, and paid convicted terrorists while simultaneously denying veterans their bene ts, the left would be more outraged than they al- ready are. This is unacceptable behavior, regardless of ideological leaning. In light of the fact that many Americans are looking to Can- ada as a model to follow, especially given President Trump’s low approval rating of 41 per- cent, it is important to remember that the rest of the world does not have a magic model that the U.S. can follow to solve all of its problems. The rest of the world has its own issues, and while other countries can serve as inspiration, they should not be needlessly glori ed.

https://thedickinsonian.com/opinion/2018/04/12/canada-a-model-for-america/