At first glance, it may seem like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a pretty good year. After all, he managed to squeeze through the October election with a minority government despite having a lower approval rating in Canada than Donald Trump in the U.S.
Trudeau practically bribed the media with bailout funds, ran a divisive campaign that pit Canadians against each other and aimed to ruin the reputation of those who stood in his way.
It paid off, and Trudeau won the election. But that doesn’t mean that 2019 was a good year for him. Au contraire. It was another year full of missteps, gaffes and embarrassing moments that made all Canadians cringe.
Without further ado, here is my list of the top Stupid Things Trudeau Said in 2019:
9. After the Globe and Mail revealed that Trudeau’s office attempted to interfere in the SNC-Lavalin trial by pressuring former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau denied the allegations.
“The allegations reported in the Globe story this morning are false. Neither the current nor the previous attorney general was ever directed by me or by anyone in my office to take a decision in this matter,” said Trudeau.
It turns out, the only thing “false” was Trudeau’s statement. The Ethics Commissioner found that Trudeau did indeed break the law by attempting to interfere with Wilson-Raybould’s decision.
8. In the aftermath of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, Trudeau was asked about the company spending $30,000 on prostitutes for Moammar Gadhafi’s son while visiting Canada. In response, Trudeau claimed he was “standing up for Canadians workers” and “good jobs.”
Does this mean “good jobs” include prostitutes for foreign dictators?
7. Trudeau loves talking about the middle class and those “working hard to join it.” He talks about the middle class in campaign speeches, government announcements and he even created a Ministry for “Middle Class Prosperity.” Surely, he would have a definition of the middle class then right? Wrong.
When Trudeau was asked to define the middle class in a year-end interview with Breakfast Television, Trudeau responded by saying “Canadians know who’s in the middle class.”
6. Justin Trudeau is a male feminist. He smugly talks about it every chance he gets. But what kind of feminist would fire two strong female cabinet ministers because they disagreed with him? A fake feminist, that’s who.
During the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, Trudeau was asked about how firing tough women in his cabinet affects his feminism. He responded by saying, “it increases his feminism.” Seriously.
5. During an announcement, Trudeau mixed up China and Japan. He made the blunder while addressing the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
“I can emphasize that Canada and Japan remain steadfast as friends,” he said.
4. Ahead of a G20 meeting in June, Trudeau met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and during their meeting, Trudeau mixed up Japan and China, again, this time while sitting right next to Abe.
“On the occasion of 90 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and China… uh…. Canada and Japan,” said Trudeau.
3. Trudeau caused an international stir when he was caught on a hot mic mocking Trump at a NATO summit.
“He was late because he takes a 40 minute press conference…. You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor,” said Trudeau, oblivious to the fact that he was at a reception surrounded by news media cameras and microphones.
2. During the fall election campaign, Canadians learned that our PM was something of a blackface aficionado. He donned the racist outfit not once, not twice, not thrice, but, well, we have no idea how many times because he did it so often he can’t remember.
Trudeau blamed his former racist attitude on “the layers of privilege that I have.”
Personally, I’d blame the layers of black face paint.
1. And finally, Trudeau made an announcement that his government would ban single-use plastics by 2021. During the announcement, he gave a rambling incoherent answer that would make a Miss America contestant blush.
“We have recently switched to drinking water bottles out of… (shakes his head) water out of… when we have water bottles out of plastic… Sorry… Away from plastic towards (gesturing) paper like drink-box water bottles sort of things,” said Trudeau.
Let’s hope 2020 is a less embarrassing year for our PM.
What other stupid things have Justin Trudeau said? Check out Candice Malcolm’s book!
