[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Zoupa]

Unless she was sharing state secrets with the child doctor, the "investigation" into those few months of discrepancy looks less like a genuine concern for state safety and more like some prurient inquiry into the sexual behavior of a woman, with some added moralizing around divorce.

 

[Zoupa]

How about this - the cost to protect the Prime Minister has shot up significantly.

What portion of that extra cost is from having to protect Sophie Trudeau's new residence?  The divorce filings did mention the obtrusive security details.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-security-costs-1.7009159

  Come on dude.

[Sheilbh]

I think there's times when it is in the public interest - hypocrisy (Matt Hancock having an affair that breached covid rules while being Health Secretary during covid), abuse of power/position (Matt Hancock hiring his girlfriend to work in his private office), indicative of character flaws (Matt Hancock...). In the same way as being of interest to the public isn't the same as the public interest, the opposite is true it may be in the public interest even if the public aren't interested.

My general view is that if politicians don't use their family politically, they're entitled to their privacy. But if they develop a political role then they are as open to investigation/digging as anyone else in politics.

The "first lady"/"husband" I think really varies depending on the role they play. At one extreme they're basically not really involved in politics or don't really have a public profile. At the other end they're either exercising a lot of influence behind the scenes on policy decisions or possibly doing public political events. It's probably quite tough to know beforehand and is one for the press to work out - particularly if they are very political and exercising influence.

But I'm not sure on this case, I'm not sure I can really see the public interest here even if she had a prominent public role (and from the outside it seemed like she did).

[viper37]

How about this - the cost to protect the Prime Minister has shot up significantly.

What portion of that extra cost is from having to protect Sophie Trudeau's new residence?  The divorce filings did mention the obtrusive security details.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-security-costs-1.7009159

If it's because she had a life of her own, I don't mind.

If it's because Trudeau is overspending, that's different.

The divorce filings did mention the obtrusive security details.

Well, obviously, it's not like a regular couple splitting, unfortunately.  It doesn't mean that they should stick to their marriage to the bitter end because of this.

[Barrister]

Unless she was sharing state secrets with the child doctor, the "investigation" into those few months of discrepancy looks less like a genuine concern for state safety and more like some prurient inquiry into the sexual behavior of a woman, with some added moralizing around divorce.

Let's be clear here - to the extent this is a story, it is for what it says about Justin Trudeau, not Sophie.  And to be clear the "investigation" was reporting on court filings - all it took was $20-$30 worth of court searches.

I think why I find it interesting is it is just another data point about the "phoniness" of Justin Trudeau.

[viper37]

Back to other matters.

It seems another public personality claiming to have indigenous ancestry has been caught with her lies.

Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie?

[Barrister]

So this isn't really a political story, but since this is the only "Canada" thread...

CBC's Fifth Estate reports Buffy St Marie isn't native, has been faking it.  They don't use the word, but that she's a "pretendian".

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie

So, reading the article, they certainly seem to have the goods on Buffy.  That she's from Boston, daughter of white parents.  That she's told multiple different stories over the years.  And she certainly did trade on the story of her being indigenous throughout her career.

But there is also a bit of "who cares" in that she's 81, fully retired from performing due to her age.  CBC did a very thorough investigation, spent a lot of time on this one - were those really resources worth spending?

But it's funny just how often this phenomenon comes up.


Edit: ninja'd by Viper.

[Oexmelin]

Let's be clear here - to the extent this is a story, it is for what it says about Justin Trudeau, not Sophie.  And to be clear the "investigation" was reporting on court filings - all it took was $20-$30 worth of court searches.

I think why I find it interesting is it is just another data point about the "phoniness" of Justin Trudeau.

That's the thing. I don't think it says anything about Trudeau. Relationships are messy, and I know people who also didn't disclose all about the specific ends, or timelines, of their relationships - to their parents, friends, colleagues - while not being PMs.

You already think Trudeau is phony. That sort of info only adds to that if you think there's something somehow dishonest in sorting out separations.

As an aside, I think it interesting that Trudeau somehow is phony while most politicians carefully curate their public persona. What it suggests to me is that Trudeau is lousy at projecting an impression of gravitas.

Because, to reverse the point, if that is Poilievre's genuine personality, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as that asshole.

[Barrister]

As an aside, I think it interesting that Trudeau somehow is phony while most politicians carefully curate their public persona. What it suggests to me is that Trudeau is lousy at projecting an impression of gravitas.

Because, to reverse the point, if that is Poilievre's genuine personality, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as that asshole.

I think that the best politicians have their public persona closely aligned to their private persona.

I only met Stephen Harper once.  I was on the Canadian Alliance board for Calgary Centre at the time, he was just starting to run for leader, he came down and sat with us for maybe 30 minutes.  I can report he was pretty much like he was in public - cool and distant.  He certainly wasn't slapping backs and telling jokes.

For Poilievre - I've never met the man.  The way he comes across in public - I wouldn't use the word "asshole", but I know what you're getting at.  He fails the "I'd like to share a beer with that guy" test.

For me though - I hate the "I'd like to share a beer with that guy" test.  I was burned once in politics - supporting the glad-handling Stockwell Day over the bookish and nerdy Preston Manning.  Give me bookish and nerdy any day.

I suspect I may be in the minority in that assessment.

[Jacob]

I do not care about the love life of the Kardashians or Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift I respect as a musician and entertainer. The less I hear about the Kardashians the better.

The Trudeau family has my sympathy for going through a separation and divorce. It's not uncommon, though. I suppose a certain type of person will find some glee at the implicit difficulties of their political opponents. For my part, it's none of my business.

I mean, I suppose I might get drawn in if it was particularly sordid in some way, or involved unethical behaviour. But a married couple separating and moving appart, or even a garden variety affair? I'm not interested, whatever the political affiliation of the involved parties.

[HVC]

If you set up a system of perks, or opportunities as the scholarship in the article put it, there will always be people who scam the system. I'm more surprised when people are shocked that it happens. 

[Jacob]

Let's be clear here - to the extent this is a story, it is for what it says about Justin Trudeau, not Sophie.  And to be clear the "investigation" was reporting on court filings - all it took was $20-$30 worth of court searches.

I think why I find it interesting is it is just another data point about the "phoniness" of Justin Trudeau.

I read the story, and I don't get what it's supposed to say about the "phoniness" of Justin Trudeau? What's the phony element here?

[Barrister]

I suppose a certain type of person will find some glee at the implicit difficulties of their political opponents.

Jacob, from the bottom of my heart,

Fuck. You.

[Jacob]

Jacob, from the bottom of my heart,

Fuck. You.

You could also have gone with "yeah, some people definitely enjoy that aspect. Not me though, I think there's a legitimate public interest in this...."

[Barrister]

Jacob, from the bottom of my heart,

Fuck. You.

You could also have gone with "yeah, some people definitely enjoy that aspect. Not me though, I think there's a legitimate public interest in this...."

Nah, my first instinct was correct.  You were very unsubtly saying that I was reveling in Trudeau's personal life.

Fuck off.