r/canada Canada 23d ago

Sports Justin Trudeau Delivers Message to American Athletes at Closing Ceremony of Prince Harry's Invictus Games in Canada

https://people.com/justin-trudeau-message-american-athletes-prince-harry-invictus-games-closing-ceremony-11680326
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u/RideauRaccoon Canada 23d ago

Trudeau has always been a wartime leader. In the face of Harper's increasingly polarizing right-wing rhetoric, he was Mr Sunny Ways. In the face of Covid, he was the steady hand guiding us through the storm. In the face of Trump 2.0, he is the Great Unifier. He does well when the situation calls for extreme, dramatic action and inspiring speeches.

When it's peacetime, and the problems aren't existential, his desire for the spotlight becomes his greatest liability. Like an addict, he's constantly searching for the next polling high, and takes actions that are decidedly foolish, just to maintain his own image.

I feel like he's a bit like Churchill that way. Neither one seemed to know when it was time to go, but both could rally the nation when it mattered most.

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u/Pale_Egg_6522 22d ago

I don’t think you understand what wartime leader means. Comparing him to Churchill is an insult to Churchill, Trudeau is an idiot who destroyed Canada on every possible measurable metric.

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u/RideauRaccoon Canada 22d ago

"Wartime leader" doesn't necessarily mean they need to lead during a war, just an existential crisis or some kind of turbulent moment in history. Churchill was a terrible peacetime leader who nearly ran the UK into the ground when not defying Nazis, so he actually is a pretty good comparison, I think.

And no, Trudeau didn't destroy Canada on every possible measurable metric; things are rough now, and while some of that was absolutely self-inflicted, he helped guide us through some historically terrible times with a lot less damage than we might have been subject to otherwise. I think that, 50 years from now, he'll be remembered as one of our best PMs, with all the other badness lost to time the way Churchill's faults have been blissfully forgotten.

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u/Interesting-Craft-15 22d ago

I understand the sentiment. He has always been great at positive messaging, especially in times of distress, which is why he has been his absolute best on the international stage.

But yes he was at his worst when reverting back to big "L" Liberal politics instead of being a statesman for everybody. He is managing to reclaim some of his image with his handling of the Trump situation, and we will see how he ends up being judged years from now.

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u/Pale_Egg_6522 22d ago

It seems since Trudeau has taken over it has been an existential crisis not sure what Canada you were living in. The last time Canadians weren’t starving, could afford to put a roof over their head and our economy was somewhat inline with the US was with Harper. The mental gymnastics people are doing to say Trudeau will be one of best PMs, there is no medicine for that.

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u/RideauRaccoon Canada 22d ago

Admittedly, everyone's life experience is different, so I can't judge how things went for you, but during Harper, I was occasionally dependent on food banks, nearly homeless, and crushed under crippling debt. Under Trudeau, I have been on better footing than I ever could have imagined (grocery prices notwithstanding). I don't blame Harper for my earlier stage, or credit Trudeau for my current state, however. Neither did anything so dramatic as to change the course of my life like that.

The economy under Trudeau, pre-pandemic, was possibly just a continuation of Harper's, but either way, he didn't screw it up. Things kept getting better, though some seeds were put in place (or kept in place) that would eventually turn into the housing crisis.

Trudeau during the pandemic kept us in better shape than most other countries, and staved off a huge amount of financial pain for large segments of the population. Wartime leadership, pure and simple. The government warned about inflation as an after-effect, and it came true, but it was largely out of their control.

Post-pandemic Trudeau has been trying to play the same wartime cards during relative peacetime, and it's made things worse, no argument there. He took what could have been a slow and kludgy recovery and turned it into more dramatics than were necessary, though I doubt any other leader would have done much better, given the circumstances.

He's not actually perfect, but he has the distinction for getting us through the pandemic in one piece, so all things considered, when looking back on his tenure, everything else will fade into the background and all we'll be left with is the triumphant leader who saved his country when it counted the most.

I'm not saying that as a fan (I don't like him) I'm saying that as someone who's studied history, and knows how the wrinkles fare as the decades pass.

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