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Jerry Iwanus's avatar

I disagree that Justin is a good communicator. His interactions with press and others are mostly lots of gloss but little substance. Compare his communication style to that of, say, Ronald Regan, who was also considered to be a good communicator. Even though Regan was not considered to be an intellectual in any way, his speeches contained substance, not just gloss - in fact enough substance to change the world. Could anyone imagine JT at that level?

I wonder what his father would think, were he alive today...

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Dec 19
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dan mcco's avatar

Or is he a good communicator because the media says so and papers over his many, many learning opportunities.

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Jerry Iwanus's avatar

Point well-taken entirely.

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Dec 18Edited
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john's avatar

Trudeau is the flip side of the Trump coin, he's just prettier, and seemingly less sleazy.

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dan mcco's avatar

less sleazy? the kokanee groper? blackface? multiple ethics violations -- getting away with WE and foreign interference. No I think he comes out just as sleazy but less patriotic.

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John's avatar

Been noticing there are two of us participating in these discussions. One is john and the other (me) is John. Luckily we have roughly similar views so far.

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john's avatar

Was this me or you?

Besides, you are taller, I am older

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John's avatar

😆😆😆

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Andrew Gorman's avatar

Oh come now… we all see the “hurr sure he not manly” thing you’re doing by calling him “pretty” rather than attractive or handsome which he clearly is and which obviously describe him better considering how much more he appeals to women than men, but let’s be fair out at least pretend.

Even if we’re being dismissive of Justin Trudeau in EVERY way possible and comparing him to Donald Trump, he’s also incredibly more athletic at every age. In his PRIME, Donald Trump was nothing more athletically than your typical out of shape business dude with a growing gut who would get walloped in a fight that wasn’t staged for his benefit.

By contrast, Justin Trudeau is a legitimately (and surprisingly) good boxer.

I mean, really, could you imagine Donald Trump doing a plank at forty? It’s laughable.

So let’s add athletic to your list of ways he’s superior.

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john's avatar

I have never considered him less manly than Trump, I consider him to be more palatable to people than Trump.

They seem to be both amoral liars, but Trudeau gets to rely less on lies and more on smooth talking and smooth phrases because he is more attractive and can deliver speeches better.

I am sorry my casual use of the word pretty offends you.

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dan mcco's avatar

What about a golf match instead of boxing?

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Andrew Gorman's avatar

I couldn’t say. I’m not a fan of golf so I don’t know what counts as “good”, but I assume Donald Trump is pretty good at it.

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David Lindsay's avatar

Trump is awesome at lying. That's it. That's all he does.

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Leslie MacMillan's avatar

But he's President (re-elect) of the United States... and you're not.

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David Lindsay's avatar

And the entire world will suffer for it. Does change his desire to create his own reality, and that it is not "truth-based".

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dan mcco's avatar

in what ways will the entire world suffer with Trump any more so than previous administrations?

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David Lindsay's avatar

Simple. No dictator in history has had the economic clout that the Trump Party possesses. He can turn Canada into a third-world country with the stroke of a pen. Sure, there will be some pain in the US. We're finished. And since he's living in his own self-created reality, what he does will depend on how he feels when he wakes from a night of rage tweeting.

This is all based on my belief that democracy dies in the US on January 20. I hope I'm wrong. But I tend to plan for the worst and hope for the best. There is very little stopping Trump from sending the Constitution to the shredder.

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ES's avatar

It’s unclear what Trump’s communication relative to Reagan’s has to do with Reagan’s relative to Trudeau’s, unless you were just looking for a reason to praise the president-elect, in which case I imagine you’re one of these ‘inspired’ people you reference. Btw, in Canada you don’t need to call them “President”.

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John's avatar

I’m going by New York Times analyses more than anything else. The overwhelming feeling of Republican working and middle class voters was that Trump in spite of his wealthy background understood them in a way that Harris never did. Trudeau’s elitist Quebec French seigneur attitude didn’t appeal to anyone except the self styled elites from the Laurentians. To me he always seemed to be talking down to people. When he first became PM he had a finishing school way of saying “Canada” that sounded like some foreign country that was alien to him. He improved later or maybe we got used to it.

If you’re old enough to have seen the 1975 Barry Lyndon movie, he reminds me of it

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ES's avatar

I think we got used to it - it’s the same affectation as the Shoppers self-checkout kiosks, which is horribly appropriate.

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Leslie MacMillan's avatar

I never use those damn things. The only trouble is that the human cashiers are always bunged up with poor people doing intricate transactions involving lottery tickets (despite the affordability crisis we are supposedly suffering through.) One woman bought over a dozen separate tickets all purchased separately with her credit card...and then she had to get a refund or a small prize or something, which she used to buy more tickets. Sheesh!

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ES's avatar

Almost sounds like a state-sponsored addiction that preys on the poor or something.

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Leslie MacMillan's avatar

Actually you do, if you're being polite. That's the name of the office. Sure you can call anyone by just his last name. But just as he is President (Elect) Trump in the U.S., he's President (Elect) Trump everywhere in the world. The name of the office is the same to everyone. Calling him President (Elect) Trump no more means the speaker is a Trump-fluffer than calling the current guy President Biden.

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Dec 18
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Doug's avatar

He sometimes uses thee incorrect canned talking point. For example he has used his abortion talking point to answer questiins unrelated to that topic

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dan mcco's avatar

That is always intentional. Look over there -- a gun -- a pro-lifer -- an poor transgendered athlete -- a racist -- a misogynist ... he's got these bullets all loaded into his revolver and he's ready to divide and conquer.

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IceSkater40's avatar

I’ve never been a Freeland fan, but she handled this well. And I’m enjoying watching the circus that she unleashed. So I have to give her credit as a politician even if I thought she was a fool as finance minister ever since her comment about the budget balancing itself many many years ago.

I also have to think anyone coming into the position of finance minister would be very smart to run as long as Trudeau is at the helm. If Trudeau couldn’t find appropriate ministers his resignation might be forced, right?

One last comment - Chrystia did this on a Monday. Not a Sunday or late on a Friday when it would get buried in the news cycle. She did it when there was plenty of time for the news cycle to cover it. It will get a lot of airplay - and then some because Trudeau is frozen in how to respond. It’s lovely.

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Stefan Klietsch's avatar

I don't believe that Freeland ever made any comments about the "budget balancing itself". Trudeau is the one who has been blasted for making those comments, and even in his case the comments were taken out of context.

Otherwise in agreement with your post.

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Dec 19
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Stefan Klietsch's avatar

Here was the budget comment statement:

"The commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself." (He was talking about economic growth as a strategy for budget balancing.)

https://www.simonstlaurent.ca/2019/10/budget-will-balance-itself-partial-quote.html

This was his statement about monetary policy:

“When I think about the biggest, most important economic policy this government, if re-elected, would move forward, you’ll forgive me if I don’t think about monetary policy. You’ll understand that I think about families.”

(He was not saying that he is not thinking about monetary policy at all, just that he does not think about monetary policy as a primary instrument for economic performance for his government.)

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Doug's avatar

He is wrong

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Ken Schultz's avatar

She waited until Monday to ensure that she caught the PMO - and, particularly, the Face Painter - by such surprise that their response was so obviously much, much too little and much, much too late.

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Feb B.'s avatar

The only spin that PMO could apparently get was that the PM didn't see "minister without portfolio for Canada-US relation" as a demotion from Minister of Finance. Maybe the PM needs to take vibe politics 101?

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Susan Miller's avatar

Perfection! Sports analogy and all. Finally an assessment of Monday morning’s hoo haw that doesn’t hurt my brain.

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Darcy Hickson's avatar

Walking the dog, slang:

“The slang dog walk is “to overpower” or “outsmart” someone, as if in utter control of them, as when walking a dog.”

Freeland didn’t run and hide and her appearance at the impromptu Caucus meeting was a classic example of dog walking. If Trudeau was tempted to give the experience things differently line, Freeland was there tugging on the lease.

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Doug's avatar

Telford going on vacation and posting pictures seems like another lapse in judgement.

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B–'s avatar

Oh, I missed this. On insta?

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Doug's avatar

Yes. How could firing the finance minister over Zoom and expecting her to go quietly possibly go wrong? Especially if a new celebrity finance minister was already lined up

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Dec 19
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Doug's avatar

She is the vice-wizard behind the curtain

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Ruth B.'s avatar

Her and Quebec’s Power Corp aka China’s local outlet.

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CoolPro's avatar

Chrystia's song (letter) has well crafted lyrics.

The rest of Freeland's decade in this government she was belting out Tammy Wynette, over & over.

'Stand By Your Man'

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman

Giving all your love to just one man

You'll have bad times

And he'll have good times

Doin' things that you don't understand

But if you love him you'll forgive him

Even though he's hard to understand

And if you love him, oh be proud of him

'Cause after all he's just a man

Stand by your man

And show the world you love him

Keep giving all the love you can

Stand by your man

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Dean's avatar

Thx, now I have the Blues Brothers in my head at Big Bobs’ Country Bunker!

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Darcy Hickson's avatar

Yup, where they play “Country and Western” here.

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Clay Eddy Arbuckle's avatar

Excellent Mitch! You batted it out of the park. Chrystia performed a beautiful wrap around and slammed it in the net on his blocker side! She scored!!! A great move for all the women before her for all the world to see. He got benched! Then went back to the locker room…

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W. Hutchinson's avatar

Freeland knew what was coming. She managed to step two feet to the right just as Trudeau set in motion the now famous Liberal Circular Firing Squad.

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Gavin Bamber's avatar

Read her book published Dec. 20th, ahead of the original date of Feb. 4th. Timing is everything!~

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B–'s avatar

No thanks. I am not really interested in anything she has to say.

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Patricia Fleming's avatar

Ok. I’ve been reading a lot of Shakespeare this year. I smell a possible plot here. Trudeau apparently fires back at Trump for humiliating the potential governor of the 51st State, by saying Americans failed to elect a woman President, for the second time. (Aside: So racist of them btw) But he, Justin, is a true feminist, and will always be there for women. ( I’m so relieved) Next, Freeland posts on FreeSpeech X, not a CBC press release, that she got canned as FM and refused the demotion position. She does a nice job at distancing herself a long way from the PM, who is clearly losing and lost. But wait… wasn’t she always viewed as the Prime Minister in waiting? Wait for it folks. First things first.

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Dec 18
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Davey J's avatar

She carried Justin’s water until he was about to fire her , then she suddenly speaks out ? She has to wear the incompetence just as much as him for standing by repeating his talking points while the ship and county sank . She is not a good candidate at this point. Her letter was great and awesome but let’s not paint her a hero because she never would have spoke out if he was keeping her as Finance Minister . Her top position was more important than any principle until she faced losing it .

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Dec 18
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dan mcco's avatar

Rosemary Barton and Katie Telford vs Chrystia Freeland - now there's a PPV match!

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Leonard White's avatar

I’d pay to watch it.

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Dec 18
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dan mcco's avatar

The shame is she deserved to be fired but the guy doing the firing is well past his best before date.

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Dec 18Edited
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Ruth B.'s avatar

Champagne’s voice is equally (or worse) to listen to, akin to a dog’s squeaky toy.

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Dec 18
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dan mcco's avatar

I hope she gets defeated too. I also hope Sutherland doesn't publish her book 'cause I ain't buying it.

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