What an irate steelworker can tell us about the hole Trudeau is in
It will take more than handing out doughnuts at the factory gates to reverse the fortunes of the Canadian Liberal party
Justin Trudeau’s exchange with a steelworker at the Algoma plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., last Friday suggests two things — that the prime minister’s position is objectively hopeless but that he is not, in fact, totally helpless.
Let me explain. The worker — (and it appears he was a worker, not a Conservative plant, as some online have charged, given he was wearing a Local 2251 shirt in a secure part of the Algoma property at shift change) — was about as rude as Canadian voters ever get when they meet a politician. Namely, he wouldn’t shake hands and told Trudeau he didn’t believe a word he said, before urging the prime minister to “have a nice day.”
The worker blamed Trudeau for the 40 per cent tax rate he said he is paying and for his lack of access to a family doctor.
Since it is unlikely he is paying more than 29 per cent in federal taxes, and doctor provision is clearly a provincial responsibility, it shows the depth of the hole Trudeau is in. It’s said that democracy is the process by which people choose who will get the blame — and the people have decided: it’s all Justin Trudeau’s fault.
