Justin, We Hardly Knew Ye

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau caused a stir by suggesting in an interview on Radio-Canada that he would not be part of a Canada that is not guided by Quebec. Photograph by: Steve Gerecke

Ad hominem remarks, attacks on someone's integrity, personality, or lack of both, are not considered polite nor politic. That said, some people, by the very nature of their demonstrated characters and the truly stupid things they remark upon, allied with the perception of their obvious self-indulgence perhaps deserve such remarks.

And we don't have to look too far for a candidate, because there's one who enjoys placing himself in positions where he will be noticed. Mind, he feels the notice should be one of admiration and respect, but he deserves neither. Justin Trudeau has the inherited genes of his father and his mother. His misfortune is that as heir apparent it has become apparent that those genetic attributes that he inherited are not the ones that would distinguish him in a serendipitous way.

He has inherited his father's flair for public display, but his father's was somewhat leavened with flashes of intellectual brilliance. His have yet to make an appearance. And he appears also to have inherited his mother's propensity for seeking the limelight through sheer narcissistic display, reflecting someone who feels that everything should be about her/him and all other concerns are extraneous and quite irrelevant.

It is not merely political immaturity that Justin Trudeau displays without even realizing it, but emotional immaturity which explains why he is incapable of realizing it. "This guy is clearly self-indulgent; he really does think everything is about him and his feelings", according to a political theorist at University of Calgary.

This followed in the wake of previous public pronouncements that were, to say the least, ill-thought-out and which cast a glare of questioning incredulity in his direction. His recent interview on Radio-Canada as a Liberal Member of Parliament revealed the lack of depth of his interest in Canada and his cleaving to personal ideology, trumping commitment to a country that he theorizes may no longer reflect his particular values.

Those particular values concerning a stated and exceedingly narrow range of concerns, but whose conclusion that they would be subverted is due to paranoia, not reality. "I always say, if at a certain point, I believe that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper - that we were going against abortion, and we were going against gay marriage, and we were going backwards in 10,000 different ways - maybe I would think about making Quebec a country."

Gapingly, incredibly juvenile, both in its conception and its conclusion. His values must prevail at all costs, and should the country be drawn, kicking and screaming down a path that most Canadians would vigorously protest against, why he would see the practical value in supporting Quebec's never-ending bid for sovereignty, where those values would be respected.

The consequences of his statement hadn't occurred to him. He said it, but he truly, honestly, truthfully, did not mean what he said. Truthfully, honestly, he hardly knows what he said. And truly, he is an intellectual light-weight. His childishly peevish demeanor does him no credit, either on display during an interview, or in the House of Commons.

It's his way or separation. And those who disagree belong in that little brick outhouse.