When the victor in a gruelling race gets up from the finish line and gamely trots around the track one more time, nobody begrudges them their victory lap. It is the honour of the victor. It is the same with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He did what only some of us realized he could do. He won. He won the election fairly. He won with integrity. The whirlwind world tour he is currently on is his victory lap. Thank goodness he is young enough to have the energy to do it.
For chair-bound pundits to criticize Trudeau for meeting the obligations of his job is a hollow cavil. He is hardly using these trips he is currently on to satisfy the urges of a tourist such as his predecessor. These are all meetings to show the world that there is a new sheriff in town in Ottawa.
Where Harper would add side trips to his world travels, Trudeau goes there and back. He went to the G-20 meeting in Turkey to meet the key world leaders. They had much to discuss. World events such as the Paris attacks were events running ahead of them.
This week it is the Pacific Rim countries that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization. This is his introduction to many of our Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) partners. There are many questions to answer on the viability of the new TPP trade deal.
Trudeau will be back to Canada to meet with the country’s premiers. There are high hopes for Canadian solidarity to take to the United Nations meeting on climate change in Paris the following week.
In between, our prime minister will be heading to London to meet Queen Elizabeth before both of them fly to Malta for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. This is the meeting that some pundits think Trudeau should give a pass.
What the pundits do not understand is that Canada needs to reclaim its leadership role in the Commonwealth. Their votes are critical to Canada’s status in the United Nations that the Harper government denied us over the past nine years. Restoring our position with the Commonwealth is the fast track to building Canada’s status around the world.
Justin Trudeau is setting a tough pace in his first couple months in power. The pundits who think he should ease up be damned.
-30-
Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]