So, our internationally embarrassing prime minister headed over to New York University this week, and this time his costume of choice was as a “graduate.” He was to receive an honorary law degree—which he could really use, since he has a bad habit of not completing the degrees he actually starts—and then deliver the commencement address at NYU for the actual graduates. He used this speech to blather on about diversity, indicating to the crowd that “tolerance” was not nearly enough—people had to be pushed far further. “Saying ‘I tolerate you’ actually means something like, ‘Okay, I grudgingly admit that you have a right to exist, but just don’t get up in my face about it. Or date my sister,’” he told the students, ignoring the fact that this pretty much perfectly describes how he feels about social conservatives.
Oblivious to the irony in his speech—although it was noticed almost immediately by even liberal commentators at home here in Canada—Trudeau begged the students to attempt to bridge the social divide. “As you go forward from this place, I would like you to make a point of reaching out to people whose beliefs and values differ from your own,” he pleaded. “I would like you to listen to them, to truly listen, and try to understand them, and find that common ground.” It was nice to hear the prime minister who manages to spin every action of his government in terms of gender or race give a rallying cry against identity politics, but it was also a complete joke.
While Trudeau was telling students in foreign countries to move beyond tolerance to and to bridge ideological divides, polling was being released indicating that not only do 68% of Conservative supporters disagree with the abortion attestation he and his government inserted into the eligibility requirements for the Canada Summer Jobs Program, but 41% of Liberal voters and 44% of NDP voters also disagree with him. It turns out that a lot of people find the idea of an ideological purity test to be offensive—which in theory, is something Trudeau should find upsetting, as well. Unfortunately, he finds people that disagree with him even more upsetting, and so 1,599 applications to the Canada Summer Jobs Program were rejected this year specifically because they wouldn’t off on support for a laundry list of Liberal causes. In 2017, only 126 applications were rejected.
Those 1,599 applications represent a lot of organizations and a lot of people. And those people won’t forget that Trudeau’s foreign speeches are just a lot of hot air. Here in Canada, we know what he’s really like.
For anyone interested, my books: The Culture War, Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion, and How To Discuss Assisted Suicide, are available for sale here.
What does that say about NYU who thought Trudeau was worthy of anything honourable? And an honourary law degree at that? Talk about offending lawyers!