Canadian politics and the ill-timed leaked photo

This seemingly small matter can still be blown out of proportion, because the sensitive photo appeared at an equally sensitive time, when a leader known for supporting multiculturalism and multiethnicity is struggling to overcome the waves to maintain his political future.

Mr. Trudeau in a recently "dug up" photo. Photo: Times

The photo was "dug up"

Everyone has experienced a time of youth with impulsive and rash actions, but perhaps not many people have had to taste the "bitter fruit" like the Prime Minister of the "maple leaf country" in recent days, when a photo of him 18 years ago was suddenly "dug up" by the media and spread at a dizzying speed.

In the yearbook photo of Trudeau, where he taught French, he is seen posing with four women. Notably, Trudeau is the only person in the photo wearing black makeup, and he appears to have both arms around the woman standing next to him. After the news broke, the Canadian Prime Minister immediately held a press conference on his plane while he was on the campaign trail. Trudeau, looking pale, said he was “sorry” and “angry at myself,” and confirmed that the woman in the photo was a “close friend.”

The story doesn't end there. Whether it was planned or pressured by the press, Trudeau has revealed that there were other times he dressed inappropriately, such as in high school, when he also dressed in blackface to perform the song "Day O." This "confession," according to Michael Bociurkiw, a global affairs analyst, will almost certainly cause a stir in opposition parties and prompt reporters to dig deeper into Trudeau's past.

The Canadian Prime Minister is in a "hot water" situation with only 1 month left for the people of this country to go to the polls. Photo: AFP

The photo of black people can be seen as a painful blow to Mr. Trudeau's election campaign, in the context of the October general elections approaching very soon, especially when one of the tactics that this election team often uses is to dig up dirt on social media of opponents - most of whom are young and have "digital traces" from the time they were born!

This strategy has so far derailed several rival parties, forcing some to resign over racial issues. Now, using this “opposition research” tactic could expose Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberals to accusations of double standards.

According to CNN, the recent incident certainly contributes to the opposition Conservative Party's narrative that Mr. Trudeau is not the paragon of progressive virtue that people think. Indeed, throughout the past years, the son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau has built an image of a champion of minority rights and multiculturalism.

But opponents say the politician who pledged “sunny roads” during his 2015 campaign and promised to do politics differently cannot be trusted, especially after he was accused of violating conflict of interest guidelines recently.

Turn on “crisis” mode

That said, Canada’s elections are coming up on October 21, and it promises to be a tight race. Any notion of insensitivity or hypocrisy—like a “fraudster,” as one major Canadian magazine put it earlier this year—is certainly not how Trudeau wants to be perceived.

In the run-up to the federal election campaign, he was criticized by opponents as being insincere and insincere, especially after his handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, the latest scandal has thrust the leader into the public eye once again. Jagmeet Singh, of the New Democratic Party, called Trudeau’s behavior “troubling” and “insulting.”

“Trudeau’s statement lacked any sense of sincerity,” said Rachel Curran, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s policy director. “He delivered a very curt apology that sounded completely scripted, and made no mention of the impact his actions had on minority communities.”

Trudeau's running mate is Andrew Scheer, leader of Canada's Conservative Party. Photo: AFP.

That aspect, perhaps, is what Prime Minister Trudeau will address in the coming days: the potential for hurting minority communities, who make up a large portion of voters in key constituencies in Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia. There are still more than 30 days until Canadians go to the polls. So far, the Liberals have focused on improving the lives of the country’s middle class, and Trudeau has been on a tour of the country.

In recent days, Trudeau's party has been on the verge of a minority government - having lost its current majority due to scandals, from the discovery of Trudeau violating conflict-of-interest rules in a criminal case involving the SNC-Lavalin corporation, to his controversial state visit to India in 2018. He has also been attacked for increasing the deficit and failing to fulfill campaign promises, such as his promise to reform electoral laws.

Many analysts have raised a big question: why did the Liberal Party let things get this bad? Mr. Trudeau could have lessened the impact of the scandal about the black photo if he had made it public himself, because this politician must have clearly understood the consequences that others have had to face when making similar mistakes.

Of course, what seems like an unimaginable scandal today could become a “small rabbit” tomorrow. But for now, one thing is certain: the Liberal campaign in the maple leaf country will be forced to switch to a strategy that no campaign team is interested in: crisis mode.

And Trudeau will have to spend a lot of effort and time explaining and apologizing, hoping to save his government from the prospect of being thrown into the opposition benches in Parliament!

Hoang Bach