In an election year, the Canadian public can expect to be flagellated with fantasies about the “hidden agenda” of pro-life politicians. When they are not defaming defenders of unborn children as “un-Canadian,” social liberals cry wolf, nagging the public with their own personal nightmares of a scary world in which children in the womb enjoy protection in law.
In an interesting reversal, Justin Trudeau recently offered a telling glimpse of his own “hidden agenda.” During an interview with Radio-Canada last month, the Quebec MP made it clear that he was uncommitted to the family business of keeping Canada together: “I always say that if, at a given time, I believed that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper, and that we were going against abortion, that we were going against gay marriage, that we were moving backwards in 10,000 different ways, maybe I would think of wanting to make Quebec a country.”
The public’s reaction to the vision of federalism volunteered by the young Trudeau was quick and incredulous – and Trudeau soon “clarified” his remarks with indecent profusions about his love of Canada. But nothing is less clear than what this love might mean; Trudeau’s patriotism is, evidently, a conditional love. His commitment to his fatherland – and his father’s idea of national unity – depends on its social policies. Moreover, Trudeau’s contingent fidelity reveals his impoverished conception of the country he represents: without the continued permissiveness of abortion and gay “marriage,” Canada would not be a worthy object of his devotion.
Like a petulant American celebrity who threatens to deprive his country of his presence because a pro-lifer has enjoyed a political victory, Justin Trudeau has shown just how deep his love of country really runs. Trudeau’s off-the-cuff comments illustrate that abortion and gay “marriage” are not really Canadian values at all – they are, however, the only ones which Trudeau truly holds dear.
