Hasan Minhaj vs. Justin Trudeau: Round II
Minhaj interviewed the Canadian prime minister for the Daily Show with Trevor Noah in 2016. The topic was the welcoming of the Syrian refugees to Canada. Minhaj had a boxing theme based off the Trudeau charity boxing match against Sen. Patrick Brazeau.
Minhaj had a good enough experience with Trudeau that he got the prime minister to sit down with him for his show Patriot Act that airs on Netflix. The boxing theme returned but that was Minhaj punching down on Trudeau.
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The "Two Sides of Canada" theme was an intriguing idea. The international (American) perception of Trudeau is more pristine than what happens at home. Barack Obama went through a similar path during his 2 terms as president of the United States.
Minhaj took Trudeau to task in 3 different areas. Let's take a look at where Minjah went:
SNC-Lavalin: Minhaj tries his best to explain the story, mostly by using Libya as the backdrop (Libya being a very small part of the actual story). Minhaj goes really fast in explaining the actual parts of the story, which is not a criticism. There is a story but not much of a scandal. The previous Harper Government had multiple scandals that barely got covered in the news, but this story had wheels. Also, using Fox "News" and CNN doesn't strengthen your cause when they don't seem to understand the story. Again, that isn't a criticism since even I can't explain why it's an actual "scandal."
Tanks to Saudi Arabia: Minjah plays up the traditional peacekeeping image of Canadians (which Trudeau brought back after being abandoned by the Harper Government). He points out that Canada has "armed regimes" in the last decade in Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, and Bahrain. Then Minhaj mentions Saudi Arabia and the deal to send tanks to that country. He notes that the Trudeau Government slammed Saudi Arabia for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Trudeau personally condemning human rights abuses.
"We take our legal responsibilities and the breaking of contracts very seriously in this country," Trudeau told Minhaj. What Minhaj leaves out, presumably on purpose, is that the Harper Government negotiated that deal with Saudi Arabia. You can definitely argue that Trudeau should break that contract. Leaving out that important detail is a lapse in judgment of the show.
Also, Trudeau has only been prime minister for the last 4 years. Minhaj cites "the last decade" for the arming of regimes. Harper was prime minister for those other 6 years.
Trans Mountain Pipeline: Minhaj goes into the "tar sands" in Alberta and the Trudeau Government purchase of the Trans Mountain Pipeline from Kinder Morgan.
Trudeau points out that the "profits from the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion into the transition toward cleaner energy." The prime minister pointed out the alternatives of oil by trucks or rails and that a pipeline is more efficient.
Minhaj doesn't mention that the Trudeau Government nixed the Energy East pipeline and the Northern Gateway pipeline. The Trans Mountain Pipeline path has already been established; the second pipeline will run alongside the first pipeline so there isn't new territory. Minhaj could have strengthened his argument by mentioning increased tanker traffic in Burnaby, but he didn't mention that element.
His stance ignores the fact that Canada has several pipelines already that don't get mentioned on the nightly news or on his show. He does mention briefly the carbon tax but clearly doesn't think much of the carbon tax. He notes that Canada, like many other countries, isn't close to reaching the goal of the Paris accord. The cap-and-trade system that Ontario, Quebec, and California had would have been worth mentioning and that Doug Ford, brother of Rob Ford, got rid of the cap-and-trade system.
Minhaj also failed to mention that most of the conservative provincial governments are fighting the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and that if the Conservatives form government, the carbon tax will disappear as a federal policy.
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There are some lighter moments. Tim Hortons and Kawhi Leonard get mentioned. Minhaj does talk about how Canada is a progressive society, introducing a parody of the Black Panther film as Wakanada and identifying Trudeau as the "White Panther."
I don't want to come across as an apologist for the Trudeau Government or the Liberal Party of Canada. The show does a good job at covering negative elements within Canada. Some of that goes to Trudeau and some of it doesn't apply. The Liberals are a centrist party in Canada. For all the talk about progressive, the Liberals in Canada aren't that progressive. Really surprised that Minhaj and the show didn't mention Elizabeth May and the rise of the Green Party in Canada with its emphasis on climate change.
The "Two Sides of Canada" is an intriguing idea. The problem is that Minhaj and Patriot Act primarily spend almost 30 minutes on one side of Canada.
The Two Sides of Canada episode of Patriot Act is currently available on Netflix.
photo credit: Patriot Act/Netflix
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