Justin Trudeau, the 23rd Prime Minister (PM) of Canada, has been in office for almost a decade now, taking the seat in 2015.
His tenure though while staring off on a high with the entire world falling in love with not just his looks but his progressive ideals started to fall into mockery and anger against the policies being brought on and his behaviour at large.
Now, embroiled in serious political upheaval and facing declining approval ratings that shake his seat of power, along with several high-profile resignations from his cabinet, Trudeau is expected to resign from his position as the Prime Minister.
Here, we take a look at some of the embarrassing and cringeworthy moments from his political career.
Blackface
Arguably the biggest scandal and embarrassing moment for the Canadian PM was the expose of him doing blackface/brownface. In September 2019, videos and pictures surfaced of Justin Trudeau at an Arabian Nights party dressed as the Disney character of Aladdin, however, what shocked everyone was that he had also applied brownface/blackface makeup.
According to reports, he was 29 years old and teaching at a private school called West Point Grey Academy. There have also been reports of him doing something similar in the early 1990s when Trudeau was supposed to have been in his 20s.
Accusing Indian Diplomats Without Evidence
Trudeau’s accusations against Indian agents of being involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar a designated Khalistani terrorist in June of 2023 was one of the things to cause a massive rift in India and Canada’s political relations.
Speaking with The Canadian Press news agency in a year-end interview in December 2023, Trudeau explained his allegations saying, “We felt that all the quiet diplomacy and all the measures that we put in — and ensured that our security services put in to keep people safe in the community — needed a further level of deterrence, perhaps of saying publicly and loudly that we know, or we have credible reasons to believe, that the Indian government was behind this.”
He added, “And therefore put a chill on them continuing or considering doing anything like this.”
Many claimed these allegations against India to be a way to distract from China’s interference in Canadian politics, especially the elections. Trudeau’s constant accusatory statements against India that lacked confirmed and verified evidence have raised questions on what this is trying to hide.
Trudeau’s attempts to appeal to Khalistani groups have also been seen as a way to secure votes with security analyst Joe Adam George being quoted by a Canadian newspaper last year saying, “(Trudeau’s) decision to appease Khalistani extremists is not rooted in ignorance but wilful blindness and partisan gain, considering New Delhi has repeatedly warned Ottawa for decades about the fringe movement’s illicit activities in Canada, including its involvement in the 1985 Air India bombing, Canada’s deadliest terror attack.”
Read More: Why Are Western Countries Protecting Khalistani Separatists?
Banning Australian Media Outlet
In November 2024, reports came out that Canada had banned an Australian media outlet called ‘Australia Today’ just hours after they broadcast a joint press conference of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.
The media outlet that focuses on news and analysis related to the Indian diaspora not only in Australia but around the world had aired the press conference with Jaishankar where he spoke about the presence of Khalistan elements in Canada and the political space they were being given and his concerns about it all.
Jaishankar reportedly said, “Let me make three comments. One, Canada has developed a pattern of making allegations without providing specifics. Secondly, when we look at Canada, for us the fact that they are putting our diplomats under surveillance is something which is unacceptable. Third, the incidents (attack on the Hindu temple), and do look at the videos. I think they will tell you in a way in political space today which has been given to extremist forces there.”
Soon after people in Canada noticed that the news outlet was blocked there.
The Canadian Foreign Ministry, also called Global Affairs Canada, however, denied having banned the media page and claimed that it was Meta that had blocked it.
In a statement on 10 November, they wrote “Australia Today has never been banned in Canada. The news site and video of media comments by both India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Australia’s Foreign Minister Wong can be easily and freely viewed in Canada.”
Further on the statement reads “In Canada, Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, blocked the sharing of news content on their sites, irrespective of the outlet. This is due to a decision by Meta to block news on its social media platforms in Canada since 2023. This is in line with a broader business strategy on Meta’s part to de‑emphasize news on its platforms globally.”
To this, the X/Twitter page of ‘The Australia Today’ responded by writing “We acknowledge the recent statement from the Canadian Foreign Ministry and would like to clarify that we first learned that users in Canada were unable to access our Facebook and Instagram pages shortly after publishing our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. Before this, we were not aware of any issues regarding the accessibility of ‘The Australia Today’ content in Canada on Meta platforms.”
They also added “Considering that another news outlet, known for its alleged anti-India reporting and Khalistan propaganda, remains accessible on both Facebook and Instagram in Canada, our logical conclusion was that there was selective blocking of our content on the platforms. To date, The Australia Today has not received any official notification or email from Meta regarding specific restrictions applied to our Facebook or Instagram pages.”
Winking And Sticking Tongue Out
A video of Trudeau started doing the round in October of 2023 where he is seen making faces such as winking and sticking his tongue out while in the House of Commons. In early October 2023, Trudeau was seen sticking his tongue out and winking at Greg Fergus, who was the newly elected Speaker of the House.
As per reports, this occurred after Speaker Fergus introduced Trudeau as the “honourable Prime Minister” to which the PM corrected the Speaker by saying, “very honourable” and then did the gestures. While it might have been in jest, many did not approve of the behaviour and felt it was embarrassing.
JUST IN: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives a wink and bites his tongue at new Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus.
What is going on in Canada?
Fergus, who is a liberal, was elected after the previous speaker was forced to resign for praising a Nazi on the… pic.twitter.com/791DOvgusS
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 4, 2023
Snubbing Japan And Australia In 2017
In November 2017 Justin Trudeau skipped a meeting with 10 leaders of Asia-Pacific countries for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. While in Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC), Trudeau never arrived at the meeting, with Australian trade officials feeling “gobsmacked” at the behaviour.
The leaders had been waiting patiently for him to arrive and sign the “TPP-11” trade pact that involved countries including Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, and Vietnam.
An official was quoted by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News saying, “The Canadians screwed everybody.”
Trudeau’s India Visit In 2018
Justin Trudeau’s visit to India in 2018 remains a very memorable one but not always for the right reasons. Dressed several times in sherwanis and kurtas and visiting temples and Hindi celebs, a debate started when the Canadian PM was seen doing a Bhangra, a Punjabi folk dance when he entered an event held at the Canada House in New Delhi.
Several people felt this was cringe and that this was just propagating stereotypes about Indians. Others felt that this was not the behaviour becoming of a prime minister and representative of a whole country.
Canadian PM @JustinTrudeau makes an entrance at the Canada house in New Delhi. Truly in the spirit of India. @DemocracyNewsL pic.twitter.com/ph19O7ysB4
— Rohit Gandhi (@rohitgandhi_) February 22, 2018
This was not the only thing to go wrong as an official invitation to Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted of attempting to assassinate a Punjab minister in 1986 concerning the Khalistan movement, was heavily condemned. Atwal was sent an invitation from the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) just before his visit and he was present at the Mumbai reception on 20 February 2018.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Hindu
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Justin Trudeau, Justin Trudeau cringey, Justin Trudeau cringy, Justin Trudeau moments, Justin Trudeau blackface, Justin Trudeau Australian media, Canada Australian media, Canada Australian media ban, Justin Trudeau china, Justin Trudeau India, Justin Trudeau India accuse
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