Trudeau is facing poll numbers so catastrophic that there’s been few precedents in his lifetime. For months, every sit-down interview with Trudeau has begun with a battery of questions as to why he’s even bothering to remain prime minister — and Jespersen’s was no exception.
The host was careful to note that not only are the Liberals facing a “bloodbath” at the next election, but that Trudeau’s personal likeability is in free fall. Against all this, Trudeau did not once concede that the polls might have a point, or that his government should change course.
The surveys were either wrong (“polls had me behind in 2015,” he said), or they were driven by partisan ignorance. Said Trudeau: “people have realized it is easy to instrumentalize anger and outrage, and get people to vote in ways that are not necessarily in their best interest.”
It’s not unusual that a Liberal prime minister would find themselves at odds with Alberta. But when the likes of Pierre Trudeau or Jean Chretien got into it with the province, it was usually over an issue that they openly acknowledged was intended to prioritize the national interest at Albertan expense.
But Trudeau argued at length to Jespersen that he is more attuned to Alberta interests than its own industries or even its own government.
“I don’t think the oil industry has had the back of oilsands workers,” he said. He also accused Premier Smith’s government of “ideological opposition against doing things that are good for workers.”
The gist of Trudeau’s claim is that oil is fast becoming an unprofitable commodity, and that Alberta won’t have a prosperous future unless they sign onto his vision of net-zero. “It’s not a plot by eastern bastards, it’s a focus on, ‘where are the investors coming from, what are they looking at?'” he said.
The prime minister also implied that Albertans would voluntarily be abandoning oil extraction for alternative energy if not for their provincial government standing in the way. “Governments should get out of the way of Albertans innovating and creating that better future. If you can build a pipeline for oilsands oil, you can build a pipeline for hydrogen,” he said, etc…
A running theme in the interview is that Canadians oppose Trudeau or his government largely due to misinformation. “Everyone out there is blaming us for everything that’s going wrong, including Putin deciding to invade Ukraine, or climate change or what have you,” he said at the interview’s outset, before blaming right-wing politicians who are getting people “riled up.”
In the interview’s final minutes, Trudeau spoke of a “deliberate undermining of mainstream media” by “conspiracy theorists” who are out to “prevent people from agreeing on a common set of facts.”
Oh, the “fringe minority with unacceptable views…”…been a while since that one was used.
The prime minister didn’t go into details about the common facts, but he said his government was unwittingly “compromising” the mainstream media by constantly representing the “mainstream” fact-based view. As such, when the media repeats these views, they look like government “mouthpieces.”
“There are massive changes that need to take place in our media landscape, and government can create conditions and incentives for it to happen,” he said.
Oh, I’m sure there Justin, even though you claim that’s not the intention of C-11 & C-18.
The prime minister also said the Canadian media was under attack by 'conspiracy theorists'
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