Justin Trudeau’s ‘Just watch me!’ moment – Macleans.ca
The prime minister’s flagrant “I can’t apologize” on Wednesday after he was found in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act for not the first, but the second time, established a breath-taking new level of righteous imperiousness, even for him. It even brings to mind his father’s brazen, defiant “Just watch me!” line during the 1970 “October Crisis.” Pierre Elliot Trudeau was responding at the time to a reporter’s question about how he planned to restore order in Quebec. Days later, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, leading to a police crack-down against dissidents—and a national controversy.
And this is where Trudeau is channeling “Just watch me.” The Prime Minister of Canada is asserting that “Canadian interests” as he defines them (i.e., Canadian jobs before judicial independence) trump the Conflict of Interest Act or the conclusions of an independent ethic commissioner. He’s saying that protecting the commercial viability of corporate employers, no matter how corrupt their practices, is job one for the government. He’s saying that the ends justify the means. They justify lying to the public. They justify trashing a federal justice minister or two. They justify doing whatever the Prime Minister believes needs to be done. Because: Jobs!