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TOP STORY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau caught heat from both opposition parties after he skipped town in the middle of a major federal strike in order to attend a glitzy “thought leadership” summit in New York. “155,000 workers are on strike. Instead of getting these workers a contract, Justin Trudeau jetted off to New York,” read one statement from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
Trudeau rarely misses a chance to attend a foreign summit, but what did he actually do in New York? Below, a guide to what happened on the trip that Trudeau has said was just his latest mission to “promote Canada and Canadian workers” abroad.
He posed for a photo with Wolverine
The whole impetus for the trip was Global Citizen NOW, an elite conference chaired by Australian actor Hugh Jackman convened to examine the “systemic issues that keep people trapped in poverty.” On Friday evening, Jackman posted two photos to his social media accounts featuring Trudeau. One was conventional, the other had Trudeau wide-eyed and pointing at Jackman, who is best known for playing the Marvel character Wolverine. The pose appears to have been an inside joke; European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also posed for a “point and gawk” photo with Jackman. Nevertheless, the post was deleted almost immediately with no explanation given.
He agreed to ‘work closely’ with Barbados
The highest-ranking attendee at the Global Citizen NOW summit was French President Emmanuel Macron, who was similarly using the appearance to briefly escape turmoil at home. But Macron’s New York itinerary wouldn’t end up crossing paths with Trudeau. So instead, his signature meetings were 15-20 minutes with the aforementioned von der Leyen and a similar block of time with Mia Mottley, prime minister of the Caribbean island of Barbados (population 282,000). An official readout of the meeting said that “they agreed to work together to address today’s global financing needs of developing countries through innovative and inclusive solutions.” It added: “Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Mottley agreed to continue to work closely together.”
He told a U.S. think tank that VW chose Canada for its commitment to climate change
It’s no secret that VW decided to build a $7 billion “gigafactory” in Ontario largely because Canada promised to give the company $13 billion. Nevertheless, in a Friday morning address to the Council of Foreign Relations, Trudeau claimed that the German carmaker actually picked Canada due to its commitment to clean energy.
Trudeau said that VW was offered higher subsidies in the United States, but chose Canada because it wanted to make batteries in a place that was “going to be invested in itself and in that future.”
It’s a claim that The Canadian Press, for one, found a little dubious. A report on the speech noted that Canada falls well behind the U.S. in rankings of “ease of doing business,” and that Canadian construction permits typically take five months longer to obtain than American ones.
Politico, meanwhile, seemed to think the speech was a kind of campaign launch, noting how often he slagged Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (although never by name). “We’ve been investing in the middle class, not ginning up anger and telling them everything is broken and you need to burn it down,” said Trudeau.
He found a U.S. audience in which to talk abortion
The Trudeau government has a habit of regularly framing themselves as stalwart defenders of abortion rights, even though abortion has not been a seriously debated political issue in Canada since Trudeau was in his early 20s. The current leader of the Conservatives — just like the last three — has strenuously promised not to regulate abortion in any way whatsoever.
But abortion rhetoric generally goes down better in front of American audiences, who actually have some recent experience with seeing abortion debated as a consequential policy issue.
Trudeau’s main appearance at Global Citizen NOW was as part of a panel on “A Gender Equal World.” He used the talk to announce a $195 million fund promoting “gender equality” in the developing world, before eventually seguing into his thoughts on abortion. “Women are still having to stand up for basic rights that should have been recognized long ago,” he said.
He told Bloomberg he’s not worried about U.S. bank failures
Before jetting back to Canada, Trudeau managed to schedule a sit-down interview with Bloomberg TV. The first question by host David Westin was whether Trudeau was worried about a string of recent U.S. bank failures, given that the Canadian financial system is “integrated” with the United States.
“I think any disruption in banking is something to be alert to,” answered Trudeau, adding “so far, things seem to be under hand.” This answer basically set the tone for the rest of the appearance.
On the threat of a recession, Trudeau said, “I think we’re all aware there are choppy waters coming for the global economy.” On attracting investment, he said “the resources above the ground and the resources in the ground are really Canada’s value proposition.” On anti-democratic threats from China and Russia, he said Canada should “bolster democracy … by working together, by aligning ourselves on the things that matter most to all of our citizens and people around the world.”
He said something bad about China for a change
Easily the most noteworthy quote from the visit came from his Council on Foreign Relations speech, in which he said that Canadian lithium is more expensive than Chinese lithium because we don’t use slaves. “If we’re honest … the lithium produced in Canada is going to be more expensive. Because we don’t use slave labour,” he said.
However, Trudeau didn’t remain anti-China the whole visit. In his Bloomberg TV appearance, Trudeau stressed the importance of “cooperating” with China in addition to “challenging” it. As an example, he cited Canada’s recent co-chairing of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference alongside the People’s Republic of China.
IN OTHER NEWS
The Government of Canada apparently didn’t bother telling Conservative MP Michael Chong that his Hong Kong-based family may have been the target of personal threats by members of the Chinese government stationed in Canada. A Globe and Mail report revealed that Canadian intelligence sources were aware that a PRC diplomat based in Toronto was tracking down Chong’s family in an apparent bid to intimidate them, but that this information was never forwarded to Chong himself. “While I have been briefed by CSIS about foreign interference threat activities, these briefings did not provide any information about this individual and specific threats to me or my family,” wrote Chong in a statement. “My conclusion is that the PMO did not authorize CSIS to inform me of this specific threat.”
Chong himself is already persona non grata in China due to his intense criticism of the People’s Republic. This has included frequently bringing attention to allegations that Ottawa was ignoring reports of PRC consular officials harassing or otherwise targeting Chinese-Canadian dissidents. Until the weekend, however, this was a group to which Chong – by virtue of having been born and raised in Canada – did not think he was a direct member.
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So the PSAC strike is over, and it ended up working out rather well for them. The strikers will be getting a 12.6 per cent wage hike over four years. Which, considering that inflation will be down to two per cent again by the end of 2024, represents a not-insubstantial pay raise. The feds also paid out a lump-sum $2,500 per worker which works out to a total of $300 million.
According to the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, the random $2,500 lump sum basically covers the cost of the strike. According to the government’s own numbers, most of the strikers earn between $50,000 and $75,000 per year. Which means that the eight working days foregone by the strike resulted in average lost income of $2,300 apiece. Wrote the Taxpayer’s Federation in a statement, “it sure looks like PSAC’s strike cost taxpayers $300 million.”
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