Canadians were outraged, and properly so, when photos of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, appeared with him wearing brown-face makeup — but the question is, should this be a focus of the election campaign?
Granted, this issue brought up one of the topics of discussion that is in fact relevant in the campaign, namely the credibility of the leader, and this question should be asked of each of the party leaders. Is he or she a good leader and a good example, and capable of serving the next four years as the Prime Minister of Canada?
For immigrant Canadians “of colour”, namely those who are not Caucasian in ethnic origin, it was offensive to see Trudeau in “brown-face”, like a throwback to the 1930s when Al Jolson put on “black-face” makeup because Americans didn’t want to see black performers on their movie screens.
Trudeau could hardly claim this as an indiscretion of youth, as he was 29 years old when this incident occurred, so as he rightly admitted, he should’ve known better.
That said, it ought to be pointed out that the quality of the leaders should be one of the points of discussion for the federal election campaign, the broader discussion should be about the issues, the ones that touch the lives and pocketbooks of every Canadian.
For example, in the campaign announcements in the past week, issues ranging from pharmacare (and health care in general) to affordability of home-buying and the level of taxes have all figured into the various party platforms, along with climate change.
The voters of Canada want to hear about where the parties land on these matters, and on such issues as the economy, and how much will all of these promises cost? What will it mean for the taxes that we all have to pay, and how will it be good for me and my family?
These ought to be the primary points of discussion, because when election day is over and the smoke clears, and we figure out who the winners and losers are, then our elected Members of Parliament need to buckle down to the business governing, and providing for the services and programs that the people of Canada need.
As a secondary point of interest, there will be discussion on points like who is best suited to be the leader — but really, this is just one person, the “face” if you will, of a party, not the entire party. We need to keep things in a proper perspective on the issues.
