Whither Trudeau?

Eduardo del Buey
Photo: Afp
La Jornada Maya

Friday, September 20, 2019

On September 18th, [i]Time[/i] Magazine published a photo of a then 29 year-old Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in blackface at a costume party in 2001. Almost immediately, other photos and a video of Trudeau in similar poses on other occasions emerged.

The Prime Minister was quick to go before the media and apologize profusely for his past bad judgment saying that indeed, he was “pissed off” with himself for doing something that he shouldn’t have done.

The timing of these revelations is awful for the Canadian Prime Minister. He finds himself in a tough election campaign in which he is tied with the opposition Conservative leader.

The questions on the minds of many are: could he have handled the situation better, and can he overcome this potentially devastating development before the October 21st election?

Indeed, he could have handled it much better.

As an example, in 2013, Trudeau admitted that he had smoked marijuana while as a member of parliament. He then said that Canadians should open a debate on legalizing marijuana. By doing this, he took whatever steam his political opposition could have developed on this issue by revealing it himself, and managing the conversation.

This is crisis communications 101, and in the end, he was elected Prime Minister in 2015 and in 2018 marijuana became legal in Canada.

By controlling the conversation, a leader can turn a crisis into an opportunity.

Trudeau could have adopted a similar strategy with respect to the blackface photos by coming clean in 2013 or 2014, use his mistake as an example of how many Canadians are impervious to the impact that their actions can have on others, and possibly, at that time open a debate on race relations and sensitivities in Canada.

That he did not do so was a fundamental error on his part as well as on the part of his communications team.

Moreover, since Trudeau has said that his office found out about [i]Time's[/i] possession of the photos in July, he should have come clean then and given Canadian voters an opportunity to digest this news before the electoral campaign.

This would have led his party’s war room to nuance their attacks on candidates of other parties whom they have lambasted for statements or actions they may have taken in the past, and avoided Trudeau being labeled as a hypocrite by his opponents.

But as we all know, hindsight is 20/20 vision.

The question for Trudeau is how does he manage this crisis during the remainder of his political campaign?

His initial apology was well handled immediately after the photos were published. He was contrite, angry with himself, and conscious of the damage that these photos could have on Canadians who have suffered some type of ethnic or religious prejudice. He was also conscious of the need to explain his shortcomings to his children as a life lesson to be learned and absorbed.

Mr. Trudeau will now be dogged with this situation until Election Day, and he will have to deal with it without casting himself as a victim of sorts.

He made a good start on the 18th of September.

Now, he must share his apology again each time that it is raised. He must explain how he has changed in the intervening years, and how he has implemented these changes into his political agenda and personal life. He must show his emotions since this is a deeply personal trauma for many, and he must show that he can connect with their pain.

He must make the apology profusely and pivot to the man that he has become. As Prime Minister, he has shaped the most ethnically and racially diverse cabinet in Canadian history. He has pursued gender parity both in the formation of his cabinet as well as in many aspects of domestic and foreign policy. His government has implemented policies that helped lift 900,000 Canadians out of poverty, and has governed during a time of historically low unemployment.

While emphasizing that he is sorry for errors in judgment made well before he ever entered politics, Mr. Trudeau must also pivot towards his vision for the future, and how he has positioned himself and Canada to achieve that vision.

In short, he must shift from his past reprehensible behavior towards his current awareness and sensitivity as well as his vision of a future in which greater harmony can reign in Canada.

We have all said or done things in our past that we regret and that we would not like to see splashed all over social media or discussed in public. Political leaders or those aspiring to be do not have this option. This is something that Mr. Trudeau knew especially given his family background.

Today’s media and political environment ensure that all peccadillos will become public at one point or another.

The main point is to learn how to manage the impact of their becoming public, and turn crises into opportunities.

As Nietzsche once said, what doesn’t kill us makes us strong.

It remains to be seen of Trudeau can regain voter trust and respect needed in order win the October 21st election.

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