Dogs chasing cars - Shawn Loughlin editorial

What do we want? Trudeau to go! When do we want it? Now! Those are the sentiments shared in recent polls of Canadians. Late last year, 72 per cent of all respondents to an Ipsos poll said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should step down (this included 33 per cent - one in three - Liberal supporters). Last week, a Nanos Research poll indicated that 46 per cent said they want to return to the polls sooner than June of 2025 - the next scheduled federal election.

 

The walls have been closing in on not just this government, but Trudeau personally, for a while now and it’s really beginning to appear as those Canadians of all stripes, whatever their reasons, feel it’s time for Trudeau to go.

 

That’s all well and good, as most Canadians will agree that Trudeau’s best-before date has long come and gone for some reasons of his own doing and others out of his control, but the buck always stops at the top. If rumours of his demise prove to hold water, Trudeau will be out of a job and a wife (he and Sophie notably split last summer); a 52-year-old starting over.
But you know what, it’s not him that I worry about, it’s the people who have made hating him their personality. What’s next for them?

 

There’s a scene at the end of Zero Dark Thirty in which, after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Maya (a composite character based on a number of women who helped orchestrate the Bin Laden raid), a woman recruited out of high school to hunt Bin Laden, boards a military plane and is asked where she wants to go and she begins to weep.

 

Her whole life was wrapped up in one task - one person - and, just like that, he was gone. 

 

When the deep black of their F-Trudeau flags fades to an uninspiring grey and their pair of middle-finger-to-Trudeau decals begin to fade off of their dually pick-ups while illegally passing me on a solid line and flicking a cigarette butt out the window on a dry summer day (true story), what will they all do with themselves? Trudeau will be gone and they’ll be incomplete; a Batman without a Joker.

 

I have the same worries about everyone who built their personality around not taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Sure, they have an hour in the sun when a new round of boosters is rolled out or a new variant begins to spread, but I’m sure they’d agree that it just isn’t the same.

 

Vaccine mandates are largely a thing of the past, no one really cares whether you’ve had your shot or not (now that the heavy lifting’s been done by those who did), so these people are left to scream into the ether, posting bogus research and statistics to their Facebook pages so they can be liked by the same three people doing the same thing over on their pages. The so-called “pureblood” incels can fantasize about being more attractive to women thanks to being a “pureblood”, but it must feel hollow.
The world paradigm is shifting. One after another, countries are electing far-right, extremist, nationalist governments and Canada has its very own apple-chomping contender for this crown. Sure, it’s a victory for angry young white men, many of whom may have spent a few weeks huffing exhaust fumes in Ottawa a few years ago, but really for few others.

 

So, if and when Trudeau either steps down or is unseated by the voters, if you see a house or a car adorned with F-Trudeau stickers or flags, check in on their owners. They may feel lost. Do your part to help these people. Propose a new hobby, find them someone new to hate, direct them to the nearest bowling alley and tell them it’s going to be O.K. It’s hard to live life without a purpose and we all need to do our part to help these folks.