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HomeGlobal PulseCan Canadian PM Justin Trudeau recover from the recent blackface, brownface controversy

Can Canadian PM Justin Trudeau recover from the recent blackface, brownface controversy

The question in everyone’s mind is whether Justin Trudeau can survive the recent crisis, which hits at the heart of his carefully-curated liberal-pluralist image.

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New Delhi: On Wednesday, Time magazine had published a picture of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a brownface. The picture was from 2001, when Trudeau was a teacher at a private school in Vancouver and had dressed for an Arabian Nights-themed event.

For a liberal-progressive politician, who faces an election in a months time, this revelation could not have come at a worst time. And if the image published by Time was not damaging enough, two other blackface photographs of Trudeau have also surfaced.

Following a series of political disasters, Trudeau’s approval ratings had anyway dramatically plummeted over the past two years. But he continues to maintain a slight lead over the opposition, Conservative party. The question in everyone’s mind now is whether Trudeau can survive the recent crisis, which hits at the heart of his carefully-curated liberal-pluralist image?

What have reactions been like

Since the revelations, Trudeau has given two press conferences – where he had apologised for his past behaviour, saying, “I’m pissed off at myself. I’m disappointed in myself.” His detractors, however, argue that this has finally revealed the “two Trudeaus”. They have said that he is a liberal-pluralist only in the public life, not in his private one.

Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative party, said Trudeau lacked “judgement and integrity” and that he was “not fit to govern” Canada.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), really picked up the mantle to critique Trudeau. He said that these pictures show “a pattern of behavior of making light of the struggles that people face”.

In the meanwhile, Elizabeth May, leader of Greens Party, which is expected to make substantial gains in the upcoming elections, said looking at the images had made her “physically ill”.

Possible impact on electoral race

Riddled in the SNC-Lavalin scandal, Trudeau’s popularity ratings had nosedived through the earlier part of this year. Though his popularity seems to have relatively recovered over the summer.

As of 19 September, according to the CBC Poll Tracker, Conservatives at 34.9 per cent, have a one per cent lead over the Liberals at 33.9 per cent. And a ‘one per cent margin’ explains why the recent blackface controversy might prove costly for the PM.

“This thing is a wildfire. All of a sudden there’s just a picture, and you don’t have to explain it. Everyone knows what it is,” Darrell Bricker, head of the polling firm Ipsos Public Affairs in Toronto, told The Washington Post.

Two facts help highlight what is at stake in the upcoming Canadian elections.

“Canada’s federal elections are often won or lost in the ethnically diverse middle-class suburbs outside Toronto and Vancouver, where a small percentage of disenchanted Liberal supporters switching their allegiance — or simply staying home — could swing the elections,” notes Amanda Coletta for The Washington Post.

Moreover, one of the most important factors behind Trudeau’s 2015 victory was his popularity among the young-minorities. And the voting by these minorities has been rising over the past few years. Now, as Trudeau gets embroiled in a “racial” controversy, his challenge would be to maintain the support of these groups.

Some analysts think that the NDP, the other Liberal party in Canada, might gain over in the short-term. But that is likely to change as the election approaches.

“A lot of those people will just fall back to the Liberals, because their primary objective will be to vote against the Conservatives … It’s going to be a rough few days for the Liberals, but I don’t think it’s gonna move the needle in the polls much as the Conservatives might hope,” Nelson Wiseman from the University of Toronto told The Guardian.

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