Bro Trudeau

Conveniently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Washington a week and a half later to give a glimpse of life in the Canadian polity. Americans who reject a shallow, sound-bite-driven politics that prizes spectacle over substance can confidently head north in November — for a shallow, sound-bite-driven politics that prizes spectacle over substance.

There’s no question the northern pageant is the more dazzling one. “There is nary a more exclusive class than those born to world leaders,” as Vanity Fair wrote on the occasion of the first state dinner honoring a Canadian leader in nearly 20 years. Justin Trudeau, a former drama teacher who secured power last fall just eight years after entering politics, is the son of the legendary prime minister whose following gave rise to the term “Trudeaumania.” The exceedingly handsome blue-eyed 44-year-old created a bit of that himself. “Justin Fever hits Washington,” Politico declared in a headline. “The Canadian prime minister’s visit has the buttoned-up capital swooning.” The Washington Post and New York Times devoted prime above-the-fold front-page real estate to photographs of the visit, which was also covered enthusiastically by Vogue. The International Business Times asked in a headline, “Why is America massively crushing on Canadian PM Justin Trudeau?” while the Guardian declared in another, “It’s not just Canada that loves Justin Trudeau — the rest of the world does too.” Canada’s National Post captured the mood in a single image: A photograph of a heartfelt hug between Trudeau and President Barack Obama took up its entire front page.

Indeed, no one seems to have fallen harder for the prime minister than the president. The New York Times headlined their new relationship “a budding bromance,” and a Toronto Globe and Mail editorial declared, “Barack luvs Justin.” Obama sees every speech as an opportunity to talk about himself, but this was something special. “We’ve got a common outlook on what our nations can achieve together,” the president said at their joint press conference in the Rose Garden. “He campaigned on a message of hope and of change. His positive and optimistic vision is inspiring young people. At home, he’s governing with a commitment to inclusivity and equality. On the world stage, his country is leading on climate change and he cares deeply about development. So, from my perspective, what’s not to like?”

Indeed, it would be tempting to say that Americans emigrating to Canada in the event of a Trump win this fall would experience President Obama’s third term. But Obama would take greater advantage than his younger counterpart has of the more powerful post of prime minister. Guest after guest, arriving to the state dinner, described the prime minister as “impressive.” But John Kerry more accurately outlined Trudeau’s accomplishments thus far at a State Department lunch earlier that day. “It is clear that the prime minister really has begun to make his mark on Canada’s future,” he said. “In the few months that he has been in office, he has demonstrated remarkable leadership on refugees, on climate change, on advancing the status of women and girls, and much more.”

Those are the issues close to Trudeau’s heart, whose importance he likens to saving Western civilization: “That friendship, matched by much hard work, has allowed us to do great things throughout our history — from the beaches of Normandy to the free trade agreement, and now, today, on climate change,” he said at the press conference. But his people have different priorities. “Economic confidence has plunged to its lowest point in 20 years, according to a new Ipsos poll,” columnist Margaret Wente wrote in the Globe and Mail after the Washington visit. A huge drop has occurred since Trudeau’s election: “Last July, 65 per cent of us were optimistic about the economy. Today, only 36 per cent of us are optimistic.” She recalled that, as world leaders discussed climate change in Paris last fall, polling firm Ipsos asked Canadians to pick their top three worries out of a list of nine. Climate change came in dead last, appearing on the lists of only 13 percent of those polled. Health care, unemployment, and taxes topped the concerns; corruption, immigration control, and crime also beat out climate change.

Trudeau has done nothing about any of them. When the prime minister last month visited Alberta — the backbone of the Canadian economy, but suffering thanks in part to low oil prices — Jen Gerson headlined her National Post commentary “Thanks for visiting Alberta Prime Minister. But what, exactly, is the point?” Trudeau offered what he’s become best at offering: uplifting words, spoken with fervent feeling. “Canadians help other Canadians when they’re facing tough times. That’s just how Canada works and that’s what we’re going to do,” he declared — but gave little hint of what he might do. Columnist Colby Cosh had written earlier in the same newspaper, “He is above all earnest, and there are hints his emerging role as a head of government will be mostly to convey earnestness, to serve as a sort of emotional mascot, while his ministers do the work.”

One can’t even count on that earnestness to come wrapped in eloquence. Trudeau was in New York on March 16 for meetings at the United Nations. Having given a full half of his cabinet posts to women, he was greeted enthusiastically at a U.N. Women event. “I’m going to keep saying loud and clearly that I am a feminist until it is met with a shrug,” he said to applause. “It’s just really, really obvious that we should be standing up for women’s rights and trying to create more equal societies. Like, duh.”

No, he’s not exactly his father’s son. Pierre Trudeau could be vulgar, but he was more often droll. (Less beloved by the Americans, the elder Trudeau, when told President Richard Nixon had called him an “a — hole,” responded, “I’ve been called worse things by better people.”) His influences included Cardinal Newman and Jacques Maritain; his son’s favorite writer is Stephen King. His policies could be pernicious, but he detailed them confidently; his son can’t even seem to settle on any. The younger Trudeau has already said he’ll break his election promise of keeping the deficit to $10 billion. The only other thing he’s revealed about his upcoming first budget is that it will eliminate the planned increase in the retirement age from 67 to 65 that his predecessor Stephen Harper instituted.

And what did he accomplish in his three-day visit to Washington? Obama called their meeting “very productive”; Trudeau called it “extremely productive.” Here’s how the Globe and Mail described it: “Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Obama sketched out a broad continental climate-change strategy they had discussed and signed off on cross-border travel and trade reforms, including a joint approach to redressing faulty no-fly lists. However, they did not reach an agreement in the softwood lumber dispute.” No wonder the paper headlined the piece “Personal bond between Trudeau, Obama centre-piece of Washington trip.” Nothing of any substance was parleyed. The previous softwood lumber deal expired last year, and negotiations on a new one promise to be the touchiest issue between the two countries since the Keystone pipeline. (Much of the wood harvested in Canada is on crown property, and U.S. producers argue that the government’s low harvesting fees amount to an unfair subsidy.) But both leaders called it merely an “irritant,” with Obama glibly telling reporters that “we have some very smart people, and they’ll find a way to resolve it.”

Speaking of Keystone, Trudeau didn’t. During last year’s election, he declared himself a supporter of the pipeline that would have brought more Canadian oil — and jobs — to the United States had it survived Obama’s veto. Now in power, Trudeau seems unwilling to commit himself to anything besides bromides. Asked in Alberta if he would approve the Energy East pipeline — which would send that province’s oil east to other parts of Canada and the United States — if it passes regulatory muster, “Trudeau’s answer wandered all over the map without ever answering the question,” the Calgary Sun reported.

That lack of substance hasn’t stopped Canadian — and now U.S.— newspapers from filling their pages with reports of his performances. As one Canadian newspaperman told me, “Justin’s good copy.” In this, he’s not unlike the man whose presidency so many Americans would apparently flee to Canada to avoid. They should keep in mind, though, that the only people taking punches at Trump rallies are the candidate’s supporters and opponents. Trudeau, on the other hand, took down a Conservative senator a few years ago with his own hands. The prime minister only gets serious in the ring when it’s just for show, though: It was a charity boxing match.

Kelly Jane Torrance is deputy managing editor at The Weekly Standard.