Donate

Justin Trudeau: woke wordsmith

The Canadian PM has warned of an economic ‘she-cession’ that will devastate ‘peoplekind’.

spiked

Topics Identity Politics Politics World

Want to read spiked ad-free? Become a spiked supporter.

For the past six years, Canadians have learned what it would be like if you let a Tumblr blogger run a country. Prime minister Justin Trudeau is not just riding a wave of woke – he is a woke wordsmith and pioneer of PC pieties.

Even amid the pandemic, lockdowns and economic carnage, Trudeau has not dropped his commitment to wokeness for one second. Lamenting the disproportionate impact of the economic crisis on women, Trudeau announced on Twitter that Canada was not enduring a ‘recession’, but a ‘she-cession’. How empowered Canadian women must feel to have the largest economic downturn in history named after them.

Of course, as Trudeau knows, gendered language like ‘she-cession’ is not always appropriate. At a town-hall meeting in 2018, he interrupted a female voter, admonishing her for using the apparently retrograde and sexist term ‘mankind’. ‘We like to say “peoplekind”’, he interjected. ‘Not necessarily “mankind”, because it’s more inclusive.’ (Unfortunately for Trudeau, his intervention led to accusations of ‘mansplaining’.)

Trudeau’s wokeness goes beyond his words. He even uses his socks to broadcast ‘inclusive’ messages. In 2017, he made sure he was photographed with socks that combined the Islamic crescent moon, the phrase ‘Eid Mubarak’ and the rainbow Pride flag. This was a celebration of ‘the multiple layers of identities that make Canada strong’, he claimed.

Trudeau has embraced some of these ‘identities’ a little too enthusiastically, though. On a state visit to India in 2018, he jumped at the opportunity to play dress-up, even getting his whole family to wear silk and gold Bollywood-style frocks. Though when the PM met with actual Bollywood stars, they were dressed far more unassumingly in plain black suits. At least he didn’t go as far as his many youthful attempts to ingratiate himself with the black community…

Enjoying spiked?

Why not make an instant, one-off donation?

We are funded by you. Thank you!

Please wait...
Thank you!

After all these pratfalls, surely the whole of peoplekind can agree that the Canadian PM’s PC preening has gone too far.

Picture by: Getty.

Who funds spiked? You do

We are funded by you. And in this era of cancel culture and advertiser boycotts, we rely on your donations more than ever. Seventy per cent of our revenue comes from our readers’ donations – the vast majority giving just £5 per month. If you make a regular donation – of £5 a month or £50 a year – you can become a  and enjoy:

–Ad-free reading
–Exclusive events
–Access to our comments section

It’s the best way to keep spiked going – and growing. Thank you!

Please wait...

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Only spiked supporters and patrons, who donate regularly to us, can comment on our articles.

Join today