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PM has called for privacy but wants to use his personal life for political gain and distract from his policy failures

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Published Aug 07, 2023  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  3 minute read

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on during a visit to an apartment complex under construction in Hamilton Monday, July 31, 2023. Photo by Peter Power /THE CANADIAN PRESS

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Justin Trudeau appears to want privacy for his family like Meghan and Harry want privacy for theirs, selectively at best.

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Just days after posting about his separation from wife Sophie and asking for privacy, especially for the children, Trudeau was posting personal photos to social media.

“We’re Team Barbie,” Trudeau posted along with a photo of him with his 15-year-old son, Xavier. Both of them were smiling, dressed in pink while standing in front of a Barbie movie theatre poster. As Joe Warmington documented, the post brought out a lot of hate and plenty of nasty comments from people who couldn’t resist the bait.

On the face of it, it’s an innocent post of a dad taking his son to the second-highest grossing movie of the year. It’s really no one’s business, but Trudeau is obviously still using his family life for social media posts and publicity after asking the media and public to give him privacy.

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It’s much like Meghan and Harry’s constant calls for people to leave them alone as they put out books, podcasts, documentaries, and high-level interviews. Despite Trudeau calling for privacy, we can expect the prime minister and his team to continue to use family photos to generate headlines, it’s the way he’s wired. It could work for him politically and generate sympathy with people feeling he’s more relatable, more like them, as Warren Kinsella has suggested in recent columns.

The fact is, despite his protestations otherwise, Trudeau loves it when the focus is on him, and it helps him win. When the Conservatives ask questions that touch on Trudeau’s actions, say a $6,000-per-night lavish hotel room with butler, Trudeau stands in the House and makes a show of saying, “While the opposition is focused on me, I’m focused on Canadians.”

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It’s a great bit of political theatre by Trudeau but his statement isn’t true, he wants the focus on him, personally rather than on his record. Do you think Trudeau would rather fight the opposition on his personal life or any of the issues that have dogged him of late from China’s election interference to inflation to the housing crisis? It’s clear, he’d rather talk about himself than his record and if that is how things play out, Trudeau will benefit from that dynamic.

We still don’t have a public inquiry into China’s interference in our democracy despite cooperation from the opposition parties. That story isn’t really on anyone’s radar as the country talks about the PM’s personal issues. We have a government claiming victory on beating down inflation, it cooled to 2.8% in June thanks to falling gas prices, but food costs and mortgage costs are still rising at astronomical rates. Better for Trudeau to talk about Barbie movies than the fact that many Canadians are struggling with groceries.

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Where Sophie is living is a far better story for the Liberals than the fact that many Canadians can’t afford to renew their mortgage after nine rate hikes in less than two years pushed already expensive housing further out of reach.

WARMINGTON: Justin Trudeau put out the bait and some haters ended up on the hook

KINSELLA: Being a single dad helped PM’s father get re-elected

KINSELLA: Leave Trudeau’s family alone as they go through separation

LILLEY: Rumours will spread like an Ontario wildfire after Trudeau’s divorce

The prime minister’s personal life is obviously of interest to a great many Canadians, and he has built his personal brand by using it. But it is his policies, his actions on some files, lack of action on others, that we should be judging him on and discussing. These stories may not have the sensational nature of his private life but they actually impact all of our lives. If you don’t think that’s true, look at your grocery bill, look at housing costs, look at the rising crime rates. Those are the issues Trudeau doesn’t want you thinking about, he wants you thinking about his personal life.

blilley@postmedia.com

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