Trudeau abandons ‘Sunny Ways’ for smear tactics

Lorrie GoldsteinMore from Lorrie Goldstein

Back in February 2014, before he became prime minister, Justin Trudeau told a Liberal policy convention in Montreal that:

“People in Ottawa talk about the ‘Conservative base’ as if it is some angry mob to be feared. They’re wrong. As all of you know, the 5.8 million Canadians who voted Conservative (in the 2011 election) aren’t your enemies. They’re your neighbours.”

On Oct. 19, 2015, hours after winning the election and becoming prime minister-designate, Trudeau said in his “Sunny Ways” victory speech: “I want to remind everyone, as I’ve said many times over the course of this campaign: Conservatives are not our enemies, they’re our neighbours. Leadership is about bringing people of all different perspectives together.”

But that was then and this is now.

Now, Trudeau accuses Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer of being a closet white supremacist.

rue, he’s not calling everyone who votes Conservative white supremacists, but if you support someone who, in Trudeau’s world, is sympathetic to white supremacists, what does that make you?

Of course, Trudeau’s claim is silly.

Scheer has repeatedly denounced white supremacists and a false case that Trudeau is soft on Islamist terrorism can as easily be made, using the same “guilt-by-association” tactics he’s been using on Scheer.

Then again, everyone plays hardball in Canadian politics.