Liberals Play Politics as Gaza Burns

 

The Trudeau government’s tepid response to another massacre may feel like a sick joke, but it’s not. It’s our government.

Do you remember that picture of Alan Kurdi lying dead on a beach?

It’s hard to forget. 

Alan was two years old when his family fled the war in Syria. They boarded a raft in the Mediterranean Sea and set off for Europe before capsizing off the coast of Turkey. 

His family survived. He didn’t.

By the time his body washed ashore, Alan lay face down in the sand. That’s when photojournalist Nilufer Demir snapped a picture of the boy. Moments earlier, he was a toddler clinging to his mother. Now the tide swept against his cold skin.

I still can’t look at that picture without tears forming in my eyes. The photograph — taken on Sept. 2, 2015 — took on added meaning in Canada, where Kurdi’s parents had applied and were rejected for refugee status.

Deeply unpopular after nine years in power, Alan’s death painted Stephen Harper into a corner. On the one hand, a majority of Canadians were clamouring for the prime minister to do something — anything — to ease the suffering of the Kurdi family and thousands like them. On the other, the idea of accepting refugees was deeply unpopular with Harper’s conservative base.

With the party losing ground ahead of the 2015 federal election, Harper made a political decision: prioritize a military response to the crisis over a humanitarian one. Harper would address the “heartbreaking situation” and say that Alan’s death made him think of losing his own son. 

But given the scale of the tragedy, his words rang hollow. 

Faced with a leader unable to meet this moment in history, Canadians turned to Justin Trudeau. The young Liberal promised to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada, exceeding the expectations of a country beaten down by years of austerity and scandals.

In the end, Trudeau blew out the Conservatives and his government went beyond the Liberal leader’s election promise, accepting over 28,000 refugees across the country. At home and abroad, Trudeau symbolized the promise of Canada, that imperfect democracy striving to live up to the words in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Nine years later, Trudeau’s sheen has worn off. Polls have the Liberals down 20 points to the Conservatives, the Prime Minister seems to limp from one scandal to the next and, just as Harper was nine years ago, Trudeau is feckless in the face of a historical crisis.  (more...)

Liberals Play Politics as Gaza Burns