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CHARLOTTE R. MENDEL
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Trudeau vs.Trump

7/5/2022

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Goodness me—what is happening to our neighbours in the South? Trump appointed 33% of America's nine supreme court judges and they’re jumping into action, bringing back the dark ages. Here in Canada, we don’t even notice that Trudeau has basically appointed the entire supreme court (I’m crap at math, is 66%--twice as many as Trump)?
So why aren’t Canadians up in arms about this, like they are down South? Is this because we’re nice Canadians?
Nope, people are the same everywhere (and Canadian Complacency irritates me).
So is this because Trudeau is way better than Trump and we all love him?
Nope, about 50% of our population hate his guts. I insist that my nails were just as chewed up during the 2019 election than any American nail the following year. Andrew Scheer’s ‘climate plan’ didn’t set any targets for greenhouse gas reductions—which is the whole POINT of the Paris Agreement. He also planned to do away with the carbon tax, which is demonstrably one of the best leverage actions to meet our Paris Climate Targets. Yes I know, I know, why should we poor Canadians pay more at the pumps (even though we’re actually not because the cost is rebated)?
Well, maybe because climate change is a leading cause of hunger, and between 2019 and 2020, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 161 million.
The huge upsurge in support for Ukrainians made me smile—how many posts did I see saying, “Stop complaining about gas prices. Ukrainians are dying”. I guess it’s just a natural tendency for people to identify with their own colour the most. Ouch, us nice Canadians don’t like to hear that, do we? It’s those Yanks who are racist—not us!
So that means that we believe every human is equal, and we should be happy to pay a carbon tax to save lives (even though we’re actually not because the cost is rebated), just like we bite the bullet at the pump for the sake of Ukraine (all right, mostly it’s lack of choice, but it’s fun to feel virtuous just because we’re doing what we have to do anyway…). 
Meanwhile Trudeau is busy depicting himself as a climate champion even as he builds oil pipelines. So not sure what we should feel virtuous about, since he’s equally destroying the lives of our children. Wish I’d voted for Sheer now (almost).
But even with the climate we’re doing better than the US, where the Supreme Court has just limited the E.P.A’s  ability to regulate power plant emissions. Overturning Roe & Wade is sad, but this decision is on a whole different scale. Why was there so much more outrage on FB over this? You really think that fighting for our rights as women is more important than climate change? 
I gave up my belief in my right to control my own body at some point in my 30s. I was lying on my side in bed, utterly exhausted, with a baby male at my breast and a bigger male penetrating me from behind. I thought how everybody was enjoying my body so much more than I was. I thought how Nature herself regulated me to a second-class citizen in my own body, when she took calcium from my teeth because the fetus needed it. Anyway, if we haven’t solved racism and sexism during the apex of human affluence, it sure ain’t going to happen when we’re in a climate crisis. 
But I digress; back to the original point. Since Trudeau has elected massively more supreme court judges than Trump, why aren’t his foes screaming blue murder? Because luckily for Canadians, we have managed to hold on to our key democratic values on both sides of the polarized border. Trudeau’s appointments have not hastened to overturn prior decisions based on their individual political beliefs. They continue to try to reach objective and just conclusions, just like Supreme Judges are supposed to.

I know there’s lots of stuff in this piece that people I admire might disagree with. Please feel free to dialogue—I don’t see the point of a blog unless it opens discussion.

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    I am a writer and I will try to amuse and entertain you with this blog, while provoking thoughts that challenge your existing beliefs. But beliefs only change with dialogue--so trust that I am looking for the truth as much as you are.

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