Did Trudeau Have His Deplorable Moment?

One of the most overlooked aspects of Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 election by mainstream political commentators was when she referred to half of President Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables."


Aside from being a gross exaggeration, Trump supporters took it as a badge of honor would describe themselves in this manner on their Twitter accounts. While I certainly believe a critical mass of Trump's supporters hold and express deplorable views, it is a mistake for a politician to dismiss a whole swath of the electorate as irredeemable. Would Barack Obama have garnered any Republican votes in 2008 had he referred to them as deplorable and irredeemable?


All of this might seem like ancient history to some, but I bring it up because I wonder if Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had his deplorable moment last week.


On August 16th, while at a Liberal Party rally in Sabrevois, Quebec, Trudeau was heckled by a woman named Diane Blain. In recent years, there has been an influx of illegal border crossings into Quebec from New York and Vermont. Many of these people are claiming refugee status. Blain asked Trudeau, "When will you give back the $146 million to Quebec?" The $146 million to which Blain is referring is the amount the Quebec government says it is costing them to absorb asylum seekers. It should be noted that the current Quebec government is a Liberal government.


But instead of answering Blain's question, Trudeau instead told her she "did not have a place here" and referred to her as a racist several times before she was physically escorted away from the rally by Trudeau's security. A full transcript of their exchange can be read here and you can watch the video below.

Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer took Trudeau to task for his treatment of Blain. But as it turns out, Blain is a member of Storm Alliance, an anti-immigrant group which last September took it upon itself to shut down the border crossing along St. Bernard de Lacolle, Quebec and Champlain, New York. For its part, they deny they are racist and Trudeau would have had no way of knowing Blain was part of that group. Yet they certainly hold views which could be construed as racist. Indeed, Blain did ask Trudeau if he was tolerant of Québécois de souche which means those descended from the French colonists who settled in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries before the British took control in 1760. Given Quebec's long history of anti-Semitism I cannot help but wonder if Blain looks upon Jews who have lived in Quebec for centuries as outsiders.


Yet even if Trudeau was accurate in the characterization of Blain's views there remains the problem of illegal border crossings and blaming Stephen Harper isn't going to cut it. Canadians go to the polls in October 2019 and Quebec is critical to Trudeau's majority. If he doesn't address these illegal border crossings either by stopping them or giving Quebec the necessary funds to absorb those who seek asylum and if he insists on calling everyone who questions him about it a racist then he could very well turn into a one term Prime Minister.