At Toronto fundraiser, Justin Trudeau seemingly admires China’s ‘basic dictatorship’
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is facing criticism for confiding an apparent admiration for China’s dictatorial tendencies during a “ladies-night” themed fundraiser held in Toronto on Thursday.
During the event, which itself was widely criticized for sexist and patronizing undertones, an audience member asked Mr. Trudeau which nation’s “administration he most admired.”
The party leader responded: “There is a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say we need to go green, we need to start, you know, investing in solar. There is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about: having a dictatorship where you can do whatever you wanted, that I find quite interesting.”
Noting he was on camera, Mr. Trudeau then said: “But Sun News can now report that I prefer China.”
The NDP equated the off-the-cuff remarks to gaffes made by one-time U.S. vice-presidential candidate and hockey mom Sarah Palin.
“While Justin Trudeau does his best to let out his inner Sarah Palin, and shows Canadians not to trust his instincts, Canadians know they can trust Tom Mulcair to hold Conservatives to account for their scandals and mismanagement,” says a news release on the party’s website.
The NDP also noted this wasn’t Mr. Trudeau’s first expression of admiration for the quasi-Communist rising global superpower.
While on CBC TV’s Power and Politics, Mr. Trudeau noted the concerns swirling around the takeover of natural resources by a Chinese state-owned entity would be similar to those of a takeover by a Scandinavian state-owned entity.
Tim Uppal, the Minister of State for Multiculturalism, said Mr. Trudeau’s remarks on China show he is unfit to lead the “greatest democracy in the world.”
“The comments made by the leader of the Liberal party are an insult to the many Canadians who fought for the basic values and freedoms that we enjoy today. His answer demonstrates again a long-standing position of our party that he is in over his head.”
‘I would never trade our freedoms. But countries we compete with play by different rules’
Mr. Trudeau took to Twitter on Friday to explain his comments, saying that his point about China was that Canada “is up against big countries (China, for one) that can address some major issues quickly.”
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