It seems that the in thing now is for politicians to apologize for events that they were not responsible for and did not initiate.
I guess that is supposed to make everyone feel better about the incident and make it look like the politician is so sorry that the incident ever took place.
By apologizing the government can demonstrate compassion for the descendants of the terrible event.
I find those kinds of apologies to be empty of real contrition and in some ways a bit hypocritical.
To me, an apology is for some wrong that was perpetrated by an individual or organization that the individual or organization was directly responsible for causing.
That kind of apology demonstrates accepting responsibility for the wrongful incident.
What got me going on this apology was Trudeau apologizing for that shipload of Jewish people that were refused entry into Canada in 1939.
That event was a political decision by the then Liberal Government of McKenzie King.
That government knew full well what would happen to those people.
That was an event that needed to be publicly criticized and condemned but Trudeau apologizing on behalf of the Federal government was not going to change anything.
To me, his reason for that apology was for personal attention; that it would make it look like he was being supportive of the Jewish people following the massacre at the Synagogue in Pittsburg.
He has apologized on at least a half-dozen other occasions for events that go back before Canada was even a country, like the hanging of a number of aboriginal chiefs in 1864.
Some of the other events he apologized for are the Residential Schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.
These schools were set up well before Newfoundland was part of Canada.
He apologized for the purge of LGBTQ from Government and the Military.
There was a government apology for the relocation of Manitoba’s Sayisi Dene First Nation in 1956. We all remember his apology to Omar Kadar for being locked up as a terrorist in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for an extended period of time.
Not only did he apologize, he secretly paid him over 10 million dollars for that internment.
His reasoning was that Kadar was a Canadian and should have been brought back to Canada immediately because a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.
The problem with that is he does not seem to understand that a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist!
While I think Trudeau holds the record for the most apologies for a Prime Minister he is not the only one to do it.
I can recall that on at least two occasions Stephen Harper made apologies on behalf of the Government.
He apologized for the Government’s moving the Japanese people out of B.C. into Alberta during World War II and he apologized for the Residential School system that was implemented in Canada.
Again these were events that needed to be publicly condemned but he was not personally responsible for the events, so to me, the apology was inappropriate.
If Justin Trudeau wanted to apologize for something that would have real meaning, I can think of a number.
He and his family spent his first Christmas as Prime Minister with the Aga Kahn.
He was charged by the Ethics Commissioner for breaking a number of protocol rules and regulations with that episode.
He and his family traipsed all over India in costumes to impress his Sikh constituents here in Canada.
Basically, he made a fool of himself and embarrassed the entire country. Trudeau has killed three viable pipeline projects since becoming Prime Minister.
If these projects had proceeded he might not have burdened the country with several catastrophic deficits.
He has not apologized and demonstrated any contrition for “these” lapses in judgment. If he would, he might be believable.
by Herman Schwenk