Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, flanked by entourage and security, waves as he arrives to the CBS studios for the filming of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in New York on Sept. 23.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
You can just imagine what it was like for liberal American viewers, laid up with resurfacing PTSD in the form of the political return of Donald Trump, to watch Justin Trudeau on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Here’s an experienced leader who is calm and reasonable, and can put a sentence together. Who sympathetically acknowledges the difficulties Canadians are dealing with, while also being proud of what makes the country great: not the mountains and maple syrup (though they’re good too), but the people – and the programs meant to help them, including universal health care. The crowd heavily wooed when Mr. Trudeau suggested the U.S. should implement it too.
You guys up there have health care that won’t bankrupt an uninsured sick person? And pharmacare, dental care for low-income Canadians, $10-a-day daycare? And prescription contraception is going to be free? While we’re worried about bleeding out in hospital parking lots down here?
To boot, your leader is young, and has all his faculties?
Sign me up, America was probably thinking.
But those Americans might not have understood that there are people up here who despise the guy, deeply. Canadians driving their trucks around with signs cursing the Prime Minister, using a word we are not allowed to print in this newspaper, and defiling it with a maple leaf, the symbol on our flag.
You guys do that up there in polite Canada?
Some people do, yes. It’s so embarrassing. And try explaining it to a kid who has just learned to read.
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Mr. Colbert did present the disastrous Liberal polling numbers to Mr. Trudeau and asked about the coming non-confidence vote. To his credit, he did not slough the criticism off, did not respond with a “Yes, but.” He told Mr. Colbert: “It’s a really tough time in Canada right now. People are hurting.” The entrenched haters, the despisers, were surely rolling their eyes at that. You can picture them sending vomit emojis to one another. (As they may be doing once again as they read these words.) But a Canadian viewer with an open mind might have felt seen in that moment. Oh, he knows. He gets it. (Whether he can fix it is another story.)
When asked, Mr. Trudeau did not comment on the falsehood of the terrified cats and dogs of Springfield, Ohio. (“I’m going to move right past that one.”) Yes, he has a sense of humour (that’s how we spell it up here) too.
When offered a chance to take a shot at his main opponent – Mr. Colbert gave him the opening by referring to Pierre Poilievre as Canada’s Donald Trump – Mr. Trudeau did not take the bait. (Although he did later refer to Mr. Poilievre “gaslighting” him on the dental care program.)
Can you imagine what Mr. Poilievre might have said to Mr. Colbert, if he was in that seat? The embarrassing slogans-instead-of-actual-conversation he might have tried out on the American audience? Trudeau must go. It’s unfair, Colbert!
There was all kinds of fake outrage when Canadians learned that Mr. Trudeau would be appearing on the program while in New York for the UN General Assembly. Ben Mulroney, another son of another former prime minister, promoted his Monday afternoon appearance on Toronto talk radio by asking: “Given everything we are dealing with here in Canada, should our PM be sitting down with Stephen Colbert in NYC?”
Why the heck not?
The Prime Minister took the opportunity to speak about Canada on an international platform. He talked about what makes it great (multiculturalism, the people) and some challenges (a housing crisis, the high cost of living).
There was no saxophone serenade à la Bill Clinton on The Arsenio Hall Show, no fluffing of hair as Jimmy Fallon did to Mr. Trump; no great or horrible moment that will live on in the annals of appearances by political candidates and leaders on late-night TV. It was just a sometimes-awkward former teacher in fancy socks, who at times came off a bit cringey, in the U.S.-talk-show spotlight – but a guy who seems to love his country and who thinks he’s doing a good job governing it. And, who knows there are people who strongly disagree.
“You have to be fundamentally hopeful in this job and particularly in this time where the challenges are monumental,” he told Mr. Colbert.
“But if you don’t believe that you can actually work with others and make a positive difference, then you’re not in the right line of work.”
The appearance won’t help (or hurt) Mr. Trudeau at the ballot box, should he stay on to make it there. But it sure gave Americans something to think about as they head to theirs.