It was a simple and direct question to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a town hall meeting in Regina Thursday, politely asked by a young woman, that spoke volumes about today’s politics. About how you don’t have to yell at politicians to be effective in challenging their views. And about how the prime minister – and politicians in general – routinely brush off questions they don’t want to answer by using the tired, old and cynical political spin technique called blocking and bridging.
It means blocking the question you’ve been asked and bridging away to answering something else.
Media consultants and political handlers think it’s clever.
What it really demonstrates is the politician’s contempt for the questioner, which is fine in Question Period because that’s essentially political theatre, or when a politician does it to the media because it’s our job to interpret political bafflegab.
But it’s insulting when Trudeau does it at a venue where we’re supposed to be impressed, according to his cheerleaders, by his willingness to talk openly and honestly to Canadians in informal settings.
The context for the young woman’s question was Trudeau’s controversial comments at a G20 meeting in Argentina in November on gender equality. Trudeau said when considering large-scale construction projects like pipelines and highways: “There are gender impacts when you bring construction workers into a rural area, there are social impacts because there are mostly male construction workers, how are you adjusting and adapting to those?”
Many Canadians, especially in Alberta, believe Trudeau was taking an unfair and derogatory shot at oil field workers to burnish his “feminist” credentials by implying they are sexual predators, dangerous to women.
The Prime Minister’s Office has been all over the map in explaining what Trudeau meant.
Some say he wasn’t referencing gender violence, but calling for greater employment of women in good-paying jobs in the construction industry.
Others say Trudeau was indeed referencing studies showing a link between large-scale infrastructure projects and increased sexual assaults on women. Trudeau had the perfect opportunity to clear it up Thursday.
Source:torontosun.com
Monday, April 27, 2026
