Word choice in Herald poll about Trudeau deserves condemnation

By Lethbridge Herald on April 9, 2022.

Editor:

 One might criticize the Herald’s recent poll asking if Prime Minister Trudeau should be considered a dictator with words like “dismay” or “disappointment” but that would be too soft. 

The poll deserves condemnation as it stands and was made worse when the word “dictator” was not placed in quotation marks to denote its original authorship by some on the political Right.

It was the Herald’s word choice; they own it. All we can conclude, therefore, is that the Herald meant to adopt the hyperbole and extremist language of the right and/or decided to employ a poorly disguised ”dog whistle” for that constituency in order to elicit an enthusiastic response.

  Equally disturbing were the poll results: 70 per cent of those who answered the poll agreed that Mr. Trudeau was a dictator. In the age of Putin, where we can see clearly what a dictator is and does, the poll is ludicrous and the 70 per cent of respondents who agreed that he was a dictator must be either totally ignorant of politics and governance or simply enjoying the opportunity to vent their anger as anonymous attackers. The whole thing smacks of “Trump world” (“lock him up”).

  To be less hyperbolic myself, however, the impetus behind this condemnation of Trudeau surely flows from the coalition agreed to between the federal Liberals and the NDP over policies they both wish to pursue (ones that are also popular with the electorate in most of Canada). 

Today’s Right pretends to have never heard of coalitions in democratic states even though they occur everywhere and all of the time.

 In fact, historically, almost all parliamentary governments have relied on coalitions to accomplish anything. The Conservatives may form them as well, if they can find other parties willing to join them.

  During my years of teaching, students often told me, with pride, that they were not political, assuming I would admire their moral purity. I did not. 

Ultimately, I came to answer that if you are not political; if you do not understand the nature of politics in both democratic and undemocratic states; if you do not know how various systems of government are constituted, including our own parliamentary system, then you are the one who has problems with morality, especially the morality of being a conscientious citizen. 

Now, partly through our failure to educate students fully about governance and politics, we are reaping the harvest of that failure – apparently mainly weeds.

James Tagg

Lethbridge