Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on a recent visit to Europe to reassure allies of Canada‘s enduring commitment (such as it is) to western security, met with the Queen, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The various leaders took questions from the press. And many of my Canadian colleagues on the trip noted, ever-so tactfully, that their European colleagues were baffled by our prime minister’s habit of not answering questions.
Oh. They noticed that, huh?
It’s not that the prime minister isn’t available to the press. He is. Especially during the pandemic, Trudeau made frequent appearances before assembled reporters. And he also certainly makes himself available on a fairly regular basis during question period in the House of Commons. So what’s the problem?
Well, you may have noted an extremely careful choice of words above: he replies to questions; he doesn’t answer them. This isn’t an accident. It’s not like he doesn’t understand the question or doesn’t know the answer. It’s that this prime minister, and his government more generally, has pushed the concept of message discipline beyond anything we’ve previously seen.
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