Kelly McParland: The Trudeauing of Amira Elghawaby

Almost the moment Amira Elghawaby’s appointment as Canada’s first special representative on Islamophobia was announced, my Post colleague Chris Selley remarked: “This may be the most Trudeau thing that ever Trudeaued.” Was a truer tweet ever tweeted?

As Selley suggests, the Elghawaby fiasco is a vintage example of the Trudeau approach to governing. It was all about posturing and pandering, an attempt to win support in a specific voting demographic disguised as social justice. It was launched hastily, with eyes primarily on the next day’s headlines and the anticipated gains to be had. Nobody in the Prime Minister’s Office did much in the way of homework, even to the extent of a minimal vetting of the candidate. As a result, the appointment quickly blew up in their faces, humiliating the appointee and forcing the prime minister into a steady retreat that once again raises serious questions about both his judgement and the competence of his government.

As has so often been the case in Justin Trudeau’s seven-plus years as prime minister, neither he nor his aides and advisors anticipated the backlash or were prepared to deal with it. What makes the situation potentially unique in the Trudeau canon is the extent of the damage. Trudeau can’t just blow off his critics as misogynists, racists or white men, as he has sought to do with previous botches, because this time he’s got half of Quebec on his case, including its top figures at both the federal and provincial level.

Quebec, as we know, gets special treatment within Canada. The prime minister has spent the better part of four years avoiding direct involvement in the Quebec government’s contentious Bill 21, the one Elghawaby cited as evidence of the province’s anti-Muslim bias. The furor over her appointment forces a choice on him: does he stick with his appointment and thus identify with those who see Bill 21 as deeply flawed and discriminatory, or does he toss her to the wolves out of political panic, undercutting any future federal role in challenging its strictures and coming off as a weakened figure taking orders from Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet and Quebec Premier François Legault?

Certainly the prime minister has had bigger gaffes, but never one in which such a minor bit of bumbling carried such potentially serious consequences. The Liberals are on their second minority government, and nothing suggests they’d do any better on their next go-round. All signs suggest they’d be fortunate to eke out another NDP-supported minority, and without the usual supply of Quebec seats even that prospect becomes highly debatable. There have been a spate of reports indicating a distinct restlessness among Liberal supporters and MPs, with nagging doubts about their unpopular leader and whether it’s time to find a new face. A sudden erosion in Quebec support would do nothing to ease worries about either Trudeau or their future fate.

Much of this might have been anticipated by any organization that was paying attention. Elghawaby may be a passionate and informed figure in the Islamic community, but there was plenty of flammable material in her writings. It says a lot about how inured Canadians have become to assaults on their history and heritage that the fury over Elghawaby has centred on a few lines about Quebec while sloughing off her attack on the Queen and suggestions that Canada’s national holiday is a myth-making exercise focused on “Judeo-Christian storytelling” that should be ditched. Trudeau’s position on the Crown was made evident when he belted out rock tunes in his T-shirt when he was supposed to be acting as a dignified figure at her funeral, but Canada Day still means a lot to a lot of Canadians and might have expected at least a bit of respect.

1. André Pratte: Did no one vet anti-Islamophobia rep's past?

2. Jamil Jivani: Quebecers expose Trudeau's anti-racism performance art

But no. Evidently no one Googled Elghawaby or checked out her writings. The fact she’d appeared in the Toronto Star a few times was evidently good enough for the PMO. Sloppy vetting has become characteristic of this government: did anyone do more than a cursory check into Julie Payette before she was elevated to governor general? Could Liberal worthies have done a better job of investigating the Kielburger brothers before offering them a $900 million bundle of cash with few strings attached? Why did it take an uproar over the $133,000 grant to an “anti-racism consultant” before Trudeauites twigged that his anti-semitic tweets might be an issue?

Even after rumblings about her appointment began to spread, the PMO was slow to clue in. Trudeau took his usual stab at defending his choice. That shifted when the stakes increased, thanks to media reaction and the predictable fiery response from Blanchet. Elghawaby was forced into perp walk in front of the cameras and a crowd of reporters as she presented herself at the office of the Bloc leader for a public apology and ritual shaming.

It wasn’t enough. Neither Blanchet nor Legault is the sort to let a weakness go unexploited when it can be used against the federalist cause. Denouncing Elghawaby’s “ignorance,” Blanchet declared she should be fired, and the position eliminated with her. In standing by her, charged Legault, Trudeau “endorses the contempt toward Quebecers.” To soothe Quebec’s feelings, the prime minister of Canada is thus directed to never again seek advice on Islamophobia, because Quebec’s official position is that it doesn’t exist.

So much trouble, so carelessly created. Elghawaby’s appointment was theatre; she was never going to have any more access than she did as a Toronto Star columnist. Former finance minister Bill Morneau and former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould have both written books testifying to Trudeau’s isolation: as senior cabinet members they were rarely granted one-on-one access, communicating mostly via aides and intermediaries, receiving directives delivered by unelected hirelings. If the prime minister keeps his distance from ministers responsible for overseeing the country’s laws and finances, how likely was he to find time to chat with a “special representative” whose views he could have as easily read in the newspaper?

Perhaps he should have. If he’d done so, he might easily have avoided this entire disaster.

National Post

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