COLUMN: Think Again – When symbolism turns into a joke

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This article was published 14/12/2023 (518 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a big fan of symbolism. He never misses an opportunity to virtue signal.

Whether it is his “gender-balanced” cabinet, his weepy public apologies for past historical wrongs, or his vacuous declaration that Canada is the first “post-national” state, Trudeau is a master of symbolism.

In 2015, Trudeau proudly declared that “Canada is back!” And so it is—back to a diminished standing on the world stage. Not only did Trudeau fail to secure a seat on the UN Security Council, but he also stood idly by while China’s communist government blatantly interfered with our electoral process and imprisoned two of our citizens for nearly three years.

Being prime minister is a serious job. Agree with them or not, few people ever claimed that former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Jean Chretien failed to take their jobs seriously. Even Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, knew that being prime minister involved more than staging photo ops and delivering sanctimonious speeches.

One area where Trudeau needs to get serious is the military. Morale is low and the Canadian Armed Forces is having trouble finding new recruits. It doesn’t help that Canada is nowhere close to meeting our NATO commitment to spend at least two per cent of our GDP on the military.

Interestingly, Trudeau isn’t against spending money. His record deficits over the last eight years prove that he has no problem spending our hard-earned tax dollars. Too bad the budget doesn’t balance itself.

Sadly, just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, Trudeau manages to set the bar even lower. For example, the Trudeau government recently issued a directive to the Canadian Armed Forces that all military bases must provide free menstrual products, including tampons and pads, in all washrooms—including men’s washrooms.

Yes, you read that correctly. Men’s washrooms will have free menstrual products in them. This is an obvious waste of taxpayers’ money since basic biology tells us that men don’t menstruate and thus have no need of tampons and pads.

But that isn’t the worst of it. While it’s ridiculous to waste our tax dollars on something like this, it’s even worse when we consider how embarrassing this policy must be for people in our military. If anyone thinks that putting free menstrual products in men’s washrooms is going to help with recruitment, they obviously haven’t spoken to any men lately.

I doubt anyone in Trudeau’s government seriously thinks that men have any need for menstrual products. However, Trudeau is all about symbolism and this is an opportunity to make it look like his government is gender inclusive. So, even though everyone knows that it is patently ridiculous, Trudeau mandates that all washrooms, including men’s washrooms, must provide free menstrual products.

There is a huge difference between harmless symbolism and symbolism that embarrasses our country. Trudeau has now crossed that line. By denying basic biology, Trudeau turned his government into a laughingstock.

One wonders how far Trudeau is going to go with gender inclusivity. In the past, Trudeau often declared that abortion is a women’s issue and that men should stay out of it. But if he is going to be consistent, he needs to affirm that men can have abortions too. Perhaps we will soon hear our prime minister proclaim that “Abortion is a men’s issue.”

Symbolism is not all bad. There are times when we should do things for symbolic reasons. However, when symbolism turns into a joke, then it is no longer helpful.

Hopefully, Prime Minister Trudeau figures out sooner rather than later that his brand of symbolism is hurting our country.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and a Steinbach city councillor. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.