Musing the other day about how John Edwards is being prosecuted as a criminal in the US for having a child out-of-wedlock with his mistress. Oh, there's some funny money involved, but basically it's because he fooled around on his sainted wife. It helped that she was dying of cancer at the time. Nevermind that she apparently was a shrew, poor guy, what was he supposed to do to relieve his stress? Remember Bill Clinton's impeachment? Same deal.
Contrast that with how Canadians handle such peccadillos. Pierre Trudeau fathered a child outside the marriage bed. He was 73 at the time. What did Canadians do? Took it in stride, discreetly congratulated him and moved on. The woman with whom he had this particular affair (one of many) was a top-notch constitutional legal expert with whom he was working during the Meech Lake "crisis", Deborah Coyne. She also happened to be the niece of former Bank of Canada governor, the late James Coyne. Trudeau admitted paternity of Sarah Elizabeth with pride, took pains to look after this daughter financially and there they were, mother and daughter, seated prominently at his funeral.
That's the way Canadians react, reasonably and sensibly. Americans remain deeply puritanical.
Money is another way in which we differ. Americans have "In God We Trust" stamped on their currency, equating money with The Almighty; Canadians honour the Queen, not God, on most of our coinage.
Trudeau was an astonishing ladies' man. When Lester Pearson chose him as his successor as Liberal leader, whispers lurked that Trudeau was gay; he was quite effeminate, as you will recall. A back-room boy was tagged to discreetly ask him about the rumors. "Really," said Trudeau, "Leave me alone in a room with any wife of any minister for 15 minutes to find out."
You gotta love that one!
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Lets focus on the future of the declining Liberal Party of Canada. What did Trudeau do for that - my fellow Canadians - he crucified
ReplyDeleteJohn Napier Turner. The Liberals have no party
because they back-stab their own.
So Bob Rae would make every Conserative very Happy if he won the leadership - Justin Trudeau
would make them even happier.
WE need to focus on the future of this Country
and who of our young sons are willing to put their lives on the line to get out there and get involved.
Love all your articles, always great food for thought, thanks Nancy.
Barbara MacMahon
I was just commenting on how Canadians handled the birth of his daughter. Personally, I think Trudeau was the worst PM we have had, in terms of how he mis-handled the ecomony and that blasted Charter of Rights and Freedoms! What about responsibilities? No one seems to give a toss about that part of being a Canadian.
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