Pulse of CanadaIs Trudeau showing favouritism for Quebec?
Just six weeks into his tenure as leader of the federal Liberals, Justin Trudeau is under fire for his stance on the ongoing Senate scandal.
Last week, Trudeau told Le Soleil that he was opposed to Senate abolition because it benefits la belle province.
"We have 24 senators in Quebec and there are only six for Alberta and British Columbia," Trudeau said. "That's to our advantage. To want to abolish it, that's demagoguery. It has to be improved."
Of the 105 seats in the Senate, 24 are distributed to Ontario and Quebec. Alberta, B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan have six senators each.
[ Yahoo! special section: Senate under siege ]
Heritage Minister James Moore wasted little time in attacking the rookie leader, accusing Trudeau of being "tone deaf to western Canadians."
"This isn't the first time he has insulted the West, and it won't be the last," he said.
Trudeau later explained his comments, making no apologies for pointing out the Senate's benefit for his home province:
I'm looking out for the interests of all Canadians, there's no question about that, but I'm not going to make apologies for being very serious about protecting minorities in this country, whether they be linguistic minorities like anglophones in Quebec or francophones outside of Quebec, or even Quebec as a province.
It suddenly makes the recent Tory attack ad appear to ring true, in which Trudeau is quoted as saying "Quebecers are better than the rest of Canada, because, you know, we're Quebecers."
Has Trudeau gone too far? Does it concern you if the Liberal leader shows favouritism for Quebec?
Share your thoughts in the comments area below.
