Facebook post about new Trudeau cabinet goes viral

A B.C. writer’s Facebook post about Canada’s new cabinet is gaining attention all around the world.

“For once, Canadians are proud (and perhaps even a little bit smug),” Alana Phillips of Victoria posted on Wednesday night.

That status update, which pointed out, “Our prime minister is a sci-fi geek … Our minister of defence is a badass war hero, Afghanistan combat vet, and police officer … Half of our ministers are women … One of our ministers is openly ginger,” has been shared more than 27,000 times.

Her post was retweeted by TV host George Stroumboulopoulos and was even picked up by an Australian outlet, Stars on Sixty, which compared Phillips’ list to their own cabinet.

“People seem to like my analysis of the new Canadian cabinet ministers,” she wrote just two hours after she posted the initial status after it had already begun to pick up steam.

On Thursday, Phillips offered a “frequently asked questions” post where she admitted she did get a couple of things wrong — “If I’d known it was going to go viral, I would have done more fact-checking” — and also noted she is a science writer and editor with a background in marine mammal conservation who is currently looking for work.

At about the same time, a similar list written by Emily Walsh of Conception Bay, N.L., also took off with more than 19,000 shares. Walsh wrote on Facebook she was surprised by how quickly her message had spread from beyond her friends.

“Social media can be great sometimes and, in this case, it’s sharing something that I think is a very positive message about the political state of Canada and I am very happy about that,” Walsh wrote.

Another woman who had her open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau go viral in the days following the Oct. 19 election, posted a status late Thursday saying while the past few days since Trudeau and his cabinet were sworn have been exciting, we all need to take a collective breath.

Casandra Effe’s letter to Trudeau had a Top 10 list of priorities for the new prime minister, which included “support science,” “listen and communicate in real ways,” and “Bill C-51. Fix that thing. That’s like a bad sci-fi movie happening in real life.”

Trudeau responded to her letter on Facebook, saying, “Your honesty and frank words have resonated across the country, and I take them to heart … I hope you’ll stay as engaged as you are now throughout the process — and feel free to send me another Top 10 some time down the road!”

On Thursday, Effe, who lives in British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, wrote she normally stays away from posting about politics, “but I find myself emotionally involved in my country right now. We’re clearly pretty excited here. Two days in and we’re seeing more positive change than in the past 10 years combined.”

But she warned putting Trudeau on a pedestal won’t do anyone any good.

“Justin, I want so much to believe this moment is all we ever wanted Canada to be, and it’s feeling good so far,” she wrote, but said someone needs to have “cajones” big enough to stand up to corporations and do what’s right for the country and its citizens. “People first. Go Justin go. Be that guy.”