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Published : 19 Jan 2017, 08:11 AM
Images speak a million words, perhaps more! So, when the picture of Canada's sunshine PM Justin Trudeau receiving refugees was posted all over the global social media platforms, the common caption that instantly came to mind:
Warm welcome in a cold country by a cool Prime Minister.
Canada is among the few countries which unhesitatingly opened up her doors to the suffering masses fleeing persecution, war and human rights abuses in major conflict zones and trouble spots.
And, in doing just that, Canada and Trudeau are elevated to an exalted position.
Fact is, currently, one without the other is hardly a topic of conversation.
Of course, there are other factors which have made him a well-known statesman.
By the way, how many non-Canadians can name his predecessor?
The reason I can recall is because the other guy shared the last name with a famous magazine.
The thing is, I personally feel, whenever there is someone young at the helm of a country, the world sits up to take notice. By young I mean between 45 and 55 because for obvious reasons, a country's leader below that age would never be taken seriously.
Trudeau has the perfect age, the period in life when men are supposed to be at the height of their appeal. Call this the JFK impact if you will, but admit it or not, the JFK defined template of a charming premier, winning the world has never gone out of fashion.
Subconsciously, we like to see lean, athletic presidents just the way we want to see the winner of a beauty pageant to be intelligent, but above all, stunningly attractive.
So what is the mystery behind the charm of this Canadian which has made him a sort of political icon around the globe?
Yes, I know he is gorgeous! It's a fact, for millions, looks do matter, but if fifty per cent is about appearance then the other half depends on what one has done to deserve plaudits from all quarters.
JFK still intrigues but less for his statesmanship and more for his murkier sides. Who he slept with is more appealing than how he averted WW3 over the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Nicolas Sarkozy also had looks and suavity but never won hearts outside France.
Trudeau spoke, speaks and smiles progressive ideals and that's what the world, especially the current day young people with strong sense of right and wrong want to hear.
When asked why he chose people from such diverse backgrounds in his cabinet, Trudeau possibly gave the answer which made sense to someone as far as Togo: "because it's 2015."
In that simple line, he encapsulated all the complex rhetoric which many other politicians resort to in sending across a message of constructive change.
Trudeau has given a new liberal Canada to the world – not just a cold country were shrewd people from developing nations can migrate to get a passport.
A decade ago, the common line which I heard in Dhaka and among desperate Bangladeshi students living in the USA was: let's go to Canada, struggle a few years, get the passport and then go back to Bangladesh or, try to find work in some other country.
To be blunt: no one wanted to stay on Canada because their perception of the place was bleak. The oft repeated refrain: what is there to do in Canada?
The sole attraction was the passport. The same line was uttered by my in-laws who are now so Canadian in thought that they would not think of settling anywhere else.
"It's the place where we do not feel like migrants anymore," many Bangladeshis now tell me.
In the early part of the millennium, a young businessman went to Canada and, soon after, when I went for a visit, found that despite having employment and a home, there was almost an imperceptible tinge of grievance in his voice.
"It's just not like your own country." He once said after some persuasion.
But recently I heard him talk in a different tone.
He sounded unmistakably upbeat!
The immigration officer at Lester Pearson Airport in Toronto stamped his passport when he entered Canada after a holiday in Bangladesh with the lines: welcome back home!
Again, a simple line but with a world of meaning in it!
Trudeau has revived the dream of an integrated country where migrants are not ghettoized. In other countries, failure to assimilate has been termed by many including a former British PM as the sign of floundering multiculturalism.
In countries where migrant communities faced difficulty in mixing with the mainstream society, the blame has mostly been given to the visitors, though the question, if that particular country made enough efforts to make immigrants feel at home, was never thoroughly dissected.
The other day I was talking to a group of Canadian Bangladeshis and they said that since Canada was never an imperialist country, blending in with the masses is easier because, in most cases, the charade of genteel outside behavior concealing an inherent ensconced notion of superiority is not pursued.
Does that make sense?
Well, let's look at it this way: X went and occupied the farming land of Y and then made the latter work as a subject for a long time, taking away most of the proceeds of the farm work. Then, at one point, with profits soaring, X decided that since enough wealth has been made through Y, it's now time to practice ethical behavior and grant him his freedom.
So, Y is no longer a dominated force, but since X has prospered beyond imagination, Y would like to go to X's estate and stay there, work, enjoy better facilities, expecting to be treated as equals.
Would X feel that since brazenly occupying and exploiting land belonging to others is now outdated, Y can be treated as one of 'us'?
Almost all Canadian Asians I have talked to have made positive remarks about this new look compassionate Canada where talent, irrespective of the roots, can be appreciated.
Yes, the subtle complexities (defects) of the corporate world dominate the employment sector in Canada too but in the last five years, more and more Bangladeshis who moved to Canada have said, chances for them to find work have improved.
Trudeau's Canada has to ensure that in employment, skills are given the preference and not only references.
Immigrants are more or less happy but they still feel that building a network first, spending a considerable (read painful) period of time should not be the main pre-requisite for someone to land an employment or, be called for an interview.
Talking about the Trudeau ideals, one has to go back to the no-nonsense lines of progressive values which he underlines now and then.
Asian Canadians have distinctly said that under the current regime they feel more comfortable.
Rationally speaking, all those countless praising the young PM can't be on his party's payroll.
With all the positives going gung ho for Justin Trudeau, is it right to say this is the perfect place to go and make a home?
Well, practically speaking, the world is not made to be flawless; against millions of liberal open-minded people there will be thousands who will harbor parochial outlooks, refusing to compromise their insular view-points.
Against the countless teachers in the Canadian education system who strive to give the best to the eclectic bunch of pupils in their respective institutions, there will be some on the road who will look askance at the foreigner or, the veiled woman.
This much we need to accept.
The fact is, those who once looked at Canada as just a place to get a passport from a first world nation, have radically transformed their understanding of the country.
The credit for this positive image goes to the young PM who has rarely shifted from his liberal stance.
This non malevolent attitude came out once more recently when, after the death of Cuban revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, Trudeau called him a 'larger than life leader who served his people.'
For this he drew flak and the statement was deemed 'repugnant' by Canadian MP Maxime Bernier.
But by endorsing and honouring Fidel Castro, Trudeau not only presented himself as a non-bigoted person but also as a politician capable of acknowledging a world leader who inspired millions in third world countries to either topple dictators or unite against despots.
Many of the descendants of those who protested such autocratic arbitrariness in developing nations now form the bulk of his young Canadians – undoubtedly shaping the core vision of a more equal Canada in the future.
Fidel Castro could not make Cuba into a paradise, but he did not ruin it into a state of dysfunction either.
Most importantly, Cubans did not infiltrate other nations in the name of restoring human rights, eventually leaving the country in shambles and in conflict.
Trudeau, being human, will possibly make mistakes, but hopefully, he will not plunge into the abyss like Tony Blair.
Blair was once the messiah who became the evil wizard, finally turning into a war criminal surviving now on his vacuous rhetoric.
From a prophet of change to a global pariah.
We hope Trudeau won't end up in such ignominy, driven into a gross mistake superbly coated with the veneer of ethics by his neighbour.
If he keeps Canada just as he has been projecting himself, this will stand out to be the one true country for immigrants and the persecuted.
I always said, a guy who can balance his whole body on a table and smile can never be wicked…and he admitted to smoking some joints earlier in his life too.
Well, what can you say. Do you love him or do you love him?
Keep this up…and the world may soon want more Trudeau.
