Shortly before the end of his visit to New York this week to attend the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped by The New York Times for a meeting with editors and reporters hosted by A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher.
The roughly hourlong conversation, of course, was dominated by a discussion of Mr. Trudeau’s startling allegation that the government of India was connected to the assassination of a Sikh nationalist near a temple in Surrey, British Columbia. (Our coverage of that story is below.)
But Mr. Trudeau took questions on a wide array of subjects. Here are some highlights, edited for length and clarity.
On whether allies are being supportive on the India allegation:
Every ally I have spoken to, bar none, has been unequivocal that this sort of violation of a country’s sovereignty and of the rule of law is absolutely unacceptable. I think people are quietly waiting to see how things unfold. But standing up for the rule of law isn’t a momentary thing. It’s a process that happens over weeks and months.
As this unfolds, we will just simply follow the facts as they continue to be laid out.
On what would be the most fitting resolution to the situation:
A number of people thrown in jail, convicted. A series of lessons learned and changes made to the way the Indian government and the intelligence services operate.
On the mood of Canadians and voters in other Western nations:
It really sucks right now. Like, everything sucks for people, even in Canada. We’re supposed to be polite and nice, but, man, people are mad.
People are mad at governments because things aren’t going all that well and people are worried. So, yeah, it’s a tough time.
We know things are going to start getting better. Inflation is coming down. We think interest rates are going to start coming down probably middle of next year. We’re launching massive housing investments. Hopefully, people are going to start seeing things get better.
On the political consequences of that mood:
People are anxious because that promise of progress no longer seems to hold. A sense of optimism is gone right now — or it’s at least really strained. There are challenges that people are facing that are undermining our sense that our institutions, that our democracies are actually functioning well.
They’re falling into the trap that there are simple, easy answers that fit on a bumper sticker or in a TikTok video for any and all of these questions. And that’s where the populism comes through and the anti-enlightenment mistrust of experts and facts and science that is running rampant in aggressively populist circles. But it is a very compelling narrative to turn to. When you can’t put food on the table, when you’re scared to walk down the street, you’re more likely to vote for a strongman that says, ‘Everything’s going to be OK, even if I’m going to take away some of your freedoms or some of your rights.’
That’s the thing that worries me.
The way to…
2023-09-23 05:00:02
Source from www.nytimes.com
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