Trudeau<\/span>\u00a0gently pushed back.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trudeau answers carbon tax question<\/strong>1:38<\/p>\n That\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0made it through two days in the public\u00a0realm without ruining his political career might suggest this sort of thing is relatively easy.<\/p>\n Trudeau gets an earful from veteran, chiefs, disabled participant in London, Ont.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n If 80 per cent of life is showing up, then\u00a0Trudeau<\/span>\u00a0no doubt won some points this week by merely being present in\u00a0Kingston,\u00a0Peterborough and<\/span>\u00a0London, Ont., and various points in between.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Justin Trudeau points to a member of the audience during a town hall meeting in Belleville, Ont., on Thursday. (Adrian Wyld\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n When you are being chased by concerns about $1,500-a-plate fundraising dinners<\/a> and vacations on private islands<\/a>, it makes obvious political sense to be seen communing with the general public.<\/p>\n Democratically, it seems a good idea that\u00a0a prime minister should regularly submit himself to questions from citizens in an open forum.<\/p>\n But it might also be the least that should be expected.<\/p>\n Better still would be if such forums actually improved the discussion of policy beyond its typically dull and partisan standards. And, on that count, it’s\u00a0too early to celebrate.<\/p>\n Only once was\u00a0Trudeau<\/span>\u00a0asked about his use of the Aga Khan’s helicopter<\/a>\u00a0during his Bahamian vacation. But that merely meant other topics \u2014 mortgage regulations, the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island, agriculture policy \u2014 were given a moment or two.<\/p>\n Some of the questions he faced were less than withering (adorable children, it turns out, do not generally come ready to closely scrutinize the prime minister’s record) and not many of the queries were sharply pointed.<\/p>\n \n ‘I should probably just say thank you and move on, but I will point out that \u2026 it’s not as brave as it seems to do this.’<\/span> But\u00a0the prime minister was still presented with several less-than-simple issues: the treatment of veterans, the costs associated with fighting climate change, the development of oil resources, deficit spending and\u00a0the small matter of Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n His government is still new enough that he can respond with a vow to keep working on a stated concern\u00a0or simply restate his commitment to do something. The Liberals have also not yet implemented so much policy that they’re particularly easy targets for complaint and blame \u2014 the economy, for instance,\u00a0is not yet obviously their fault.<\/p>\n But submitting himself to these forums now will at least make it noticeable if he becomes less willing to do so later.<\/p>\n Trudeau talks Canada and Trump administration<\/strong>1:25<\/p>\n As the prime minister reminded that woman in Kingston, he’s\u00a0been talking with members of the public since he was a child “being dragged across the country” by his father. He seems at ease in the company of strangers, picking questioners out of the crowd and then smiling slightly and nodding along as they say their piece.<\/p>\n Trudeau<\/span>\u00a0seems generally capable of getting through an hour of questions without saying anything unfortunate, though his comment about phasing out development of the\u00a0oilsands<\/span>\u00a0was an obvious wobble.<\/p>\n As\u00a0Trudeau<\/span>\u00a0also noted, staying attuned to public sentiment is in a government’s own interests.<\/p>\n And the public seemed interested in their own right. Crowds lined up to see him and anxious hands shot up every time the floor was opened for questions.<\/p>\n If the reception was also generally genial, the forums were all hosted in Liberal ridings in Ontario. A tour of rural Alberta might go differently.<\/p>\n Trudeau corrected on Phoenix misinformation<\/strong>3:45<\/p>\n In addition to the decisions a legislator or cabinet minister must take, a politician’s basic job is to listen and talk and they generally don’t lack for opportunities to do the latter.<\/p>\n How well they perform that function is debatable. Modern political rhetoric is generally based on simplicity and repetition: the\u00a0restating of short generalizations in order to drive one’s “message” to a distracted public, control the story and avoid unnecessary controversies.<\/p>\n All of that is understandable. But regular public forums might push the discussion beyond the patter. Politicians owe members of the public more deference than an opposition politician or a journalist. So why not take the opportunity to more fully engage with concerns and questions?<\/p>\n The prime minister is exceedingly capable of delivering his preferred message \u2014 quickly rounding on questions with familiar statements and assurances. There can be substance within those responses, but he can glide over matters of policy as opposed to diving in.<\/p>\n The specifics of a\u00a0question\u00a0about phasing out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry were ignored. A complaint about the federal deficit might have produced a discussion of the fiscal considerations rather than the restatement of the Liberal platform that the prime minister offered.<\/p>\n Trudeau<\/span>\u00a0has a defence of his decision to price carbon, but he doesn’t quite explain why such a policy makes sense. He could likely go further in explaining why it makes sense to continue developing the\u00a0oilsands<\/span>.<\/p>\n In time, the novelty of these forums should wear off. If such events become more routine, the ideal result might be a fuller debate.<\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/wherry-trudeau-town-halls-1.3934742?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the midst of questions about the export of military equipment, electoral reform, the treatment of veterans, the cost of pharmaceuticals and other matters, a middle-aged woman in Kingston, Ont., raised her hand, took the microphone and said she didn’t have a question. “Many of us are impatient for progress on issues that precede you,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-63270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"Trudeau](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/86bd1_trudeau-tour-20170112.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOne question about\u00a0the Aga Khan’s helicopter<\/h2>\n
\n – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
Born into this<\/h2>\n
How well do politicians talk?<\/h2>\n
\n