Juno News - September 23, 2019Liberal MP downplays Trudeau's blackface
Episode Stats
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172.02132
Summary
Justin Trudeau has admitted that he used blackface in a costume. But what does that mean for his supporters and supporters in the Hamilton East Stoney Creek riding of his re-election campaign? Is that a good or bad thing?
Transcript
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Andrew Lawton here with True North. I'm outside the campaign office for re-election for Bob
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Retina in Hamilton East Stoney Creek. Now Bob Retina I ran into yesterday when Justin Trudeau
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was having a small rally in downtown Hamilton and I asked Retina what his constituents were saying
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about the Justin Trudeau blackface controversy. The photos that emerged of Trudeau dressing up as
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Aladdin, doing a little bit of a jig, doing Deo. We've seen the photos by now and here's what Bob
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Retina had to say. How are you hearing if at all from constituents about the news of the Prime
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Minister this past week and those past photos that emerged of him in blackface? It was mostly
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dismissed as a waste of everybody's time, something that happened 20 years ago and people really
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understood that this was not about mockery. It was an Arabian Nights costume and that's the end
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of it. So I have to honestly tell you the people that I've talked to don't even want to talk about
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it. They think it's so silly. The Prime Minister himself said it was racist though so is it fair
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to say it's no big deal? You asked me what my people told me and I told you. Now today Bob Retina
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is getting a bit of a boost from the central liberal campaign. Justin Trudeau is coming to town
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to knock on doors to go visit some business owners in Stony Creek but what's interesting is that Trudeau
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himself has acknowledged the episodes were racist. He used that exact word. He said that it was
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something he was ashamed of and embarrassed by and something that had a great deal of an impact.
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Now I recognize it was something racist to do. Whereas what his candidate and MP was saying here is
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that it's no big deal dismissing the controversy entirely. I as you know have been banned from
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covering all official liberal campaign events. This means that I'm basically just here and I don't
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know how much access I'll get to the goings-on of today if any at all. But I am going to ask Justin
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Trudeau does he think that what Bob Retina said about his constituents is an accurate reflection of
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how Canadians feel about this and more importantly should that be how Canadians feel? For True North,