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A bad day for political correctness

Editorial

What will Pamela Goldsmith-Jones say?

Our Liberal champions of political correctness took a direct hit this week when their star performer forgot his programming and broke just about every rule in the PC handbook.

What did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau do in Parliament on Wednesday that made international headlines and sprung the term “Elbowgate” on the world? Video from the House of Commons shows Trudeau striding imperiously toward a bottleneck of MPs, but after that the evidence is a little sketchy. However, based on various MPs’ accounts and the PM’s own “unreserved” apologies following the incident, it appears that Canada’s prime minister lost his cool with opposition MPs and became the epitome of the “angry white male.” He used abusive language (the F word), got physical to the extent of grabbing hold of an MP and, in his recklessness, elbowed a woman MP in the chest.

It’s exactly the kind of behaviour that Liberals, including our very liberal national media, would call unacceptable under any circumstances – if it had been displayed by any other man in the country. In the PC world, intentionality is the not the issue; the anger itself was damning enough. The victims now must be considered. Off with his head.

That’s political correctness – and Trudeau, since his election, has acted as its poster boy. He’s a staunch feminist (“because it’s 2016”). He’s ultra-multicultural. He’s adamant about protecting transgender people from any form of discrimination by uncaring Canadians, who sometimes need new laws to make them act suitably nice. He’s also very good at apologizing, which in this case is fortunate.

Clearly Trudeau was shaken by his conduct Wednesday and appeared torn up with remorse. We wouldn’t be surprised if he enrolled in an anger management class and used this little misstep as a teachable moment.

Unwittingly, he’s demonstrated how bendable and selective political correctness really is – especially when applied to its strongest enforcers.