Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau

[waldo]

For those who think that a pm's spouse is such an important position, are you saying that single people should be excluded from ever being prime minister? How about people who are divorced or are widowed?

Being a spouse to a pm shouldn't matter because it's the only way to ensure that marital status has nothing to do with the position.

But then again, we have a government that greatly hates merit and is all about birth right and identity politics. So if they thought that being married was a 'qualification', it wouldn't surprise me.

sorry to buzz-kill your rant... why just follow the U.S. law lead... I do believe we've been apprised of it as, "U.S. Public Law 95-570 (1978)"

"If the President Prime Minister does not have a spouse, such assistance and services may be provided for such purposes to a member of the President's Prime Minister's family whom the President Prime Minister designates"

easy-peasy

.

[-1=e^ipi]

So because the US has a dumb law, Canada should also implement a dumb law?

[bush_cheney2004]

So because the US has a dumb law, Canada should also implement a dumb law?

The U.S. made a legislative decision on the matter....some Canadians just prefer to point at the U.S. and enjoy another neurotic moment for domestic political reasons. At least the ones who say "Hell NO!" regardless of party are being consistent and resist the usual cross border indentity crisis.

[waldo]

well... you could be literal-to-the-bone, or you could infer from my statement that there are obvious options to your narrow-skewed focus on the word "spouse"

.

[scribblet]

Laureen Harper.

Laureen Harper did not have nannies and they did hire babysitters when needed.

[BubberMiley]

Laureen Harper did not have nannies and they did hire babysitters when needed.

And you know this how?

[msj]

And you know this how?

Didn't you know?

Scribblet was the babysitter.

She did it for "free" yet somehow managed to get the Universal Child Care Benefit passed into law.

She never was registered as a lobbyist.

Huge scandal many years ago.

[Argus]

I would be fine with that if she were doing public partisan events

She is doing PR work for the natural governing party.

[Argus]

I think Rona could stop flipping flapjacks and do some babysitting for the Trudeaus.... She'll be doing something useful.

Suggesting being leader of the opposition is not useful, because, of course, to Liberals, there should BE no opposition.

[GostHacked]

Suggesting being leader of the opposition is not useful, because, of course, to Liberals, there should BE no opposition.

And only a few months ago we were saying the same things about the Conservatives under Harper's leadership.

[Smallc]

There it is. The crux of it all.

For me, it's not about partisanship. As a matter of course, we give the PMs wife an assistant. That means we expect something, obviously. I'm not asking for a first lady type arrangement, but, why not formalize what we already do informally?

[Smallc]

For those who think that a pm's spouse is such an important position, are you saying that single people should be excluded from ever being prime minister? How about people who are divorced or are widowed?

Why would that exclude them?

[Smallc]

Laureen Harper did not have nannies and they did hire babysitters when needed.

She did have one assistant.

[Smallc]

She is doing PR work for the natural governing party.

Or, for the Government of Canada.

[BC_chick]

For me, it's not about partisanship. As a matter of course, we give the PMs wife an assistant. That means we expect something, obviously. I'm not asking for a first lady type arrangement, but, why not formalize what we already do informally?

The whole idea of First Lady is antiquated and sexist. What is the great achievement of Sophie or Laureen? That they married really really well so we should reward their 'massive achievement'?

Seriously, the PM's wife does nothing.

[Smallc]

Seriously, the PM's wife does nothing.

And yet, as a matter of course, we hire an assistant, meaning we must expect something.

[BC_chick]

And yet, as a matter of course, we hire an assistant, meaning we must expect something.

If you agree, even if part, with the notion that the PM's spouse does nothing then the answer is not to increase the assistants, but to scrap them all together. (I say spouse because you and I both know it'd be different if the PM was a woman).

I get the chauffeur/cook/cleaner could be justified as part of the PM's job, and to an extent his/her spouse, but tell me one reason why we would provide an assistant or nanny for the PM's wife? Yet alone four.

[BC_chick]

If Sophie was PM and Justin needed four assistants and nannies, we'd be in an uproar. That pretty much sums up the sexism involved.

[The_Squid]

If Sophie was PM and Justin needed four assistants and nannies, we'd be in an uproar. That pretty much sums up the sexism involved.

Conservatives would be in an uproar about anything that happened with a Liberal PM...

Most people wouldn't care... I think it's an speculation/exaggeration to say that the reverse would lead to some sort of sexism.

[-1=e^ipi]

If Sophie was PM and Justin needed four assistants and nannies, we'd be in an uproar. That pretty much sums up the sexism involved.

Yep.

A lot of chivalry going on here. Poor delicate incapable Sophie needs us to cater to her every whim.

[Topaz]

Two items, IF mothers should have "family first" then there would be no female MPs and even the Rona, the present leader of the Tories has kids and secondly, not many of u were around when the Mulroney's were in office and the cost to taxpayers back then?

[The_Squid]

Two items, IF mothers should have "family first" then there would be no female MPs and even the Rona, the present leader of the Tories has kids and secondly, not many of u were around when the Mulroney's were in office and the cost to taxpayers back then?

Did anyone complain about Mrs. Mulroney's household staff? This whole "fiasco" seems rather petty.

[Smallc]

Did anyone complain about Mrs. Mulroney's household staff? This whole "fiasco" seems rather petty.

As are many of the attacks on either Trudeau. I don't agree with everything Justin has proposed, but, it's hard to attack him with much substance, it seems.

[Smallc]

Neil Macdonald:

-----

In Canada, we look at tall poppies and cluck and disapprove and fervently hope somebody takes them down a peg or two. Who do they think they are, anyway?

---

Her cause is women's empowerment, with a corollary of bulimia and eating disorders, something she herself once overcame.

She talks about her personal problems, and she breaks into song in public, and appears in Vogue doing that forehead-touching thing with her husband.

This drives conservatives nuts, but it made her a sensation in America. First lady Michelle Obama pronounced her a "soulmate."

---

The Prime Minister's Office says she gets 50 to 60 requests a week to appear at some worthy event or other: speak at our commencement, act as our patron, speak at our fundraiser, use your blazing fame to help us….please.

And she does. She tries to answer all the invitations with a yes or a no, because it is simply not possible to accept them all.

She tries to make speeches that don't mail it in, and if you've ever made a speech, you know the time and effort that takes.

Her work requires flying around, which can be exhausting, and staying in hotels, which gets old really fast.

---

"It was almost like being in a cabinet minister's office, in terms of workload and requests from the public," says Bonnie Brownlee, who for years was Mila Mulroney's majordomo and now works for the CBC.

"I can't think of an ethnic festival we didn't attend. Graduating classes, lots of medical stuff, 4-H clubs, women's associations, just everything you can imagine. The amount of correspondence alone was incredible."

And, like Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Mila Mulroney never made a cent from it: "It's kind of a public mission," says Brownlee, who, incidentally, thinks Grégoire Trudeau is doing a crackerjack job and wishes her well.

Brownlee thinks Grégoire Trudeau has a remarkable opportunity to make a difference: "It's contribution to public service. It's volunteerism."

And she's doing it. Good for her. If she needs a few more staff, fine. It's at least as good a use for public money as, say, the business of the Senate.

-----

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sophie-gregoire-trudeau-staff-1.3581071

I think that sums it up pretty well. This is another petty jealous attack by petty jealous conservatives, bitter over their defeat by 'boy wonder', and petty jealous members of the NDP, who's place at the bottom of the heap Trudeau has now long guaranteed.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Smallc

[bush_cheney2004]

Here are the usual cross border neurotic parts from the CBC/Neil McDonald "analysis":

...Tall poppies stick out because they're really smart, or really rich, or talented and famous, or, as Derek Zoolander would put it, "really really really good looking."

In the United States, people love tall poppies. The average American looks at a tall poppy and says: "I want to be like that."

In Canada, we look at tall poppies and cluck and disapprove and fervently hope somebody takes them down a peg or two. Who do they think they are, anyway?

....She talks about her personal problems, and she breaks into song in public, and appears in Vogue doing that forehead-touching thing with her husband. {Vogue is an American fashion magazine}

...This drives conservatives nuts, but it made her a sensation in America. First lady Michelle Obama pronounced her a "soulmate." (Being a sensation in America is also frowned on by a segment of Canadians.)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sophie-gregoire-trudeau-staff-1.3581071

Edited May 14, 2016 by bush_cheney2004