Wildly popular among liberal Americans, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wowed the crowd at a women’s summit in New York on Thursday, drawing cheer after cheer for his pro-feminist politics.
In a city bitterly opposed to President Donald Trump, appalled by Republican attempts to roll back women’s health care, restrict immigration and review climate reform, he represents everything Democrats feel they have lost in Barack Obama.
The audience at the eighth annual Women in the World Summit, organized by the British-born journalist Tina Brown, treated him to a rock-star reception, loudly applauding his almost every answer.
It was a stark contrast to the often hostile reception Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, received at the same forum late Wednesday, when she found herself jeered and heckled.
Sitting on stage in conversation with Brown, his white shirt sleeves rolled up and wearing a pink tie, Trudeau repeatedly stressed the importance of women taking on more prominent roles in politics and business.
The self-declared feminist won cheers for his gender-balanced cabinet, condemnation of the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria and his country’s welcome of Syrian refugees — from a crowd already converted to his brand of politics.
But with liberal Americans looking longingly north of the border at Canada’s universal healthcare, gun control, paid maternity leave and open attitude toward refugees, Trudeau sounded a note of caution.
“Canada’s not a magical place that is some sort of unicorn,” the telegenic 45-year-old said to laughter.
“We had a very divisive election campaign in the last election that featured snitch lines for Muslim crimes,” he added. “It featured extremely divisive narratives and ruthless, brutal personal attack ads.”
“We have the same kinds of questions and divisions within our community as any other one, we’ve just been able to pull together in a way that understands that we do succeed better when we all succeed,” he said.
“It didn’t happen by accident and it won’t continue without effort. It takes a lot of deliberate, positive leadership.”
As if there were any doubt about Trudeau’s reception, Brown later tweeted a photograph of the two together, calling the Canadian leader “fabulous,” adding: “He wowed the audience!”
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.