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Justin Trudeau's "hard work" hustle
Anyone following the "messaging" of Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada may be feeling a little worn down by now. Every missive is a paean to the "middle class", usually with some "hope" thrown in. But by far the most insufferable are Trudeau's repeated and fatuous references to "hard work".
For those of us unfortunate enough to be on the Liberal Party's mailing list, we have: June 17, "with hope and hard work, I know we can make change happen"; May 1st, "we need to hit our fundraising targets and show that hope and hard work trumps cynicism and tired attacks"; April 17, "the leadership race is now behind us. And before us, much work to be done."
Those are only a few select examples. They are worth noting because although Trudeau could be considered an energetic person, he is not a hard worker. Instead, he might best be described as a hustler.
As an example, he hustled $20,000 a pop for speaking engagements, many to impoverished charities. Overall, he earned $277,000 in speaker's fees during his first four years as an MP. Most middle class Canadians could only dream of such easy coin. And most middle class Canadians would not accept a secondary obligation that would negatively affect their ability to do their jobs. But this is exactly what Trudeau did, continuing with the speaking business while also accepting his full salary as a member of Parliament, where his moonlighting obligations cut into his ability to do the real work that Canadians were paying for.
Clearly, his devotion to the public speaking hustle got in the way of any presumed "hard work": Trudeau has the fourth worst attendance record of all 308 federal MPs, having missed 221 out of 616 votes in Parliament since 2011. He didn't break any laws by accepting speaking fees, but he did reveal his true nature: Canadians are supposed to work hard for him so that he can pursue the noble task of hustling for himself. Bingo – two birds with one stone!
Many Canadians will recall how the NDP used to go on ad nauseam about "working Canadians" and "ordinary people", and to this day the Conservatives appear to recognize no other constituent other than the "taxpayer". But whatever one's political stripes, at least these clichés were a distillation of sorts of the parties' true values.
With Trudeau, this is simply not true, unless the Liberal Party's values have been reduced to the glorification of one man. A hustler doesn't deserve to benefit from the hard work of others, and never will.
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
Posted by TimothyEWilson at 15:35
Podcast: Notes From The Underground
In the podcast Notes From The Underground TE Wilson discusses historical and contemporary attitudes toward crime. Each episode features a one-on-one interview that explores a unique topic. Interviewees include authors, experts, and individuals with personal experiences of crime. These podcasts were originally broadcast through the facilities of Trent Radio in Peterborough, Canada.
Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel
Bicultural and transgender, detective Ernesto Sánchez seeks a missing Canadian woman on Mexico's Pacific coast. Moving uneasily in a world where benign tourism co-exists with extreme violence, he becomes a pawn in a shadowy power-play between corrupt police and drug cartels. Forced to make hard choices – desperate, wounded, and friendless – Sánchez takes refuge in the lawless mountains of Oaxaca. And discovers his fate.
Praise for Mezcalero:
"Wilson's Mezcalero is a real-pager turner…While the milieu of Wilson's novel is reminiscent of the hard-boiled tradition, his creation of P.I. Ernesto Sánchez is original, and helps Wilson push the boundaries with respect to genre. Sánchez is a hard-hitting private eye, but Wilson also depicts him as struggling with many of the issues that transgender individuals typically face; in this manner, Wilson creates both a riveting mystery and timely story about navigating life as a gender nonconforming individual."
Heather Duerre Humann, author of Gender Bending Detective Fiction: A Critical Analysis of Selected Works.
"Mezcalero is a remarkable read, with sustained suspense, surprise explosions of poetry and violence, and some new answers to old questions...Wilson understands something about violence and gender that I have never encountered before: that women's violence is perhaps the most feared. Sanchez's womanly violence in his manly body is a mystery revealed, a truth told that we suspected all along. This is a profoundly feminist book. The women in the book are the power brokers, the activators of action; even the most oppressed empleada is a container of her own complete power. Mezcalero is deftly plotted, and deploys an acrobatic narrative that is, frankly, exhilarating. Sanchez has a lot to teach us. Wilson, too."
Janette Platana, author of A Token of My Affliction (2015 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize; 2016 English Language Trilium Book Award finalist).
"T.E. Wilson's Mezcalero is, as a novel, a tacit consequence of the author's real-world work as a reporter/journalist in Mexico. His work is rich in essence, and rich in detail, of how widespread organized crime and corruption permeate Mexican society. Highly recommended. This is great, well-grounded fiction."
Dr. Edgardo Buscaglia, Senior Research Scholar in Law and Economics, Columbia University, and President of the Citizens' Action Institute (Instituto de Acción Ciudadana).
"T.E. Wilson has crafted a terrific, terrifying and yet sensationally witty portrait of modern Mexico. Detective Sánchez is irresistible. You won't soon forget his journey through that unpredictable jungle that is Mexico today."
León Krauze, Mexican journalist, author and news anchor.
You can order a paper copy here, and the Kindle edition here. To find out more, go to DetectiveSanchez.com.
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