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Trudeau A Laughingstock Over ‘Peoplekind’ Remarks

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has created another international moment of mockery over his politically-correct language.

Trudeau, recoiling from global disdain, is claiming Wednesday it was just a “dumb joke” when he advocated use of the word “peoplekind” instead of mankind

When Trudeau told a woman at a town hall meeting in Nanaimo, B.C.  “we like to say peoplekind, not necessarily mankind: it’s more inclusive” the reaction wasn’t immediately scornful: in fact the crowd cheered.

But the remark brewed over the weekend as it was first discovered and then shared on social media and by Tuesday, the U.S. media had discovered it. “Fox & Friends” devoted a segment to the exchange, with special guest Prof. Jordan Peterson saying Trudeau had embarrassed Canada: “That indicates precisely the way he thinks, and I don’t think he does think. I think he runs an ideology in his head and accepts the output without question,” Peterson said. “And I think we’re really going to pay for it in Canada, in ways that we can’t yet imagine.”

That wasn’t the end of the bad publicity. Piers Morgan dismissed Trudeau as a “Chief PC Plonker,” while in Australia, opinion writer Rita Panahi referred to Trudeau as the “Kim Kardashian of political leaders; an all-style, no-substance himbo with all the depth of a puddle.”

Some Canadian media are going out of their way to excuse the prime minister. A Canadian Press report notes how Trudeau “interjected cheerfully” into the woman’s question — but does not mention that the woman was calling Trudeau to task for demanding that pro-life groups endorse the Liberal government’s abortion policies if those groups want federal Canada Jobs funding. The report suggests that Trudeau’s correction was “warmly received” by the questioner.

The Toronto Sun was less forgiving, editorializing “Trudeau’s gaffes are no joke.”

Trudeau, apparently taken aback by the bad publicity just as he begins a trip to the U.S., is now saying the whole episode was indeed a big joke.

“You all know that I don’t necessarily have the best of track records on jokes. I made a dumb joke a few days ago that seems to have gone a little viral… on the ‘peoplekind’ comment,” Trudeau told reporters as he exited the regular Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill Wednesday.

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