After days of awkward moments, missed events and lost opportunities, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to India to the G20 summit mercifully came to an end..Except it didn’t..To add insult to injury, the political gods decided to have the Trudeau’s plane breaking down to leave him stranded in India for two more days..If years of Trudeau’s inept diplomacy weren’t enough to convince the world of Canada’s irrelevance on the world stage, the inability to get the prime minister back to Canada drove the point home..No, Trudeau isn’t personally responsible for the upkeep of airplanes but the confusion caused when the plane broke down showed how Canada isn’t a nation to be taken seriously..How many developed nations would find themselves utterly crippled for days trying to find alternative transportation for their leader in the event of a malfunction?.Trudeau has long had a cold relationship with India’s Prime Minister Modi..He was snubbed by Modi during his catastrophic 2018 trip to India where he made international headlines with his ridiculous dress-up games and got a frosty reception from Modi during this latest trip..After much arm bending, Trudeau managed to get a 10-minute, informal pull aside meeting with Modi. He then used that time to lecture Modi on foreign interference. In other words, he wasted Modi’s time on an issue that isn’t pressing to him..For a reason yet to be disclosed, Canada had just paused trade negotiations with India. Giving India a figurative middle finger just days before a world summit didn’t exactly warm the waters before Trudeau’s visit..Modi had many extended and private meetings with leaders from other countries during the summit. They discussed important trade and global affairs issues. India is a huge and growing economy. Nations are eager to develop relationships with India. Aside from Trudeau that is, who seems to go out of his way to antagonize them..Still, even if Trudeau didn’t manage to make any progress with India on the trip, he had some important interactions with the leaders of other nations at the summit right?.Nope. Aside from some photo ops with other leaders including an awkward one where it appears President Biden is chewing him out, Trudeau doesn’t appear to have had any formal meetings with them..The press were curious and blunt in asking Trudeau what he accomplished during the summit..Trudeau stammered and offered a word salad about gender inclusion. While the gender pronoun issue is burning red hot among activists and left leaning Canadian press outlets, it doesn’t even register on the list of items to be considered by serious world leaders..World leaders don’t take Trudeau seriously and by extension they don’t take Canada seriously..Canada used to pride itself as a nation that punches above its weight on the international stage..Past prime ministers performed diplomatic wonders at summits, our military was respected as a peacekeeper and our resources both human and natural were high in demand. In eight years, Justin Trudeau has wiped out that international goodwill on all fronts..Trudeau can’t leave the country without embarrassing himself (and us)..From being chided by the Australian prime minister when he tried to turn discussions to his socks, to his awkward attempt at a three-way handshake in Washington, to his improv karaoke party during Queen Elizabeth’s funeral to his hot mic moment when he was caught tittering like a school boy and gossiping about then President Trump, Trudeau has consistently proven he doesn’t have the depth of intellect or character to be a player on the world stage..Who can forget Xi Jinping chewing out Trudeau on the floor of a conference last spring or Trudeau standing on the outside looking in as leaders conferred during a recent G7 summit?.Serious world leaders won’t dedicate time to Trudeau beyond quick poses for pictures and it shows he is incapable of lining up meetings with them. This is harming Canada as we need international relationships to continue supplying our resources in a competitive global environment..Canada needs a leader with depth and gravitas on the world stage..Whenever Justin Trudeau’s term as prime minister finally ends, Canada will have a mountain of damage to repair. The domestic economic mess created by Trudeau will take decades to undo, while the international damage he did to Canada’s reputation may take generations to get over..Once upon a time, people made a point of proudly displaying a Canadian flag when traveling overseas..Now, they are more likely to keep subdued about where they come from lest they find themselves answering embarrassing questions on how the nation allowed itself to be governed by a fool for so long.
