Two Thoughts On Justin Trudeau’s Appearance at the Last Tragically Hip Show

1). Judging by the audience shots, Trudeau was apparently the youngest-looking person there. [snark mark]

2). Gord Downie’s between-song orations included at least two fairly lengthy comments about Canadian Aboriginals. One was about the once-canceled investigation into the deaths of numerous Aboriginal women, the other about the difficulties facing Aboriginals in Northern communities. Both of these comments included encouraging sentiments about the Trudeau administration’s policies. A few interpretations of these Downie comments are possible:

A). Downie was attempting to raise awareness of these issues on this national broadcast.

B). Downie sought to express genuine praise for the Trudeau administration.

C). The subtext of Downie’s comments might be thought to imply something along the lines of "the treatment of Canada’s Aboriginal population is a national disgrace and in need of very serious attention." In other words, Downie might be thought to have been resorting to the venerable Catholic practice of shaming another party (the Trudeau administration) into good behavior (following through with some of its election promises).

This last view is expressed, though more diplomatically, in Tania Kohut’s article about Trudeau’s appearance at the concert: “While Downie’s words were of praise, they also posed a challenge of sorts to the prime minister on a very public stage.”

Source:
Tania Kohut, “The Tragically Hip invited Justin Trudeau to Kingston concert,” Global News. August 23, 2016.
http://globalnews.ca/news/2896289/the-tragically-hip-invited-justin-trudeau-to-kingston-concert-pmo/

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