Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given the world yet another reason to feel leader-envy, after he dropped some epic truth bombs on the debate over whether Canada ought to be accepting Syrian refugees. As if we didn’t want him to come over here and take charge of parliament (and my bedroom) already. I mean have you seen how flexible he is?
Part of The Daily Show ‘s two-part look at Canada’s refugee policy, Trudeau is the star of the segment as he explains to correspondent Hasan Minhaj that Canada believes building an inclusive society for displaced Syrians is the only way to combat extremism. When asked what he has to say to those conservative voices who believe accepting refugees is a gateway to terrorism, he was clear that while mindful of the risks, he wasn’t about to let fear rule his policy.
“We live in a world where there are always risks and the question is, how much do we want to live in fear of those risks?” he asked adding that “the best counter to the kind of radicalization and marginalisation that we’ve seen in other parts of the world, is to create an inclusive society.”
Having welcomed more than 25,000 refugees into their country so far – way more than America or Australia – Canada is already off to a good start, with the fresh-faced and inspiring Trudeau leading them with hope instead of intimidation. Still he does lose some of that positive momentum when Minhaj brings up Nickelback and the PM describes them as “alright”.
If anything I’d say the band poses more of a threat to the world than any Syrian refugee.
Watch the whole segment for yourself here.
