The prime minister did choke up and weep when he was paying tribute to “our buddy Gord,” the beloved singer who died late Tuesday of brain cancer. There was even some past footage of Downie himself choking back tears when he was honoured at an Indigenous ceremony. And grief — the only sadness that hasn’t been medicated or pathologized — is always an acceptable reason to shed private or public tears. Yet I’ll confess my reaction the first time I saw the footage of Justin Trudeau reacting to Downie’s death: I got nervous. Back to Trudeau, whose Liberal government has hit some major speed bumps of late with one stalled or failed policy promise after another.

Source: thestar October 19, 2017 18:11 UTC