This week we have excerpts from an interview with Justin Trudeau. It’s just not my interview with Justin Trudeau.
I got a call a few weeks ago from Justin Ling, one of the country’s foremost freelance journalists. He’s written for all the big publications. His 2020 book Missing from the Village was a fascinating investigation of a serial killer — I interviewed Ling about that work here. He’s got his own Substack. He’s always up to something interesting.
Ling was finishing a profile of Justin Trudeau for The Walrus magazine, on the general theme of government in a time of collapsing trust. That interview should go live on The Walrus’s website at this link soon after this podcast post goes live. Ling had interviewed the prime minister as part of the article. He had audio from the interview. Did I want it?
I sure did. Interviews with all prime ministers, current and aspiring, are part of this podcast’s mandate. I interviewed Trudeau every year from 2012 to 2018 and not since, but I don’t mind. I’ll interview him again any time he wants. I interviewed every leader of the Conservative Party of Canada before the current one, but I don’t mind. I’ll interview this one any time he wants. Meanwhile, here’s a leading journalist interviewing the prime minister. I suspect you’ll be curious to hear that, unless you’re one of the growing number of people who theatrically don’t want to hear a word from that man’s mouth, in which case, come back next week for an interview with someone else!
Justin L. found Justin T. in a scrappy mood, eager to defend himself, confident that he is providing better government than you’d suspect given the coverage it’s getting. A surprisingly edgy Trudeau at times; his answers on electoral reform, which came early in the interview, were particularly combative.
