{"id":70599,"date":"2016-02-13T09:44:26","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T14:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=70599"},"modified":"2016-02-13T09:44:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T14:44:26","slug":"is-a-hot-dog-a-sandwich-trudeau-embraces-arbitrary-100-day-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/02\/13\/is-a-hot-dog-a-sandwich-trudeau-embraces-arbitrary-100-day-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"“Is a hot dog a sandwich?” Trudeau embraces arbitrary 100 day anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo<\/a>
(Photo courtesy of PM Trudeau’s official Instagram account<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA\u2014Ever since Napoleon’s 100-day second coming ended with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, politics watchers have been consumed with 100-day increments in the lives of new governments.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt made it an American political standard with his Depression-era burst of activity in 1933 and John F. Kennedy cemented the modern television-era brand in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government embraced the arbitrary anniversary with gusto Friday, adding a slick social media twist that included a day-by-day multimedia montage\u2014think Stephen Harper’s much-maligned 24 Seven vanity videos on steroids\u2014and the 44-year-old prime minister responding to questions on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Trudeau also used his Instagram account to post a short video blurb marking the occasion, along with a series of photos\u2014Including a movingly candid shot of Jane Philpott when Trudeau first asked her to be his health minister.<\/p>\n

The Liberal 100-day retrospective has actually been going on for a couple of weeks, with some media outlets choosing to measure from the Oct. 19 federal election rather than the more official government swearing-in date of Nov. 4.<\/p>\n

But lest this be mistaken as a solely media-driven project, it’s worth noting the Liberals’ own transition books set out a specific list of measures that were to be completed within the government’s first 100 days in office.<\/p>\n

The party has also been using the threshold as a fundraising motif, and Trudeau has also been touting the anniversary in his public appearances.<\/p>\n

On Friday, he waded into the fray with his now-trademark enthusiasm, which makes supporters giddy and drives his detractors to distraction.<\/p>\n

The Twitter exercise had some moments of genuine connection, a few serious policy reflections and a lot of the kind of snark-bait filler that social media punsters and partisans love to ridicule.<\/p>\n

A class of Grade 5 and Grade 6 students from Delisle, Sask., asked Trudeau if he’d always aspired to lead the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal was making a difference and serving my community as best I could,\u201d Trudeau responded in a short, instantaneous video. \u201cAnd it ended up being politics and as prime minister, just like my dad. Cheers!\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his most memorable moment in the first 100 days, Trudeau said he’ll never forget greeting the first group of Syrian refugees arriving in Toronto late last year.<\/p>\n

He vowed Canada’s ongoing support for Ukraine, maintained his government would amend Bill C-51, the controversial security law, and responded to a question about how best to assert Canada’s Arctic sovereignty: \u201cBy better supporting the people who live there, and have lived there for millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said decriminalizing marijuana, as opposed to legalizing and regulating it, \u201cdoes nothing to protect kids from pot, and keeps money flowing to gangs, criminals and gun-runners.\u201d<\/p>\n

But most of the questions involved frothier fare.<\/p>\n

We learned that Trudeau remains a Montreal Canadiens fan despite the NHL team’s mid-season meltdown.<\/p>\n

And that he’s happy the fictional character of Jar Jar Binks wasn’t reprised in the latest Star Wars movie instalment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs a hot dog a sandwich?\u201d asked one inquirer, who received an equally flippant response.<\/p>\n

We did not, however, learn Trudeau’s Valentine’s day plans with his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau.<\/p>\n

\u201cShhhhh. It’s a surprise,\u201d the prime minister wrote back.<\/p>\n

Many serious questions received no response, such as an inquiry from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario: \u201cHow will you redefine the health care system for the next generation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Someone with the Twitter handle Emma P asked Trudeau, \u201cWill you support pipelines & Canadian Oil?\u201d but received no response.<\/p>\n

And one wit wanted to know, \u201cHey ?JustinTrudeau what does (U.S. President Barack) Obama smell like? I bet subtle but pleasant.\u201d He too was left unanswered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA\u2014Ever since Napoleon’s 100-day second coming ended with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, politics watchers have been consumed with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":70598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,9094,16],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-70599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-human-interest","category-news","tag-original","mauthors-bruce-cheadle","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}