{"id":90115,"date":"2017-02-18T01:49:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T06:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=90115"},"modified":"2017-02-18T01:49:43","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T06:49:43","slug":"trudeau-warns-black-tie-business-elite-to-get-real-about-anxiety-workers-feel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/02\/18\/trudeau-warns-black-tie-business-elite-to-get-real-about-anxiety-workers-feel\/","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau warns black tie business elite to ‘get real’ about anxiety workers feel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Prime<\/a>
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used one of Germany’s most prestigious black-tie galas to tell business leaders to \u201cget real\u201d about addressing the anxieties of their workers in an uncertain world. (Photo: Hamburger Senat\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HAMBURG\u2014Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used one of Germany’s most prestigious black-tie galas to tell business leaders to \u201cget real\u201d about addressing the anxieties of their workers in an uncertain world.<\/p>\n

Trudeau delivered the no-holds-barred message to an audience of 400 politicians, business leaders and other notables at the annual St. Matthew’s Banquet in the opulent Hamburg city hall.<\/p>\n

The St. Matthew’s Banquet is a 700-year-old event in which the elders of the city-states invited foreign guests to celebrate their friendship. It has heard from kings, presidents, mayors and others in what is now Germany’s second-largest city.<\/p>\n

Last year, former British prime minister David Cameron addressed the gathering and laid out his plan for battling his country’s Brexit forces. Cameron failed and Britons voted to leave the European Union, part of a global wave of disruption that culminated with Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the November presidential election.<\/p>\n

Officials say Trudeau was mindful of the whirlwind global changes that have taken place since, especially in Europe \u2014 rising anti-trade resentment and a backlash against immigration \u2014 when he accepted the invitation to address the banquet.<\/p>\n

Trudeau has spoken repeatedly in Europe this week about the need for politicians to address the \u201canxieties\u201d of working people, who are fearful of the pace of change, and of being left behind in the globalized world.<\/p>\n

And he has spoken of the need for politicians to do a better job explaining the tangible benefits of agreements such as Canada’s free trade deal with the European Union \u2014 a pact the European Parliament ratified earlier in the week over the objections of a vocal civil society movement.<\/p>\n

But the prime minister ramped up the message on Friday night in Hamburg, all but telling the corporate elite seated before him to shape up, and stop profiting at the expense of their employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more brushing aside the concerns of our workers and our citizens,\u201d the prime minister said in prepared remarks. \u201cWe have to address the root cause of their worries, and get real about how the changing economy is impacting peoples’ lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

He even adopted some of the language of anti-trade movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen companies post record profits on the backs of workers consistently refused full-time work \u2014 and the job security that comes with it \u2014 people get defeated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly, inequality has made citizens distrust their governments, distrust their employers. It turns into ‘us versus them.\u201d’<\/p>\n

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called Trudeau a friend of Europe and praised the Canada-EU free trade deal as an answer to the \u201cnew nationalism\u201d in the United States.<\/p>\n

Trudeau said the anxiety of working people is turning into anger, and politicians and business leaders must take heed and take \u201clong-term responsibility\u201d for workers, their families, and the communities in which they operate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor business leaders, it’s about thinking beyond your short-term responsibility to your shareholders,\u201d Trudeau said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s time to pay a living wage, to pay your taxes. And give your workers the benefits \u2014 and peace of mind \u2014 that come with stable, full-time contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said employers can’t leave their employees feeling \u201coverworked and undervalued\u201d and must find ways to help them \u201cmodernize their skills for a changing world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister also flaunted his feminism, saying: \u201cWhen you hear that an employee is expecting a child, congratulate her. Don’t make her question whether or not she’ll have a job to come back to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olaf Scholz, the first mayor of Hamburg, introduced Trudeau by saying he was honouring Germany by attending the banquet.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow you defend openness, humanity and progress in words and deeds makes Canada a role model for us as well as for the liberal and social forces around the world,\u201d Scholz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just like Leonard Cohen (wrote) … ‘There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Trudeau said he understood the \u201cirony of preaching about the struggles of the middle class to a sea of tuxedoes and ball gowns, while wearing a bow-tie myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trudeau also noted that his government raised taxes on the wealthiest one per cent while improving child tax benefits. He said his government is \u201con track\u201d to reduce child poverty in Canada by 40 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you’re a business or a government, it’s time to realize that this anger and anxiety we see washing over the world is coming from a very real place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it’s not going away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HAMBURG\u2014Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used one of Germany’s most prestigious black-tie galas to tell business leaders to \u201cget real\u201d about …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":90117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16],"tags":[15416,3070],"class_list":["post-90115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-black-tie-galas","tag-justin-trudeau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90115","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=90115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}