When Justin Trudeau reneged on his promise to bring in electoral reform, the NDP’s Nathan Cullen, usually a fairly affable soul, fumed, “What Trudeau proved himself [to be] today was . . . a liar, of the most cynical variety of politician.”
I’ll admit, I kinda like Nathan Cullen. He has a habit of cutting to the heart of the matter. He’s intelligent, funny, articulate, and bald. Sort of the anti–Justin Trudeau. (If you look up Justin in the dictionary, it says: “Opposite: See Nathan Cullen.”)
But come on. Just because someone says one thing and does another doesn’t mean they’re lying. It may be that their idea of what is true has changed. Similarly, the fact that a politician pulls the plug on something just because he realizes that he’s not going to be able to stack the results in his favour doesn’t make him a cynical, garden-variety politician. Oh, wait . . . it totally does. Carry on, then.