Given Justin’s self-congratulatory proclamations about how sensitive and thoughtful he is (again, Justin Trudeau’s favourite topic is always Justin Trudeau), what are we to make of an incident that purportedly occurred when he was just a callow youth of twenty-eight who didn’t know any better? In 2000, Justin—already a celebrity—was publicly accused of groping and inappropriately “handling” a woman he thought was just a local reporter. In fact, she was also on assignment for both the National Post and Vancouver Sun. The account of the incident that followed was scathing:
It’s not a rare incident to have a young reporter, especially a female who is working for a small community newspaper, be considered an underling to their “more predominant” associates and blatantly disrespected because of it. But shouldn’t the son of a former prime minister be aware of the rights and wrongs that go along with public socializing? Didn’t he learn, through his vast experiences in public life, that groping a strange young woman isn’t in the handbook of proper etiquette, regardless of who she is . . . ?
Creston Valley Advance, August 14, 2000