Today I saw a photo in the local paper of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hugging Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland after she had given a major foreign policy speech in the House of Commons. Standing next to the Minister, wouldn’t a simple handshake by the PM have been sufficient? There is little doubt that Trudeau likes to hug, especially females, but not exclusively.
If compulsive hugging is not listed in The Psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual which deals with defining mental and personality disorders, then maybe it should be. Not only are we confronted by a Prime Minister who likes to hug everyone, even the opposition members, and everything, you now have individuals on street corners with signs suggesting that you may need a hug.
It used to be that Canadians were depicted as “hewers of wood and drawers water”. Now, we have become a country of huggers, including the usual hugging of trees by environmentalists. It may not be a bad thing, but at times it appears to have gone a little too far. Not everyone wants to be hugged, including Canadian comedian Howie Mandel. Maybe we should follow the lead of Sweden, where in 1994 it had the highest number of women members (40 percent) of parliaments worldwide. Or Norway where the proportion of women parliamentarians has increased from less than 10 per cent in the early 1970s to almost 40 per cent by the mid-1990s. Today, Canada has a record number of female Members of Parliament, with 92 women elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2015 election — however representing only 26 percent of total members. Instead of hugs, I believe that handshakes should suffice as a sign of professional respect and encouragement.
Yes, there may be appropriate times for hugs, but the Prime Minister appears to be showing alarming signs of “hugism”. Should I meet the PM some day, a hardy handshake would be most adequate. And yes, please omit the usual selfie.
FROLITICKS 