I feel older these days. We Canadians have elected a prime minister almost young enough to be my son.
I listened to Mr. Trudeau’s words carefully following his election. He smiled a lot. Talked of sunny days and sunny ways. Of hope, love and trust. Of better always being possible in Canada. Optimistic, greeting-card-ready words. Canadians prefer sunny ways and words, he said. And it’s time.
In the last decade, other ways and words have been necessary – even though our outgoing leader had to yank us into them complaining bitterly (yes, me too, sometimes): words like cutbacks, quotas, restraint. I’m grateful for those words too, and for Prime Minister Harper. But nobody puts them on greeting cards. We want, “Better is always possible in Canada.”
No wonder Mr. Trudeau, like his father before him, has endeared himself to Canadians.
But honestly, as a Christian Canadian with traditional biblical beliefs, I have big problems with many of our new leader’s stances, starting with his refusal to accept new party candidates with pro-life views. I’m not the only one: millions of Canadians of all the major faiths have strong beliefs that contradict our Prime Minister Elect’s publicly stated ones.
Nevertheless, I choose to keep hope for Canada and the days ahead. Examples abound of leaders who changed their opinions and altered their course while in power. When the US first entered its civil war between the North and South, President Abraham Lincoln’s views on slavery reflected the times and his own background as the son of a slave-owner. He insisted the reason for going to war was not to end the institution of slavery, but to unite the country.
On October 15, 1858, in a public debate, Lincoln insisted that no one “assume that I have declared Missouri, or any other slave State shall emancipate her slaves. I have proposed no such thing.” But by the end of the war, his nation bloodied and broken, his convictions had changed, and a better nation resulted. On September 22, 1862, in his famous Emancipation Proclamation, he stated: “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves…are, and henceforward shall be, free…”
God knows and sees the overarching plot of our nation’s story. As the bible and history have shown so often, leaders are tools in his hand. He uses and shapes them as he sees necessary – sometimes to guide, often to warn, frequently to discipline, but always with the intention of aligning people and nations with his ultimate plan for his beloved creation.
Like every leader before him, our newest prime minister will make mistakes. Canadians will pay for those along with him. I hope and pray that he will listen to people of traditional Christian faith and respect our deeply held convictions – and our freedom to voice them – as readily as he does others.
Mr. Trudeau, his family and Canada desperately need our prayers. Because when we include God, better IS always possible. In every home, every heart, and every nation. And we’re all ready for that.
