Does Justin Trudeau’s childhood have something to do with his “nice-guy persona?” And on the other side of the political spectrum, did things that happened in Pierre Poilievre’s formative years have anything to do with his political stance?
Dr. Gabor Maté is the author of The Myth of Normal, and these are some ideas he discusses in his book. He’s also an expert on addiction and is known for his expertise in childhood development.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, a gender equality activist, former TV host, and wife of the prime minister, recently endorsed the book on Instagram.
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Daily Hive video producer Arash Randjbar sat with Maté to chat about his book, which led to fascinating discussions about politics and political leaders.
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Justin Trudeau’s upbringing
From kindergarten to college, teachers and educators prepare our kids for success – making our future brighter and our country stronger. Today, to recognize some of these educators, we handed out the #PMAwards for Teaching Excellence. Congratulations, from one teacher to another. pic.twitter.com/aJ0up8cGok
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 4, 2022
In his book, Maté writes that there’s “something inauthentic, even unctuous, about Trudeau’s nice-guy persona.”
Maté spoke to Randjbar about Pierre Trudeau, Justin’s father, who served two terms as Prime Minister of Canada. He started by talking about how young Margaret Trudeau was when she married Pierre.
Margaret was 22 years old, and Pierre was 29 years older than her.
“Now that means a significant degree of emotional immaturity on his part,” Maté said.
Maté also spoke about how Pierre married someone who could easily be his daughter and was bipolar, though it was undiagnosed at the time. Maté also called Pierre a womanizer.
Maté says there were screaming fights in the house and that Pierre allegedly smuggled women into the home wrapped in a rug.
“What kind of atmosphere is that at home?”
Maté added that he wasn’t blaming them. He even reflected on the conflict in his own home that affected his kids. Maté says this is where Justin’s “nice guy persona” comes into play, as Maté suggests that behaviour is a response to his childhood upbringing.
“To become very nice and kind of a peacemaker and make everything okay but not looking at things too deeply because it’s painful. And that’s how I see Justin.”
Pierre Poilievre’s upbringing
Merci! pic.twitter.com/NNgOeCeDWB
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) September 11, 2022
Poilievre’s roots differ from Trudeau’s, but he faced plenty of adversity.
In a piece Poilievre wrote for the Toronto Sun, he outlined how two schoolteachers adopted him in Calgary from a teenage mother.
“My parents taught me that it didn’t matter where I came from, but where I was going.”
Maté referenced science to share his insights about Poilievre.
“They’ve done brain scans on people who had right-wing views. You know what they found? That the fear centre in their brain is larger. They have more fear in them. That’s why they want to be so tough and hostile. It’s always about the enemy. It’s always about conspiracies. It’s always about ‘we’re under threat from the drug addicts and from the criminals and from this and that.'”
The political spectrum at large
Maté went a little deeper into the right-wing paradigm, suggesting that the more violence one experienced as a child, the more likely one was to have right-wing views until that person decided to undergo therapy.
He also said that the more you were hit as a child, the more likely you favour violent political intervention abroad, support the death penalty, or oppose abortion.
“As a sort of a left-wing myself, I know that a lot of the rage that I poured into my political activities really had to do with my personal life that I hadn’t dealt with. So I’m not singling out one side or the other. I’m just saying that we don’t realize the extent to which our childhood orientation or emotional stance in the world affects our political views and our political activities, and this conservative candidate would be a typical example.”
It might be common sense that Trudeau’s or Poilievre’s childhood shaped their political careers or Trudeau’s apparent “nice-guy persona.”
Still, it’s interesting food for thought when reflecting on our political views.