Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau pose on budget day in 2016. Photo courtesy of CBC.

Trudeau’s majority win in 2015 promised many things, among them a strong economy and a happy middle class. Early on he revealed the party’s plans to run a “modest short-term” deficit of no more than $10 billion a year to achieve this, and hit the ground running with campaign promises of better infrastructure, innovation spending, and greener communities. Citing the need to jump-start the economy with these investments, the Liberals vowed to balance the budget by 2019–20.

On March 22, Finance Minister Bill Morneau blew through that promise in the 2017 federal budget, announcing a planned deficit of approximately $28.5 billion in the coming year, set to decline “gradually” to $18.8 billion in 2021–22. Long-term fiscal projections are now anticipating deficits until 2050, leaving Canadians wondering how the government ever plans to get back on track.

While Trudeau’s plans were praised by International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde last year, a number this large is atypical. Governments may run large deficits to stimulate a struggling economy. But despite some quarters that have experienced slower growth, the Canadian economy is currently growing. That means if there’s a sudden downturn, the Trudeau administration would have to plunge even further into the red.

In keeping in line with his campaign promises, Trudeau also promised in the C-44 budget bill to spend $187 billion on infrastructure over 12 years, including a $35 billion Infrastructure Bank. The bank would include the private sector to provide low-cost financing for new projects—a possible way to boost the economy and get much-needed transit projects off the ground. There are high expectations for the results of such spending, and success will largely depend on execution and choosing the right projects.

Trudeau was forced to push himself out of the worst economic decade since the Second World War, and after a sluggish start, Canada’s economy has indeed picked up. It grew by more than two percent in the last quarter, while unemployment in July hit 6.3 percent—the lowest level since the October 2008 recession.

But few of these happy stats may be attributed to Trudeau’s planning.

Much growth in Canada is rooted in consumer spending, which has picked up the slack from declining growth from the resource sector. Low interest rates have allowed consumers to carry the economy for a while, but have also let them rack up a fair bit of debt—making Canadians increasingly vulnerable to sudden rate hikes. On the bright side, Trudeau has set aside $6.6 billion to support skills and innovation, and has been pushing for a European Union free trade deal (spearheaded by the Harper government) to help improve exports.

For some, the irony of the 2015 anti-Trudeau campaign smear that our PM thinks “the budget will balance itself” is sinking in. Meanwhile, other Canadians are basking in the current steady economic climate—whether Trudeau is to thank for that or not. Ottawa hasn’t been shy throughout their planning phase and over the next two years Canadians will watch as they juggle their multiple projects in the air, waiting for results and all the while hoping against hope that we aren’t forced to send the bland old economist back in.

Grade: B

Trudeau marches in the 2017 Toronto Pride parade. Photo courtesy of Pride Toronto.

Three women stand in the main reception area of Mississauga, Ont.’s city hall, desperately looking over a crowd holding their phones above their heads. They share a giddiness that’s palpable, even contagious. All three are visible minorities—women of colour with black hair and brown skin. One of them wears a bright blue hijab. All three of them carry white pieces of paper, held as straight as possible as they lean above, beyond, and to the side of the crowd to get a glimpse at him. Just one glimpse.

“WE” reads one sign in the same blue as the woman’s hijab. “<3 U” reads the second paper in a pinky-red, the heart imperfectly coloured. “J.T.” reads the third in purple ink.

It’s the photo that captured how many minorities feel when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau enters a room. There’s swooning, elation, even relief. We have a leader that actively participates with, celebrates, and endorses the existence of minority communities and religion. He was the first sitting Canadian prime minister to attend a Pride parade. During Canada 150 festivities, he entered a First Nations teepee. He declared himself a feminist when he became PM. He was the first to wear socks that said “Eid Mubarak.”

But great photos, socks, and smiles cannot build a foundation for any minority group to survive and prosper on. As Trudeau’s second year in power comes to an eventful end, there have begun signs of trepidation, a hint of hesitancy, and a lot of skepticism.

A closer look at the context behind the photo-ops and colourful socks shows a bleak reality. While Trudeau selected “a cabinet that looks like Canada” with gender parity, there was no one of Chinese or Filipino origin, and no Arab ministers at the time of publication. The PM may support Muslim communities wholeheartedly, yet hate crimes against this community are at the highest they have ever been. Local calls for protection for mosques, after a fatal Quebec City shooting, haven’t been heeded either. But, “Eid Mubarak” socks have gone viral.

In the same spirit, while Trudeau’s attendance of Canada’s Pride parades continues to wow the world, we’re still waiting for his concrete steps of action that strengthen the rights of LGBTQ communities. Later this year, for instance, the Liberal government is expected to introduce legislation to erase past convictions for sexual activity with a same-sex partner. This has aided the discussion surrounding LGBTQ issues, but they’re all still just verbal plans—ideas without an engine.

And then there are the Indigenous and Black populations of Canada, who seem to be a complicated side-thought in Trudeau’s agenda. The police-related deaths of Andrew Loku, Jermaine Carby, and Abdirahman Abdi—all men of colour—have not warranted official word or action. Nor have those serving long immigration detentions. While Trudeau assures Canadians that he respects Indigenous communities of Canada, there is yet to be any official intervention into the lagging inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action.

We’re not used to a leader who will take off his shoes and walk into a mosque or a teepee, sit with us, and tell us, “You belong here.” But, with only two years left to go, it’s time for more concrete policy that addresses the underlying issues and fears of these minority communities.

Pull up your socks J.T. There’s a lot of work to be done if Canada is going to become the country you say it is.

Grade: B-

CORRECTION: The print version of this story, which appears in our September/October issue, incorrectly states that Trudeau did not have an LGBTQ-identifying minister in his cabinet at the time of publication. This regrets the error.

Trudeau inside a ceremonial teepee on Parliament Hill during Canada Day 2017. Photo courtesy of Russ Diabo.

Just last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “No relationship is more important to our government and to Canada than the one with Indigenous peoples.” He promised a renewed nation-to-nation relationship—one that would uphold the treaties and constitutionally protected rights of Indigenous people while fixing the many socioeconomic crises that often plague Indigenous communities. He also promised to implement all 94 calls to action urged by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But so far, Trudeau has failed to deliver.

After his election victory in October 2015, Trudeau vowed to put an end to the two percent funding cap that was imposed by Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government in 1996. For almost 20 years, funding for First Nations programs and services could only increase by two percent each year—a policy that doesn’t take into consideration rising inflation and a growing First Nations population. But in the 2016 budget, which promised Indigenous communities $8.4 billion over five years, and in the 2017 budget, offering an additional $3.4 billion over another five years, the funding cap remains in place. A policy such as this one not only diminishes the humanity of Indigenous people, it places a stranglehold on communities that already lack the most basic services.

The next big promise was a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Trudeau made good on his promise, launching the inquiry in September 2016. But its commission has come under intense scrutiny for its lack of progress and poor communication with families. As of March 2017, there were only 122 family members in the commission’s database, despite being halfway through its two-year mandate. To make matters worse, several senior staffers, including the director of operations, have already left the commission.

Trudeau’s Liberals also promised to end the water crisis on roughly 90 reserves experiencing drinking water advisories, which have persisted for decades in some cases. The 2016 budget included investments of $1.8 billion in clean drinking water and wastewater systems in Indigenous communities over five years. While this sounds promising, Human Rights Watch reported that this financial commitment will not solve operation and maintenance costs that come up to an extra $419 million per year. An additional 2011 report from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada found that $4.7 billion over 10 years would be needed to bring water systems up to a sustainable standard.

On a brighter note, Trudeau fulfilled his promise of new funding for the preservation of Indigenous languages and cultures. The 2016 budget included $76.9 million to support cultural initiatives on reserves over a two-year period. The majority of Canada’s Indigenous languages are endangered due to Canada’s history of colonization and oppression, so this could be great step toward revitalization. Another promise to develop a Métis Nation economic development strategy has been upheld; the 2016 budget provided $25 million over five years to support the nation.

But these positive developments have been undermined and overshadowed by Trudeau’s approval of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, the Keystone XL pipeline, Pacific NorthWest LNG project, and the Site C dam. All four projects shatter any type of nation-to-nation relationship Trudeau had in mind. The Site C dam in British Columbia’s Peace River Valley will flood First Nations territory. Elsewhere, other First Nations worry about oil spills that could cause food and water contamination. Trudeau’s unwavering approval of these projects also contradicts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the Canadian government last year and requiring that the government obtain the free and informed consent of Indigenous people prior to any project affecting their lands.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government continues to racially discriminate against Indigenous youth by underfunding their child welfare services. Last January, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the Trudeau government to take immediate action, but four non-compliance orders later, they continue to break the law.

Trudeau can no longer scrape by with prime ministerial tweets and tokenistic gestures in the hopes that they might somehow solve the problems at hand. Indigenous people, and upcoming generations, want more than “a place to store their canoes and paddles so they can connect back out on the land,” as Trudeau said back in January. At least Stephen Harper was up front about his assimilationist agenda. Trudeau promised us hope and then turned his back on us.

Grade: F

Justin Trudeau has reached the midway point of his term as prime minister. But after two years in power, how much change has he truly made? In this special report, we grade Trudeau’s performance—and our PM has some serious work to do.

TRUDEAU’S MEDIA PRESENCE: C-

“When American news is dominated by a president with no filter, it’s hard to not be enraptured by our self-proclaimed feminist hunk prime minister…. It’s hard to see when we should be genuinely applauding him and when we’re just swooning over a Ken doll with half-decent politics—because our leader seems so much better than the alternative.”

Read more

TRUDEAU ON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS: F

“Trudeau can no longer scrape by with prime ministerial tweets and tokenistic gestures in the hopes that they might somehow solve the problems at hand. Indigenous people, and upcoming generations, want more than ‘a place to store their canoes and paddles so they can connect back out on the land.'”

Read more

TRUDEAU ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS: D

“This is the Liberals’ diplomacy under Trudeau in a nutshell: They are a bulwark of the worst impulses of liberalism and capitalism, and effect superficial dedication to social justice issues in an effort to mask their less-than-savoury endeavours.”

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TRUDEAU ON SOCIAL ISSUES: B-

“We’re not used to a leader who will take off his shoes and walk into a mosque or a teepee, sit with us, and tell us, ‘You belong here.’ But, with only two years left to go, it’s time for more concrete policy that addresses the underlying issues and fears of these minority communities.”

Read more

TRUDEAU ON THE ECONOMY: B

“Trudeau was forced to push himself out of the worst economic decade since the Second World War, and after a sluggish start, Canada’s economy has indeed picked up.”

Read more

Trudeau jogs past Vancouver promgoers. Photo courtesy of Adam Scotti.

When American news is dominated by a president with no filter, it’s hard to not be enraptured by our self-proclaimed feminist hunk prime minister. Many Canadians have spent the last year or so consumed by a dizzying high of how lucky we are, how special we are, how unbelievably progressive we are. While the United States is publicly imploding on the world stage thanks to a president with several sexual assault allegations against him, our PM walks through Toronto’s Pride parade in the blazing sun, in a pink button up and charming multicolour socks that say “Eid Mubarak.”

It’s been less of a media circus around Trudeau, and more of a media celebration. It’s hard to see when we should be genuinely applauding him and when we’re just swooning over a Ken doll with half-decent politics—because our leader seems so much better than the alternative.

“When you’re as photogenic as Justin Trudeau, the camera seems to find you,” reads one Montreal Gazette article on the PM’s latest photobomb. It features a running Trudeau with a group of promgoers in Vancouver.

Except, the camera didn’t just seem to find him. The photo in question was taken by Trudeau’s personal photographer Adam Scotti as part of a project to document the runs the pair go on and people they see throughout.

Despite all of this, the photo of bright, young, smiling—and mostly white—faces with our too-handsome-to-hate PM has circulated both in Canadian and international media, receiving plenty of awws. In fact, it’s easy to say that coverage of Trudeau’s many photobombs—like the one taken at a B.C. couple’s beach wedding, shirtless and all—is more widespread than coverage of his failed promises.

Then there are the photo-ops at Pride parades, 2015 coverage of an old clip of Trudeau’s Bhangra dancing skills, and Vanity Fair photo shoots. Though it’s hard to resist smiling—after all, the feel-good news about Trudeau feels really good in comparison to all the disappointing and scary news coming from our neighbours to the south—the need to be critical remains as important as ever in Canada. The publicity stunts are just that: publicity stunts.

From a PR perspective, Trudeau should get an A for his clever and subtle ways of seizing every possible photo opportunity. But the photobombing and cute close-ups of his progressive fashion choice are getting old. Trudeau’s media presence gets a C-minus. Step your game up, Prime Minister: You’re running a country, not an Instagram account.