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The premier is by no means unique in this regard. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently apologized for the regrettable 1914 Komagata Maru incident in which hundreds of Indians seeking a better life in Canada were turned away, but has yet to breathe a word of contrition over a remarkable and rapidly growing list of broken election promises.

In 1988, Brian Mulroney apologized for the wartime internment of Japanese Canadians and offered compensation to individuals, as did president Ronald Reagan in the United States. While it would have been preferable for the apology to come sooner, ideally from those who were actually responsible, it was better late than never. But we’re still waiting for Mulroney to demonstrate a sign of regret for putting the country through two harrowing rounds of failed constitutional reform at a time the economy could have used much greater attention.

Neither is Canada alone in its propensity to offer amends over actions that occurred well before current leaders took office. While Reagan was willing to pay out US$20,000 to each surviving victim of incarceration, he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words “sorry” or “apology” in a March 4, 1987, speech accepting responsibility for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Still, Reagan outperformed British prime minister Tony Blair, who in 1997 regretted English indifference to the Irish potato famine, which took place more than a century before his birth, but still refuses to accept blame for Britain’s part in the Iraq war. In a 2015 interview he related: “I apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong. I also apologize for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.” But “I find it hard to apologize for removing Saddam.”