Article content continued

Pierre Trudeau may have embraced a relationship with Cuba in an attempt to soften the brutal dictatorship but it didn’t work. That Justin was embracing Fidel Castro at Pierre’s funeral in 2000 was a shocking thing, Castro arriving in Montreal as an honorary pallbearer.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

Perhaps you can be forgiven for embracing who shows up to comfort you in a time of loss but that Trudeau embraced Fidel Castro — and his legacy — even after his death is unforgivable.

There may have been problems in pre-revolutionary Cuba but Castro only made things worse while promising paradise. Cuba’s per capita income prior to Castro was higher than much of Europe’s. The country welcomed immigrants from around the world.

Within years of Castro taking power, the people were not only oppressed but also impoverished and have been fleeing by any means necessary ever since.

That Trudeau, and Ms. Megill, would praise such a man should be shocking to anyone that values democracy, who claims to uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In Cuba there are no rights and there are no freedoms for those on the wrong side of the government.

I could make a glib joke about Trudeau admiring China’s “basic dictatorship,” something he actually said back in 2013 but his affection for less than democratic governments is no joke.

His love of places like Cuba and China, both dictatorial regimes, is out of step with Canada’s democratic values.

I’d say Ms. Megill doesn’t deserve to be a Liberal candidate, never mind get the votes of the people of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, but her leader and her party clearly do like Cuba as it is, not as it could be.

That’s not a position any Canadian should hold.