Justin Trudeau talks up Justin Trudeau in Stephen Colbert interview

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For Canadians who bypass nightly newscasts and head straight to late-night American TV, there was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, making the case for Canada. Or more to the point, for himself and his party as it faces down the barrel of a non-confidence motion in the House of Commons this week.

While his appearance with Colbert was, for the most part, somewhat bland, Trudeau did take a few shots at America.

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For instance he said Americans wouldn’t have to cross the 49th parallel to buy cheaper Canadian drugs if the U.S. had universal health care. This got a big round of applause from the studio audience, even as it ignored the crisis in Canada’s hospitals and the hunt many Canadians face in securing a family doctor.

Contrasting America and Canada on the world stage, Trudeau proudly touted Canada’s can-do, helpful role with a not-so-veiled shot at American empire-building: “When Canadians show up, uh, people are usually sure we’re not there to, you know, impose, conquer. We’re really there to help.”

The interview was taped during a trip to New York, where Trudeau met with other world leaders ahead of the 78th gathering of the United Nations General Assembly. Approximately 484,000 Canadians tuned in last night, according to Numeris PPM Data.

The segment began with light banter about Canadian musicians and comedians. “We love your Ryans, both Gosling and Reynolds,” joked Colbert.

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Asking Trudeau to sell him on Canada, the response was typical. Yes, there’s picture-postcard mountains and rivers, but “it’s the people,” who make Canada “the best country in the world,” insisted the prime minister.

Oh, and Canada has three coasts: east, west and the Arctic.

Colbert took that as an opportunity to point out Canada going “toe-to-toe with the Russkis” over undersea resources. When Trudeau tried to dodge with, “Yeah, it’s a bit of a challenge there,” Colbert couldn’t resist a good-natured, clichéd response himself: “That is a (Canadian) understatement, if I ever heard it, sir.”

Trudeau mentioned his morning UN meeting, aimed at restoring order to Haiti. Colbert took the opportunity to slip in a reference to Donald Trump’s recent false claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets: “(But) your dogs and cats are fine.”

Trudeau sidestepped that one completely. It was the closest the discussion got to the narrowly contested U.S. election.  

Trudeau spouted the ultimate cliché about the U.S. being a “melting pot” where newcomers lose their identities amid the mix, whereas Canada is “a mosaic, a tapestry” where “we try to celebrate differences and people keep their cultures and keep their languages.”

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Colbert lobbed some soft questions about things Canada and America fight about (like softwood lumber), what we have done with our money since the death of the Queen, and what we call our bacon.

When he referred to Trudeau’s principal opponent as Canada’s version of Donald Trump, the prime minister bypassed the opportunity to offer a critique. Instead, he said: “We’re not some magical place of unicorns and rainbows all the time. We’ve got more than our fair share (of fights). But like the things that we’ve managed to do (such as universal healthcare), we’ve had to work really, really hard at.”

Though he did accuse his “opponent” of “gaslighting” the Liberal government regarding its dental care initiative. “We’ve delivered it to 700,000 people across the country and (Poilievre) is saying dental care doesn’t exist yet.”

Then Trudeau shifted to his usual litany of election talking points, including pharmacare and $10-a-day daycare.

But Colbert pressed harder: “Your party is 17 points behind in the polls and this week your rivals are calling a vote to possibly force you out of office.”

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Trudeau admitted that Canadians are frustrated and that he has a target on his back because of that: “People are hurting. People are having trouble paying for groceries, paying for rent, filling up the tank.”

The conversation ended with Colbert asking Trudeau about the influence of his father, Pierre, a four-time prime minister. Trudeau seemed to take a dig at his dad. Yes, it was four times, but they weren’t consecutive, he pointed out. (There was a Tory break between the third and fourth Liberal governments under Pierre Trudeau.)

So will the younger Trudeau’s become a four-timer and one-up his Dad? That’s for Canadians to decide.

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