[Thanks to Rev.com for providing the transcript used in this analysis. Visit the link to watch the press briefing and read the full transcript.]
On July 13, 2020, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the public during his daily press briefing, about his role in the WE Charity decision.
Trudeau has issued more apologies in his time in office than any other Canadian PM. (I studied two of them in detail for my thesis, but they were focused on historical events, not current, ongoing events.) He’s had a lot of practice, and he (and/or his PR team) have gotten pretty good at them.
Let’s break it down:
C4: recognition of the Hearer as entitled to an apology
Category C apology strategies are considered “non-conventional indirect” strategies. This means that on their own, they typically can’t hold up a public apology, but they are good support to add emphasis and sincerity.
C2: acceptance of blame
A1: performative Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID)
Trudeau clearly states that he made a mistake, and names what that mistake was. Then he follows it up with an explicit, unambiguous expression of apology. A1 strategies are pretty much only “I am sorry” or “I apologize”. It has to be that explicit to meet that criteria.
We don’t necessarily see a lot of these in public apologies - at least not with any sort of high stakes, because you can’t walk back an apology like that. Justin Trudeau doesn’t shy away from using this strategy though, as we’ve seen in previous apologies.
D9: ‘not like me’ defense
D7: hedges or qualification of responsibility
E1: non-apologetic explanation of events
E4: patriotic sentiment
We’re into the second paragraph, and here come some of the mitigating strategies. Trudeau explains what a good public servant he’s been throughout his career, with an emphasis on “think about the children!” (a common political trope).
There have definitely been advanced timelines for making political decisions in 2020. But blaming this on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic would be more believable if he hadn’t been called out for ethics violations in the past. He shouldn’t get a free pass just because his government needs to quickly develop programs to “help Canadians”.
C1: explanation, account or excuse
D3: expression of regret (fauxpology)
D4: alignment with victims
This particular paragraph bugs me. There’s not necessarily a specific strategy in the framework to describe why it’s bad, but it feels like he’s blaming the opposition for making Canadians in need wait longer to get government support (when the youth support has already been delayed since March). It’s not exactly a fauxpology, but it doesn’t feel good.
Trudeau doesn’t say who is/should be frustrated by this delay. He’s right: it is frustrating, but I would bet that PMJT and his cabinet are frustrated for different reasons than the people waiting for help.
E3: ‘positive’ alignment language
C2: acceptance of blame
C5: expression of lack of intent
E3 differs from D4 (alignment with victims) in that it’s usually a call to action, something along the lines of “We will move forward together.” This kind of language shows up in almost all of Trudeau’s political apologies, and with good reason - it makes him (and his party) look good.
Another clear acceptance of blame = good. He’s not trying to deny that he was in the wrong (but that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to mitigate consequences).
Just going to leave this here.
I want to be clear about linguistic analysis: even though the apology got a passing grade, that doesn’t mean that Trudeau’s political actions get a pass.
What do you think about Trudeau’s latest apology? Do you have a favourite Trudeau apology? (There are so many to choose from!) Let me know in a comment below.