Lapu Lapu festival tragedy shows Carney more humane than Trump
Liberal Leader Mark Carney takes a moment after lighting a candle at a memorial for victims after a vehicle drove into a crowd during a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney knew the humane thing to do.
The car ramming tragedy at the Lapu Lapu celebration in Vancouver, Canada that killed at least 11 people was still so fresh. Most of the injured have yet to be identified.
The suspect, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, known to have mental health issues, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder.
But Carney knew to bring the country together for healing.
He cancelled a campaign event and two major rallies on Sunday, the day before Monday’s election, just so he could be in Vancouver at a makeshift memorial near the attack scene.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, center, hugs a Filipino community member as he visits a memorial for victims after a vehicle drove into a crowd during a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
It was a way to honor the known victims like Filipina Vicky Bjarnason who came to Canada from the Philippines to celebrate her birthday with her sons Helgi and Thor.
Helgi was injured but is expected to recover. His mom, Vicky Bjarnason, who was set to fly back to the Philippines on Tuesday, didn’t make it.
She was struck by the SUV that rammed into the festival crowd. A GoFundMe site has been set up to return Vicky Bjarnason to the Philippines for burial.
She’s just one of the victims honored by Prime Minister Carney who took time out from politics to light a candle.
Carney vs. Trump
Now, compare Carney with the actions of Donald Trump on Monday.
Knowing Canada was reeling from an horrific tragedy, was there a display of decency or sympathy from the American president?
No, Trump was solely focused on Canada’s snap elections early Monday.
And true to form, Trump was Trump: Crass, vulgar, loutish and bullying.
Eleven dead at a mass killing merit a mention? Not from Trump.
Trump was all about insulting Canada and its people by encouraging Canadians to vote for – him?
“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada become the cherished 51st State of the United States of America.”
It was a delusional rant on Trump’s social media. Trump wasn’t even on the ballot in Canada. He can’t run in Canada. But his post shows how the American president is not well. Nor is he joking about taking over Canada. It’s perhaps in a nicer way than Russia took over Crimea, or is invading Ukraine. But the point is the same. What kind of leader talks to a sovereign ally in this way?
The post showed how at the 99-day mark, Trump was losing it.
All his talk about Canada as America’s 51st state brought Canada’s Liberal party back from a double-digit deficit to win the election.
So on the 100th day of Trump’s American presidency, Donald Trump actually woke up a loser in Canada, where Carney and the Liberals beat the Conservative party by a projected 43.4 percent to 41.5 percent.
The anti-Trump sentiment, focused on his trade war tariffs, was so strong Canadian Liberals built a winning coalition at the ballot box to send a real message to Trump.
He’s the guy who in an interview in “The Atlantic” this week boasted, “I run the country and the world.”
It didn’t work out that way in Canada.
Canadians just said no. And now so are many more Americans are too.
From Canada’s polls to US opinion polls, Trump’s a loser
There were no ballots cast in the U. on Monday, but a raft of new opinion polls released this week signaled a massive slide by Trump in his approval ratings.
100 days into his second term, Trump couldn’t muster the 49 percent that won him the election last November.
The Trump approval rating has dropped from 45 percent in February to just 39 percent.
His “disapproval” rating has risen from 53 percent in February, to 55 percent in April; all this according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Donald Trump can attack the pollsters, but he can’t refute that the data shows he is the worst president ever since pollsters started taking data on a president’s first 100 days.
And the key issue is the economy and Trump’s tariffs. The approval rating of Trump’s handling of the economy is just 39 percent. On tariffs? Just 35 percent. On Trump on inflation? Just 35 percent approve, all this according to the latest CNN poll.
Trump shrugs it off, claims the polls are rigged, and calls for a Department of Justice investigation. He’s serious.
But it tells us there is a man unhinged in charge of our nation – who could do anything.
He’s the guy who wants America to take over Canada. AND Greenland. He’s the guy who makes mistakes deporting innocent people without due process, more recently babies who are citizens. He’s the guy who declares everything is an emergency and then starts a trade war with the world. He’s the guy willing to defy the courts and the Constitution.
It’s a staggering achievement in the first 100 days. Trump’s stripped America of its goodwill, its moral standing and its customary role as world leader.
Somehow I had hoped the coincidence of Trump attending the Pope’s funeral and the culmination of the first 100 days, might help Trump discover his humanity and humility, his inner Francis.
As mentioned in the funeral mass’ homily (if he were awake for that), the world could use someone who held high “a torch of hope.”
Instead, Trump’s torching all that we revere in our country.
He’s remaking our nation in his image, and it’s not a good look for what had been without question the world’s model democracy.
Like Trump, our stature is diminished.
We’re getting smaller and smaller each day.
But we can stop the trend America, if only we have the courage to follow Canada.
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, news analyst and stage monologuist. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack.
