Justin Trudeau is a Prime Minister for the Instagram generation. Firstly, he proved a dude named Justin could rule a country. Second of all, he is extremely Instagrammable. Even the most basic photos of him somehow go viral. While most Canadians find him cute in an overly enthusiastic substitute teacher who will connect with the kids by rapping a soliloquy kind of way, there are entire lists dedicated to how hot non-Canadians think he is. Somehow, all of these lists conveniently forget about that weird Captain Morgan style goatee he had. But one thing is certain—nobody really cares about what he has to say, they just want a good photo.
Which is why it’s so funny that the Canadian government is asking diplomats to stop using life-sized cardboard cut-outs of him at official events. According to several media reports, missions in the United States “Have been asked to no longer use these for their events.” The report also states, a lot of the objection has much to do with it being very “prime ministerial.”
According to various reports, the main seller of these cutouts is Historical Cutouts, a website that sells cutouts of every important historical figure you can imagine. According to Tom, an artist over at Historical Cutouts, Trudeau is a best-seller. “He’s one of the more popular ones. He’s probably the second or third highest selling at the moment,” he told CBC. While the website sells Stephen Harper cutouts as well, Trudeau is apparently the most popular Canadian the shop has ever seen. “We’ve never had a Canadian that popular.”
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And it shows. On eBay, another big seller of Trudeau cutouts, you can get a life-size or mini cutout pretty easily. Cutouts of him have appeared all over, including parties. Upon searching for former prime ministers, there’s pretty much nothing. The closest thing to Stephen Harper is a cutout of WWE wrestler Luke Harper.
Regardless of what you’re opinion is on Trudeau, a cardboard cutout of him is probably the best thing for Canadian foreign policy. He just stands there, looking very pretty and willing to take selfies—ALMOST JUST LIKE REAL LIFE. His hair will always fall the right way, he won’t show anyone how he can fake falling down the stairs while sporting a soul patch. There’s no way he will get ambushed by concerned citizens asking about how he plans on handling crucial issues, there’s not even a chance his butt will go viral. There’s literally no way he will do anything wrong or embarrass us with his cheesiness! He will be the perfect prime minister.
As sad as it is that foreign missions will no longer be allowed to use Trudeau cutouts, there are still plenty of ways to go around it. A custom snapchat filter that will turn any man into Trudeau would be great! So would hiring a Justin Trudeau impersonator—there are probably hundreds of them mulling about the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
Lead photo via Instagram.
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