Finance Minister Bill Morneau visited school children in Toronto Friday, ahead of next week’s federal budget unveiling.
He tried on his new budget day shoes, and sat surrounded by students from the Rose Avenue Junior Public School.
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Then, he was asked a question that seemed to leave him at a loss for words.
“Are you scared of Donald Trump?” Kaaviya Vasanthakumar asked, as her peers laughed out loud.
The finance minister took a moment to collect his thoughts. He then offered a politically correct, but slightly unusual response, first focusing on the U.S. president’s hair.
“Uh … no. We’ve had a chance to go down and meet Donald Trump a few times, and of course, he does go to the international meetings,” he said. “And … his hair really does look like you see it on TV. It is actually that colour.”
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Morneau then explained that being U.S. president is difficult, and that Trump is “trying to do his best.”
“It’s a really, really hard job, and it’s a really important job. So we all hope, that even though we see things in the newspapers that are critical, we all hope he does a good job.”
Vasanthakumar later explained to Global News why she asked the minister the tricky question.
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But there was something even scarier on her mind, Vasanthakumar explained: “But then, also how he’s going to start World War III. I’m not sure if he’s gonna, but it might happen.”
She added she still thinks the minister is “probably” worried, but clarified her own position, “I’m not scared.”
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