Justin Trudeau and a regular blue-collar Canadian worker standing toe-to-toe was the verbal sparring match of the year viewed on social media by millions.
The steelworker, who confronted the prime minister more than a month ago at the gates of Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie and suggested he’ll only be at the job at most for another year, has been a mystery.
Who was he? No one was saying. He couldn’t be located.
Until now.
It took five weeks, but the Toronto Sun tracked down the gutsy worker and found a kind and friendly Canadian patriot with concerns about the track Canada is on.
His name is Kyle Mero. He’s a 37-year-old father of two kids who for a decade has worked as an electrician at Algoma Steel living life under the radar.
That all changed on Aug. 30 when Mero was on his way into work at the plant and suddenly found himself in a conversation with Trudeau that eventually went viral.
“I didn’t know he was going to be there,” he said.
But when he was offered a doughnut and to be part of a photo op, Mero decided he would say what was on his mind.
“I feel (Trudeau) does not understand the average working-class person,” said Mero in an interview.
“I didn’t do this to try to get attention. I did this because I felt I had to say something, just to get it off my chest. Just seeing the state of the country and the path we are on is not sitting well with me.”
As captured on video and reported in the Toronto Sun as well as other outlets across the country, it was a tense exchange between Trudeau and the then-unidentified worker wearing a United Steelworkers Local 2251 T-shirt.
“The 25% tariffs we just brought in on Chinese steel is going to help you out,” Trudeau told Mero. “That’s going to keep your job.”
Mero said the condescension set him off.
“That’s going to help me keep my job?” Mero shot back. “What about the 40% taxes I am paying? And I don’t have a doctor.”
But Mero turned heads with what he said next.
“I think you are only here for another year; we won’t see you around in another year.”
Trudeau retorted, “That’s what elections are for … I look forward to everyone exercising the right to vote … We’re going to invest in you and your job.”
The exchange was like Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, but on the street.
“I don’t believe you for a second,” Mero said to Trudeau.
Trudeau responded with, “Do you know anyone who has dental care?”
“Yeah, I pay for it myself,” replied Mero. “Every time we go for a dental visit, it costs me about $50 out of pocket, per person. Why? I have a good job. You’re not really doing anything for us, Justin.”
Taking about Canadians being there to help each other, Trudeau doubled down: “We just invested, so half-a-million people who haven’t been to the dentist, got to go to the dentist over the past few years.”
Then Mero went off on to those who are a drain on the welfare system, “like my neighbour, who doesn’t go to work because she’s lazy. She just doesn’t go to work.”
Needless to say, these two men were not on the same page. When it came time to depart, there was no shaking of hands but only civil pleasantries of having a good day offered. They agreed to disagree. Mero said he never meant to show any disrespect toward Trudeau personally by not shaking his hand. He just didn’t want to be roped into a staged photo op.
In response, the Prime Minister’s Office said while there was one disagreeable interaction, Trudeau and team were warmly received at the plant and other parts of Sault Ste. Marie and area during his visit there, which also included meeting constituents of local MP Terry Sheehan and paddling with members of the area’s indigenous communities.
“I could see what was happening there,” said Mero. “Justin Trudeau was in my workplace, and it was full of smiles and handshakes and that’s going to look very positive that Justin Trudeau and Liberals are doing a very good job for the workers. But that is not true.”
While he was fact checked by media and politicos for his 40% in taxes comment, Mero said he did his own fact checking and found with his overtime he pays 33% in taxes from his paycheque. With the other deductions and taxes paid on a rental property he and his wife invested in to save money for their four- and seven-year-old children’s college, he said it adds up far more than 40%.
“Everybody knows by the time you pay it all, we are paying more like 60% to the government in taxes from what we earn,” he said. “I pay $50,000 a year in taxes. I don’t see a future where our kids will be able to own a home.”
He said Trudeau needed to hear what a regular Canadian thinks.
“I honesty have no hate for anybody in this world. I am not a political person,” said Mero. “I know one person is not responsible for anybody. But he is the figurehead of our country and he is the leader. I try to look for the positives in life but I don’t see anything to show we are moving in the right direction. I just don’t see a promising future for me and my children.”
Added Mero: “The way Justin Trudeau spoke to me I felt [as if] I was way beneath him. I [felt] like he was talking to me like I am a child and I should just shut the hell up. There was definitely no respect there. I didn’t feel respected at all. I was trying to respect him but at the same time I am just disappointed with the state of the country.”
That said, he does give Trudeau credit for not running away.
“I honestly figured the RCMP or the security were going to shut that conversation down right away,” said Mero. “I didn’t figure it was going to get that much time to speak.”
That he was able to what was on his mind resonated with much of the country.
“For a week after, every time I went out, people were realizing it was me. They were very good. Everything was positive locally in Sault Ste. Marie. Tons of people wanted to send me cases of beer.”
But not everybody — specifically the woman who lives in his neighbourhood who he called out publicly — was amused.
“She kind of called me an a—hole,” Mero said, laughing.
He said he was not meaning to draw attention to her personally and their relationship hasn’t changed. She was more of a metaphor, he said. “I have no problem paying taxes for people who need it.”
However, when you see “Skip the Dishes come to the house two or three times a day” and someone is “laying on couch watching TV” when they “have a vehicle in the driveway,” his reaction is “come on, we have to be accountable.”
Mero, who lost his first son Tristan to a heart condition at nine months and said he understands pain and poverty, also cited a recent incident in the Soo where “there was a random stabbing on the boardwalk and the same guy went into a random apartment downtown and murdered a young girl.”
Saying the accused “was high on meth and was a known offender,” Mero said “ultimately the unimaginable loss for the family of the victims is very unsettling to me and feel our justice system has failed them miserably. My family uses that boardwalk all the time for casual relaxing walks, jogs and bike rides. Sometimes I’m with them and sometimes I’m not. I would be lying if I said that it doesn’t scare the hell out of me.”
Mero said this isn’t the Canada he loves and he would say that to Trudeau’s face.