Justin Trudeau might just lose “everything” he has over a Baltics-related question.
The current Prime Minister of Canada recently took part in a 60-second challenge issued by macleans.ca, in which he answered a series of rapid-fire questions that include the name of his first pet and the languages that he wishes he could speak.
One question, however, seemed to stump the Canadian leader: What is your favorite Baltic nation?
“That’s not a thing,” Trudeau answered, and then quickly swiped the tablet to the next question.
The video of Trudeau’s challenge, which has already made rounds on the Internet, has already generated a lot of attention around the world, particularly in the Baltics. One of those who took notice was Antanas Guoga—known in poker circles as Tony G—a former poker player now a Lithuanian member of the European Parliament.
Guoga got European Parliament members Petras Austrevicius from Lithuania, Iveta Grigule from Latvia, Kaja Kallas from Estonia and Urma Paet from Estonia to join him in a Christmas-themed video for Trudeau, inviting the Canadian Prime Minister to a try different Baltics-related events, including attending a Toronto Raptors basketball game, where he can see Lithuanian Jonas Valanciunas play in an NBA game.
Tony G also went one step further, challenging Trudeau to a game of poker.
“Or if you prefer, Justin, just come and play poker with me,” Guoga playfully threatened. “I’ll take everything you have.”
Guoga said Delphi, a news portal in Lithuania, wrote that Trudeau “didn’t know that the Baltics existed,” which left everyone in the region “quite shocked.” Kidding aside, Guoga said he and his colleagues were concerned that the prime minister’s quip might mean that “Canada’s position is that the Baltics are not important.” The Baltics have long been NATO allies with Canada.
Trudeau, however, had already cleared up any misunderstanding caused by his answer.
On Wednesday, Trudeau told Macleans that what he meant was that he didn’t believe there’s such a thing as having a favorite Baltic country, not that the region itself was of little importance. Due to the nature of the 60-second video, the prime minister said he decided that no good would come from answering the question referring to any specific country, so he declined as diplomatically as he could.
Trudeau said he is well aware that the Baltics exist, admitting that he even dated a woman from one of those countries.
