(LifeSiteNews) –– An independent Canadian journalist tracked down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his summer vacation and grilled him for 10 minutes straight on a variety of topics relating to how his government has led Canada for the past few years. The reporter, Keean Bexte of the Counter Signal, was able to get Trudeau to reveal that he would “absolutely not,” despite bad polling numbers, look for a replacement for himself before the next election.  

On Tuesday, Bexte posted a photo on X of himself and Trudeau walking on a beach in Tofino, British Columbia, which is one of the leader’s favorite annual vacation spots. 

In the post, Bexte made it a point to note that in the past “Trudeau has had me arrested for the crime of attending a press conference, his officers have pushed me into traffic, and I’ve had to sue to gain access to election scrums.” 

“This time, he couldn’t get away. For 10 minutes I grilled him on the beach,” he wrote on X.  

Bexte had planned the exclusive Counter Signal interview carefully as multiple times in the past he has been arrested, or pushed away by security for just getting close to Trudeau to try and ask him questions 

This time, however, perhaps not realizing who he was, Trudeau told his security to back down and then proceeded to walk with Bexte on the beach, after first going to talk with his young son, in what overall can only be described as a sometimes-tense, awkward interview. 

At the start of the interview, which is posted online behind a paywall, Trudeau put his hands on Bexte to which the reporter replied, “Please don’t put your hands on me.” 

Bexte then proceeded to ask Trudeau a question about why his health minister, Mark Holland, recently claimed that families taking car road trips will make “the planet burn,” and how he could reconcile this with the fact his own family vacation involved using a jet to get to Tofino.  

Trudeau refused to give him a straight answer and only asked Bexte how his vacation was, but then claimed that as prime minister he must follow the “rules” and take an air force “jet” to get to his vacation. 

He then asked Bexte, “Do you think a Prime Minister should be able to have a family life?” to which Bexte replied, “Absolutely.” 

Trudeau then rejected the idea flouted by many that Trudeau is “hiding” from his caucus by going on vacation. Following a shock by-election loss in a Liberal stronghold in Toronto in June, Liberals and the media sounded the alarm over Trudeau’s unpopularity. The prime minister, however, said that a caucus meeting to address the problem was not possible.

In response to a question from Bexte about the Trudeau government’s proposed Online Harms Act, which many experts have warned is designed to radically alter internet use in Canada by stifling certain speech, Trudeau claimed that the bill will do “no” such thing. 

Trudeau also claimed to Bexte that he “works more days a week than the vast majority of Canadians,” saying his summer vacation is the “only” ten days a year he gets time to spend with his kids on the beach. 

Trudeau vows to stay on as leader  

Bexte asked Trudeau directly if he saw “similarities between yourself and Joe Biden’s current political situation,” to which he replied “No.” 

Trudeau then asked Bexte if he thought “good people should be stepping up in politics for all different parties,” to which he replied yes. 

The prime minister then said to Bexte that “good people are looking at the costs of being in politics, being in public life costs on family” to ask whether it’s “worth it.” 

Bexte then asked Trudeau if he was calling himself a “good person” to which Trudeau replied, “I am saying, that my job right now is to try and encourage people to step up into politics,” adding “that’s part of what I’m doing.” 

Trudeau told Bexte that a lot of people will look at the “aggressiveness of tracking someone down and challenging them on vacation while they’re on the beach trying to spend some time with their 10-year-old son, I’m going to have to go try and explain that to.” 

“A lot of people will say, ‘Wow, I don’t know that they want to sign up for this,’ and one of the challenges we have in a democracy is we need to make sure that good people from all different parties step up and not get their private time turned into public time.” 

Bexte then asked Trudeau directly if he was looking for a “replacement” for himself, to which Trudeau replied, “no,” saying he will be “running in the next election.” 

Bexte interview with Trudeau comes after the reporter has many times before faced arrest for asking non-conservative politicians, including Trudeau, questions. 

In fact, when it comes to the independent press in Canada, the Trudeau government has long made it a point to exclude them from attending press conferences, and has even had reporters arrested, such as David Menzies of Rebel News, for simply going near members of the Liberal cabinet. 

Trudeau’s vow to Bexte to stay on as Liberal leader and run again in the next election comes despite a recent poll showing that 70 percent of Canadians believe the country is “broken” as Trudeau focuses on unimportant issues. In January of this year, most Canadians reported that they’re worse off financially since Trudeau took office.  

The most recent polls show that if an election were held today, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party would mop the floor of the House of Commons.