JustinTrudeau, son of former prime minister PierreTrudeau and current Liberal MP representing Papineau an electoral division of Montreal is running for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Mr. Trudeau has yet to officially announce this but it's the worst kept secret in Ottawa and in the rest of Canada, he will though make it official on Oct.2.
There are those who are comparing him to his father, unfair in my opinion, Justin is his own man facing a much different Canada than his father did.During his father's reign as prime minister or leader of the opposition, there was a calmer and a more respective House of Commons, where there were no attack ads full of half lies and compromised truths and worse, America style character destroying political ads..it was a different time, there was no Iran nuclear crisis, there was no European financial nightmares, no world banking problems and there hadn't been 9-11...and oh yeah, the Liberal Party was in good shape during Pierre's time.
If you've followed Justin's political career thus far, you'd be impressed in what he has done, on his political side, to start his political tenure, Justin chose one of the least winnable ridings in the Montreal electoral district of Papineau and won, beating the incumbent member of Parliament. On the personal side, Justin is a respected happily married young man, father of two,very outspoken on social issues and uses his public status to promote various causes.The younger Trudeau, has one thing that strikes me the most, his unconditional love for Canada,... he is handsome, bright, a great speaker and of course son of one of the greatest Prime Ministers in Canadian history,..The media loves all these factors, fortunately or unfortunately for some, it can make you or break you. Our Canadian media will no doubt test Justin, on his part, Justin will have to convince the nation that he is in tuned with what the Canadian identity is or should be, not a facsimile of the US but a nation with its own vision at home and abroad and what the Liberal Party of Canada historically has represented, but bigger yet, this will energise the party in a time in history when it has been diminished to a 3rd status federal party. I can truly say, up to now the Liberal party of Canada have had nothing to look forward to, lost in its place as the true ruling party, no real leadership and drowning in its own political tears who have no one to blame but themselves for the stupid choices and lack of both leadership and good policies for the nation... it had up to now no vision to capture the imagination for a better, fairer and independent Canada.
Justin will inherit a party in shambles, not a great start for any new leader specially in today's Liberal Party, but he has a vision and the makings of a modern day thinking man who could possibly have the support of 60% of the population,( mostly youth and elderly ) simply because he has the look and the substance.He would balance the support for both Palestine and Israel equally, the Liberal way, bring back Peace Keeping rather than go to war. He would be less dependant of the US, much like his father was, so much so that the CIA didn't like the senior Trudeau, when he was Prime Minister.
A Liberal government lead by Justin Trudeau would not build more prisons, why, because its a no brainer, crime is at its lowest it has ever been historically, we can use those savings, for example, to better Canadians like lower tuitions for universities and create jobs, ect... Stephen Harper wants to spend billions of dollars on building more prisons that we don't need instead of building a "National Daycare Program" for working Canadians, that will never happen under his government, because it seems more important to adopt the American style prison system..making Canada a Police State by imposing more stupid laws on things that they should leave alone.
Because of his age, Justin is very knowledgeable of today's youth who make up two thirds of the population that didn't bother to vote in the last couple of elections.The youth of Canada see today's politicians or at least those in power as, "status quo" thinking old men, conservatives who do not represent over 60% Canadians, many who are between 18 - 35....Remember less than 40% of Canadians voted in the last federal election.
Justin Trudeau is 40, his father, Pierre Trudeau was 42 when he ran for leader of Liberal Party.Justin has been an MP for four years, never in government. His father was justice minister two years after being elected and was Prime Minister from April 20, 1968 – June 4,1979. Justin is a former high school teacher, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from McGill University and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia, his father, a lawyer earned his law degree at the Université de Montréal. Justin is young, his biggest challenge, to try to interest the youth in Canada in participating in the democratic political process and thus far, if his twitter account reflects, over 150,000 followers, mostly young people, is a promising start.He has grown up with today's younger voter, Justin knows what they know, he sees what they see, he has also seen the worst that politicians, in particular those in government have to offer and like his father, he wants a better Canada too.At present, we liberal minded compassionate Canadians are being governed by a right wing conservative lot..this makes no sense..the only explanation I have is that the 60% of Canadians who didn't vote in the last election must have been Liberals..and maybe now we liberal Canadians have a reason to vote again,... Could Justin Trudeau be the answer to bringing Canada together..we'll just have to see and give him a chance to prove himself...I do know one thing, the fruit falls close to the tree.
*******
I know I'm expecting too much of a sharp turn to the left if Justin would ever form a government, which by the way he could as soon as the next federal election. We all know he will win his party`s leadership race, but if he governed and wasn't hindered too much by the old Liberal guard, (which BTW has a multitude of experience in the finer details of governing), Justin could possibly bring forth a kinder, more independent and intelligent governance for Canada..this is my dream anyway. Go Justin!
D. Pereira
Justin Trudeau, April 14th, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment