Licia Corbella column
I’m here to challenge a whole new set of realities.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU
Slamming both the current Conservative government and the Opposition NDP as playing the politics of division, the 40-year-old Trudeau said “it is wrong to use our natural wealth to divide Canadians against each other, it was the wrong way to govern in Canada in the past.”
Asked by reporters later about the comments, Trudeau said he wasn’t apologizing for the NEP — which pitted the federal and provincial governments in a battle over Alberta’s energy resources — but said politics needs to be practised in a different way.
“Any policies and any politics that divides this country against itself within itself has been unhelpful in the past, is unhelpful today, will be unhelpful going forward,” he said.
“I’m proud of my father and the values he stood for, but I’m here to challenge a whole new set of realities and to try and bring a whole new generation of Canadians forward to the 21st century.”
Trudeau, widely seen as the front-runner in the Grit leadership race, also indirectly referenced Alberta’s massive oilsands, saying there was “not a country in the world that would find 170 billion barrels of oil in the ground and leave them there.”
“We must bridge the gap between those who are indifferent to the destruction of our ... natural environment and those who would shut it down completely.”
The Papineau MP, who is looking to revive the third-place Liberals from a historic low ebb, suggested to reporters the pace of oilsands development was too fast. Alberta’s oilsands production is projected to more than double to about 3.7 million barrels per day by 2025.
“There’s no sense in being in an incredible rush to try and maximize our profits for the next quarter if we’re going to leave ourselves indebted five years from now, 10 years from now, a generation from now, in either monetary terms or in ecosystem terms,” he said.
Trudeau also said there are major environmental concerns over Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline that represent “huge, huge barriers” to the $6-billion project, which is intended to ship bitumen to the British Columbia coast.
Calgary has not elected a Liberal MP since the “Trudeaumania” election of 1968 and the city is both the seat of the Canadian energy industry and a bastion of the federal Conservatives and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
University of Calgary political scientist Tom Flanagan, a former chief of staff to Harper as Opposition leader, said it was “good optics” for Trudeau to come to the city and address the NEP issue.
Flanagan said the jury is still out on Trudeau’s potential given his relatively thin resume and short time in office, but “he has a lot of great assets as a politician ... he’s got a name, he’s good-looking, well-spoken, he’s shown some political ability in getting himself elected in a difficult riding.”
If he does prove to be an effective leader, Trudeau could initially hurt the NDP, he said in an interview.
“Up to a point this plays into the Conservatives’ hands and perpetuates their dominance against a divided opposition. Of course, if it really gathers momentum it could become a threat (to the Conservatives) in its own right,” said Flanagan.
Chris Moraes, a 27-year-old Mount Royal University student who attended the speech, said he would support the Liberals if Trudeau was leader.
“He brings his pedigree but he also brings a lot of vitality and connection with young people,” he said.
In his speech, Trudeau noted the party’s “failures are a longstanding phenomena” in southern Alberta — the Grits hold no seats in the province — and paid tribute to diehard Liberals in the city.
“You’re not here because it makes you popular. You’re not Liberals in Calgary because it helps you network,” he said jokingly. “You’re here because you believe.”