Trudeau the overwhelming choice to lead Liberal party
Canadians will finally get to see if the 41- year- old has what it takes to lead and refurbish an ailing party
Justin Trudeau reached out Sunday to voters tired of negative politics and “those in the West who left the party long ago,” promising a new movement that will resonate across the country.
That brief appeal to Westerners was uttered moments before Trudeau’s overwhelming victory in the Liberal leadership vote was announced.
In a speech to a crowd of 1,000 Liberals at an Ottawa hotel, he appealed directly to Quebecers, and dismissed the negativity of Conservative PM Stephen Harper and the divisiveness of NDP leader Tom Mulcair.
He also called on Liberals to unite after years of infighting.
Starting today, Canadians will get an close up look at the abilities of the Papineau MP, in the daily question period in the Commons and as he begins managing a party that requires top- to- bottom refurbishment.
Trudeau played media darling through a seven- month campaign in which a group of savvy political handlers oversaw their star candidate. While proving himself articulate and affable, the 41- year old father of two children mostly went unchallenged during a series of kid- glove televised debates.
Liberals, arguably, haven’t presented a defining policy position since Stephane Dion’s environmental 2008 Green Shift plan to tax carbon emissions, an idea that went down in flames.
The party also needs to revitalize its riding associations, up to one third of them inactive.
Trudeau, an MP only since 2008, previously did not play a particularly highprofile role within his party, holding only minor critics’ positions.
His recent meteoric rise resulted, of course, from being Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s son.
With voters still in the dark about the extent of the younger Trudeau’s abilities — beyond a remarkable fundraising prowess linked to his celebrity appeal, his opponents are keen to help define the new leader, even as Grits crow about their charismatic catch.
“A remarkable individual that has connected on a visceral level with the country” — is how Liberal blogger and past party candidate Daniel Veniez describes Trudeau.
Conservatives immediately described Trudeau as lacking experience and judgment.
“An inexperienced rich kid” — asserts conservative blogger and political strategist Gerry Nicholls, who attributed the Trudeau win to “a famous name, good media coverage, ( Stephen) Harper weariness.”
He wrote last week, “the best and most effective weapon the Conservatives and NDP might deploy against Trudeau is mockery.”
In other words, opposing parties should adopt a posture of division, lambaste his gaffes and stumbles, treat him as a sort of Dan Quayle- style bumbler, rather than deploying attack ads.
Liberal strategists believe the sort of negative advertising that was deployed against previous Grit leaders Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff wouldn’t work against their new leader.
As Trudeau’s principal adviser and longtime friend, Gerald Butts, told me in February, Canadians have a special fondness for Trudeau, remembering him as a toddler, watching him grow up. Butts believes people would be offended by negative characterizations of Trudeau born of partisanship.
Some political watchers are predicting the new leader will falter politically, that he’s not up to heading a party in Parliament where eloquence, ready wit and quick thinking are requisites.
Others believe he’s another Ronald Reagan, in the sense that the endearing former U. S. president who was neither intellectual nor analytical.
Polls clearly demonstrate that Canadians do like something about this chap.
An early- April Nik Nanos poll reveals Trudeau is seen as being more inspirational, if less experienced, than either Harper or Mulcair.
Nanos told CBC- TV last week: “Canadians are projecting onto Trudeau a party leader that can be reasonably comparable in terms of performance to ... Harper.”
Canadians are about to find out if their instincts and assumptions are correct.