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Part 2 of 2

“Imagine a world that is completely different.”

At thirty-seven years old, and looking younger, Justin Trudeau is not surprisingly one of the Liberals’ most prominent new stars. Despite coming from an established party and a famous family, Trudeau is the kind of person you can picture having a few drinks and laughs with. There is none of the stuffiness that is often associated with politicians.

But is there substance?

Can he provide the vision of, say, a Barack Obama, who did so much to galvanize the youth of America?

And what exactly is ‘youth’ anyway?

“Youth, for me, is more of an attitude than it is a particular age,” says Justin Trudeau. “Youth have a capacity to think long term, to dream big, to imagine a world that is completely different within our lifetime.”

Nevertheless, Trudeau chose to run for one of Canada’s oldest and most powerful parties – the party not only of his father, but of two of the last three prime ministers. How does he reconcile the idea of utterly changing the world with being part of the establishment?

“When you’re a party of the centre, and you have power, you can actually lay on transformative change that a party like the NDP, for all its lofty ideals... won’t ever be able to actually implement,” he replies.

Growing up, Justin Trudeau would have seen the Liberal Party embrace change with gusto. Whatever critics may say of him, few would complain that his father was afraid to rock the boat. Pierre Trudeau brought home the constitution, gave Canada the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and made Canada officially bilingual.

But that is the past, and few youth would vote Liberal out of respect for previous accomplishments. I ask Trudeau whether he feels youth tackle politics differently than older generations. His first answer is “absolutely” and he discusses older voters’ preoccupations with practical realities, like savings and pensions, which contrast sharply with younger voters’ willingness to think of radical change. There are also differences in political communication, preferences, with youth more eager to embrace new technologies such as iPhones, blogs, or social networks like Facebook.

Trudeau himself, however, is less eager to embrace the Internet – perhaps out of past experience.

“I’ve been very cautious about creating an online presence,” he says.

For the uninitiated, the site formerly known as JustinTrudeau.ca was probably one of the most lampooned of the last election. A YouTube parody featured a Justin Trudeau look-alike, speaking a bizarre version of “Frenglish.” Example: “Laissez me remercier de waste your time.” Or, “I sincerement believe that my façon de parler is the language of the futur.”

The lampooned site no longer exists, and I get the sense Trudeau is not rushing to replace it.

Trudeau further states that given the choice between spending an hour calling constituents or an hour responding to messages on Facebook, the constituents will win out every time. Perhaps that is just smart politics. You cannot vote in an election via Facebook, whereas direct communication with voters can reap enormous benefits. Bump into him on any street corner in Papineau, he’ll always have time for a chat.

But the Liberals have lost two elections in a row. What exactly are they going to do differently this year? Trudeau takes a moment to applaud the leadership of Michael Ignatieff.  And he takes comfort in the idea that Canadians are a centrist people, and so the Liberals will fare best if they bring themselves as closely as possible to the concern of the people they hope to serve.

Alright, how about specific issues? In the week immediately prior to the interview, CBC had announced that 800 employees were going to be cut.  Trudeau says it is time for a “compelling discussion around what the CBC is for.” Without clarity on this point, he feels that the CBC is struggling to compete with enormously better financed productions from the United States.

He leaves one issue beyond doubt: his belief in the vitality and importance of Canadian culture. When the interview winds down with a few easy questions about music and food, Trudeau becomes the most animated he has been over the last 50 minutes. He recently saw the film, The Watchmen, and was enthralled by the Leonard Cohen song, “Hallelujah” – he’d never heard that particular version before. He loved it so much that he sat until the very end of the credits to try and find out what recording they used.

“And every December, I just can’t wait to break out Sarah McLachlan’s winter songs,” he says.

He leaves us with some parting recommendations for good restaurants in the area. I asked for two names; the list extends to about a dozen. He recalls the names of proprietors and staff, and you’re left thinking: it’s not so much food that delights Justin Trudeau; it’s the people. {w}

symbols: volume i, issue iv

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