Trudeau 2.0

Canada's "Boy Toy" PM

“He’s not your father’s Trudeau,” said Peter Mansbridge on election night.

I paid little to no attention to politics in Trudeau the Elder’s heyday, so I can’t say whether the country was ruined or not when Pierre was in power. I didn’t even see the reputed charisma he allegedly had, and which Justin (his eldest son) has in spades.

Prone as I am to picking my fantasy hockey team on looks, however, I do recognize that picking my politicians demands a tad more serious criteria. Despite the sense that election day snuck up on me, I was aware enough to appreciate how the campaign was handled by the candidates. Justin Trudeau’s strategy was similar to that of Barack Obama’s in 2008: upbeat, positive, and non-combative. I will always follow the optimist who speaks of hope and empowerment rather than fanning fear through ignorance.

I have voted for the Liberals in past Federal elections (never ever in provincial), but this time the candidate dropped out so I had to reconsider my options. I thought I’d go one way until I was actually looking at the ballot. My eye scanned the list in search of the name I wanted, but got stuck at the halfway mark and in the end, I chose that candidate.

Canada will always be run by the Liberals or the Conservatives. The NDP’s disappointment at losing half the seats won in the last election strikes me as willful naivete. Surely they realize that the seats won in 2011 were those that would have gone to the Liberals had the Liberals not self-destructed prior to the campaign. All that happened this time round was the restoration of Liberal support to a resurrected party under the next generation.

Duh.

Perhaps not so strangely, many folks I know said afterward that they did something similar to me—while voting NDP in their ridings, all are pleased enough with the Liberal win. The big numbers tensed a few jaws, but hey, minority or majority, let’s see what the pup can do. My older sister nailed it when she told me of her confidence in Justin representing us on the world stage. Canada lost so much ground under Stephen Harper. Now is our chance to regain our reputation as a nation of good neighbours who care more about the environment and each other than we do about preserving the wealth of industrial magnates worldwide.

Speaking of which … my one regret is that our shiny new PM will not get a chance to work with the current US President. Together, they might have been magic.