There is an unconfirmed report in the Toronto Star that the Liberal Party has recruited Justin Trudeau to work on the party's renewal.
Justin Trudeau to head Liberal task force
The Liberals have persuaded Justin Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, to lead a task force on party renewal.Trudeau, 34, is to head a "youth task force" as part of a renewal project examining how the party can rebuild after its January election defeat, CanWest News Service reported Friday....
Justin Trudeau, eldest of the former prime minister's three sons, has been an activist on youth and environmental issues. Axworthy wouldn't confirm the appointment and Trudeau couldn't be reached for comment, Canwest News said.
I can't say I'm surprised at this. I always suspected that Justin would eventually wind up in politics and this seems to be a good start. Yes he's a rich kid and it's the wrong party. But, if the Liberals were really serious about renwal, they would be begging him to enter the leadership race. He has credentials of his own other than just the family name and he is completely removed from the party's recent problems.
Trudeau is a soft spoken but passionate environmental activist and an excellent speaker. Personally, I like the guy. And he has more credibility than anyone else currently running for the leadership. He won't run this time but that is probably a smart decision because whoever is elected party leader this time is likely to have the job on something of an interim basis.
The next time the Liberals are in the market for a new leader, don't be surprised to see a Trudeau hat in the ring. The Liberals could and probably will do a whole lot worse.
I hate to say it, but this is one of the things that's wrong with the Liberal party. A 34 year old as head of the "youth task force"!? What is the party made of, people who are so old that they think 34 is youthful?
Not to mention a Trudeau in charge of party renewal? How about someone that wasn't key to the party's current policy?
What b---s--- comments! What "testicles-haven't dropped-yet" conservative would you suggest lead a comparable task force ? The CPC obviously has policy dictated from the top down now.
Paladiea - In fairness to the Liberal Party (and yes I really just said that), I think this is a problem of the Canadian political system not just one party. If I remember correctly, the Conservatives don't even have a youth wing of the party anymore.
The average age of members of the current parliament is 51. There are 7 members in their 20's and 34 in their 30's which means that over 85% of MPs are 40+. Given the low opinion most 18 -25 year olds have of their parents' ability to manage any thing, it seems hardly surprising that they are less than enthusiastic about picking from a slate of candidates their parents' or grandparents' age to run the country.
By parliamentary standards, 34 probably does qualify to head a youth task force.
Paul - I have made it clear on several occasions that I had no enthusiasm for Pierre Trudeau and that he is the reason I wrote the Liberal Party off decades ago. However, looking back over Turner, Campbell, Clark, Mulroney, Chretien, Martin and Harper, Pierre doesn't look nearly as bad as he once did.
I also think that there is a statute of limitations somewhere that sets a time limit for how long you can hold historical figures responsible for the fate of their parties and/or the country. Pierre Trudeau has been out of office for 22 years and dead for 6. I think the expiry date has long since passed.
If it is slightly ridiculous to hold Pierre responsible for the mess Chretien and Martin made of the Liberal Party, it is well past that to hold Justin responsible since he has never even held public office and was about 12 years old when his father left office.
Or we could forget about time limits and just blame everything wrong today on John A. Macdonald because his government took bribes 135 years ago.
Ya- darn that John A. Macdonald, I knew he'ld be trouble.
Different Prime Ministers have impacts over different times. We are just now escaping the shadow of Mulroney, if the right hadn't been so cannibalistic for so many years, maybe some one would of caught Adscam before it blew up like a giant pusy zitball. That will be Chretien's Legacy, and how long it takes the liberals to escape it's shadow will be a determining factor in elections to come. The current renwal looks like a good start to me. Maybe by next spring we'll have a decent liberal party again. Martin's Legacy as prime minister, well, nothing really, it was all damage control for Chretien.
I think the last prime minister that could possibly considered to have a positive legacy is Trudeau. Uhg. Really, what a horrible list of PM's for the last 30 years.
I think it's great that Justin Trudeau has jumped into the rebuilding of a party that his father had reshaped. If he is half as passionate for this country as his father was, then good things are on their way. He chose the best party to work with too, no other party can reach as many people ideologicaly.
"By parliamentary standards, 34 probably does qualify to head a youth task force."
I don't disagree with you at all, but maybe this is why there is no "vision" for Canada anymore. If the government is ruled by people who are at or near retirement age in real life, then they really don't have a need to look towards the future.
Maybe an injection of younger people into the parliamentary process is exactly what we need.
Oh and I forgot to say that if people have to spend a good 30-40 years to become PM, then there's no way that they can impliment any truly visionary plans because they'd probably lose perspective along the way.
As one born an anglo-quebecer (read: born Liberal) I was a raving trudeaumaniac in '68. But I woke up with a nasty headache after taking a coupla Trudeau's 2X4s upalongside the head (War Measures Act - 1970, Wage & Price Controls - 1972). So I'm skeptical of Trudeau II, even if I realize its unfair to visit the sins of the father on the son.