Last Tuesday, Justin Trudeau announced the launch of his much-anticipated Liberal leadership campaign. The speech appealed to a wider base, reflecting the party’s need to re-establish itself in the centre of the Canadian political spectrum, staving off a rapidly expanding NDP and the ideologically-grounded Conservative party. In order to win the leadership of the party, the 40-year-old MP needs to establish himself as a serious candidate—beyond his popularity, and distinct from his father’s legacy. Trudeau needs to demonstrate that he is fully capable of recovering significant ground for the Liberals without letting his idealism eclipse more concrete policy points.
“The key to Canadian unity is the shared sense of purpose so hard to define but so deeply felt, the sense that we are all in this together,” Trudeau said at the rally. “That when Albertans do well, it creates opportunities for Quebeckers. That when Quebeckers create and innovate, it echoes across the country and around the world. That whether you’re in St. Boniface or St. John’s, Mississauga or Surrey, we have common struggles and common dreams.”
Trudeau is asking Canadians to allow him to lead the Liberal Party through much needed, balanced reform. It’s unclear that the yet unproven candidate can do so with unsubstantive rhetoric.
Trudeau is an accessible candidate. He can appeal directly to a younger generation of voters, has an ambitious vision of a unified Canada, and this past Tuesday, proved he could land lines in both English and French. While these are all virtuous qualities in an energetic politician, it is all for naught if his aspirations cannot yet be carried out by the Liberal party. Though the scope of Trudeau’s objectives for the country are impressive, I am sceptical about his ability to keep up with big-picture claims.
After his party’s loss of 43 seats last May, Trudeau agrees that Liberals needs more than just a change in leadership. In what is now a much narrower political environment, Trudeau—if he wins the leadership race—should seek a more measured, policy-based, and structured recovery. With the NDP in position as a viable opposition, the Liberal Party cannot afford to disappoint a new wave of Canadians. Beyond the leadership race, idealistic promises and a lack of experience won’t benefit Trudeau nor the Liberal Party.
Are there benefits to Trudeau’s bold rhetoric? Sure, broad ideas for the role of the middle class, Indigenous peoples, Quebeckers, and young Canadians have the potential to hugely shift the political discussion and the potential to invoke real and positive change; however, rhetoric without clear policy could hurt both the candidate and his own party. Expectations are high for Trudeau. He needs to escape his own celebrity, and demonstrate he can effectively lead his party back to a position where it can contend for control of parliament. The Liberal Party itself is in rough shape and has to compete within a tighter federal race where idealistic assertions will not win seats, and are in need of a more realistic platform.
At his launch event, Trudeau was asking for our trust, or rather, the opportunity to earn our trust. Tempting as it is to believe the young, articulate MP from Papineau can enact his vision of a revived Liberal Party and the induction of a unified Canada, the capacities of the recovering Liberal Party trying to wedge their way back into the centre of a more crowded playing field are cause for wariness. It’s not Trudeau’s lack of ambition that concerns me—it’s all political.
