Safe powerful policy for Justin Trudeau

I will be taking a break from blogging for the next month or so, but before taking my leave I will part with some, (in my not so very humble opinion) sage advice for Liberal leadership aspirant Justin Pierre Trudeau.

Conservative commentators and pundits have been clamouring for something substantive in the way of policy  from the Papineau member of Parliament.  Showing political acumen perhaps beyond  his years, Mr. Trudeau has been wise not to oblige.  After all this is not a general election, merely a contest to determine the leader of the third party in the House.

But Justin appears to be very much the gentleman, an individual who carries himself with poise and with class, something long missing from the Canadian political scene.  As such I'm sure he must be itching to give his detractors some steak to go with all the sizzle.  

It would be unwise to make any bold statements this far in advance of the next election in 2015.  After all, who knows what the issues will be?  Why corner yourself on something that the Conservatives will try to hang you with in three years time.  

That doesn't mean you can't outline some powerful policy initiatives however.  And here are four ideas for starters, complete with annotations, just click each point.  

I will suggest that Justin tell the Liberal party specifically and Canadians in general that a Trudeau led Liberal government will not:

• Waste taxpayer dollars on the building of a fake lake.
• Ask taxpayers to look after his hair.
• Campaign on ending patronage and then set the record for Senate appointments in one day.
• Renege on a promise to protect senior's nest eggs.

My favourite in all those is the stylist that Canadians taxpayers footed the bill for, not for Justin but for Prime Minister Harper.  Conservatives love mocking Trudeau for his gorgeous 'pretty boy' locks, but at least taxpayers aren't asked to foot the bill.  

See y'all sometime in November.  

Everyone is talking about Trudeau

Ever since he became Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has dominated the Canadian political scene.  Love him or loathe him, any discussion on federal politics has started and ended with Stephen Harper.  

There's a famous quote attributed to PT Barnum:  

"There's no such thing as bad publicity, as long as they spell your name right".   

And in today's age of hyper connectivity and constant news, Stephen Harper has probably been getting more publicity than any politician in Canadian history.  

Until now.

Much, (I am sure) to the consternation of die hard Conservatives, Justin Trudeau is now the dominant subject of political discourse. And the reaction one sees, be it from right wing news outlets or neo-con posters commenting on the web, seems to say....HOW DARE HE!!!

Right wing loathing of Trudeau was already rampant before Justin even declared his intention to run for the Liberal leadership.  It is starkly evident from the Sun TV broadcast of Justin's boxing match with Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau.  Calling JT a 'Shiny Pony' and deriding him as a former drama teacher, you can almost taste the acrimony Ezra Levant has for the Papineau MP.

If you watch the post fight interview though, notice the class Trudeau exhibits with Mr. Levant.  Class, and respect, something we haven't seen enough of lately in the political arena.  Even after the Conservative champion has gone down to defeat, Levant can't summon up the class to be gracious.

Ratchet that loathing up a notch now, and throw in a measure of fear.  Yes fear, Justin Trudeau represents a very real threat.  

And with wall to wall coverage the young Trudeau has been able to do something that Monsieurs Ignatieff and Dion were incapable of. Justin is introducing himself to Canadians, on his terms.

Crisscrossing the country he's already been to Calgary, Mississauga and Dieppe New Brunswick, with more to come. Should the Big Blue Machine  start smearing him with Rove style attacks at this early juncture, they might appear desperate.  

And the simple reality is, while JT may not be the reincarnation of his father, he is every bit as much a lightening rod for public attention.  

It doesn't matter whether the media is left wing or right wing, Sun TV or CBC, they're just filling demand.  And what people want to hear about right now is Justin Trudeau and not Stephen Harper.

A nice change if you ask me.  

Justin needs to use his boxing skills outside of the ring

I've often compared politics to chess, or at times a hockey game.

Now the appropriate metaphor appears to be boxing, given Justin Trudeau's ring defeat of a heavily favoured Conservative Senator, a fomer Canadian Forces member and a karate blackbelt. Young Mr. Trudeau didn't beat three opponents, just one. Tory Senator Patrick Brazeau had those seeming advantages and the calendar on his side to boot, being 38 to JT's 40.

Despite being a three to one underdog, Canada's dauphin stunned everyone by scoring a technical knockout when the referee finally halted the fight in the third round. That was after several previous stoppages to ensure the Senator was fit to continue.

Boxing and politics, both contests where opponents try to land their gloves on one another while at the same time defending against attack. Not always an easy task, take a reckless swing and you can leave yourself ungaurded against a big punch.

Just ask Stephane Dion, he of the ill fated but bold Green Shift.

The former Libeal leader tried to land a haymaker by proposing an overhaul Canada's tax system, advocating the reduction of income taxes while raising them on carbon production. Dion's gaurd down, he was pummelled by Harper and the Conservative machine with a flurry of punches about the Liberals looking to 'tax everything'.

The Conservative won that fight on points, returned to power, but with another minority.

Dion bloodied, the Grits turned to Michael Ignatieff. But before the former Harvard prof could even get between the ropes he was getting hit left and right over his long absence from Canada's shores. The highly intellectual and new savior wasn't able to mount any offence whatsover and was knocked out cold by the Harper machine. The Liberals were relegated to thrid party status and Iggy failed to win even his own seat.

Of course young Mr. Trudeau hasn't yet won his party's leadership, although it looks like a foregone conclusion. Right now he's in training and working out hard. But if things play out the way most are expecting he's just getting ready for the main event when Canadians next go to the polls in 2015.

We're still waiting to see if any big name sparring partners will step forward, Marc Garneau seems the most likely. The Conservatives will be watching carefully, this is an open session after all, the gym doors aren't closed. Stephen Harper and his advisors will be putting JT under a microscope to discern any weaknesses that can be exploited down the line.

And if the Montreal area MP is as cagey as he appears, he won't give them any.

Justin's boxing skills were, at least in part, learned from his late father Pierre. And the elder Trudeau was very skilled at using boxing tactics outside the squared circle. Pierre Trudeau loved the Socratic method, the intellectual version of counter punching. Goading his opponents into defining a position on a given issue, the elder Trudeau would find an inevitable flaw in their argument, rip it wide open, then hold it up for all the world to see.

That's what many Conservative commentators are doing right now with Justin Trudeau, calling for him to outline concrete policy initiatives. In boxing its called jabbing, a sharp quick thrust, not meant to inflict any real damage but rather to illicit a response. The dominant hand is kept close, gaurding against attack, while the non dominant hand is thrust quickly but with no real weight, toward the oppoent.

Pretty boy - but no depth, nice hair - but no substance, famous name - but no resume....JAB JAB JAB.

The undisciplined fighter gets annoyed with the glove of his opponent constantly flicking him in the face, and he responds strongly, going for the big blow and leaving his chin exposed.

If I was in JT's corner this would be my advice:

You're winning on points, the National Post released news of a poll that shows Conservative support tanking with you as Liberal leader. No need to go for the knock out, keep moving, bobbing and weaving. Be ready for that right, and if you see an opening and want to try a left-right combination, be damn sure your opponent's defences are down.

It worked on Brazeau I know, but now the stakes are higher and the opposition tougher.

Trudeau has the Conservative base worried

I've been reading a lot of the news on Justin Trudeau's 'non-news' announcement that's he's running for the leadership of the Liberal party.  Obviously everyone already knew, I blogged about it on August 30th...and if I knew then everyone not living in a cave knew.

Say whatever you want about Canada's Johnny Depp look-a-like, but there's no questioning that he's grabbing people's attention. According to my google news feed there are over 400 articles available on the aspiring Prime Minister, and that's just in the last 48 hours.

More interesting than the articles though is the comments these stories are generating, and from Conservatives the reaction is very telling.   Bottom line, they're worried.   

A common theme emerges in these comments. Characterizing young Mr. Trudeau as a political lightweight with a thin resumé, a pretty boy riding on his daddy's coat tails.  That's fair commentary certainly.   Were his last name anything but Trudeau the chances of him running would be slim and none, and winning his party's leadership would be all but impossible.  

After that though the comments take an uglier turn.  Anger over past Liberal programs like official bilingualism and multiculturalism for starters.  I've seen the word 'ecotard' used a few times, which suggests some Conservative diehards think that anyone who's concerned with protecting the environment must be mentally challenged.  The Conservative/Refrom base is really showing its true colours.  

Such venom indicates a real and palpable fear among grassroots Tory supporters.

If westerners celebrating Halloween really want to frighten the neighbours, send the kids out in Justin Trudeau costumes.  Nah, that might be a bad idea, they might get injured.  

Justin Trudeau understands social media...

Nice touch, hopefully young Mr. Trudeau can get Canada's youth excited about politics again.   Its been a while.

Stephen Harper is Sooooo unpopular that.....

I'm not going to put any stock in a recent poll that suggests the Liberals led by Justin Trudeau would easily win a federal election if one were held right now, because there's no campaign going on.  

But it does say something about how Canadians  feel about Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.   All Justin Trudeau brings to the table at this juncture is a famous name, good looks and a perfect boxing record.  But that's all Canadians seem to need to tank Conservative support at the moment.  

Of course the Conservative attack machine hasn't yet fixed its cross hairs on the son of Canada's philosopher king.  Assuming JT wins, that will most assuredly come.  

The Harper Conservatives' political success hasn't been built around convincing Canadians that they're the best party to lead the country so much, but rather by scaring us about others who: 'Aren't here for us'.  Or who are 'not worth the risk'.  

Any thoughts for an anti JT slogan?  

That was one long walk in the snow Justin

If Warren Kinsella is right, and I have little reason to doubt him, then Justin Trudeau is going to run for the Liberal leadership. Given how long it took him to reach this decision I thought perhaps he was waiting for winter to arrive.  That way he could follow in his father's footsteps by taking a walk in the snow before making making up his mind.

Pierre Trudeau of course took his famous walk in the snow before announcing his departure from political life back in February of 1984.  I think it would have had a nice symmetry to it, combined with an interesting dichotomy.  The old man exiting the Prime Minister's office in the same way that the son aspires to it.

As for rumours that JT will insist on his team being all forty years of age or younger, I'm ambivalent....besides which I don't really care.  I can see positives and negatives to such a move.  The obvious negative is that it will eliminate some very experienced people.  The positive is that a lot of that experience is in running losing campaigns.

I do think he's the best choice for the LPC.