Justin Trudeau to run for Liberal leadership: reports

MONTREAL (NEWS1130) – The Liberal Party of Canada may once again have a Trudeau at the top.

There is word Justin Trudeau is set to announce he will run for the Liberal leadership; there isn’t anything official yet, only rumblings from political insiders and pundits. But the National Post says it has confirmed it.

University of Toronto political science associate professor Nelson Wiseman feels it’s a foregone conclusion.

“In fact, my only surprise to date has been that he didn’t make the announcement in August,” he says. “But he’s held off and I think he’s put a team together so that other candidates will be frightened off. It will be immediately apparent [the broad support] he has in the party [and beyond].”

Wiseman believes Trudeau will win, hands-down, given changes to who can vote in the Liberal leadership race.

“The process is a lot more wide open because the Liberals have created something called the ‘supporter’ category. You can vote for the Liberal leader without being a Liberal Party member; you can just call yourself a supporter and I suspect you will be able to do it online,” he explains.

“You have the possibility of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people, deciding they want to have a voice in selecting the next Liberal leader even though they don’t vote Liberal. Because of Trudeau’s name recognition, he has a natural advantage,” adds Wiseman.

“Having said that, I’m not sure if he’s as accomplished as someone like Marc Garneau or Dominic LeBlanc, who’s been in the House a lot longer and also has leadership aspirations. It will really be an uphill battle for Trudeau to overcome being the leader of a third-place party. I think Harper could outfox him and beat him very easily and I think the NDP’s Thomas Mulcair now has more stature.”

“He would have the support and the sympathy of a lot of people who really don’t follow politics and are swung by an emotion or a name,” he says.

Wiseman is quick to point out that Justin is not his father, Pierre. “He doesn’t hold a candle to Pierre Trudeau. Maybe Justin is more like his mother, Margaret Sinclair.”

“I don’t know Justin Trudeau, but in terms of what he’s accomplished, that is more on the public record and we can’t compare it to what his father has done as a constitutional lawyer who worked in the Privy Council, studied in France, studied at Harvard, who had taken on the Duplessis government, who had launched a radical Liberal magazine in Quebec. Justin Trudeau hasn’t done those sorts of things.”

“He’s been thrown into the political limelight early because of his name, he has benefited from it, he will become Liberal leader because of it,” he adds.

The Liberal Party may be looking for a messiah, but Wiseman believes there is danger in taking that path; there’s a risk it will blow up in their face.