Nobody expects that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s puff piece that has just been published is actually written by him. It comes as a shock though when he describes the process as more like a choral arrangement. It sounds like a process that takes out any spontaneity, edge or passion from what is being published. It sounds like a waste of time. We should not be too eager to read the literary reviews. Forget the Geller Prize.
What Trudeau believes is that the book is an opportunity for Canadians to see the differences between his Liberal approach and the present Conservative government’s plans. The only problem with that is that we have little to go on today to really understand where Trudeau and his choir want to take us. Liberal platitudes are readily available but a concrete Liberal future has yet to be articulated.
And we have every reason to be concerned about the Liberal vision of this country. Trudeau cannot continue to curry favour in Alberta by supporting pipelines unless there is clear understanding that there has to be limits to tar sands pollution. Canadians have every right to expect the Liberals to have a plan ready to provide such things as a national drug program and better coordination of Medicare delivery. No doubt we will be trapped into some of the Conservative tax cuts but reality is that Canadians have the right to expect a strong and effective national government and that costs money. That means some truths must be told.
The family tidbits have to be there to promote the book as a biography but that is necessarily thin. Pierre Trudeau was an austere and distant person but at the same time a loving father. Nor are his mother’s issues hidden and Justin deals with them. If you are looking for intimacy though, you best look elsewhere.
The story this writer would like to read is the first campaign for Justin’s riding of Papineau in 2008. That was his real baptism into politics and we wonder about the influences and experiences that took him to Ottawa and eventually to the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. We expect that period is glossed over.
But there will be a market for the book. It will be required reading for the minions in the Prime Minister’s Office. Know your enemy will be their excuse. They are already convinced they know everything else.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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