Being only a two month old international student in Canada, I have already been swamped in the whirlpool of Canadian politics. Looking at different articles,party policies and tv shows, the name that really caught my attention is; TRUDEAU. Justin Trudeau is the leader of The Liberal party of Canada.Many share the general perception that since his father is Pierre Trudeau( one of the former Prime Ministers of Canada) he would definitely end up gaining power in the political arena. He has always been living in the shadow of his father and since Trudeau decided to pursue a career in politics, people have always compared his actions and ideals to that of his father. And even though he has great respect for the beliefs and ideals of his father, the ground  Trudeau stands on is a little different from that of his father’s and he wants the world to acknowledge it too.

If you go to the Liberal party’s website and read through what Trudeau shares about his life, you will know that he didn’t have everything handed to him on a silver platter.He didn’t have a reserved seat in the parliament house but rather had to work his way up the ladder of struggle,failure and success. His political career started in 2007 in Papineau and he describes it as follows,

“My career as a politician began in a parking lot. A grocery store parking lot, to be precise, directly across the street from a shawarma restaurant and a barbershop.”

He goes on to explain how all that he had back then was a clipboard a pen and a few friends to help him out. He had to go around asking people if they would pay 10$ to sign up for the liberals membership. it wasn’t an actual election campaign but a pre run between different candidates to choose which of them will carry the party’s banner. He elaborates further how he used to roam around the streets of Papineau, would stand at bus and train stations just to talk to people from all walks of life and to convince them that he was the right man for the job. By the time result day rolled over, Trudeau had met most of the people of that town and had had left such a positive impression of his dedication to his work that he ended up wining a majority on the first ballot taking 690 out of 1266 ballot casts. This little insight into his political career shows that he knows the meaning of hard work and perseverance and he knows what it means to gain the trust of the public and how to work for their betterment.As for those who say he is not ready; he has been directly involved in Canadian politics since 2007 and indirectly since his early years through his father’s work and there are some who say he is not experienced enough because he is younger than the other candidates, but I think that trudeau can use this factor of  age to his benefit to connect with the youth of the nation, and convince them to step out to vote for “REAL CHANGE” as the liberals logo says.In his life narrative he talks about how he has been called upon several times to speak at conferences on youth or environmental issues. referring to his interaction with the youth all around the country he said,

“I also began to feel that a generational change was approaching, one that might open up new possibilities.”

Knowing the issues our youth is passionate about, he knows how to empower them so that they  can work to achieve those goals. Trudeau is a man with a growth mindset, he knows that the road he is going down is still under construction and there’s a lot that needs to be done in order to achieve betterment for the country, but he also knows that he is the man for this job because he has seen this country go through hardships and work its way out and he knows that its capable of much more and if given the chance he will make others see it too.

https://www.liberal.ca/meet-justin/