Justin Trudeau annonces his Liberal leadership campaign on October 2, 2012. Photo courtesy of Justin Trudeau

It’s a done deal; he’ll run. Justin Trudeau is now a candidate in the Liberal Party of Canada’s leadership race. The spotlight has routinely shined on him, but it’s now making him glow brighter than ever. The announcement of his campaign is a good example: a room teeming with people and media representation; all this for a leadership candidate of a party placing third in the House of Commons.

The day after his announcement, the big question on many people’s minds was whether he delivered the goods. But before we can answer that, we must first determine what there was to deliver in the first place. After all, he only said he wanted to be the Liberal Party of Canada’s leader. It would have been interesting to know why. Not that he needed to explain his take on the various challenges his party – and the country – are facing, but a preview would have been a good start.

Let’s face it, he knew he would be judged based on his political vision and he missed a great opportunity to elaborate. It’s now his job to confound the skeptics. He is the only one able to prove wrong those who believe he is nothing but a political lightweight in matters of public affairs. I am one of those who, to this day, cannot comprehend the pull he seems to exercise on many people. Obviously I can see that he does. His name, his poise and he looks like a star. But you see, I thought people had had enough with politicians who went for style over substance. Truly, we live in a world of contradictions.

A young Justin Trudeau with his father. Photo courtesy of Sherwood411, Wikimedia Commons

His campaign is in it’s early stages, I’ll admit as much. He will have to do better than uttering empty slogans and facts so obvious that anyone who has spent time observing the socio-demographic landscape in Canada can see them.

For someone who claims to be facing the future and not the past, he spent a great deal of time praising policies deeply anchored in the past.

On the other hand, he may surprise us. He may even disappoint some, who, rightly or wrongly, believe him to be Pierre Elliot Trudeau 2.0. In fact, if I were to give him a tip, it would be to forget about trying to be a more modern version of his father and to establish his own political brand.

But no matter, the race is his. Political ideas and intellectual discussions around the direction of the country’s public policies won’t weigh heavily on his present goal. Let’s not forget he will have to first convince his party members of his leadership suitability. A leadership race is, before all else, a membership card race. It’s a race where the best politically organised candidates gather partisans and, even more importantly, make sure they vote when the time comes.

In that context, he has a considerable advantage. With 150,000 people following him on twitter, he is one of the most popular politicians in Canada. If but a fraction of these people decide to vote for him, his adversaries will have a hard time getting on top. The Liberal Party of Canada’s new ruling allowing people to vote for a leader without having to become a member will be a great advantage for him. You see, many of his partisans are young and they aren’t particularly drawn to regular political structures, such as becoming a party member. The fact that they won’t have to will have a solid impact.

Meanwhile, we’ll soon see what he’s like. He’ll have to answer the media’s questions and eventually his party members’ questions, not to mention those of the other leadership candidates when the time for debates comes. It won’t have a very big impact on the present race. However, it will be an opportunity for him to show the Canadian electorate that a Party run by him is worth their support.

The ball is in his court.

Translation Monique Kroeger