Justin Trudeau running for leader of federal Liberals
Posted October 2, 2012 7:30 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTREAL, QUE. (NEWS1130) – It was the worst kept secret and it is now official. MP Justin Trudeau has announced he is running for leader of the federal Liberals.
Hundreds of supporters in his riding of Papineau cheered as the 40-year-old confirmed his ambitions. He says he is determined to breathe new life into a party that, he claims, has lost touch with middle-class Canadians.
Trudeau, the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, wants to reconnect the Liberal party with the ordinary people who gave it life.
News1130‘s Parliament Hill reporter Cormac MacSweeney was there for the announcement and says Trudeau doesn’t want to be known as his father’s son.
“He wants to kick that legacy and become his own person and he’s been saying that for years. I think this is a way he’s going to try and prove himself as an individual, but a lot of the criticism is not just that he doesn’t have the support or he has the baggage of his father’s name or the support of his father’s name. But it’s also the fact he is an intellectual lightweight and for that we need to see ideas.”
Justin Trudeau was a school teacher before making the move to politics in 2008. Critics, many of whom are fellow Liberals, say he is nothing more than a pretty face.
On Wednesday, he’ll embark on a cross-Canada tour designed to prove he’s also more than just the offspring of his famous father. Trudeau will visit Richmond, Calgary before attending a rally in Mississauga on Thursday.
