Will it really be a new Canada?
It’s a new era in Canada, they say. With one night of voting the entire country changed overnight. Again, so they say. Did it really though?
Revellers were going nuts at Justin Trudeau’s headquarters for a party on Monday night. And if you saw them on TV you maybe thought they were either animals or drunk college kids — maybe a combination of both. Reporters on the scene could barely be heard by viewers as the hooting and hollering drowned them out.
Trudeau’s Liberals won by a fair majority and voter turnout hit a 20-year high. Pollsters can only speculate if it was social media, if it was political interest or that voters were fed up with a Harper government and they voted for anybody not Conservative. If you ask one of my colleagues, it was because Trudeau promise to legalize marijuana. That one is debatable.
Nevertheless, on election night TV commentators were quick to point out that while the country celebrated Trudeau-mania the new prime minister would actually have to live up to the hype. As we know, when it comes to politics and promise making, saying and doing are two completely different things.
Trudeau hasn’t done anything to prove himself at this point. Remember, a political campaign is all about saying the right things. You can’t really do much but get on your soapbox and rant about why you are better than the other candidates. Well, you probably could do other stuff but rarely do politicians focus on the positive – scare tactics is where it’s at.
He might soon be the leader of a country but Trudeau doesn’t have very much power to snap his fingers and make things happen. There will be votes and opposition and consultation. But remember, if his colleagues in Ottawa don’t agree, his word might not mean anything.
All it will take is Trudeau wavering or going back on his word the first time for that to set the tune for the rest of his time as PM. Canadians aren’t very forgiving after the decade-long rule of Stephen Harper.
We shall see, Canada. We shall see.
