 Media Credit: WIKIMEDIA.ORG Justin Trudeau, son of the former prime minister, is a candidate in the Papineau riding. [Click to enlarge]
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Justin Trudeau's campaign to take the Papineau riding in eastern Montreal for the Liberals stopped at the Bronfman Building last Wednesday, as Trudeau answered questions at an event run by Liberal McGill.
With the October 14 election approaching, Trudeau, a McGill alumnus and the son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fielded questions from students about his candidacy in the Papineau riding, the tight race in the area, and his general political views as a member of the Liberal party.
Vivian Barbot of the Bloc Quebecois is the current MP for the riding and Trudeau's main opponent in the race. Barbot has strong support thanks to Papineau's francophone majority, a demographic in which Trudeau must make significant gains in order to win.
"I have grown to be very impressed with Madame Barbot," Trudeau said. "I don't criticize her flat-out, except on one level: on the idea of having someone who is, by definition, forever relegated to being one among many opposite parties, who will never have their hands on the levers of power."
Trudeau admitted, however, that it has been a "tight fight."
"[The other parties] will more likely be drawing more votes away from me-from the Liberal party-than from the Bloc Quebecois," he said. "A perfect example of this: the Conservatives decided to put a [candidate] who does not actually speak French in the heart of Montreal, in a 70 per cent Francophone riding. The message is clear-the only person this Conservative is going to be stealing votes from is me."
Trudeau also responded to critics who accuse him of running on his father's name.
"[Papineau] is a riding where it would be impossible to win running on anything other than hard work," Trudeau said. "People say, 'Oh, politics is easier for him because he's a Trudeau!' Actually, you have to work two or three times as hard because you are a Trudeau. The door is open for me to a certain extent, but getting through is a lot harder."
2008 Woodie Awards
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