Last updated: November 19, 2012 3:48 pm
Josh Coles — The Cadre (University of Prince Edward Island)
CHARLOTTETOWN (CUP) — Liberal MP Justin Trudeau was on the Prince Edward Island as part of his campaign to become the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Arriving on Nov. 12, Trudeau travelled up to an event in Wellington, where he presented in French and “was mobbed” by the crowd, according to Charlottetown MP Sean Casey on Twitter.
Click here for the original article from The Cadre
Trudeau held a meet and greet at later that evening, where he was supported by fellow Island Liberal MPs Lawrence MacAulay, Sean Casey and Wayne Easter. The next morning Trudeau was out shaking hands in downtown Charlottetown, but before that The Cadre met up with him at a downtown coffee shop to talk about his tour, student issues and some other fun stuff.
The Cadre: First of all, how’s the tour going?
Trudeau: Oh, really well. I’ve got a real sense that people are interested and excited once again in politics. It’s only marginally about me. It’s really about the idea that they might be able to participate in rebuilding a party that … will take the country back in the right direction and that’s what’s really exciting about this.
The Cadre: Have you noticed any differences as you go across the country’s different regions? Is there a particularly strong interest as you go down east as opposed to out west, or in Quebec versus Ontario?
Trudeau: One of the things I’ve seen over all of my years is that for all of the divisiveness that Mr. Harper’s trying to put forward, Canadians are Canadians and yes, there are regional particularities and concerns, but our values, our hopes for the future, are remarkably similar all across the country and that’s what I see people responding to.
The Cadre: Being a student newspaper, we pay a lot of attention to the youth vote. I know that in the last federal election the youth vote got a lot of attention — social media was really touted as being a possibly deciding factor — but in the end, the youth didn’t come out to vote as expected. What do you think it’s going to take — not only in the Liberal leadership race, but also in the 2015 federal election, to get the youth vote out?
Trudeau: I think one of the things we saw in the last election — and this is more anecdotal than statistic — but a lot of people came out to advance polls and a lot of young people voted early. They were the ones that were going to vote early or on the day of, so we really have to reach out beyond that politically engaged group of young people to young people who are engaged in their communities, engaged in big international NGOs like Amnesty, Greenpeace, whatever, and have them feel like their voices matter in politics like they can actually make a difference with their vote.
That’s a longer conversation about the kinds of things we have to aim for, try for and work together to build in this country, and that’s a conversation that I’m glad to be starting now and will be continuing to have over the next months and years.
The Cadre: For Canadians in general, as opposed to students and those directly involved in universities, is post secondary education enough of an issue to make a difference in how people vote, or should people be more involved in the discussion surrounding funding for PSE?
Trudeau: I think one of the things that people see is that the Canadian economy needs to grow, and needs to grow in ways that aren’t just based around resources, but are based on adding value to our resources through the knowledge economy, taking electricity and turning it into data, taking lumber and turning it into cabinets, taking bitumen and turning it into processed oil.
You know, these are the kinds of things we need to invest in, and in order to do that we have to give young Canadians the opportunity to get the best education possible, because that’s what’s going to give us a competitive advantage in the global market. So investing in access to high-quality education is not something that should just concern students, it needs to concern their parents, it needs to concern employers across the country, future employers across the country and needs to concern everyone who’s worried about the long-term health of this country. That’s a conversation that we’re overdue in having.
The Cadre: You touched on the economy, which was one of the hottest topics in this month’s U.S. election. What does Obama being re-elected for another four years mean for Canada in terms of not only the economy, but also international relations in general?
Trudeau: Well, I think Obama has a grasp on international relations and the positive role that a country with the size and power of the U.S. must have. In promoting understanding, peace and positive engagement with people around the world, particularly people that are living in poverty or in disenfranchisement, or in situations of precocity. Whether it be because of resources, because of conflict, climate events — whatever it is, and Obama has a vision that I think is going to be more helpful for the world than anyone else.
The Cadre: You’re obviously a big supporter of the Katimavik program, which was cut this year. Is there a chance that Katimavik is going to be back in full force in the next five years? Err, maybe not full force, but you know what I mean.
Trudeau: I’ve committed to restoring Katimavik as soon as the Liberal party gets in power. It’s something that I’ve pushed on to try and make sure that the Conservative government understands that putting young people to work is a good thing to do. Having them discover their country and what they can do to impact upon their country with their own hands and their own knowledge and passion is something that should fit within the Conservative mindset, but they looked at it much more as a Liberal program and therefore needed to be eliminated, and their incapacity to go beyond the labeling they choose to put on things rather than the actual benefit of it, is why ultimately they are going to falter and they’re going to fail as a government.
The Cadre: Given the ultimatum, would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?
Trudeau: Oh, definitely 100 duck-sized horses. I was raised the eldest of a whole bunch of brothers and cousins and I’m really good at fighting with crowds. One big duck would probably, ya know, scare me enough to just … freeze while it came down on me with its big angry beak. I mean, if you’ve ever tried to pet a Canada goose you know how aggressive a single, normal-sized goose can get, and how ill tempered they can be, I would imagine that a large duck would be fairly unpleasant.
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