“He’s got a bit of the old man in him,” Alan Martin said moments after Justin Trudeau left an audience of local Grits roaring with applause.
Martin, the MP for Scarborough West in the mid to late 1970s, served as parliamentary secretary of finance in Pierre Trudeau’s administration.
“He had a quiet manner, but he could put his finger on an issue quickly,” recalled Martin.
The son of the late prime minister shares his father’s mannerisms, said Martin, one of more than 200 people who paid $150 for the chance to dine with the 37-year-old MP at Hawk Ridge Golf and Country Club on Monday evening.
And like his old man, “he’s not afraid to say what he thinks,” Martin concluded.
The Liberal fundraiser was billed as an opportunity to hear from the MP from Papineau, Quebec, who gave a wide-ranging talk that had as its common thread a call for creative thinking.
“We need to start looking at the challenges of the 21st century, which are huge, not just here in Canada but around the world,” Trudeau said.
Canadians must use their “capacity to imagine” to bring advancements in environmental protection, social justice and technological innovation, he said.
“We who have received so much through accidents of geography, through the efforts of the countless immigrants who have come here … what we do with this land, with these people will to a large extent dictate the success or failure of humanity as a species,” he added.
Trudeau lauded party leader Michael Ignatieff for his “global perspective” – no doubt in answer to recent Conservative ads lambasting Ignatieff for his years spent outside this country.
He said the ads reflect the Tory belief that “Canadians are waiting to be driven into wedges and separated from each other, to set east against west, north against south, French against English, rural against urban.”
Barrie’s Mauren Best was raised in a Trudeau-friendly household, and admires the up-and-coming MP for his involvement with Katimavik, a youth volunteer-service program attended by her daughter.
“He is a great, giving man,” said Best. “He has the potential to lead this country somewhere.”
Trudeau toured the room prior to his speech, and was often accompanied by Steve Clarke, who ran as the region’s Liberal candidate in the last election.
“He has got the legacy, but he is backing it up,” Clarke said.
Proceeds from the event will go to support the Simcoe North Federal Liberal Riding Association in the next election.
“It’s nice to see people excited about meeting a politician,” said its president, Ryan Barber. “Someone who presents a vision is refreshing. It gets people energized.”
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Justin Trudeau, MP for Papineau, Quebec, addressed a local audience during a Liberal fundraiser earlier this week.
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