Justin Trudeau gave an eye-popping display of showmanship in sa国际传媒 last week that political veterans and analysts say they haven鈥檛 witnessed since his father captured baby-boomer imaginations in 1968.
Trudeaumania II? Unlikely, given the Age of Aquarius has given way to an era of attack ads and deep political cynicism.
And Trudeau is still far from a polished politician, struggling last week to deal with policy issues such as the new federal requirement for First Nations to publicly disclose their leaders鈥� remuneration.
But the Liberal leader, who so frequently seems outclassed among his intellectually forceful and more experienced adversaries on Parliament Hill, gave other politicians a clinic on how to connect with ordinary citizens at events like Vancouver鈥檚 Aug. 3 Pride parade.
鈥淥h my God, it鈥檚 Justin Trudeau! Justin, I love you!鈥� shouted a startled Joanna Ludlow, 21, when she realized Trudeau, clearly relaxed and basking in the crowd鈥檚 affection, was leading a group of flamboyantly-dressed Liberals dancing through Vancouver鈥檚 West End in the blazing sunshine.
Trudeau was in a long-sleeve white cotton shirt, blue jeans and alligator shoes, wearing cheap gold and red beads someone put around his neck just before the parade began. He moved easily from one side of the street to the other as the crowds responded to his smile and wave like a magnet.
Ken Bonham, a 57-year-old Revelstoke businessman and usually a Conservative voter, said after posing for a photo with Trudeau that he鈥檇 鈥渄efinitely鈥� consider a Liberal switch.
鈥淗e clearly connects with the working man. He鈥檚 not uptight like other politicians who you only see in a suit and tie.鈥�
And it wasn鈥檛 just the traditionally boisterous enthusiasm at Pride that explains the response.
A Vancouver-based pundit for the arch-conservative Sun News Network, put on air last week to slam the mainstream media鈥檚 alleged fawning treatment of Trudeau, sounded as awestruck as a teen at a Justin Bieber concert after attending an event at Douglas Park in Vancouver on Aug. 4.
鈥淗e is like a rock star,鈥� J.J. McCullough told a grim-looking interviewer who was clearly hoping for a more cynical assessment for viewers of the unabashedly pro-Harper government network. 鈥淚 mean, he can barely move five feet without being swarmed by mobs of people wanting to, you know, take selfies with him.
鈥淵ou do really sort of get the sense that this man is bigger than mere politics, that he is a sort of phenomenon, he is a personality, he is a force of nature.
鈥淎nd it was really quite remarkable to sort of see that in the flesh.鈥�
Neither Trudeau nor his critics and fans could adequately explain why a man in his early 40s with a relatively thin resum茅 and few significant career accomplishments can generate such enthusiasm.
After Ludlow shouted 鈥淚 love you Justin鈥� and secured her selfie, she was asked what attracts her to Trudeau.
鈥淚 agree with what he stands for,鈥� the young woman declared confidently.
Challenged, Ludlow looked sheepishly to a friend sitting in the sidewalk beside her: 鈥淎h 鈥� what does he stand for?鈥�
The consensus among interview subjects at Pride seemed to be that Trudeau stands for youth, hope, change, and for being profoundly different from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Trudeau鈥檚 traditional answer is similar 鈥� that Canadians are enthusiastically responding to him because they are tired of Harper鈥檚 negative approach to politics.
But Trudeau doesn鈥檛 hesitate to acknowledge that the adoration is linked to his father鈥檚 legacy.
鈥淚 had to learn a long time ago that there are (people) out there who dislike me for reasons that have nothing to do with who I am and everything to do with history, and I have to disregard them,鈥� he told The Vancouver Sun in an exclusive interview. 鈥淏ut so must I sometimes take with a grain of salt people who totally adore me for historical reasons. And I have to focus on being myself.鈥�
Indeed, several at Pride rushing out to get photographs did so on behalf of older relatives still enamoured with Trudeau鈥檚 father.
The historical link is especially profound in certain immigrant communities who felt they benefited from Pierre Trudeau鈥檚 policies on immigration and human rights from 1968 to 1984.
One Sikh women at the Douglas Park picnic said the Liberal leader is often referred to by older women in her community who consider him a family member. The so-called 鈥渁unties鈥� call him 鈥渕era Justin鈥� or 鈥渟ada Justin鈥� 鈥� 鈥渕y Justin鈥� or 鈥渙ur Justin鈥� in Punjabi, or even 鈥渟ada put鈥� 鈥� 鈥渙ur son,鈥� said Sarbjeet Kaur Sarai, a Liberal activist and baptized Sikh.
The buzz during Trudeau鈥檚 three-day Lower Mainland swing was most comparable, say analysts and longtime Liberals, to two political events: Barack Obama鈥檚 campaign to become America鈥檚 first black president in 2008, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau鈥檚 remarkable 1968 campaign, when the shy but flamboyant former Montreal law professor won a sweeping national majority and took 16 of 23 sa国际传媒 seats with 42 per cent of the popular vote on the West Coast.
That鈥檚 a far cry from two out of 36 sa国际传媒 seats and a 13 per cent vote share the Liberals won in the 2011 election under leader Michael Ignatieff.
Justin Trudeau still has a long way to go before the scheduled 2015 election to match the initial euphoria generated by his ascot-wearing, sports car-driving father on the West Coast.
Many skeptics say Trudeau could easily crash and burn, especially in the spotlight of campaign scrutiny and TV debates against Harper and the NDP鈥檚 Thomas Mulcair.
Harper and Mulcair are intellectually formidable and experienced politicians who can barely hide their contempt for Trudeau.
鈥淪hine wears off. Substance and experience doesn鈥檛,鈥� says Industry Minister James Moore, Harper鈥檚 sa国际传媒 lieutenant and the man Harper will rely on convince British Columbians not to buy what Trudeau is selling.
Even some of the people at Pride who wanted their photo taken with Trudeau expressed doubts.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he鈥檚 proven himself yet,鈥� said Bill Bone, 65, who typically votes Conservative.
The Liberals are effectively a three-way tie with the Tories and NDP in sa国际传媒, all around 30 per cent, according to poll gathering website threehundredeight.com.
One sa国际传媒 analyst who was around when Trudeaumania swept the country in 1968 said there are striking similarities between the two charismatic Trudeaus 鈥� one an introverted former university professor, the other an outgoing ex-schoolteacher.
鈥淚 was struck not only by the warmth shown toward Justin Trudeau but also, for the first time, by the ease with which he handled it all in a way clearly reminiscent of Pierre,鈥� said political scientist Norman Ruff, a University of Victoria professor emeritus. 鈥淭hey seem to share an innate ability to personify an energetic optimism about the future that their opponents struggle to match.鈥�
But the sa国际传媒 of 2014 is far different from the coming-of-age country of 1968 that was bursting with idealistic young boomers who had just celebrated sa国际传媒鈥檚 centennial year.
鈥淧ierre Trudeau successfully channelled that into voter enthusiasm for himself and the Liberal party. Justin Trudeau has less fertile ground to cultivate,鈥� Ruff told The Sun.
Pierre Trudeau squandered his goodwill in sa国际传媒 despite marrying in 1971 into a prominent West Coast family, wedding Margaret, the 22-year-old daughter of former Liberal fisheries minister Jim Sinclair.
The Liberals steadily lost popularity in sa国际传媒 and throughout the West because Trudeau was viewed as being preoccupied with issues important to Central sa国际传媒 and especially his native Quebec.
The Liberals, after enjoying some reasonable success in sa国际传媒 in the 1990s and 2000s under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, was an afterthought in 2011 as voters turned mostly to Harper鈥檚 Conservatives and, in mostly urban areas, the NDP under the late Jack Layton.
University of sa国际传媒 political scientist Richard Johnston, a UBC student during the Trudeaumania election, said the son has a more formidable challenge both nationally and in sa国际传媒
For starters, Pierre Trudeau inherited a stronger Liberal organization. The Liberals were dominant in Quebec, while under senior cabinet minister Art Laing the Liberals had made great strides in rebuilding the party on the West Coast.
Meanwhile, Robert Stanfield鈥檚 Progressive Conservative party, the predecessor to Harper鈥檚 Conservatives, had its weakest support in sa国际传媒 and didn鈥檛 win a single seat in the province in 1968.
But Johnston said the younger Trudeau has some assets.
鈥渟a国际传媒 feels less 鈥榳estern鈥� now than it used to, and Justin Trudeau might be able to exploit wedges (on issues like pipelines) between sa国际传媒 and Alberta, for instance. And metro sa国际传媒 has become very socially liberal.鈥�
It also helps that Trudeau, a decade ago, was a 鈥渕inor celebrity鈥� while teaching school in Vancouver and working as a snowboard instructor in Whistler.
鈥淚 recall my youngest kid and her friends being very excited at the prospect that he might come to teach at their school. He did not, in the end, but you get the point.鈥�
That experience, and the family connection that allowed Trudeau to speak Tuesday about his childhood experiences in sa国际传媒, is an asset not possessed by either Harper or Mulcair.
鈥淚鈥檓 a Quebecer who was also very much a child and a grandchild of sa国际传媒,鈥� Trudeau told The Sun.
鈥淚 used to come and spend long periods here as a child. And then when I was looking to move out of my father鈥檚 house and strike out on my own in my 20s, I chose to come to Vancouver to discover and build on my sa国际传媒 roots.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something that I absolutely feel, that this is home.鈥�
