The most revealing moment in Justin Trudeau鈥檚 keynote address to the Liberal party on the weekend was when he invoked his father and the Just Society, a byword for Pierre Elliott Trudeau鈥檚 commitment to fairness in income and opportunity.
鈥淗e devoted his entire life to that principle,鈥� said Trudeau the Younger. 鈥淲rote about it, thought about it, promoted it every chance he got. Heck, some say he even named his firstborn child after it.鈥�
It was a touching grace note. Sons of politicians celebrate their fathers in public sparingly, because they want to be their own people. It鈥檚 understandable. You can get a complex about your old man, whether it was Paul Martin, Jr., about Paul Martin, Sr., or Randolph Churchill about Sir Winston.
It is hard for a son to measure up. No wonder Randolph came to grief, plagued by alcoholism. No wonder Paul Martin, Jr., won the job that eluded his father but lost it when he didn鈥檛 know what to do with it.
Justin Trudeau lives in the shadow of an icon. Pierre Trudeau was a strongman with a steel-trap mind and a beguiling mien who led a feverish life like no other. Justin鈥檚 challenge is to show that he, too, has the right stuff, different in temperament and intellect than his father, but still serious and substantial, with a charm of his own.
In recalling the Just Society, Justin suggests he is heir to his father鈥檚 legacy. He will not deny it or hide from it, much as the Conservatives deride it.
After almost a year as leader, Justin Trudeau is comfortable in his own skin. He knows who he is. He is proud of his name and understands its appeal. But he will not exploit it shamelessly.
What it says is that he will do things his way, by his own lights, defying conventional wisdom.
For example, conventional wisdom suggests the Liberals would have had a serious discussion of policy by now. They would have commissioned studies, sought ideas and invited experts to contemplate what it means to be a Liberal in 2014.
You might have expected they would have even convened another Kingston Conference, as they did in 1960, which generated many of the ideas (pension, universal health care, bilingualism) that animated Lester Pearson鈥檚 Liberals in the 1960s.
That is what a party that suffered the worst defeat in its history in 2011 might have done. But the convention here was more politics than policy.
There is a similar lassitude around the two commissions on the economy and defence and foreign policy that Trudeau created last fall.
Then again, this must be what the leader wants. No big idea, no big moves. It came through in Trudeau鈥檚 keynote speech, some of which could have been given by Stephen Harper.
This ambiguity isn鈥檛 just tactical, a politician鈥檚 reluctance to show his hand too early. It is strategic, a reluctance to be bold and inventive when polls suggest you don鈥檛 have to be.
Trudeau defies conventional wisdom in other ways. Firing his caucus in the Senate was a political coup de gr芒ce. More personally, it shows the confidence of a leader prepared to reject institutional memory and some useful counsel.
Is Trudeau drawing advice from anyone outside his circle? If not, it underscores, again, his belief in himself and his judgment, which a leader must have.
That he might meet regularly with a range of outside experts, as his father once did; that he might make a series of speeches around the country offering a consistent critique of the government; that he might personally approach prominent 91原创s to run as candidates; that he might talk with ambition about Canada at home and abroad; that he might appear in the House every day 鈥� all that is yesterday鈥檚 thinking.
At the moment, flouting orthodoxy is working. Trudeau is the best retail politician in the country. The party is leading the polls, raising money and recruiting good candidates, some of whom the convention subtly showcased. For a party declared dead three years ago, the brand is strong.
This is now Justin Trudeau鈥檚 show, and he鈥檚 doing things his way.
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Andrew Cohen is a professor of journalism and international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.
