Common Ground

by Justin Trudeau

  As I hope I have made clear throughout this book, my approach to leadership could not be more different. I am working hard to earn this country’s trust. I expect no free passes and will take no shortcuts. That is, I think you will agree, how it should be. I want to be Canada’s prime minister because I think I have a better idea of this country—and better ideas for this country—than my political opponents do, though I do not believe they are lesser Canadians, or lesser people, because we disagree. I have a strong sense of this country, where it has been, how it became great, and how it can be even better in the future. We have problems to tackle, but they are no larger than any we have solved in our shared past. And solve them we will, the way we always have: by building on common ground.

  One final word. I well understand what challenges lie ahead, for me and for those I love. This will be a tough road. I draw strength from my friends, from my family, and from the experiences that shaped the man I am today. The First Nations prayer I read at Miche’s memorial still guides me now, and I can think of no better final thought upon which to leave you. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey.

  O Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds, and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me.

  I stand before you: one of your many children,

  I am small and weak; I need your strength and wisdom.

  Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset,

  Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice,

  Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people,

  Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

  I seek strength, not to be greater than my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

  Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes,

  So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.

  Appendix

  Select Speeches

  Nomination speech for the

  Liberal candidacy of Papineau

  Montreal, April 29, 2007

  Dear Liberal friends, bonjour, kalimera sas, buon giorno. What a great day to be a Liberal!

  I want to start by sincerely thanking you for being here, for allowing me to share with you the desire—the dream—that I have of representing the riding of Papineau.

  I should also start by thanking my beautiful Sophie, my own family, and my extended family, people of all ages and all backgrounds who have devoted themselves to this dream for several months. Without the tireless work of this new “riding family” I would not be here before you today.

  But I am here today, and it’s because of your inspiration, your example, and your support. Though I have to share with you that I have another source of inspiration, as well. In the fall of 1965, the residents of Park Ex helped send Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who listed his occupation as “teacher,” to the House of Commons for the first time. Times change, and riding borders change, but what you were part of forty years ago changed Canada forever. Twenty-five years ago this month, that man gave Canada one of the most evolved tools the world had ever seen in ensuring the protection and the full exercise of human rights and freedoms. And now we are all children of that Charter. Of that we are immensely proud.

  So you can understand how fiercely proud I am to be able to say that your Prime Minister Trudeau was also my dad.

  But it is I who stand before you today.

  My name is Justin Trudeau, and I need you, the Liberals of Papineau.

  You, the volunteers of our riding, like the great lady of Villeray, Lucille Girard, who brings together the young and the old every day at the Maison des Grands-Parents; like Giovanni Tortoricci, who brings friends together at their Nicolas-Tillemont club, and who even let me win a round at scopa; and like Joanna Tsoublekas, who everybody knows fights hard week in and week out for her community through the Filia Association. It’s you who define the quality of life of the riding. It’s you who speak to me of your daily lives and of your hopes for the future. I want to work with you, and share your challenges and your successes.

  I want to congratulate Mary and Basilio for their vital commitment to the Liberal Party of Canada. Thank you both: just look how strong the Liberal Party is in this riding today. With our leader, Stéphane Dion, and the dynamism of the fierce supporters of this riding, I know that in the upcoming election we will take back Papineau.

  To get us down this road, I need you.

  I want to be your standard-bearer in confronting our true adversaries, the Bloc and the Conservatives.

  The Bloc wants to divide and destroy our Canada. The Conservatives want to divide us on issues of social justice. They want to divide us on the environment, on Kyoto, endangering the future of our children. They want to divide us on Canada’s role in the world, with positions copied from the American right.

  They want to divide us . . . I want to unite us.

  And just who am I? I am Justin Trudeau. I am a man with a dream for our riding, our province, and our country, and I am a man who knows how to draw us together to make it happen. I see in Canada a place where our families are strong and supported, our elders are healthy and respected, our young people are empowered and filled with hope, and our new Canadians are embraced and encouraged to join together to build the Canada this world so desperately needs us to be. To achieve this, we will all need to work together, and it starts right now, right here, this afternoon, with your votes!

  Speech announcing bid for the

  Liberal Party of Canada leadership

  Montreal, October 2, 2012

  “Make no small dreams, they have not the power to move the soul.” —Goethe

  Now that’ll take courage, but more than that, it’ll take hard, honest work. So let me start by telling you about the folks who taught me that best, here in Papineau.

  On this side of the riding, it’s Park Ex. People from every nation live here. They make this neighbourhood so vibrant. On the other side of Jarry Park, Xavier and Ella-Grace’s favourite park, is Villeray, one of those solidly francophone neighbourhoods that defines Montreal. Artists and intellectuals live there, but so too do many families.

  In the east side of the riding, there is Saint-Michel, where you find people like my good friend Ali Nestor—a boxer—who teaches us how to fight poverty, social exclusion, and, from time to time, Conservative senators.

  This community is not just remarkable for our diversity of ideas, of cultures, of beliefs. What is truly remarkable is that this diversity thrives peacefully.

  Here, we trust each other and we look to the future together.

  This trust that binds us together here in Papineau is the trust that binds this country together.

  My friends: I love Montreal. I love Quebec. And I am in love with Canada.

  I choose, with all my heart, to serve the country I love. That’s why I’m so happy to announce here, tonight, my candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

  So I’m here to ask for your help, because this road will be one long, Canadian highway. We will have ups and downs. Breathtaking vistas and a few boring stretches. And with winter coming, icy patches.

  But we will match the size of this challenge with hard, honest work. Because hard work is what’s required. Always has been.

  Canada’s success did not happen by accident, and it won’t continue without effort. This magnificent, unlikely country was founded on a bold new premise: that people of different beliefs and backgrounds, from all corners of the world, could come together to build a better life for themselves and for their children than they ever could have alone.

  This new idea that diversity is strength. Not a challenge to be overcome or a difficulty to be tolerated. That is the heart and soul of the Canadian success story.

  That,
and the old-fashioned idea of progress. The idea that we owe a sacred duty to Canadians who come after us. To work hard. To build a country that offers them even more than we had. More opportunity, more choices, more success, just as our parents and grandparents did for us.

  These are the values that define and unite us.

  I have seen a lot of this country. And I can tell you that those values are alive and well, from coast to coast to coast.

  My fellow Liberals, these values are not the property of the Liberal Party of Canada. They are not Liberal values; they are Canadian values.

  I’ve too often heard it said in Liberal circles that the Liberal Party created Canada. This, my friends, is wrong. The Liberal Party did not create Canada. Canada created the Liberal Party. Canadians created the Liberal Party.

  The great, growing, and optimistic middle class of the last century created a big-hearted, broad-minded consensus. And built a better country. For themselves, yes. But more important, for each other, and for their children.

  Canadians built medicare.

  Canadians built an open and dynamic economy.

  Canadians welcomed newcomers from around the world into their communities and businesses.

  Canadians developed an independent foreign policy, and when necessary, bled for our values in faraway lands.

  Canadians brought their Constitution home.

  Canadians demanded that their inalienable rights and freedoms be placed above the reach of politics.

  And Canadians balanced the budget.

  The Liberal Party was their vehicle of choice. It was the platform for their aspirations, not their source.

  When we were at our best, we were in touch, open to our fellow citizens and confident enough in them to take their ideas and work with them to build a successful country.

  If there is a lesson to be drawn from our party’s past it is not where we landed but how we got there. We were deeply connected to Canadians. We made their values our values, their dreams our dreams, their fights our fights.

  The time has come to write a new chapter in the history of the Liberal Party.

  This will be a campaign about the future, not the past. I want to lead a movement of Canadians that seeks to build, not rebuild. To create, not recreate.

  After all, we live in a very different world, my friends. Twenty years ago, I was part of the first graduating class at my university to get email. I was of the last group of pre-Google high school teachers. And now, my kids don’t know there was a world before BlackBerrys.

  But if the way we will build it is new, what we have to build is timeless.

  We know what Canadian families want. Good jobs. A dynamic and growing economy that allows us to educate our kids as they mature, and to care for our parents as they age.

  We want a compassionate society that pulls together to help the vulnerable, and gives the less fortunate a chance at success.

  We know that Canada is the freest society on earth because we trust each other. So we want a government that looks at Canadians with respect, not suspicion. That celebrates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That believes in your choices, your values, and your liberty.

  Some say that youth carry our future. I say youth are an essential resource for our present. We need to empower all young Canadians, through world-class education, through rich and relevant work experience, and through opportunity to serve their communities and their world. Their voices, their choices, matter deeply, as do their actions: they are already leaders today.

  And directly, to our First Nations, the Canadian reality has not been—and continues to not be—easy for you. We need to become a country that has the courage to own up to its mistakes and fix them together, people to people. Your place is not on the margins. It is at the very heart of who we are and what we are yet to become.

  We want a foreign policy that will give us hope in the future and that will offer solutions to the world.

  We want leadership that fosters and celebrates economic success in all regions of the country. Not leadership that seeds resentment between provinces.

  We need to match the beauty and productivity of this great land with a new national commitment to steward it well. My generation understands that we cannot choose between a strong and prosperous economy and a healthy environment. The Conservative approach may work for a few, and for a while. But we know we can’t create long-term prosperity without environmental stewardship.

  We need to learn what we have forgotten. That the key to growth, to opportunity, to progress, is a thriving middle class. People with good jobs. Families who are able to cope with modern life’s challenges.

  A thriving middle class provides realistic hope and a ladder of opportunity for the less fortunate. A robust market for our businesses. And a sense of common interest for all.

  The great economic success stories of the recent past are really stories of middle-class growth. China, India, South Korea, and Brazil, to name a few, are growing rapidly because they have added hundreds of millions of people to the global middle class.

  The news on that front is not so good at home; I don’t need to tell you that. You, like our fellow Canadians all over the country, live it every day. Canadian families have seen their incomes stagnate, their costs go up, and their debts explode over the past thirty years.

  What’s the response from the NDP? To sow regional resentment and blame the successful. The Conservative answer? Privilege one sector over others and promise that wealth will trickle down, eventually.

  Both are tidy ideological answers to complex and difficult questions. The only thing they have in common is that they are both, equally, wrong.

  We need to get it right. We need to open our minds to new solutions, to listen to Canadians, to trust them.

  And as we face these challenges, the only ideology that must guide us is evidence. Hard, scientific facts and data. It may seem revolutionary in today’s Ottawa, but instead of inventing the facts to justify the policies, we will create policy based on facts. Solutions can come from the left or the right; all that matters is that they work. That they help us live—and thrive—true to our values.

  Because middle-class growth is much more than an economic imperative.

  The key to Canadian unity is the shared sense of purpose so hard to define but so deeply felt. The sense that we are all in this together. That when Albertans do well, it creates opportunities for Quebecers. That when Quebecers create and innovate, it echoes across the country and around the world. That whether you’re in Saint-Boniface or St. John’s, Mississauga or Surrey, we have common struggles and common dreams.

  It is the middle class, not the political class, that unites this country. It is the middle class that makes this country great.

  We know some Quebecers want their own country. A country that reflects our values, that protects our language and our culture, that respects our identity.

  My friends, I want to build a country too. A country worthy of my dreams. Of your dreams. But for me, that country reaches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Grand North.

  Quebecers have always chosen Canada because we know it is the land of our ancestors, who built this country from east to west. They were here to write the first chapters of the great Canadian history of courage, liberty, and hope. We have left our footsteps everywhere.

  Will we put this history aside now because people of other languages came after us with the same dream of building a better country ? Of course not. Our contribution to Canada is far from over.

  I want the Liberal Party to be once again the party that promotes and cherishes the francophone reality of this country. I want my party to support francophone communities across the country. And I want the Liberal Party to be once again the vehicle for Quebecers to contribute to the future of Canada.

  Now, my candidacy has been the source
of some speculation over the past months. The odd newspaper article has been written. Some have been very odd indeed.

  But I said to Liberals after the last election that we need to get past this idea that a simple leadership change could solve our problems. I believe that still. My candidacy may shine a few extra lights upon us. It may put some people in the bleachers to watch. But what we do with that opportunity is up to us. All of us.

  And when Canadians tune in, we need to prove to them that we Liberals have learned from the past, yes. But that we are one hundred percent focused on the future.

  And not the future of our party: the future of our country.

  I am running because I believe this country wants and needs new leadership. A vision for Canada’s future grounded not in the politics of envy or mistrust. One that understands, despite all the blessings beneath our feet, that our greatest strength is above ground, in our people. All Canadians, pulling together, determined to build a better life, a better Canada.

  To millions and millions of Canadians, their government has become irrelevant, remote from their daily lives, let alone their hopes and dreams. To them, Ottawa is just a place where people play politics as if it were a game open to a small group, and that appeals to an even smaller one.

  They do not see themselves or their values reflected in Ottawa.

  My friends, we will do better.

  This is not a personal indictment of Mr. Harper or Mr. Mulcair. On the contrary, I honour their commitment and their service. But I think they are both dead wrong about this country. And, I want to tell you, together, we can prove it.