Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Justin Trudeau - Comic Geek

Tonight it is widely expected that Justin Trudeau, Member of Parliament for Papineau, Quebec and son of arguable our most famour Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau - will formally declare himself a candidate for the leader of the Federal Liberal Party of Canada.

For all intents and purposes, it looks like he has a solid shot at winning. Why should nerds care? Because apart from being a fresh face on the political scene who brings with him some much needed energy, charisma and understanding of what people under 60 care about - he is ONE OF US.

Justin Trudeau - The Nerd
A few weeks ago, the Montreal Comic-Con took place (September 14-16 to be exact). I had a few friends who were exhibiting and others who were up for a few Joe Shuster Awards, so I was following coverage of the event pretty closely. I was more than a little surprised when I saw that Justin Trudeau, MP took in the show along with his kids.

"That's so cool that he did that. He's so down to earth" - I thought. Then he posted a couple of pictures of himself at the show on his twitter stream in French (yes he's fully bilingual too)
Bien fier d’avoir pu déchaîner mon côté geek en me faisant arrêter par des stormtroopers à #comicon #montreal.

And in English:
Went to the Montreal #ComicCon (for my kids, really!) and totally groupied out on Dark Helmet! Embarrassed, yet proud.  

He likes comics, he likes Star Wars, he likes Mel Brooks! ONE OF US.

Not that I really needed to be won over, because like many in the country I've been impressed with him since his speech at his father's memorial ceremony. Add to that that he's intelligent, well-spoken, shares the same ideals as I do, well what can I say? Plus he's dreamy.

Thought I'd end this post with some faux campaign posters my buddy Chip (aka Steve Murray of the National Post) recently did up:

Postscript
I went to University at Concordia in Montreal back in the early 90s. One grey, foggy Sunday afternoon, I was walking down Sherbrooke St.,  a person in the distance was walking towards me. Their gait and figure were so familiar to me I was convinced it was a family friend who I couldn't quite place.

I walked faster towards him, thinking I would recognize him when I got closer, and I was ready to give him a big hello. When I was within a few feet of the man, I realized it was Pierre Trudeau.

I slowed right down almost to a stop, he looked up at me, gave me a warm smile and a nod, then tipped his hat. I stood there like a dummy and nodded back, with a goofy smile on my face as I watched him walk by.

This must have happened to him every day. I was honestly proud that he could walk down the street by himself, no bodyguards or entourage in sight. It was a charming Canadian moment. I wish I had shook his hand though. Fuddle duddle.