Trudeaumania. Round 2

Justin Trudeau now has to earn it.

Canada has Just voted Trudeau In, majorly to vote Stephen Harper out. Deeply disappointed with Harper’s immigration policies, attitude towards First Nations and minorities, for almost a decade, Canadians voted Harper out, and with profound faith that the country will change, elected the charismatic former PM Pierre Trudeau’s son, ‘Golden Boy’ Justin.

Now Justin has to prove to all Canadians by keeping his campaign vows.

He’s already started off by announcing the withdrawal of troops from Syria and Iraq, and by announcing that he will let 25,000 Syrian refugees in. Let’s wait and watch what he does about the new citizenship law and other vows.

“Justin Just Not Ready” coined by the Harper government, thus, has been proved vehemently untrue by Justin’s landslide victory.

Justin IS ready.

However, it’s true that Justin won a great majority of the votes by default. “Stop Harper” became such an obsession for Canadians that they were ready to vote in anyone to oust Harper. It’s another debate, however, why they chose Justin and not NDP leader, Thomas Mulcair. Maybe Justin’s the man with the “nice hair”. Maybe. That’s why.

Jest apart, now that Canadians have put their faith in this young, rock-star handsome boy, who carries a baggage of an intellectually glamorous father, Justin has to catch the bull by its horn right from the beginning if he wants to win the lost trust of the Canadians.

It’s true. Lately a vast majority of Canadians were feeling like “second class citizens” with the introduction of the Bill C-24. Before that we always knew Canada was our home and nothing could change that. But now we feel insecure in our own homes. Some Canadians I know were already packing bags to go back. That’s bad news for a immigrant-reliant country like Canada.

Canada is wholly supported by immigrants. Excluding the First Nations, all Canadians (or their ancestors) were immigrants. And people are immigrating in thousands every day. Our immigration policy attracts the world’s best and brightest. Our healthcare and social safety net draws entrepreneurs in hordes. Our education system is the best in the world.

Let it remain so. We wish Justin Trudeau a true homecoming in the hearts of all Canadians.

(Published as Editor’s Column, The South Asian News, December 3, 2015)