Hair apparent
Is the son of a prime minister ready to take over the top job?
When Justin Trudeau, the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, left a campaign rally last month, he received rock-star treatment. The crowd lay in wait, eager to shake his hand, snap a selfie, score an autograph or just get him to hold their children. Even as he reached his bus, people continued to call out “Justin!”
Mr Trudeau has been in the public eye since he was born on Christmas Day 1971 to a Liberal prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, and his much younger wife. Although the centrist Liberals are now Canada’s third party, Mr Trudeau fils—the country’s answer to the late John F. Kennedy junior—enjoys greater name recognition than Thomas Mulcair, whose leftist New Democrats (NDP) are the official opposition. Yet his fame is also a handicap. The centre-right Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, mock his “nice hair”, and say he “says things without thinking them through”.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Hair apparent"
From the October 3rd 2015 edition
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