Dear editor,
A national Conservative Party’s ad attempts to plant doubt in many minds on the question: Is Justin Trudeau ready to lead Canada? The ad asserts the age, experiences and traits of Justin Trudeau cause four C-brand actors to devaluate him as “Just Not Ready!” for the Prime Minister of Canada job.
Logician Bertrand Russell’s algebraic principle is a great way to disavow any credibility about this ad.
It states: If All A’s are B’s. And X is A. Then X is B! So if A is (having appropriate prior experience) before becoming B (first elected as Prime Minister), and X (age) is relevant to A, then X is equally relevant as credible B.
Consider experiences, ages and traits of many great former PMs, world-leaders, human rights advocates and presidential contenders. Men who at epochs in their nations’ progressions stepped fully into public life. Successful figures at their mid-lives taking on leadership roles. Wholly involved in their political arenas tackling critical issues of their times. Pierre Trudeau elected PM at 49. John F. Kennedy elected US President at 44. Martin Luther King Jr. leading civil rights marches in his thirties-something years (assassinated at age 39). Barack Obama, the first African-American US president, elected at 48. Nelson Mandala jailed at 44 for opposing apartheid oppression, later becoming South Africa’s first black president. Bobby Kennedy, 42, assassinated as US presidential contender during the 1968 Democratic Party leadership race.
Justin Trudeau, 44, is not simply applying for Prime Minister’s job. It’s more comprehensive than the trite ad implies. It’s about voters demanding comprehensive debate for evaluations about diverse issues and using wisdom to make critical choices on Election Day.
Justin Trudeau is AS READY as Stephen Harper was when first elected PM at 47. The lack of intelligence and imagination in this flat ad makes me question whether Stephen Harper was ever ready enough to lead our nation – his early life reflecting an aimless university drop-out, a mailroom clerk, a computer room geek, not actually getting his life on any track until his “thirty-forty something years.”
Brian McLaughlin
Saint John, NB
