Who are we talking about?
Move over Mark Carney; you're no longer the most attractive Canadian on the global stage. Canada's new Prime Minister, voted in through a General Election on Monday, has been attracting praise across the internet for his
boyishgoodlooks. An MP for Canada's centrist Liberal party since 2008, Trudeau took the leadership in 2013. I could explain to you what he did before this, but you'll have more fun
reading his indescribably lavish bio in full. Sample quote: "That summer, in a quiet moment of reflection on a hillside, I realized my next step: I would become a schoolteacher. This would be my way of having a positive influence in the world."
What's so special about him?
Apart from his piercing gaze? Sorry, I'll stop. He's just taken the Liberals from their worst-ever election defeat at the last poll in 2011, where they came third with just 36 seats, to an astounding 184, which makes them the first party ever to move from third to first place in the space of one term. In so doing, his party has ended nearly a decade of Conservative rule under previous incumbent Stephen Harper and pushed the left-leaning New Democratic Party down to a measly 44 seats. Fellow centrist Nick Clegg is in awe, tweeting this morning that it was "nice to see a Liberal beat [a] Conservative message of fear for once." In a further reverse parallel with Britain's last election, Harper had David Cameron's election strategist Lynton Crosby on his side for the campaign, which shows the "wizard of Ox" is not unbeatable after all.
How did he do it?
The eldest son of a popular former Prime Minister, the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the younger Trudeau has benefitted from Canadians' folk memory of his glamorous father, whose progressive legacy was assured when he enshrined various civil liberties in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. Trudeau jr has run on a similarly hopeful, liberal platform, and benefits from the same easy charm and ability to connect with voters in person and onstage. But the aspect of his policy programme which will draw most attention internationally is its "anti-austerity" overtones—Trudeau has advocated increasing the budget deficit to fund infrastructure projects, similar to British Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell's capital spending approach. Comparisons with the UK and Europe's anti-austerity left are too simplistic though: Trudeau's pitch was aimed squarely at middle rather than lower-income voters. He has said his first act will be to slash taxes for those earning $45,000 to $90,000 (£22,000 to £44,500).
