OAK BAYNEWS Tan-free teens
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Oak Bay High students pledge to ban tans for grad.
The Victoria Sketch Club hosts its annual show and sale this month. Entertainment, Page A14
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Friday, March 16, 2012
Trudeau’s message: Don’t vote in your underwear
Justin Trudeau, Member of Parliament for Papineau, Quebec, sits on a table at the University of Victoria’s Student Union Building before the start of his discussion and question and answer session entitled Restoring Our Democracy.
UVic Young Liberals host MP Justin Trudeau for question-and-answer session
Don Denton/News staff
Erin McCracken News staff
Papineau, Quebec MP Justin Trudeau sidestepped questions Tuesday about whether he would one day be interested in leading the Liberal Party, preferring instead to implore young people to vote and make a difference. “I only get to be a politician or eventually perhaps a good leader if I’m also making sure I’m a good dad because that makes me a better person,” the son of former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau told more than 100 people, from students to seniors, who gathered inside the University of Victoria’s Student Union Building for the event organized by UVic’s Young Liberals. He also spent part of his day-long visit to the area with family, including his maternal grandmother who lives in the Royal Oak neighbourhood of Saanich. “And to manage that balance between family and the kinds of responsibilities that would have me criss-crossing the country as much as the next Liberal Party leader will have to do, I “Young people don’t know that I can pull that off and be the person that I want to be. That’s why I’ve said no up to this point,” he are frustrated added. The federal Liberals, who he acknowledged were “thor- because they care.” - Justin Trudeau oughly drubbed” in last year’s federal election, won’t take a hard look at party leadership until this fall. “For the past 10 years we’ve been so focused on who gets to drive the car that we weren’t paying attention to the fact that the car was heading over the edge of the cliff,” Trudeau said. Many young people in the audience expressed frustration, as well as curiosity, on several fronts: the Conservative government’s mandate, the robocall scandal, attack ads, electoral reform, proportional representation and elected senates, among other topics. Still, the dialogue often circled back to the importance of young adults casting ballots. Thirty-five per cent of young people aged 18 to 25 voted in the 2011 federal election, Trudeau said. “I love that you’re willing to camp out in a town square. I love that you’re willing to sign a petition,” the Liberal Party critic for Youth, Citizenship and Immigration said. “For Christ’s sake, vote.” Making it easier to vote is crucial, but online voting is not the answer, said Trudeau.
PLEASE SEE: Each vote is important, Page A12
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