Trudeau's a politician, not the messiah

Let's just get this out of the way right off the bat: I don't think Justin Trudeau is the messiah.

There, I said it, and damn the consequences.

Like many long-time reporters, I've interviewed dozens of politicians over the years, from ideological first-timers to jaded career politicians, from those who you can tell are capable of swimming with the sharks to those who you know will be eaten by them. And there are things you pick up over the years after interviewing so many of them.

Those politicians who are best suited to the job all share similar qualities: A certain charisma; an ability to speak political gobbledy-gook, to answer questions while not actually answering them; a rolodex of carefully crafted mannerisms and facial expressions designed to suit any given situation or topic of conversation.

Over the years, you begin to see career politicians not as members of a group driven by a common ideology (read: political party), but as individuals who adopt an ideology that serves their own ambitions.
Trudeau is no different. Riding into office on such a groundswell of optimism for his "sunny ways" approach to leading the country is a lot to live up to — when he disappoints us, which he most certainly will do at some point in his tenure as prime minister, our disappointment will be all the greater.

I don't know about any of you, but I was pretty turned off by Peter Mansbridge's coverage of Trudeau's first day in office for CBC.

Seasoned as he is, Mansbridge came across, to me anyway, as almost fawning over the country's new leader.

With his the frequent references to Pierre Elliot and young Justin's time on the Hill as a boy, Mansbridge seemed to be engaged in a kind of political myth-making. His weird fascination that Trudeau would ride a bus to parliament with the rest of cabinet was just that: weird.

To his credit, Trudeau didn't bite. But then again, who knows how much of the prime minister's refusal to swing at the lobs Mansbridge was throwing at him was deliberate, crafted to present Trudeau as just your average guy, instead of the flowing-haired demi-god he is sometimes portrayed to be.

So, I don't think Trudeau is God's gift to Canada, but I do like his choices for cabinet. He made some really good ones, at least from a marketing standpoint.

For instance, a good deal of thought went into ensuring the new cabinet reflects Canada's demographic makeup: It's about half women; it's about a quarter French-speaking; two cabinet ministers are Indigenous; there's representation from virtually every province and territory; there's a healthy mix of skin tones — all of which speaks to this country's multi-cultural nature.

A handful of them have science backgrounds (which particularly appeals to me since Stephen Harper seemed to have a real hate-on for scientists). Several have backgrounds that make them particularly well-suited for the portfolio they've been handed — combat veteran Harjit Sajjan for National Defence and Afghan refugee Maryam Monsef for Democratic Institutions being two good examples. Jody Wilson-Raybould, a lawyer and former regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, for Justice and the Attorney General is a third.

All in all, it's a tighter, smaller, less testosterone-heavy and less white cabinet than Stephen Harper's.

Of course, many of his choices are political newcomers to Ottawa, facts which can both help and hurt them. And while the choices are certainly good and appear, at least on the surface, to be well thought out, being suited for a job and actually performing the job are two separate and distinct things.

Much like saying how you would run the country and actually running the country are two different things.

Trudeau might not be the second coming, but he is a breath of fresh air. And that's exactly what this country needed.

Mark Gentili is the managing editor of NorthernLife.ca.