The global media went agog
following the outcome of the Canadian federal election (the 42nd Canadian
general election) that was held on October 19, 2015. The headlines were
intriguing. Congrats to Justin Trudeau who emerged as the (new) Prime Minister
of Canada.
Unfortunately, I did not
follow the pre-election events that led to the Canadian general election.
However, with the rhythm of the narratives that emanated from the recently
concluded Canadian general election, particularly from the global media, it
will be really difficult for one to ignore the lessons that are inherent
therefrom for developing countries, like Nigeria, who are still nurturing their
democratic institutions, to learn from.
In my view, Justin Trudeau
did not only win in an outstanding victory, as the election results revealed, he also put his name down in the
sand of Canadian history. He made history as
the man who led his centrist Liberals from the third position in the campaign
polls to victory in the general election with the majority win of
184 seats out of the 338 seats in the parliament, which is approximately 40% of
the popular vote.
He also made history as
the man who neutralized the
jinx that has put the Liberal party in opposition for nearly a decade. Justin
Trudeau needed only 170 seats to win the majority, but he strikingly added
extra 14 seats to that, against the 99 seats won by the incumbent. The victory
signals a massive turnaround from the status quo.
Justin Trudeau did not win over
the incumbent because he is the son of Pierre Trudeau, the
former Prime Minister who led Canada from 1968 – 1984, rather he won because
Canadians wanted real change and they voted for the real change which they saw
in Justin Trudeau. The victory of Justine Trudeau
over the incumbent was a clear narrative that Canadians wanted a younger mind to
run the affairs of government and deal with critical policy issues that
confront Canadian economy. This narrative is fast spreading across the globe,
and it is believed that young generation will change the world. But this
narrative seems to be elusive in many developing countries, particularly
African countries. Nigeria is a typical example!
Nigeria’s historical
experiences, which are similar to other developing African countries, have
shown that old generations of politicians do not want to leave the political
arena for the young generations, even though they (old generations) started
holding political positions at a very young age.
For me, the victory of
Justin Trudeau at the election was partly because of the Liberal party’s policy vision, but mainly because of his personal positive
vision and commitment to the party’s vision. He believed in the power of
positive politics, as he said clearly in his public
address after his victory. His victory was in no doubt a clear sign of what
positive politics and a young person with vision could do.
Sadly, the young generations
tend, out of frustration, to surrender to the sterile notion of the old
generations that they (young generations) are not yet ready for takeover of
political positions. All that the young generations need is a platform within
the political party to assume political leadership positions. The old generations
have deprived the young generations of this platform. Rather the young generations
are exploited and used as tools to win elections!
<via: THISDAY
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