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It is improbable that there is a single person in Canada who really
dislikes Conservative Leader Robert Standfield. He is the embodiment
of rectitude, conservatism and caution. It is possible to have great
confidence in him as an individual. It is possible, too, to have confidence
in a number of the men who are running on his ticket—men like
Davie Fulton, Duff Roblin and Dalton Camp.
Where Mr. Stanfield has failed is in
creating the conviction that his followers form a team and that he could provide
that team with dynamic leadership. Divisions are to be expected in both the old-line
parties, with their stretch of views from far left through centre to far right.
But it is usual—at least in this country—for them to present during
election campaigns a disciplined pose, not a false pose but one that reflects
the consensus of the party.
With the Conservatives this has simply
not been the case. Some of their best volleys have been reserved for each other,
and their fury that the Liberals observed this has only confirmed that the divisions
do exist. The Conservative campaign has lacked zest, focus and, strangely, organized
purpose.
It has been different with the Liberals.
True, the spotlight has been upon Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. But in almost
all his appearances—as in Toronto yesterday—Mr. Trudeau has been at
pains to show that he speaks for a group, and not a group drawn only from the
old establishment but one with a considerable infusion of bright young people.
He has, of course, the advantage that
a campaigning Prime Minister always has, that of being able to relate what he
plans for the country’s future to what he is doing now, and his emphasis
has been almost entirely on programs already inititated.
The argument most frequently made against
him is that he is unknown, that we have no long-term record of Mr. Trudeau as
an administrator, that we can’t be certain how he will react in any given
situation.
But perhaps it is one of the facts
of life in the Sixties that Canada no longer needs the great certainties that
are largely born of fear; Canada is willing to adventure. It may be that what
Canadians see in Mr. Trudeau is this new side of themselves, a readiness to gamble
on the unknown, to move into areas not explored before.
Yet little that we know of Mr. Trudeau
suggests that he is a radical. He is a reformer, yes. In his brief tenure as
Justice Minister he introduced as legislation reforms that had been promised
for many years by many administrations but never delivered. He talks of creating
a just society, in which many things would have to be changed—and he makes
it clear as he stumps the country that he is not afraid of change.
There is, still, a cautious side. When
he talks of welfare programs, of the management of the economy, of international
relations, of all the things that are immediately most important, he does it
as one who would first consider, examine, then assess and reasses. He promises
no drastic new policies but only—and always—that everything will be
reviewed in the context of a world that has changed and is changing. That nothing
is permanent nor should be revered merely because it has been a long time with
us. But that change in itself is not a virtue unless it moves Canada to better
things.
Mr. Trudeau is most the reformer when
he is dealing with the relationship of the individual to the state, a matter
on which he has thought and written for years. Here he can stand on his record.
His grasp of human problems and his courage in attempting to resolve them are
among his most attractive qualities. His disarming candor—an unexpected
quality in a politician—startles at times but, what the hell, why shouldn’t
a politician say what he thinks?
Former Prime Minister Lester Pearson
knows Mr. Trudeau well, and in the brief spate of campaigning he allowed himself
this week he was generous to his successor. Mr. Trudeau, he said, is exciting,
energetic, dynamic, but he is also “a man of good, cool judgment and I feel
happy leaving the country and the Government of Canada in his hands… I think
of him as a very wise, mature, intelligent patriot. He has been loyal to the
language, the culture and the traditions of Quebec, but he has put above all
of that his loyalty to Canada. Everything’s going to be all right and I
can sit back and enjoy my retirement.”
Then he added, “This man is a
truly outstanding person. He is a man for all seasons but especially a man for
the season of tomorrow.”
That, we think, is what Canadians have intuitively
grasped about Mr. Trudeau.
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