At 15, Brooklyn Wilson is still three years away from legally casting a ballot.
That didn’t stop the high school student from texting her mother upon learning Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was going to be in town on Monday to see if she could attend a public meet-and-greet at the Da Vinci Centre.
The youngster said she thinks it’s important for people her age to get involved in the political process, even though they can’t yet vote.
“We are the future, we are the leaders of tomorrow, even though we can’t vote, so it’s right for us to take action and to be a part of this in any way we can,” she said.
She even got the chance to question Trudeau on a couple of matters of policy, asking him if he favoured making water a basic human right and if he still supported the legalization of marijuana.
“He told me he didn’t want to make any promises, but he was definitely leaning toward it and it’s definitely something that should be considered,” she said of his response to her first question.
He answered a definite yes to her second question, the teenager said.
Hector St. Lawrence has had a long history with Canadian politics.
His great uncle was former prime minister Louis St. Laurent.
Sporting a Pierre Elliott Trudeau button on his sweater, St. Lawrence said he met Justin’s father decades ago, while he was Canada’s prime minister.
St. Lawrence is delighted to see the younger Trudeau following in his father’s footsteps.
“I can remember (Justin) when he was just born and now I turn around and he’s running for top dog, which is really nice. I hope he wins it,” St. Lawrence said.
Trudeau, 43, spoke to the 600-strong crowd for about a dozen minutes, delivering a partisan message meant to rally the troops in an election year in support of local candidates Patty Hajdu (Thunder Bay-Superior North) and Vince Riccio and Randy Boyd in Thunder Bay-Rainy River.
He said too much time as been spent politically trying to find wedge issues to divide the country and not enough time trying to build Canada into something great.
“What I’ve seen over the past two years is that yes, Canadians can be a bit cynical about politics, but we’re also a bit tired of having to be cynical about politics,” said Trudeau in his speech.
Not surprisingly he then turned on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government’s approach to leading the country.
“The fact that a political party in Ottawa has figured out how to work those wedge issues and divide east against west and north against south, English against French and urban Canadians against rural Canadians; people who have been here for generations and people who have been here for years against people who have been here for millennia, in the case of First Nations, it’s easy to divide Canada,” said Trudeau, who did not take questions from media on Monday.
“But it’s much more satisfying to bring it together.”
Even Green Party MP Bruce Hyer was impressed -- sort of.
Hyer said he expectst he Liberals will win a minority government in the fall, with the Greens holding the balance of power.
"Justin said a lot of pretty words. The Liberals have absolutely no platform, but that's OK ... We have a platform and when we hold that balance of power we will implement that platform," Hyer said.
The Liberal leader followed his speech by mingling with the crowd, stopping to chat, sign autographs and, in the modern way, take a few selfies that quickly spread on local social media channels.
Trudeau plans to meet with city officials on Tuesday and will hold a media availability afterward at City Hall.
