A great day for Canadians... A bad day for Conservatives

LAWRENCE MARTIN

For Harper, a bad day at the bookstore

Two of the Prime Minister’s biggest tormentors have released books on the very same day. There is Justin Trudeau’s autobiography, Common Ground. On top of it comes a mammoth 534-page critique of his abuse of power called Party of One, from Michael Harris, one of Mr. Harper’s harshest journalistic critics.

 

The Trudeau book won’t satisfy critics who want big gaps filled on his policy thinking. But it is well-timed and neatly titled. Tories have been trying to cast him as Boy Blunder in the wake of his remarks on the air combat mission in Iraq and other bloopers. His book changes the channel. The title, Common Ground, works because it deflects from the image opponents like to cultivate: Mr. Trudeau as silver-spooned elitist.

The book fleshes out Mr. Trudeau’s back story. It tells us what’s behind the sizzle. There are poignant vignettes on his relationship with his father, one being witnessing his parent’s marriage breakup.

“I remember the bad times as a succession of painful emotional snapshots,” Justin writes. “Me walking into the library at 24 Sussex, seeing my mother in tears and hearing her talk about leaving while my father stood facing her, stern and ashen.”

Mr. Trudeau needed more fabric to his character. Common Ground helps to provide it.

READ MORE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/for-harper-a-bad-day-at-the-bookstore/article21179595/