Twenty something MPs in the making

'Younger? Whatever. That's good, we need a lot of young people'

Adam Daifallah

National Post

May 8, 2004

Political parties have put the names of young party activists on the ballot in unwinnable ridings, from time out of mind. These sacrificial lambs let their names stand, because nobody else will run, because they've been convinced to take a hit for the team or to run just for the fun of it.

But in the upcoming federal election, a number of young candidates running for Parliament have chances of victory that are as good as anyone's. The voting public is volatile; some observers believe there is an untapped desire for change.

The heroes of these Young Guns are the iconic figures of Canada's storied political past: Pierre Trudeau, Tommy Douglas, Rene Levesque. The would-be MPs are ambitious overachievers, fiery partisans, maybe a bit naive in their idealism.

All the major parties are running hopeful youths: The Conservatives have at least 14 under the age of 30 across the country, the NDP has at least 20 (though many are of the sacrificial-lamb variety), and the Liberals have seven. The Bloc Quebecois, quite impressively, has nine candidates under 30, seven of whom are under 25. But only a select few have a realistic shot at winning, and their life experiences differ as greatly as their political ideologies. You'd never know they were barely out of university, sounding more like grizzled political veterans. Remember these names, a future prime minister may be among them.

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Duane Nicol developed his socialist values growing up in social housing in rural Manitoba. Now, he lives, eats and breathes politics. A 25-year-old city councillor in the town of Selkirk, Nicol is carrying the NDP banner in what is likely to be one of the ridings to watch on election night.

The incumbent MP, Conservative Howard Hilstrom, is packing it in. The NDP held the seat in the early 1980s, but lost it by about 200 votes in the 1997 election.

Nicol is a University of Manitoba graduate. He started his education in engineering, but soon discovered that studying politics was his calling.

He serves as a director of the Interlake Regional Health Authority (appointed by the provincial NDP government of Gary Doer) and he writes articles on public policy and government reform in his spare time for publications such as the Winnipeg Free Press. His first job was at McDonald's and he became a manager at age 16. And while he's not married, he has a serious relationship with his "very supportive" girlfriend, Erin.

Unlike many who run for office, he would actually be making more money if he went to Ottawa.

"Not that that's particularly important to me," Nicol assures me, ever the good socialist. " 'Cause if it was, I wouldn't have transferred out of engineering into political studies."

He lists as his hobbies politics and public policy. But when pressed, he divulges that he likes music and Web design.

"I'm a huge music fan, Alanis Morissette being my favourite artist," he said. "I also like to do Web design and frequently do some free stuff for local not-for-profits as well as friends."

Current events were frequently discussed around the Nicol family dinner table and his parents were active union members. But until Duane gravitated to the NDP, no one in the family had held a party membership.

As many young NDPers likely do, he takes his inspiration from the father of socialized medicine, Tommy Douglas.

"I have a tradition: before votes, I watch a Tommy Douglas CBC Life and Times documentary video of him. He's an underdog, and I really see my life as being an underdog, growing up in social housing and knowing right from an early age that I'd have to work really hard through it," Nicol said in a recent interview. "I just have a lot of respect for somebody who's willing to put it all on the line. It's easy to be a NDP in Manitoba now, but to be a CCFer at that time is just a tremendous bit of courage."

He first ran for the Selkirk-Interlake nomination in 2000. He lost, but later ran against Reg Alcock in Winnipeg at the request of his party. This time, the Young Gun won the nomination by beating an ultra-establishment candidate: Chris Pawley, the son of former Premier Howard Pawley.

Beating the Pawley progeny "adds a lot of credibility to my candidacy," Nicol said.

And so far, so good on the hustings. The age issue, he says, is rarely coming up at the doorstep.

"It's not a problem. A lot of people are saying, 'Younger? Whatever,'" he said. "By the end, they say, 'That's good, we need a lot of young people.' "

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The rural Saskatchewan riding of Churchill River is so big, it makes up 58% of the land mass of Saskatchewan. Many communities are not accessible by road, only by air. It is the only rural riding the Liberal party holds in Western Canada. Jeremy Harrison wants to put an end to that.

The 26-year-old Conservative candidate is a recent graduate from the University of Saskatchewan law school. He has not yet been admitted to the bar, nor has he articled.

When this Young Gun isn't doing politics, he's playing hockey.

"I managed to get in around 40 games of hockey this year with my law school buddies playing in a pretty good league. I played up to 'AA' Midget in Meadow Lake," he said. "And my summer sport is golf."

Harrison was planning to start his legal career or to do more schooling, but when the opportunity to run for Parliament in his home riding was there, he jumped. It couldn't have been much of a surprise; he comes from a strong political pedigree.

"My family's always been Reformers. They had been from the start," Harrison said. "My grandfather was a top organizer for John Diefenbaker for 30 years. That's where I got my first political direction. He was the classic local politician; he knew everybody and was very engaged in the affairs of the community" of Hudson Bay, Sask. "As a kid I was fascinated with Grandpa's political stories, particularly his stories about Diefenbaker, and his influence was definitely a major catalyst for my interest and involvement in politics. He has been a lot of help to me."

Harrison, who is engaged to his girlfriend of seven years, started out as an activist in the Reform Party, then the Canadian Alliance, and now the Conservatives. From 2001 to 2003, he was on the Alliance's national council.

He first locked up the Canadian Alliance nomination last July, but had to run again for the new party after the merger. Harrison always wanted to run, but had no set timeline. The encouragement of the party leader, Stephen Harper, whom Harrison has staunchly supported in his leadership campaigns, convinced him to take the plunge.

"It had always been in my mind that someday I would be a candidate. It kind of worked out because the election would be sometime after I finished law school. Harper won the leadership and he said, 'You have my total backing, and I encourage you to do this.' And I thought if Harper is backing me, then I should do it," he said.

And despite his regard for Harper, this Young Gun isn't particularly enamoured with the idea of being party leader someday.

"As a national councillor with the Alliance, I had a fairly privileged vantage point in watching what the leader of the party has to go through on a daily basis -- and after seeing first-hand the garbage that Harper had to deal with, I came to the conclusion that I really wouldn't want the job," he said.

Harrison has the distinction of being the first-ever nominated candidate of the new Conservative Party, as of Jan. 26. He calls himself "fairly libertarian-oriented," but says he's not fixated on any single issue. He's hearing a lot of anger at the doors about the sponsorship scandal, he says.

"It's not the pure outrage that there was at the start [when the story broke], but people are just so furious with the Liberals.

The incumbent MP, Rick Laliberte, was elected as a New Democrat in 1997, defected to the Liberals in 2000 and is now contemplating a run as an independent. Harrison is the only non-aboriginal candidate running. And if Laliberte -- himself of Metis heritage - does run, the spectre of a three-way vote split makes Mr. Harrison's chances even stronger. The Alliance was just over 2,000 votes behind last time.

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Navdeep Singh Bains, a 26-year-old, is the Liberal candidate in the newly created Ontario riding of Mississauga Brampton-South. He is bursting with pride about his father. A long-time active Liberal, the elder Bains emigrated to Canada from India in the 1970s and runs a successful business in Brampton making kitchen cabinets. The business has won local business awards and is known for its charitable work.

"I respect him a great deal. He came to this country with $5 and really lived the Canadian dream," Bains said. "Because of him I've been motivated to get involved in charitable work at the grassroots level."

Bains is an embodiment of the Trudeauvian multicultural dream. He is fluently bilingual in English and Punjabi. A graduate of York University, he later earned an MBA at the University of Windsor and works in the finance division at Ford Motor Company. (He's currently on a leave of absence.) He has been married to his wife, Brahamjot, since June 30, 2002. She works for KPMG as a second-year auditor and is planning to write her exams to obtain her CA designation.

While he's a big Paul Martin fan, Trudeau is his hero.

"I really believe in the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms]," he said. "I believe it was a really important document for the protection of human rights and individual freedoms," he said. He mentions his anger at the recently-reveled pictures of American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners. The Charter makes it so that personal dignity cannot be infringed upon in that fashion here, he said.

Bains, an avid recreational ball hockey player, was victorious on the first ballot of a hotly contested nomination battle on March 21, at which 4,300 votes were cast. Brampton-area politics are increasingly being shaped by ethnically charged nomination battles. These fights, such as the one in Mississauga Brampton-South (four of the five candidates were South Asian, one was Croatian), can be fractious. His desire to overcome the wounds of the nomination process and to speak to the various ethnic camps are evident in what he says.

"We'll have a good chance at winning. Everyone in the riding must be represented. I really want to understand the issues of various communities so I can understand what they are about. We have to really work hard," Bains said.

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Not much unites these candidates aside from their enthusiasm and their idealism. Nothing in politics is certain, but if such qualities move voters, there's a good chance you'll see these Young Guns in the next Parliament.