It's time to put away childish things, Justin Trudeau
declared Tuesday as the telegenic, raven-haired son of a former
prime minister launched his bid to lead the federal Liberals and
convince Canadians he's more than just a pretty face.

Hundreds of supporters, crammed into a community centre in his
riding of Papineau, cheered wildly as the 40-year-old Montreal MP
confirmed his leadership ambitions, easily among the worst-kept
political secrets in Canada.

“I am running because I believe this country wants and needs new
leadership, a vision for Canada's future grounded not in the
politics of envy or mistrust,” Trudeau told a crowd peppered with
Liberal party luminaries.

“One that understands, despite all the blessings beneath our
feet, that our greatest strength is above ground, in our people. All
Canadians, pulling together, determined to build a better life, a
better Canada.”

A screen behind the podium displayed a simple campaign logo that
featured his first name much more prominently than the lineage for
which the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau is so famous.
Trudeau said he wants to reconnect the Liberal party with the
ordinary people who gave it life. And he singled out restoring the
economic health of the Canadian middle class as a principal goal.

“A thriving middle class provides realistic hope and a ladder of
opportunity for the less fortunate - a robust market for our
businesses, and a sense of common interest for all,” he said.

But as the middle class in China, India, South Korea and Brazil
enjoys increasing prosperity, Canadians are experiencing the
opposite, he continued - stalled income levels, escalating costs and
ballooning personal debt.

“What's the response from the NDP? To sow regional resentment
and blame the successful. The Conservative answer? Privilege one
sector over others and promise that wealth will trickle down,
eventually,” he said.
“Both are tidy ideological answers to complex and difficult
questions. The only thing they have in common is that they are both,
equally, wrong.”

A school teacher before jumping into politics in 2008, Trudeau
has long been seen by his critics - many of them fellow Liberals -
as a man of more flash than substance. Tuesday's speech was designed
to showcase a more cerebral, thoughtful side.

“It is time for us, for this generation of Canadians, to put
away childish things,” he said. “More, it is time for all of us to
come together and get down to the very serious, very adult business
of building a better country.”

He said he chose to make his announcement on Tuesday because it
would have been the 37th birthday of his late brother Michel, a
skier who was killed in an avalanche in 1998.

“Every day, I think about him and I remember not to take
anything for granted,” Trudeau said in French. “To live my life
fully. And to always be faithful to myself.”

He reached out to Quebecers, promising a party that “promotes
and cherishes the francophone reality of this country.”

The challenge that province could pose was evident in the fact
that while English news networks carried Trudeau's speech live, the
two Montreal-based, French-language networks opted instead to air
highlights from Quebec's corruption inquiry.

“I want the Liberal party to be once again the vehicle for
Quebecers to contribute to the future of Canada,” Trudeau said.
On Wednesday, Trudeau embarks on a cross-Canada tour designed in
part to prove he's more than just his famous father's telegenic
offspring.

He'll kick things off in Calgary, a Liberal wasteland since his
father's hated National Energy Program, and Richmond, B.C., before
attending a rally Thursday in Mississauga, Ont.
On Friday, he'll visit the New Brunswick riding of Beausejour,
where Liberal MP and longtime friend Dominic LeBlanc, himself long
considered a leadership contender, is expected to offer his
endorsement of Trudeau's bid.

Trudeau has been in the public eye since he was born on Christmas
Day, 1971. As a child, he travelled the country and the world with
his famous father, then prime minister.

He eschewed offers to run in Montreal's Outremont riding - then
considered a safe Liberal seat, now held by NDP Leader Tom Mulcair -
choosing instead to fight a contested nomination in Papineau, once a
Bloc Quebecois stronghold and among the poorest ridings in the
country.

He defeated a star Bloquiste in 2008 and bucked the NDP tide that
swept Quebec in 2011, increasing his margin of victory.

In Liberal circles, he is an undisputed rock star, the party's
biggest draw at fundraisers. He boasts more than 150,000 Twitter
followers. His already sky-high stock soared last spring when he won
a charity boxing match against Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau.

For all that, Trudeau remains an unknown quantity in many
respects. In his various shadow cabinet posts - youth, amateur
sport, immigration - he's had little to say about the big issues of
the day, virtually nothing about the economy.

When he's ventured occasionally into meatier issues, he's
invariably created controversy - criticizing the government's use of
the word “barbaric” to describe female genital mutilation,

suggesting he'd support Quebec secession if he thought Canadians
shared Prime Minister Stephen Harper's values.

His choice of campaign team suggests Trudeau is well aware he
needs to demonstrate more depth and substance.

Among his key supporters is Gerald Butts, longtime friend and
former head of policy for Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, and a
raft of key organizers from policy-wonkish Gerard Kennedy's 2006
leadership bid, including campaign director Katie Telford, Bains and
Alghabra.

Kennedy himself is still pondering whether he'll take a second
run at becoming federal Liberal leader. He insisted Monday he won't
be deterred by the fact that his old team seems to have moved,
almost en masse, to Trudeau, who endorsed Kennedy in 2006.

“I think Justin has a lot to offer the country,” Kennedy said.

But he added: “There've been prohibitive favourites before.
Sometimes they've won and sometimes they haven't.”

Toronto-based constitutional lawyer Deborah Coyne, the mother of
Trudeau's half-sister, has already announced her candidacy, as has
Manitoba paramedic Shane Geschiere.

A host of others are considering taking the plunge but may yet be
scared off by Trudeau's presumed edge.

Among them are Montreal MP Marc Garneau, Canada's first astronaut,
Vancouver MP Joyce Murray, former cabinet minister Martin

Cauchon, former MP and leadership candidate Martha Hall Findlay,
Ontario government economist Jonathan Mousley, former Ottawa
candidate David Bertschi, Toronto lawyer George Takach, and David
Merner, former president of the party's B.C. wing.

Ottawa MP David McGuinty is also said to be mulling his chances
but is not considered likely to take the plunge. Veteran Montreal MP
Denis Coderre is pondering whether to run for the Liberal leadership
or mayor of Montreal and is thought to be leaning toward the latter.
The contest doesn't officially begin until Nov. 14 and culminates
on April 14.

Trudeau announced his intentions on YouTube and his website today

Video and photos: Michel Boyer, CJAD