Trudeau hopes to capitalize on global attention
Justin Trudeau is aware that the vast amount of international attention that’s accompanied him during his first trip abroad as Canadian prime minister will subside.
But he hopes to take advantage of it while it lasts.
“We’ll take some interest right now and convert that into the substance of what we’re talking about,” he said in this southeast Asian country Thursday.
If there was any doubt about Trudeau’s celebrity during this weeklong trip that included attending two major international summits, they were erased by the shrieks of excitement from foreign media that erupted when he left a press conference on Thursday.
Trudeau had to be escorted to his car by RCMP officers as the crowd attempted to catch sight of him at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Manila. The excitement continued after he had been whisked away, as journalists showed off photos and videos they’d captured of the prime minister.
Local Filipino newspapers have also featured pictures and stories about Trudeau over the past two days, while social media has been weighing in on whether he or Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is the more attractive APEC leader.
Trudeau has also had no shortage of opportunities to meet with fellow world leaders during this trip, having sat down with the heads of the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea, among others. Several praised his father, the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
Asked to respond to the attention, Trudeau said: “When I first announced that I was going into politics eight years ago, there was a little bit of buzz and interest in my father and my story, and rapidly after a few months of working hard in Papineau, I got people to focus on the actual substance, because I had things to say.”
The same thing happened when he ran to become Liberal leader, and eventually prime minister, he said. And now: “This is fresh on the world stage.”
Trudeau also talked about his experience growing up with a famous father, saying he had to learn at an early age that people would project their feelings about Pierre Trudeau onto him.
“I had to develop the capacity to separate people’s perceptions of me from who I really am,” he said. “So throughout my life, I have focused on what I have to do and the substance of what I put forward. And that has left me both grounded and able to focus, regardless of perceptions or attention to things external.”
Apparently Trudeau isn’t the only one who felt that the attention lavished on him was a positive, as one senior official suggested it was a great benefit to branding and selling Canada abroad.
Trudeau returns home Friday, but he will be back on the world stage next week when he visits London, then attends a Commonwealth summit in Malta, and the UN climate change talks in Paris.
Throughout my life, I have focused on what I have to do and the substance of what I put forward. And that has left me both grounded and able to focus.