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It isn’t every day that a 14-year old gets to interview the
leader of a federal political party.
Life for the Intrepid Junior Blogger is far from a “every
day” occurrence, though. Oh, she gets up and goes to school and does her chores
like the rest of us every day like the rest of us, but she has been very
fortunate to have some pretty unusual opportunities during her life in this
community – like the chance to interview Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal
Party of Canada.
The whole thing came together very quickly. Trudeau was
coming to town, the IJB is a big fan, we know an editor or two, the kid can
write...and suddenly she had a time and date booked to sit down with the son of
a famous Prime Minister and speak to him about his own political goals, and
about one of her passions – youth in politics.
At 14 the IJB has strong political views, which seem to
align fairly closely with the Liberal party. She has followed Trudeau’s
ascendancy for some time, and has become more and more keenly attuned to
federal politics. The chance to meet him was thrilling for her – but the chance
to speak to him was even more exciting.
I was with her when they spoke, and what impressed me most
was that unlike many adults Trudeau didn’t speak to her as if she is a child.
He spoke to her as if she was there doing a job, which she was, scoring the
first major interview in her life (and one many journalists would envy).
Their conversation was amazing to witness, as I what I saw
was a skilled communicator speak with a young woman about developing a passion
for politics, and for your country. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Justin
Trudeau (and he evokes strong reaction, just say his name on Twitter and watch
the attack dogs appear) he has a gift for connecting with people just as he did
with my daughter.
When she sat down to write the article she only had one
complaint:
“Everything he says is a great quote, Mom! How do I choose
which ones to use when they are all so good?”
And yet she managed to select a few and craft an article,
the very first piece she has ever had published. I won’t say much about the
conversation with Trudeau, as it was her interview to report, and so she has
courtesy of Fort McMurray’s Child Magazine.
I would like to thank Krista Balsom and Fort McMurray’s
Child Magazine for giving the IJB the opportunity to publish this article, and
I would like to thank Justin Trudeau for giving her twenty minutes of his time
for an interview.
It was only twenty minutes, but for the IJB I think it was
twenty minutes that will provide a lifetime of memories.
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