‘We need your ideas’

With the election for the 2013 Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) Leadership just around the corner in early April, candidate Martin Cauchon extended his campaign to visit students and young Liberals in Waterloo. Wilfrid Laurier University hosted the meet and greet with Cauchon in Wilf’s on the evening of March 20.

Jazz Clement, a director on the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union board, invited Cauchon to visit Laurier after meeting him at the Ontario Liberal Convention.

“I think he’s running a really good campaign right now, and I figured why not assist with getting him involved in the community here,” she explained. “Students are the future of tomorrow.”

While all were welcome to drop by, Clement specifically invited the University of Waterloo Federals, the Kitchener-Waterloo

Federal Liberal Association and the WLU Young Liberals.

“It’s not often students do get the opportunity to talk to a federal Liberal leader candidate,” she continued.
Cauchon also emphasized the importance of reaching out to students.

“The way to rebuild a party is to be able to attract members of the new generation,” he said. “Those people are going to give you new ideas and that way you’ll be able to build a platform that will again inspire people.”

Cauchon went on to explain that in order to carry out the vision that he has for Canada, he needs the involvement of the next generation.

Kyle Proulx, who attended the event and is vice-president of the WLU Young Liberals, expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to be able to speak with Cauchon in person. He explained that, though he has been following the debates, it is different to be able to “see that more personal side that you might not [otherwise be privy to].”

Proulx reiterated his appreciation for Cauchon making students a priority during his campaign.

“Being able to know that our Leader candidates really look at us with that respect,” he said. “As well as having the ability to come down and speak with us. To hear us in a very casual open-question setting shows a lot of respect to us which, in turn, we would show towards him.”

The Liberal Party is currently starting a reconstruction process, and so, according to Cauchon, now is the best time to join the party.

“We need you, we need your views, we need your ideas as well,” he said.

As part of his message to students, Cauchon encouraged them to get involved with politics. In his words, politics is still the best way to change society.

“My main message is that we live in a fantastic democracy whereby there is a way to change society,” he said. “So don’t look at politics like it’s something that’s meaningless. It’s exactly the opposite.”