MONTREAL – The most famous family in Canadian politics celebrated a victory Sunday as Liberals chanted their name and waved red-and-white posters emblazoned "Trudeau."
Justin Trudeau hugged his mother, brother and wife after securing a first-ballot victory in his battle to represent a Montreal riding in the next election for the party his father led through 16 years and three majority governments.
The 35-year-old called his win at the nomination meeting a reminder that he's more than just Pierre Elliott Trudeau's son.
The outcome on the crowded floor of a college gymnasium came after a weeks-long fight in the gritty Papineau riding that Trudeau now hopes to represent in Parliament.
He received no endorsement from the party brass and defeated two challengers with deep roots in a lower-middle-class community that is an economic galaxy away from his own upbringing at 24 Sussex Drive.
"Listen, I'm carrying the Trudeau name, yes. I'm also carrying my own name," he said after the results were announced.
"I think what was achieved here in this process was to demonstrate that I'm not just a last name. I'm someone who has a first name, who is able to reach out and represent people."
He ducked behind the stage to take a congratulatory phone call from Liberal Leader Stephane Dion once the results came in.
His win was a slim one – with 54 per cent of the vote and just 56 ballots more than he needed – but averted a second ballot amid rumours that his rivals might join in an anybody-but-Trudeau alliance.
The longtime municipal councillor and Italian-language newspaper editor he defeated both said they would support Trudeau's bid to dislodge the Bloc Quebecois incumbent in the next election.
To the left of the stage his younger brother Alexandre was locked in a celebratory bearhug with a family friend, after spending much of the day wandering through the gymnasium and cradling his four-month-old son. The boy's name is Pierre Trudeau.
Alexandre joked that the late prime minister would have had a mixed reaction Sunday.
"He would have said, `I guess I can't control my son,' " Alexandre said.
"My father would be worried about his son going into politics but he would have blessed him, of course. Politics has its ups and downs – it's good and bad.
"But he would be proud, of course."
Dressed in a smart white business suit, his mother Margaret energetically worked the bustling room and signed her name on campaign posters.
Dion said Trudeau would be an asset to the party and that he was pleased the candidate entered politics "by the front door in a very proud way."
Earlier in the day, Trudeau's opponents at the nomination meeting drew attention to their longstanding ties to the area in an unspoken reference to his newcomer status.
But the former drama teacher and current environmental geography student reminded the crowd during his opening speech Sunday of something they had in common: pride in his father's legacy.
In the fall of 1965, he said, Pierre Trudeau ran in the neighbouring Mount Royal riding – part of which is now in Papineau.
He told the crowd that some of the people present Sunday helped nominate the man who eventually gave Canada one of the most evolved tools for human rights in the world, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"What you were part of 40 years ago changed Canada forever," he said.
"We are all children of the charter. You can understand how fiercely proud I am to be able to say that your prime minister was also my dad."
But he quickly pointed out that his political dreams are based on future ambitions – not nostalgia.
He said he wants to wrest the riding back from a Bloc Quebecois that seeks to "divide and destroy Canada."
And he also wants the Liberal party to defeat the Conservatives, who he described as plagiarists stealing policy from the U.S. right-wing and dividing Canadians over social-justice and environmental issues.
But his carefully choreographed speech hit a snag when he tried switching from the podium to a handheld microphone that would allow him to roam the stage.
"And just who am I? I am . . . ."
Then there was dead air as the microphone failed.
After an awkward pause, Trudeau recovered and went on: "I am Justin Trudeau. I am a man with a dream for our riding, our province, and our country."
__NOTOC__


Justin Trudeau


Justin Trudeau, son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, has won his riding nomination for the Liberal Party of Canada in Papineau, Montreal, Quebec. To win he needed 634 votes. He received 690.

This is his first attempt at running for politics. His father was Prime Minister of Canada from the 1960s until the mid-1980s.

His two other competitors for the nomination were natives from the town; Mary Deros, a city councillor and Basilio Giordano, a former city councillor and journalist for a local Italian newspaper. Competitors for the other federal party's have not yet been chosen. According to reports Deros received 350 votes and Basilio Giordano received 220.

Trudeau will run in the 40th Canadian federal election, which must be called no later than February 13, 2011.

"I'm a teacher; I'm a convenor; I'm a gatherer; I'm someone who reaches out to people and is deeply interested in what they have to say," Trudeau said. "And people see that I'm not faking it. I'm actually genuinely committed to this dialogue that we're opening up, and this understanding that needs to happen in order to be an effective MP."

Trudeau does not live in Papineau. It is the poorest riding in Canada and the smallest. It consists of blue-collar residents.

The riding has a long history of Liberal MPs. In the 1949 federal election an Independent MP held the riding. Liberal Adrien Meunier was re-elected three times holding the riding from 1949 to 1962. Liberal Guy Favreau was re-elected once holding the riding from 1963 to 1965. Liberal André Ouellet was re-elected six times holding the riding from 1967 to 1984. Liberal Pierre Pettigrew was elected in 2004, he came in second to current Bloc Québécois MP Vivian Barbot, who won by 17,775 votes.

Trudeau, 35, is the second child born to a Prime Minister during his term in office to Canada's first, Sir John A. Macdonald, who had a his daughter Margaret Mary Macdonald during his time in office. He has a Bachelor of Arts of English literature from Montreal's McGill University and the Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia. He eventually became a teacher there.

He married French-Canadian television personality Sophie Grégoire on March 18, 2005. In April this year they announced they are expecting their first child. Since his youngest sibling Michel Trudeau died in an avalanche in 1998, Trudeau has been an active campaigner for winter sports safety. His younger brother Alexandre Trudeau is a journalist.

His father died on 28 September 2000 at the age of 80. During the state funeral, Trudeau, then 28, delivered an emotional speech which led to speculation in the media that a career in politics could be his future. He has also openly stated that he opposes Quebec nationalism. Trudeau put his support behind Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy during the 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention. Kennedy dropped out of the second ballot of voting and both he and Trudeau went on to support now leader Stéphane Dion.

===Results===




+Votes needed to win: '''634'''




Candidate

Votes



Justin Trudeau

690



Mary Deros

350



Basilio Giordano

220