I was somewhat surprised to read in your edition of Oct. 2nd that I had  “approved the creation of a new Indigenous Studies Program within the Faculty of Arts,” since I do not have the authority to approve programs. However, I have on many occasions, over several years (including this year) indicated that I support the establishment of such a program and that I look forward to the Faculty’s receiving a concrete proposal through the normal program approval process.  I am pleased to know that a group of students is working on such a proposal, and I look forward to collaborating with them to design a program that will enrich the Faculty’s interdisciplinary offerings.

If you’ve been to campus recently, you’ve probably come across Community Engagement Day promotions, or maybe you even saw the tent on the Lower Field on October 5th. Maybe you even bothered to look into it; heck, you could have even registered to participate.

So what did Community Engagement Day (CED) mean for the students involved, for the community organizations, for McGill, as an institution? What does it mean—for a school so focused on academics—to have an entire day dedicated to the importance of the Community Engagement? Was it simply a passive way to fulfill McGill’s social responsibility and community engagement agenda? I like to think that it was more than a formality. I like to think that McGill has finally begun to understand that in today’s society, integration with community is just as important as academic achievements, as entrepreneurial success, as scientific progress—because without community, all those things are rendered meaningless.

A ‘well-rounded’ individual is no longer just a grad school requirement—it has become a very basic expectation, and community service is perhaps the easiest and the most rewarding way to fulfill it.

I’d like to think that there is a culture shift at McGill, whereby students are taught to appreciate social sustainability, and are encouraged to be proactive in their education. I’d like to think that a few hours at a local shelter, or a day spent cleaning up one’s neighbourhood can be seen to be just as resourceful as a blackboard or a projector screen at the front of a classroom. Moreover, I’d hope that this alternative—community education—could receive even a fraction of the recognition attributed to formal education.

I know I didn’t come to university expecting to learn everything from behind the desk. I came to learn by doing. Community Engagement Day has allowed me to do just that, in more engaging and rewarding ways than this letter can express. If you didn’t take part in CED, the world didn’t end. But it didn’t get any better either.  So get involved, change your views, and allow yourself to accept challenges and risks that will enrich your university experience. Stop fooling yourself into thinking these things don’t matter, or you’ll break your leg kicking yourself later.

Last Tuesday, Justin Trudeau announced the launch of his much-anticipated Liberal leadership campaign. The speech appealed to a wider base, reflecting the party’s need to re-establish itself in the centre of the Canadian political spectrum, staving off a rapidly expanding NDP and the ideologically-grounded Conservative party. In order to win the leadership of the party, the 40-year-old MP needs to establish himself as a serious candidate—beyond his popularity, and distinct from his father’s legacy. Trudeau needs to demonstrate that he is fully capable of recovering significant ground for the Liberals without letting his idealism eclipse more concrete policy points.

“The key to Canadian unity is the shared sense of purpose so hard to define but so deeply felt, the sense that we are all in this together,” Trudeau said at the rally. “That when Albertans do well, it creates opportunities for Quebeckers. That when Quebeckers create and innovate, it echoes across the country and around the world.  That whether you’re in St. Boniface or St. John’s, Mississauga or Surrey, we have common struggles and common dreams.”

Trudeau is asking Canadians to allow him to lead the Liberal Party through much needed, balanced reform. It’s unclear that the yet unproven candidate can do so with unsubstantive rhetoric.

Trudeau is an accessible candidate. He can appeal directly to a younger generation of voters, has an ambitious vision of a unified Canada, and this past Tuesday, proved he could land lines in both English and French.  While these are all virtuous qualities in an energetic politician, it is all for naught if his aspirations cannot yet be carried out by the Liberal party. Though the scope of Trudeau’s objectives for the country are impressive, I am sceptical about his ability to keep up with big-picture claims.

After his party’s loss of 43 seats last May, Trudeau agrees that Liberals needs more than just a change in leadership. In what is now a much narrower political environment, Trudeau—if he wins the leadership race—should seek a more measured, policy-based, and structured recovery. With the NDP in position as a viable opposition, the Liberal Party cannot afford to disappoint a new wave of Canadians. Beyond the leadership race, idealistic promises and a lack of experience won’t benefit Trudeau nor the Liberal Party.

Are there benefits to Trudeau’s bold rhetoric? Sure, broad ideas for the role of the middle class, Indigenous peoples, Quebeckers, and young Canadians have the potential to hugely shift the political discussion and the potential to invoke real and positive change; however, rhetoric without clear policy could hurt both the candidate and his own party. Expectations are high for Trudeau. He needs to escape his own celebrity, and demonstrate he can effectively lead his party back to a position where it can contend for control of parliament. The Liberal Party itself is in rough shape and has to compete within a tighter federal race where idealistic assertions will not win seats, and are in need of a more realistic platform.

At his launch event, Trudeau was asking for our trust, or rather, the opportunity to earn our trust. Tempting as it is to believe the young, articulate MP from Papineau can enact his vision of a revived Liberal Party and the induction of a unified Canada, the capacities of the recovering Liberal Party trying to wedge their way back into the centre of a more crowded playing field are cause for wariness. It’s not Trudeau’s lack of ambition that concerns me—it’s all political.