Trudeau addresses party faithful: was it ‘Clinton-esque’ or more vagueness?

Justin Trudeau welcomed delegates to Montreal, on Thursday evening, for the Liberal party’s biennial convention.

In a 20 minute partisan speech, he spoke about his love of Montreal, talked about his desire to help the middle class and then took aim at Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"You see, we have a real problem. The middle class is in trouble. People haven’t had a real raise in 30 years, while inequality has increased and household debt has exploded," he said to a packed Montreal Convention Centre adding that this weekend was about finding ways to give everyone Canadian a fair chance to succeed.

"Those who practice the politics of division see in this an opportunity to exploit. An opportunity to sow fear and mistrust. To point fingers and lay blame.

"In a growing economy, the Parti Quebecois’ divisive plan would not only be unrealistic, it would be unthinkable. But in the absence of a real and fair chance, fear and division can take root anywhere. My friends, I have no interest in joining Mr. Harper and Mr. Mulcair in a competition to see who can make Canadians angrier."

Trudeau ended his speech with a very touching moment — a skype call with his pregnant wife Sophie and two young children.

[ Related: Poll shows Liberals riding high heading into weekend convention ]

Like a lot of things Trudeau says and does, the speech has elicited some polarizing opinions.

Political communications expert Marcel Wieder, who was in attendance, says that he was very impressed by it all and even compared the Liberal leader to one of this continent's most successful politicians.

"It was a very Clinton-esque," Wieder, CEO of Aurora Strategy Group, told Yahoo Canada News.

"He talked about his background, his origins [and] his family. He really framed who he was a politician.

"This was the kick-off speech. It was short, it was too the point, but it touched on some of the key highlights. It was an opportunity to connect with the delegates. Have them leave with a good buzz and kick off the convention in the right way."

[ Related: Small glitch mars Trudeau's first Liberal convention as leader ]

Not surprisingly, the opposition parties had a different opinion — they're still waiting for Trudeau to talk about policy.

"I’m not sure what to tell you about Mr. Trudeau’s speech because he didn’t really say very much," Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, who is at the conference as an observer, told Yahoo.

"His policy posture is towards unlimited spending on vague ideas. The only way to pay for that spending will be higher debt and taxes that Canadians can’t afford."

The NDP observer was senior staffer Ann McGrath; she echoed Poillevre’s sentiment.

"It’s a convention so people are here for a speech with some rah rah but also some substance. I don’t think there was much substance in the speech," she told Yahoo.

"I think people have been…waiting and waiting and waiting to hear what the Liberal leader is going to do about the economy. He talks about the economy a lot but we need to hear what he’s going to actually do.

"I think there was a lot of hope that, because this was a policy convention,...we’d start to get some kind of a sense of that."

Maybe – just maybe – McGrath and the rest of the Canadian public will get that substance we’ve all been waiting for later this weekend.

On Saturday, Trudeau will address the crowd again with what’s expected to be a longer speech.

Stay tuned for that.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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