Justin Trudeau becomes an author

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      HarperCollins has tweeted the image of the jacket cover of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's upcoming book.

      It's called Common Ground: My Past, Our Present and Canada's Future and it's due in stores in October.

      Politicians often write books in advance of election campaigns.

      One recent example was Hillary Clinton's Hard Choices.

      Lesser known is former Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's new book, The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea.

      It's a surefire sign that Ryan is probably getting ready to run for his party's presidential nomination. In case you're wondering, there are no references in the index to Ryan's hero, libertarian writer Ayn Rand, a vehement critic of altruism in all its forms.

      Meanwhile, Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream was one of the most successful books of this genre, reaching the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list.

      In Canada, the granddaddy of this type of book was Jean Chrétien's Straight from the Heart, written in 1985. It kept him in the spotlight as he plotted his return to federal politics.

      So far, there's no indication that Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson is ready to jump into the book-peddling business. Nor does it appear that NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe plans to release his memoirs before the 2014 Vancouver election.

      B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, on the other hand, still has plenty of time to sum up his life before the next provincial election in 2017. Get cracking, Johnny. Books always take longer to complete than writers anticipate at the outset.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Curtis Plumb

      Aug 7, 2014 at 8:56pm

      " libertarian writer Ayn Rand, a vehement critic of altruism in all its forms." She was not a libertarian but she was as much a critic of murder "in all its forms" as she was of altruism.

      blah

      Aug 7, 2014 at 9:29pm

      I wonder who wrote the book for him.

      Westdale

      Aug 8, 2014 at 7:49am

      Anyone who believes that politicians, business leaders or celebrities of any strip who author a book of substance without assistance should stick to the comics page.

      Chris A

      Aug 8, 2014 at 10:26am

      And Stephen Harper tries to colour in a colouring book he wants to sell.