Illustration by Anthony JenkinsThe Globe and Mail
MP Justin Trudeau represents the Montreal riding of Papineau.
Do you skate?
Yes, I do. I was raised in Ottawa, so the Rideau Canal was part of my winter.
Do you skate well?
Moderately well. Hockey skates. I can skate backward. I can stop on a dime. The problem is, I grew up in Ottawa when there was no NHL team, so hockey was not a big part of my life as a sport. I didn't do a lot of playing hockey. No organized teams. My father didn't want to have to wake up at 6 in the morning to drive us to an arena out in Nepean.
Do you pleasure skate now?
Absolutely! This past weekend, my wife and my two kids went out to skate on Mount Royal at Beaver Lake. They absolutely loved it and [my wife]Sophie, of course, used to figure skate and skated rings, literally, around all of us.
Who taught you to skate and where?
A combination: learning with my father on the Rideau Canal, learning at school, Rockcliffe Park Public School. In my early teens, my mom and her husband, Fred Kemper (my stepfather), had a cottage on Newboro Lake and what often happened was the lake would freeze before the snow fell and you could skate for miles. We'd pack some sandwiches and skate along the lake. It was a lot of fun to be able to skate forever.
Do you consider skating an integral part of being Canadian?
For me, it is - part of a long list of things that involves canoeing, walking in the woods and appreciating a brilliantly sunny but -25 day. It goes with being a part of a northern country. Being able to get by on skates is important.
When I was a boy, "skating music" was waltzes. I've recently heard rap being played at rinks. What is "skating music" for you?
When I grew up, arenas always seem to play seventies classic rock - Journey, Survivor, Pat Benatar - so that seems to be the soundtrack that goes best with skating.
What is the pleasure in pleasure skating?
To get from A to B, there is something nice about gliding under your own power, not bogged down with a lot of equipment like cross-country skis or snowshoes. Your own way of getting by effortlessly on a very fast surface.
Where are you teaching your kids to skate?
Well, there's Beaver Lake, if I get a little time during the week when I can sneak away from the office. On weekends, it gets really crowded, so there is a little park near our home in Montreal where they've made a skating loop we bring the kids out to. They are 2 and 3.
That's very young.
I don't have huge expectations that they're going to skate very well, but I want to develop a familiarity with a huge range of activities without pushing so they dislike it.
Are they on bobskates or real skates?
Bobskates. We rented a pair of single blades for Xavier at one point, but it was a little too challenging at 3, so we traded them in quickly for a pair of double blades.
When is the time for singles?
When they get bored with doubles. When they are solid and not falling. I can't imagine any particular age as much as a comfort level. I expect that they'll ask me to be on real skates.
Resources for skating have diminished. There are fewer outdoor rinks and they are maintained for a shorter season. Arenas are crumbling. In a cold country like ours, is this foolish economy?
There was a flurry of arenas built around 1967 and they are all reaching the same age now and falling down. There may be something generally in the resources there.
Municipalities need to respond to what their citizens are asking for. If people aren't clamouring for more rinks, or the maintenance of rinks, then I'm certainly not going to blame municipalities. It's not tremendously expensive to hose down an ice surface and shovel it a little bit. But if it's not going to be used, if people in the community are not familiar with, or trying to skate, I'm not sure it's the role of government to be imposing that.
But we should certainly be trying to encourage it. From the rink at City Hall [in Toronto]to the Rideau Canal to Beaver Lake in Montreal, there are always places to go if you want to skate.