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opinion

Nik Nanos is The Globe and Mail's pollster and executive chairman of Nanos Research.

Politics many times takes an odd turn. It was less than two years ago that now-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was portrayed by the Harper Conservatives as too young. The Conservatives ran relentless television ads saying he was "just not ready."

Fast forward to today and not only is Mr. Trudeau Prime Minister and enjoying high approval ratings, but it may very well be possible that he will square off against a number of party leaders his age or younger. The irony is that the man once portrayed by his enemies as too young may become the "old man," even though he is in his mid-40s.

Canada is undergoing a fundamental generational change in its political leadership – a shift where political discourse and power are being transferred from aging baby boomers to Gen X-ers. Contrast this with the United States, where the past two presidential contenders, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, were 70 and 69 years of age – effectively old enough to be the parents of our emerging crop of federal party leaders.

The Conservatives have recently elected 38-year-old Andrew Scheer to lead their party. We can now expect the Conservatives will not be able to dust off the "just not ready" attack ads for the next fight against Mr. Trudeau, since they have elected a leader who is about five years younger than Mr. Trudeau was when he successfully challenged and defeated Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.

Mr. Scheer's winning coalition was an alliance of Western Conservatives, social Conservatives and, yes, dairy farmers in Quebec. Few focused on Mr. Scheer's support of supply management and his very motivated allies in Quebec, who had anti-supply management candidate Maxime Bernier in their sights. Among the most telling facts of the Conservative leadership results is that Mr. Scheer actually won more points in Beauce, Que. – Mr. Bernier's home riding – than Mr. Bernier himself. Mr. Scheer beat Mr. Bernier 51 to 49 in Mr. Bernier's riding .

Although his opponents will portray him as being a willing hostage of the social conservative movement, there is an interesting twist that may help Mr. Scheer – the fact that he is the former Speaker of the House of Commons. In an era where Canadians are tired and skeptical of partisan politics, his role of Speaker, and keeping order in the House, may elevate his brand as appearing less partisan than other politicians.

A look at the NDP race suggests there is also a chance Mr. Trudeau could face younger opponents from that party. Federal MP and leadership hopeful Niki Ashton is 34 and new entrant Jagmeet Singh, an MPP from Ontario, is 38. Along with these two candidates, Guy Caron would be considered Mr. Trudeau's contemporary at 49 years of age.

And let's not forget the Bloc Québécois. Martine Ouellet, the leader of the party and provincial member of the National Assembly, is 48 years old.

It may very well be that by the end of 2017, four of the five parties in the House of Commons could have leaders that are 50 years of age or younger. Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party, could be the lone baby boomer left, looking around a political battlefield dominated by Gen X-ers.

The election of Mr.Scheer should put a spotlight on a new generation taking political leadership in Canada. This is not a Liberal phenomenon embodied by Mr. Trudeau, but one that now extends to the Conservatives and to the other federal political parties.

It will be interesting to see whether the new generation renews how we do politics inside and outside of the House of Commons or whether they lapse into the partisan patterns of the "older" generation of politicians.

There's one thing we do know. The age of our leaders will not likely be a major factor in the political calculus of Canada. We won't be seeing attack ads about a leader being too young or "just not ready" to be prime minister. If age and experience are not driving the choices of voters, Canada may default to a good old-fashioned battle about ideas, policies and competing visions for a better future. On that front, this generational turnover may very well be a refreshing turn of events where Canada's youngish Prime Minister faces opponents who are his contemporaries or younger than him.

This is the bizarre world where Mr. Trudeau could be the "old man" of Canadian politics.

Andrew Scheer questioned the Trudeau government’s commitment to fighting terrorism during his first question period as Opposition leader. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan defended the government’s contributions to fighting extremists.

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