Still in the running for the title of Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister is Osgoode’s own Randy Ai

Since 1995, the young and politically-minded have been vying for the title of Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister by writing essays and engaging in debates. Fast-forward to 2008 and the political trail is on the information highway with contestants making YouTube videos of their platforms, corralling supporters with Facebook groups and competing on a televised debate where they have to answer to former prime ministers.
The basic premise of the TV show Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister is to engage youth and help them get their message out to the public in support of making Canada a better place.
Born in China, Osgoode student Randy Ai, 23, has dreamt of seeing the title prime minister before his name since he was a kid. He elaborated on his platform when he took a break from campaigning at a coffee shop at Yonge and Eglinton to sit down with Excalibur.

“The income gap is growing,” said Ai. “There are three main groups to address – those are seniors, immigrants and farmers.”
Candidates were told to choose a message to promote and find innovative ways to do it. To summarize, Ai said that increasing security for the aging population, offering training opportunities for immigrants and providing assistance for individual and family farms will help better distribute wealth. He has posted more than 10 video responses and speeches on YouTube, including a video in which he talks with people on the street about making Canada a better country. He has also posted local MP Yasmin Ratansi’s video endorsement for his cause.
Ai is not alone in his quest to get his message out. Among the diverse cast of candidates (whose videos are available at www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/candidates.html) is a liberal Albertan who wants to eliminate barriers in trade and education, a 22-year-old from Ottawa who has the environment on his mind and an aboriginal physician from Saskatoon who is campaigning for a “replacement of the Indian Act with a third seat of government called the Aboriginal House.”
It is obvious that many young people are coming up with new ideas and ways to implement them. Ai said that file sharing and social networking tools are transforming the form of political discourse.
“Traditional media is expensive; YouTube is cheap,” said Ai. “People are finding new ways of connecting; YouTube’s not just for seeing cats falling into toilets. Just by the number of views, you can tell that a significant number of people are hearing your message.”
India-born Asmita Pal, 19, is one of Ai’s campaign officers and a graduate of North Toronto Collegiate Institute. Now a student at George Brown College, Pal has worked with children and the elderly in Toronto.
She said money is a large determinant in how the elderly are treated, and that with more money they could be given more opportunity for interaction and engagement in recreation and games.
While the $50,000 grand prize is on the line, the side effect of engaging citizens politically and gaining skills as a politician means this is not Merv Griffin’s idea of a game show. Ai, an avid fan of strategy board games like Diplomacy and Risk, is actually more likely to favour world peace over world domination.
Through new forms of connectivity, Ai and others see the opportunity to build national unity and forge international bonds.
Ronald Reagan may be known as “the great communicator,” but the next great leaders may take their communication to even greater superlatives.

- Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister will be named on air on CBC on March 23.