Laurin Liu, a newly elected MP for the New Democratic Party (NDP), is the youngest of five McGill University students who won their respective Quebec ridings in the recent federal election.
Liu, 20, will be leaving McGill after her second year at the university for life on Parliament Hill. She said her extensive extracurricular record, a lot of which is with the NDP, will help her as Rivière-des-Mille-Îles’ new MP.
Liu said that her extensive extracurricular record, a lot of which is with the NDP, will help her as an MP.
“I have experience grassroots organizing. I think those are definitely skills I can bring to my new job,” said Liu, who has also worked with the party internally and started the NDP club at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, where she attended prior to studying at McGill.
Liu decided to run for Parliament after being approached by someone within the NDP, and admits she was surprised by the win.
Despite criticisms over the age or inexperience of her and her fellow students and now co-workers, Liu feels as though all four of these candidates can do a great job.
“Youth in our party have a really strong voice,” said Liu. “We’re a party that represents people of all different backgrounds”
“Being young isn’t necessarily a liability” said Liu. “Keep an eye on us and the job that we do, but I have no doubt that we’ll all do good jobs considering the team we’re working with.”
As a student herself, Liu said that student issues are important to her and the NDP does have a set platform for these issues.
Though Canadians may be keeping a watchful eye on Liu and the other young faces among the new MPs, Liu is confident the NDP team can prove themselves as the official opposition party.
“We’re just going to work as hard as we can to make sure that in four years we form an NDP government.”
As Liu looks towards her new life in Ottawa, she’s willing to compromise her studies, at least for the interim.
“It’s still a priority for me to finish my degree,” said Liu. “But right now my job is my first priority.”
